Wednesday opinion.
NY Times editorial:
The best chance this year to repeal the irrational ban on openly gay members of the military slipped away Tuesday, thanks to the buildup of acrimony and mistrust in the United States Senate.
EJ Dionne:
It's a great sadness that Senate Republicans blocked efforts to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' Tuesday. Ending discrimination against gays in the military got 56 votes -- which would have been an astonishing result a couple of decades ago -- but that was four votes short of the 60 that filibuster abuse has rendered the new majority in the U.S. Senate.
But there are at least some profiles in courage on this issue, and I want to salute Bret Stephens, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, for trying to persuade Republicans to join the equal rights cause. He made a strong political case to the GOP -- but also the central substantive case:
... it's worth noting that there are an estimated 48,000 homosexuals on active duty or [in] the reserves, many of them in critical occupations, many with distinguished service records. If they pose any risk at all to America's security, it is, paradoxically, because DADT institutionalizes dishonesty, puts them at risk of blackmail, and forces fellow warfighters who may know about their orientation to make an invidious choice between comradeship and the law. That's no way to run a military.
NY Times:
News of Mr. Summers’s departure set off speculation that Mr. Obama would replace him with a corporate executive to counter the impression that he is antibusiness. His exit will undoubtedly expand the influence of Mr. Geithner and also of Austan Goolsbee, a longtime adviser to the president who was recently named to replace Ms. Romer. Jack Lew, the new budget director — he held the same position under President Bill Clinton — is also emerging as a powerful voice, especially as the president puts more emphasis on cutting the federal deficit.
NY Times:
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that average premiums paid by individuals for private Medicare Advantage plans, which insure about one-fourth of all beneficiaries, would decline slightly next year, even as insurers provide additional benefits required by the new health care law.
LA Times:
Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.
Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories...
Insurers said they were acting because the new federal requirement could create huge and unexpected costs for covering children. They said the rule might prompt parents to buy policies only after their kids became sick, producing a glut of ill youngsters to insure. As a result, they said, many companies would flee the marketplace, leaving behind a handful to shoulder a huge financial burden.
Joel Stein:
It's better for society that millions of people get someplace a little faster while the relatively few Daily Kos readers wait a few seconds. This is why not all roads are the same width. And more people go to the Fox News site because it's got tons of people reporting, balancing and fairing, whereas two of the contributing editors at Daily Kos are named DarkSyde and Angry Mouse.
Society should suffer because people are too lazy to click the About page? Interesting thesis. The surgery to remove the tongue from the cheek is scheduled for later this week.
Oh, and as for baseball's best race:
The first-place Yankees scored five runs in the first inning on the way to an 8-3 win over the second-place Rays in the Bronx on Tuesday.
More to come as we get closer to October.