News opinion 2008-05-08 Andanh.com

Smoke ban in parks is a good plan Thu, 8 May 2008 11:22:35 -0500
Nobody likes to go for a walk in one of our many city parks and see cigarette butts littering the landscape, which is why we commend the city for banning smoking in its parks and trails. The ban, which is to be in place as soon as signs can be posted, will eliminate smoking in all parks, except the city’s three golf courses and in Fairview Cemetery. Fountain Square Park will be smoke-free except for private rentals and there will be one designated smoking area in the new Circus Square Park. The policy won’t apply to sidewalks, but will apply to Greenways trails. A lot of people may ask why is this needed and how will it be enforced since a lot of these parks encompass large areas? We believe it is needed because a lot of people going on walks, fishing, enjoying playgrounds and having picnics do so because they are looking for relaxation in an outdoor setting. They want to enjoy nature and don’t want to see cigarette butts scattered about on the trails. Enforcement of the ban won’t necessarily totally rely on park employees and law enforcement, but on smokers’ politeness and peer pressure from non-smoking park users to enforce the policy. If smokers refuse to comply with them, park employees can ask them to cease and if they refuse, police can be called. We believe most people will be respectful of the law and comply to make it enjoyable for everyone to enjoy our city’s beautiful green areas. We don’t have a problem with the city banning smoking in city parks because they are public property, unlike our opposition to government imposing a smoking ban on private property. These are two very different scenarios. The city has already banned smoking inside all city-owned buildings. Residents should see no smoking signs installed in city parks within the next two weeks.

Give voters a clue Thu, 8 May 2008 11:23:17 -0500
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a sideshow, a distraction, a sham and a shame. So sayeth many of the brightest stars in punditry. How sad that we wasted so much time on what Sebastian Mallaby of the Washington Post called an “absurd digression.” Barack Obama himself frets that we are “caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics,” which “trivializes the profound issues.” Yes, by all means, the profound issues are what the campaigners should grapple with. Grapple away on matters of substance and policy. Bread-and-butter concerns. Kitchen-table topics and pocketbook issues. And what are those? Well, according to Obama and Clinton alike, gas prices top the list. On ABC’s “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos opened an interview with Clinton by asking how she can defend her proposal to suspend the federal gas tax for the summer when everyone knows it won’t lower gas prices. “Nearly every editorial board and economist in the country has come out against it,” Stephanopoulos noted. “Even a supporter of yours, Paul Krugman of the New York Times, calls it pointless and disappointing.” Her response in a nutshell: Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care. Clinton says she doesn’t mind if economists agree that her proposal would do nothing to alleviate high gas prices. Indeed, when Stephanopoulos pressed her to name one - just one! - credible economist who thinks this idea has merit, she responded: “Well, I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.” Instead, she explained, she’s going to break with the “government power and elite opinion” and side with the little guy. Unlike the proposal by John McCain, who also stupidly supports a gas-tax “holiday,” the Clinton plan has the added benefit of punishing those evil oil companies by making them pay the tax, even though those pointy-headed economists say it will actually reward them. Big Oil would simply pass that cost back to consumers, and the “holiday” would artificially hike demand for gas so that pump prices would jump right back up. But never mind all that. Oh, let’s also point out that, as a matter of political reality, Clinton might as well be calling for a ban on the use of unicorn meat in dog food, because there is no way her proposal can actually, you know, happen. Now, in fairness, we should point out that Obama opposes the Clinton-McCain proposal for many of the reasons stated above, and that speaks well of him. But there’s a larger point here. Clinton’s new populist demagoguery is entirely symbolic. The “substance” is stage dressing, no more real than the scenery in a play. She’s trying to tell blue-collar workers that she’s on their side. The language may be economic, but the message is about values. It’s I-feel-your-pain treacle gussied up as tax policy, devoid of anything approaching intellectual seriousness. Who cares if even liberal economists like Krugman concede the stupidity of her idea; she’s taking the side of the Bubbas against all the fancy pants. The same goes for the Daedalian debate between Obama and Clinton over health care that consumed many of the early Democratic primaries. In a riot of intellectual vanity, vast amounts of time were wasted on parsing the fine print of their respective policy proposals, with earnest journalists wading hip-deep into the actuarial tables, as if either plan would actually survive its first encounter with Congress intact. Who cares? We’re talkin’ substance here! Presidential elections are not referendums on policy papers. Rather, policy papers are themselves mere hints, sometimes very poor hints, of where a candidate’s priorities lie. This is not to say that candidates should not offer details, but let’s do away with the charade that the dots on the “i” and the crosses on the “t” are the stuff of Serious Politics, while discussions about a candidate’s “non-economic” values are somehow irrelevant. It’s all the same conversation. Whatever the true import of Obama’s relationship with Wright may be, or whatever the proper weight voters should give to his view that poor whites “cling” to guns, religion and bigotry because they’ve suffered under bad economic policies, or, for that matter, whatever Clinton’s “sniper fire” story says about her, it strikes me as absurd to argue that these data are meaningless but their stance on a gas-tax holiday is of enduring importance. We pick presidents for their judgment and values. Anything that gives us a clue as to what those might be is not only fair game, it is the game.

Our attitudes toward sex are really uptight Thu, 8 May 2008 11:23:18 -0500
There is a poignant significance to the passing of Mildred Loving at a time when a biracial senator leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Their stories are connected by time, skin color and a Supreme Court decision. Mildred and Richard Loving had been married only five weeks in 1958 when the county sheriff burst into their bedroom with two deputies. They shined flashlights in their eyes and a menacing voice demanded, “Who is this woman you’re sleeping with?” When Richard pointed to their marriage certificate on a wall, the sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.” The District of Columbia marriage license was “no good” because Richard was white and Mildred was black in a small Virginia town in 1958, when it was one of 16 states that banned interracial marriage. The raid, sparked by an anonymous tip, resulted in a night in jail for Richard, several more for Mildred, a felony conviction and their banishment from returning to the state together or at the same time for 25 years. They returned to their home state sooner than that, thanks to the landmark Supreme Court ruling in their case, Loving v. Virginia, that overturned state miscegenation laws in 1967. Mildred Loving died on May 2 at her home in Central Point, Va. She was 68. Her husband died in a car accident in 1975. Four decades after the court decision that bears their poignantly appropriate name, the world feels like a very different place, thanks in part to that court decision. Interracial marriages have multiplied as American attitudes toward race have relaxed, although for some groups dramatically more than for others. Since 1970 the number of married people in the United States who have a spouse of another race has climbed from less than 2 per 100 to almost 8 per 100, according to Stanford sociologist Michael J. Rosenfeld, a leading specialist in interracial marriage trends. Among Rosenfeld’s other findings: The Lovings did not set a trend, gender-wise. White women are still about twice as likely to be married to a black man as white men to a black woman. About 3 white men per thousand and about 7 white women per 1,000 were married to a black person in 2005. At the same time, almost 8 percent of black men and about 3.5 percent of black women were married to a white person. A much higher percentage of Asian men (25.8 percent) and women (33.7 percent) were married to whites. And as times have changed, so have the questions. Hardly a week goes by, for example, without my receiving at least one e-mail that asks, “Why does Barack Obama say he is black?” “There is the media hype that Obama would be the first black president. Not true,” writes Ron of Jacksonville, Fla. “He would be the first racially mixed president.” Maybe Ron is a young man who hasn’t heard about the “one-drop rule,” a peculiarly American custom that says one drop of black blood makes you black. The census since 2000 allows Americans for the first time to check off as many racial boxes as they think apply. That legacy of Loving may do more than anything else to undo race as we have known it. But changing the labels or even ignoring them will not eradicate race-related problems of income and equality. The growth of interracial marriages in the military offers an example what can occur across racial lines in the closest thing we have to a color-blind society. The Army sees only one color, I was told after I was drafted in 1969: Army green. In accord with that dictum, census figures show intermarriage more than twice as likely in the military for all racial groups except for Asian men. That’s a reflection of how long the military has been integrated into one unified, egalitarian and meritocratic culture. Significantly, the military has a level playing field that is ordered from the top down and obeyed by a military culture that is by nature intolerant of nonconformity. But in establishing a right to marry whom you please regardless of race, the Loving decision also has touched off a heated debate over whether the right to marry should be extended to couples of the same sex. Frankly, I don’t see how anyone else’s marriage would make my marriage any weaker, as opponents of gay marriage suggest. Nevertheless, I expect that debate to continue for a while. Public resistance to interracial marriage was a lot weaker in the late 1960s than resistance to gay marriages is today. American attitudes toward race have relaxed considerably. Our attitudes toward sex are still pretty uptight.

Obama's good day Wed, 07 May 2008 22:57:00 EST
Hillary Clinton's gritty, back-to-the-wall fight for the Democratic presidential nomination should earn her, if nothing else, the right to make a graceful decision on her own timetable about the future of her candidacy.

Sporting good APRs Wed, 07 May 2008 22:57:00 EST
Careful readers of this newspaper should know a lot about college athletes' graduation rates. Reporting by The Courier-Journal's Pat Forde shed light on the academic failures of several schools, and well-known coaches, in this region.

Getting over it, so you can get what you think we need Wed, 07 May 2008 22:58:00 EST
By reputation, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is a member of the high court's "liberal" wing and is inclined, in making his decisions, to take account of the Constitution's "democratic intentions."

Pool closings Wed, 07 May 2008 22:58:00 EST
The closure of inner city pools is at once shameful and ironic. Louisville is appropriately proud that its parks system was designed by the revered Frederick Law Olmsted in an era when urban planners saw the need for folks to be able to enjoy greenery and fresh air.

Presidential contest draws comments Wed, 07 May 2008 22:58:00 EST
According to exit polls, 59 percent of white people voting in the North Carolina primary election voted for the white candidate, Hillary Clinton. It is terrible that so many people would use race as a major factor in selecting their leaders.

Democrats' 'fairness' may have sunk Clinton Wed, 07 May 2008 22:59:00 EST
Hillary Clinton, 60, Illinois native and Arkansas lawyer, became, retroactively, a lifelong Yankees fan at age 52 when, shopping for a U.S. Senate seat, she adopted New York state as home sweet home.

A perfect calm for John McCain Wed, 07 May 2008 23:00:00 EST
John McCain has used these weeks of Republican calm to dive into the Democratic lunch pail. This strategy clearly assumes a Barack Obama candidacy. If demographics are destiny -- as the political sages keep telling us --

'From irrelevance to trivia' Wed, 07 May 2008 23:00:00 EST
The endless Democratic presidential campaign has lurched from irrelevance to trivia, triggering a near-universal call to bring it to a halt.

Delivering Aid... Wed, 07 May 2008 22:52:00 EST

Readers' views Thu, 08 May 2008 08:51 EDT
MCCONNELL'S FILIBUSTER SHOWS CONTEMPT FOR WOMEN

"McFilibuster" is at it again, this time supporting pay discrimination against women. By blocking the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Sen. Mitch McConnell is saying that it is OK with him for corporations to pay our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters less for the same job.

His excuse is that it would create a flood of lawsuits. In other words, pay discrimination against women is such a huge issue in our society that outlawing it would overwhelm our court system, so we should continue to allow employers to discriminate against women.

This tracks about as well as his excuse for filibustering the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have given union organizers protections against the billion-dollar union-busting industry and coercive tactics used by anti-union corporations.

His excuse? It would take away the workers' right to vote on having a union, so he had to block giving unions more protection. In reality, the act would merely have opened another avenue for creating unions in the workplace

3rd District needs Weston Thu, 08 May 2008 02:03 EDT
Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of talking and meeting with residents of the 3rd District.

Throughout the meetings, a theme evolved with regard to concerns for our area of Lexington. The focal points of my campaign address many of the concerns: smart, sustainable growth; safe, strong neighborhoods; and a continued emphasis on public safety.

My educational, professional, civic and community experience distinguishes me from the other candidates. The editorial board recognized my "impressive record of civic contributions." My civic involvement, since graduating from the University of Kentucky in 2000, has been focused in three areas: enhancing the health and wellness of others, providing for others through service and mission and working to improve the collegiate experience and development of young people. All three of these areas coincide quite well with the issues confronting the 3rd District on a daily basis.

My direct experience working alongside the Lexington business community, UK's leadership and the ever-growing student population and having lived throughout the district's neighborhoods provide me with a unique perspective among the candidates.

We need a council representative who is willing to roll up his sleeves and go to work for the district. We need someone who is ready to make the right decision, rather than the popular decision. We need someone who has broad-based experience, "a strong grasp of the issues" and an "impressive record of civic contributions."

A little history on Ky.'s finest library Wed, 07 May 2008 02:07 EDT
Much more than a quiet place to find a good book, Kentucky's premier research library will be the site of a lively 10th birthday party of show-and-tell tours and speeches next Tuesday, May 13.

The 1998 opening of the William T. Young Library at the University of Kentucky will be celebrated a decade later as a symbolic event in UK's campaign to win academic respect to match its reputation for basketball.

Indeed, as memories of seven national basketball championships dim, the new library is a potent talking point in UK's efforts to exhort all Kentuckians to become Big Blue fans of excellence in academics.

With its 3.5 million volumes, its 2 million-plus visits a year (the sum of daily use by thousands of students), 50,000 hits a day on the Web and a towering architectural presence on the Lexington landscape, the library is a thoughtful contrast to the piles of steel and concrete that Kentucky sporadically assembles for athletics at a cost of millions of dollars that it might otherwise invest in books and brains.

William T. Young was a self-made Bluegrass business whiz who loved sports so much he bred a horse, Grindstone, that won the Kentucky Derby. But first he parlayed a UK engineering degree into a fortune built on diverse investments from which he consistently gave money back to education.

Let Henson keep council seat Thu, 08 May 2008 02:03 EDT
There is no reason to replace Councilwoman Peggy Henson, whom Mayor Jim Newberry chose in January to replace Richard Moloney, who took a state appointment.

Henson, assistant director of a job placement service, is learning how to make government bureaucracy work for District 11 constituents and is building a good reputation among other council members.

With the decades she spent as a neighborhood leader, working with past council members, she is in the right place at the right time.

District 11, especially the Cardinal Valley and Alexandria Road areas, is struggling to deal with significant crime, code-enforcement problems and other quality-of-life issues.

Some of that is a result of the growing Mexican immigrant population in that part of town. But not all of it.

UK's pole-vaulting Thu, 08 May 2008 02:03 EDT
It's a sad thing to say about university leaders, but it seems they never learn.

University of Kentucky administrators have spent more than a year planning steel utility poles, some of them truly huge, along Woodland and Euclid avenues and Cooper Drive.

But they never laid out their plans to neighbors, a city-university committee, the council member who represents the district or the mayor.

There will be more chapters to this story, but we have the uneasy sense it will play out like too many others: with bitterness and frustration toward the university.

The poles are being installed to carry high-voltage wires that will deliver power to the new UK hospital. UK will contritely say that this late in the construction schedule, alternatives will either cost too much or delay the hospital too long.

Wilkie flogs leadership as he exits House Thu, 08 May 2008 02:03 EDT
At least one position in House Democratic leadership will be open next year.

In a Tuesday e-mail copied to other leadership members, Majority Whip Rob Wilkey rather scathingly criticized the way the chamber's Democratic leaders handled this year's General Assembly session, accused them of failing to support Gov. Steve Beshear and announced his intention to leave the legislature at the end of the year.

Referring to the obvious rift in House leadership that proved problematic during this year's General Assembly session, Wilkey wrote, "I thought we didn't serve anyone very well ... I also thought there was a conscious effort to embarrass this governor during this session. It worked. He could have done a better job of building a relationship with the House, but I also feel he was misled into believing that we would work with him. We didn't."

In an interview Wednesday, Wilkey said his decision to leave the House was made easier by this year's leadership conflicts but was not caused by them. He said his decision was based on the "continuing challenges" of trying to balance his legislative duties with the needs of his family (particularly "my daughter and son who need me") and his regular job.

His employer, Commonwealth Brands Inc., a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Limited, did not ask him to quit the House, Wilkey said. But he added that his position as a company officer and senior legal counsel required a lot of his attention.

Aniimal rights people Thu, 08 May 2008 09:18 EDT

Publisher’s Notebook: Being a Papaw comes with pressures, rewards
At 12:05 a.m. on Friday, May 2, I officially became a Papaw. It feels strange to type the name and to hear someone refer to me as Papaw. It won’t take me long, however, to wear the name like a comfortable pair of slacks.

Direct Kick: SCW hopes to recapture glory days

CHEERS and JEERS: Here comes the storm
Brace yourselves for Hurricane Hillary, or Hurricane Obama.

Here’s to you, Mr. Robbins
I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on the life of a man I never met, but who inadvertently paved the way for my entrance into the workforce.

Chinese Dir