The Chicago Tribune, on President Bush's vacation (August 11):

... Say what you will about our president, he knows the value of a good vacation. Right now, he's probably easing back in an overstuffed armchair at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and wondering if he can fit in a nap before tee time.

Good work, Mr. President.

Some would criticise Mr. Bush's 25-day break, but he is, in fact, a good role model for the rest of us. Researchers have studied what happens to human beings who are vacation deprived. It's not pretty. Stress, burnout, sleep disturbances, deteriorating relationships, and a long list of health problems. ...

Few it seems, have mastered the fine art of vacationing. ...

People. This is America. We're the world leader, the trendsetter. And yet we are pathetic when it comes to vacationing. Look, the capitals of Europe are emptying out for the annual August hiatus. In America? Some of us are vacationing, but notice how. We take our pagers, cell phones, PDAs, BlackBerrys, wireless laptop moderns. Heaven forbid we should be out of touch for a few minutes.

... Let your mind roam. Take a walk. Bake some cookies. Do the thing you've put off for months, unless it involves home repair.

The Boston Globe, on the airline industry (August 14):

Troubles in the airline industry are partly attributable to the September 11 attacks, and federal loan guarantees are appropriate compensation. Much of the decline predated September 11, however - the result of recession and changes in the airfare marketplace. The government had best let the industry adjust to these conditions without undue interference.

US Airways, which filed for bankruptcy this week, deserves a loan guarantee because it was hard hit by the closing of Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, one of its hubs, for 24 days last year. US Airways also came up with a recovery plan that passed muster with the federal Air Transportation Stabilisation Board.

The economic downturn after September 11 hastened travellers' search for lower fares, but the trend was inevitable without the attacks. The fate of US Airways and United is important to the people who work there, but the airline industry as a whole is remarkably resilient and will survive the shakeout among individual carriers.

The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, on a cocaine-using teacher (August 11):

A second chance is a nice concept, but an arbitrator carried it too far when he ordered the reinstatement of a Florida teacher who reported to work with 50 times the amount of cocaine in his system that would register a positive result.

The Pensacola middle school teacher was fired. The arbitrator, however, ruled this spring that the penalty was too harsh for the offence, particularly since the teacher hadn't been in trouble before and many of his relatives also were teachers. He ordered the man returned to the classroom or to some other school job with full salary.

Surprisingly, a circuit judge upheld that ruling.

If you can show up at school stoned out of your mind, what exactly are valid grounds for termination in Pensacola?

... As the superintendent complained to the Pensacola News Journal, "We are expelling kids for taking aspirin or No-Doz. Now we are talking about someone taking cocaine, and that's OK."