The winners and the losers

• Loser: Months ago, people warned that white supremacists were targeting the Wasatch Front. Those warnings hit home this week when a dozen alleged supremacists started a brawl in a federal courtroom. They were upset at restrictions imposed on them by a federal magistrate. It took 15 deputy U.S. marshals to get them under control. The incident ought to serve as exhibit A for anyone wondering whether supremacists pose a threat to the community.

• Winner: Kudos to the LDS Seminary students at Brighton High who attended the annual Christmas dance this week with students from the Jordan District's school for disabled students. This year's dance marked a quarter century for the tradition, which has done a lot to create compassion for the disabled and to bless the lives of all who attend.

• Loser: It's hard to imagine more disturbing news than reports this week from Amsterdam that a hospital there has been euthanizing terminally ill newborns with lethal doses of sedatives. This comes at a time when the hospital is considering guidelines to govern the practice.

Officials say they are killing babies who are suffering from extreme pain from illnesses that can't be treated or cured, and where their only hope for survival includes artificial life support indefinitely. But, of course, all of that is up to the judgment of doctors.

Opponents of Holland's assisted suicide law have correctly identified this as the next step on a downward slope toward the devaluation of human life. And there is little reason to pick on Holland exclusively. Belgium has a similar law, and France is considering one. In this country, Oregon also allows assisted suicide.