Print edition for July 3, 2007

TAKE FIVE: 'STAR SPANGLED SPECTACULAR': What: "Star Spangled Spectacular" with the Las Vegas Philharmonic

Commentary: Reason versus recklessness: Lugar, whose decades in Congress have brought him widespread respect, expressed no faith in the president's desperate escalation of the Iraq war, called for a plan to downsize our military presence there and said diplomacy is the path to preserving our interests throughout the Middle East.

Letter: Alternate fuel only viable if properly pursued: Biofuels developed in Brazil made of cane sugar have lowered the cost of fuel there significantly over what the U.S. pays. The U.S. is not interested in pursuing alternate fuels in large part because the oil industry is not done raping the people yet.

Letter: Border fence can be built with no taxes: According to Buchanan, a permanent fence could be built across the entire 2,000-mile frontier for a cost of $8 billion. The security measure would consist of "twin fences, fifteen feet high, enclosing a two-lane road to permit the Border Patrol to move in both directions. Motion sensors would be buried in the roadway to detect people who had breached the outer fence. Beyond each fence would be coiled wire eight feet high. Beyond the wire would be ditches to stop the trucks and SUVs of the narcotics traffickers and their renegade Mexican Army and police allies."

Commentary: One plausible option to Iraq's self-destructive civil war: At best, the surge is keeping Iraq from descending into full-scale civil war. At best we are dog paddling in the Tigris. Which means at least we should start to think about what happens if we have to get out of the water.

Editorial: Good riddance to lame duck: As Christina Littlefield reported in Sunday's Las Vegas Sun, Carpenter, who has a month left before heading off to a job in Texas, abruptly ended the program. The college and a dozen unions have worked together since the 1990s to train people in various trades, get them on-the-job training and prepare them for associate of arts degrees. Carpenter and his staff had been negotiating with the union to extend the contract before he fired off a nasty parting shot, telling the unions where they could go.

Pursuing immortality: Compiled by Ron Kantowski, Brian Hilderbrand, Rob Miech and Jeff Haney, Las Vegas Sun; Some records are made to be broken. Others stand the test of time.

Short, contentious stay for homeland security adviser: Larry Martines is stepping down as Nevada's homeland security adviser amid a rift between Gov. Jim Gibbons and top local law enforcement officials over the best site for the state's primary intelligence gathering operation in the war on terror.

Commentary: Oregon senator adds compassion to conservatism: He has made this call 103 times. Inevitably, after the tears and the awkward pauses, they ask him this question about their lost loved one in Iraq: Was it worth it?

HEARD ELSEWHERE: President Bush and Congress are headed to a constitutional showdown that can't help but end badly for one or the other or both. The clash pits the right of Congress to conduct oversight over the operations of the executive branch against the right of the president to receive candid, unfettered advice in confidence from his aides.

Details emerge as CSN asks for money: By Christina Littlefield; Nearly three years after the telecommunications building on the Cheyenne campus was opened to the public, College of Southern Nevada officials have finally submitted paperwork to state public works seeking reimbursement for part of the work.

Editorial: Remember the real story: Bush's decision Monday was prompted after a three-judge panel, hours earlier, had turned down Libby's request to remain free while he appealed his conviction for lying to the FBI and a grand jury.

Build it, so teachers will come: A developer donated 4 acres in Henderson worth more than $2.6 million as part of a plan to build affordable housing and help recruit teachers to the Clark County School District.

Letter: Complacency is the ally of amnesty: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff lamented the fact by stating that its provisions to improve border security and impose sanctions on employers of illegals, too, are dead. He's probably been so busy lobbying for amnesty legislation that he failed to remember his responsibility to enforce those laws already on the books.

Commentary: Campaign finance law is an affront to First Amendment: It is astonishing to me that a decision grounded in the First Amendment right to address basic public policy questions should be objectionable to people who consider themselves liberal.

Author, columnist advises:If in doubt, ask a Mexican: By Timothy Pratt; Gustavo Arellano was checking the torrent of gloating e-mails on his laptop while commenting on the signature dishes of Michoacan, Mexico, on the menu.

Commentary: Can anyone reach Bush in these tough times?: The concerned group huddling outside the president's closed-bedroom door in Kennebunkport could barely hear him. His voice was muffled because he had his face buried in his feather pillow, which the Secret Service had carefully transported from Washington to Maine for the weekend, knowing that it would be needed. They guard it so conscientiously that they have even given it a code name. Since the president's Secret Service name is Tumbler, his agents christened his beloved pillow Slumber.

Looking back on 90 years: Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun; Who: Kirk Douglas signs his autobiography "Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning"