AnnotatedOpinions.com

• 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]

Obama is right to acknowledge China’s might: For better and worse, the U.S. and Chinese economies are intertwined, and that makes America stronger, not weaker. [LA Times]

For Palin, reality goes rogue: The former vice-presidential candidate dwells on the most damaging accusation against her — that she rang up $150,000 in luxury clothing purchases. Too bad that her defense is
preposterous. [Boston Globe]

Studying Palintology: Here’s something useful that George W. Bush can put his money into. [Washington Post]

Our rogue Evita: Sarah Palin follows in the footsteps of Eva Peron. [Washington Post]

Obama’s Judicial Nominations: The White House and the Senate should speed up judicial nominations and confirmations to restore balance to the federal courts. [New York Times]

Time for a ruling on judge: Eight months after President Obama nominated him to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, a jurist from Indiana may finally have a chance at confirmation from the Senate. [LA Times]

Madoff: A piece of the (malef)action: The convicted Ponzi schemer’s belongings are being auctioned off. Good news for his victims, but it’s still sad that his infamy lends exorbitant value to mundane objects. [Boston Globe]

Puppets in Congress: It is disturbing that so many members of Congress were willing to repeat a biotechnology company’s talking points in the Congressional Record. [New York Times]

Gitmo, Illinois: Plans for moving some Gitmo prisoners prisons in Illinois is no reason for panic [Chicago Tribune]

Democracy – it’s not for everyone: In the past half century, the record of democracies in some regions of the world has been spotty. [Boston Globe]

Shaming undermines justice: Americans may cheer the idea of retributive punishment, but such judgments threaten the principles of our legal system. [USA Today]

What the Future May Hold: For future generations, we need to remember that infrastructure is linked to the health of the economy, the environment and the viability of the nation as a whole. [New York Times]

Their Future Is Ours: The country is stumbling under the challenge of integrating the children of immigrants, who need more supportive policies and programs. [New York Times]

Pandemic politics: How did we get to a point where H1N1 means something different to everyone? [Washington Post]

President Obama in China: President Obama needs to encourage China to play an even stronger international role — but also curb some of its darker instincts. [New York Times]

Great Firewall of China [USA Today]

Iran issue is key to Obama’s other foreign policy goals: His administration hopes to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world and achieve global nuclear disarmament. [LA Times]

Study says drug does little, proving need for more testing: Congress should expand programs on effectiveness studies [Boston Globe]

One nation, insured: Some states, such as Arizona, are considering ways to opt out of a national plan. That’s foolish. [LA Times]

Bitter pill to swallow: The health-insurance reform bill passed by the House contains an unnecessary new restriction on abortion that the Senate should eliminate from the legislation. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The flaws of lethal injection: It’s a preferred method of executing inmates, but so much can — and has — gone wrong that states need to take a hard look at their procedures. [LA Times]

The limits of juvenile sentencing: Locking up young offenders for life without parole is inherently unjust. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Faith is no defense: When a child dies, why do courts give believers a pass? [Washington Post]

Order in the court [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Don’t blame God for terrorism: After the Fort Hood massacre and others, some people — often atheist stalwarts — like to point at the corrosive influence of religion. But a closer look suggests that the most notorious killers usually act on secular motives. [USA Today]

Arlington, Obama, and the Afghan decision: Arlington National Cemetery is a beautiful place, as it should be, but its grandeur can deceive. [Boston Globe]

Minding our manners in increasingly rude U.S. [Chicago Tribune]

Economic lessons from the playground: The basic rules of the playground are sometimes given a more sophisticated, adult name: socialism. [Boston Globe]

Under the chamber’s cyber-skin: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is overreacting to a parody tweaking its stance on global warming. [LA Times]

Treat. Don’t repeat: Help repeat offenders kick their addictions [Houston Chronicle]

ROTC for civilians: Imagine a time when government work was exciting, admired, and sought-after. [Washington Post]

Dr. No and the Wounded Veterans: Senator Tom Coburn should not have obstructed urgently needed legislation that consolidates more than a dozen improvements in veterans’ health care. [New York Times]

The American way: Smile if you’re insecure: We hide our fear of failure with a positive outlook. [LA Times]

Citizen, heal thyself: Get the swine flu vaccine [Boston Globe]

Bypassing the Karzai problem: Avoiding the top leader for local leaders may be a more effective way to face the many problems in Afghanistan. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Hope in Afghanistan: A much better approach to building the Afghan police force. [Washington Post]

Politics of plate: Quit eating meat and dismantle the global food apparatus. [Washington Post]

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]

A good night for Reed, a better night for Republicans [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Don’t believe the hype: The election results won’t forecast much for anyone. [Washington Post]

Amid terrorism, Iraq matures: In an odd way, the response to recent bombings in Baghdad shows that the Iraqi political world is evolving in a healthy direction. [Boston Globe]

The Best Allies Money Can Buy: America has been able to fight two wars with few allies because we’ve hired the help. [New York Times]

Two bills, clear winner: Why the House’s health reform proposal is better public policy than the Senate’s. [Washington Post]

Health: Fighting flu with… corn syrup? Amid a swine flu scare, Kellogg’s puts forth Cocoa Krispies as a boost for children’s immune system. [Boston Globe]

Justice delayed: Hispanic farmers battle USDA practice Hispanic farmers battle USDA’s long-standing discriminatory loan practices. [Houston Chronicle]

Justice and truth take a back seat in Chicago [Chicago Tribune]

Justice restored: Finally, a court ruling that considers the impact on the Luzerne County kids whose lives have been upended. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Driving Without English: The abuses by Dallas police officers who fined drivers for not speaking English exemplify why cops should not be turned into immigration agents. [New York Times]

Cut off the gas [Chicago Tribune]

We need a Karzai strategy: In the wake of the Afghan leader’s odd victory, Obama must revamp his approach. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

‘Messy’ Afghan election deepens Obama’s dilemma [USA Today]

Reform or die: Now the U.S. confronts the hardest puzzle of all in Afghanistan: improving governance. [Washington Post]

Some Sense on Defense Spending: President Obama must work hard to make sure that his hard-won victories to reduce defense spending stay won. [New York Times]

Net revolution – and rerun: The emergence of cable and pay-TV programming marked an exciting and explosive stage in America’s communications history. [Boston Globe]

Racial hope fades despite Obama [Chicago Tribune]

Protection for Investors: The Investor Protection Act of 2009 should not exempt small public companies from the audit requirement. [New York Times]

Academic salaries: Paying the smart money: The salaries of college and university presidents have been going up, but savvy leadership has a price. [LA Times]

It’s been good year for charity bakery [Chicago Tribune] 

Get the shot [Chicago Tribune]  

Swine Flu and You: While there is no reason to panic over the swine flu, people should take normal precautions to prevent it from spreading. [New York Times]  

The Case for More Stimulus: Because of ongoing economic problems, the immediate need for stimulus trumps the longer-term need for deficit reduction. [New York Times]  

The threat of homegrown terrorism: Though terrorism is back in the headlines, many question whether individuals like Mehana Mehanna, the Sudbury native arrested last week, pose a significant terrorist threat or do they lack the capability to inflict any real damage? [Boston Globe]  

Iraq, Afghanistan and the politics of war: In both countries, military advances must be matched by political progress toward peace. [LA Times]  

General fallibility: President Obama should give Stanley McChrystal what he needs — not what he wants. [Washington Post]  

Either/Or in Afghanistan: Sometimes a “war president” has to decide to start bringing the troops home. [Washington Post]

Keeping our allies on our side in Afghanistan: The U.S. must be willing to listen to those nations that are sharing the risks. [LA Times]

‘One free swerve’ [Chicago Tribune]  

Death in the desert: It’s time the U.S. take steps to keep thousands of migrants from dying attempting to cross into this country. [LA Times]  

To check or not to check: Bag wars aloft [Chicago Tribune]  

A Win for Internet Speech: A judge was correct in throwing out a suit against Craigslist over its “erotic services” section, since the law shields the company from liability for the speech of others. [New York Times]  

Lose your job? Need health care? Join the military: Times being what they are, I have decided to suck up to Fox News by becoming a conservative commentator. [Philadelphia Inquirer]  

More than 1 way to cool Earth [USA Today]  

Boomers out of the spotlight: Not long ago, I was blithely driving along, listening to a public radio story on senior citizens and unemployment. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Detainee-abuse photos and democracy: Pending legislation that allows the pictures to be kept secret would grant the government broad authority to evade accountability now and in the future. [LA Times]

How to Waste Money and Ruin the Census: To ensure an accurate count and avoid massive waste, the Senate must strike down  ttempts,
like those from Senators David Vitter and Orrin Hatch, to change the 2010 census. [New York Times]  

‘Balloon Boy’ our punishment [Chicago Tribune]  

Anything to be on TV: The Heenes are perfect for a reality show, assuming they don’t go to jail [Washington Post]  

Reality bites: The hoax about a boy carried off in a weather balloon shows what happens to some parents when the fame and cash of “reality” TV beckon. [Philadelphia Inquirer]  

Falcon and the showman: In incidents like last week’s ‘balloon boy’ caper, we all share some blame when those without shame chase their 15 minutes of fame. [LA Times]  

The Heenes as parents [Chicago Tribune]  

Prescription for pot: The easing of federal pressure on medical marijuana suppliers and users is welcome news. [LA Times]  

End Afghan election crisis first: The Obama Administration should wait until the Afghan election controversy is resolved before making a decision on a new strategy and US troop levels. [Boston Globe]  

The Afghanistan problem: The huge cultural misunderstandings between Western forces and the Afghan people make it unlikely any counterinsurgency mission in the countryside will succeed. [LA Times]  

What Afghan alliance? There is almost no sense anywhere that the war is an international operation. [Washington Post]  

Safety Nets for the Rich: We’ve shoveled money at the rich and given banks and megacorporations everything they’ve wanted for decades but it’s time to realize that trickle-down economics is a fairy tale. [New York Times]  

Copyright: Fairey’s unfair use: Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the Obama “Hope” poster, now admits to having lied about which AP photo he used to create his famous image. [Boston Globe]  

Fighting swine flu: Editorial: The disease strikes hardest at children and young adults, yet the county’s inoculation program mostly neglects schools. [LA Times]  

Debate Is Good for Your Health: After a false start, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and insurers have come to satisfactory middle ground on how beneficiaries can be legally contacted and mobilized. [New York Times]  

Are baby boomers turning into outsiders? [Chicago Tribune]  

Talking to Sudan: If the Obama administration must negotiate with Sudan, and it must, incentives should be granted only for measurable progress, and Khartoum must be held to account for its horrors. [New  York Times]  

An insurgency swells, but Pakistan focuses on India: While violence  rom Taliban and Islamic fundamentalists is on the upswing in  Pakistan, its government and military appear to be lining their defenses against an old foe, India. [Boston Globe]  

Where the Wild Things Are: Psychologists and philosophers tend to gravitate toward very different views of conduct and whether we can truly say that there is such a thing as character. [New York Times]

Grandma’s greener than you: For all the hype about being eco-conscious today, seniors could teach the young about walking the walk rather than just talking the talk. [USA Today]  

Home Alone: President Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Congress must acknowledge the value of after-school programs, and must work to help them thrive — even in hard times. [New York Times]  

Feed hungry, then help them feed themselves [USA Today]  

A Long Way Down: Because many if not most Americans gained little to nothing from the Bush “growth” years, they have found themselves especially vulnerable to the recession. [New York Times]

Fiery rhetoric of Obama’s critics [Chicago Tribune]

The Wyden Alarm: If the Energizer Bunny of health-care reform is worried, we ought to be, too. [Washington Post]

Sen. Ron Wyden

The man who hated hunger: He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Congressional Gold Medal. [Boston Globe]

Doctors overwhelmingly back a public option [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Rapping Joe’s Knuckles: The pressure from House Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, on Joe Wilson to apologize was a rare triumph for civility in a country that seems to have lost all sense of it. [New York Times]

Behind the right’s attack on Obama: Don’t be fooled by the grass-roots image of the tea partyers and the ‘10thers.’ [LA Times]

Merrill bonus case highlights how shareholders get fleeced [USA Today]

Palin, DeMint should take lessons from this guy [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Apply the law equally: By dropping a charge against a prominent blogger — but not others charged with the same crime — the US attorney’s office violated the principle of equal treatment. [Boston Globe]

Truth About Lending: Congress should pass a bill that would simplify the student loan system — and save the country nearly $90 billion over the next decade. [New York Times]

From ACORN, a mighty controversy grows: After the release of several videos highlighting atrocious behavior by some of its workers, the liberal advocacy group needs to clean house. [LA Times]

Gulf stewardship: Red snapper catch quotas work Introduction of quotas for the red snapper catch works, and should be a model. [Houston Chronicle]

Smirk Street: Did you ever get the feeling that the person you’re talking to seems to be listening attentively but is actually thinking about squeezing in one more weekend at the beach before it gets too chilly? [Philadelphia Inquirer]

H1N1 smarts: With swine flu having struck more than a million Americans since spring and the H1N1 vaccine still weeks away, the nation’s public health system is bracing for a deluge of patients. [USA Today]

What Sweeney Won: Two of the AFL-CIO chief’s organizing triumphs could reverse unions’ fortunes. [Washington Post]

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]