Time for some friendly compromise A4 Wednesday, May 11, 2011
OPINION
“Let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11.” Using his triumphal announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, President Obama tried once again to call the nation to a sense of common purpose. The next night, with the jubilant shouts of the crowd outside the White House still echoing through its halls, the president rallied the bipartisan congressional leadership: “We were reminded again that there is a pride in what this nation stands for and what we can achieve that runs far deeper than party, far deeper than politics.” That shared pride has been missing from our politics for years — the sense of family born out of horror almost forgotten. In a mastery of understatement, the president observed: “That unity that we felt on 9/11 has frayed a little bit over the years,” adding, “I have no illusions about the difficulties and the debates that we’ll have to be engaged in, in the weeks and months to come.” But still he urged his congressional guests to seize
EDITORIAL
COKIE AND STEVEN ROBERTS
SYNDICATED COLUMNISTS
this moment to work together as Washington tackles the deficit and debt, education and immigration. We’ve written a great deal about how partisanship is pulling the country apart, and the events of last week have again underlined that point. The dramatic mission to get bin Laden met with almost universal approval. In a Gallup Poll taken the next day, fully 93 percent of the public agreed it was the right thing to do and 94 percent deemed the action “important.” When did we last see numbers like that? On almost every critical issue now facing the nation voters are sharply divided.
Roswell Daily Record
That hasn’t always been true, and another event last week — one of pomp and pageantry rather than daring and danger — reminded us of that. A ceremony unveiling the statue of our 38th president, Gerald R. Ford, brought the congressional leadership plus many old-timers to the Capitol Rotunda, where they reminisced about the way things used to be. The speakers commented on the fact that Ford, though his party’s leader in the House of Representatives, was seldom a staunch partisan. They quoted him saying that he had “adversaries, not enemies.” That’s something we can personally attest to — Ford was House minority leader when Cokie’s dad, Hale Boggs, was majority leader, and the two were the best of friends. That doesn’t mean they always agreed on issues, of course not. They engaged in vigorous debate, but then they could sit down for a drink and a laugh. And they knew in the end the House would come to a compromise they could live with.
“I believe in friendly compromise,” Ford told his colleagues. “Compromise is the oil that makes governments go.” But once Gerald Ford became the accidental president following Richard Nixon’s resignation in disgrace, one key question defied compromise: how to handle Nixon’s crimes. Ignoring public opinion, Ford chose to pardon the former president in the hopes of putting the “national nightmare” of the Watergate scandal to rest. That decision probably cost him the presidency, but Ford spared the country what might have been years of Nixon trials and appeals roiling up partisans when big issues — war, the economy — needed serious attention. Years later, in awarding the Profiles in Courage prize, Sen. Ted Kennedy admitted that he had opposed the pardon but “now we see that President Ford was right. His courage and dedication to our country made it possible for us to begin the process of healing.” Ford wanted to stop arguing and
start governing. He believed failure to compromise was not only counterproductive but as a veteran of World War II, he also thought it was dangerous: “I come by my political pragmatism the hard way,” he once wrote. “My generation paid a very heavy price in resistance to extremists and dictators.” Since Sept. 11, another generation has paid a high price in that resistance. Now the extremist who was the very face of the terrorism America’s young men and women have been fighting for almost 10 years is gone. His demise has brought us back together, remembering that he attacked us all. The bravery of the military sharpshooters who went in to destroy bin Laden and the brains of the intelligence professionals who located him made us all proud. “It is my fervent hope that we can harness some of that unity and some of that pride to confront the many challenges that we still face,” Obama beseeched his congressional guests. It’s ours as well.
Good policy, lousy odds
It seemed, years ago, such a good idea: Reduce the United States’ heavy dependence on foreign oil and help clean the air at the same time by tapping into our breadbasket’s vast stocks of corn to produce ethanol to blend with gasoline. But the good idea did not stand the test of time. The dependence on foreign oil continued to grow. Evidence mounted that ethanol didn’t protect the environment, either, because it took such intensive amounts of energy and water to produce. Still, in May 2008, Congress took the ethanol craze a big step higher, overriding President George W. Bush’s veto of a fiveyear farm bill that significantly increased ethanol subsidies, imposed tariffs on foreign ethanol and mandated greater use of American ethanol. About all that did, besides please U.S. corn growers, was increase the cost of food for Americans and consumers around the world. So it came as very welcome news this week when California’s senior senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, teamed with Oklahoma’s Republican Sen. Tom Coburn to introduce legislation to fully eliminate the ethanol tax credit subsidy and repeal the import tariff. Feinstein and Coburn are political heavyweights and that gives us hope. But election year is approaching and there is a president who has an agriculture secretary from Iowa plus hundreds of Congress people from corn-producing states all seeking to extend their political lives. We wish Feinstein and Coburn luck. Guest Editorial The San Diego Union-Tribune
TODAY IN HISTORY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Today is Wednesday, May 11, the 131st day of 2011. There are 234 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight On May 11, 1981, legendary reggae artist Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital at age 36. On this date In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland. In 1811, conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker were born in Siam (now Thailand), giving rise to the term “Siamese twins.” In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union. In 1911, actor -comedian Phil Silvers was born in New York City. In 1946, the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France. In 1950, President Harry S. Truman formally dedicated the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. In 1960, Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina. DEAR DR. GOTT: My wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia about five years ago. The current drugs being prescribed are galantamine, Namenda and citalopram. Other than Alzheimer’s, her overall health is good. Shortly after being diagnosed, she placed in her age class at the Bloomsday road race. We were both runners. Anyway, her height is 5 feet 5 inches, her weight is 115 pounds, and her blood pressure is normal. Is there any other possible course of treatment? We have been to specialists and more. We did participate in the failed dimebon trial. DEAR READER: The dime-
A road map to fixing the federal budget Here’s a safe prediction: The “bipartisan” group of congressmen led by Vice President Joe Biden will fail to solve the $14 trillion debt crisis. Here’s another prediction: The Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org/) has developed a formula, made possible by a grant from The Peterson Foundation (www.pgpf.org/), that could balance the budget in 10 years, reduce the debt to 30 percent of gross domestic product within 25 years, cut the size of the federal government in half by 2036, reform the tax code, restructure Social Security, Medicare and
Doonesbury
ASK DR. GOTT UNITED MEDIA SYNDICATE
bon trial you refer to did fail. An old Russian antihistamine remedy developed for hay fever and known as dimebon was one of the world’s most promising hopes for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. While originally providing good results in a small trial, a newer one involving a greater number of patients with mild to moderate symptoms failed to show
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THOMAS SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
Medicaid, while protecting the most vulnerable, and not increasing taxes if — and it is a very big if — politicians prefer the solution to continued bickering. SOCIAL SECURITY: The plan’s centerpiece foresees “a gradual transition over many years to a flat benefit system
progress after six months for the treatment of cognitive decline, nor did it help the behavioral problems associated with the disease when compared with a placebo. As you can well imagine, the outcome was unexpected and tragic for individuals such as yourself and your wife, as well as for Pfizer, who had been paying for 60 percent of the development costs. Alzheimer’s is an irreversible and progressive brain disease that destroys memory and thinking. It is estimated that more than 5 million Americans may have the disease, so you can understand why so much hope was placed in the dimebon. Brain damage for this disor-
($1,200 per month in 2010 dollars that would be indexed in future years) to protect seniors from the risk of living in poverty.” Higher income seniors would see gradual reductions in their benefits, based on their non-Social Security income. Benefits for single seniors earning $100,000 and couples ear ning $165,000 would be phased out. The minimum retirement age would increase to 68, reflecting today’s longer life expectancy. “Those who work past their full retirement age would receive a special annual tax deduction of $10,000, regardless of income level.”
der can begin 10 to 20 years before any symptoms are present. Tangles develop and plaque forms in certain areas of the brain. As this occurs, healthy neurons work less efficiently before they lose their ability to function properly. By the time Alzheimer’s reaches its final stage, damage is widespread and brain tissue has significantly atrophied. There are four FDA medications approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. In no particular order and for a mild to moderate disorder are rivastigmine (Exelon), galantamine (Razadyne) and donepezil (Aricept). The heavy hitter for advanced cases is memantine See GOTT, Page A5
The tax on retirement income would be eliminated. The plan would make seniors less dependent on income from Social Security by offering them savings options. “A new savings plan would automatically place 6 percent of a worker’s income in a savings plan they own and control, unless they voluntarily opt out of enrollment. This money would not be double-taxed, unlike today’s Social Security payments and other savings options.” MEDICARE: “Transformed from its current unsustain-
25 YEARS AGO
See THOMAS, Page A5
May 11, 1986 • Rusty Wyles and Fay Anne Wyles won state championships at the McDonald’s New Mexico Junior Olympic Short Course Championship swim meet held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Rusty won the state title in the boys 10 and under division and Fay Anne had a perfect score of 300 points in the girls 8 and under division and won gold medals in all six races. Rusty and Fay Anne are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Wyles of Roswell. • Lanie Pantuso, a senior at Goddard High School, has been named Office Education Student of Week for the Roswell Industrial Air Center. Pantuso, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phil Pantuso, is employed by the Yucca Recreation Center.