The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sept. 24

Americans will have to hold their breaths and hope for minimal voting problems on Nov. 2. Four years after the Florida voting fiasco, our ability to ensure a smooth, accurate election count leaves much to be desired.

No election can be conducted without potential for error or fraud. …

New problems arise, though, as we move forward. Touch screen voting must have a paper trail, so recounts can be conducted. Secretary of State Sam Reed wisely has ordered paper records for the 2006 election. Congress has so far failed to follow suit on the federal level.

A host of other ideas has arisen, including having large stacks of paper ballots available at all polling places in case of machine problems. …

Secrecy ought to disappear from the systems for testing software in voting machines. … There must also be a serious look at the legitimate questions raised about the political ties between voting-machine manufacturers and Republicans. …

Shouldn’t play nanny


The Walla Walla (Wash.) Union-Bulletin, Sept. 27

Do people want government to be our nanny?

Apparently some folks do. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found two-thirds of parents want the government to place tighter controls on sex and violence on television. And not just for broadcast TV. About half the parents wanted the government to crack down on sex and violence on cable channels.

So, are these parents doing their part to keep their kids from watching inappropriate TV shows? Nope.

In fact, just 15 percent of parents have taken advantage of the new technology mandated by the government, the V-chip, that allows parents to block specific programs. Just 40 percent of parents were even aware their TV had a V-chip.

Apparently it isn’t good enough that the government took steps so parents could more easily control what their kids watch. No, parents want the government to do it all for them.

It’s absurd. Parents need to parent. They, not the government, should set limits for their children.

Money will find a way


Herald-Journal, (Spartanburg, S.C.), Sept. 24

President Bush’s campaign has found a way around the limits on how much money it can spend on advertising. Sen. John Kerry’s campaign is now looking at adopting the same tactic.

The situation illustrates the futility of campaign finance laws. Over and over again, campaign money flows like water, over and around any obstacle put in its way. …

Some in Congress will complain and criticize. They are even likely to offer new bills to fix this loophole in the law …

But the money will find a way around the law. And the same politicians who pass the new laws will take advantage of the new loopholes.

Congress should focus less on restricting the money and more on informing the voters. Let the candidates raise and spend the money. But require them to immediately disclose and publish on the Internet their contributions and their expenses in detail.

Let candidates, politicians and independent groups spread their political message. That’s part of an open and vital democratic process. But require them to let voters know who is paying for these messages.

As long as voters can obtain the information about political income and expenses, they can make their own judgments about what is appropriate and excessive.

Action needed to stop warming


O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 28

As the Antarctic ice is melting faster, rich countries, the only ones able to undertake efficient measures, including the United States, maintain an attitude of indifference. The reason for this is the high economic cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was because of this that the U.S. rejected the Kyoto Protocol.

Meanwhile, rising sea levels threaten the small Pacific Ocean archipelago of Tuvalu, and houses in Alaska built on the melting permafrost are beginning to crack. But nobody is safe. No big catastrophes are in sight in the short term, but it is certain that chaos in the coming decades can only be avoided if measures are undertaken now.

Even if the U.S. finally decides to sign the Kyoto Protocol, it will not be enough. Kyoto is already an insufficient answer to a problem much bigger than was feared.

Israel puts Damascus on notice


The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Sept. 28

Following last month’s back-to-back bombings in the Israeli city of Beersheba, Israeli leaders vowed to track down and liquidate Palestinian activists whenever they are. They made good on their threat on Sunday in central Damascus. A leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas was slain in a car bomb in the Syrian capital. … Since the eruption of the intifadah in late 2000 against Israeli occupation, cold-blooded killings have been a key weapon ruthlessly pursued by the Jewish state against Palestinian activists. … Israel is putting Damascus on notice that it will stop at nothing to eliminate the Palestinians.