How to Help New Orleans: Country must ask hard questions first

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"With New Orleans flat on its back, and the small, relatively poor state of Louisiana fiscally not far from it, it is clear that New Orleans will not be reborn without massive and sustained federal help. The one thing everybody agrees that the city has to have if it is to survive in any meaningful sense is a strong and reliable levee system. Louisiana officials have called for one that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. Trouble is, even if the engineering skill existed to create such a barrier – something New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin publicly doubts – estimates of the cost run more than $32 billion. Uncle Sam could find the money – but should he? Is New Orleans worth rebuilding?"

DMN is right. The public debate needs to happen. So, begin it already, DMN. What are you waiting for?

It's hard to come to this conclusion, but most of New Orleans should not be rebuilt. No one knows if it's even technically feasible; no one knows what the total cost might be if it is; no one knows how long it would take; no one knows how long America's attention will last and how soon commitment will wane. Promising to rebuild, holding out possibly false hope for tens of thousands of former residents, putting them in harm's way again in a geography doomed to repeated attacks by nature, none of this would be doing New Orleans justice.

Those parts of New Orleans on relatively high ground, where the original city was founded, should be given whatever assistance is needed to restore New Orleans to a viable, if smaller, city. But much of New Orleans, built below sea level as population growth expanded the city limits out from its historic footprint, should be given back to nature. Instead, government, business, and charities should focus on helping the displaced residents of New Orleans start life anew on higher ground, outside New Orleans, in neighboring cities and states or wherever residents choose. This itself will be a huge and expensive task. The purpose is not to avoid the cost of rebuilding. It's to focus the investment on an achievable end rather than waste it on a quixotic mission to restore what can never be restored.

Finally, the US should build a monument in New Orleans, dedicated to the dead and displaced, marking the first great city of the world to be lost to global warming. Increased ocean temperatures, more intense hurricanes, rising sea levels, and lost marshes and coastal buffers all forecast that New Orleans won't be the last city to be threatened with this fate. Perhaps New Orleans' legacy will be to inspire us to take action now to prevent this calamity from ever being repeated.

New Level of Disgrace: Cunningham scandal shows need for reform

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"Pork-barrel projects benefiting a select few or retired lawmakers-turned-extremely well-compensated lobbyists are bad enough. But Mr. Cunningham takes influence peddling to an even more nefarious level. He's a perfect poster child for the need to erect a firewall between members of Congress, contractors and the appropriations process."

Congressman "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) was just indicted for bribery and tax evasion. A half dozen more Congressman are under investigation for bribery and other offenses in the investigation into Jack Abramoff's lobbying efforts. Congressman Tom Delay (R-TX) was forced to step down from his Republican leadership position after being indicted for campaign finance violations in Texas. The House Ethics Committee has not opened investigations into these matters. There's no movement in the House to enforce existing ethics rules, to say nothing of tightening the rules themselves.

What can voters do? First, "throw the bums out." Refuse to vote for any incumbent who has not taken a clear public stand in favor of tough ethics standards and enforcement, regardless of party affiliation. If enough incumbents are sent home, the rest will get the message that voters care about clean government.

Second, join and support one of the many public organizations devoted to clean government. Just a few examples are Common Cause, The Campaign Finance Institute, and the Project on Government Oversight. Find one that advocates reforms that best fit your own concept of good government. If citizen groups from both left and right send a message, politicians of both parties will have to listen.

In Need of Resuscitation: Renovation only one way for Parkland to go

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"For many years, county commissioners were reluctant to approve tax increases for [Parkland] hospital or to approve construction of a new public hospital, a project that could carry a $1 billion price tag. They now realize the gravity of Parkland's situation and seem committed to reinvesting in the hospital. That's a good thing. A significant medical bill has come due that the region can't afford to let go unpaid. This is about the future of health care as much as it's about dollars and cents."

Dallas plans to spend $1.5 billion to tunnel under LBJ Freeway for a few additional traffic lanes, with $420 million coming from state taxpayers, DART, and the city. Arlington plans to spend $700 million on a playground for professional football, with about half coming from city taxpayers. If area officeholders believe those projects are money well spent, then spending $1 billion for a new hospital should be a no-brainer. Even the costs for basic repairs to Parkland Hospital are estimated to run $139 million. It's time to quit patching and build anew.

Let the Sun Shine: Jackson could warm House to recorded votes

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"Requiring legislators to put their names next to their votes would make the whole process more accountable to the voter, Mr. Jackson said, 'and that's hardly a bad thing.'"

Kudos to DMN for supporting the requirement of recorded votes by legislators. First-term state Rep. Jim Jackson's support is also welcomed, even though what we learn of this legislator hints at bigger problems in the legislature than just voting procedures.

Mr Jackson has 30 years experience in local government but was surprised to learn that the "cattle auction" procedures of the state legislature result in measures often passing by voice vote without lawmakers knowing precisely what's in them. Mr Jackson also opposed recording votes, not on the merits of the proposal, but simply because the DMN favored it.

Let's hope that requiring recorded votes leads to Texans electing legislators who are less naive than Mr Jackson about the legislative process and who consider legislation on its merits, not just by who is for and against.

3 pluses of a U.S. sales tax

Dallas Morning News | Scott Burns:

"My personal belief, which is supported by a significant amount of research, is that working Americans would benefit more than 'rich' Americans – however they are defined – if our wretched tax system was buried and replaced with a national sales tax."

The dividends that Scott Burns believes a national sales tax will bring each has flaws:

1. He criticizes the current income tax for being crafted by special interests to the detriment of skilled workers. Who does he think is going to craft a national sales tax and why does he think the system will be any less corrupt?
2. He states that the rich don't benefit from the income that exceeds their immediate needs, at least until it is eventually spent on consumption. That might be so if they took their income and buried it in their backyards. But they don't. They buy things with it -- stocks and bonds and real estate. These purchases (the rich prefer the term investments) have a value. They directly benefit the owners in the form of dividends, interest, power, prestige. With a national sales tax, buy bread to fill your stomach and pay taxes. Buy the bakery to stoke your ego and escape the tax man. Something's wrong.
3. He criticizes the current system, with its income tax and employment tax, as fostering claims of inequity. Why does he think the claims of inequity will disappear with a national sales tax? His column was prompted by a reader complaining about the 'rich' escaping taxation under a national sales tax. So, complaints of inequity of a national sales tax are already being raised. Expect the chorus of complaints to grow only louder if a serious proposal emerges.

Alone Against the World

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"While predictable, the nation's latest isolationist streak is a misguided overreaction to an Iraq intervention that hasn't gone as its architects had expected."

It could be that Americans are not unconditionally more isolationist. It could be that they just don't trust the current administration to competently conduct American foreign policy. This administration has alienated our allies. It has confused nation building with a war on terror. Threats posed by globalization, AIDS, bird flu, global warming, Islamic terrorism and many other issues have been neglected because of this administration's single-minded pursuit of war against Saddam Hussein. With a restoration of competent leadership in Washington, American public opinion might again warm to a foreign policy of constructive engagement with the world, working closely with our traditional allies, seeking common ground with rising powers, and isolating the radical elements instead of ourselves.

Palestinians pay price for their government's failure

Dallas Morning News | Michael Hopkovitz:

"Palestinians often complain about Israel's impact on their daily lives, encouraged by the Palestinian Authority, which uses schools, media and mosques to deflect criticism of its government and incites people daily with anti-Israel rhetoric. The PA, contrary to its words, continues to reject Israel's right to exist, blaming Israel for Palestinian hardships. However, the main cause for those hardships is the failure of the PA to act for the benefit of its own people.

The opening paragraph sets the tone for a one-sided rant against Palestinian politics. Palestinians "complain". They "deflect criticism". They "incite". They say one thing and do another. They "blame". No hint of any validity to the aspirations of a million Palestinians. No hint of any fault in any action by any Israeli government. Yada, yada, yada.

Like countless other partisan rants, by both sides of this age-old struggle, there's a clear inability to understand the other's position. Mr. Hopkovitz arrogantly suggests he understands better than Palestinians what is in their own self interest, who they should vote for, which political goals are worthy.

Peace will not be achieved by imposing one's political opinions on the other. Peace will come through mutual respect, accomodation and compromise. And that requires understanding. Until each side can write an essay in a way that readers can't tell the author's allegiance from the opening paragraph, that understanding will be lacking.

Mr. Hopkovitz is identified as being a co-chairman of a group called the Dallas Media Committee. A Google search failed to turn up any information on this group. The Dallas Morning News owes its readers a little more information about the background and credentials of its Viewpoints authors.

Thanksgiving not as relaxing for Bush this year

Dallas Morning News | Carl Leubsdorf:

"In recent weeks, Mr. Bush has received a lot of advice on how to turn things around. Some want him to stress immigration, a subject he plans to push on a border tour next week, or a tax simplification plan, based on proposals by his bipartisan study panel. ... All this advice avoids his real problem: Iraq. ... 'People in leadership make mistakes all the time,' Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, one of the GOP's sagest, most candid strategists replied to a question about the president's credibility. 'The people that admit it are a lot better off.'"

President Bush prides himself on holding firm to his beliefs, staying the course, not shifting positions based on focus groups or polls. Where others might see stubbornness, he sees determination, loyalty, faith.

He learned from his father's career that the conservative base will ruthlessly turn on a President who flip-flops on a core principle ("Read my lips. No new taxes.") This is what makes Iraq so hard to resolve. Even though what he's doing now isn't working, President Bush is unable to change course without violating that fundamental rule of conservative politics: don't be a flip-flopper.

So, what to do in a situation where admitting defeat and withdrawing would undercut his last remaining political support? The best we can hope for is that President Bush, sooner rather than later, applies some variant of the formula proposed by Senator George Aiken (R-VT) for resolving the Vietnam stalemate: Declare victory and get out.

'I'm grateful'

Dallas Morning News | Mary Jacobs:

"In a Newsweek article about baby boomers turning 60, a divorced mom mulled her financial difficulties after she'd lost her savings in risky high-tech stocks. 'Life,' she says, 'was supposed to be easier.' Oh, really? ... Only an American could have the hubris to make such a stunning pronouncement. Only an American, born after the Depression and spared the horrors of World War II, could sit in her home in an affluent suburb with presumably plenty to eat (or, more likely, too much to eat) and declare, 'Life was supposed to be easier.'"

Mary Jacobs reads way too much into a simple statement. The unnamed mom could have been simply making the point that her life did not turn out as she had planned. She is divorced. She lost her savings in the stock market. She had hoped for a better life. Not that she feels she deserves a better life. Not that she feels entitled. Not that she isn't grateful for all the blessings she does have. Just that she didn't want to end up divorced and broke at 60. Does Mary Jacobs want this for herself?

The point Mary Jacobs is trying to make is a good one. There is much for Americans to be grateful for. But Mary Jacobs should not have picked on this unnamed woman to make her point, taking a single quote out of context to read a lack of gratitude into this woman's character. That lacks compassion. It's just rude. And completely out of place in a column purportedly about being grateful.

The Court Intervenes: School-finance ruling puts pressure on Austin

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"The Texas Supreme Court ruled clearly yesterday that Gov. Rick Perry and state legislators must solve the state's school funding problem. That's the positive take-away from the court's long-awaited decision. They must overhaul the state's method of funding schools. And they must do so by June 1. That's the best news coming out of a split verdict that on the whole is a win for Texas."

As DMN says, the Legislature dithered through four consecutive sessions without solving this problem. There's no guarantee they'll do any better even with a court ordered deadline. But the Courts have done the Legislature a favor. The Legislature doesn't have to increase overall funding, only shift the tax sources around, relieving the current burden on property taxes. They may still have a devil of time doing even that, given the power of the special interests entrenched against increasing either taxes on business or taxes on consumption. Therefore, expect overall school funding to continue to be capped at a level that results in our children falling behind in the global competition for skilled jobs.