Scott Sines

In the movie, "All The President's Men," Washington Post managing editor Ben Bradlee, played by Jason Robards, would refuse to publish stories on Watergate until all the facts had been confirmed by at least two sources. Innuendo and hearsay were excised. Bradlee had no trouble telling reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward that "you don't have it yet."

'Tis the season to be jolly - until the doorbell rings and some kid is standing there with a box of candy asking for a buck-fifty. Then, to some people, it becomes the season of shooting pains - in the neck and other places. Candy sales do have a dark side. Some parents pressure co-workers, others sit their kids in front of grocery stores and bug customers. Workplaces and stores should police those practices. Some school districts have banned door-to-door fund raising in favor of school-sponsored events. Organizers cite safety as their main concern but mostly they complain about the hassle and hard work involved with fund raising. Other districts avoid the hard work altogether and let mom or dad send a check. It's certainly easier that way. Thankfully, most of us don't mind when the doorbell rings. We enjoy the chance to talk to young people who are out working hard to earn their way. We appreciate the fact that they are involved in Scouting, the gymnastics team or student council. And that they are willing to invest their time to make those organizations successful. When the doorbell rings, it's the sound of opportunity. It's a chance to put a nervous kid at ease. It's a chance to let them know you appreciate people who work hard. It's a chance to project a positive image. It's a chance to talk to a young person you don't even know. Even a casual query gets the skinny on the baseball team. A creative question may reveal who is getting kissed at the roller rink and who isn't. These conversations are good. They should be encouraged in any way possible and in every way that seems impossible. Because they shape the values that are building blocks for better neighborhoods and stronger communities. Parents involved in school fund-raisers must help their kids keep accurate records of money and inventory. They must make certain their kids are safe. At times, they must ride along in the car to watch out for them. They must be involved in the lives of their children and it is work. It would be much easier to drop junior off at the school fund-raising event for a couple of hours. Or just to write the check. The problem is, you can't buy values.

Should women ever share responsibility for rape? Ain't life a bitch? You're trying to get to work on a snowy day and somebody in a four-wheel-drive goes barreling by, covering your windshield with slush. You slide into a ditch and the four-wheeler keeps on going. It's truly frustrating when people are not held accountable for their actions. Or, you lose a career advancement opportunity to a minority person. This person makes mistakes that you know you could not get away with in your job, but isn't held accountable for those mistakes. It's a double standard and it's truly frustrating. Finally, the frustration turns to anger and common sense gets lost in the fury. That is exactly what this debate is about. A woman got drunk at a party and took off her clothes. She danced in a provocative manner, teasing men and earning the scorn of other women. She later left the party with two men and went to their dorm room. There, she was held by one man and undressed by another. Then she was raped.

When bad things happen, it's human nature to try to figure out what went wrong and who is responsible. It helps to keep us from repeating the same mistake twice. But the answers rarely come easily or clearly. So it is with the tragic death of Princess Diana. Still, we have to ask: Who is responsible? The paparazzi who chased her on their motorcycles? The drunken driver?

Boy oh boy (or is that girl oh girl?), women's athletics have changed. Remember girl-style push-ups? Where the exercise was done on hands and knees, instead of hands and toes? What a joke. Any halfway healthy boy could do hundreds without breaking a sweat. Remember when girls played slow-pitch softball and boys played fast-pitch hardball? When boys played football and girls led cheers? And, despite the occasional tomboy, there weren't many girls willing to set up on the block and take the boy next door to the hoop. In fact, girls basketball rules were silly. Three dribbles and pass - or something like that - meant that many girls never learned the fundamentals of the game.

Radical anti-government gangsters in the region must be laughing long and hard about now. Last weekend they hosted a preparedness exposition at the Spokane Convention Center. There were a few dried-bean vendors for cover but basically a bunch of gangsters used a public facility, maintained by tax dollars, to market anti-government ideas and sell instruction manuals on how to be better snipers.

It's sad to think that anyone would file suit against a president, or any other high ranking official, to intentionally discredit them. But that is exactly what the Paula Jones case is about. If the public can be led to believe that any governor could dispatch state troopers to deliver women to him - and get away with it for more than a decade - the public would believe anything. Forget that these troopers have their own checkered past, which includes wrecking a state patrol car at 3 a.m., then lying to escape discipline. (Even though they later testified in a civil suit that they drank a half dozen whiskeys before the accident at a Little Rock lounge.)

Tuesday night, Dec. 10, was unremarkable on most counts. A small Christian Identity church in Sandpoint drew 350 people to a lecture on gulf war syndrome. Many of the rising stars in the militia movement were in attendance.