• Times Union, Albany, N.Y., on shielding retirement funds • Orange County (Calif.) Register, on the progress in Iraq • South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on FEMA’s hurricane payouts • The Des Moines (Iowa) Register, on Pope John Paul
• Times Union, Albany, N.Y., on shielding retirement funds
• Orange County (Calif.) Register, on the progress in Iraq
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on FEMA’s hurricane payouts
• The Des Moines (Iowa) Register, on Pope John Paul II
• The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., on provisions of the Patriot Act
Times Union, Albany, N.Y., on shielding retirement funds
Nothing like unanimity. Nothing like reason and fairness as well. Without a dissenting vote, the Supreme Court has come to the aid of an increasing number of older Americans who are overwhelmed by debt. Thanks to its decision last Monday, zealous creditors won’t be able to seize the retirement accounts of people who seek bankruptcy protection.
Oh, there are plenty of other places creditors can go in their quest to get the victims of such hardship as the loss of a job or sky-high medical bills to pay their outstanding debts. Savings accounts can be raided, for instance. But now Individual Retirement Accounts are sensibly off limits, just like houses and cars tend to be. In some states, New York among them, that’s been the case all along. A Supreme Court ruling brings a welcome sense of clarity and uniformity to the bankruptcy laws, though.…
By overturning that decision, the Supreme Court has, in the words of Patricia Kaeding, a Wisconsin lawyer who filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging such a ruling, provided “assurance that a family’s financial bumps in the road will not keep them from having modest additional means — beyond Social Security — to help them cope with the many financial pressures of aging.”…
Orange County (Calif.) Register, on the progress in Iraq
It’s not as if all of Iraq’s problems are solved or close to being solved. However, important steps toward Iraqi self-rule have been taken, and that should serve as a prelude for removing American troops.
… Last week Shiite leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari was named prime minister, reputedly the most powerful position in the next interim government, whose main job is to write a constitution. Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, is president. A Sunni deputy president and speaker of the parliament are in place.
The fact that tens of thousands of Iraqis turned out Saturday to demand that U.S. troops return home is a sign that increasing numbers of Iraqis are feeling more confident about being able to run the country themselves.
It is not only Iraqis in the streets pushing for a withdrawal. Iraqi President Talabani has predicted that U.S. troops will be gone from Iraq within two years. Even senior military officers and Pentagon officials interviewed by the New York Times suggest that by early next year U.S. troop levels in Iraq, now at about 142,000, could drop to about 105,000. …
A strict timetable might be a mistake. But if the number of U.S. troops in Iraq isn’t reduced significantly in a matter of months, not years, that will be a failure of American governance.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on FEMA’s hurricane payouts
Troubling revelations continue to emerge about the Florida hurricane relief operations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Congressional investigations into FEMA’s wasteful spending should accelerate before this self-appointed Santa Claus gives away every federal asset that isn’t tied down.
The latest finding uncovered by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is that FEMA has been blaming deaths on last summer’s hurricanes that had nothing to do with the storms. Medical examiners officially counted 123 hurricane-related fatalities. Yet FEMA, which seems to use a form of mathematics not found elsewhere on Earth, has paid for 315 funerals the agency says were storm-related.…
The revelations come on the heels of earlier Sun-Sentinel reports that found FEMA handed out more than $31 million in hurricane relief checks to residents of Miami-Dade County, which didn’t come within 100 miles of a hurricane last summer.…
Some Florida residents probably committed fraud, which isn’t necessarily FEMA’s fault. But why can’t FEMA better distinguish between fraudulent and legitimate claims? Investigators should demand an answer to that question, and also should examine whether the agency’s criteria for approving aid are as consistent and as fully vetted as they should be.
The Des Moines (Iowa) Register, on Pope John Paul II
At St. Peter’s Basilica, millions of people waited hours this week to view the body of Pope John Paul II. Those who couldn’t travel to Rome paid their respects where they could …
The huge gatherings are a fitting end to the life of a man who worked so hard to bring people together.
John Paul II was a uniter. He was the first pope to visit a synagogue. He called Jews the “elder brothers” of Christians. He also was the first pope to visit a mosque. He met with world leaders of all religions and parties and beliefs. He helped establish relations with Israel and bring down the Iron Curtain. He preached a message of peace, social justice and life.
Unlike his predecessors, he was visible. Cameras captured him skiing and hiking and surrounded by crowds of children. He was the first pope to visit Iowa, a 1979 event that drew a crowd of more than 300,000. He brought humanity to a mystical office and continued to make appearances, even as age and illness took their toll. He constantly traveled. He spoke several languages, allowing him to communicate more directly with people from diverse cultures and nationalities.
Throughout his life, he turned out to visit the world. This week, the world turned out for him.
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., on provisions of the Patriot Act
…Past American statesmen ranging from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Robert F. Kennedy have pointed out the temptation to combat deplorable practices by adopting them. It’s a warning we’ve been slow to heed, though, as certain Patriot Act provisions demonstrate, not to mention the embarrassing disclosures at Abu Ghraib …
Another glaring breakdown of traditional American principles involves “extraordinary rendition,” known to its critics as the outsourcing of torture. The practice dates to the Clinton administration but was widely expanded after Sept. 11, 2001. Under it, the United States turns people suspected of terrorist involvement over to countries who lack America’s official scruples about using torture as an interrogation method.…
Still, administration officials refuse to drop the practice because they contend it protects U.S. troops.…
The war against terrorism is no justification for a practice like extraordinary rendition. If that’s how we fight for liberty and human rights, it may produce a defeat for terrorism, but it won’t be a victory for the United States.
