Daily Editorials from Creators Syndicate

GOP Offers Cheaper Approach to Health Reform for 11/09/2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Republicans are offering an alternative health reform plan that should at least be debated before Congress rushes to turn the nation's health care system inside out.

But that likely won't happen. The House is poised to vote today or tomorrow on a health care package that, despite fierce objections from moderates and conservatives who fear it will result in higher taxes, bigger deficits a ...

Updated: Mon Nov 09, 2009

Climate Bill May Become Cold Case for 11/09/2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A global warming bill to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions finally passed out of a key Senate committee this week, but in a way that may spell its demise — at least for this year.

By clearing its first Senate hurdle, the Kerry-Boxer bill at best may have achieved a symbolic victory, as Reuters news agency put it, "allowing President Barack Obama to tout progress in the run- ...

Updated: Mon Nov 09, 2009

Punishing the Un-pure for 11/10/2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The two major political parties have a few things in common after all. Neither is all that respectful and tolerant of different points of view within the ranks, and both are all too eager to purge themselves of those who don't follow the party line.

As Congress toys with a major revision of our nation's health care system, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is a central player in the Sena ...

Updated: Tue Nov 10, 2009

Tumbling Down for 11/10/2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!"

President Ronald Reagan

West Berlin

June 12, 1987

When President Reagan demanded that the Soviet Union dismantle the greatest symbol of its tyranny, the Berlin Wall, many viewed it as mere rhetorical bluster. Few if any could possibly envision the Wall coming down just two years later.

Indeed, 20 years ag ...

Updated: Tue Nov 10, 2009

Brave New World of Prescriptions for 11/11/2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

It's becoming rare to sit through an entire television program without seeing at least one commercial advertisement that's trying to convince you to get a prescription for some new medicine. The Associated Press reports that drug companies last year spent more than $4 billion on such advertising.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that some medicines prescribed ...

Updated: Wed Nov 11, 2009

Understanding Reform Doesn't Come from Handicapping It for 11/11/2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Here's something you won't learn from reading headlines or obsessively watching text crawl across the bottom of the TV screen: Health care reform isn't a horse race.

It doesn't turn on what the latest key member of Congress said this morning or the latest poll by an influential industry group.

It moves slower than a horse race and slower than a 24-hour news cycle. Understanding it ...

Updated: Wed Nov 11, 2009

Congress Should Probe What Officials Knew about Fort Hood Shooter for 11/12/2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Questions need to be asked about what both the Army and civilian intelligence authorities knew about the mental state and political views of Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist whose shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas has left 13 dead and 29 wounded.

News reports and comments from members of Congress indicate there were warning flags that should have alerted the Army that Hasan, a ...

Updated: Thu Nov 12, 2009

Discontent and the Democratic Party for 11/12/2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Last Tuesday's election results may not signal that the Republicans are back as a party capable of putting together a winning national coalition, and the result in New York's 23rd congressional district might presage a bitter intraparty squabble. But as much as White House spokespeople attempted to downplay the significance of gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, there are reason ...

Updated: Thu Nov 12, 2009

Signs Were Missed for 11/13/2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

It seems clear that federal authorities missed key signs that Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasan was deeply troubled.

It is easy to second-guess these signs as clearly pointing to the deadly rampage last week. But a failure of prognostication is not the issue. It's likely that no one could have predicted what happened based on the clues Hasan was leaving.

Still, the Army ...

Updated: Fri Nov 13, 2009

Health Bills Could Add to Uninsured for 11/13/2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

One can certainly understand why former President Clinton has urged Senate Democrats not to waste any time getting some version of government-heavy health insurance overhaul to the Senate floor. The more people examine the version passed by the House — which, contrary to prior promises, was not available online for 72 hours before the vote — the more objections arise.

Mr. Cli ...

Updated: Fri Nov 13, 2009

Give Ford Credit for 11/16/2009

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Ford Motor Co. should be treated fairly as Congress revises rules governing financial institutions. Ford has had an application pending with federal regulators to create and operate an industrial loan company. There is a possibility that any new industrial loan firms could be banned by pending reform legislation.

An industrial loan company is essentially a kind of bank. If Ford Motor ...

Updated: Mon Nov 16, 2009

Iraq Takes a Step for 11/16/2009

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Iraqi Parliament passed a law Sunday to administer an election in January. This doesn't necessarily mean the election will go smoothly or that it will be followed by peace, tranquility and a growing understanding of freedom or democracy. But it is a helpful step, one that should remove pretexts for delaying the drawdown of U.S. troops.

Iraq is still a deeply divided country in which ...

Updated: Mon Nov 16, 2009

Congress Gets It Right on Knives for 11/17/2009

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Most of us probably don't say it enough, but Congress does, actually, do some good things. Although it's easy to criticize members when they step outside their constitutional limits, we often fail to recognize them when they make the right decisions. With that in mind, this page tips its hat to members of the House and Senate who recognized a new Customs and Border Patrol definition of switchblade ...

Updated: Tue Nov 17, 2009

New Survey Shows Weaknesses in U.S. Primary Care for 11/17/2009

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

If you're planning to get sick outside of regular business hours, you'd be well advised to do it in the Netherlands.

Almost every Dutch primary care doctor -- 97 percent, to be precise -- has a nurse or physician backup who will see patients who get sick after hours, a new international survey has found.

The Netherlands also is where to go if you want a doctor who uses el ...

Updated: Tue Nov 17, 2009

From Copenhagen to Nopenhagen for Climate Treaty for 11/18/2009

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

In a major blow to the campaign against the presumed threat of global warming, world leaders acknowledge that a legally binding global treaty won't be approved at next month's 192-nation climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The concession Sunday significantly delays U.N. efforts to orchestrate a treaty to limit greenhouse gases to replace the Kyoto treaty, which expires in 2012. ...

Updated: Wed Nov 18, 2009

Lack of Sensibility in Desperation for 11/18/2009

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Figures released last Friday showing unemployment nationally at 10.2 percent suggest that those who proclaimed the end of the recession when GDP rose 3.5 percent during the third quarter were more than a little premature. Is a "jobless recovery" really a recovery?

The classic definition of a recession's end is two quarters, not one, of increasing gross domestic product, and ...

Updated: Wed Nov 18, 2009

Weak Dollar Can't Be Exploited Much Longer As a Tool To Jump-Start U.S. Economy for 11/19/2009

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

President Barack Obama tried this week on his visit to China to persuade the Chinese to allow their currency, the yuan, to rise to reflect the true market. Critics have long contended that the Chinese have kept the value of the yuan against other currencies artificially low to fuel exports. But the president is standing on a shaky platform in critiquing other nations' monetary policies and the ...

Updated: Thu Nov 19, 2009

Hunger, a Third World Problem, Affects a Sixth of the U.S. for 11/19/2009

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The number of Americans without enough to eat has reached the highest level since the federal government began keeping track 14 years ago.

About 49 million people — including almost one of every four children — lived with hunger last year, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's an increase of 13 million people since 2007, when t ...

Updated: Thu Nov 19, 2009

Presidential Backbone -- Obama Failing To Lead on Immigration Reform for 11/20/2009

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Obama administration clearly has the right ideas about immigration reform — namely, a comprehensive approach that combines enhanced border enforcement and more effective employer sanctions with a pathway to earned legalization for those illegal immigrants already living in the United States. Granted, we think the White House is committing a colossal error in judgment by deliberately o ...

Updated: Fri Nov 20, 2009

China's War for 'Warcraft' for 11/20/2009

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Why is it important to condemn government regulation of the Internet? You don't have to look much further for an answer than China's latest battle to preside over the "World of Warcraft" computer game.

In a power struggle of galactic proportions, two bureaucratic Chinese government agencies are squabbling as to which is entitled to regulate the ultrapopular online fantasy role- ...

Updated: Fri Nov 20, 2009