AP News, October 3rd, 2007
Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
Sept. 30
The Durango (Colo.) Herald, on private security contractors in Iraq:
Only half of the individuals representing coalition interests in Iraq are members of the military. The other half _ more than half, actually _ are civilians working for private contracting firms whose responsibilities include protecting other contractors and U.S. officials. ...
Unfortunately, it is money that has had to be spent. ... The lack of civil order after the fall of Baghdad in March 2003 uncapped ethnic and religious acrimonies, and made looting possible.
Politics made a military-only response to the surprising, guerrilla-like uprising impossible. ...
It was the private sector that was able to respond quickly and with no political risk to the need for more manpower. All that was needed was money, and the majority party found that easy to provide.
Now it is clear that the private contractors have brought trouble of their own to the U.S. in Iraq. Mid-September's attack on civilians by employees of Blackwater Security Consulting looks to have been unprovoked and unwarranted. ...
Private security contractors are operating in murky ethical and legal areas where unwarranted actions can reflect poorly on the United States. Military codes of conduct do not apply, nor does military law. ...
The administration and Congress need to determine the proper oversight for civilian contractors and make it clear that there are consequences. ...
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On the Net:
http://tinyurl.com/ysz8y9
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Sept. 30
The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss., on a presidential veto and the effect on south Mississippi:
President Bush has visited South Mississippi 15 times since Aug. 29, 2005. ...
On his most recent visit here, on the second anniversary of the great storm, he sat in a room in Bay St. Louis with our political leadership, including Sen. Trent Lott, Congressman Gene Taylor and local mayors and county supervisors, and they told him that the thing we need most now, the one thing that is necessary for our rebuilding and recovery efforts, is multiple-peril insurance.
So it was with disappointment, sadness, and perhaps bewilderment, that we learned Wednesday that the president was being advised to veto this most important piece of legislation on the very eve of debate in the House of Representatives. ...
We have gone back and reviewed the sweet words and promises that the president has uttered on each of his visits. And while we have appreciated each visit, and the support, including billions in aid that he has supported and that the Congress and the American people have provided us following the worst natural disaster in American history, we must regard his administration's threat of a veto as breaking faith with our people, tens of thousands of whom are still struggling to survive in the devastation zone. ...
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On the Net:
http://www.sunherald.com/278/story/154209.html
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Oct. 2
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., on the Jena 6:
Evoking memories of civil rights marches in Birmingham and Selma, although thankfully without the violence, is not at all a bad thing. A new generation, we hope, will be inspired by ideals of justice. Perhaps Jena will help teach the positive values of activism to the young.
Yet we cannot help but wonder what national attention on the Jena 6 controversy missed. ...
One thing that has received too little national attention in all this: the grinding poverty of the Delta region.
Many of the farm towns of the Delta, from just north of Baton Rouge to Memphis, are places where schools are poor, expectations for the future are low, opportunities for advancement extremely limited. ...
Some of the poorest towns in America are in the Delta.
Across the nation, people are talking about a rebirth of activism because of Jena. We hope there's a rebirth of action about the waste of lives in the Delta, every day.
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On the Net:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/10167841.html
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Sept. 30
Bristol (Tenn.) Herald Courier, on capital punishment:
The landscape of capital punishment in the United States is rapidly shifting.
A federal judge ruled that Tennessee's lethal injection method is unconstitutional. Then, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear a challenge to Kentucky's lethal injection process similar to that used in Tennessee.
Until the high court rules, no condemned man or woman should be put to death using the challenged lethal injection protocol. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen must declare a moratorium pending the court's decision. ...
Lethal injection was adopted to put a humane veneer on the taking of a human life in the name of the state. However, it isn't clear that lethal injection under the common three-drug protocol is more humane than the execution methods that came before it. The high court, guided by science, should settle this issue. ...
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On the Net:
http://tinyurl.com/2ufyb6
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Sept. 30
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, on Iraq:
The fact that the Senate last week voted in favor of a measure _ albeit a non-binding one _ that would divide Iraq into sectarian regions shows how out of touch our well-meaning lawmakers are with what Iraqis, who make up what President Bush repeatedly refers to as a sovereign, democratic nation, want.
Fortunately, there are those who know the hearts of Iraqis, such as Raed Jarrar, a political analyst and consultant to the D.C.-based American Friends Service Committee's Iraq Program. In a recent piece he co-wrote for alternet.org, Jarrar said that those defining the civil war within Iraq as a religious conflict alone miss the point. Iraq's war is over control of the country and its energy supplies, not over Allah. ...
The White House last week put on a show about disagreeing with the Senate measure, but in reality, our government supports the separatists, who control Iraq's Cabinet, not the nationalists, who want a unified Iraq and aren't keen to pipe out their energy resources as the U.S. sees fit, and who are frequently the targets of attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq. The parties in the Cabinet are the same parties that appeared at the London Conference in 2002, when the case for war on Iraq was being made. In other words, nothing has changed since that time.
Until we truly understand why Iraqis are fighting, we have no hope in helping bring about long-term peace required to bring the country back together, allowing Iraqis to heal.
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On the Net:
http://www.seattlepi.com
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Oct. 1
The Kentucky Post, Covington, Ky., on Social Security:
With the national election just over the horizon, the Bush administration is quickly approaching lame-duck status and has run out of time to resolve the Social Security crisis. ...
Candidates for the presidency and Congress should not be allowed to ask for the country's votes next November without explaining in detail where they stand.
With baby boomers retiring, the Social Security system is expected to begin paying out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes by 2017. Unless there are changes on either the benefits or revenue side, the program will have depleted its reserves by 2041. ...
There is no question Congress is just as aware of the ticking time bomb of Social Security as the American people are, especially those at or near retirement age.
But summoning the political courage to act will be difficult. Anyone running for office will have to be pushed to promote the painful remedy that will be required. It will be up to the press and the people to make that happen.
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On the Net:
http://tinyurl.com/2zff2d
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Oct. 1
The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, on banning books:
We feel that Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho" is a disturbingly violent book with no redeeming qualities. The tale is a descent into madness, where a well-to-do businessman acts out his murderous fantasies on prostitutes, girlfriends, co-workers, beggars and even a 5-year-old child.
So why in the world should our public libraries spend taxpayer money on this book? Or any other of a number of controversial, shocking books?
Because this is America, that's why. This is a country where freedom of speech is defended, where we are free to have open discussions of ideas.
That's why we join with the American Library Association in marking Banned Book Week this week. We feel that censorship of any idea, no matter how repugnant, is un-American.
Of all the words in the description of "American Psycho" above, we hope "We feel" stand out the most.
We're not telling you that you can't read it. We would never presume to take away your rights to make decisions for you or your children.
Because that's how we would feel if someone kept books from us such as "A Wrinkle in Time," "How to Eat Fried Worms," "Of Mice and Men," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Light In the Attic" or any number of books that filled our lives with magic, humor and emotion.
Yet that's how banning a book gets started. One or two people read something offensive, then go on a campaign to make the decision for everyone.
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On the Net:
http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/local_story_274214856.html
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Sept. 30
Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, on Sam Brownback's Senate seat:
While Sen. Sam Brownback is busy running for president, Kansas has lost a big chunk of its representation in the U.S. Senate.
Brownback once again was listed as a no-show at last week's important vote on increased spending for the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
As of Sept. 27, Brownback had missed 131 Senate votes during the current Congress, according to washingtonpost.com, which monitors all congressional voting records. That's more than a third of the votes taken. ...
A presidential campaign is, of course, demanding. By way of comparison, washingtonpost.com gave these statistics for other senators in the race: John McCain has missed 51 percent of the votes; Barack Obama, 25 percent; and Hillary Clinton, 9 percent. The missed votes should bolster the argument for a shorter, defined campaign period.
At this point, Brownback's chances of winning the Republican nomination for president are small. ...
It could be argued that Kansas benefits somewhat from Brownback's campaign, but it's questionable whether that benefit is at all comparable to the need for Kansans to be fully represented in the U.S. Senate.
Brownback is certainly within his rights to pursue his presidential dream, but Kansans also have a right to question Brownback's decision to abandon his Senate duties to pursue what appears to be an unlikely political goal.
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On the Net:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/sep/30/missing_congress/
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Oct. 3
Jyllands-Posten, Aarhus, Denmark, on Putin considering becoming Russia's prime minister:
Russia has had a hard time with democracy ever since the Soviet Union collapsed, and during his nearly eight years as president, Vladimir Putin has made no effort to push development in that direction, although it has been his declared ambition to create a strong, modern and internationally respected Russia.
None of these ambitions have been met, least of all the international respect, which has been further eroded by Putin's decision to remain the central figure in the Kremlin.
Quite true, he doesn't want to be president but in the autocratic structure that he created, Russia's next president can be the puppet of a strong prime minister. Should the next president fail to stay the course, the constitution says the presidency should be taken over by ... the prime minister.
Russia today is ruled by the circle (of people) around Putin who all, by and large, have a past in the KGB, and consequently are trained to think and act uniformly.
That might have been a strength following the tumultuous (President Boris) Yeltsin era but can only weaken Russia's international position now.
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On the Net
http://www.jp.dk
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Sept. 28
Red Deer Advocate, Alberta, Canada, on new technologies and consumerism:
... All of what we say over e-mail or phone calls, or even chatting as we walk downtown, is being recorded by somebody, somewhere.
And it's being used to sell us stuff.
The technology to do this is straight out of Orwell-meets-science fiction.
Mass readers can monitor cellphone calls, record the caller's identity and listen in on what's being said.
Last week, a U.S. phone company announced it can run these recorded conversations through software that will send advertisements to the owner of the cellphone, based on the content of the call.
So be careful about how you describe certain hockey players from last night's game.
Either you'll get a travel ad with a special deal to the teams next game or the listing of thugs for hire.
Radio chips are being put into common consumer items, says Schneier, that will transmit our shopping patterns through a store, spy on what's in our fridge and count our personal hygiene items.
Big Brother stores your e-mail address and your medical records.
Anything you say or do in the electronic world is impossible to erase.
That's scary stuff to people who value their privacy. But in numbers growing too fast to contemplate, it seems that young people are not only unafraid of this lack of privacy, they eagerly embrace the brave new world. ...
... And there appears to be no technical barrier for someone, somewhere to know every minor factoid of our daily existence.
For one generation, the prospect chills.
For another, it's just how we live _ in fact, it's kind of cool. ...
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On the Net:
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/
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Oct. 3
The Independent, London, on Myanmar:
Two weeks of sustained popular protest against one of the most repressive and vicious regimes on earth have alerted the world to the terrible suffering of the Burmese people. But the fruits of this spectacular demonstration of courage have so far been depressingly meager. The military regime has been rattled by the protests, but the generals remain in control.
The United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, was forced to wait four days before he was finally granted access to General Than Shwe and the other top generals of the so-called State Peace and Development Council yesterday. Mr. Gambari has now returned to New York to report to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. But there are no indications that he will have anything positive to relate. The generals seem to be in no mood to make political concessions.
This is because the streets are no longer thronging with outraged crowds. ... The protests are continuing, but the participants have been made invisible. Some 4,000 monks, who have spearheaded these protests, were dragged out of their monasteries by night last week and herded into military camps. ...
One might have expected the international community, after its loud condemnation of the Burmese regime last week, to be alive to the ways in which these protests have shifted form. But there seems to be almost a sense of relief from western capitals now that the situation in Burma appears to have calmed and the domestic pressure to make uncomfortable decisions has subsided. ...
The streets of Burma's cities may give the impression of calm, but this is a country still in turmoil. It is the responsibility of the international community to stand in solidarity with the Burmese people through the coming storm.
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On the Net:
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article3021288.ece
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Oct. 2
Lietuvos Rytas, Vilnius, Lithuania, on elections in Ukraine:
Ukraine made one more step toward democracy. ... Not just because pro-Western forces who once were behind the Orange Revolution won a majority of ballots. And not even because (Viktor) Yanukovych, often labeled as pro-Russian, will probably lose the prime minister's post for the time being. ...
The main victory for Ukraine is that these elections have peacefully ended a serious political crisis, paving the way for the country's further development toward a truly democratic regime and the family of European nations. This means that Kiev passed a serious exam and strengthened the foundations of its democracy.
Secondly, the Ukrainian people, tired of never-ending political scandals, voted actively on Sunday. A 63 percent turnout is a result Lithuania and other European countries can only dream of.
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On the Net:
http://www.lrytas.lt
