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Amid wars, America
marks Memorial Day

THE ISSUE The annual commemoration originating after the Civil War resounds through the nation's conflicts.

AT times, it's easy to forget we are at war. Unlike in previous conflicts, the American people have not had to sacrifice foods and other goods for the war effort.

There aren't any victory gardens. There is no shortage of sugar or metals or fabrics for cupcakes, beer cans or low-rider jeans. The land of plenty remains stuffed full of luxuries. In fact, today's holiday has evolved into another occasion for sales of everything from sporty convertibles to teak sleigh beds and diamond rings to cell phones with cameras.

The holiday has come to mark the start of summer as children escape classrooms, picnic blankets crowd beaches, auto racing revs up for the season and sun-seeking tourists shuttle to the islands.

The carefree mood belies the fact that as of Friday, at least 1,653 more names of members of the U.S. military have been added to the rolls of the dead in Iraq and close to 200 in Afghanistan.

These lives, the countless souls before them and countless more sure to come are the sacrifices to remember on Memorial Day.

At Punchbowl National Cemetery, thousands of colorful lei are draped over graves, continuing a tradition that began as Decoration Day when widows, mothers, daughters and sisters honored the Civil War dead by decking headstones and crosses with ribbons and flowers.

Would that we could pay tribute all of them -- to Marine Sgt. David N. Wimberg, 24, of Louisville, Ky., killed Wednesday in a faraway place called Hadithah, the latest casualty to be identified, and to Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, 27, a Kamehameha Schools graduate, killed by a sniper in Mosul just after the start of the new year -- by ending human conflicts.

Failing that dream, we can at least stop for a few minutes between bites of barbecue chicken, between rummaging in the bargain bins, between channel-surfing and iPod selections, to think and to thank.

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Protect journalists from
disclosing sources

THE ISSUE Attorneys general from 34 states have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to establish protection for journalists in keeping sources confidential.

HAWAII Attorney General Mark Bennett has joined attorneys general from 33 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to balance competing interests in deciding whether to protect journalists' use of unnamed sources. Bennett appreciates that denial of such privilege would seriously damage the free flow of information to the public.

Thirty-one states have such "shield laws," and Hawaii is among 18 others where courts have recognized some form of reporters' privilege. The state Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that protection of confidential sources should be balanced against other issues.

The attorneys general filed a brief with the high court supporting reporters Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine. Both face up to 18 months in prison for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating who in the Bush administration divulged the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press.

Robert Novak outed Plame in his syndicated column but has refused to say whether he was subpoenaed or has cooperated with authorities. Cooper wrote about Plame after the Novak column. Miller inquired about the subject but did not write about it.

The U.S. high court has not addressed the issue since 1972, when it held that the First Amendment does not protect journalists from revealing their sources. The Plame case is especially troublesome because of a federal law forbidding the intentional disclosure of a covert agent's identity; a reporter provided the identity essentially would be a witness to a crime.

A federal shield law is needed to bring consistency to the judicial treatment of confidential sources. That is not politically feasible, but the Supreme Court's balance of issues encouraged by the attorneys general would be helpful, even if it were not to prevent Miller and Cooper from going to prison.

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