News opinion 2008-06-22 Andanh.com

Slaughter will help regional development Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:27:36 -0500
Building strong regional economic development is critical and since Bowling Green serves as the economic hub for many neighboring counties, it is important that we have someone to help them bring more economic development to their respective counties. We believe the man to accomplish that task is the newly appointed Miller Slaughter, who is now the director of regional economic development for the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. His role will be to pursue business opportunities in nearby counties that don’t have economic development staff of their own. It is an unfortunate fact that some counties in southcentral Kentucky don’t have full- or part-time staff working on economic development. Many counties simply don’t have the resources to staff an economic development team. Two counties, Allen and Logan, have recently hired economic development directors to help spur development and this is to their credit. Since Bowling Green is the largest marketplace and will benefit along with our neighbors from job creation, it makes sense to reach out and assist them with economic development. Slaughter is well qualified for this job. He has served the past three years as a development specialist with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, focusing on the 13-county Barren River region. So he knows these communities, its leaders, its existing businesses and its people, which will be a huge asset when he begins working to help build economic development in this region. The chamber recently began pursuing contracts with surrounding counties to pay for marketing and economic development services. Success in reaching those agreements led to Slaughter’s hiring. The chamber should be commended for being proactive and taking this step to help neighboring counties who lack our resources. Certainly we are tied together economically and ultimately whatever benefits our neighbors will benefit us as well.

What propoganda Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:27:14 -0500
Have you seen the Baby Alex political ad that the radical-left, George Soros-funded organization “MoveOn” has produced? To some, it plays like a Saturday Night Live skit, but the intent is deadly serious: to damage John McCain. In the ad, a young mother holding a baby says: “Hi, John McCain, this is Alex and he’s my first. So, John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for a hundred years, were you counting on Alex? Because, if you were, you can’t have him.” I know, you think I’m making that up. No way. These loopy MoveOn people spent more than a half-million dollars making and marketing the ad. No word on what Baby Alex’s cut was. My question is this: Who on earth would take that message seriously? What kind of voter is that supposed to reach? The basic premise of the ad was a conversation from last January between Sen. McCain and the late Tim Russert. McCain told Russert that U.S. troops are needed around the world but we have to keep them safe. The Q and A went like this: Russert: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years. McCain: Maybe 100. … We’ve been in South Korea - we’ve been in Japan for 60 years. That’d be fine with me, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed. Now, Baby Alex might not understand the geo-political implications of the comment, but honest adults should. The U.S. military is stationed overseas to protect our interests and to defuse dangerous situations, like turmoil in the Persian Gulf. That’s tough for a child to digest, but, come on, it’s not a kooky position even if you disagree. Propaganda aside, I liked the Baby Alex ad so much that I’m suggesting MoveOn produce a series of them. Let’s see, how about Baby Alex thanking his mom for not aborting him? That has a political theme to it. Also, Baby Alex could extend his gratitude to the FBI for keeping his parents safe since the attack on 9/11. Alex could also, through his perspicacious mother, demonstrate his eagerness to see Islamic fascism defeated - so he and all the other babies won’t have to deal with it when they grow up. Perhaps Baby Alex’s mom could also explain to him that he will never have to live under a tyrant like Saddam Hussein because his country embraces freedom. And then, after all that, Alex could settle in for a nice nap knowing that a nutritious meal will be ready for him upon awakening - a meal millions of babies in other countries will never get. Those ideas should keep MoveOn very busy this election year, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing the spots on TV. Thank you, George Soros. You’re a patriot.

People are making a big deal about virginity Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:27:14 -0500
BOSTON — I remember when a subgroup of the abstinence-only movement first came up with an escape clause called secondary virginity. The idea was that just because you had sex once didn’t mean you had to do it again. This prompted a cynical question from a young lawyer in my family: “Does that mean you can renew your virginity again and again? Or is it three strikes and you’re out?” Well, now we are having a secondary argument over secondary virginity. This time the subject isn’t spiritual revival but surgical re-virgin. The furor comes from Europe where there’s a trend among women - mostly immigrants and mostly Muslims - to have their hymens restored for the marriage market. This began with a recent case that has France in an uproar even by French standards. A Muslim groom who discovered on his wedding night that his wife was not what she claimed to be - a virgin - sued for and won an annulment. He claimed a breach of contract on the grounds that virginity was an “essential quality” of the woman he chose to marry. This ruling outraged a country that bans headscarves in schools and has immigrants sign a pledge that describes France as a secular country where men and women are equal. It was described by a Cabinet minister as “fatwa against emancipated women” and identified by others as something that would pressure more women into hymenoplasty. Now, why precisely one woman found guilty of fraud would drive other women into deeper fraud I’m not sure. But gynecologists in Paris report women coming to them for certificates of virginity, and medical tourist packages take women to places such as Tunisia where the surgery is cheaper. There is even a new Italian movie about an immigrant returning to Casablanca to “have her odometer brought back to zero.” All this is happening despite the fact - Biology 101 - that the presence or absence of a hymen may be unrelated to sexual experience. Indeed, one surgeon gives patients a vial of blood to pour on the sheets just in case. This has led to a controversy not just over sex and equality but the ethics of surgery that’s designed to retrofit a woman to a rigid culture. On one side, the French gynecological organization condemned the practice as a “submission to the intolerance of the past.” On the other side, a doctor who performs the surgery said, “My patients don’t have a choice if they want to find serenity - and husbands.” And some of the patients describe it flat-out as a matter of life and death, acknowledging that they are in real danger from their families if their ‘dishonor’ is discovered. Now, before we dismiss this whole restoration project as Europe vs. Fundamentalism, remember that American doctors are also offering to repair hymens in Web site ads promising privacy and like-a-virgin results - thank you, Madonna. Bioethicist Alta Charo squirms over the idea of hymen repair but then says we ought to “put it in the larger context of how far women will go to make themselves marriageable and sexually attractive.” Just what will secular, modern women do to fit their own cultural stereotypes - breast implant, anyone? What will they do to stay employable - face-lift, anyone? But there’s something in the tale of fear, fraud and France that resonates with the darker side of the abstinence-only education movement here. Government-promoted virginity lessons are not simply an attempt to protect our daughters - and, oh yeah, sure, sons - from a culture that sells sex like Pop-Tarts. Nor are they just about helping them delay and think twice about hooking up. They too are based on fear and control. And consider the father-daughter Purity Balls dotting the country. At these deeply creepy events, fathers promise “to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity.” How far is that protection from the protection racket where fathers oversee their female property until it’s passed on - intact or else - to a husband? All in all, the flip side of purity lectures is the conviction that sex - and the girls who have it - is dirty. On either side of the Atlantic, doctors in the “like a virgin” business are not only accomplices of private deceptions, they are accomplices to those who keep the reins of sexuality out of women’s own hands. Where, I wonder, is the Internet ad for repairing a whole culture?

Well worth it Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:55:00 EST
The information uncovered in the $1.2 million health screening initiative conducted by the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health & Wellness is priceless.

Rape as strategy Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:55:00 EST
It's about time the international community forcefully confronts mass rape, and the United Nations has made a start.

Appalachia column inspired wave of responses Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:08:00 EST
Well, I asked! Last week's column was a bit of rumination on regional labels and, given a couple of recent, high-profile slams, whether Appalachia is wearing a "Kick Me" sign it doesn't know about. At the end of that column, I asked you what you thought, and I heard from a lot of you.

Caroline Kennedy brings Camelot to Obama camp Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:59:00 EST
Caroline Kennedy lives a very private life with a very public profile. It's the perfect skill set for her newest assignment. As part of Barack Obama's vice presidential search team, Kennedy must function with the utmost secrecy in what is sure to be one of the most closely watched endeavors of this year's presidential campaign.

Russert helped make democracy work Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:00:00 EST
If you regularly watch one of the NBC television channels, the name in this column's headline probably turned you on or turned you off. After the network's televised tributes to Tim Russert that lasted nearly a week, there was criticism about hagiography, excess and the incestuous nature of the political and journalistic elite in our nation's capital, where the host of "Meet the Press" was chief arbiter.

Cockeyed optimists again Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:58:00 EST
On a deep, uncluttered stage that stretches back to suggest pristine beaches and the boundless Pacific beyond, the young sailors and Seabees encounter a world in which nothing is familiar except themselves.

Foreign policy partisanship Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:11:00 EST
Judging by the rhetoric coming out of the Obama and McCain campaigns this week, the United States is fated to endure another four years of bitter foreign policy partisanship whoever wins this election. The rival nominees clashed on the proper approach to the war on terrorism, the way to handle the major world trouble spots including Iraq, and the approach America should take on everyone from Raul Castro to the Iranian mullahs.

Some myths about crime Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:09:00 EST
Listening to political talk requires a third ear that hears what is not said. Today's near silence about crime probably is evidence of social improvement. For many reasons, including better policing and more incarceration, Americans feel, and are, safer.

The Grim Reaper also brings in the sheaves Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:55:00 EST
Mitch McConnell admits he's a spectral presence on Capitol Hill. "The Senate is the place where legislation goes to die," he said in an appearance before the Federalist Society, "and some would say you're looking at the grim reaper."

The surgical re-virgins Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:53:00 EST
I remember when a subgroup of the abstinence-only movement first came up with an escape clause called secondary virginity. The idea was that just because you had sex once didn't mean you had to do it again. This prompted a cynical question from a young lawyer in my family: "Does that mean you can renew your virginity again and again? Or is it three strikes and you're out?"

Readers' views Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:39 EDT
SERIES SHOWS BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S TREASON

The Herald-Leader and McClatchy Newspapers are owed thanks for the excellent series on U.S. treatment of detainees in Afghanistan and elsewhere. This is journalism at its best.

The brutality by U.S. troops recounted in the series is horrifying, as are similar reports that have emerged since the exposure of the Abu Ghraib atrocities.

As a patriot, I am heartbroken. This is not the country I was proud to represent during my years in the U.S. Foreign Service. America's armed forces should stand for decency, honor and protection of the innocent, not for bestiality.

Our armed forces exist to promote U.S. security, but actions like the ones described in the series (which commanding officers failed to prevent) have created enemies worldwide. They are also a stain on the reputation of the U.S. military, whose dedicated and decent men and women sacrifice so much to serve our country.

Broken links: sex, procreation, marriage Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
Let's try a quiz.

When a modern institution altered the meaning of marriage, who made the alarming prediction that it would "sound the death knell of marriage as a holy institution by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality"?

The possible answers are A. Pope Benedict XVI; B. James Dobson; C. The Washington Post.

The answer is C.

You probably assumed the question referred to the California court decision that legalized same-sex marriage there, a ruling hailed by some as a civil rights victory and by others as a sign of societal destruction.

Current events turning coal into gold Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
A Herald-Leader column on April's East Kentucky Leadership Conference was appropriately headlined, "The elephant in the room is coal."

There are seismic changes occurring, within and without Kentucky, that will affect the future of Eastern Kentucky's energy production significantly. Many are positive; all need to be recognized. Among the most important are:

.. Adventure tourism as a state-government emphasis, headed by first lady Jane Beshear and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo.

.. Collapse of the foreign supply of liquefied natural gas.

.. Ongoing national need for energy independence and stable energy supplies.

Racing must have national regulation Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
The big business of sports is an incubator for corruption.

You don't need to do a Google search to know that players have taken drugs and thrown games or fights, that schools have committed recruiting and academic violations and that illegal gambling on sports is rampant.

The list goes on and on, across time and continents.

When horses -- athletes that have no say in their fate -- are thrown into the dreadful alchemy between sport and money, the ethical stakes rise.

That's why the drumbeat for effective regulation of Thoroughbred racing won't end. Thursday's congressional hearing finally and permanently destroyed arguments that state regulation, incremental change and voluntary cooperation can fix what ails racing.

Court unfetters right to trial Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision that foreign detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba deserve their day in court say the ruling creates more problems than it settles.

The 5-4 decision means the courts, lawmakers and the administration have to work out exactly how to allow these prisoners access to civilian courts without undermining U.S. military operations.

But that is exactly the benefit of the ruling.

All branches of government will have to determine how best to preserve a key foundation of our system of government: the right to challenge indefinite imprisonment without charges.

There is no better example of the reason for this ruling than the McClatchy Newspapers series, published this week in the Herald-Leader, about how detainees were captured, treated and interrogated.

Even if it wins, it loses Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
State Rep. Greg Stumbo wants to bring Slots Bill out of the retirement pasture and enter it in the 2009 Legislative Derby.

Bad idea on multiple levels.

Stumbo, the former attorney general and former majority floor leader who has returned to the House, proposes to send Slots Bill off as a statute rather than a constitutional amendment.

Stumbo long has maintained that no constitutional amendment is necessary to expand gambling in Kentucky. An attorney general's opinion issued during his term in that office took the same position.

I agree. Technically, lawmakers probably could approve the slots at racetracks Stumbo is proposing or even free-standing casinos by statute and have it withstand a constitutional challenge.

Racing hearings Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:35 EDT

Tough decisions remain
Everyone in Frankfort seems to agree on a first step in addressing the out-of-control employee pension costs.

Chinese Dir