Week’s End

WEEK'S END

The Post broke the story about Bob McDonnell's controversial thesis paper at Regent University that has dominated the political news of the past week. Sometimes there's a fine line between good journalism and nasty character attacks, no?

McDonnell's opponent, Creigh Deeds, has a transportation plan: Get elected, then decide what to do about transportation. Now comes this, from the AP: "At a news conference that featured women denouncing the paper Bob McDonnell wrote, Deeds acknowledged that changing times had changed his views, but he didn't identify which ones." Perhaps he is hoping to become the Rorschach candidate: someone on whom voters can project whatever image they find most pleasing to them.

Richmond recently made yet another top-10 list. Kit Cramer, president of the International Downtown Association, a non-profit organization that promotes creative development, cited the downtown canal rides as among the best places in the country to take a boat ride. If you haven't done it yet, do. You'll enjoy the trip.

Oil company BP has discovered a vast new petroleum deposit beneath the Gulf of Mexico. The find offers a helpful reminder that old estimates of oil and gas reserves could fall far short of what is now technologically and economically recoverable. That's worth remembering as Virginia debates exploration off the coast.

References to gangs summon images of the mean streets of the city. Yet gang violence is not limited to urban cores, as the week's news from Henrico suggests. On Tuesday, members of the Little Rascals Gang pleaded guilty to various charges in Henrico County Circuit Court. The crackdown on the Rascals featured cooperation between law-enforcement authorities in Henrico and Goochland. Prosecutors are working on additional gang-related investigations. "West Side Story" depicted the tragedy of gang warfare and wasted lives in beautiful music and dance. Real-life gangs lack romance.