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Daily Archives: July 28, 2007
Some common ground on abortion?
July 28, 20071:04 a.m.
Our editorial on today’s Opinion page notes that an initiative approved last week by the U.S. House offers rare common ground on abortion. The Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative includes $647 million for health, economic and educational assistance for women and families. This holistic approach is supported by a study of Kansas data that found that "increasing employment opportunities for families, access to education for children, and health insurance for working families can and will decrease the number of abortions."
Some social conservatives aren’t supportive of some of the programs funded by the initiative, such as increased access to contraceptives and comprehensive sex education. They also are skeptical about whether the initiative is really about reducing abortion, or about funding social programs and trying to make the Democratic Party appear less pro-choice.
On the other side, some liberals complain that the primary focus should be on preventing pregnancies rather than trying to encourage pregnant women not to have abortions.
But most Americans likely will appreciate these attempts to work together on a complicated issue.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Clinton-Obama foreign policy spat a distraction
July 28, 20071:03 a.m.
The Democratic presidential nomination contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama turned hostile this week over the issue of dealing with hostile nations, with Clinton even turning Obama’s slogan against him: "Whatever happened to the politics of hope?" she asked on CNN. Obviously, how an administration manages threats posed by global thugs depends on the situation. And as fellow candidate Joe Biden observed, the spat distracts from the issues at hand: "Petty arguments about foreign policy credentials will not get mine-resistant vehicles in the field any faster and will not get our troops home any sooner."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Veterans’ health care needs action
July 28, 20071:02 a.m.
If the U.S. military and veterans’ health care system needs an emergency overhaul — which it does, according to a new report by a presidential commission co-chaired by former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala — the Bush administration and Congress must find the resources and political will necessary for reform, our Friday editorial argued.
At a time of hyperpartisanship in Washington, D.C., the veterans’ care scandal at least has brought political foes together on one point: Those whose time in harm’s way has left them needing medical treatment must not have the insult of penny pinching and bureaucratic bungling added to their injuries.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
