• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Editorial Roundup

Posted on: Thursday, 26 July 2007, 09:20 CDT

By The Associated Press

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

July 21

Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal, on terrorism:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he has a "gut feeling" the United States faces a heightened risk of a terrorist attack this summer. If that weren't enough to concern New Yorkers, a grim but comprehensive U.S. intelligence report says the terror network al-Qaida is gaining strength, despite a variety of tactics used by the Bush administration since 9/11.

Inevitably, Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq will get tied up in the fallout from this report. But Americans and their leaders must focus on what comes next. Aside from gradually pulling troops out of Iraq, the United States must refocus attention on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, where al-Qaida has built up forces, according to the National Intelligence Estimate developed by 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. ...

Through hard work and good fortune since 9/11, federal officials have been able to prevent a domestic terrorist attack. But this threat is persistent, and the United States has to do more abroad and at home to protect the country. One thing is clear: The publicly released portions of this bleak intelligence assessment don't give the Bush administration or Congress any cover to continue with the status quo.

---

On the Net:

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

---

July 22

Chicago Sun-Times, on hazardous products:

The creation of a new government panel by itself won't protect us from hazardous products

We shouldn't have to worry about poison when brushing our teeth, or feeding our dog, or giving our toddler a toy. That's the idea behind a Cabinet-level committee that President Bush formed last week to come up with ways to protect Americans from bad imported products. It's going to take more than another government panel, however, to calm our nerves about toxic toothpaste and other health-threatening goods coming in from China. Before consumers can rest easier, and feel less vulnerable, we need to see federal agencies given the authority to order tainted food off store shelves. As it is, the FDA and USDA can only request food producers to recall it. (Even when their requests are met, very little of the bad food is recovered.)

We also need to see more federal money go toward inspection programs. Imports of Chinese products into the United States are increasing at a dramatic rate. China seems ill-equipped to police itself, and our inspectors are having trouble keeping up. If Bush's new Working Group on Import Safety thinks changes can be made using "existing resources," it is doomed to fail. ...

As we well know from the recent spinach scare and the sickening of people in 19 states by the Veggie Booty snack food, domestic foods need to be rigorously inspected and controlled, too.

---

On the Net:

http://www.sun-times.com

---

July 21

The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., on Michael Vick:

Michael Vick may have a passion for another sport besides football. Last week, a federal grand jury indicted the Atlanta Falcons quarterback on dog fighting charges.

Mr. Vick's association with what the National Football League calls a "cruel, degrading and illegal" activity may mean the end of a promising career. It also has brought the realities of dog fighting into the light.

Until now, dog fighting has involved the shadiest, most unglamorous elements of society - folks whose illegal activity often extends to dealing in drugs and illegal gambling, whose survival depends on staying out of sight and a step ahead of law enforcement.

But Mr. Vick's celebrity has made dog fighting very visible. ...

The truth is, dog fighting takes place all over the nation, but it's especially popular in the South, including Kentucky. ...

So, what should be done to halt this illegal activity? Many things, starting with taking the problem seriously, and aggressively prosecuting those who break the law, which frequently doesn't happen.

Police need to be trained to look for specific and often subtle signs when they investigate.

Even providing a tip line and rewards can help: As one expert explains, "Dog fighters will sell friends down the river for money - or to get rid of the competition." The Vick case shows how high the stakes can be: $26,000 a fight. ...

---

On the Net:

http://www.courier-journal.com

---

July 22

Houston Chronicle, on the Bush administration and uninsured children:

Those who lack insurance coverage frequently delay seeking medical care until they are seriously ill. Then they swamp hospital emergency rooms that are required by law to treat them even if the patient has no ability to pay. ...

The result is a health care system spiraling out of control and more children left unprotected and in poor health.

The senators who voted 17-4 to expand the S-CHIP understand the situation. Their plan would boost funding for S-CHIP from $25 billion to $60 billion for the next five years with the aim of covering 3 million more children. ...

The Bush administration insists on holding the increase to $5 billion over the five year period, a level that U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said would not even maintain the current number of children enrolled.

Administration officials claim that expanding the program would undermine the insurance industry. But having more children insured would lower costs passed on to private insurers and employers. ...

America's health care system is broken. Expanding S-CHIP is a stopgap measure that would expand the number of Americans with access to health care.

---

On the Net:

http://www.chron.com

---

July 23

Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, on mental health services for veterans:

... To overcome the stigma associated with seeking treatment for anxiety and depression, the VA (Veterans Administration) this year is devoting $37.7 million of its nearly $3 billion mental-health budget toward placing psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers within primary care clinics. ...

The expansions should go a long way in helping the VA to begin testing veterans for mild to moderate brain injury, an often unseen problem that can crop up months after service. ...

The VA inspector general earlier this year found that veterans were at increased risk of suicide because of spotty clinic services. That report came after a Pentagon task force said the military health-care system is overburdened, and isn't sufficiently treating troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other war-related psychological problems. ...

The trauma of war is not always physical. But mental and emotional scars are often harder to detect. And veterans who need help are often reluctant to seek treatment.

The expansion of mental-health services including outreach can help remove the stigma so often associated with mental illness.

As the Pentagon works to overhaul health care for troops and veterans, it is gratifying to see mental health becoming a priority.

---

On the Net:

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com

---

July 25

The New York Times, on Americans and Iraq:

The American people have only one question left about Iraq: What is President Bush's plan for a timely and responsible exit? That is the essential precondition for salvaging broader American interests in the Middle East and for waging a more effective fight against Al Qaeda in its base areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And it is exactly the question that Mr. Bush, his top generals and his diplomats so stubbornly and damagingly refuse to answer.

Yesterday provided two more frustrating and shameful examples of this denial. One was a new war plan drawn up by America's top military commander and top diplomat in Baghdad that will keep American troops fighting in Iraq at least until 2009. The other was yet one more speech by President Bush that claimed that Iraq was the do-or-die front in the war on terrorism rather than a rallying point for extremists and a never-ending drain on the resources America needs to fight that fight. ...

Mr. Bush proposed no realistic new plan for more effectively fighting Al Qaeda in its heartland or for exiting from the tragic misadventure in Iraq. Instead he offered the familiar, simplistic and misleading arguments that he used to drag the country into this disastrous war to start.

Prolonging the war for another two years will not bring victory. It will mean more lives lost, more damage to America's international standing and fewer resources to fight the real fight against terrorists. If Mr. Bush's advisers can't tell him that, Congress will have to with a veto-proof majority.

---

On the Net:

http://nytimes.com/

---

July 23

Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal on YouTube and politics:

From Obamagirl to the Democratic debate, next year's presidential race is being significantly affected by Internet video, opening a new channel for citizens to express their political opinions.

The videos, distributed primarily on YouTube, come from a multitude of perspectives and show more creativity and bite than most traditional campaign pieces. From the portrayal of Sen. Hillary Clinton as Big Brother to a lengthy clip of John Edwards primping to the tune of "I feel pretty," they can take a less restrained view than commentary coming from a campaign opponent, party or political organization.

Clinton put out her own YouTube video, but it was overshadowed by an independent offering featuring a young woman singing about her crush on Sen. Barack Obama. The Obamagirl videos in particular have been criticized for trivializing politics. At the worst, they represent another oversexed music video on the World Wide Web. At best, they show the nation's ability to refuse to take its politics too seriously. ...

Independent videos like those on YouTube may not have the dramatic effect on national campaigns that the advent of television did, but they will certainly force changes. At the very least, they have given average citizens an unprecedented way of publicly promoting their point of view.

---

On the Net:

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?CategoryOPINION

---

July 20

The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn., on the blood shortage:

From Anchorage, Alaska, to Washington, D.C., along Florida's Atlantic Coast, in California's Bay Area and elsewhere this week, the newspapers are carrying reports of a blood shortage. It's described as "serious" in some places and "critical" in others.

Blood collection agencies are giving away free meals, T-shirts and door prizes and trying to think of new ways to describe the situation. In Memphis, the word was "horrible." Lifeblood Mid-South Regional Blood Center's Lauran James listed particular needs for supplies of types B and O, both positive and negative, and described the shortage as possibly the worst in the past seven years.

Blood shortages occur in the summer when blood drives decline at high schools, college campuses, corporate offices and the like. At the same time, many patients find summer a convenient time to schedule elective surgeries. ...

The situation is serious here and elsewhere, but it can be reversed by healthy people willing to give blood on a regular basis over the next three months. ...

---

On the Net:

http://www.commercialappeal.com

----

July 25

The Times, London, on summer flooding in London:

... If the torrent of water was not bad enough, the surge of ignorant speculation as to its causes has added to the misery of the season. Numerous commentators and supposed "experts" have asserted that the flooding is proof of global warming. Much the same was contended by similar characters about the mild February (remember that?) enjoyed this year. That this flies totally in the face of the mainstream thesis about climate change that Britain will endure wetter winters and drier summers is plainly immaterial. If the weather moves away from the "norm" in any direction, then it must be global warming.

One camp that has not joined in this ludicrous orgy of false prophecy is the category that should know the most about the weather, the professional meteorologist. Our weather correspondent, Paul Simons, has pointed out that summer floods do occur in Britain rather often. There were, he outlines, dreadful runs of weather in the 1840s, 1910s and 1950s before the advent of low-cost airlines and quantifiable carbon emissions. ...

There is no doubt that the climate is changing and that the planet deserves the benefit of the doubt, but the members of our contemporary apocalyptic cult do not. This year will be warmer than 1860 was (but probably not as hot as 1560). How much of this is part of a natural cycle and how much due to man-made activities is not an exact science. ...

---

On the Net:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

---

July 21

Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan, on six-party talks:

Steps toward North Korea's denuclearization could not be finalized at the latest six-party talks on the country's nuclear issue, and the participants have put off dealing with tough issues.

At the latest meeting, there were no discussions of specific steps on the next phase following Pyongyang's freeze of its nuclear facilities. No deadline was set for that stage, though setting one was to have been (the) meeting's main task.

North Korea has given up nothing that it has acquired from its nuclear programs. Even if complete declaration of nuclear programs and disablement of nuclear facilities is realized, what lies ahead is negotiations on North Korea's nuclear weapons and the abandonment of its nuclear materials, including plutonium.

The United States seems to be rushing to implement the February agreement. But as long as no clear road map toward North Korea's complete abandonment of nuclear programs has been produced, Washington should not opt for easy compromises with Pyongyang.

In this regard, Japan must consult with the United States closely. Tokyo must carefully assess Pyongyang's intentions at the working group on bilateral issues in August.

---

On the Net:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/

---

July 24

Aftonbladet, Stockholm, Sweden, on Kosovo's future:

Is Kosovo going to be another example on how a split EU lets the U.S. set the daily agenda? Ahead of EU's foreign minister meeting yesterday (Monday), British minister David Miliband spoke about a united Europe. If he was serious, Britain needs to change direction. Last week, Kosovo's prime minister stated the province will declare independence on Nov. 28 - this is after the UN security council failed to solve the question. ... To declare independence without UN approval can lead to violent conflicts in Kosovo and in other parts of the western Balkans. The situation in Macedonia is still unstable and in Bosnia, the Serbs are taking yet another step towards autonomy. Yet again, houses can burn in former Yugoslavia...

The U.S. carries a large part of the responsibility. The Bush administration has promised Kosovo independence without permitting room for dialogue with Serbia or Russia... The British have been loyal to the Bush administration, like many times before. The London government put the rest of the EU aside... Now the EU must prove the existence of a common foreign policy worth its name... Is the EU ready to take over the administration of the province during a transition period, even without the approval from the security council? ... The turnabouts about Kosovo is yet another argument the EU should have a common voice in the UN security council. In the short term it is about something more simple: that Britain allows its unity with the EU go before its loyalty ties across the Atlantic.

---

On the Net:

http://www.aftonbladet.se

---

July 25

Ha'aretz, Tel-Aviv, Israel, on Blair and Middle east diplomacy:

... Tony Blair, who began his mission to the area this week, has international standing and extensive political experience. But he will also require the goodwill of his Quartet bosses - U.S. President George W. Bush first and foremost - and of the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority to succeed in his mission to ready the Palestinians for independent statehood.

Israel must not miss the offered opportunity: the appointment of a friendly leader who has proven his support for Israel during difficult times, as the representative of the international community in the region. ...

Blair's mission is a reflection of the international community's interest in solving the conflict. ... Israel should not make do with releasing tax revenues to the PA, or freeing a limited number of prisoners. Steps must be taken to improve the people's lives in the territories. Priority should be given to Olmert's promise to lift roadblocks and other restrictions to Palestinian movement, which is being delayed by the military establishment. ... During the past year and a half, the international Quartet has stood firm on Israel's side versus the Hamas government. ... Now that the Abbas-Fayad government has been stabilized in the West Bank, and Blair's mission has begun, it is Israel's turn to contribute its part.

---

On the Net:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/886053.html

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

More News in this Category