Daily Editorials from Creators Syndicate

Dingell's Carbon Plan Serves Economy Best for 11/18/2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Congress seems to be moving toward a law that will sharply limit carbon emissions. Given that that's the case, such legislation should be balanced to have minimal impact on economic growth and job creation.

That's one of the reasons we are hoping Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich, prevails in fending off a challenge from California Rep. Henry Waxman, who hopes to unseat him as chairman of the Ho ...

Updated: Tue Nov 18, 2008

Closing Guantanamo for 11/18/2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

During the presidential campaign, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain both promised to close the detention center for terrorists at Guantanamo. One week after Obama became president-elect, that promise was back in the news as some of his advisers said that one of the new administration's top priorities would be closing down the facility.

That is good news. The "temporar ...

Updated: Tue Nov 18, 2008

Big Three Bailout Alone Won't Save U.S. Car Industry for 11/19/2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Congress should be highly skeptical of yet another federal bailout — this time for the U.S. auto industry.

The Senate this week is debating a $25 billion emergency loan package to pull Chrysler, Ford and General Motors off the road to bankruptcy. The U.S. automakers are bleeding billions of dollars each quarter because of weak sales and high overhead. Without federal aid, analysts ...

Updated: Wed Nov 19, 2008

Big Three's Critics Have Got the Facts Wrong for 11/19/2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Ignorance and misinformation are the greatest obstacles facing automakers this week as they try to convince Congress that financial assistance from the government is essential to saving the industry.

Few in Washington have their facts right when it comes to these companies.

Sunday, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., claimed on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the automakers "d ...

Updated: Wed Nov 19, 2008

Young, Troubled Hearts for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A new study suggesting that grossly overweight children have the arteries of a typical 45-year-old illustrates why kids need to spend more time exercising and less time in front of televisions and computers.

A report Wednesday by the Journal Sentinel's John Fauber said the study found more evidence that the process of arterial disease begins early in life, increasing the risk of prematur ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

Hearings Expose Detroit's Image Problem for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Why do they hate us?

That's the question anyone associated with Detroit's automobile industry must be asking today after witnessing the openly hostile reception a U.S. Senate committee gave the heads of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler and the United Auto Workers on Tuesday.

It wasn't so much what the senators said — although that was often brutally frank &mdas ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

Obama's Great Expectations Problem for 11/21/2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

When a man or a woman shatters a racial, ethnic or gender barrier, the "pioneer" or "groundbreaker" or shatterer of "glass ceilings" inherits the weight of great expectations.

The title "First Black This" or "First Woman That" or "First Hispanic Whatever" carries special demands — and surely much more so for the nation's f ...

Updated: Fri Nov 21, 2008

Obama Can Have Diversity and Best People for 11/21/2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

If President-elect Barack Obama nominates Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state, should it be considered a diversity hire or a case of choosing the best person for the job?

The question is ridiculous. People should debate whether Clinton, after eight years in the Senate, is qualified to be the nation's top diplomat. They should debate whether her husband's international business deali ...

Updated: Fri Nov 21, 2008

Surge in Piracy Must Be Met With Force for 11/22/2008

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Three months after taking office in 1801, President Thomas Jefferson rebuffed Tripoli's demand that the fledgling United States pay $225,000 in ransom to end pirate attacks against American merchant vessels off the North African coast. Instead, Jefferson dispatched Navy frigates to the Mediterranean, setting the stage for the Barbary wars that ultimately eradicated the pirate menace.

Thi ...

Updated: Sat Nov 22, 2008

Congress Can't Risk Collapse of Domestic Auto Industry for 11/22/2008

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Congress has opened for Detroit's automakers a narrow path to the financial bailout they say is essential to their survival. The Big Three now have 11 days to put together convincing arguments that the federal aid will bridge them across this crisis.

We urge the companies to sharpen their political skills and make a better showing when they return to Congress on Dec. 2. We also caution l ...

Updated: Sat Nov 22, 2008

Hank's Mulligan for 11/25/2008

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In golf, you'd call what Henry Paulson did a mulligan. Paulson calls it "adjusting our strategy."

The Treasury secretary now says the government won't use that $700 billion pot of money quite the way he originally intended. Back in September, Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sold a reluctant Congress on the idea of creating the giant fund to buy troubled securi ...

Updated: Tue Nov 25, 2008

Protecting Pensions Is Good For GM and the Country for 11/25/2008

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Once, what was good for General Motors was good for the United States. This past week, the chief executive of General Motors — along with his counterparts at Ford and Chrysler — tried to convince Congress that the saying still holds true.

Their pleas for a financial bailout seemed as difficult of a sale as their large-size, low-mileage vehicles. Members of Congress and others ...

Updated: Tue Nov 25, 2008

Repeal Clause on 'Natural Born' Presidents for 11/26/2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

If John McCain, born in 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, had been elected earlier this month to become the 44th president of the United States, would he be "American enough" to legally take the oath of office on Jan. 20?

The very question seems absurd, even offensive given McCain's years of service and sacrifice on behalf of this country. But, while most legal scholars have specu ...

Updated: Wed Nov 26, 2008

Hoosier on the Hill could lead GOP out of desert for 11/26/2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Indiana's Mike Pence is a thoughtful and articulate spokesman for conservative values. As such, he's a fine choice as the House Republicans' conference chairman, the top communications job and the number three slot in the caucus.

Pence's most difficult task, however, rests not in communication with the public but in persuading fellow Republicans that their return path to power lies in le ...

Updated: Wed Nov 26, 2008

Protecting Pensions Is Good For GM and the Country for 11/27/2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Their pleas for a financial bailout seemed as difficult of a sale as their large-size, low-mileage vehicles. Members of Congress and others ...

Updated: Thu Nov 27, 2008

U.S. Health System Fails the Chronically Ill for 11/27/2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Americans who have such chronic illnesses as heart disease, diabetes and depression are less likely to get the care and treatment they need than people in seven other advanced countries. And when Americans do get medical care, they pay substantially more for it.

A new survey from the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund provides the latest evidence of the dysfunctionality of the United States h ...

Updated: Thu Nov 27, 2008

Obama Smart to Choose Experienced Cabinet for 11/28/2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

It is a quadrennial Beltway ritual: an incoming administration's selection of cabinet secretaries, top department officials and senior White House staff. The Obama presidency-in-waiting is cranking at full throttle on this essential assignment, and the sniping already has begun.

Obama and his advisers face a daunting task. Their successful election campaign was built on the concept of ch ...

Updated: Fri Nov 28, 2008

Obama Should Defer Planned Tax Increases for 11/28/2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Politics and economic reality are often at odds — a truth that President-elect Barack Obama is encountering as he shapes his response to the global financial turmoil.

Throughout the presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly pledged to raise taxes on higher-income earners in order to "restore fairness" to the tax system. (Never mind that the top 5 percent of tax filers alrea ...

Updated: Fri Nov 28, 2008

Environmental Rules Erased at the Midnight Hour for 11/29/2008

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

George W. Bush may be the undisputed champion when it comes to presidential vacations, but his staff is working overtime. As the clock ticks down to Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, the Bush administration is working feverishly to dismantle at least 10 major safeguards of the nation's air, water, endangered species and national parks.

Most of the damage took place before Nov. 15, 60 days befor ...

Updated: Sat Nov 29, 2008

Should Electoral College be Eliminated? for 11/29/2008

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

People have sought to reform the way the president of the United States has been chosen almost ever since the Founding Fathers decided in 1787 that the people could not know enough about the qualifications and the character of the candidates to elect a president directly.

But only once has Article II of the Constitution, with its provision establishing what later became known as the Elec ...

Updated: Sat Nov 29, 2008