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Well, the U.S. Supreme Court today declined to consider reinstating Virginia's anti-spam law, which the state Supreme Court had tossed as an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment free speech rights. The 2003 law had made it a misdemeanor to use false transmission information, such as a phony domain name, to send out unsolicited bulk e-mail -- and a felony if the junk e-mail was sent to more than 10,000 recipients in 24 hours. Loudoun County mass e-mailer Jeremy Jaynes became the nation's first spam felon in 2004 and was sentenced to nine years in prison - providing his legions of unwilling e-mail recipients a cathartic victory, but a brief one. The Virginia Supreme Court's ruling overturned the conviction. A pity, but apparently legally sound.

Nearly five months after the November election, Minnesota still doesn't have a senator from the contest.

There was recount. Al Franken won. Now former Sen. Norm Coleman challenged the results with a lawsuit, and because of a quirk of Minnesota election law, Franken cannot be certified as the victor until that lawsuit is completed.

A three-judge panel should be ruling at any time, but the Coleman camp is making noises about appealing if, as expected, the ruling is not in their favor. The question then becomes whether Franken can be seated or if he'll have to wait out any appeals.

Despite the fact that the appeals process could take years, the GOP is adamant that Franken not be seated until they've exhausted every chance to turn the election their way. Texas Sen. John Cornyn threatened "World War III" if the Senate attempted to seat Franken before federal appeals were completed, according to Politico.

So Minnesotans are left with a single senator, and Franken's left in limbo. The funny thing is that the night of the election, when the results showed Coleman with a slight lead, he recommended that Franken not even pursue a recount, much less time-consuming appeals. Coleman said Franken would be honoring "the Minnesota Way" by not dragging things through the courts.

For Tuesday: President Obama is taking a risky but realistic approach to the continuing threat presented by a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan and by al-Qaida, still enjoying a safe haven just across the border in western Pakistan while plotting attacks on the U.S. Critics of his commitment of more U.S. troops to Afghanistan fear a new military quagmire. But Obama can neither concede the area to the architects of 9/11, nor allow its security and political and economic viability continue toward utter chaos. WIth lessons learned from Iraq, he's trying to strengthen Afghanistan as a self-governing nation, and encourage Pakistan to exert control over its lawless tribal regions.

We're writing an editorial for Tuesday about opposition to the Boy Scouts of America holding their quadrennial jamboree in Rockbridge County. Some local residents worry that the massive, 10-day influx of scouts could harm the natural beauty of the region as well as the rural character of the community.

To be sure, there are many concerns whenever a quarter of a million people gather, but the community should welcome the jobs and revenue this event would bring.  They should also demand safeguards be put in place by the Scouts to protect the area.  Outright opposition to the project, however, serves no one.

An overdue conversation

Proposals to redraw attendance zones for Roanoke city schools has prompted a good conversation about race and segregation.

The FDA stirs from its stupor

Steve Huff
Huff, a family physician from Patrick County, is a Roanoke Times columnist.

Just when I thought I could completely dismiss the Food and Drug Administration as a faithful guardian of American health, it goes and does this. For years the FDA looked the other way while Big Pharma gleefully promoted such health disasters as Vioxx and Rezulin. Meanwhile, Big Pharma illegally extended drug patents through kickback deals with generic drug manufacturers. The Bush administration flogged science with politics by delaying and restricting the contraceptive pill called Plan B. Pharmaceutical "drug reps" cheerfully bribed doctors with gifts and favors while consumers footed the bill. Pharmaceutical lobbyists strong-armed lawmakers for favorable legislation. Natural supplement makers foisted unproven and unregulated remedies on Americans in the form of "natural supplements."
Read more.

Gear up for new nuclear plants

J. Winston Porter
Porter heads Environmental Strategies in Leesburg and was formerly an assistant EPA administrator.

President Obama's decision to drastically slash the budget of the Yucca Mountain repository project in Nevada has cast the Nuclear Waste Fund in an entirely different light. Since 1983, Virginians have paid $672 million into the federal fund, which was created to finance the project. This is not small change, though it might seem so at a time of huge federal bailouts of banks. Nationally, payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund have reached $24 billion, though less than $10 billion of that amount has actually been spent on the project. The rest of the money has gone into the U.S. Treasury to help balance the federal budget.
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Everyone loses in trade wars

Miles McCoy
McCoy is a student at the Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington.

The recession is frightening. People lose their jobs daily. The news never seems any better. And the multibillion-dollar bailout program intended to stop the bleeding is not yet effective. Considering these factors, it is perfectly sensible to conclude that something must be done to save American jobs -- and the problem is trade. But trade is not the problem.
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Read Monday's letters to the editor.

Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

What do you think is wrong with the world today?

Standings through Round 3.

Card-check bill isn't good for workers

Secret ballots are the best way to ensure neither side in an organizing battle tries to intimidate workers.

The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act introduced again in Congress recently is bad legislation that caters to a special interest group: union leaders.

The bill would make it easier to form unions by all but eliminating secret ballots by workers. It would also set tight deadlines for unions and management to agree on a contract before forcing arbitration by a government-appointed panel.

Read more.

Virginia's Democratic debates

Three gubernatorial hopefuls are giving the electorate ample opportunity to hear them.

Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls have agreed to five debates and three joint appearances around the state before the June primary, a number that should allow the party faithful to cast informed votes.

If, that is, the appearances will be broadcast. Details had yet to be worked out when the campaigns of Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran announced the agreement last week.

Read more.

NRV Current editorial

County shouldn't hire behind closed doors

Let the public help choose Montgomery County's new administrator and superintendent.

Montgomery County is hiring new leaders, and the public should have a say in who gets the job.

First, a quick refresher on local government. Montgomery County, like many others, uses an administrator form of government. What that means is the board of supervisors makes policy decisions and approves spending. Meanwhile, a county administrator oversees day-to-day operations. The staff reports to him, and he reports to the supervisors.

It's the same with the schools. The school board hires a superintendent to manage operations.

Read more.

Man forms God in his own image

By Frederick Fuller

Fuller is a retired teacher for Roanoke city schools and a fiction writer. He lives in Roanoke.

I do not believe God formed man in his own image. But I do believe that man formed God in his own image. The more I'm around religious folk, no matter what the religion, the more I learn that they worship a god that is like them. The god may not look like the human being who worships him, her or it, but the god thinks like the human being, I'll bet.

Read more.

Animals suffer in the making of a rodeo

By Nan Fariss

Fariss, of Roanoke, is a piano teacher and a retired registered nurse.

It was with great sadness for many of us to see that a rodeo event was in Roanoke last weekend. Rodeos are promoted as rough and tough exercises of human skill and courage in conquering the fierce, untamed beasts of the Wild West, when in reality they are nothing more than manipulative displays of human domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment.

Read more.

Read today's letters to the editor.

New River Valley letter to the editor.