Article & Journal Resources

Excerpts of the week's editorials from around the country and world

RUSSIAN POLITICS

Troubling pattern

Dmitri Medvedev's announcement that President Vladimir Putin would be his choice for prime minister if he became president should have surprised no one. At the beginning of October, Mr. Putin himself said the idea of becoming prime minister was "entirely realistic." The stage was set. In a broader sense, the development is no surprise because it adheres to the Kremlin's record of ignoring the form and spirit of Russia's tentative democratic system to serve its own prerogatives. ...

Mr. Putin and his Kremlin have changed the content of the country's political system to the point that the way it operates in practice bears little resemblance to its written, constitutional form. Turning the prime minister's office into a vehicle allowing him to continue to exert this control would be true to form.

The Moscow Times
Perpetuating Putin's power

The mystery of Vladimir Putin's preferred successor is solved: Dmitri Medvedev, from the president's St. Petersburg circle. As the world gets used to a new name, however, it should realize that behind it lies a familiar one, and the West will continue to be challenged by an assertive Russia. ...

Of course, the youthful Mr. Medvedev – slimmer, more dapper, and a more polished speaker than a year ago – still needs to be elected. But with the state and Mr. Putin (now one and the same) behind him, that's a done deal. ... Mr. Putin should be taken at his word that he intends to exercise power based on his "moral mandate," which is firmly anchored in his overwhelming popularity.

The Christian Science Monitor
HOUSING MARKET

Beware a big bailout

The Bush administration's plan to help stabilize the mortgage market is a modest one – too modest, say critics, who want to help more troubled homeowners. But we think the small scope is actually one of its strengths. ...

Under the plan, companies that service adjustable-rate mortgages will agree to freeze the interest rate on certain subprime loans at the low-introductory level. This is designed for those who can afford to make payments at the initial teaser rates but would sink once the rate is reset higher. ...

Going further than this plan would almost certainly involve a public bailout of mortgage holders and their lenders. And that would create a new set of victims: the taxpayers. Americans who rent or who have borrowed carefully or who don't borrow at all would be asked to subsidize a great deal of folly.

The Providence Journal
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Balancing the scales of justice

Until recently, federal sentencing guidelines called for harsher penalties for crimes involving crack cocaine than for powdered cocaine – a miscarriage of justice contributing to racial disparities in prison populations.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission appropriately changed the guidelines recently. ... Now the Supreme Court lends its weight with a 7-2 vote allowing judges greater discretion to impose more lenient sentences than recommended by the federal guidelines. ...

Righting the uneven scales of justice will require more. Congress should next examine mandatory minimum sentences based on drug quantity.

The Seattle Times
PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Too ambitious agenda?

Thursday's Democratic debate did little to help voters who have not made up their minds about which candidate to support. If anything, the six Democrats made the job harder for being so darn nice to one another for 90 minutes.

These candidates believe that the American people want a president who can be uplifting and optimistic, and they believe there is no end to what the federal government can do to solve any problem: health care, education, global warming, energy independence. ...

But the candidates also have an obligation to tell the voters how they would get them accomplished in a Congress that is likely to be closely divided, and how they would fund them without adding to the national debt. Little emerged from Thursday's debate that would help voters on that score.

The Des Moines Register
TERRORISM

A Christmas grinch

Candy Roquemore of Austin, Texas, had a simple wish for Christmas: She wanted to send cards to wounded soldiers. She didn't have anyone in mind; she was just going to address them to the injured. ...

Then she learned she couldn't because ... the military fears terrorists could lace cards with a biological agent and address them to any American soldier. ...

Sending Christmas cards to the troops is a nice way people can honor members of the military. Such cards should be encouraged, and the Bush administration, which has made a habit of criticizing war opponents as unpatriotic, should find ways to get the cards screened and delivered.

The Las Vegas Sun