Editorial Roundup: Excerpts From Recent Editorials

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

Jan. 14

The Denver Post on merging government agencies:

Maybe it’s an election-year maneuver crafted for maximum voter appeal, but President Barack Obama’s proposed merger of six large agencies seems like a prudent cost-cutting move in financially trying times.

The White House proposal could eliminate 1,000 jobs and save $3 billion over a decade ….

Obama’s proposal would fold six major business and trade operations into one agency. It also would elevate the head of the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level position.

The plan is designed to give businesses, large and small, better access to government. It is intended to help U.S. businesses export more goods and to grow the economy.

The power the president is seeking also would allow him to propose other government consolidations to federal lawmakers, who would vote them up or down within 90 days. The commerce and trade proposals are supposed to be the first of a series of consolidations.

That all sounds pretty good to us. …

Whether it’s political opportunism should hardly matter so long as it’s good policy.

Online:

www.denverpost.com

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Jan. 15

The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y., on Iran’s nuclear program:

Talking is always preferable to shooting. The greatest skill in international diplomacy is knowing when to talk and when to shoot. … The second greatest strength is believing that here is always at least a faint glimmer of hope that war can be avoided.

On Jan. 12, when all the world, it seemed, was preparing for some kind of military action involving Iran and Israel and/or the United States, Iran shocked the world by agreeing to two diplomatic overtures concerning its nuclear energy program.

For more than three years, Iran has refused to allow the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate claims made by intelligence agencies from the U.S. and other countries that Iran was conducting secret research and development on nuclear weapons.

The IAEA compiled the collected intelligence and produced a report that it released in November. The report concluded that the only purposes for some of the experiments allegedly would be to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran steadfastly denied those charges, but the U.N. agency announced its team would be in Tehran on Jan. 28 to discuss the allegations. Iran still denies the charges, but any agreement to sit and talk about them is a far cry better than the verbal hand grenades that have been lobbed on the issue by politicians in Iran and the U.S.

… For now, it’s enough to acknowledge that talking face-to-face about these matters is far preferable than fighting a war over them.

Online:

http://www.recordonline.com

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Jan. 16

The Iola (Kan.) Register on an “Equalization Tax”:

As Congress returns to Washington after the holiday break its members must pick up where they left off by extending the Social Security tax cut and providing unemployment payments to the long-term unemployed for the final nine months remaining in 2012.

Those recession-fighting benefits that go almost entirely to the 99 percent have a price tag of $160 billion, give or take a billion. Economists worry that letting the cuts expire might shove the country back into recession. But nobody, from the Obama administration on down, has come up with a way to pay for the perks within a reasonable period of time.

Many of the ideas proposed would be permanent changes that would cut spending or raise revenues in relatively small amounts… eliminating Saturday delivery of mail and other postal service reforms, for instance, would only pay for two months of the temporary tax cuts but would last forever. …

In World War II, Congress inaugurated luxury taxes to raise money for the war.

A similar tactic would make sense today. As has been pointed out over and over again for the past three years, the impact of the Great Recession has been grossly unequal. While the poor became desperately poor, the rich grew richer. The way to pay for the payroll tax cuts is to impose a yearlong “Equalization Tax” on the very rich. Not to punish them, but to make it unnecessary to raise a batch of taxes permanently on the nation as a whole.

Willie Sutton, a notorious bank robber in the 1920s and ’30s, was asked why he only robbed banks. “Because,” he said, “that’s where the money is.”

Sutton’s logic applies to the dilemma Congress faces. It should tap the rich for this $160 billion because they have it, won’t miss it and bear enough responsibility for the economic collapse to make Congress feel virtuous for sending the bill to them.

Online:

The Iola Register – Local news, sports, photos and more from Allen County, Kansas

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Jan. 13

The News & Observer of Raleigh on Taliban corpses video:

Brutality is a fact of war. America’s enemies have long practiced it, and so in some instances have our troops. None of that makes it any easier to stomach, and so U.S. officials’ outrage over an incident in Afghanistan that allegedly involved Camp Lejeune-based Marines is genuine.

Urinating on Taliban corpses — if what a video purports to show is in fact the case — violates military rules and legal codes. If the allegations prove out, punishments are in order — something that sets the U.S. military above many of its foes.

Bad conduct by our troops also complicates the U.S. mission in the entire region. Yes, that mission involves killing the enemy. But it also means gaining trust and respect among the Muslim population. That is why our defense secretary and the secretary of state spoke out so quickly and strongly, and why our troops must keep the big picture — not gloating videos — always in mind.

Online:

http://www.newsobserver.com

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Jan. 12

Chicago Sun-Times on religious freedom:

The U.S. Supreme Court spoke clearly and firmly on the issue of religious freedom recently, boldly affirming the constitutional principle that prevents government meddling in the affairs of religious groups.

The decision, arguably the most important on religious freedom in a generation, is a crucial victory for religious liberty and a strong affirmation of the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment.

In a unanimous ruling, the court backed the rights of religious groups to hire and fire religious employees without government interference. Specifically, it held for the first time that religious employees working for religious groups cannot sue for employment discrimination. This “ministerial exception” has been recognized by lower courts for years, and the unanimous decision reflects a broad consensus on this topic. …

The case involved a Michigan teacher, Cheryl Perich, with narcolepsy who was fired from a Lutheran Church school. She claimed that the church fired her for pursuing an employment discrimination case.

Were she a secular employee, Perich could have possibly made a case, but she taught religious subjects in a religious institution. The court found, correctly in our view, that the government can’t second-guess hiring decisions by religious groups. The court intentionally left vague the definition of an employee doing religious work, but the concept is that secular employees working for religious groups can avail themselves of government protection from discrimination.

Perich’s lawyers and the Obama administration argued the ruling could potentially erode protections for religious employees who, for example, report sexual abuse. Roberts responded by saying those questions could be addressed if they arise. It’s an area where vigilance is needed, to be sure, but those risks do not outweigh the risk of undermining bedrock American principles of religious liberty.

Online:

http://www.suntimes.com

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Jan. 12

Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach, on U.S. immigration policy:

President Barack Obama’s fourth year in office will be the 12th consecutive year that Americans have lived under a socialistic, Big Government approach to immigration. In fact, Obama has taken these hawkish tactics further than George W. Bush ever did. Since 2009, the Obama administration has deported illegal immigrants at a rate doubling the Bush administration’s most aggressive deportation drives.

Socialists like to control the workforce and the freedom to roam, so aggressive immigration policies come naturally.

But 2012 is an election year, and Obama’s vigorous deportation program has bruised his support among Hispanics. In an attempt to win them back, the president plans to adjust a policy that has ripped apart families and has kept illegals from becoming legal. …

The Obama administration announced a proposed regulatory change that would allow non-criminal illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. while applying for legal status. The change would guarantee that more illegal immigrants take steps to comply with the law. It also means that children and spouses of non-criminal illegal immigrants won’t be left in a lurch as a parent or spouse goes away for years to obtain permission to live in the U.S.

This is a positive move from an administration that has, until now, indulged a ham-handed approach to immigration that was more oppressive than anything embarked upon by our last three Republican presidents.

The policy change should please those who understand the crucial role that undocumented immigrants play in funding government, producing wealth and consuming goods and services. It also should please activists who say their only concern involves the residency status of illegal immigrants. If we help illegals become legal, the problem of illegality subsides. Everyone wins.

Online:

http://www.nwfdailynews.com

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Jan. 16

St. Louis Post-Dispatch on ethanol subsidies:

Congressional gridlock isn’t always bad. Sometimes doing nothing yields something.

So it was that when the nation’s beleaguered senators and representatives left the Beltway for the holidays, a $6 billion subsidy for ethanol production that had been in place for three decades expired on Jan. 1.

See how easy it can be to cut the federal budget?

But this one was harder than it looked. It took many years for nothing to yield something.

For 30 years, a powerful corn lobby and the prominent Iowa presidential caucus combined to create an entire generation of politicians in both major political parties who defended outdated subsidies originally created to help an upstart industry. The idea was that corn-based ethanol mixed with gasoline theoretically could reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil. …

The rise of the Tea Party and its distaste for government spending reduced the support within Republican circles for ethanol subsidies. That’s particularly so because the market already is tilted toward the corn growers by state and federal mandates that require gasoline to be mixed with various percentages of ethanol.

And liberal Democrats, too, have grown uneasy with the subsidies, in part because of environmental concerns. Other biofuels hold much more promise, and corn-based ethanol subsidies have raised food prices worldwide.

The lesson in this harmonic convergence of Tea Partiers and Occupy Wall Streeters, where the extreme elements of both parties conspired successfully against the middle, is that all corporate subsidies should have a beginning and an end. …

Ethanol will survive. Our republic, too, will make it through these divided times. If the left and right can agree to let the ethanol subsidy expire, there is hope.

Online:

http://www.stltoday.com

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Jan. 17

San Francisco Chronicle on online piracy:

The White House made the right call by opposing key ingredients in congressional proposals to curb Internet piracy. The stance should go a long way to snuff out a misguided effort that undercuts the wide-open qualities of the online world.

This battle is no easy call. It pits Silicon Valley against Hollywood over control, responsibility and the legal abuses of the Internet. At issue is a pair of bills in the House and Senate that go after the online theft of copyright materials such as movies and music peddled on pirate websites. California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are sponsors of the Senate measure, though their support could shift. A possible upcoming vote would force each to choose between two high-profile home-state industries.

The tech world from small websites to big operators such as Google, Facebook and Twitter is up in arms over the nightstick buried in the proposals. In differing ways the two bills would allow copyright holders such as songwriters or filmmakers to go after Internet providers and payment networks, who have nothing to do with illegal pirating. Hollywood interests say this is the only way to stop the illicit trade, which is based overseas and out of reach.

Washington must wish this fight never came its way. Both sides in this fight are prized interest groups which symbolize American ingenuity and leadership, not to mention timely campaign contributions.

Who wants to pick between Mark Zuckerberg and Steven Spielberg? …

In citing its misgivings, a team of Obama security and tech experts hit all the high notes: The proposals invite censorship at a time when the United States is encouraging Internet freedom worldwide, risk cybersecurity worries by pushing web users to find ways to evade the suggested controls, and throws a blanket over the “dynamic, innovative” nature of the digital beast.

Washington should consider other, more carefully targeted ways to combat a serious problem.

Online:

http://www.sfgate.com

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Jan. 17

The Montreal Gazette on sex-selected abortions:

Refusing a woman information about the sex of her fetus is the wrong way for Canada to try to stop a trend toward sex-selected abortions – if in fact there is such a trend.

But this is precisely the approach urged by Rajendra Kale, interim editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Citing research that suggests Asian immigrants to Canada abort female fetuses, hoping to instead conceive a boy, Kale has called for a ban on disclosing the sex of the fetus until 30 weeks into a pregnancy. At that point, abortions are harder to obtain.

But the problem behind sex-selected abortions is cultural, and the solution to it must also be cultural. Changing beliefs that denigrate the worth of women and girls is a difficult proposition, but it is the only approach worth trying. Manipulating information so that people can’t act on such belief is an effort that is doomed to fail.

Canada places equal value on men and women. It is opposed to practices such as sex-selected abortion. We need to make sure that this message is heard by all Canadians. …

Women being coerced to abort is a real problem. If we want an end to sex-selected abortion, helping women resist pressure from their families is a far better place to start.

Online:

http://www.montrealgazette.com

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Jan. 17

London Evening Standard on European economies:

Figures for December’s inflation rate, down 0.6 percent to 4.2 percent, will come as welcome news for the Chancellor. High inflation has raised the specter of 1970s-style “stagflation” — inflation without economic growth — and the drop in the Consumer Prices Index lessens that prospect. It should also provide a sliver of relief to hard-pressed consumers. The drop is thanks mainly to falling oil prices, which are expected to push inflation lower over the course of the year. But food prices rose again last month.

The bigger worry remains the state of the global economy. The bailout of the eurozone’s debt crisis continues to stall: the downgrading by Standard & Poor’s of nine nations including France was followed by the agency’s downgrade of the bailout fund itself, the European Financial Stability Facility. Greece edges towards default: its talks with banks on the size of “haircut” they will have to take on Greek debt have failed. Many European banks remain very weak. And the European crisis is starting to have a global impact: new figures show that Chinese growth slowed to an annualized rate of 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2011. While that is still the kind of growth that Europe and America can only dream of, the slowdown highlights the globalized nature of today’s international economy. Given that China is for the moment the biggest motor of global growth, the hope is for a “soft landing” for the Chinese economy.

… Forecasters have warned that the UK economy has slipped back into recession; even if it has not, this will still be a lean year.

Online:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk

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Jan. 16

The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on Chinese-Taiwanese relations:

In Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 14, voters gave qualified support, not unconditional approval, to expanded ties with China. That probably best sums up the election outcome.

Incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) won re-election, defeating Tsai Ing-wen, head of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party.

China-Taiwan relations soured markedly during the previous government of the DPP. Ma was first elected president four years ago by promising to mend ties with China. Ma implemented a series of steps to deliver on his pledge. He launched regular direct flights between Taiwan and China, lifted a ban on visits by mainland Chinese and struck an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement for free cross-strait trade.

Ma, declaring his election victory while being pelted by a pouring rain, stressed that the expansion of Taiwan’s economic ties and trade with China during his first term had strong voter support. He pledged to continue his China policy for the next four years.

Indeed, relations between China and Taiwan have been on a roll recently. Mainland tourists visiting Taiwan now outnumber Japanese visitors. Chinese students are beginning to come to the island to study. The current state of the cross-strait relationship is a far cry from what it was 16 years ago when Beijing tried to intimidate Taiwan by test-firing missiles during a presidential election. …

Beijing, if it really wants political dialogue with the island, should demonstrate its sincerity by taking steps to build a peaceful and favorable environment for cross-strait talks, such as removing the missiles aimed at Taiwan. We sincerely hope the new Chinese leadership that will be elected in the party convention this autumn will make serious efforts to improve the diplomatic climate for political talks with Taiwan. …

Online:

http://ajw.asahi.com

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Jan. 15

The Jerusalem Post on Iran’s nuclear program:

Iran seems intent on pushing forward with its nuclear program and there seems to be no surefire way of stopping it. If the current situation continues, we might have to face the horrific prospect of learning to live with a nuclear Iran.

It has been five years since the UN Security Council first demanded that Iran cease enriching uranium. But the Islamic Republic continues to defy international pressure and is stubbornly advancing with what appears to be a bid to acquire nuclear weapons in the coming year. …

The imminent opening of the new enrichment site further complicates a military option. Since the new facility is buried deep underground at a well-defended military site, it is considered far more resistant to air strikes than the existing enrichment site at Natanz. And even if a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities succeeded, the geopolitical fallout is liable to be nightmarish, although the prospect of a nuclear Iran is no less of a nightmare.

Covert actions, in contrast, carry much less of a risk, but are also less effective. For instance, the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, undoubtedly dealt a blow to Iran’s nuclear program.

But the delay, if any, is only temporary since Roshan is obviously not the only person in Iran privy to nuclear know-how. …

Economic sanctions, meanwhile, have so far not changed Iranian nuclear policy, though they have caused some damage. Indeed, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, there have been numerous attempts to influence Iranian policy through economic sanctions. …

A combination of covert operations, economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure, while at the same time keeping the military option “on the table,” is the only way to convince Tehran to back down. And maintaining a broad coalition of countries behind the sanctions is the best way to make them effective.

Online:

http://www.jpost.com