KTRV Fox 12 Editorial Roundup: Excerpts From Recent Editorials

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:

April 4

The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo., on effects of cyberbullies on youth:

Their photos show faces so young, so full of promise, just on the brink of life. Megan, Phoebe, Ryan. It is hard to imagine that they no longer live. And even more frightening to know that they chose to end their lives because of what is now a growing phenomenon, cyberbullying.

On March 21, another young woman, Alexis Skye Pilkington, just 17, ended her life. A former member of the West Islip High School soccer team in West Islip, N.Y., and purportedly a popular teen, she was also the victim of hateful and vicious messages on Facebook and a social-networking site, Formspring.me. Teens can anonymously ask each other questions there and receive public answers. Even after her death, the disturbing conduct has continued.

Phoebe Prince's Irish accent and pretty smile made the 15-year-old different from the other students at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. In this extreme example, Phoebe was constantly bullied in and out of school and through Facebook. Threatening messages were sent to her phone. All of this, supposedly, because she had dated a football player.

In January, Phoebe hung herself in a stairwell at her home. ...

Yes, bullying has always been a part of childhood. We all remember the whispered comments in the crowded hallways, the notes passed in secret during class or the inexplicable cruelties that seemed to be a part of childhood. Those tactics have been augmented by the popularity of Web sites, instant messaging, texting and capturing video. Combine that with the fragility of adolescence and you have a dangerous formula for tragedy. ... "

On the Net:

http://www.gazette.com

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April 5

The New York Times on efforts to prevent foreclosures:

If all goes according to plan, the Obama administration's new anti-foreclosure effort will prevent many more foreclosures than its current one and do more to moderate the decline in home prices. That is a big if.

One of the big drawbacks to the administration's original plan, launched a year ago, is that it focuses on reducing a troubled borrower's monthly payment by lowering the interest rate. That ignores the fact that unemployed borrowers often cannot afford even reduced payments ...

Another problem with the original plan is that participation has been largely voluntary; lenders were offered incentives to join but were not compelled. The improved plan attempts to address the problems of borrowers who are unemployed or underwater. And for jobless homeowners, lenders that participate in the plan will be required to help in some cases. ...

If lenders do participate, the new plan could prevent nearly 1.5 million foreclosures from now through 2012, compared with an estimated 650,000 under the old plan, according to Moody's Economy.com. Many foreclosures will also be delayed, though not ultimately prevented, as lenders assess whether borrowers qualify for help under the new plan. Taken together, preventing and postponing foreclosures would help stabilize house prices in the near term and thus reduce the threat that foreclosures pose to the nascent economic recovery.

But foreclosures would still be a problem. Even if the new plan saves 1.5 million homes, an estimated 3.6 million homes will be lost between now and 2012. That portends a weak housing market for a long time, which, in turn, portends a long, slow recovery.

For now, lenders call the shots. If the new plan doesn't work, the administration must find a way to compel them to rework troubled loans. The risks from the spree of bad lending and bad borrowing - foreclosures, falling house prices, economic hardship - are still there.

On the Net:

http://www.nytimes.com

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April 5

The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, Tenn., on "military mentors":

Defense Secretary Robert Gates took the correct action in ordering an overhaul of the use of retired military advisers, known as "military mentors."

According to an investigation by USA Today, 80 percent of the more than 150 retired officers who have advised the military in that capacity in recent years have had ties to defense firms that were also trying to sell products to the military.

As government consultants, they can earn as much as $440 an hour on taxpayer dollars and then draw an additional salary as contractor consultants and defense company board members. And, that's all on top of their military pensions.

Under Gates' new policy, mentors will be subject to conflict-of-interest laws. They may not:

- Participate in matters in which they have a conflict of interest, defined in federal law as taking official action that has "a direct and predictable effect" on their personal interests.

- Divulge non-public information to defense contractors and other outside entities.

- Represent a client on matters in which they participated personally and substantially while advising the military.

The new rules also will bring greater transparency to the process ... Gates does seem to have struck a good balance between the military's desire to tap into the expertise of retired military officers and ethical concerns. The public should be assured that private firms bidding for contracts from the military aren't receiving inside information from retired officers who are advising both the military and their companies.

On the Net:

http://www.theleafchronicle.com

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April 2

Star-News, Wilmington, N.C., on offshore oil and gas exploration:

As the Obama administration opens parts of the East Coast to energy exploration, let's hope the president keeps those words in mind.

President Barack Obama has generally been opposed to offshore drilling, and the move is seen as a concession to Republicans as the president tries to craft a comprehensive energy bill that focuses on renewable energy.

Even those who support offshore drilling will find little in this bill to get excited about. The areas being opened for drilling - including waters off North Carolina - are not especially promising. For example, the tracts opened off Virginia are estimated to hold 130 million barrels of oil. That's how much the U.S. imports from all foreign suppliers in two weeks. ...

In North Carolina, the most likely sites for exploration are off the Outer Banks region, which is almost completely reliant on tourism and is home to an especially fragile ecosystem and a large commercial and recreational fishing industry ...

Even if offshore wells were up and running, there has been little interest in building petrochemical processing facilities in North Carolina. So don't count on an economic boon for North Carolina coastal counties. Meanwhile, the damage caused by a spill could be devastating to local economies ... "

On the Net:

http://www.starnewsonline.com

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April 5

Chicago Tribune on new airline passenger screening policy:

The attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day was a catastrophe that was only narrowly averted. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, allegedly boarded the Detroit-bound plane from Amsterdam with a bomb hidden in his pants. But when he reportedly tried to set it off, it failed to detonate.

In the scary aftermath, the Department of Homeland Security imposed broad new security rules requiring extra screening of incoming travelers from 14 countries, most of them largely Muslim, including Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya and Saudi Arabia. This was a frantic attempt to head off another possible attack.

Three months later, the administration has replaced the emergency plan with a more targeted approach. Recently, DHS announced that it will implement new measures on all international flights coming to the United States.

Instead of scrutinizing everyone from certain countries, security personnel will focus on travelers who match intelligence information about potential threats. Even if authorities lack the name of an alleged plotter, they hope to be able to catch him through information such as physical features, age or past travels. By including all countries, DHS intends to prevent extremist groups from circumventing detection by avoiding those 14 nations. ...

Relying more on intelligence is a sound idea. But it requires sound use of information as well as the good investigative work needed to supply it. In the Christmas Day episode, it was not the policy that fell short so much as the people charged with carrying it out.

This looks like a better system. To improve our safety, though, it will need better execution.

On the Net:

http://www.chicagotribune.com

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April 6

San Francisco Chronicle on the iPad debut:

Another Apple product debut, another smash hit. The tech world - or at least Apple's rivals - must wonder when the company will stumble, but the iPad doesn't appear to be it.

The gizmo debuted with first-day sales of 300,000. The device follows the approach of other company products. Take an existing trend - earphone audio or cell phones - and create a stylish leap that transforms the market and upends convention.

The iPad taps into 150,000 applications available for the iPhone and invites more with its wider screen, brighter colors and sleek design. It aims to conquer the world of small tablet computers and serve up books, music and other forms of entertainment.

Like other Apple offerings, the product blurs tech boundaries. Along with gunning for Amazon's Kindle e-book, the iPad also wants to dominate the next-rung-up world of junior-grade laptops known as netbooks. It may be missing a few features such as a camera or multitasking abilities and carries a hefty price tag starting at $499, but the company's deft marketing has made the device an industry standard nearly overnight.

Can the nation's purses and messenger bags handle another Apple device? The real challenge will be turning a fun-and-games device into an essential business tool. That hasn't happened yet. But Apple's steamroller success in the past suggests the company may yet turn an intriguing innovation into a workplace tool.

On the Net:

http://www.sfgate.com

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April 7

The Providence (R.I.) Journal on government response to record-setting floods:

No one knows yet with any precision the full scale of property damage from the floods in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut. It's probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and, we suppose, could even top $1 billion.

But far more important, of course, is the question of saving lives. And on that, we can be grateful that calm, well-informed and prompt leadership by the three states' governors - Donald Carcieri, Deval Patrick and Jodi Rell - and valiant and fast work by law enforcement, fire, rescue and other personnel, in the public and private sectors, including the National Weather Service and private forecasters, and the news media, kept the threat of loss of life to a minimum.

Indeed, while reports are still coming in, as of this writing there were no deaths directly attributed to the storm in the flood's epicenter - Rhode Island. The accuracy and timeliness of warnings (aided by the electronic communications revolution of the past few years) were at the core of this achievement.

It could have been much, much worse, as awful as it was. It would be good to remember that as we continue to try to clean up the mess.

On the Net:

http://www.projo.com

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April 1

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch on Social Security spending:

As if Americans didn't have enough scary evidence that out-of-control federal debt and the sputtering economy pose a grave threat to prosperity, consider this: Social Security is about to start spending the excess money it has collected over the past 20-plus years, during which workers paid more into the system than the system paid out in benefits.

This year, as the oldest of the baby boomers start collecting gold watches, Social Security is projected to pay $29 billion more in benefits than workers pay into the system.

This is the demographic shift long dreaded by those who wonder how Social Security will remain solvent through the years of the baby boomers' retirement.

That's because the extra money collected since the mid-1980s - about $2.5 trillion - has been spent on countless other government programs. ...

Now that the Social Security Administration needs that money for its original purpose, it seeks to cash in the IOUs by demanding payment from the U.S. Treasury. But the United States already is $12.6 trillion in debt and can only pay off the IOUs by borrowing even more, adding further to the country's indebtedness.

This would be troubling under any circumstances, but with U.S. debt already too high and economic recovery only a hope, it's frightening. ...

... The United States isn't going to default next week or next year, but the previously unthinkable grows nearer with every day the nation fails to change this disastrous course.

On the Net:

http://www.dispatch.com

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April 6

The Jerusalem Post on the Catholic church sex scandal:

It took three days for Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher to realize his folly. On Good Friday, Father Raniero Cantalamessa said he was thinking about the Jews in this season of Pessah and Easter, because "they know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms."

Callously, astoundingly, the veteran preacher, who has held his position since Pope John Paul II's era, was not sympathizing with the real victims of the sex scandal rocking the Church. Not the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children who have allegedly been molested by a sexually rapacious clergy over the decades. These were not the "victims of collective violence" Cantalamessa had in mind. Nor was his talk of "recurring symptoms" an allusion to the sex scandals that have surfaced recurrently in the Catholic Church. No, Cantalamessa was reserving his compassion for his fellow clergymen and his boss, who are being rightly censured for failing to stop the abuse and punish the sex offenders.

By Easter Sunday, Cantalamessa had repented.

"If against my every will and intention I hurt the sensibility of Jews and the victims of pedophilia, then I am sincerely sorry and I apologize," the preacher told Corriere della Sera. ...

Since becoming the 265th pope in April 2005, Benedict has inadvertently hurt Jews while trying to reach out to more conservative - and some downright anti-Semitic - elements in the Church. ...

The pope must confront the depravities of his Church, wherever they appear, whether they be child molestation or rabid anti-Semitism. A continued failure to do so undermines his moral legitimacy and the respect of the Catholic faithful worldwide.

On the Net:

http://www.jpost.com

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April 7

China Daily, Beijing, on China-India relations:

To mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India, top leaders of the two countries recently displayed strong political will to shelve differences and push bilateral ties to new heights. The ongoing visit by India's Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna to Beijing is important for officials from both sides to carry out dialogue, build trust and establish cooperation.

China regards its relationship with India as one of its most important bilateral ties. The growth in their relationship in the past 60 years have made it possible for the two most populous countries to forge ahead with a long-term strategic partnership.

The two developing but emerging economies have been regarded as bright spots bringing hope of a full global economic recovery. ...

By cooperating on regional and international affairs, the two countries will better safeguard each of their interests and those of the developing world at large.

The call for China and India to play a bigger role in the world has been growing. The call will be better answered if the two neighbors leave behind their past friction and look to the future. The two countries will be better positioned on global affairs if they could stand united.

On the Net:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

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April 7

The Star, Toronto, on U.S. nuclear policy:

By breaking with George W. Bush and downgrading the role the vast U.S. nuclear arsenal plays in the nation's defense, U.S. President Barack Obama has surrendered nothing of America's superpower status. His policy, unveiled at the Pentagon, is far more likely to strengthen U.S. security by reinforcing global efforts to combat nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

Those who fretted that Obama's Nuclear Posture Review would leave the U.S. weaker than before ought to be reassured. It flatly reaffirms that nuclear forces will "continue to play an essential role" in deterring foes for a long time to come.

However, the NPR does nudge the U.S. a welcome few steps closer to the long-term vision Obama outlined in Prague last year of "a world without nuclear weapons." It is a decisive and healthy break with the Bush era's excessive reliance on the bomb as an instrument of foreign policy in the anxious years after the 9/11 attacks. ...

In the Obama administration's view, as codified in the NPR, Russia and China are no longer the enemy. America's "top priority" is now to prevent al-Qaida or other terror groups from obtaining nuclear materials and to stop rogue states such as Iran and North Korea from building bombs and the means to deliver them. ... "

On the Net:

http://www.thestar.com

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April 7

The Times, London, on U.S.-Afghanistan relations:

President Hamid Karzai's astonishingly crude attacks on the U.S., after President Barack Obama's first visit to Kabul, make patent the breakdown in relations between the two men. In a deliberately mendacious misreading of U.S. policy and strategy in Afghanistan, Karzai accused the West of perpetrating a "vast fraud" by trying to deny him victory in last year's presidential election. He said that Afghans would trust their leader only if he showed he was not a puppet. And he gave a warning that if "foreign pressure" continued, he might even join the Taliban. ...

It is clear that the prickly and mercurial Afghan president was humiliated by Obama's six-hour nighttime visit and furious not only at being ordered to do more to confront the corruption in his government but at the subsequent U.S. disclosure of Obama's frosty meeting. Karzai knows that Afghans have an atavistic mistrust of foreigners and an instinctive resentment of foreign forces, however committed they are to ending the misery, poverty and violence that Afghans have endured for the past 30 years ...

Washington has made its frustration clear. The U.S. wants changes in place by September, when Afghans vote for a new parliament. It now has a shrewd grasp of Afghanistan's tribal politics. Karzai may soon find that, caught between the Taliban and NATO, he is eminently dispensable.

On the Net:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

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