Editorial run

Of Troops -- and the Truth
By Dan Smith
WASHINGTON — President Bush conceded recently that bringing stability to Iraq will take time — and manpower. And the commander of allied forces in Iraq, Gen. John P. Abizaid, noted last week that American troops might well be required to serve yearlong tours of duty in Iraq, or double the usual length of time. These acknowledgements are a good start, but the administration has yet to answer one simple question: How many troops will be needed to bring that country under control? The American public — as well as tens of thousands of military families — deserves to know.

Census Bureau's Latino Quandary
By Anthony E. Chavez
The ramifications of the Census Bureau's recent announcement that Latinos are America's largest minority will spread to every corner of society. Unfortunately for the bureau, as the Latino share of the population keeps expanding, the ongoing problems of counting Latinos accurately will grow more glaring.

Have Guns, Will Travel
By P. W. SINGER
The Pentagon is planning to outsource postwar Iraq through the private sector. This mix of profit motive and war has more problems than it does solutions.

The Rockefeller Drug Rap

The nation has plenty of strange state legislatures, but lately New York's seems to be edging near the head of the pack. How many, for instance, have called on a hip-hop mogul to negotiate one of the most important reforms in their state's history? In Albany, where the three top leaders always meet in private to decide the fate of all major legislation, this year — for the first time anybody could remember — there was a fourth. Besides Gov. George Pataki, Joseph Bruno, the Senate majority leader, and Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, Russell Simmons of Def Jam records spent seven long hours with the big trio in the sanctum santorum. There they negotiated ways to change the cruel and unusual drug sentencing laws inflicted on New York 30 years ago by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

How did a rap mogul gain so much influence over New York's lawmaking? For one thing, Mr. Simmons is very rich and has shown an interest recently in using his money to become a political player. And the three men were undoubtedly so sick of one another that any fresh face was welcome. This Legislature has been trying to repeal or reform these inhumane laws for years without success. Someone apparently figured that if Mr. Simmons can make a deal with Mariah Carey, he should be able to crack a few knuckles in Albany.

&hellipThe Democrats envisioned a two-phase reform that would start with shortening the sentences and providing more drug treatment first, then give judges back the discretion they deserve to decide whether a given defendant is a hapless addict in need of help or a hardened dealer.

That's obviously a better vision than the governor's plan, which just tinkers with the sentencing. But as usual, people hoping for reform out of Albany are trapped with a choice between embracing the possibility for a minimal improvement or continuing to push for something that at least constitutes modest reform.

Cartoons

I think I owe Aaron McGruder an apology:

Tom Toles on ArsonistWatch
Tony Auth on the real inheritance tax problem

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/21/2003 08:10:47 AM |