• Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., on NBA players’ brawl • Chicago Tribune, on sick days • The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C., on Dan Rather: • The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, on Bush in Canada • Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle,
• Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., on NBA players’ brawl
• Chicago Tribune, on sick days
• The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C., on Dan Rather:
• The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, on Bush in Canada
• Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, on the CIA
Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., on NBA players’ brawl
If there is one inviolable rule in sports, it’s that players can’t attack the people buying the tickets up in the stands. That’s why National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern’s suspensions of several players involved in one of the worst brawls in professional sports history are warranted. Criminal charges may yet be, though that’s not as clear-cut. The fight erupted near the end of a game last Friday between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, when Pacers player Ron Artest committed a hard foul against Pistons player Ben Wallace and Wallace shoved him violently in response. …
Fights have long been a part of the heat of competition. But if athletes declared war on each other in the past – and we don’t condone that, either – doing so on fans is a relatively new phenomenon. The same can be said about fans who attack players. There must be boundaries, in sports and life, if we are to keep living, playing and watching together.
… There are quite a few things more important than winning or losing on the athletic field, and more of this nation’s leaders need to stand up and say so, while modeling the kind of conduct to which all of us should aspire.
Chicago Tribune, on sick days
Playing in pain or sickness is the American way. Who didn’t admire the World Series performance of Red Sox ace Curt Schilling, who pitched with a dislocated tendon behind his right ankle? You could even see the blood soaking through the sock. Inspiring! Or remember the magnificent performance of a virus-weakened Michael Jordan against the Utah Jazz in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals? News stories compared him—favorably—to Superman.
So how can it be that Americans are now being counseled to stay home from work if they’re sick?
Yes, it’s hard to believe. But lamentably, a recent Tribune article delivered the bad news: Studies suggest that productivity losses from working while sick—a phenomenon known as “presenteeism”—far outstrip the costs of absenteeism. In other words, the experts suggest that we stay home when we’re sick so we don’t spread the illness and torpedo company productivity.
But, voices splutter across the country, that’s not the American way. That sounds more like a cushy European job, with its six guaranteed weeks of paid vacation and probably more than generous sick leave plans. …
… Anyone can come to work healthy. The real loyalists are those who refuse to take a sick day. Those “experts” who suggest otherwise need to wise up. …
The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C., on Dan Rather:
Many will say the CBS anchorman decided to call it quits because of fallout from the story about George W. Bush’s stint in the National Guard. But his real nemesis may have been irrelevance.
The day when the nation could look to three anchors on three networks for their dose of evening news are long gone. And in an environment where the influence of the remaining network anchors is dwindling, Rather has fallen to a distant third place in the ratings race. …
Rather will be remembered not only for the botched National Guard story but also for some other odd incidents in his long career. For example, there was his reply at a press conference to a query from President Nixon about whether he was running for something: “No, sir, Mr. President,” said Rather, “are you?”
He also vacated his anchor chair during a live broadcast to protest delaying the news for a tennis match, leaving dead air for almost six minutes. There also was the time he claimed to have been accosted by a strange man who asked him “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”
And, of course, there was Rather, himself, rattling off the homespun homilies and aphorisms that sometimes were hard to decipher and, at other times, simply goofy.
But Rather also should be remembered for being the hard news reporter he claimed to be, as someone who got the story right a lot more times than he got it wrong, and as a reporter who, throughout his career, was willing to travel to dangerous spots to get the news. Too bad he will be leaving under a cloud.
The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, on Bush in Canada
Way too much hand-wringing is occurring over today’s visit to Canada by President Bush.
After a member of the Canadian Liberal Party was seen on a Canadian comedy show grinding her boot heel into the face of a Bush doll, the worrywarts started in about how divided Canada and the United States have become. It has become another “values” debate. …
The bottom line is that Canada has been a friend to the United States through thick and thin, through two world wars and even in the war on terror, sending troops at least as far as Afghanistan before balking at Iraq. …
For many reasons, from abortion policies to the war in Iraq, Bush may not be a favorite among the general population north of the 49th parallel, but let’s be clear on this: Canadians want the same things Americans want, which is a prosperous, independent country free to determine its own policies and politics.
The way to keep their friendship is to honor Canadian sovereignty, just as we demand that ours is honored, and to avoid hand-wringing and histrionics when Canadians (respectfully) voice their disagreements. As a nation, we do have to get over this notion that our friends to the north must walk in lockstep with us.
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, on the CIA
New Central Intelligence Agency director Porter Goss is doing as he should: He’s shaking to its roots an organization whose prestige has plummeted, whose failures in part opened a path for the 9/11 terrorists.
Goss understands, an uncommon thing in Washington’s bureaucratic jungle, that it isn’t enough for a new CIA boss or Cabinet secretary to bring in a new management team and leave the rest of the sea of middle managers alone. That ensures only superficial change. If improvement truly is the goal, then a boss committed to that end should reach into every corner of the enterprise.
Goss’ shakeup has unnerved the entire CIA community. No. 2 man John McLaughlin is out. The agency’s deputy director for operations is stepping down, as is his deputy. Further down the ladder, the heads of the European and Far East divisions reportedly are on the way out.
Goss’ dig-deep methods seem defensible from a management standpoint. But his motives must be similarly sound.
If he’s uprooting the ranks simply to get rid of those deemed insufficiently loyal to President Bush, then he’s toying with the underlying integrity of the agency.
The CIA must be able to make intelligence calls free of any kind of outside influence, including the president’s.
Goss says he’s engineering needed change in an agency whose performance has been substandard. It’s about better intelligence, not loyalty.
