Daily Editorials from Creators Syndicate

Coming Clean at EPA for 12/24/2008

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given the word "limited" a brand new meaning.

To the EPA, that word apparently allows for routine suppression of new information about chemicals - even information about compounds that are known to cause cancer and respiratory problems.

Under the EPA's own guidelines, the agency can allow confidentiality on its registry of dan ...

Updated: Wed Dec 24, 2008

Troubling Maneuver Ends Bailout Bill's Transparency for 12/25/2008

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Remember when Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson proposed in September that Congress give him unprecedented authority to spend $700 billion of taxpayers' money, with almost no oversight, to bail out the nation's financial institutions? The details — and we use that term in the ironic sense — were included in a three-page memo.

Congress, quite reasonably, insisted on taking a l ...

Updated: Thu Dec 25, 2008

An Unconscionable Conscience Rule for 12/25/2008

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Doctors take an oath to put their patients' interests first. A new Bush administration rule will change that.

The so-called "conscience rule" is one of a host of last-minute regulatory changes being made in the waning hours of President George W. Bush's tenure in office.

The rule prohibits recipients of federal money from such programs as Medicare and Medicaid from takin ...

Updated: Thu Dec 25, 2008

Events May Speed Closing of Guantanamo for 12/26/2008

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

On Jan. 20, Barack Obama will take the oath of office and become the nation's 44th president. Many Americans expect many things of him, and one of the most important will be restoring America to its pre-eminent role in human rights.

In the eyes of much of the world, the United States lost much of its moral authority on human rights with detainee torture at Abu Ghraib, the secret detentio ...

Updated: Fri Dec 26, 2008

Matter of Morality for 12/26/2008

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Among Barack Obama's first acts as president, he should issue an executive order making clear that the United States will not torture under any circumstances.

On this, we are in agreement with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, an organization of more than 200 faith groups seeking an end to "U.S.-sponsored torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." Local ...

Updated: Fri Dec 26, 2008

Schapiro Must Fix a Badly Scarred SEC for 12/27/2008

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The selection of Mary Schapiro, a career regulator, to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is welcome news at a time when the American people have every reason to wonder just what that massive agency was doing while the likes of Bernard Madoff and the folks at Bear Stearns ran wild.

As early as 1999, the SEC received information suggesting that Madoff was running a Ponzi sch ...

Updated: Sat Dec 27, 2008

It is Past Time for Zimbabwe's Mugabe to Go for 12/27/2008

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Twenty-eight years of rule by Robert Mugabe have brought the southern African nation of Zimbabwe to its knees. As he sits in his huge new Chinese-built mansion in the northern part of the capital city of Harare or is chauffeured around in his bomb-proof Mercedes, Mugabe refuses to hear his people's cries.

Hyperinflation caused by his economic policies has pushed most workers out of their ...

Updated: Sat Dec 27, 2008

Bush, Cheney Did Things 'Their Way' for 12/30/2008

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

— Winston Churchill

In fact, he wrote 74 books. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney may wind up writing a couple themselves, but the president and the vice president have approval ratings in the high 20s, and neither is known for Churchhillian prose, much less candor and publishers aren't lining up.

Still, they've been ...

Updated: Tue Dec 30, 2008

Times Require New Approaches to Retirement for 12/30/2008

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

FedEx, Motorola, General Motors.

Those are some of the large American companies that have recently announced they are suspending contributions to employees' 401(k) plans. Their announcements, and others, have come since September as the global financial crisis worsened and, in particular, credit markets seized up.

As companies struggle to find cash for operations, capital projects ...

Updated: Tue Dec 30, 2008

Federal Schools Chief Must Manage to Educate for 12/31/2008

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

President-elect Barack Obama took playground basketball to new heights when he nominated Arne Duncan to become the next U.S. Secretary of Education.

Duncan, 44, is a veteran of the president-elect's Chicago pickup hoop games, and he also is the chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools.

Exactly how Duncan will approach the nation's top education job, how closely his ideas trac ...

Updated: Wed Dec 31, 2008

A Justified Attack for 12/31/2008

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed hundreds of Palestinians, and the vast majority were Hamas security forces, according to the official Palestinian tally. Because Hamas militants, supposedly the protectors of Palestinians, station their forces among civilians, Israel has had difficulty singling some of them out.

It's worth remembering, too, that Hamas, not Israel, broke a negotiate ...

Updated: Wed Dec 31, 2008

Cliche Watch: Words Still Matter for 01/01/2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The National Conference of Editorial Writers — a group of savants whose erudition is matched only by their comeliness — recently engaged in a bout of self-examination. The topic: words and phrases that have outlived their usefulness or that weren't all that useful in the first place.

Believing, as we do, that clichŽs should be avoided like the plague and obfuscation always sh ...

Updated: Thu Jan 01, 2009

A Model of Civility for 01/01/2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Gay activists are furious that Obama would invite the pastor of Saddleback Church, who is also a best-selling author and vocal opponent of gay marriage, to give the invocation. And evangelical Christians who oppose many of the president-elect's liberal policies are just as upset that Warren would even consider accepting the invitation.

It seems no one is happy, except perhaps the two peo ...

Updated: Thu Jan 01, 2009

A Peculiar Choice for 01/02/2009

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

For two decades, the wealthy agricultural interests who have made billions of dollars off federal subsidies for ethanol production have had crucial support from the environmental movement. Green groups liked the idea of using corn-based ethanol as an alternative to heavily polluting fossil fuels.

Now - with evidence piling up that ethanol likely hurts the environment because its producti ...

Updated: Fri Jan 02, 2009

U.S. trade embargo with Cuba needs to change for 01/02/2009

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Fifty years ago today, rebel forces captured the city of Santa Clara in central Cuba, sending the island nation's dictator, Fulgencio Batista, into a New Year's Eve panic. He fled for exile in the Dominican Republic. A week later, a bearded 32-year-old lawyer named Fidel Castro marched triumphantly into Havana to claim his prize.

El Comandante is still there and still in charge, although ...

Updated: Fri Jan 02, 2009

Obama must govern from the center for 01/03/2009

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

As we look forward to 2009, the national picture is filled with some serious challenges for America but also plenty of opportunities.

President-elect Barack Obama will have to juggle a number of domestic and foreign policy crises, including recovering from the economic meltdown, managing two wars, monitoring the volatile situation in the Middle East, saving the Social Security system, fi ...

Updated: Sat Jan 03, 2009

The Fed Rolls Over on Credit Cards for 01/06/2009

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

We now know — thanks to, among other things, the revelations of whistle-blowers whose warnings went unheeded — that the explosion in home mortgage defaults and the ongoing credit crisis might have been avoided if the Federal Reserve had been mildly attentive to companies that abused their regulatory freedom and to the interests of ordinary consumers and investors.

When everyt ...

Updated: Tue Jan 06, 2009

Allies Aim for Success in Afghanistan for 01/06/2009

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A U.S.-NATO plan to reverse the alliance's declining fortunes in Afghanistan appears to be coming together. There will be more U.S. military personnel — about 20,000, including Marines — increased emphasis on arming local fighters, and talks between more moderate Taliban elements and the government in Kabul.

Violence reached record levels in Afghanistan in 2008, according to ...

Updated: Tue Jan 06, 2009

Calling George Jetson for 01/07/2009

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Ford Motor Co. didn't ask for, nor did it receive, any of the $13.4 billion in emergency federal loans approved by President George W. Bush last month. The money went to GM and Chrysler; Ford said it was doing fine for the moment.

Now we know why: cars that park themselves.

Last week, Ford announced that new self-parking technology would be available on its 2010 Lincoln MKS se ...

Updated: Wed Jan 07, 2009

Hold the Reins on Stimulus Package for 01/07/2009

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A thought for President-elect Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they prepare to meet today to discuss yet another economic stimulus plan: Slow down.

Pelosi continues to push for rapid passage of a spending package that may cost between $675 billion and $775 billion. Her goal is to have the bill on Obama's desk by Inauguration Day, only two weeks away. She wants a vote on the ...

Updated: Wed Jan 07, 2009