Saturday, November 14, 2009

Opinion

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Palin Cartoon Gallery

Editorial Cartoon

We've assembled some of the best editorial cartoons on Sarah Palin. Check them out.

Public Opinion

How Should the Gitmo Detainees Be Tried?

Is civilian court the best way to prosecute those accused for 9/11 attacks?

Reader Comment of the Day

“All this hogwash criticizing Pelosi misses the fact America voted in a president who ran on a healthcare reform platform.”

—Clyde of TX in response to Doug Heye:

Letters and Comments

Opinion Letters

Opinion Letters

A Republican Revival in Congress?

The big question for me is whether the dampening numbers are the result of too much Democratic success, or too little ["Giddy Republicans Foresee Bigger House Gains in 2010 Than in 1994," usnews.com].

Healthcare Cartoon Gallery

Editorial Cartoon, Healthcare

We've assembled some of the best editorial cartoons on the healthcare debate. Check them out.

Afghanistan Cartoon Gallery

Editorial Cartoon

We've assembled some of the best editorial cartoons on Afghanistan. Check them out.

Cartoon Gallery

Editorial Cartoon

Political Cartoons

Check out our most recent cartoons.

Datebook

A look back at the week in history.

Washington Whispers

Washington Whispers

Republicans Shrug at Reid Re-election Stories

The GOP pokes holes in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's re-election blueprint.

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Washington Book Club

The Negative Power of Positive Thinking

Barbara Ehrenreich discusses Bright-sided.

Two Takes On...

An undocumented immigrant from Mexico takes her children in for a medical check-up at the low-cost Rocky Mountain Youth Clinic on July 28, 2009 in Aurora, Colorado. Funded primarily through donations and grants, Rocky Mountain Clinics treats mostly children of uninsured parents, those on Medicaid and others whose parents cannot afford to pay the high deductibles charged by many health insurance policies.

Must Health Reform Cover Illegal Immigrants?

Covering illegal immigrants is best in the long run, Eric Rodriguez says. The nation can't afford to cover them, argues Daniel Stein.

Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger

Beware the Urge to Purge

Punishing apostasy is fun--right up until the other side takes over.

The Coming Fight Over Education Reform

By Andrew J. Rotherham

There's broad consensus on education reform, but there are deep fault lines underneath.

The languishing reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is turning lawmakers into educational Michael Corleones, pulling them back into a business many fervently wish was over. Although the landmark education law is overdue for its scheduled five-year overhaul, contentiousness left the last Congress unable to even get a bill out of committee.

Harold Evans

Harold Evans

The Double Standards Facing Israel

What would Israel's critics have the country do?

What the 2009 Elections Tell Us About 2010

By Tom Davis

Seven lessons the parties need to learn from Tuesday's races.

The 2009 off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York's 23d Congressional District offer a small snapshot of the current views and motivations of the American electorate. While there may be a desire to extrapolate the events of Nov. 3, 2009 into a prediction of what will happen on Nov. 2, 2010, that is impossible.

Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly, Editor U.S. News & World Report

Editor's Note: Why Leadership Really Matters

Turbulent times demand strong guidance and fortitude.

Mary Kate Cary

Mary Kate Cary

How Republicans Can Keep Winning

Finding the right issues to appeal to an increasingly conservative country.

Help the Troops, Save the Planet

By Michael Signer

Doe-eyed do-gooders aren't the face of environmentalism, the U.S. military is.

To some critics, the cause of alternative and sustainable energy will always be associated with the image of dewy-eyed do-gooders earnestly plying a hopeless cause. This caricature has helped opponents today, such as the conservative columnist George Will; by mocking activists as naive idealists, they make the cause they represent seem naive and hopeless as well.

Mort Zuckerman

Mort Zuckerman

Inflation or Deflation: That Is the Question

The next big economic worry could be the opposite of the expected.

Two Takes On...

Major Christian Jenni (L) of Ocean City, New Jersey with the 405th Civil Affairs of the U.S. Army listens to a local man as he airs a grievance during a weekly meeting called a Shura to discuss issues of local governance October 13, 2009 in Orgune, Afghanistan.

Is Counterinsurgency the Right Path in Afghanistan?

With full support, victory is possible James Danly says. A cookie cutter approach won't work, argues Gian Gentile.

The National Deficit—of Leadership

By David Gergen

President Obama fired the imagination of the country during his campaign, but the glow has faded

It is fashionable these days to decry the quality of American leaders, and why not? Not long ago, we celebrated our CEOs as the new masters of the universe; some paid themselves as if they thought so, too, and their faces graced the covers of magazines everywhere. But last year, that universe imploded, and taxpayers were forced to come to the rescue.

Bernadine Healy, M.D.

Dr. Bernadine Healy

Why Health Reform Will Be a Danger to Passive Patients

Even if Congress soon ends health insurance worries, your job as an informed patient will be key.

Mary Kate Cary Yesterday

Clinton and Democrats: On Healthcare, Just Pass Something

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Tom Daschle, the man who was originally supposed to be running the president's healthcare reform fight, told the New York Times Magazine a few months ago that one of his favorite phrases is, "The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror."

President Bill Clinton, who has his own healthcare reform debacle of 15 years ago set squarely in his rearview mirror, met with Senate Democrats this week—essentially urging them to pass healthcare reform in whatever form they can. As McClatchy News paraphrased it, his advice was: "Just pass something."

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Peter Roff Yesterday

Terrorism Trial Decision Shows Obama Doesn't Know How to Fight America's Enemies

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Having failed in his efforts to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, President Barack Obama has now compounded his problem by announcing that the September 11 plotters held there will be brought to the United States for trial.

No one, least of all the family members of those whose blood is on the terrorists' hands, wants them in this country. Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the American Airlines plan that was crashed into the Pentagon, called the prospective trial "a travesty."

Burlingame, who believes a military tribunal is the proper venue for such a proceeding, in a statement released to the press held out the likelihood of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed holding forth in open court, "mocking his victims, exulting in the suffering of their families, ridiculing the judge, his lawyers and the American justice system, and worst of all, rallying his jihad brothers to kill more Americans."

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Bonnie Erbe Yesterday

Sarah Palin Looking Loony on Oprah Winfrey

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I've lost interest in Sarah Palin—a woman who has proven herself time and again to be not ready for prime time. But when she starts to exhibit signs of true lunacy, she gets a bit more interesting. She's done so once more in her upcoming and widely touted interview with Oprah Winfrey. My favorite part of the chat is when Palin talks about having the infamous father of her grandson, Levi Johnston, over for Thanksgiving. According to People (via MSNBC):

If Levi Johnston would like a piece of the Palin family turkey, Sarah Palin will save him a seat at her Thanksgiving table.

"It's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing," the former Alaska governor, 45, tells Oprah Winfrey in an interview to air Nov. 16, the day before the publication of Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue."

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Doug Heye November 12, 2009

Democrats’ Biggest Problem Is Spending, Not Gridlock

By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

In the interest of participatory debate, I must disagree with Peter Roff.

Indecision regarding Afghanistan is a problem President Barack Obama is battling, at least in perception. But voters still want the president to make the right decision and to follow through on his oft-repeated campaign pledge to listen to the generals on the ground. Should he do so, or come up with a proposal the generals find to be a workable solution, the timing of such a decision becomes less a factor and the president may well earn bipartisan praise. (Though I agree, time is running out.)

And while gridlock demonstrates the difficulties of governing, the stimulus bill was signed into law and Obamacare passed the House. Given what we've seen so far this year, voters may actually want more gridlock. The 39 Democrats who defied Speaker Nancy Pelosi and voted against the healthcare reform bill didn't do so because of worries about gridlock, they did so precisely because their constituents wanted it stopped.

No, the Democratic Party has a larger problem. It's called spending.

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Peter Roff November 12, 2009

Gridlock and Indecision Spur Polling Shift from Obama to Republicans

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The venerable Gallup organization reports that, according to its latest national survey, registered voters now favor the Republicans over the Democrats on the congressional generic ballot test by a margin of four points, 48 percent to 44 percent.

For the Democrats, particularly in the White House, this is not good news as it reflects a pronounced move away from President Obama and his policies at a particularly critical juncture. Key to the swing is the shift in attitude by independent voters who, while not necessarily willing to call themselves Republicans, are saying they are willing to vote that way in the next national election.

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Mary Kate Cary November 11, 2009

Muslim Leaders Need to Condemn Violence

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I received a call from the Gallup Organization a few nights ago, conducting a poll on various world religions. They asked if I knew the name of the holy book of Islam (the Koran) and the name of the prophet of Islam (Muhammad). But here's the sad part: they asked me if I agreed that Islam is a religion of peace. I thought about it, and said I had to disagree.

The reason I don't think Islam is a religion of peace is that I am not aware of a single Muslim cleric stepping forward to denounce acts of violence committed in the name of Islam. This has happened over and over, and yet the mainstream Muslim leaders—presumably peaceful religious leaders who are not radicals—never step forward to call for an end to murderous rampages and terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam.

Why not?

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Mary Kate Cary November 11, 2009

Supreme Court Should Listen to Alan Simpson on Juvenile Sentencing

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without parole for crimes that do not involve the taking of a life. One of my all-time favorite Republicans, former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, made a better argument than any of the lawyers could have—on his spending part of his youth with guns and jail, and facing the possibility of being locked up for good. It's a great read, and very persuasive. In the weeks since he wrote his opinion piece, it's been quoted in newspapers all over the world. You can read it here.

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Peter Roff November 10, 2009

Time for Term Limits in Congress?

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

In the early '90s the Republican march to majority included the idea that it was time to impose term limits on members of the U.S. House and Senate. A part of the Contract with America, term limits died thanks in part to a disagreement among its supporters over just what those terms should be.

It also didn't help the cause that those who followed Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey as leaders of the House GOP determined that voluntarily ceding power to other people might not be the most prudent of ideas, especially after the party had spent 40 years in the political wilderness.

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Bonnie Erbe November 10, 2009

Google's Free Airport Wi-Fi: Techno-Heroin?

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I'm conflicted about Google's announcement today that it will subsidize free wireless network access in 47 airports from now until January 15—and indefinitely in the airports of Burbank, Calif., and Seattle.

The promotion, in cooperation with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, and Airport Marketing Income, is the latest effort to use free Wi-Fi to boost a brand. Among others: Yahoo is sponsoring Wi-Fi in Times Square in New York, and Google is sponsoring Internet access on Virgin America flights during the holidays.

It's a great holiday gift, don't get me wrong. I'm one of those frequent travelers who hates long layovers with my laptop. I'm stuck killing time between flights only to encounter the deal-breaker of a $5.00 or $10.00 charge when I try to logon at an airport.

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