Editorials

With the national debt zooming toward a nearly inconceivable $7 trillion, the few thousand dollars many college students accumulate in credit card debt might seem a bit trifle.

In the most recent example of the lack of justice in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. government has fired the first group of military lawyers brought in to represent those detained there. The problem with these lawyers was that they insisted on private conversations with their clients.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's call to reinstate the death penalty following the arrest in the Dru Sjodin case seemed to come out of nowhere.

In an open letter addressed to St. Paul police Chief William Finney printed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Ron Rosenbaum attempted to end the more than two-week-long squabble about an on-air comment he made.

Earlier this fall, the Minnesota Student Association ran a two-week pilot "late-night bus" that picked up 5,000 passengers. Similar programs have worked well on many other campuses, including Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan and Purdue University. While significant issues remain, a late-night bus seems to be a no-brainer for the University.

A Minnesota mother got a large glimpse of hope last week as Secretary of State Colin Powell talked with a Mexican delegation about Americans jailed in Mexico. The case of her daughter - Bloomington, Minn., native Cynthia Kiecker, accused of murder - was brought up, following letters from human rights organizations and 66 members of Congress.