Opinion

Thorns & Flowers

A Flower to Rep. Jim Kolbe, who has represented Southern Arizona in Congress the last 21 years and announced on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election. Kolbe graciously announced his retirement a year before the 2006 elections, giving voters in his district and would-be successors plenty of time to discuss their preferences. Kolbe, a Republican, was a thoughtful and moderate voice in a district that includes Arizona's border with Mexico. Some residents of the district have in recent years grown increasingly strident over immigration policies. A Thorn to parents who think it's a great idea to give their 5- to 8-year-old children a gift certificate. A survey by Marketing Workshop Inc. said six in 10 parents reported they believed giving a gift certificate to a children under age 9 is appropriate. Marketers say kids as young as 5 are asking for gift certificates or gift cards. Some feel this shifts the decision about what gift to buy from the parent, where it belongs, to the child, where it does not. A Thorn to Kathleen Dunbar for the uncharacteristic lack of grace she is showing after her defeat in the City Council elections. She didn't bother to show up for last week's council meeting, and she hasn't even congratulated Karin Uhlich, the winner. A Thorn to Bob Woodward for waiting until the last minute to reveal that somebody in the White House had told him about CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson long before it was revealed by anyone else. Woodward has become such an insulated Washington insider that he's lost the trust of his colleagues at The Washington Post and many of his admirers. A Flower to St. Mark's Presbyterian Church for its decision to become more vocal in protesting church policies on sexually active gays and lesbians. St. Mark's, a Midtown congregation intent on living its faith, is taking its first steps toward becoming a "More Light" church, the term used for churches that support ordaining sexually active gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as ministers and church elders, despite prohibitions by national church policy. "We've had an inclusion statement for years, quietly being who we are," said the Rev. Robert Moore, a St. Mark's parish associate. "It's time for us to come out of the closet as a church allied with gay and lesbian people." - S.N.