AnnotatedOpinions.com

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]

A referendum on Obama? Not likely [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Getting a handle on elections [Chicago Tribune]

The Off-Off-Year Elections: If there were broad messages in the grab bag of contests, they were for both parties. [New York Times]

Voters send cautionary messages to both parties [USA Today]

Time for equal rights for gays is now: Progress is occurring, but Tuesday’s rejection of a same-sex marriage law in Maine shows there’s still a lot of work to be done. [LA Times]

Who ended the Cold War? The fall of the Berlin Wall is as much Gorbachev’s unheralded achievement as it is Reagan’s. [Boston Globe]

1989 was a very good year: The end of the Cold War brought change that sent ripples around the world. [LA Times]

Berlin Wall’s lessons for today: The oxygen of a free society is accurate and trustworthy information. Yet even today, regimes around the world are intent on cutting off the supply. [USA Today]

Deteriorating relationships? The United States only seems to be more polarized [Chicago Tribune]

Welcome sign: U.S. ends a misguided HIV policy [Houston Chronicle]

Women and health care [Washington Post]

Fixing healthcare: Primary care is job No. 1 – Effective reform requires spending for front-line doctors, those who screen for preventable diseases and are a patient’s advocate. [LA Times]

A Powerful Idea on Youth Violence: A Chicago plan that will put high-risk youth on the road to productive lives deserves full support. [New York Times]

Airline safety: I say Obama, you say O’Bama – New requirements by the Transportation Security Administration that names on plane boarding classes exactly match those on personal identifications could present major headaches. [Boston Globe]

Cyclists and motorists on collision course: A physician’s conviction in a bicycle crash case reveals a noxious form of road rage. [LA Times]

For university presidents, a pay cut is in order: Presidents at the top research universities should be embarrassed by 2008 average salary increases of more than 15 percent. [Boston Globe]

The Facebook grave site [Chicago Tribune]

Take the Shot: The most vulnerable people and those in critical jobs should take the swine flu vaccine. [New York Times]

One mom’s rapid conversion to swine flu vaccine believer [USA Today]

Obama must stand firm on Honduras crisis: A U.S.-brokered deal to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to office is unraveling, and the Obama administration seems to be wavering. [LA Times]

Iran’s abuse goes on: The problem is not limited to Tehran’s illicit nuclear activities. [Washington Post]

Give teenagers a second chance: A former U.S. Senator recounts his gun toting days and explains why kids are dumber than adults. [Washington Post] 

The Obama administration is using its competitive Race to the Top fund to push states to embrace real education reform. [New York Times]  

The injustice of Death Row [Chicago Tribune]  

Cameron Todd Willingham: executed but innocent? He died in Texas’ death chamber in 2001, even though the governor was aware of exculpatory evidence and is now apparently working to keep the truth from coming out. [LA  Times]  

Mr. Obama, be tough on climate change: Global warming is different from almost every other problem we face. [Boston Globe]  

Can we still afford to save the planet? An already heroic target turned mindboggling. [Washington Post]

Dollar’s daze: Weakened U.S. currency is confusing and worrying, especially as it relates to oil [Houston Chronicle]  

The Chinese Disconnect: Something should be done about China’s weak-currency policy, which poses a growing threat to the rest of the world economy. [New York Times]  

Sideshow on Wall Street: Capping salaries and bonuses is like arresting a jaywalker. [Washington Post]  

Compassion Deficit: As the recession swells the ranks of those in need of food and shelter, localities and states should opt for charity over criminalizing homelessness. [New York Times]  

Stop dawdling on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’: The president is the commander in chief. He shouldn’t count on Congress to take the lead on the issue, and he shouldn’t wait for broad consensus to emerge before taking action. [Boston Globe]  

Lost civil liberties oversight: Obama and Congress appear to have dropped the ball. [Washington Post]  

While Latinas gain, Latino boys languish [USA Today]  

Credit Card Chicanery: Credit card companies have intensified their exploitation of consumers, and Congress should respond by moving up the date when its credit card law becomes effective. [New York Times]  

Tainted games? Human rights abuses tied to the Olympics have gone unchecked for too long [Washington Post]  

TV loses its best World Series bet [USA Today]  

A Level Field: The Justice Department should take a hard look at potentially anticompetitive behavior in agriculture, starting with Monsanto. [New York Times]  

My name is not ‘Mom’ [Chicago Tribune]   

Counting Backward: Iraq’s political leaders need a strong shove ahead on elections if there is to be any hope of withdrawing American troops on time and ensuring the country doesn’t unravel. [New York Times]  

The Khalid Shaikh Mohammed case would put America on trial: If the alleged 9/11 planner faces a jury, it would test our judicial system, the media and the nation as a whole. [LA Times]  

Cameron

Miliband on Cameron: A rightward Tory lurch in Europe troubles David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, and President Obama. [New York Times]   

Left, right and wrong in Honduras: Thanks to both liberal and conservative interventionists, the Central American nation has again become a sore point in U.S. foreign policy. [LA Times]  

A labor of love – and low pay: The overwhelmingly female army of home care workers answers to a bewildering array of titles — home health aide, personal care attendant, homemaker, custodial care giver — with different regulations in each state. The one thing they have in common is their pay. [Boston Globe]  

A free, fair Afghan vote key to stability: What people are saying about Afghanistan [USA Today]   

Excesses of private equity put mattress firm on death bed: The government should adjust the federal dividend tax rate to give buyout firms an incentive to stay invested in companies longer, rather than quickly ducking out after paying their investors. [Boston Globe]

How many soldiers? Political opponents of President Obama are trying to convince the public that he is retreating from his stated goal to stop Afghanistan from again becoming a base for terrorists who target the United States. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Making the case for a ‘public option’ [Chicago Tribune]

The Baucus Conundrum: The Baucus health care bill has weaknesses, but a version of it is likely to pass, so members of Congress should get engaged and fight to make it better. [New York Times]

Taxing ‘Cadillac’ plans [Chicago Tribune]

Waste Not, Want Not: The Key to Reducing Costs [Washington Post]

Another Kind of Foreclosure Crisis: The foreclosure crisis is exacerbated by a shortage of lawyers for at-risk homeowners. Lawmakers need to provide money and legislation to make legal options more accessible. [New York Times]

Same old, same old for women on the verge: Any day now, women are expected to overtake men in the American workforce. Sadly, the wage gap hasn’t closed. Women working full time now make 77 cents for every dollar men earn, which is just about where the ratio was in 1993. [Boston Globe]

The price of overdraft protection: Consumers may not realize they’re using the short-term loans, which can run up substantial fees. [LA Times]

The Texas two-step on gay divorce: One of the strange side effects of the patchwork of gay-straight laws governing marriage is their impact on ending marriage. And there is something charming about watching conservative politicians in Texas trying so ardently to preserve one same-sex marriage. [Boston Globe]

Why We March: Let’s no longer pretend that civil rights do not include rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. [Washington Post]

The Uneducated American: Education in America, suffering for years, is about to get much worse thanks to cuts caused by the financial crisis. [New York Times]

Distinguishing bad pictures from bad acts: By Craig Green This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in what could be a landmark free-speech case, United States v. Stevens. Like most free-speech cases, Stevens involves expression that is easy to dislike. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Protect the Atlantic bluefin tuna: Commercial overfishing has slashed the population of this ocean giant. [LA Times]

Benefits of swine flu vaccine greatly exceed the risks [USA Today]

The Law and Silvio Berlusconi: By overturning a law granting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution, Italy’s high court made a decision that is good for Italian democracy. [New York Times]

End the Honduras standoff: Prolonging the crisis does nothing but push the country closer to instability and economic problems. [LA Times]

Dick Cheney’s Version: The government owes Americans a full investigation into the orders to approve torture, as well as the twisted legal briefs that justified those policies. [New York Times]

Elmo is right: Wash your hands! [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Billing woes: Our system of medical billing is sick — impenetrably complex, in need of reform. [Houston Chronicle]

Health Care That Works: Government, for all its flaws, manages to do some things right, and one area that government intervention has been a step up is in medical care. [New York Times]

Keeping at-risk kids out of jail — it’s an art: ‘Tough on crime’ gang injunctions just funnel teens into jail. But one former gang member knows firsthand how a little care and attention can make a true difference. [LA Times]

Clean up after Agent Orange: Far better than a belated apology from William Calley for the killings at My Lai would be a greater US effort to help the Vietnamese deal with the Agent Orange dioxin left from our years of using herbicides to defoliate and destroy crops in that country. [Boston Globe]

Workers in America, Cheated: Workplace abuses are flourishing in the absence of a working immigration system, where illegal immigrants are vital to the economy but helpless to assert their rights. [New York Times]

Compromise a fading art: The recent death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was certainly a blow to his cherished goal of health-care reform. But it also could mean an end to the art of compromise in Congress. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Aging boomers: Hit the pavement softly – Aging super-athletes are just asking for trouble from their bodies if they push things too much after 50. [Boston Globe]

Honduras: Make it official — it’s a coup. A formal finding would trigger a suspension of U.S. aid. [LA Times]

Reform requires consumer pressure: As the debate over health reform turns toward cost control, there is a debate brewing between two rival camps [Boston Globe]

Cherry tacos anyone? [Chicago Tribune]

The federal debt and the tough choices ahead: Ballooning federal deficits leave Congress in a bind, and the choices get worse the longer it waits. [LA Times]

Toilet-Paper Barricades: The postpartisan, postracial, post-Clinton-dysfunction world that President Obama was supposed to usher in when he hit town on his white charger, with turtle doves tweeting, has vanished. [New York Times]

End-of-life planning is no conspiracy: It is far from being a left-wing conspiracy to deprive you of desirable care near the end of your life. [Boston Globe]

Protestors and Medicare: bite the hand that feeds you? [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Swashbucklers report nation’s temperature [Chicago Tribune]

New Afghan strategy should be given time to be tested [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

A Chance to Return the Favor: A.I.G. must be restructured for taxpayers to have a shot at recouping some of the bailout billions. [New York Times]

Eunice Shriver: Transformative, on her own terms: Her dad said if she were a boy she’d be president. She taught him that you don’t have to be president to have a transformative impact on society. [Boston Globe]

Shining a light on special kids: Eunice Kennedy Shriver could’ve coasted through life on her family name, enjoying the perks and privilege that come with being the daughter of a wealthy U.S. ambassador to England, sister of one president and two senators, the wife of a vice presidential candidate and Peace Corps director, and the mother-in-law to California’s governor. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Kennedy Shriver’s legacy [USA Today]

The Joyful Revolution: Eunice Kennedy Shriver let a hidden class of people play, and became a civil rights hero. [Washington Post]

Could health care be Obama’s Iraq? [Chicago Tribune]

On the trail of torture: If a special counsel is named to investigate possible abuses of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ on suspected terrorists, that won’t be the same as the ‘truth commission’ some demand. [LA Times]

Misleading investors comes with a price [Boston Globe]

Foot-dragging by the banks: After taking billions in federal bailout money, large banks should find it in their alleged hearts to modify more mortgages for struggling homeowners. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Pilots’ plight: Flight issues deserve prompt attention Issues of pilot fatigue and maximum flight time deserve prompt regulatory attention. [Houston Chronicle]

Sometimes the slopes really are slippery [Chicago Tribune]

Giving Snake River salmon a lift: Trucking the threatened fish past dams isn’t working, The Obama administration should call for talks on what will. [LA Times]

Salmon Test: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision about how it will save endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest will say a lot about how the administration sees its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. [New York Times]

Honduran coup leaders try to beat the clock: Despite efforts to return ousted President Manuel Zelaya, the interim government is dragging its feet until elections in November. The Obama administration shouldn’t tolerate this strategy. [LA Times]

Let’s Make Things: Reviving U.S. manufacturing could give a boost to an administration that needs it. [Washington Post]

Myths on health care: Scare tactics mustn’t obscure the facts about fixing our broken system. Will change be free? No. But doing nothing would be even more costly. [USA Today]

Call off the coup in Honduras: The revolt against a democratically elected government is wrong; both sides need to pull back and
return to the constitution. [LA Times]

A bad test for racial equity: Affirmative action still has a place in a diverse society. New Haven’s clumsy handling of a promotion exam
for firefighters muddies the issue. So does a too-sweeping ruling from the US Supreme Court. [Boston Globe]

Court turns a blind eye [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Jackson lived a tragic, yet ‘world-changing’ life [USA Today]

Bring voter systems into 21st century [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

‘Extraordinarily evil’ – Bernie Madoff [Chicago Tribune]

Bernard Madoff [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Getting a second opinion on healthcare reform: There are voices besides the AMA Lawmakers should understand that the group represents an increasingly narrow segment of the medical profession and that other organizations are more in touch with the public. [LA
Times]

The First Deadline: Before its troops leave for good in 2011, the U.S. has a responsibility and a strong strategic interest to help Iraq emerge as a functioning, sovereign and reasonably democratic state. [New York
Times]

A health emergency awaits: The H1N1 pandemic reveals the fallacy of relying on public health emergency laws to contain an epidemic.
Even with enhanced surveillance, H1N1 had already spread widely in many parts of Mexico and the United States before it had been identified [Boston Globe]

Code of conduct needed for health insurers, too [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Sotomayor vs. the court [Chicago Tribune]

Bernard Madoff’s sorry apology: Like too many politicians, CEOs and sports stars who crossed the line, the convicted swindler’s expression of regret came only after he was caught. [LA Times]

Privatizing fire protection: As fire danger climbs in the West, fire protection is gradually being added to the list of essential services for which the rich are better off than their less fortunate neighbors. [Boston Globe]

Mission Not Accomplished: The withdrawal of U.S. forces marks the beginning of an uncertain chapter, says Iraq’s interior minister. [Washington Post]