TODAY'S COLUMNS AND COMMENTARIES

Maxine Burkett

"Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to irrigate!" Perhaps not a direct quote from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but it does sum up Hawai'i's drought predicament highlighted by The Advertiser's June 25 story, "Drought alters farm strategies." For those of us closely watching how climate change may play out in our Islands, the article provided an important preview of one of the largest threats — dry islands amid an ocean of water — that a warming globe poses to Hawai'i's people. After all, in an age of such uncertainty over the speed and severity of change, there are few more important issues than how we will continue to feed ourselves. More »

Jack Goldsmith

Our economy, energy supply, means of transportation and military defenses are dependent on vast, interconnected computer and telecommunications networks. These networks are poorly defended and vulnerable to theft, disruption or destruction by foreign states, criminal organizations, individual hackers and, potentially, terrorists. More »

Leonard Pitts Jr.

I have a proposal. Next time some politician goes before the cameras with his figurative pants down around his metaphoric ankles and says, "I made a mistake," let's form a mob and drag him from the podium. You bring the lanterns, I'll bring the pitchforks. More »