| Editorial Board: A much-needed Medicaid reform Nov 30th 2012, 01:13 MEDICAID HAS GROWN dramatically since its inception in 1965. It now accounts for 8.5 percent of all federal spending, and just under a quarter of all state spending. Between 1970 and 2010, the program quintupled from half a percent of gross domestic product to 2.7 percent. Federal forecasters expect Medicaid to reach 3.7 percent of GDP by 2020 — due in large part to increased enrollment under health-care reform. Any serious plan to reduce the federal debt has to deal with spending, and, given the foregoing numbers, any serious plan to deal with spending has to address Medicaid. The question is how. Read full article >>   |  | Editorial Board: Balancing U.S. secrets with the public's right to know Nov 30th 2012, 01:12 THE SENATE procedure that allows a single member to put a "hold" on legislation is not something we generally applaud. But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has used this crude method to block the intelligence reauthorization bill for good reasons, ones that go to the heart of our democracy. The bill contains draconian and counterproductive measures to prevent the leak of government secrets. Read full article >> | | Susan Rice and double standards Nov 30th 2012, 00:59 Does gender — or the supercharged combination of gender and race — play a role in the preemptive strikes on not-yet-secretary of state nominee Susan Rice? For perspective on this complex question, it helps to return to 1974 and the nomination of another woman, Alice Rivlin, to head the Congressional Budget Office. Read full article >>   | | Is this the planet we want to leave behind? Nov 30th 2012, 00:54 You might not have noticed that another round of U.N. climate talks is under way, this time in Doha, Qatar. You also might not have noticed that we're barreling toward a "world . . . of unprecedented heat waves, severe drought, and major floods in many regions." Here in Washington, we're too busy to pay attention to such trifles. Read full article >>   | | Pro-choice Republicans go public Nov 30th 2012, 00:21 I am a pro-choice Republican. We are not an endangered species. Since the Republican Party declared itself pro-life, most of us have been in the closet. I appreciate that both viewpoints are sincerely held: Pro-choicers believe that the government should not intrude in such a private decision; pro-lifers believe that life begins at conception. I have supported each. Read full article >> | | 'Portrait of a Novel' looks at Henry James and the bridge to modernism Nov 29th 2012, 22:53 Henry James was in his late 30s when he published his first uncontested masterpiece, "The Portrait of a Lady" (1880-81), which elevated him from a talented up-and-comer to a major novelist. It is the story of an intelligent, independent young woman named Isabel Archer who is taken from America to England and allowed to make something of herself, but who "affronts" her destiny (as James worded it) by making a bad marriage. When James revised the novel for the collected New York Edition of 1908, he wrote a preface to account for its origins and aims, concluding after a dozen pages with the admission, "There is really too much to say." Read full article >>   | | Removing barriers to the disabled Nov 29th 2012, 22:45 As the mother of two children who were born with a genetic mutation that has left them legally blind, I believe this nation has already benefited from the human rights treaty, which, as Dana Milbank wrote ["Santorum's disabled argument," Nov. 27] "forbids discrimination against people with AIDS, who are blind, who use wheelchairs and the like" and "has been ratified by 126 nations, including China." Read full article >> | | Israel isn't the obstacle to Middle East peace Nov 29th 2012, 22:45 In his Nov. 22 op-ed column, "Why Israel reigns supreme," Fareed Zakaria accurately set forth the "realities" of the Middle East: namely, "Israel's astonishing economic growth, its technological prowess, its military preparedness and its tight relationship with the United States have set it a league apart from its Arab adversaries." Yet in the next sentence, Mr. Zakaria repeated the oft-stated canard that "[p]eace between the Palestinians will come only when Israel decides that it wants to make peace." Read full article >> | | Don't make parents pay when schoolkids play hooky Nov 29th 2012, 22:45 Regarding Colbert I. King's Nov. 24 op-ed column, "We're failing D.C.'s youth": Children may miss school if they are hungry or don't have warm clothes to wear — issues that wouldn't be helped by Mr. King's proposals of parental fines and incarceration for habitual truancy. Such actions would only diminish a family's future. And youths who are "grade levels behind" may see only humiliation and frustration in attending school, rather than hope and opportunity. Read full article >> | | Jennifer Rubin: Jeff Zucker named CNN president Nov 29th 2012, 19:45 CNN announced its search is over: "Veteran news producer and former NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker will become the president of CNN Worldwide in January. . . His first challenge is likely to be turning around CNN/US television ratings, which have been declining in recent years. Zucker, who had most recently produced Katie Couric's new daytime talk show, had been widely rumored to be in line for the position. It's been that kind of whirlwind life for Zucker, who has had a rocket-like rise in the news and entertainment business." Read full article >>   | | Jennifer Rubin: Ten sure bets Nov 29th 2012, 19:00 We don't yet know whether there will be a grand bargain to avoid tumbling over the fiscal cliff. We don't know if we will head into another recession. However, if you are a betting person, I would wager the following will occur: Read full article >>   | | Greg Sargent: Forever moving the goal posts on spending cuts Nov 29th 2012, 18:25 John Boehner shook things up today when he told reporters at a press conference that the fiscal talks are in trouble. He said (emphasis mine): "Based on where we stand today, I would say two things. First, despite the claims that the president supports a balanced approach, the Democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. And secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks." Read full article >> | | Jennifer Rubin: Throw them out again and again? Nov 29th 2012, 14:45 Peter Wehner, in discussing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, writes: My own view is that one should take public officials in the totality of their acts and that reneging on an unwise commitment isn't by itself disqualifying. For example, if Ronald Reagan had signed the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" (he didn't) and raised taxes during his presidency (he did), I don't believe it would have warranted a primary challenge. And whatever one thinks of Reagan's decisions to raise taxes—and he regretted some more than others—he remains a monumental conservative figure. Read full article >>   | |
No comments:
Post a Comment