Idaho-The CIEDRA State and OTHER SMALL TRAGEDIES

In 1968, a professor of human ecology named Garrett Hardin published an essay titled, The Tragedy of the Commons. Hardin showed how humans, acting in their own self-interest, would inevitably wreck any resource held in common with other humans. Sharing, in spite of what we all learned in kindergarten, would result in the destruction of wilderness or clean water or forests or fish stocks, simply because these things don't grow with population and in the absence of constraint, an individual who takes more than his share benefits more than the individual who doesn't.

Hardin viewed human nature as nasty and brutish, but The Tragedy of the Commons has become one of the sacred texts of …

Annan arrives in Kenya to mediate deadly dispute over presidential election

The former U.N. chief was due to hold talks Wednesday to mediate the deadly dispute over Kenya's presidential election, and the opposition said it was willing to reconsider plans for protest rallies this week.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will try to bring President Mwai Kibaki and his main challenger, Raila Odinga, together after a Dec. 27 election that foreign observers say was deeply flawed. Some 685 people have been killed in an explosion of postelection riots and ethnic fighting.

"I am confident that, in this crucial endeavor, we can count on the will, maturity, resourcefulness and judgment of the leaders," Annan said late …

Palestinians kill peace process

Speculation mounted for a few weeks over who, President Obama or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would first advance a new strategy for jump-starting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Now, the Palestinians — as usual, and as should have been expected — have thrown a cluster-bomb into hopes for resurrecting the peace process.

Fatah, the overlord of the Palestinian Authority, is reconciling with Hamas, designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, to form "an interim government." Though Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hinted peace talks remain possible, Hamas could not have been clearer: "Our program does not include negotiations with …

The World is Round

by Nikky Finney

Inner Light Publishing, January 2003

$14.95, ISBN 0-971-48904-1

Let's be frank, fibbin' has become a shameful part of daily discourse. Not just big lies either. But little white lies, brown lies, black lies, deceptions, misinformation, misnomers and falsehoods that litter our days and nights so much that "the benefit of the doubt" has almost become an archaic phrase left to the naive, the elderly and the foreigners among us. But just in time, and before we cast all hope to the wind, comes a ray of remembrance in the spirit of our grandmothers. Nikky Finney's long-awaited third collection of poetry (following 1985's On Wings Made of Gauze, and 1995's …

UCI bans cyclist serving doping ban from ceremony

MADRID (AP) — Cycling's governing body has stopped Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde from attending a ceremony in which he would have been presented as a new member of the Movistar team because he is currently banned for doping.

"We are sorry to announce that the Alejandro Valverde presentation event as new Movistar Team rider for the next seasons to be held tomorrow in Madrid has been postponed," Movistar said in a statement Monday on its website.

"The International Cycling Union (UCI) has not permitted the presence of the rider in the event by virtue of an interpretation of the international rules, which we are in strong disagreement …

Hyundai Motor 2Q net profit rises 48 percent

Hyundai Motor Co. said second-quarter net profit rose 48 percent to a record high as robust sales in China and India helped it ride out the global auto slump.

Hyundai Motor, which along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp. forms the world's fifth-biggest automotive group, said in a regulatory filing Thursday it earned 811.85 billion won ($650 million) in the three months ended June 30. It posted net profit of 546.9 billion won a year earlier.

Company spokesman Ki Jin-ho said the profit was the biggest ever for a single quarter.

Total sales revenue during the three-month period, however, fell 11 percent to 8.08 trillion won from 9.11 trillion won.

Still, the result …

State EPA Offers an Amnesty for Small Firms

The state on Tuesday announced an environmental amnesty programfor small businesses that want to clean up their act without riskingfines for pollution violations.

The "Clean Break" program will begin in the Rockford area forbusinesses with fewer than 200 employees and, if successful, willexpand statewide later this year.

"Small businesses that may not be in compliance withenvironmental laws have the opportunity to come forward and learn howthey can comply, without fear that legal action will be taken againstthem," Gov. Edgar said. Small businesses are a major source of land, air and waterpollution, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said. Butthe …