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Editorial Roundup: Excerpts From Recent Editorials

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By The Associated Press

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

June 28

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch on electric cars may transform the travel landscape:

Americans have yet to see how quickly or widely plug-in electric cars will catch on in this country; they're still well out of the mainstream. But those who scoff at would-be electric pioneers should consider the similar fossil-fuel-powered evolution that unfolded a little more than a century ago. ...

The "filling station" was born, and the free market responded quickly to Americans' instant love affair with driving, which persists to this day. No business is as ubiquitous across the American landscape as the gas station, ranging from dusty, petrol-only outposts to gleaming oases of fuel, rest, food, entertainment for the road and gifts for the folks back home.

Now, as the electric era dawns (maybe), skeptics ask a similar question about electric cars: What do you doif you run out of juice? And companies that want to be part of the new evolution want to be in the vehicle-charging-station business.

Armed with a $100 million federal stimulus grant, an Arizona-based company called eTec is working with Nissan to set up mini-networks of charging stations in five cities.

They'll be designed to accommodate the zero-emission Nissan LEAF when it comes out by the end of the year, but if they're smart, they'll figure out how to make them work with other electric vehicles on the drawing board.

Columbus hopes to enter the electric-vehicle industry in a big way next year, with a battery factory that could create 1,000 jobs in the former Lucent Technologies plant on the Far East Side. Coda Automotive, a maker of all-electric cars, says it will build the factory if its application for a $400 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy is successful.

The day when gas stations start to give way to charging stations may not be very far away.

Online:

http://www.dispatch.com

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June 29

The Times Record, Brunswick, Maine, on recovery or further recession?

Perhaps Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is right about H.R. 4213, "The Promoting American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010": If the votes aren't there to pass this grab-bag mix of tax policy and job stimulus measures in its entirety, the Senate should at least consider extending unemployment benefits included in the bill for millions of out-of-work Americans.

Failing to do so puts far too many families at risk of bankruptcy and losing their homes once their unemployment checks run out. That, in turn, would jeopardize our nation's already shaky recovery from the deepest recession since the 1930s.

But here's the rub: It is by no means certain a stand-alone measure to extend unemployment benefits will fare any better than the overall bill that remains stalled in the Senate, where it lacks the necessary 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster.

Nor is it a given that another measure that Snowe has supported in the past - a federal subsidy to help states pay their share of Medicaid - would be approved if that funding also was carved out of the overall bill for a simple up-or-down vote. ...

The hang-up for many senators is not wanting to add to our country's ballooning federal deficit. That's a fair concern.

But concern over the rising deficit must be balanced against the needs of 15 million Americans still looking for jobs that don't exist. Do we really think a return of the bread lines prevalent during the Great Depression of the 1930s is better than extending unemployment benefits? ...

Online:

http://timesrecord.com

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June 24

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette on the war in Afghanistan:

America's military quagmire in Afghanistan was hopeless under Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and it's still hopeless after his dismissal. Firing the general didn't change the bottom line of the longest war in U.S. history. ...

But the McChrystal flap is less important than the ominous fact that America is wasting lives and wealth in an interminable war that's mostly futile.

Former Rep. Tom Andrews, D-Maine, pointed out that the controversial Rolling Stone report contained several disturbing comments. For example, McChrystal's operations chief, Maj. Gen. Bill Mayville, said the Afghan conflict is unwinnable: "It's not going to look like a win, smell like a win or taste like a win. This is going to end in an argument."

Further, although President Barack Obama has pledged to start removing U.S. troops next summer, a general told the magazine reporterthe opposite might occur: "There's a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer if we see success here."

This brings echoes of the Vietnam War, when increasing surges of GIs were ordered into deadly battle - pointlessly, trying to defend a corrupt and doomed regime. (However, the U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were draftees taken from mainstream American families. Today, the GIs in Afghanistan are volunteers, mostly from low-income families. Mainstream America has less at stake, and pays less attention.) ...

Instead of pondering more troop surges, U.S. leaders should quit wasting lives and billions in a futile effort to dictate what type of government the primitive mountain land will have.

Online:

http://www.wvgazette.com

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June 27

The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle on U.S. Supreme Court aid to terrorists decision:

We're just old enough to remember the days when a "homegrown terrorist" was more succinctly called a "traitor."

Besides, "homegrown terrorist" makes it sound like a vegetable.

It's not a trivial matter: The words we choose to use both reflect and shape the way we think about things. And our thinking today about traitors and treason, like the words we use about them, is dangerously muddled and mushy-headed.

Take the latest U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a federal law prohibiting giving any kind of aid to terrorist groups recognized as such by the U.S. State Department.

That it even had to be ruled on by the high court is silly. That three of the nine justices voted to overturn the ban on aid to terrorists is simply alarming.

If, as the justices argued, there is a First Amendment right to consort with known terrorists - for any reason - then let's just do away with the crime of treason. And let's exonerate Benedict Arnold posthumously, our having violated his First Amendment rights! ...

Ultimately, the issue is a legislative one: If Congress wants to carve out an exception for humanitarian gestures and ad-hoc "peacemaking," as groups challenging the law claim to want, so be it.

Don't hold your breath. Congress knows, as does the Obama White House - which supported keeping the anti-terrorism law - that humanitarian gestures are lost on terrorists. And who in the world would monitor such contacts to ensure they keep to humanitarian aims? ...

Online:

http://chronicle.augusta.com

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June 29

Dallas Morning News on the difficult task of balancing the federal budget:

It's one thing to yell at the TV whenever there's a news story about Washington's failure to cut the deficit. It's another to seek out solutions. About 400 volunteers went to the Dallas Convention Center June 26 to try their hand at trimming the nation's $1.2 trillion deficit and discovered how truly difficult the task is.

They deserve credit for making the effort. The AmericaSpeaks virtual town meeting, part of a 19-city exercise in civic engagement, was an innovative and eye-opening way to help Americans understand how we got into our current budget hole and what it'll take to climb our way back to solvency. The meeting also was remarkable for the level of civility exercised by participants, who came from sharply divergent political backgrounds yet managed to work together without all the antics we often see on television.

Did the exercise lead to a balanced budget? Hardly. When participants tried to set priorities on spending cuts, they discovered it's not so simple. "Can you imagine a bunch of partisan politicians sitting around, with 100 lobbyists tapping them on the shoulder, trying to do this? It's daunting!" said Larry Murphy,an electrician from Midlothian. ...

Interestingly, 70 percent of participants in the AmericaSpeaks exercise ultimately favored imposing a 5 percent surtax on people earning more than $1 million a year. They also favored a corporate income tax, a carbon tax and higher limits on incomes subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Together, though, such measures only got them a third of the way toward a balanced budget. ...

Online:

http://www.dallasnews.com

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June 29

The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, on the passing of Sen. Robert Byrd:

When U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd won election for the ninth time in 2006 at the age of 88, it virtually ensured the Senate's longest-serving member would die in office and symbolically cap his unsurpassed devotion to the chamber.

Byrd's passing June 28 at 92 followed months of declining health that forced him to cast the last of his more than 18,500 roll-call votes from a wheelchair. His determination to be heard and be counted was the real hallmark of a congressional career that included more than 51 years as a senator.

Byrd will be remembered chiefly in three ways - as an appropriator, as an advocate of Congress' co-equal role with the executive branch and as a living archive of Senate history.

Byrd funneled billions of dollars to West Virginia, earning devotion from his state and derisive labels, like the "king of pork," from watchdog groups. Byrd didn't apologize for highways, buildings, research facilities and other public works that bore his name. He saw federal largesse as a legitimate way to lift his impoverished state.

He was famous for brandishing a worn pocket copy of the Constitution. When asked which presidents he had served under, Byrd would bristle and say he served "with" presidents.

One of the Senate's greatest speechmakers, Byrd's oratory was garnished with lessons from antiquity; his knowledge of the chamber's history often offering unique perspective. No one served longer or more ardently than the distinguished gentleman from West Virginia.

Online:

http://newsok.com

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June 26

Los Angeles Times on the time has come for the DREAM Act:

May, the deadline by which advocates had hoped comprehensive immigration reform legislation would be introduced in Congress, has come and gone. It is time to accept that no matter how badly the nation needs this reform, Washington does not have the political will to act on such a divisive issue. So it is time to change tactics. Leaders of the immigration reform movement, who so far have insisted on pushing for an omnibus package of bills, should heed the young people in their ranks calling for a stand-alone effort to pass the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors legislation, or the DREAM Act.

The bill would give undocumented young people the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency (which can lead to legal permanent residency and then citizenship) if they graduate from U.S. high schools, have been in the country continuously at least five years before the legislation's enactment, and meet certain post-secondary educational or military service requirements. This is the only aspect of immigration reform - other than those related to enforcement - with any steam behind it. ...

Until now, reform advocates have been reluctant to separate the DREAM Act from the broader immigration reform package, for fear they were removing the most politically palatable piece. But that may be a miscalculation. The plight of undocumented students has not inspired a sense of urgency for reform in the political mainstream even though the students are in many cases both deserving and blameless. ...

Sacrificing the future of talented students does not serve the greater good; it is time to pass the DREAM Act.

Online:

http://www.latimes.com

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June 29

Chicago Sun-Times on the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Chicago's handgun ban:

On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 28-year-old ban on handguns in Chicago that, in the most important ways, wasn't working anyway.

Forgive us, though, if we're not quite ready to see Chicago become the largely unregulated gun-toting town of NRA dreams. That Dirty Harry stuff works mostly in the movies.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court's landmark ruling, likely to prompt challenges to gun bans across the country, appears to leave the door open to more limited restrictions. ...

In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that Chicago's gun ban, one of the strictest in the nation, violates the 2nd Amendment right of citizens to bear arms, echoing a 2008 decision that struck down parts of a Washington, D.C., gun law. ...

Despite Chicago's ban, criminals have had no trouble getting their hands on guns, as a recent rash of shootings - 54 in a single weekend - made clear. And while Chicago's annual murder rate has dropped since the gun ban was enacted in 1982, it's unclear how much credit the ban deserves. Similar declines have been seen in cities with less restrictive gun laws. ...

Our hope is that Chicago will adopt gun regulations similar to those passed in the city of Washington, D.C., after its gun ban was struck down in 2008. We'd like to see training requirements for gun owners and strict registration rules that deny guns to people with a history of mental illness, domestic violence or DUIs. We'd like to see limits on the number of guns a person could buy and a requirement that gun owners buy liability insurance.

We also urge Congress to redouble efforts to control guns on the national level, where such controls might be more effective. ...

Online:

http://www.suntimes.com

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June 29

Ottawa Sun, Ontario, on G20 host Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

Now that the smoke has cleared, and Toronto has returned to its normal quiet with the run-of-the-mill swarmings and sidebar street crimes that make the police sheets but not the news pages, the autopsy on the G8-G20 is well under way. ...

There is little question, however, that the smile on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's face June 28 when he met the Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Halifax had more to do with the summit's success than the Royal couple's visit to the colonies. ...

Long before the world's leaders went behind closed doors, however, oblivious to all the mayhem outside, Harper had already guaranteed one goal - and that was the nixing of a global bank tax that would have punished our financial institutions, despite being the standard of how the game should be played when compared to the greed-driven recklessness of Wall Street.

That was a big win for the PM.

And, despite the cries of poor from the G20, the majority bogged down by hyper-inflated deficits, Harper also managed to squeeze out $7 billion for the critically-needed Third World maternal care initiative. ...

And give the PM credit, as well, for securing an agreement to construct a "carefully calibrated" plan to put jobs and growth ahead of the kind of global deficit slashing that sends panic through stock exchanges.

Chaos on the streets is one thing, chaos on the stock market is quite another.

The former takes police; the latter takes policing.

Online:

http://www.ottawasun.com

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June 29

The Jordan Times, Amman, on FIFA's lack of technology:

Technology has advanced at such a pace that allows for its use in almost all fields of life, except for a few like officiating matches of football, the most popular game in the world.

The ongoing month-long World Cup football championship in South Africa continues to offer good reasons why technology should help improve the game and enhance spectators' confidence that all teams are given a fair chance to win, or at least are not being deprived of a deserved triumph.

Refereeing mistakes that can be avoided by the use of technology, particularly cameras, include violent tackles that do not get detected, red cards that should have never been issued, offside goals that get allowed, or goals that do not get counted.

Such mistakes and omissions can be drastically reduced by the use of television cameras that are already available in stadiums around the globe.

As spectators sit mesmerized in front of their television screens following the best that football can offer in the most watched sports event in the world, they lament the fact that unjust decisions pass without getting rectified, wondering why the world's football governing body, FIFA, with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, would not allow technology that is already available to ordinary spectators to assist referees. ...

Online:

http://www.jordantimes.com

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June 29

China Daily, Beijing, on G20 fiscal reform:

The world cannot borrow its way out of the worst global financial and economic crisis in more than half a century - it does well to recognize that fact before it is too late.

By agreeing on the need for fiscal consolidation at the G20 summit in Toronto, global leaders have plumbed ahead with a determination unseen of late to end the rapid build up of public debt.

Policymakers must face up to fiscal challenges sooner, or else they risk leaving unaccomplished the necessary, though painful, fiscal adjustments needed to restore their nations' long-term productivity and competitiveness.

Swift implementation of unprecedented stimulus programs in the world's biggest economies have so far successfully prevented a depression, yet it also added trillions of dollars to their national debt. The fragility of the current global recovery as well as differing national circumstances have prompted G20 leaders to acknowledge that synchronized fiscal adjustment could adversely impact ongoing economic recovery.

However, to square the circle of growth and fiscal stability, it is imperative for those countries facing serious fiscal challenges to accelerate the pace of consolidation.

The G20 summit endorsed a goal for advanced economies to cut government deficits in half by 2013 and stabilize the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product by 2016.

Unlike expensive stimulus programs that G20 countries adopted at previous meetings, the fiscal reform push will be far more difficult to devise and politically hard to execute at home. Yet, fiscal sustainability is essential to any lasting recovery. Policymakers should do their utmost to promote fiscal consolidation, which entails short-term pain for long-term gain. ...

Online:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

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June 27

The Financial Times, London, on U.S. financial reform:

By agreeing on a U.S. financial regulation bill on June 25, the House-Senate conference teams armed President Barack Obama with good news for the G20 summit in Toronto. Now the full chambers of Congress must arm regulators with weaponsto repair the dysfunctional U.S. financial system by passing the bill without delay.

A number of compromises were struck to agree a text. The Volcker rule - which forbids deposit-taking banks to invest in hedge funds or engage in proprietary trading - and the Lincoln amendment - which forces banks to bundle their derivatives desks off into separate entities - were passed after relaxing both just enough to win over recalcitrant lawmakers.

Though among the most controversial elements in the law, these rules were distractions: they do little to rein in systemic risk. What matters is that they will not scupper the last stretch of the legislative process. Similarly, a surprise levy of up to $19 billion on financial institutions to cover a last-minute estimate of costs to taxpayers is an acceptable way to rid the path to passage of remaining obstacles.

The bill is not perfect, but it vastly improves on the status quo. The U.S. will finally regulate derivatives. It will have a system for winding down the largest financial institutions if they fail. And the responsibility for preventing both systemic risk and consumer abuse will be clearer and stronger. ...

If all goes well, the crisis will continue to wane. It is crucial that vigilance does not weaken with it.

Online:

http://www.ft.com

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