Hot Town: Summer in the City...

Think it's hot? It's so hot the headlines are almost melting off the papers and it's not just because of the weather. After all we have Kobe, the killing of Hussein's two sons, three nuns headed for prison, a guy getting into the New York City Hall with a hand gun, and Jessica Lynch coming home a hero.

The story that has used far and away the most ink is that of Kobe Bryant. Only two people know what really happened between Kobe and the young woman in Eagle county, but it looks as though everyone in the world has an opinion. As Diane Carman wrote, "At this point the verdict is irrelevant. The damage is done. Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter says he 'absolutely' believes that what's happened to Bryant's accuser will discourage reporting of sexual assaults." For generations the traditional response to a rape complaint was, "I wonder what she did to deserve it." Gradually women have won the right to be believed, and have been reporting sexual assaults oftener, including women at the Air Force Academy. In this case the media frenzy will set the cause back no matter who is guilty. Justice will be hard to achieve.

I hope they have a speedy trial.

The other big story of the week was of more importance to the nation, but took second place in the publicity race. Huge headlines announced the death of Hussein's two sons, Odai and Qusais. But there have been enough questions about accuracy of news from Iraq that we do wonder whether they really got the right guys. The U. S. military released grisly photos of the bloodied and battered bodies in an effort to eliminate skepticism on the part of the Iraqis. Fortunately, the Sentinel and the two Denver papers did not print them but they are all over the TV screen. Skeptical Americans need some proof too, but those pictures hardly provided it.

Three Catholic nuns were sentenced to up to 41 months in prison. My first impulse was to say, "Right on, sisters." But yes we are in a nation of law, and yes, they are troublemakers. They learned from a master, Philip Berrigan. But the damage they did to the missile silo was minimal and the blood they shed was their own. They demonstrated to make the point that weapons of mass destruction are immoral. Their passion and sincerity are desperately needed today. Will the world be safer because they are in prison? As a friend of mine commented, that is the human dilemma. How do we know where to draw the line?

We had one happy story to think about in the heat. PFC Jessica Lynch came home in a Black Hawk helicopter from Walter Reed Medical Center to a huge celebration in Elizabeth, West Virginia. "It's great to be home," she said as she spoke to the thousands who came out to greet her and give her a hero's welcome. We all watched the films of her rescue from the Iraqi hospital where she was being held prisoner. The original story out of Washington of her injuries was not exactly accurate. She did not go down shooting, but she was injured in the line of duty. And as she proudly says, "I am a soldier in the United States Army." She deserved her hero's welcome.

It didn't receive major headlines, but it hit front pages. A man walked unchallenged into the City Hall in lower New York with a hand gun, and shot and killed his companion. This is less than two years after 9/11. I would have expected security in that building to be at least as tight as that at Walker Field.

And to cap it off I caught the tag end of a story on TV -- no headlines -- that showed 48% of Democrats in a special poll picked Hillary for the nomination in 2004. Hope it stays hot.