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THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com
Editorial
SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2012 PAGE 3E
OUR OPINION: RULES OF DEBATE
Ban on recording sends bad message
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T THE RISK of sounding like the ingrate who shows up late for a wedding reception, then loudly complains that his chicken cordon bleu is cold, we have to say this: The League of Women Voters got it wrong. The area league’s decision to ban the public from recording last week’s congressional debate in Kingston set a bad precedent and wrongly suggested that carefully controlling information can somehow breed better democracy. Not so. The league’s event organizers, no doubt, had the best of intentions. By limiting any recording to “professional” newsgathering outfits, they probably hoped to prevent unscrupulous sorts from gathering material to use in gotchatype campaign ads and web postings. Campaign agents toting recording devices have been known in recent years to trail certain candidates, hoping to catch slips of the tongue, apparent flip-flopping on the issues and other embarrassing moments. It’s a bit devious, but sometimes enlightening. The league, a highly respected and nonpartisan group, should not adopt the role of policing political speech or protecting candidates from the free flow of information – even if that information could, in the hands of some people, be manipulated, mistranslated or
twisted. Allow the voting public to use its judgment on the authenticity and accuracy of statements. Encourage the use of technology to transmit these public discussions on important civic issues to the widest possible audience; trust that certain attendees have only the best of intentions: for instance, streaming an entire debate to viewers in an unadulterated fashion. By drawing up differing rules for what a journalist and a non-journalist can record, league officers only create confusion as to the rights of citizens. Journalists, after all, are merely stand-ins for residents who can’t attend a particular government meeting or campaign event. (By the way, the news media typically are selective, though hopefully not partisan, in what they report to audiences). At future debates in Luzerne County, the league should drop its no-recording rules. Let camcorders and cell phones capture, then convey, the conversation. Freedom of speech, with all its pitfalls, must prevail. In the meantime, we remain ardent fans of the League of Women Voters and its volunteers who further the cause of good government. We benefit from their efforts and believe in their mission. But, on this matter, we had to speak up.
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Honestly it was terrifying … to look back and see nothing but flames and to look in front of you and see nothing but blackness.” Cory Booker The 42-year-old mayor of Newark, N.J., a former collegiate football player, described the scene last week as he rescued a woman from a burning home in his neighborhood. Booker, who said the experience gave him an even greater appreciation of firefighters’ work, is slated to speak April 22 at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre. His lecture is titled “How to Change the World with Your Bare Hands.”
OTHER OPINION: FRACKING LAW
Gas industry gags physicians
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HAT ARE THEY afraid of? That’s the obvious question that arises from yet another move by the natural gas industry, and their BFFs in Pennsylvania government, to keep secret (“proprietary,” if you will) the toxic chemicals that they are injecting into the earth. Act 13, the hydraulic fracturing law passed in February, already qualified as a major corporate giveaway, giving companies the right to overturn local zoning laws and pretty much drill anywhere. But buried in the law, which went into effect Saturday, is a gag order on doctors. If physicians want to learn the exact chemicals being used in fracking, they must sign a nondisclosure agreement that prevents them from sharing what they know with their patients or other doctors. At least that’s how many health professionals and environmentalists read it. Pennsylvania doctors already were flying blind when it came to answering their patients’ anxious questions about the health
effects of fracturing. In an essay in the Harrisburg Patriot-News in February, Dr. Marilyn Heine, president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, reported that some of her colleagues were being asked if symptoms such as rashes might be tied to fracking chemicals, or whether they should have their well-water tested. She said that medical expertise is being “handcuffed by a lack of research.” Act 13 adds a muzzle to the handcuffs. Sponsors of the bill say that the confidentiality agreement is necessary because the exact cocktail of carcinogens – and 650 of 750 of the chemicals used in fracking are known to cause cancer – are “trade secrets,” and that doctors might spread them to competitors in the oil and gas industries. Puh-lease. Isn’t it far more likely that they know that if people knew about the massive amounts of benzine and other toxins to which they and their kids have been exposed, they would ask more questions – and ask them louder?
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Philadelphia Daily News
company
Editorial Board PRASHANT SHITUT President and CEO/Impressions Media MARK E. JONES JOSEPH BUTKIEWICZ Vice President/Executive Editor Editorial Page Editor
The wonderful addicting world of ‘Words with Friends’ DON’T TEMPT me. Put it away. I have resisted “Pong,” “Space Invaders,” “Pac-Man” and “Super Mario Bros.” I have scoffed at “Asteroids,” “Donkey Kong” and entire generations of Game Boy. Put it away. Shut it off. I’m serious. Don’t tempt me. ... I have ignored “Gran Turismo” and “Grand Theft Auto.” I showed no interest in “Myst,” “Doom” or anything with wizards. I have never worked a joystick. My phone is just a phone. Don’t tempt me. Turn that screen off. I’m warning you. ... I am talking about “Words with Friends,” a terribly addicting app that is basically Scrabble played long distance. It involves nothing more than two players making words out of the letters they are given, and trying to score points by doing so. My sister-in-law, Trisha, showed it to me a few weeks ago. She handed me her iPad. “You’re a writer,” she said. “Help me.” That was a mistake. The first time I tried it, I was on for an hour. That is an hour longer than my lifetime total on video games. I’m the guy who rolled his eyes at “Halo.” I’m the guy who never owned a PlayStation or an Xbox. I’m the guy who asked, “Why would anybody play ‘The Sims’? Isn’t the real world good enough?” Get that screen away from me.
COMMENTARY MITCH ALBOM Do not tell me the letters! ... I am embarrassed by my attraction to “Words with Friends.” It’s a time vampire. But what’s a writer to do? They say there is a match for everyone on the planet, and though they are talking about love, maybe it applies to video games, too. All I know is I spent stupid time on Trisha’s screen, trying to come up with a word that used two D’s, two U’s, two L’s and a C. Go ahead. You try. It ain’t easy. In addition, you want to put your word over a triple-word square, or combine it with another word so you get double the points, or lay it down so it doesn’t create opportunities for your opponent ... Wait. The opponents. That’s the best part. They don’t need to be with you. They don’t need to be in this country! You play your word, send it in, and it’s the opponent’s turn, whenever he or she gets around to it. Now. Tomorrow. Next week. You can have up to 20 games going simultaneously. It’s like those guys in the park who play multiple chessboards. Only “Words with Friends” you can do in bed, in your underwear. Not that I’m revealing anything here. “Words with Friends” is now huge. Of course, like everything that is big news today, it happened in the last five minutes.
OK. Maybe a little longer. “Words with Friends” was started by a couple of game developers in 2009. The legend is it wasn’t very popular, until singer John Mayer sent out one tweet to a few million of his fans. It’s been skyrocketing ever since. More than 8 million people play every day, and actor Alec Baldwin was so intensely involved, he refused to stop and got kicked off an American Airlines flight. That’s truly embarrassing. But so is this. I like it. I confess. And I have never liked a video game in my life. I ignored my “Call of Duty.” I refused to enter the “World of Warcraft.” And the only correct spelling of we, in my book, is “we” or “whee” – not “Wii.” How could a game that was nerdy 40 years ago suddenly be so hip now? And so addicting. I don’t know. Ask Baldwin. Meanwhile, put it away. Do not tell me what seven letters you have. Do not stick the phone near my nose and reveal a triple-word square just sitting there, next to a Q, and you have a U and an I and – oh, dear God! – a Z. Move. Out of my way. I will not give away one more precious minute of life, even if my entire working career has prepared me for this app like a Jedi Knight wielding a magic vocabulary. Not interested. Go away. OK. Gimme that phone. Just this once ... Mitch Albom is a columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Readers may write to him at: Detroit Free Press, 600 West Fort St., Detroit, MI 48226, or via email at malbom@freepress.com.
Holden should give voters the debate they deserve DAN QUAYLE and Lloyd Bentsen, Kennedy-Nixon, Ford and Carter, ReaganMondale, Bush-Clinton, McCain and Obama; before the vote, they debated. Since 1960, with the unfortunate exceptions of 1964 and more significantly 1968 and ’72, Americans have insisted that their candidates meet in civilized forums to discuss the major issues of the day. While you have been treated this presidential election cycle to a record number of Republican presidential primary debates (20), we have not seen the last of these intense, high-stakes, all-or-nothing, oratorical jousts. Three additional presidential debates for 2012 already have been scheduled. They will feature candidates who demonstrate broad nationwide support, averaging at minimum 15 percent in four national polls, and who are on the ballot in states with an aggregate number of electoral votes equal to the 270 required for victory. Slated for the University of Denver on Oct. 3, Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Oct. 16 and Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., on the 22nd – with one vice presidential debate on Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Ky. – America will vote once the candidates debate. A candidate no-show? It is inconceivable. Can you imagine Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, or Joe Biden and (I’ll tell you later), refusing to meet in televised debate to discuss the issues while declaring their intentions and defending their positions for our careful consideration? Rest assured they will be on stage and in place at the appointed hour.
KEVIN BLAUM IN THE ARENA An engaged electorate insists on candidate debates, and the voters in Northeastern Pennsylvania are no different. Here in the 17th Congressional District the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a debate in what is arguably Pennsylvania’s marquee congressional primary of 2012 between Democrats Tim Holden of Schuylkill County and Matt Cartwright of Moosic. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 18 on the campus of the University of Scranton. Cartwright has accepted the league’s invitation; Holden has not. The league and the university wait as the primary looms large on Tuesday, April 24. Cartwright has challenged Holden to a series of televised debates throughout the gerrymandered 17th District that now includes large swaths of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. Holden has refused. Lafayette College Democrats invited the two candidates to debate the issues on April 19 inside Lafayette’s magnificent Kirby Hall. Cartwright accepted the invitation; Holden has not. Is Holden holding out until it’s too late to have the necessary cameras and print reporters in place for proper coverage and questioning, or is the incumbent simply “Holden out?” Either way, running from debates is bad form, shoddy manners and a politics reminiscent of the days when Holden was a Schuylkill County sheriff. Voters in Northeastern Pennsylvania
The voters in Northeastern Pennsylvania expect the free exchange of ideas that debates bring to the decision-making process. If Holden expects to come up here and represent this region and its people, congressional debates are a virtual prerequisite. expect the free exchange of ideas that debates bring to the decision-making process. If Holden expects to come up here and represent this region and its people, congressional debates are a virtual prerequisite. Instead he appears to rely on party insiders and the party organization in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties to pull him through. Good luck with that one. Cartwright’s grassroots campaign for the Democratic nomination is clearly gaining momentum. According to an article in Roll Call, “the newspaper of Capitol Hill since 1955,” a new poll released by the Cartwright campaign shows Cartwright now inching ahead. Last week Holden told The Times Leader’s Andrew Seder that he doesn’t have the time to debate. Holden’s campaign advisers must’ve winced when they heard that reply. Too busy for voters? Doesn’t have the time? Really? Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas found time for seven debates. Dan Quayle two. Surely, Holden has time for one. Kevin Blaum’s column on government, life and politics appears every Sunday. Contact him at kblaum@timesleader.com.