MARCH 7-13, 2013
THE CENTRE COUNTY
GAZETTE 403 S. Allen St., State College, PA 16801 Phone: (814) 238-5051 Fax: (814) 238-3415 www.CentreCountyGazette.com
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U.S. changes its stance on Syria By Scripps Howard News Service U.S. policy toward Syria, ever since civil war broke out in response to Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on demonstrations against his regime, has been relatively straightforward: We wanted Assad, his family and entourage out, to be replaced by an orderly transition to democracy. Although the U.S. strongly opposed the presence of radical Islamists among the rebels, American sympathies clearly lay with the rebels. Even though we donated several hundred million dollars to refugee relief, we could plausibly maintain a certain posture of hands-off neutrality toward the actual conflict. No longer. As much as we may cloak it in the bland language of diplomacy, we have now, in effect, become participants. At an international conference in Rome on Syria, new Secretary of State John Kerry announced that, for the first time, we would give $60 million in “non-lethal” aid to the Free Syrian Army, whose numbers we would carefully screen against the presence of Islamic radicals. It is not clear how, in the confusing welter of groups that constitute the Syrian opposition, we would do that. The Obama administration’s decision was prompted by the growing presence among the rebels of fighters linked to Hezbollah and Iran. We would not see a post-Assad Syria “hijacked by the extremists,” Kerry said. The initial aid would be medical supplies and food rations. But these things have a way of ratcheting up. In fact, the ratcheting may have already started. Britain and France, perhaps joined by other European nations, have indicated they will begin supplying the Free Syrian Army with “defensive military equipment” — such as armored vehicles, body armor and night-vision goggles, and the training to go with them. The European Union prohibits supplying either side with arms and ammunition, but that’s precisely what the opposition wants. The head of the rebels’ Supreme Military Council, Gen. Salim Idris, told a Turkish news agency that his fighters need antitank and antiaircraft missiles, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. A key opposition leader suggested that the outside nations create protected humanitarian corridors in Syria, which would entail clearing and holding Syrian territory. The conference did not reject the idea. “Non-lethal,” in the case of the U.S., may only be a synonym for greater things to come. With this action, we now have a vested interest in the outcome.
Unless labeled as a Gazette editorial, all views on the Opinion page are those of the authors.
OPINION
PAGE 7
Vatican must put scandals to rest By DAN K. THOMASSON Scripps Howard News Service
The rock of St. Peter’s has some fissures in it, as we are reminded almost daily by a barrage of media hysteria over every aspect of the pontiff (from the immensely rare resignation and the impending selection of his successor) and over the Catholic Church’s sexual and financial scandals. In the interest of transparency, I must confess I am not a Catholic. I am a lifelong Methodist who has assiduously stayed away from writing on the issues of another person’s religion. If someone wants to maintain his or her beliefs in a church whose edicts have led to wholesale criminal and moral misbehavior, that is his or her choice. What I will say is that I am tired of being bombarded daily by the onslaught of attention given to Catholic news, while Christian news outside the Roman brand is practically ignored. A significant amount of the attention comes pedophilia in the priesthood, generating sensational coverage that other denominations wouldn’t want. But when you don’t make news, maybe it’s because you haven’t done all those bad things. I can only remember one instance in which a minister I knew was removed for having an affair with an adult choir member. Of course, now and then there are instances where aberrant activities by
some offshoot Protestant fundamentalist sect or official reaches proportions that merit journalistic notice — a 20-second spot on television or an inside blurb in the local paper. But that’s generally when a snake handler gets bitten or a TV evangelist runs afoul of the law or a spouse. There was an occasion when fireand-brimstone televangelist Jimmy Swaggart laid hands on more than the head of a professional woman and got caught, confessing tearfully to his thousands of followers. The episode got more titillating because the preacher was the first cousin of rock ‘n’ roller Jerry Lee Lewis, who briefly messed up his career by marrying his own 13-year-old relative. Oh, well. Nobody’s perfect. I suppose that it would be correct here to note that Protestantism was revived newswise by the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, a Mormon — and not always flatteringly because of that church’s long-abandoned practice of plural marriage. (Yes, there are pockets of “fallen away” diehards.) But, mainly, Protestant activities are just too dull to report. Then there are the movie stars like Tom Cruise who have put their bankrolls and prestige behind such institutions as Scientology, whatever that is. I’m not certain it qualifies as a church in the usual sense of the word; it’s more like a theology of Buck Rogers space travel. The presence of Hollywood always gets plenty of ink and airtime, however.
Certainly nothing matches the controversy over a sizable number of Catholic clergy whose indefensible activities, if not sanctioned, were tolerated and hidden by the church’s hierarchy all the way to the Vatican. Just when it seemed the pope’s reinforcement of dogma that defies human nature — on celibacy and a ban on contraception, for example — threatened revolution in some church quarters, he up and quit for “health reasons.” This brought about speculation that it was not only his physical limitations that led him to resign, something that hadn’t been done in 600 years. Was it the sex scandals and-or a scathing report of Vatican intrigue? The resignation did come after it was revealed that the former archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in America, had ignored or covered up a horrific number of morally and criminally reprehensible acts by priests against young parishioners. Even then, Cardinal Roger Mahoney was asked by the Vatican to attend the conclave from which a new pope will be chosen. Also, the pope’s butler wrote sensationally about financial intrigue and administrative infighting around the papacy, leading some to conclude that the butler did it — cause the resignation, that is. So when the smoke rises from the basilica announcing the selection of a new pontiff, let’s hope that the church can begin to repair the fissures — and that my colleagues can give it a rest.
Sequester should chop federal fat By DEROY MURDOCK Scripps Howard News Service
NEW YORK — Imagine that your boss nicked your pay by 2.4 percent. Would you dodge next month’s rent, skip your insulin purchases and unplug your refrigerator to lower your power bill? Most likely, you would cancel your Showtime subscription, repair — not replace — your old shoes and ski Utah in 2014 (maybe). In his immeasurable brilliance, President Barack Obama would pick premium cable instead of insulin and Park City over paying the landlord. Similarly, as March 1 triggers the sequester — an automatic spending-cut mechanism that Obama himself initiated in July 2011 — Obama won’t curb Washington’s extravagance to finance this year’s $85 billion sequester. Instead, like a fiscal Stephen King, Obama frightens Americans into embracing Big Government by siphoning Uncle Sam’s bone marrow rather than giving him liposuction. Fiscal Year 2013’s $3.553 trillion budget will be $15 billon larger than FY 2012’s. Nonetheless, Obama hysterically claims that the sequester’s “cuts” mean: ■ Fewer childhood vaccines. Next stop, a measles renaissance? ■ Furloughed federal meat inspectors. This would present Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” in IMAX 3-D at your local supermarket.
■ “Airport security will see cutbacks,” Obama prophesied. Lines will grow so long that a Transportation Security Administration frisking will come as a relief. ■ “Federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go,” Obama warned. After all, government’s last priority should be to protect property and prevent homicide. ■ “The sequester makes it awfully, awfully tough” to shield America from terrorist attacks, declared Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Why should phantom budget restraint frustrate al-Qaida’s pitch-black ambitions? It would be bad enough if these really were Washington’s only options. Obviously, they’re not. Washington can and should whack spending without making life easier for rubella, E. coli, militant Islam and other lethal, low-level life forms. Among many others, these plans could help: ■ Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., who co-authored the Decrease Spending Now Act. It would shift to debt relief a whopping $45 billion in tax dollars now stalled in dormant federal accounts. ■ Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., would cut $85 billion annually by not replacing departed federal employees ($6.5 billion in savings), bringing the $128,226 average yearly federal civilian com-
pensation closer to the private sector’s $64,560 (reducing $32 billion), curtailing federal travel by 25 percent ($2.25 billion), limiting Pentagon research to military applications ($6 billion), requiring competitive bids on government contracts, paying market wages on federal projects ($19 billion) and halving foreign aid ($20 billion). ■ The Public Interest Research Group and the National Taxpayers Union jointly identified $1 trillion in 10-year savings through 56 budget cuts that liberals and conservatives should love. These range from killing a $10 million biodiesel education grant to a $160 billion modernization of federal computer systems. The research group and taxpayers union urge Medicare to calibrate excessive labor and office-space outlays with the actual prices that prevail in lower-cost communities. Savings: $47.6 billion. Rather than spend $179,750 an hour to fly Air Force One from rally to rally to demonize Republicans, Obama should sit still long enough to send Congress a budget request. The federal Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 mandates that the president’s spending plan reach Capitol Hill by the first Monday of February. Obama’s last two budgets arrived late, and this year’s is AWOL. Before Obama barks at Republicans yet again, he should start doing his job.
St. Patrick’s Day 2013! March 17th Irish Breakfast starting at 7am!!! 4 Irish Dinner Menu Features!
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