:
June 14
Rutland (Vt.) Herald on the risks of fame:
Much of the world held its breath recently as the fate of a 16-year-old California girl bobbed in the balance. Abby Sunderland was attempting to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handedly and without direct assistance when she went missing in the Southern Ocean, about halfway between Madagascar and Australia, a few hundred miles north of the Antarctic ice.
She was following in the wakes of her brother, Zac, who had held the record briefly, and Jessica Watson, 16, an Australian who just finished the circuit just weeks ago, taking the record.
It's a record that will officially not be broken, as sanctioning bodies have agreed not to track categories by age. ...
Instead, after a predictable calamity in a storm typical of that season in that part of the oceans, Abby needed an over-flight from an Australian rescue crew and to be plucked from her boat by a fishing crew sailing four days' round trip out of its way. Those costs are beside the point when a young life is at stake; the problem is that young person's parents should not have let her get into the pickle in the first place. ...
We're glad Abby's on her way home; we're also glad that youngest circumnavigator is one record that won't be broken.
Online:
http://rutlandherald.com
___
June 15
The Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times on Afghanistan's mineral wealth:
The discovery of significant mineral wealth in Afghanistan offers great potential for economic development once the nation is secure.
American geologists found nearly $1 trillion in mineral deposits in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported. Among the findings are iron, copper, cobalt, gold and industrial metals such as lithium. ...
Estimates of how much this untapped trove is worth range from $1 trillion to $3 trillion. Everyone agrees that the mineral resources offer a "massive opportunity" — in the words of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Soviet mining experts gained a sense of that during the ill-fated Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The U.S. Geological Survey followed up on the information, beginning in 2006.
Promising findings led to more study, a Pentagon task force analysis and a review by U.S. mining experts — all of whom concur that the potential for development is profound.
A former Afghan finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, wrote in a recent column for a London newspaper: "Afghanistan is rich in minerals including copper, iron, marble, chromite, manganese and emeralds. With good governance in place, these assets can generate funds."
This offers added incentive for the Afghan government to put its house in order.
Online:
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com
___
June 11
The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle on Obama's choice of words:
President Barack Obama waited too long to exhibit significant concern about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill — and when he did, he resorted to vulgarity that set a poor example.
In an interview for NBC's "Today" show, Obama said he's been talking with people who live and work on the Gulf of Mexico about the oil spill "so I know whose a-- to kick."
He was answering host Matt Lauer's suggestion that the president needed to "kick some butt." But Obama chose how to respond, and unlike Lauer he used language considered profanity in polite circles and unbefitting a president of the United States in a public forum. ...
A president, of all people, should respect his role in setting examples for young people, and for guarding against the increasing coarseness of our culture and society. ...
Obama's profane and juvenile machismo is clearly a calculated yet clumsy attempt to appear engaged.
Mr. President, the country needs leadership, not adolescent bravado.
Online:
http://chronicle.augusta.com
___
June 15
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., on "legal tender":
The era of paper money isn't coming to a close, whether it's because of tea partiers who object to the founding of Federal Reserve banks or because of the advent of plastic. But in some businesses, there's no cash allowed.
American Airlines is among the travel giants that now refuse cash during some or all flights; the company joins United, Southwest and others. Handling cash for a mid-flight cocktail apparently was too much trouble.
The Los Angeles Times rightly spoke up for greenbacks, and noted what is said on your money: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private."
Turns out that is not as legally binding as it used to be. ...
With the passage of time, we've forgotten that during the Civil War, when both the U.S. and Confederate governments printed money and debased its value to cover the costs of war, the phrase "legal tender" had real meaning. Apparently, that's no longer the case. "Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a state law which says otherwise," the Treasury now says.
So if you want that in-flight cocktail, you better have plastic handy.
Online:
http://www.2theadvocate.com
___
June 14
The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colo., on why Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is needed to help with the BP oil spill:
The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has taken its toll on birds and fish, wetlands and the coastal economy. A significant number of people also think it should mark the end of Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar's career as a member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet.
We strongly disagree.
Ken Salazar is a hard-working man with a long history of protecting natural resources as director of Colorado's Department of Natural Resources, as a member of the U.S. Senate and, for the past 18 months, as head of the Department of Interior. ...
And, according to various news reports, he has been working tirelessly for most of the past six weeks, heading up the administration's response to the BP disaster.
That is not to say Salazar has been infallible with respect to the oil spill. Far from it. ...
Perhaps his worst mistake was failing to act quickly after he took office to revamp and reform the Minerals Management Service, which overseas federal oil leasing and regulates offshore drilling. ...
For that failure, more than anything else, Salazar is pilloried in a lengthy article just published in Rolling Stone magazine. Calls for his resignation have come from various environmental groups ...
It would have been great if the Interior Department could have stemmed the flow of oil in the Gulf shortly after the disaster struck. But it's clear no one has a magic bullet for solving that problem. Even so, we need the best people available now, to deal with this disaster. Salazar fits that description.
Online:
http://www.gjsentinel.com
___
June 11
The Dallas Morning News on the fiscal future of America:
We have fast-forwarded to 2022. For decades, Americans enjoyed lifestyles based on spending and debt, fed by a federal government that pretended the day of reckoning would never come. That day is here.
People still fill the streets, but few of them have gainful employment or the prospect of landing any job.
Those lucky enough to still draw a paycheck work for survival, not prosperity. Inflation is rampant. The once-strong American dollar is at an all-time low. A loaf of bread costs a pocketful of dollar bills, if you can find someone still selling bread. Energy costs alone can bankrupt people and businesses. Banks aren't lending, and why would they? Who can afford to repay a loan? Businesses have long stopped innovating, as well as hiring. What's the point, when so few Americans can afford their wares?
For decades, a growing chorus of Americans warned that these would be the consequences of an exploding national debt, an admonition Washington repeatedly ignored. Politicians in both parties, of course, knew it was easier to make promises, spend money and let another Congress deal with the consequences. But the "next" Congress never did. Here in 2022, the U.S. owes as much to the nations holding its debt as it produces. Interest payments on that debt crowd out all annual domestic spending, beyond defense, Medicare and Social Security. ...
The choices back then were difficult, and President Barack Obama's debt commission had some promise. Our hope was that they would put everything on the table, including such politically contentious but necessary steps as reducing military and domestic spending, increasing certain taxes and, importantly, repairing the entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare that would swallow up the budget.
Instead, Washington gave us this future.
Online:
http://www.dallasnews.com
___
June 16
San Francisco Chronicle on Obama's June 15 Oval Office speech to the nation:
President Barack Obama compared the Gulf oil spill to a war and an epidemic. He may not have displayed the level of visceral outrage that many of Americans have desired of him, but he identified all the right objectives for the near and long term.
Yes, BP must be held accountable for the cleanup costs, and the president was right to insist that claims would not be capped and would be administered by a third party.
The president also was right to hold fast to a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling, despite the growing pressure from Gulf Coast lawmakers and the toll on the economy. As Obama noted, stopping a leak of this magnitude "has tested the limits of human technology." To resume drilling in the face of such uncertainties is to invite greater disaster.
And, yes, the president was absolutely justified to remind Americans that our excessive consumption of a finite resource provides the economic context for high-risk extraction techniques. His Republican adversaries may not like the linkage between this catastrophe and U.S. energy policy, but there is no denying that this is merely the latest and most dramatic example of how over-reliance on fossil fuels takes a heavy toll on the environment.
We only wish we could share the president's chords of optimism that 90 percent of the spewing oil will be captured in the coming weeks. To borrow the war metaphor, those live underwater scenes show, maddeningly and undeniably, that disaster remains on the offensive in the Gulf.
Online:
http://www.sfgate.com
___
June 15
Chicago Tribune on Iran's nuclear capabilities:
With the hullabaloo over Israel's ill-fated Gaza ship raid, some readers may have missed this tidbit of international news: Iran now has enough nuclear material, with further enrichment, for two bombs. That was the conclusion of nuclear inspectors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Two. And counting.
Recently, the U.N., after months of grinding negotiations, finally slapped Iran with a fourth set of sanctions for its nuclear program.
The Security Council members froze the assets of 40 companies, some run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the power behind the mullahs. They curbed conventional weapons sales and stepped up international inspections of cargoes shipped in and out of the country.
Were they "crippling" as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once promised?
No. Four years, four sets of sanctions, and Iran's nuclear program has slowed... not at all.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pronounced the sanctions "like used tissues, which should be thrown in the trash." ...
The moment is rapidly approaching when Obama's options will dwindle to two: Let Iran get the bomb. Or launch military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities to stop Iran's nuclear quest.
Neither option is appealing; both carry huge risks.
With Iran on the brink of nuclear breakout capability, Obama needs to kick his diplomatic strategy into high gear. Kick some ... posteriors, pronto. There's no time for more of the same slo-mo diplomacy. The ratcheting of diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran hasn't worked, and won't work. It's time for a quantum leap in pressure — faster, sharper, deeper. In other words, time for a sanctions surge. ...
Only truly crippling measures, starting now, carry any hope of halting the mullahs short of their nuclear goal.
Online:
http://www.chicagotribune.com
___
June 12
Calgary (Alberta) Sun on Canada's take of the FIFA World Cup:
The FIFA World Cup is now under way in South Africa, with Canada represented by Somali-Canadian K'naan, the poet-rapper-songwriter whose Wavin' Flag is the tournament's de facto anthem.
Altogether now: "When I get older, I will be stronger. They'll call me freedom ... just like a Waving Flag."
This, sad to say, is as close as Canada gets to partaking in the biggest international sporting event in the world, except for supplying some Manitoba rye grass for the playing fields and Winnipeg's Hector Vergara as an assistant referee for at least one match.
Some call its soccer, some call it football.
We call it "not hockey."
The Stanley Cup has been decided yet again, and again with no Canadian-based team hoisting the Holy Grail of all sport.
Oh, woe.
Next year, friends, next year. ...
That said, we will nonetheless be covering the 2010 World Cup like a blanket... recording every nuance of the "beautiful game."
We, after all, are a multicultural country, supposedly one of the most multicultural nations in the world.
And this will quickly become evident as the World Cup progresses, and all the expatriates who now call Canada their home break out their nations' flags, don their teams' jerseys and turn their neighborhoods into cheering sections. ...
We are a nation of immigrants, the original wave of British and French evolving into a blur of color and racial diversity.
The World Cup brings us all together — if only for a month.
This is no mean feat.
Online:
http://www.calgarysun.com
___
June 15
The Jordan Times, Amman, Jordan, on atrocious Taliban behavior:
Recent news reports about the Taliban hanging a 7-year-old boy in Afghanistan on suspicion that he was spying for the government forces show the extent to which the movement is willing to go to advance its cause.
Flouting any human decency and the teachings of Islam, such a barbaric act by a movement that professes allegiance to its faith and claims that it stands ready to defend its injunctions is vivid testimony to the true nature of the Taliban: a group of wicked people who will stop at nothing — including hijacking sacred and legitimate causes — to promote its political agenda.
Of course, there is another side to the horrible story. If true, the government stands indicted as well, as it should never put children in harm's way by encouraging them to get involved in the war it wages against vicious, merciless outlaws.
There are many international conventions prohibiting the involvement of children in armed conflicts or their recruitment to assist in military operations, and authorities are expected to respect and uphold these at all cost.
After having seen its vile behavior, one does not expect the Taliban to observe international humanitarian law. Nonetheless, it has to be held responsible. The government has duties vis-a-vis its citizens, and as such, it will have to hold the Taliban answerable for all its heinous crimes — and there were many.
When the time comes, as it should, all crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan will have to be accounted for.
Online:
http://www.jordantimes.com
___
June 15
China Daily, Beijing, on China's increased consumption of luxury goods:
China has become the world's second-largest consumer of high-end fashion, accessories and luxury goods, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The country now buys 27.5 percent of the world's luxury goods, following in the footsteps of Japan, and is set to become the largest consumer of such items in five years' time.
Now, the Chinese citizen's dreams of cars, cash and credit cards extend well beyond the coveted goods of the 1980s — watches, radios and bicycles — and the TVs, washing machines and refrigerators of the 1990s. From luxury confectionery and designer clothes to imported beer and expensive cars, Chinese shoppers are buying as never before.
Consumption of luxury goods is mainly being driven by wealthy Chinese born after the "cultural revolution (1966-76)".
This generation saves less than older generations as they have been less affected by the large-scale social and economic transformations China witnessed previously.
On average, consumption of luxury goods accounts for 4 percent or so of a consumer's assets globally. In China, however, the proportion is as much as 40 percent or even higher. This has drawn the likes of Cartier, Prada and Armani to expand in China faster than anywhere else in the world.
This trend is quite disturbing. Hundreds of millions of people still below the poverty line in the country, and the rapid pace of spending on luxury goods actually conceal this grim reality.
Driving the world's economy is fine, but spending on non-essential goods is not the way to go about it.
Online:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn
___
June 14
The Telegraph, London, on Israel considering to ease the blockade of Gaza:
Israel has many good reasons for wanting to maintain its three-year blockade of Gaza, not the least of which is its desire to protect its citizens from Iranian-made rockets fired by Hamas militants. Thousands of rockets hit Israeli residential areas after Hamas originally seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The number of attacks has been greatly reduced as a result of the blockade and Israel's controversial military incursion into Gaza 18 months ago.
But while Israel's robust measures have undoubtedly improved the security of its borders, they have done little for its reputation abroad. Rather than being seen as the victim of unprovoked attacks by Islamist militants who are committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, Israel is now widely regarded as the aggressor, particularly following May's ham-fisted interception of the Turkish aid flotilla. Hamas and its sympathizers have shown themselves to be adept at turning the blockade to their advantage, using it as a propaganda tool to demonize Israel.
It is for this reason that the decision by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to consider easing the blockade is welcome. Following discussions over the weekend with Tony Blair in his capacity as a Middle East envoy, Netanyahu has indicated that he is prepared to lift many of the restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, so long as Israel's security concerns are not compromised. ...
If Israel really wants to improve its international standing it should revive negotiations with the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. That would expose Hamas as a group that has no interest in achieving a peace that would benefit the people it claims to represent.
Online:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
