Northeast Ohio

Small countries need a helping hand

by John C. Bersia

Saturday August 15, 2009, 5:00 AM

John C. Bersia, who won a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing for the Orlando Sentinel in 2000, is the special assistant to the president for global perspectives at the University of Central Florida. (McClatchy-Tribune)

Too many of the world's small countries, those with populations of less than 1.5 million, are sinking fast -- in more ways than one. The latest warnings come from the Pacific region. At a recent conference in Australia, it was reported that some members of the Pacific Islands Forum -- a 16-state group dedicated to shaping collective responses to regional issues -- were struggling with hefty budget deficits, along with level or declining growth, well before the recession. Now, their plight has worsened.

Last week, several members of the same group also rang the climate-change alarm. Advancing seas are eating away at their shores, damaging or killing crops, contaminating fresh water and forcing people to abandon their villages.

Those developments, which are not limited to the Pacific, point to a serious, urgent crisis. I believe we all know how the rich world should respond to the climate-change challenge, starting with the reduction of harmful emissions on a reasonably strict schedule. The affected states themselves also have a key role to play by taking steps to mitigate disaster. As for the economic challenge, the Pacific Islands Forum offered some helpful ideas. It recommended that small states in the region bolster the private sector's influence, improve inefficiencies in state-controlled enterprises, and reduce the expense businesses shoulder for regulatory and legal purposes.

But there is something even more fundamental to consider: Do small states really have the means to operate successfully in the global economy? How are they coping with the international financial crisis? For insights, I turned to Tim Cullen, executive director of the Small Countries Financial Management Centre, a newly minted, Oxford University-affiliated program on the Isle of Man.

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A president grossly overplaying his hand

by E. Thomas McClanahan

Saturday August 15, 2009, 5:00 AM

E. Thomas McClanahan is a member of the Kansas City Star editorial board.

What we're seeing in Washington these days is beginning to look like Jimmy Carter II.

Carter, like Barack Obama, started out with the idea of stimulating the economy.

His plan was to give every taxpayer $50, then throw in a few billion for tax cuts and public works programs. Simple, right? Wrong: In Washington, this soon became very complicated. Within a month, the package grew from $20 billion to more than $31 billion--a significant amount in the 1970s.

Special-interest groups piled on. Unions, minorities, the sugar lobby, bankers, shoe manufacturers -- all clamored for a piece of the pie, all wanted to know: "Where's mine?"

In April of his first year in office, Carter finally threw up his hands and scrapped the whole idea. He had dithered for four months. He had nothing to show for the effort. By then he was fatally diminished, his authority substantially eroded.

With the Obama administration, a similar unraveling is well under way and gathering momentum. Voters are increasingly restive. The country is souring on Obama's gargantuan policy ambitions. The sense is growing that he has grossly overplayed his hand.

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Sometimes slopes really are slippery

by Kathleen Parker

Saturday August 15, 2009, 5:00 AM

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group.

WASHINGTON -- Sarah Palin was right, the second time.

We do need to turn down the rhetorical heat lest we miss important issues in the proposed House health care bill.

Unfortunately, Palin's more thoughtful comments followed a made-for-the-tabloids Facebook post suggesting that under President Obama's health care reform, a "death panel" would kill her elderly parents and her Down syndrome baby.

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Born to a family of overachievers, Eunice Kennedy Shriver may have achieved more than any of them -- an editorial

by The editors

Saturday August 15, 2009, 4:25 AM

She was born American royalty. Her father amassed a fortune and was ambassador to the Court of St. James. One brother was president, two others were senators. Her husband served in the Cabinet, was ambassador to France and ran for vice president. Her son-in-law is California's governor.

But Eunice Kennedy Shriver was not one to rest on her money or anyone's reflected glory. Her parents and her Catholic faith taught that much is expected from those to whom much has been given. And by the time she died Tuesday, Shriver had done as much as anyone in her remarkable family to change how America treats some of its most vulnerable citizens.

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Voters in Cleveland's Ward 14 should elect Brian Cummins to City Council -- editorial

by The editors

Saturday August 15, 2009, 4:22 AM

ENDORSEMENT

The Ward 14 councilperson represents the Clark-Metro neighborhood, as well as parts of Ohio City, Tremont and Brooklyn-Centre. Early voting has begun for the Sept. 8 primary.

THE CANDIDATES:

Nelson Cintron Jr., 43, former two-term city councilman.
Brian J. Cummins, 49, current Ward 15 councilman.
James D'Amico, 54, former Cleveland Municipal Court deputy bailiff.
Gary Horvath, 62, boxing coach.
Rick Nagin, 67, writer, former City Council aide.
Joe Santiago, 43, current Ward 14 councilman.
Moises Torres, 43, former city contract compliance officer.

OUR VIEW:

Scott Shaw/The Plain DealerBrian Cummins

The new Ward 14 was created by a gerrymander that sliced up Cummins' base and set up a free-for-all that includes fellow incumbent Santiago. The ward is the poorest on the West Side, has no community development group and has one of the lowest voting rates in the city.

Santiago, elected in 2005, has disappointed those -- including this editorial board -- who wanted an antidote to the baggage-laden Cintron. Santiago coddles owners of bars that attract trouble, spent $30,000 in public money on a fireworks show and hides from critics. He didn't even show up at an endorsement interview to defend his lousy record.

Cummins may be a bit pedantic, and was slow to win allies at City Hall, but no one doubts his brains or honesty. His background in the Peace Corps and community development fits Ward 14's needs, and council surely needs more members who ask hard questions. He's the clear choice here.

Cintron is selling a return to the not-so-good old days; Torres and D'Amico are short on specifics; and Horvath also was a no-show for an endorsement interview. The best of the rest is Nagin, who knows the ward well, but seems more focused on global forces than local solutions.

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No peace or love for Congress: Editorial cartoon for Aug. 16

by Jeff Darcy, The Plain Dealer

Friday August 14, 2009, 6:39 PM

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What's not being celebrated on Woodstock anniversary

by Glenn Garvin

Friday August 14, 2009, 5:00 AM

Glenn Garvin is a columnist for the Miami Herald. (McClatchy-Tribune)

If the Americans who fought World War II are the Greatest Generation, their children are the Greatest Erasers. That's why all week long you're going to hear Joni Mitchell singing about bombers turning into butterflies over Woodstock, and not Mick Jagger warning that rape, murder, it's just a shot away at Altamont.

Altamont is the rock festival that self-congratulatory children of the 1960s don't want to remember, the one where Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones watched the Hell's Angels they'd hired as security guards beat, stab and kill audience members right in front of the stage.

Like Woodstock, Altamont celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. But, oddly, nobody speaks of the spirit of Altamont Nation living on. Nor, for that matter, that of the Manson Nation, which also reached its full dark bloom 40 years ago, with flower children creeping out of their desert commune to slaughter people -- one of them an unborn baby -- whose only crime was to have money.

Sometime in the future, when their grip on the levers of the media has loosened, somebody will write a real history of the 1960s and the political awakening of baby boomers that will acknowledge it was marked by arrogance, self-indulgence, irresponsibility and totalitarian impulses.

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Chinese tires give Obama his first trade test

by David Nicklaus

Friday August 14, 2009, 5:00 AM

David Nicklaus is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (McClatchy-Tribune)

Barack Obama campaigned on a pledge to cushion American workers from the effects of trade, but he has governed as a president who values close ties with the rest of the world.

A dispute over tires may soon force him to choose sides. In the first big trade case to land on Obama's desk, he must decide by Thursday, Sept. 17, whether to impose a tariff on Chinese passenger-car tires.

Coincidentally, that deadline falls one week before a Group of Twenty summit in Pittsburgh, where Obama will want to be a gracious host to China and the other G-20 members. Pittsburgh, though, is also home to another group the president can't afford to ignore: the United Steelworkers union.

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Agog over Bush's comments on Gog and Magog

by James A. Haught

Friday August 14, 2009, 5:00 AM

James A. Haught is the editor of the Charleston, W.Va., Gazette. (McClatchy-Tribune)

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible's satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

Honest. This isn't a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their "common faith" (Christianity) and told him: "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. . . . The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. . . . This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins."

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Afghan voters, Pentagon analysts take the measure of Afghanistan -- an editorial

by The editors

Friday August 14, 2009, 4:13 AM

Two critical referenda on Afghanistan's future are coming up.

The first is the vote Afghanistan's people will cast Thursday as part of the process of choosing their president and provincial councils. It is just the second presidential vote since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban and ousted al-Qaida forces in 2001. And while it's likely to display the Afghan people's continuing enthusiasm for the political voice they won, the voters also will have fewer polling places than hoped, and in a narrowed swath of countryside -- reflecting the crushing weight of corruption, cronyism, crime and violent Taliban inroads infecting life almost everywhere.

The second referendum may be the more important for Americans. It is the effective vote the White House and Pentagon are about to cast, via a new set of metrics for how to measure success, on whether the Afghan war can be won -- and if it can, what it will take to "win" it.

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Cheers & Jeers

by The editors

Friday August 14, 2009, 4:12 AM

CHEERS . . . to Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid for the demotions of seven lieutenants who were promoted in January by Reid's discredited and deposed predecessor, Gerald McFaul. Reid is proclaiming a do-over, with an exam to winnow lieutenant applicants. Reid says four lieutenants are sufficient.

JEERS . . . to banks that charge excessive overdraft fees. Yes, anyone with a checking account or a debit card is entirely responsible for avoiding overdrafts. And yes, a penalty for those who overdraw is appropriate. But the penalty itself should be appropriate, too. A $39-per-transaction fee seems steep.

CHEERS . . . to officials and residents of Euclid, who are trying to figure out ways to make Lake Erie more accessible to the public. The city has hired a consulting firm to collect and develop ideas from residents, business owners and other interested parties. Good idea, good approach.

JEERS . . . to those who give in to the temptation to write off anyone past 65, or even 70. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Bill Gutbrod, who takes up a new assignment this high school football season coaching running backs at Villa Angela-St. Joseph. He's 84.

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Hillary Clinton makes it clear: Editorial cartoon for Aug. 14

by Jeff Darcy, Tha Plain Dealer

Thursday August 13, 2009, 7:00 PM

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Motorists vs. bicyclists: Detente must be reached

by Michael Smerconish

Thursday August 13, 2009, 5:00 AM

Michael Smerconish writes a weekly column for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bill Clinton facilitated the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee in North Korea. Professor Henry Gates and Sgt. James Crowley had beers at the White House. Footballers David Beckham and Landon Donovan agreed to an on-field truce in Los Angeles.

Before we lose this detente mojo, we need to tackle one more area of controversy: Let's negotiate a peaceful coexistence of bicyclists and motorists.

You know the dispute. No doubt you've encountered it during your commute to work or in the middle of your morning ride. The bikers think drivers are aggressive and self-centered. The drivers think bikers are bottleneck-inducing traffic-law violators.

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Electronic books lack the feel and the feelings of paper

by Lewis W. Diuguid

Thursday August 13, 2009, 5:00 AM

Lewis W. Diuguid is a member of The Kansas City Star's Editorial Board.

Trends in education sometimes have great, long-term benefits, and I applaud them.

But other times news of the latest goings-on just make me scratch my head and wonder what the result of decisions made today might be 30 years from now. E-textbooks fit into that category.

Some colleges such as Northwest Missouri State University are attracting a lot of attention and praise for the innovative switch from old-style textbooks to enabling students to carry a lightweight electronic device that can fit in a coat pocket and hold textbook material for all of their college courses. The material also can be downloaded onto students' laptops.

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A cure for what ails the presidential nomination process

by Rob Richie and Paul Fidalgo

Thursday August 13, 2009, 5:00 AM

Rob Richie is executive director of FairVote, a nonpartisan nonprofit that seeks universal access to political participation; Paul Fidalgo is its communications director. (McClatchy-Tribune)

The Republican and Democratic parties have come to a major point of agreement that has national implications. No, it's not health care. Rather, these warring factions have recognized that it's time to address the fundamental flaws in our presidential nomination process.

Indeed, the entire political universe, from the heights of the Washington establishment to the depths of the grass roots, agrees that our nominating system need to be reformed, although there are myriad diagnoses as to what actually needs fixing. As the parties begin internal and interparty discussions about which elements need tweaking, it's time to take a serious look at more extensive and comprehensive reforms that will truly fix the process.

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Whose town hall is it, anyway? -- Kevin O'Brien

by Kevin O'Brien, The Plain Dealer

Thursday August 13, 2009, 4:50 AM

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm surprised -- and not necessarily pleasantly -- to see so many of you here. And so very well-dressed.

I really thought that scheduling a town hall at 4 a.m. in the worst part of town I could find would cut down on attendance, but it looks as if we've got a lot of early risers here in the district.

We've got refreshments in the back. Help yourself. It's all decaf. Wouldn't want anyone to go on a caffeine rampage, would we? Heh-heh.

Before I really get to bobbing and weaving in earnest, Marilyn from the AARP is here to provide me a little cover and set the tone for this morning's session. How about we have her come on up and tell the old folks who are here today to just put a sock in it and do as they're told?

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A travel-worn Hillary Clinton gets tripped up in translation -- editorial

by The editors

Thursday August 13, 2009, 4:10 AM

Hillary Clinton's seven-nation Africa trip was supposed to cap her first six months as an activist secretary of state. When her tour ends this week, she will have clocked about two months overseas since her confirmation Jan. 21.

The Africa trip, her longest to date, also was designed to showcase Clinton's commitment to elevating the status of women as a precursor to economic success. But for an inadequate translator, she might have succeeded.

The ultimate irony was that it was at just such a meeting, with Congolese university students Monday, that Clinton lost her cool and committed the flub heard, and broadcast, round the world.

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Motorists need to make a choice, or be forced to by law: Drive or text -- editorial

by The editors

Thursday August 13, 2009, 4:07 AM

Some things just ought not to be done while driving. Sending a text message, for instance.

There simply is no way a task that requires the use of both hands, the eyes and the mental concentration necessary to compose a message can be done without putting a driver -- and everyone on the road with him -- at serious risk.

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Paula Abdul's replacement: Editorial cartoon for Thursday Aug. 13

by Jeff Darcy, The Plaind Dealer

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 5:58 PM

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In wing-nut world, Granny's toast

by Ellen Goodman

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 5:00 AM

Ellen Goodman is a columnist for the Washington Post.

BOSTON -- I am as happy as anyone at signs of an economic recovery. But I confess to having mixed feelings about the resurgence of the wing-nut industry.

We now have "The Birthers" manufacturing myths that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and therefore is serving illegally. These products arrive in my inbox faster than I can press "block sender."

They are just following the business plan of those earlier entrepreneurs selling the idea that Obama had killed his grandma. Consider the scare-biz Internet scribe who penned the memorable line: "Obama flies to Hawaii to visit his grandmother and just a few days later she winds up dead. Coincidence?"

But now the industry has ratcheted up from accusing Obama of killing his grandma to accusing him of trying to kill your grandma.

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Our factionalized house

by David S. Broder

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 5:00 AM

David Broder is a columnist for the Washington Post.

WASHINGTON -- When several members of the Blue Dogs, a moderate-conservative Democratic faction, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to negotiate the deal that allowed the health care bill to move to the floor, it was a signal of their rise to prominence.

The Blue Dog Coalition was formed after the 1994 election gave Republicans control of Congress. Democrats from rural and small-town districts, especially in the South and West, were worried that the party leadership, drawn mainly from big cities in the Midwest and Northeast, would present too liberal an image. So they drew together to try to protect themselves and, if possible, to increase their influence.

Their story is typical of the narratives behind the many other ideological, ethnic and geographical factions that have marked the history of Congress and are a feature of today's House as well.

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Health care reform: a better plan

by Charles Krauthammer

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 5:00 AM

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post.

WASHINGTON -- In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Bill Bradley created a legislative miracle. They fashioned a tax reform that stripped loopholes, political favors, payoffs, patronage and other corruptions out of the tax system. With the resulting savings, they lowered tax rates across the board. Those reductions, combined with the elimination of the enormous inefficiencies and perverse incentives that go into tax sheltering, helped propel a 20-year economic boom.

In overhauling any segment of our economy, the 1986 tax reform should be the model. Yet today's ruling Democrats propose to fix our extremely high quality (but inefficient and therefore expensive) health care system with 1,000 pages of additional curlicued complexity -- employer mandates, individual mandates, insurance company mandates, allocation formulas, political payoffs and myriad other conjured regulations and interventions -- with the promise that this massive concoction will lower costs.

This is all quite mad. It creates a Rube Goldberg system that simply multiplies the current inefficiencies and arbitrariness, thus producing staggering deficits with less choice and lower-quality care. That's why the administration can't sell Obamacare.

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The verdict on Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court is clear: more cronyism -- an editorial

by Christopher Evans, Plain Dealer reporter

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 4:17 AM

The Cuyahoga County auditor does it. So does the recorder. And the engineer.

The former sheriff surely did. So why not Juvenile Court?

Cronyism is pervasive in Cuyahoga County politics. It's not just an occasional nudge-nudge, wink-wink aberration that rewards the odd political hack on the taxpayer's dime.

It long ago reached the level of widespread bureaucratic malpractice.

The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court is just Exhibit E. Under the laissez-faire leadership of former Administrative Judge Joseph F. Russo, the court became a hiring hall for who-you-knows rather than what-you-knows.

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Twin travesties in Myanmar for Aung San Suu Kyi and U.S. citizen -- an editorial

by The editors

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 4:15 AM

Few who are not brain-dead either within or outside the Southeast Asian nation known as Myanmar doubt the malevolent intentions of its military rulers after their latest trumped-up conviction of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ridiculous guilty finding Tuesday -- on charges Suu Kyi violated house arrest by letting an exhausted American intruder rest in her home -- is designed to make sure the generals' chief political threat can't take part in elections next year.

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Opponents of health care reform want you to be afraid, be very afraid: Connie Schultz

by Connie Schultz / Plain Dealer Columnist

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 3:35 AM

So many Americans believe only the people who scare them.

So, a thoughtful debate over health care reform has devolved into scenes of screaming protests by mostly red-faced senior citizens looking frightened and enraged. Their terror is stoked by cynical political operatives who know that, when it comes to stirring up the masses, nothing beats scaring people to death.

"In politics, the emotions that really sway voters are hate, hope and fear or anxiety," psychologist Drew Westen told Newsweek in 2007. He is the author of the "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation."

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Eunice Kennedy Shriver: Wednesday Aug. 12 editorial cartoon

by Jeff Darcy, The Plain Dealer

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 6:50 PM

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Cooking with the master, Julia Child

by J. Justin Wilson

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 5:00 AM

J. Justin Wilson is the senior research analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies and consumers to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

"With enough butter, everything is good," Julia Child said. Her 1961 classic cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," coupled with her popular television show "The French Chef" brought French culinary classics to the masses. Her recipes are famous for including copious amounts of butter, cream and sugar. But does including things that taste good in our food mean that we've resolved ourselves to a life of being fat?

This week's release of the new film "Julie & Julia," an interwoven story about Julia Child's culinary life in France and Julie Powell's 2002 year of cooking and blogging her way through Child's cookbook made me wonder how Child would react to our country's recent obsession with food regulation.

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Depression-era economic policies now being implemented under new names

by Robert Hardaway

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 5:00 AM

Robert Hardaway is a professor of Law at the University of Denver College of Law, and the author of "Population, Law and the Environment" (Greenwood Press).

In 1933, the U.S. government implemented a Depression-era policy of "keeping prices high" by not only requiring that farmers be paid not to grow food, but mandating the destruction of existing crops, the plowing up of cotton and the killing of pigs and pregnant cows -- all at a time when millions of Americans were going hungry.

Such misguided Depression-era policies so alarmed British economist John Maynard Keynes that he wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt pleading that Roosevelt adopt a policy of increasing demand rather than a populist agenda of reducing supply.

Unlike the letter Roosevelt received later from Albert Einstein warning of Nazi efforts to produce a nuclear weapon, Keynes' letter was filed away by Roosevelt, who persisted in his refusal to reduce taxes in order to enhance demand, and instead took the opportunity, at the worst possible time, to impose a new round of taxes in the form of payroll taxes. The result of such self-defeating policies was the Depression of 1937, which made the earlier Depression of 1929 look like a picnic.

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Outrage begins to dog us

by Kathleen Parker

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 5:00 AM

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for the Washington Post.

WASHINGTON -- Maybe it's the dog days, but three friends recently got in touch within a 24-hour period to catch up. Or more like it, to catch their breath.

One reported the onset of panic attacks. Another is seeking treatment for depression. The third began an e-mail asking for help with: "Reports of my employment have been greatly exaggerated."

The first two were women, 40-something and 50. The third is a man in his 50s. They all have one thing in common: no job.

No one is starving yet, but "yet" seems less remote than it once did.

"What if I can't find a job? Ever?" asked "Sandra." She laughed, but it was nervous laughter. Sandra isn't at all sure things will work out.

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Welcome back, ArcelorMittal

by The editors

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 5:00 AM

It is far too early to declare the recession over, or even to say with any certainty that the economy has reached its nadir.

But from the continued uptick of the stock market to last week's surprisingly optimistic employment numbers, there are signs that recovery may soon be more than a rumor.

Even here in Cleveland, where it seems recessions hit early and recoveries start late, there is evidence that better times are coming:

ArcelorMittal steel is going back to work.

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Stampeding for secretary

by The editors

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 5:00 AM

The 2010 contest for Ohio secretary of state is as crowded as the water fountain line at a sunny playground.

Four people want to succeed incumbent Jennifer Brunner, who is fighting Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for the Democratic Senate nomination. The secretary's familiar duties are to oversee elections and archive documents. Less familiar to voters is the duty prized by politicians: to help draw General Assembly districts.

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New Lottery game? -- Editorial cartoon for Aug. 11

by Jeff Darcy, The Plain Dealer

Monday August 10, 2009, 5:49 PM

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Patients' drugs should be driven by doctors' advice, not sleazy TV pitches

by Wayne Madsen

Monday August 10, 2009, 5:00 AM

Wayne Madsen is a contributing writer to the progressive Online Journal (www.onlinejournal.com). (McClatchy-Tribune)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is addressing the question, "Should Congress reimpose the ban on advertising prescription drugs on TV?"

WASHINGTON -- Now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the power to regulate tobacco advertising, it should consider doing the same for another potentially addictive substance -- prescription drugs.

The FDA didn't allow television and radio advertising of prescription drugs until 1997 when it ended a longstanding ban, subject only to truth-in-advertising guidelines and certain other restrictions.

Since then our dinnertimes have been disrupted by early-evening prescription drug commercials that range through different shades of gross to merely downright silly. One's appetite can be put in jeopardy watching "Jeopardy" or the network evening news.

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Patients' drugs should be driven by doctors' advice, not sleazy TV pitches

by Wayne Madsen

Monday August 10, 2009, 5:00 AM

Wayne Madsen is a contributing writer to the progressive Online Journal (McClatchy-Tribune)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is addressing the question, "Should Congress reimpose the ban on advertising prescription drugs on TV?"

WASHINGTON -- Now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the power to regulate tobacco advertising, it should consider doing the same for another potentially addictive substance -- prescription drugs.

The FDA didn't allow television and radio advertising of prescription drugs until 1997 when it ended a longstanding ban, subject only to truth-in-advertising guidelines and certain other restrictions.

Since then our dinnertimes have been disrupted by early-evening prescription drug commercials that range through different shades of gross to merely downright silly. One's appetite can be put in jeopardy watching "Jeopardy" or the network evening news.

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Ads provide useful info; banning them is censorship

by James Gattuso

Monday August 10, 2009, 5:00 AM

James Gattuso is senior research fellow in regulatory policy at the Heritage Foundation. (McClatchy-Tribune)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is addressing the question, "Should Congress reimpose the ban on advertising prescription drugs on TV?"

WASHINGTON -- We've all seen the television commercials for prescription drugs that come on during your favorite show. Some -- for certain maladies rarely discussed at the family dinner table -- have become standard grist for late-night comics. But beyond the jokes, there's a serious debate in Congress -- where some are proposing that such ads be banned.

That would be a mistake. Despite the occasional cringe-inducing moment, the ads have helped millions of people get better medical treatment. This flow of information to patients and consumers should not be stopped.

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Health habits should weigh heavier in debate

by Jim Landers

Monday August 10, 2009, 5:00 AM

Jim Landers is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. (McClatchy-Tribune)

Doctors and insurance agents are in the front lines of the health care battles spilling from Washington across the nation this month. With politicians blaming them for the fix we're in, they've hunkered down, nursing their grievances and looking to fight back.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats should be on guard. But so, too, should ordinary Americans.

Some doctors and insurance agents are saying what the politicians won't say -- we're doing a lousy job of taking care of our own health, even as we demand more care at less cost.

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MetroHealth's misplaced trust in John J. Carroll proves costly

by The editors

Monday August 10, 2009, 4:09 AM

John J. Carroll did very well for himself, federal prosecutors say.

According to the case pending against him in U.S. District Court, the former MetroHealth Medical Center vice president traveled the world on the proceeds of an eight-year spree of bribery and bid-rigging.

Now, it appears, there's a price to be paid.

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Voters in Cleveland's Ward 8 should elect Jeffrey Johnson to City Council

by The editors

Monday August 10, 2009, 4:05 AM

ENDORSEMENT

The Ward 8 councilperson represents residents in parts of the Glenville, St. Clair-Superior and Goodrich-Kirtland Park neighborhoods. Early voting is under way for the Sept. 8 primary.

THE CANDIDATES:
Shari Cloud, 48, nonprofit executive, appointed to City Council in May.
Valeri Coats, 60, substitute teacher, Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
Jeffrey Johnson, 51, former state senator and Cleveland councilman.
Ronnie Jones, 54, warehouse manager.

OUR VIEW:

Jeffrey Johnson

Two-term Councilwoman Sabra Pierce Scott tapped Cloud to succeed her, and there's no denying the new member's long commitment to Glenville. Coats and Jones are also passionate, and Jones' call for faith-based solutions would build on one of the ward's great strengths. But this race is a referendum on Johnson, and might have been even if Scott had run again.

Back in the 1990s, Johnson's smarts and swagger made him a star in Cleveland and Columbus. Then hubris won out: An FBI tape caught him apparently soliciting a kickback from a local grocer, and he went to prison. Now Johnson insists that he is humbler, wiser and less confrontational. He also has encyclopedic knowledge of the ward and raises issues, such as AIDS and immigration, that many politicians won't touch.

Johnson knows he will be watched like a hawk if elected. That should reassure Ward 8 voters enough to send this enormous talent back to City Hall.

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Raising kindness to maturity isn't easy: Connie Schultz

by Connie Schultz, Plain Dealer Columnist

Sunday August 09, 2009, 6:15 AM

Kindness takes courage, which is why it's usually a child who reminds us of its power.

Sydney was not yet 3 when she and her mom visited us from Florida. She was in our kitchen, kneeling over our pug with the reverence of a faith healer, when my 18-year-old daughter, Cait, walked into the room and pulled out a chair to sit down.

It was a cramped space in our old kitchen, and my daughter banged her knee for the umpteenth time on the table leg.

"Ow," she said.

Sydney immediately stood up, walked over and placed her hand on Cait's knee.

"You OK?" she said, her eyes locked with my daughter's.

Cait smiled and placed her hand over Sydney's. "Yes, I'm OK, Syd."

"You sure?" Sydney asked.

"I'm sure."

Cait and I both looked at Sydney's mom, who shook her head as if amazed by her own child. "She's been that way ever since she could talk," she said. "She just has a kindness about her."

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Accountability needed at Fed

by Robert Higgs

Sunday August 09, 2009, 5:00 AM

Robert Higgs is senior fellow in political economy with the Independent Institute in California. (McClatchy-Tribune)

Nearly 200 economists, mostly academics, have signed a petition urging Congress and the executive branch "to reaffirm their support for and defend the independence of the Federal Reserve System as a foundation of U.S. economic stability."

In defending the Fed against those now challenging the secrecy of its undertakings and, in some cases, its very existence, these economists offer three arguments.

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Limits on oil speculators may not work, and may do more harm than good

by David Nicklaus

Sunday August 09, 2009, 5:00 AM

David Nicklaus is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (McClatchy-Tribune)

In rural Iowa, where I grew up, farmers couldn't talk about grain prices without criticizing the powerful financiers who trade on Chicago futures markets.

They might be referred to as speculators, although "leeches" and "parasites" also were popular labels. For more than a century, farmers have believed they are being victimized by shadowy figures who manipulate prices for financial gain.

After a year when oil soared to $145 a barrel and then plunged to $34, consumers have begun to harbor the same suspicions about energy markets. Their skepticism is shared by powerful people in Washington, including the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The CFTC held hearings last week on the influence of energy speculators, and Chairman Gary Gensler said the agency is likely to limit the holdings of players who aren't big energy producers or consumers.

Such a rule might sound good to the farmers in a small-town cafe, but it wouldn't necessarily make energy prices less volatile. Determined speculators could shift their trading overseas, or they could invest in actual tankers full of oil rather than futures contracts.

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Pushing for higher test scores won't lead to better education

by Karl F. Wheatley

Sunday August 09, 2009, 5:00 AM

Wheatley is an associate professor of early childhood education at Cleveland State University. He specializes in curriculum, motivation and educational policy.

The school year is approaching, so let's make a huge improvement in education that will save billions of dollars a year. Specifically, American schools should stop pursuing "student achievement," and policy-makers should stop focusing education reform on student achievement.

That may sound strange, but there is much less to student achievement than meets the ear.

Yes, the term student achievement sounds wonderful, but in reality, it usually only means test scores, so schools pursuing "high student achievement" are merely chasing higher test scores. The politicians and CEOs want America to be No. 1 in international test scores and want schools to focus on raising test scores, but most educational researchers believe this approach is counterproductive. What do the researchers know that the policy-makers don't?

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County reform is about our shared future

by Nina Turner

Sunday August 09, 2009, 5:00 AM

Nina Turner represents Ohio's 25th Senate District. She is also a tenured history professor at Cuyahoga Community College.

Several months ago, a group of citizens assembled in Cuyahoga County to discuss the need for a change in direction and to advocate for reform of county government. Their assembly was not unlike many others in our city's and nation's history -- it was one based on a conviction that we owe it to our children and their children to leave this community a better place than we found it.

This kind of change requires engagement from all sides, which is why I and many other elected officials were invited to join the discussions. While several opted not to participate, I came to the table with an open mind and a keen awareness of the challenges facing the city of Cleveland and the suburbs I represent. I came knowing that as a public servant, I have a duty to represent my constituents -- black, white, men, women, rich and poor. Generations of African-Americans on whose shoulders I stand fought so that I and others who share my heritage could be at that table.

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Sustainability summit should help Cleveland work greener

by The editors

Sunday August 09, 2009, 4:17 AM

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson will be on the primary ballot next month -- and the general election ballot in November, he hopes -- asking city voters for another four years in office.

But this week, he is devoting three days to asking roughly 500 business, political and civic leaders from around the metropolitan area to think about where they want this region to be 10 years from now -- and what they are willing to do beginning right now to get there.

Sustainability may seem a squishy concept. The term sounds more like a strategy for hanging on than for making progress.

But properly understood, it's about encouraging individual corporations and entire regions to think about how to become more resilient and resource-efficient -- and yes, more attractive to eco-minded consumers.

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Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland must use merit instead of political connections in choosing the next Ohio Lottery chief

by The editors

Sunday August 09, 2009, 4:12 AM

Whether Tuesday's resignation of State Lottery Commission Director Michael Dolan will stall or advance Gov. Ted Strickland's quest to allow slot machines in Ohio will depend largely on the governor. What Ohio doesn't need, given the budgetary and ethical perils of Strickland's plan, is a Dolan successor who is a political appointee -- least of all, a term-limited state legislator seeking a pension-boosting job.

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ODOT director's misdirection on Inner Belt is a long detour from candor

by

Phyllis Cleveland

Sunday August 09, 2009, 4:05 AM

Greater Clevelanders, take note: State transportation planners are playing you for suckers.

Despite a recent promise from the director of the Ohio Department of Transportation that ODOT might, over time, consider "substantive changes" in its proposal to eliminate the Inner Belt's exit and entrance ramps at Carnegie and Prospect avenues, the state has gone ahead and finalized plans to dump the ramps.

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Cleveland can see it's future from this week's 'sustainability summit' -- Brent Larkin

by Brent Larkin, The Plain Dealer

Sunday August 09, 2009, 4:04 AM

Larkin was The Plain Dealer's editorial director from 1991 until his retirement this year.

Greater Clevelanders should regard building a water-based economy as a priority so important that our very future depends on it.

It probably does.

So worrisome is our decline -- especially in Cleveland proper -- that it only underscores why sustainability issues, especially water, represent the region's best hope for survival. Ideas like county government reform and a medical mart are of genuine importance in the near term. Taking the long view, though, they pale in comparison with making the best use of something unique to this part of the country.

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Leadership can sell a tax hike, even in timid Ted Strickland's Ohio -- Thomas Suddes

by Thomas Suddes, The Plain Dealer

Sunday August 09, 2009, 4:00 AM

Suddes, a member of The Plain Dealer's editorial board, writes from Ohio University.

Voters inside the Columbus city limits bucked conventional wisdom -- and, in effect, rebuked Gov. Ted Strickland -- by agreeing Tuesday to raise their city's income tax at the urging of another Democrat, Mayor Michael B. Coleman. For a time in 2006, Coleman saw himself, not Strickland, as Ohio's next governor. Anyone still wonder why?

Coleman and the Columbus Establishment persuaded voters that without a tax increase, their city would be a mess. That's leadership.

In contrast, Ohio already is a mess. But Strickland, fretting about re-election in 2010, won't ask Ohio's voters for anything except another term. That's playing it safe.

Sure, Columbus is a government town; many Columbus voters undoubtedly voted out of self-interest. But those Columbus voters who wanted to maintain current police and fire services also were expressing their self-interest.

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