Thanks to all for making this better for your comments.
What is the pulse? A daily randomized view of less than mainstream newspaper editorial pages. I pick papers from around the nation at random, and as soon as I find an editorial, column, or LTE on a story or issue of national interest, I grab it. I don't pick and choose, because I want the randomness, over time, to give us a better idea of the pulse of the nation, what communities find important.
RECOMMEND- I feel greedy asking for recommendations, but IF you like the concept of these daily diaries, even if you think today's aren't wonderful, please recommend. It is the overall process, the gestalt of the randomized and regular viewing of papers across the nation, that give us "the pulse," rather than just a motly collection of writings.
It's been a tough couple of days here at the pulse. Editorial pages have been filled with feel-good obituaries of the Pope, and it's taken more time than usual to find local papers with national-issue (non-Pope) editorials. I think it has been reflected in a huge drop in comments and recommendations. Hopefully, it will pick up again soon (the necessary randomness leaves even me a little helpless as to the stories I find).
So here goes, Wednesday's pulse. It looks like the nuclear option is on a lot of people's minds. Social Security is a recurring theme, and we do hear a "scientific" explanation against evolution from a preacher in Kansas (whodathunkit). But best of all, we might not be the only people that don't like DeLay.
A letter writer in Sebring, Florida, has a solution for the Social Security crisis. It might not be as much fun as the one they recommended in Arkansas in Monday's Pulse, Don't Privatize, Procreate, but it does look to recapture some outsourced money. It might not be realistic, but it sure would make one hell of a campaign platform:
Highlands Today (Sebring, FL)
Tax Outsourcing
I would like to offer my thoughts on a possible solution to solving the Social Security problem.
I am 84 years old so I have seen Social Security from its inception-to the present. ...
The workforce kept expanding and the money kept coming in. Everything was fine and then something very insidious happened. American industries found it to be more profitable to have their products and services produced overseas where the labor is much cheaper. ...
My solution is this: We should enact legislation requiring those American companies with overseas production facilities to contribute to the Social Security Trust Fund an amount equal to what would have been paid had the production facilities still been here. In addition to this they should be required to pay the workers share too.
John Nargelovic
Sebring
And now for some thoughts about people moving in the other direction, immigration. Here's a guy in Carson City, Nevada, that REALLY doesn't like Vincente Fox. Interestingly, he writes a two-subject editorial, sounding like a wingnut on immigration, but hating the Bush Administration on nuclear waste. It's just more evidence that all politics is local. How the hell did we lose Nevada? I didn't do as many today, but this one counts as two:
(Yuca) Nevada Appeal
Illegal immigrants and nuclear waste
Over the past few weeks I've written columns on two of my "favorite" subjects: illegal immigration and the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. ...
My most recent immigration column, published by the Appeal two weeks ago, argued that crime and illegal immigration go hand-in-hand. ...
Even more ominously, some dangerous gang-bangers are now beginning to show up right here in Carson City.
The day after that column was published, the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington, D.C.-based private research group, announced that the number of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. has increased by nearly 25 percent, to 10.3 million, since President Bush took office four years ago. The Pew Center also reported that more than 40 percent of Nevada's foreign-born population is here illegally, a worrisome statistic that shouldn't surprise anyone, given the Bush administration's lax border controls and tolerance for illegal immigrants. ...
During their meeting in Texas late last month, presidents Bush and Vicente Fox of Mexico discussed illegal immigration, but Fox renewed his demand for "open borders" and again denied responsibility for this increasingly serious problem, even though his country's weak economy drives impoverished Mexican workers across the border and into the U.S. The Mexican government's response to our problem is to issue phony ID cards to illegals and to provide them with detailed instructions on how to outsmart the U.S. Border Patrol, which is President Fox's idea of "cooperation." We're Mexico's escape valve, and he likes it like that.
Yucca Mountain
...
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada sent me a congratulatory note describing O'Connell as "a tool of the (nuclear) industry." And then things got much worse for dump/repository proponents as the U.S. Energy Department disclosed that a government scientist may have falsified Yucca Mountain project documents. During preparations for a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, DOE discovered a number of e-mails suggesting that a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist "had fabricated documentation of his work." So much for President Bush's "sound science." The FBI is investigating the suspect messages, as well it should.
Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City.
Here's an interesting viewpoint on the Red Lake killings. The writer points out two things. First, that everybody with an agenda is trying to attach the killing to their cause. And second, that maybe things weren't so random, and blind stupid belief in the perfection of one's ideas might have been behind it all. There a lesson here, to me, for all of us, and it has to do with religious fundamentalists so sure they KNOW the word of G-d:
Rocky Mount (NC) Telegram
Believe or die
By Ray Watters, Rocky Mount Telegram
The 10 bodies were just turning stiff in the morgue when the vultures started circling.
But these vultures won't be content with carrion. They want fodder. They want to peck at their enemies while claiming to fight for the victims. ...
It's going to reach that point. They will all be there standing in the blood -- fingers pointed, voices raised -- as they try to blame this disaster on whatever group it is they detest most. ...
Weise thought the Native Americans on his reservation weren't pure enough. He wanted to exclude some of the mixed bloods from the tribe. He even wanted to join the Native American Nationalists, a separatist group.
He hated interracial mixing so much he posted his admiration of Adolf Hitler on a neo-Nazi Web site. He also blamed rap music for being a corrupting influence, causing his peers to care more about bling than their own language.
"We have kids my age killing each other over things as simple as a fight, and it's because of the rap influence," Weise posted on the site.
Weise liked to blame others. Blame the media. Blame the black man. Blame the people who are different.
At least one of his victims, Thurlene Stillday, loved hip-hop and R&B. She liked MTV and "messing around with karaoke machines," stepfather Ralph Spears said.
Reports said that Weise appeared to pick his targets at random, smiling and waving at some and firing at others. Maybe he was just checking some of his fellow students off on a list in his head.
This one's OK. He's pure-blooded. This one's fine, he speaks my language. This one has to die -- she's different from me. She disagrees with me and what I believe.
That's the ultimate crime, after all.
Now isn't that the perfect segue into Tom DeLay and threats to judges? After all, the threat is really against judges that don't believe as the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts believe. So this is the perfect place to see the Des Moines Register call DeLay and company bullies:
DesMoines (Iowa) Register
Republican street thugs
By REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
If a bunch of street thugs try to intimidate judges, it's criminal conduct of the worst sort because it undermines the rule of law.
If a bunch of congressmen try to intimidate judges, well, that's just politics as practiced by Iowa's own Steve King and cohort Tom DeLay of Texas. ...
The King-DeLay judge-bashing tantrums represent politics at its most odious. ...
If King and DeLay truly believe the judges violated the Constitution, let them introduce articles of impeachment against every federal judge involved. Let them lay out specific charges against a federal district judge, the entire Atlanta circuit court of appeals and every member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Then let the public see during the impeachment hearings just who's respecting the Constitution and who isn't.
Here's betting that it isn't King and DeLay.
The Modesto (California) Bee agrees, calling DeLay arrogant (next week, an expose on the sky- it's blue):
Modesto (California) Bee
DeLay Arrogant
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, last week declared war on one branch of the government, condemning what he called "an arrogant, out of control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at the Congress and the president."
We would argue that the problem really stems from arrogant and out-of-control members of Congress, notably DeLay. Representatives and senators hastily passed and President Bush signed a law that nullified state court decisions and dictated to federal courts how they must handle one person's case, that of Terri Schiavo. ...
Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 78 that the independence of judges was intended to guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals from "cabals of the representative body." Lifetime appointments for federal judges were intended as a "barrier to the encroachments and oppressions of the representative body." ...
This isn't the first time DeLay has suggested impeaching judges when he didn't like their opinions.
American freedoms depend on the separation of powers. DeLay and others in Congress have made a mockery of that principle.
Of course, it's pretty clear by now that the whole Schiavo debacle was really a set-up for the filibuster fight. The next three pieces deal with just that issue (I love it when transition phrases write themselves- that's the hardest part of writing).
In Rapid City, South Dakota, the editorial board of the Rapid City Journal is for the nuclear option:
Rapid City (South Dakota) Journal
Vote or drop the bomb
The United States Senate is headed for a train wreck over judicial nominations that could come as early as this week, when lawmakers return from their Easter vacation. Republicans want to bring to an end the practice of Democrats' using the filibuster to prevent confirmation votes on President Bush's nominations to the federal bench and against future nominations, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats are threatening to bring the Senate to a halt if the so-called "nuclear option" is triggered by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. ...
This is an ideological battle for control of the judiciary branch. The president's nominees that Democratic senators find objectionable are all qualified to serve on the federal bench, but they are too conservative for Democratic support groups that don't want conservative judges deciding case law.
We hope cooler heads prevail when this issue comes to the fore, and the threat of the "nuclear option" is enough to gain a floor vote for President Bush's judicial nominees. Republicans won't always have the White House and control of the Senate. However, we also believe the president's nominees deserve an up-or-down floor vote on their confirmation. It doesn't matter if the president is Republican or Democrat; his nominations deserve a confirmation vote. If it takes changing the Senate's filibuster rule to accomplish this, then we urge Sen. Frist to go ahead and push the "nuclear option."
In Ohio, not only does the Akron Beacon Journal disagree, it specifically advises its Senators to reject the nuclear option:
Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal
Assured destruction
...
Shouldn't the majority rule? Even the most ardent Democrat must admit that the thought carries much logic. That said, the framers also took care to ensure the rights of the minority. They did so, in part, by devising a clever system of checks and balances. The filibuster reflects the wisdom of both principles.
In this instance, the filibuster reinforces the essential independence of the Senate, whether cooling the passions of the House (where a supermajority isn't required for a final vote) or countering the initiatives of the White House.
...Republicans blocked roughly 60 judicial nominations of Bill Clinton. Sen. Frist even supported the filibuster of a Clinton nominee. ...Republicans rarely note that 200 Bush judicial nominations have been confirmed.
Of those filibustered, all 10 have been appeals court nominees. That's one-fifth of the 52 appellate nominations made by the president. An unacceptable number? Not exactly, especially in view of those nominees, such as William Pryor, who appear more political warriors and provocateurs, missing the temperament indispensable to fine judges.
...A divider seeks to change the rules so dramatically, dumping the filibuster, escalating the judicial war, ignoring the virtual certainty that one day Democrats will have the majority and the way clear for their own nominees. Would Republicans clamor then about the abuse of power? Press for their change to be reversed? Imagine the reaction if Bill Clinton had needed a mere majority.
Mike DeWine and George Voinovich know better than to join such a rank grab for power. The Ohio senators should voice their strong opposition to Frist going nuclear. If nothing else, the gambit doesn't fit their political characters, Voinovich too sensible and pragmatic, DeWine aware of the importance of building bridges across party lines. Both understand the essential independence of the Senate and the contribution senators make to public confidence in the judiciary. That confidence has been eroding. It will erode more quickly and dangerously if the Senate dumps the filibuster in judicial nominations, diminishing those valuable checks and balances.
In Scranton, PA, they also noticed how few of Bush's nominees were rejected, and cautioned against the nuclear option:
Scranton (PA) Times
Nuclear option wrong
Acrimony in Congress over a handful of stalled judicial nominations is leading the Republican leadership to consider a move that is far more dangerous to the well-being of democracy.
Eliminating the filibuster as a tactic by the minority would so weaken minority rights that even its advocates have called it "the nuclear option." ...
The founders recognized the filibuster as a means to help congressional minorities serve as a check on the power of the majority, in order to ensure minority rights.
Resolving disputes over judicial nominees does not require such a blow. Rather, it requires compromise. This dispute is, basically, about a total of 10 nominations out of several hundred. That does not warrant the "nuclear option" against minority rights.
And now for some serious NIMBY from Stockton, California. Here's the deal- drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but NO drilling off the coast (of California). Oh, and let's conserve:
The Record (Stockton, California)
No refuge from reality
As unappealing as it sounds, drilling is a common-sense step toward helping the nation meet its short-term, energy-consumption needs.
...Democrats don't have the votes to prevent exploration in 1.5 million acres of the refuge if Republicans succeed in submitting the proposal as part of an overall budget resolution.
In that event, Democrats must insist on a return to supply-and-demand energy policies.
Make this the final tap into potential domestic reserves.
Permanently put the nation's coastal regions off limits. That means no more delays in developing alternative sources of energy and the hybrid vehicles powered by them. ...
American consumers must reduce consumption, and the government must pursue aggressive national policies to develop alternative fuels. There need to be meaningful state and federal incentives -- tax breaks, rebates -- for those using hybrid vehicles. Federal fuel-mileage standards must be strengthened for cars, trucks and SUVs.
Any legislation developed and passed by Congress must include guarantees that none of the refuge oil ever would be exported. ...
Members of Congress and the Bush administration must stop viewing hydrogen, solar and wind power and other options as merely environmental dreaming.
Opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge only makes sense if it's used as leverage for a more serious -- and more honest -- national debate about how we're going to keep the engines of the U.S. economy running well into the 21st century.
And finally, from Kansas, a Reverend educates us on the weakness of evolutionary theory. I hardly know where to start, other than to wonder if people realize America will not be able to compete with India and China if we become a nation of ignoramuses in the name of "the Lord." Have you ever noticed that every debate by these wingnuts about evolution and "intelligent design" is ONLY about perceived weaknesses in evolution, and there is not attempt to even describe, much less defend the "science" behind, their religious insanity? It would not be hard to do a line-by-line refutation of everything this guy says, but it really doesn't come down to that. It comes down to belief v. intellect, and I fear we're losing. Fortunately, a California columnist also sees the flaw, and gets the last word (it is my diary):
The Oberlin (Kansas) Herald
Evolution outdated
In response to Steve Haynes' editorial concerning the need to teach the latest science in Kansas schools, we fully agree. But the problem Mr. Haynes has overlooked is that the evidence supporting the theory of evolution is what is becoming outdated. Advances in the field of genetics have done much to weaken the philosophy centered in evolutionary theory. ...
The only way to add genetic information is through mutation. Yet, the only mutation that macroevolutionists offer as being beneficial
is sickle-cell anemia. This is the only documented case where a mutation has occurred that has offered a benefit. One who has sickle-cell anemia is much less likely to die from malaria. Yet, because sicklecell anemia decreases the blood's
efficiency in sending oxygen to the cells, 25 percent of those with this condition die prematurely. The issue is not with those who look beyond themselves to God for answers; the issue is with those who are trapped in a philosophy that has tried for decades to establish itself without sufficient scientific evidence. ...
We need students who are taught how to think for themselves honestly and objectively. When this happens, real science can not only be taught, but also questioned and pushed further toward what is fact instead of only speculation.
The Rev. Richard and Kimberly Langness
Oberlin
A columnist in California does the rebuttal for me:
The Register-Pajaronian (Pajaro Valley, CA)
Intelligent Design not intelligent
Intelligent Design is not rocket science, or even science at all
Apr 3 2005 12:00AM By
There is a battle being fought in science education. A vocal group is advocating for the teaching of an idea known as Intelligent Design in addition to or as an alternative to evolution.
While most people would balk at tossing out evolution in favor of an alternate theory, there are those who don't see any harm in exposing children to an additional explanation. The proponents, after all, make it seem innocuous enough. However, we need to look carefully at what they are saying before we welcome their theories. ...
We cannot recreate the early Earth and we cannot prove now, nor may we ever prove, exactly how life got its start. Science isn't about answers, but about the search for reasonable explanations that can be shown to be consistent with observation. There are no absolute answers in science, only the best answer at the time. The door remains open for a deeper understanding.
The Intelligent Design position appears to say, if you can't prove A, than you cannot deny the argument favoring B. More specifically, since we can't prove any of the chemical evolution scenarios, we need to say, life was likely a product of an intelligence and designed for some purpose.
While that is certainly a possibility, it doesn't necessarily follow. One can speculate, hypothesize, widely, including that life was brought here by space travelers. This kind of speculation might find a home in philosophy if the arguments are consistent enough, but they are not the stuff of science. ...
It is a very short journey from Intelligent Design to the notion that science really knows nothing and faith is the answer. It's an interesting journey for theology and perhaps for philosophy, but it shouldn't be undertaken in the name of science.
Meade Fischer is an author and artist who lives in Watsonville. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of the Register-Pajaronian.
Thanks for playing. Come back tomorrow for another episode of the pulse.
P.S. HUGE kudos to one person who wrote me (I don't know your dKos handle, or you'd get all the credit in the world) who noticed that Blake Waters' letter in the Garden City (Kansas) Telegram (Tuesday's Daily Pulse) was plagiarized from a James Dobson screed- Arguments against same sex marriage. I already wrote the paper and told them about it. Feel free to pile on.