• Chicago Tribune, on the public’s reaction to the Peterson verdict • Florida Today, Melbourne, on hurricane insurance claims and the Legislature • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on Mia Hamm’s retirement from soccer • Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic, on supplies for the troops
• Chicago Tribune, on the public’s reaction to the Peterson verdict
• Florida Today, Melbourne, on hurricane insurance claims and the Legislature
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on Mia Hamm’s retirement from soccer
• Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic, on supplies for the troops fighting in Iraq
Chicago Tribune, on the public’s reaction to the Peterson verdict
Outside the California courtroom where jurors sentenced convicted murderer Scott Peterson on Monday, hundreds of onlookers let out a cheer and high-fived each other when they learned of the recommendation that he be put to death.
The disturbing scene conjured images of public square hangings in colonial America, where a giddy, almost celebratory mood hung in the air the way it might at a summer Little League championship.
Forget whether one believes Peterson to be innocent or guilty, deserving of death or life in prison. This kind of reaction was an embarrassment.
… In the case of the Peterson trial, (the crowds’) size and exuberance were fueled in part by the disproportionate, lurid interest cable television and tabloid news took in this particular trial involving the murder of his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son.
Death sentences may well be an expression of a community’s moral outrage toward the crime committed, but high-fiving? Death as sport?
There was nothing to celebrate here. Those inside the Redwood City courtroom understood that. The verdict was met with stone silence, according to reports. Not even a gasp. Jurors, too, were somber and hardly delighted in the recommendation despite their conviction it was the right thing to do. …
There were no wins in this case, only tragic losses.
Florida Today, Melbourne, on hurricane insurance claims and the Legislature
The state Cabinet was right to extend an order stopping insurers from canceling the policies of owners unable to get hard-to-arrange repairs for hurricane-damaged homes.
The action extended the moratorium from Dec. 31 to March 31, and state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher is correct when he says it should be extended further.
But why stop with half-measures, when it’s obvious the state should prohibit any insurer operating in Florida from canceling any homeowner policy just because of hurricane damage — not just for a few weeks, but ever.
In case the insurance businesses don’t quite understand the deal they make with customers, let us explain:
Property owners pay large sums each year for coverage in case of disaster. Insurers are supposed to pay claims promptly.
For them to cancel policies in what amounts to a punishment for making claims is ludicrous.
But it’s so common that the moratorium was needed to protect the home-mortgage market, which faces a classic Catch 22. Damaged homes are uninsurable, but all mortgaged homes must be insured.
That just got a temporary fix. Now, the state must prohibit all insurers from dumping customers simply for seeking the coverage they paid for.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on Mia Hamm’s retirement from soccer
Mia Hamm didn’t invent women’s soccer, nor did she blaze the trail allowing women on the field. But she turned what had been a dirt road into an interstate highway, presiding over an era of astronomical growth and popularity for women’s soccer.
For nearly two decades, she has been the best women’s soccer player in the world, from her debut on the U.S. women’s national soccer team in 1987 at age 15 to her retirement this month. …
Ms. Hamm retired with 158 goals in international competitions, the most of any soccer player in history, male or female. … For a whole generation of young soccer players, Ms. Hamm served as an inspiration, just as Pele had done for their parents.
Mia Hamm’s influence stretches beyond soccer. Born only months after the passage of Title IX, she symbolizes a second wave in the rise of women’s athletics; sports once relegated only to high school and college fields are now ticketed spectator events with mainstream fans and corporate endorsements. …
As Ms. Hamm repeats ad nauseam in interviews, the success of U.S. women’s soccer isn’t just about her. Four of Ms. Hamm’s teammates on the gold-medal winning Athens Olympics team also played for the national team starting in the 1980s — and most are also on the verge of retiring. To Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett and Mia Hamm, we say thanks, and enjoy the view from the sidelines.
Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic, on supplies for the troops fighting in Iraq
While griping in the ranks is a military tradition, a member of the Tennessee National Guard took it to a new level when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who had dropped by a base in Kuwait for a brief pep talk, got peppered himself instead.
“Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?” Spc. Thomas Wilson, a member of the Tennessee National Guard, asked of the Pentagon chief. “We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north.” …
Chalk one up for the grunts. The guardsman has a good point, and Rumsfeld’s lame response only further illustrates just how ill-prepared the Pentagon and military brass were for an extended deployment in Iraq.
More than 21 months after President Bush declared “mission accomplished,” there is a crying need for what is called, in military jargon, “resetting the force.” That means that as the U.S. presence in Iraq continues to drag on, supplies and equipment must be upgraded and replenished. …
The fact remains that current efforts at resupply and upgrade are too slow and not enough. And it shouldn’t take the quizzing of the defense chief by an enlisted man to point that out.
Whatever a person’s view of the war in Iraq, we must support our troops. We cannot under any circumstances allow our men and women in uniform to be put in harm’s way without the best equipment available. This is, after all, a nation that moved to wartime production in a heartbeat at the onset of World War II, producing needed military supplies and equipment at a breathtaking rate.
The American public expects, and demands, no less of a commitment to our troops in Iraq.
Let’s find a way and get it done.
