AnnotatedOpinions.com

Despite some questions, Obama’s Afghan policy is sound Given time, his strategy should work. But will there be time, and what about ‘winning’? [LA Times]

Afghanistan: Did Obama really say that? [Chicago Tribune]

Afghanistan: Now let’s win it; Republicans, Democrats and independents, it’s time to get behind our troops – and our commander in chief. [USA Today]

A Goldilocks strategy: Obama bought himself time on Afghanistan, but there will be hell to pay if his policy fails. [Washington Post]

Health reform must go forward: Defenders of the status quo in health care would gladly allow the need to vet President Obama’s Afghanistan plan to drain precious energy from the health-care fight. [Boston Globe]

Climate of suspicion [Chicago Tribune]

Trading with Ecuador: Washington must resist efforts by Chevron to interfere with a Andean trade agreement. [LA Times]

Too risky to regulate? Not with proper verification [Boston Globe]

The Job Summit: Once job creation has the priority status it deserves, the next step is to build on proven programs and add new ones to address the scale and nature of joblessness. [New York Times]

‘Yes’ to a second stimulus: State and local governments are draining federal dollars, deepening the U.S.’s decline. [Washington Post]

Cracking Cuba [LA Times]

Framers envisioned separation: Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s support for legal abortion has earned him the wrath of the Catholic bishop of Providence, R.I., Thomas Tobin [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Tiger Woods pleas for privacy, and he has a point [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Taking one for the team: The National Football League needs to move beyond its incremental steps to combat player brain injuries. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Concussions: Kurt Warner’s courage - Arizona Cardinal Kurt Warner did something courageous last Sunday. He admitted he was too shaken up to play. [Boston Globe]

Neglected Warriors: Far greater candor in Washington is needed about all the factors and risks that can drive soldiers to commit suicide. [New York Times]

‘Reality’ and the White House crashers [LA Times]

How to get around Karzai: Good governors and ministers may help us succeed in spite of the Afghan president. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

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Editorial Note: This feature, “What They Are Saying” will be discontinued on Monday, December 7, 2009 so that we can bring you more annotated opinions.

ABORTION financing has become an important stumbling block in negotiations over health care reform. An amendment sponsored by Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan . . . would prohibit both government-run insurance plans and any private insurance plans purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions. . .  

The Stupak amendment’s effect on any individual woman’s insurance coverage for abortion depends on what kind of insurance she has now. About 12 percent of the 62 million American women of childbearing age — ages 15 to 44 — are now covered by public insurance plans like Medicaid. For them there will be no change because current law already prohibits the use of federal funds to cover abortion costs.   

Likewise, the amendment would change nothing for women who now have no insurance — about 20 percent of women of childbearing age.  

The women whose abortion coverage would be at risk are those who are covered by private insurance — some 42 million women aged 15 to 44. . . Privately insured women tend to be older, with higher family income, and women in these groups are much less prone to seek abortions.  

[AO: I don’t doubt the analysis and concede that the conclusions are sound given the data. However, it seems the writer, Professor Phillip Levine, misses an important point : That the Stupak Amendment can’t assure what is sets out to do and as a result simply disadvantages some women who choose to get abortions. More specifically, the Amendment claims to preserve the status quo by eliminating all government funds from paying for abortion. The Amendment does neither of these. Under the status quo, government funds do reach abortion. Moreover, although the Amendment alters the status quo, it does not prevent all government funds from paying for abortion. Ultimately, it simply makes it harder for some women to get an abortion.  

The Amendment is not about maintaining the status quo

Supporters of the Amendment argue that the Amendment preserves the status quo. Under current conditions, federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions. But by disincentivising private insurers to provide abortion coverage, the amendment goes beyond the status quo.   

The Amendment disincentivises private insurers to provide abortion coverage by prohibiting any health insurance plan that provides abortion from participating in public insurance exchanges. The aim here is to prevent any government financial benefit from accruing to private insurers who provide abortion coverage. This is in contract to an alternative whereby a private health insurer might be allowed to participate in the public insurance exchanges as long as the funds used to pay for abortion coverage did not come from the government. The apparent problem with this approach is that money is fungible.   

In short, this goes beyond the status quo because current law does not penalize private health insurers who provide abortion coverage on account that money is fungible.   

The Amendment cannot prevent all government funds from supporting abortion

However, preventing any federal benefit from accruing to private insurers who provide abortion is impossible when you consider that . . . money is fungible. The federal government provides fund via programs that are unrelated to healthcare or health insurance. Because money is fungible, assistance from various government programs that provide funds to individuals, including cash assistance programs, unemployment compensation, and even tax breaks, could wind-up supporting abortions.   

Take for example the home sale tax break. Under this tax break, an individual can exclude up to $125,000 of any profits earned from the sale of their house. These are federal funds that, as a result of the tax exclusion, become available for anything the homeowner chooses, including abortion. One can imagine a similar scenario with unemployment benefits.  

But you don’t have to consider examples that seem so far removed for direct government payments. There are no reasons why an individual receiving fund under welfare’s Cash Assistance program cannot use those funds to pay for an abortion.  

So, the Stupak Amendment neither preserves the status quo nor does it prevent all government assistance from supporting abortion. Simply, because money is fungible, government cannot insure that no dime of its assistance goes to abortion. All the Amendment does is makes it harder for some women without to obtain an abortion without achieving its goal.]

• Thanksgiving fare [USA Today]
• United we gather: Thank goodness for Thanksgiving: A break from divisions [Chicago Tribune]
• ‘I have never cooked a turkey’ [Chicago Tribune]
• You Say Potato, I Say Yam: A starring ingredient on many Thanksgiving tables is a reminder of our national history. [New York Times]
• No complaint? No thanks [Chicago Tribune]

State Courts at the Tipping Point: State budget cuts are impeding core court functions, forcing court closures and narrowing of access to justice. [New York Times]

Race haunts politics: Will it ever be OK to go there without name-calling? [Chicago Tribune]

A home remedy: Paid sick leave could help deter spread of swine flu [Houston Chronicle]

Reform isn’t illegal: Congress has every authority to force every American to buy health insurance. [Washington Post]

False Alarm on Abortion? What is being overlooked in the abortion debate is the other benefits that expanded health insurance coverage could bring to women’s reproductive health. [New York Times]

A pro athlete’s lament: U.S. health care discriminates [USA Today]

Europe’s bland new leaders: Last week, Europe’s presidents and prime ministers finally had the chance to select an EU president and a foreign minister. [Boston Globe]

Who’s watching Glenn Beck? [LA Times]

Rhode Island bishop errs in targeting Patrick Kennedy: Bishop Thoms J. Tobin is within his rights to ask Representative Patrick Kennedy to refrain from seeking Holy Communion. Yet the standard to which the bishop is holding Kennedy for his views on abortion is unfair. [Boston Globe]

Keeping Personal Data Private: There are many important issues competing for Congress’s attention, but passing a law to keep people’s personal information safe should rank high on the list. [New York Times]

Concussions: Colleges should follow the pros – If the House Judiciary Committee can humble the National Football League into taking concussions more seriously, then it should reconvene to admonish the National Collegiate Athletic Association. [Boston Globe]

Sisters in arms: Remembering women who count their beatings in the once-fair country of Zimbabwe. [Washington Post]

The struggle after the fight: Pakistan can’t just kick out the Taliban. It must rebuild its tribal areas, too. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Mahmoud Abbas, the Mideast’s big loser: A reported deal for an Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap has benefits for all involved, except the weakened Palestinian Authority leader. [LA Times]

Caring for the elderly: It’s ironic that at a time when thousands of Americans are struggling to find appropriate care for their failing parents, the field of geriatric medicine appears to be vanishing. [Boston Globe]

Don’t Forget the Gulf States: Unless Congress acts quickly, more than 6,000 housing units for poor families might never get built in the Katrina-ravaged Gulf states. [New York Times]

Her love of ‘little plants’ lives on [USA Today]

To befriend or unfriend, that is the question [Chicago Tribune]

Civilian courts can fight terrorists too [Chicago Tribune]

Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial: If the Khalid Shaikh Mohammed trial provides a propaganda platform for anybody, it will be for our side. [New York Times]

Toward a federal ’shield law’ for journalists: A Senate bill is flawed but it’s better than the status quo. [LA Times]

Abortion fallacies: I’m opposed to the Stupak amendment, but it’s not worth killing health reform over. [Washington Post]

Health reform’s conservative roots: The health care reform option being considered in Congress bears a striking resemblance to the one created by the conservative 19th century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. [Boston Globe]

Hunger in the United States: For President Obama to achieve his goal of wiping out child hunger by 2015, Congress needs to make federal nutrition programs a priority. [New York Times]

Sarah Palin’s lack of leadership shows in ‘Going Rogue’: The former Republican vice presidential candidate’s memoir instead illustrates what comes so easily to her: pointing fingers. [LA Times]

Church, state and gay marriage: The Council of the District of Columbia is right to stand firm against the Catholic Church on the issue of same-sex marriage. [LA Times]

That mess with China: Many said a trade pact would end the trade imbalance. The opposite occurred. [Washington Post]

Can we retrain terrorists? Rehabilitating jihadis is controversial and difficult. But we may have to consider it. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Another Round of Regulatory Reform: If senators really want strong financial reform, they must not give into lobbies trying to weaken the plan as it makes its way through the legislative process. [New York Times]

Can we boldly go? Maybe someone should stick a copy of The Right Stuff into the DVD player tomorrow night on President Obama’s long flight back from his mission to Asia. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The Drug Industry Cashes In: Given the drug industry’s last-minute price increases, the Senate should abandon its deal with the industry and impose tougher demands. [New York Times]

Don’t forget renters – again: Now that the $8,000 federal tax credit for home buyers has been extended, it’s time for Congress and the president to move quickly on another front: providing resources to develop rental housing for low-income Americans. [Philadelphia Inquirer] 

Muslims, mass murder after Fort Hood. [Chicago Tribune]

Zero tolerance for extremists — regardless of religion: The U.S. response should be zero tolerance for political cultists who try to achieve their goals through violence. [LA Times]

Hasan’s erratic work was a sign: Investigators are looking for ties to Islamist extremists. But the problem may be closer to home. [Boston Globe]

In plain sight? Unheeded red flags surrounding Maj. Nidal M. Hassan. [Washington Post]

Fixing foreign aid: A Cold War-era system with too many agencies and not enough coordination needs an upgrade. [LA Times]

America’s Defining Choice: What’s the best way to spend $100 billion per year? Health reform or troops for Afghanistan? Simple, because lack of insurance kills far more Americans than the Taliban does. [New York Times]

When it comes to healthcare reform, doing nothing does harm. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

An abortion skirmish: Health reform’s negotiating nightmare. [Washington Post]

Vietnam’s lesson for Afghanistan: With memories of Vietnam still in their minds, many in Congress are obsessed with defeat in Afghanistan. But history does not necessarily repeat itself. [Boston Globe]

Vietnam, Afghanistan and learning from history: What can Obama learn from the Vietnam War, and how can he apply it to the war in Afghanistan? [LA Times]

Giving hedge fund investors a full accounting: Congress should require hedge funds, which are largely unregulated, to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. [LA Times]

More Foreclosures to Come: Unless the Obama antiforeclosure plan is modified, it has little chance of making a meaningful dent in the housing crisis. [New York Times]

The other side of the wall: East Berliners had their advantages as well as their troubles. Now, they have ours. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Take a Deep Breath: Right now we citizens have quite a lot on our plate and there is no reason to go completely crazy about the least little thing. [New York Times]

Bad start to U.S.-Japan relationship: Both countries should put an end to old habits. [Washington Post]

·       ABCs of change: On Sesame Street, ‘E’ was for equality [Houston Chronicle]

·      ‘Sesame Street’ turns 40: The iconic children’s show broke the mold on educational programming. [LA Times]

The Ban on Abortion Coverage: The House health care reform bill passed with a steep price. The Senate should work to preserve a woman’s right to abortion services. [New York Times]

Why preventive care is critical: Congress should not focus on how much preventive health care will cost, but on how much it will earn. [Washington Post]

Historic, but unaffordable: The Democratic-controlled House took a historic step in passing a health-care bill over the weekend, yet the measure – unless it’s modified – could mean the death knell for health reform this year. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The wall after the wall: Unlike the old militarized geopolitical wall of the Cold War, the new heavily policed wall between rich and poor regions of the world is designed to keep people out rather than in. [Boston Globe]

Sick day, sick pay: Congress is considering a mandate that would require employers to pay five sick days if they send a worker home or advise him to stay home. [Chicago Tribune]

The U.S. needs to teach Hamid Karzai a thing or two: The Afghan leader needs to learn how to act as a wartime leader. [LA Times]

Cutting our losses: Leave Afghanistan to the drones and the Special Forces. [Washington Post]

A Word, Mr. President: Health care reform is important, but President Obama’s priorities should be putting Americans back to work and ending the war in Afghanistan. [New York Times]

Bailing out GMAC: Its health is key to helping U.S. automakers rebound. [LA Times]

Needle exchanges: New law, same bad policy – The federal bill allowing needle exchanges to prevent transmission of HIV was a step forward, but includes a punishing restriction: No exchanges can happen within 1,000 feet of a school or park. [Boston Globe]

Guarding the ranks: Religious tolerance in the military does not trump security concerns. [LA Times]

Ticking bomb at Fort Hood: The Army failed the thousands of Muslims who serve with honor and distinction. [Washington Post]

Don’t let the shooters win: My beloved Virginia Tech again is linked to a mass murder. But Fort Hood, too, can heal by rejecting our torturers’
hate-filled scripts [USA Today]

The Rush to Therapy: The well-intentioned public commentary that followed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage at Fort Hood denied any possibility of evil in his actions. [New York Times]

The ‘closure’ myth: The ‘Beltway sniper’ will be put to death, but will it help the victims move on? [Washington Post]

Counting Forward: The approval of an election law by Iraq’s Parliament is good news, but neither Baghdad nor Washington should be complacent about power-sharing issues. [New York Times]

You Don’t Want to Be Downwind: Now that the House has passed a bill to shore up security at chemical plants, the Senate should pass a parallel bill and the president should sign it. [New York Times]

No medals for hiring vets: Public and private efforts to employ ex-military aren’t what they claim. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

‘Greeters’ give troops the homecoming they deserve [USA Toay]

The lesson from the streets: Big money is not the answer [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Without family planning . . . poverty will spread across the globe, and children will die [USA Today]

Two hot buttons: Senate and House bills limit coverage for illegal immigrants and abortion. But critics aren’t satisfied. [LA Times]

The Republican Health Plan: The Republican House bill is not reform: it does little to reduce the number of uninsured, and much of the savings on premiums comes from reduced coverage. [New York Times]

As medical costs take over government, Dems duck … [USA Today]

Italy got it right: CIA renditions are wrong – The conviction of 23 Americans in the abduction of Muslim cleric Abu Omar may be largely symbolic, but it sends an important message to the Obama administration. [LA Times]

A Bad Way to Spend Money: Extending the home buyer’s tax credit is wasteful; instead, Congress should help people avoid foreclosure. [New York Times]

A Honduras hijacked by ideology: How Senate Republicans could throw the country into chaos. [Washington Post]

Afghanistan’s forgotten class: After the fall of the Taliban, many Afghan women shed their burqas, opened schools, entered Parliament. [Boston Globe]

Beyond the Spin: Hope didn’t heal the divide: A year after Obama’s election, America’s racial rifts are deep and persistent. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The vaccine screw-up [Chicago Tribune]

Corzine can blame himself: By Gabriel Gardner There seems to be a consensus developing in the media that this week’s election results suggest a national GOP resurgence. This fails to recognize that the result in New Jersey was actually due to Gov. Corzine’s shortcomings in office. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

GOP at war with itself: Re-education camps with Sarah Palin and Glen Beck? [Washington Post]

What Reagan was really trying to do at the Berlin Wall [LA Times]

Mistrial by Google: Increasingly, courts have had to warn jurors that blogging or searching the Web during trial jeopardizes the very foundations of the judicial system. [Boston Globe]

Tribal Chiefs and the President: President Obama has taken important steps to address the economic and social problems facing American Indians. [New York Times]

Here’s what’s wrong with World Series: It’s still our greatest sports spectacular. But the World Series needs some fixing. So do the American and National League playoffs that lead up to it. [USA Today]

Our heroes, this day and the year-round [USA Today]

Privacy and the Patriot Act: In the aftermath of 9/11, legislators cut legal corners to protect the nation. Congress should amend that now by revising certain expiring provisions of the law. [LA Times]  

Government helps keep consumers safe [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]  

Cheney: Whatever possessed him? The former vice president’s comments only help Obama politically — so much so that one wonders what’s inside Cheney’s head. [Boston Globe]  

Smoking out e-cigarettes: Forget industry protests; the FDA should be regulating the new product. [LA Times]  

The Cover-Up Continues: To ensure that the abuses of the Bush years are never repeated, the Obama administration should stop covering up the painful truths. [New York Times]  

The ticking time bomb on warming: The blur of details and fog of ideological attacks can obscure the truly essential in the current congressional debate about legislation to confront global warming while building a green economy: the stark need for immediate action. [Boston Globe]  

Trading in ‘cap and trade’: Focusing on specific industries rather than capping overall emissions work better for modernizing nations, although it may result in higher greenhouse gas levels in developed countries. [LA Times]  

Any malpractice reforms should put patients first [USA Today]  

After Reform Passes: If the Massachusetts experience is any guide, health care reform will have broad public support once it’s in place. [New York Times]  

Public plan danger: Will Obama allow Congress to use it as an excuse to dodge harder reforms? [Washington Post]  

Hospitals wage war against patient falls: The effort is laudable, as increasing public awareness of these events — and denying payment of related care in some cases — will help reduce them. [Boston Globe]  

Torching the Big Tent: The division of party support for a moderate Republican candidate says much about the Republicans’ glaring misunderstanding of American voters. [New York Times]  

Obama outs Fox, but reveals a big flaw [Chicago Tribune]  

Oklahoma vs. Women: A restraining order granted by an Oklahoma judge that blocks a new flanking maneuver on abortion from going into effect is a victory for reproductive freedom. [New York Times]  

‘Baby Einstein’ flunks the test [USA Today]  

Speechless [Chicago Tribune]

America’s maddening paranoia: Suspiciousness and conspiracy fears have been part of our politics for decades, but the attacks on Obama’s back-to-school speech are especially depressing. [LA Times]

Source: Boston Globe

Obama’s pep talk: Since when is a back-to-school speech urging the country’s children to work hard and get good grades fodder for a controversy? [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Stop Fussing Over Obama: The president’s speech urging kids to work hard set off a ridiculous protest. [Washington Post]

American zombies: How silly were the protests against Obama’s schools speech? This silly: [NY Daily News]

Mr. President, ignore the polls and pass health care reform [Atlanta
Journal-Constitution]

Obama needs the speech he just gave [LA Times]

Cheney’s Disdain For The Law Is Appalling [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Health care fear factor: Roughly one in six Americans lacks health insurance. Millions more could lose theirs in a flash. Costs are rising so fast that in a decade, premiums for a family policy will approach $25,000 a year. And yet time and again, the system proves impervious to reform, mostly for one reason: fear. [USA Today]

Less Spocky, More Rocky: President Obama is so wrapped up in his desire to be a different, more conciliatory, beer-summit kind of leader, he ignores some verities. [New York Times]

Keep ban on contributions: The U.S. Supreme Court today will hear a case with enormous implications on political campaigns: whether to overturn the ban on corporate money in federal elections. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Van Jones and the witch hunters [Chicago Tribune]

Green jobs: New messenger, same message: The work Van Jones was doing was important. Obama should find a replacement as committed to the goal of bringing green jobs to inner cities. [Boston Globe]

Sudan’s indecent misogyny: The arrest for indecency of a female journalist and UN official in Sudan because she wore pants puts a spotlight on human rights violations in a country that turns its courts over to religious authority. [Boston Globe]

The Crisis, a Year Later: Without full disclosure from the banks about how they are using their bailout dollars, it’s impossible to assess the plans’ efficacy. [New York Times]

Abortion Fear-Mongering: Misleading statements from the GOP do a disservice to a complex policy issue. [Washington Post]

How to restore consumer confidence: A cheap, simple and powerful solution for much of America’s consumer confidence problem rests in a consumer financial protection regulator. [Boston Globe]

Think you can hide? Think again [Chicago Tribune]

‘Freeze! Put your hands up!’ Oh, sorry: At home, watching TV — then an erroneous 911 call leads to a brief, tense encounter with the LAPD. [LA Times]

Shackled Democracy in Burma: The military regime’s planned election is a mockery, says a former political prisoner. [Washington Post]

‘Convincing Evidence of Fraud’: Afghan authorities should refrain from declaring a formal winner of the presidential election until the recount is finished and the Electoral Complaints Commission rules. [New York Times]

Some ‘Radical’ If Sonia Sotomayor has an activist agenda, her judicial record is hiding it well. [Washington Post]

The Peril of ‘Buy American’: A provision in the stimulus bill to ensure that taxpayer dollars would be used exclusively to support American jobs could make the global recession worse. [New York Times]

Obama’s Egyptian conundrum: President Obama’s speech in Egypt on Thursday might well be his trickiest yet. [USA Today]

A reprise of ‘Liar Liar’ and the audio recording: Burris’ stint as an Illinois senator should be a short one [Chicago Tribune]

The choice on abortion: rhetorical recklessness or civil expression [LA Times]

F.D.A.’s Secret Files: Greater transparency about how drugs and medical devices are approved will help doctors and consumers understand the risks they face [New York Times]

A Healthy Tax: Taxing drinks loaded with sugar is the right step toward fighting the obesity epidemic. [New York Times]

Watchwords in California’s budget mess: As they deal with the crisis, Republicans should think about San Francisco, 35% and Winston Churchill. Democrats should remember the Golden Rule and Harry Truman. [LA Times]