The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, July 14
New federal rules defining who’s entitled to overtime are a step backward for workers.
Last week the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a proposal to prevent the proposed rules from taking effect, so even if the Senate were to object, the Labor Department will get its way. The only good thing about the rules is that more low-income workers will automatically be eligible for time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week.
What’s sad is that many workers who have been accustomed to getting overtime will still be forced to work extra hours. It’s one thing to have to work longer than you expected and get extra pay for it; it’s another to have to stay on the job and not get extra cash.
Steel tariffs are mistake
Chicago Tribune, July 14
From the moment the Bush administration slapped protectionist duties of up to 30 percent on imported steel a year ago March, this page argued it was a short-sighted mistake.
The steel tariffs raised the cost of steel at a time when the American economy was floundering and made a hypocrite of President Bush, who argued passionately to poorer countries everywhere that free trade was the ticket to prosperity.
… These tariffs are expensive to the economy, damaging to U.S. credibility and now have been found to be illegal. The U.S. should abide by the WTO ruling and dump the tariffs.
Can Democracy survive?
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 15
The skepticism is based on well-founded concerns: Iraq has a history of totalitarian rule and conflict among different ethnic and religious groups. …
Yet, there’s reason for optimism. A lively political dialogue has developed in Iraq, fostered by the emergence of periodicals, pamphlets and newspapers. Iraqi citizens again are taking control of municipal services. And, a Governing Council has just been established to help shape Iraq’s destiny, including the drafting of a constitution. …
The United States and British militaries did a masterful job driving Hussein from power. Unfortunately, the initial postwar administration led by Jay Garner, a retired lieutenant general, did not act with the same decisiveness or professionalism.
Under (L. Paul) Bremer, who took over in early May, things seem to be changing. The United States and its allies have an enormous nation-building job ahead of them, but at least now there are a few signs that success may be possible.
France, Germany justified
Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 15
Not even good European intentions can help the Americans. It is a fact that NATO is sending 5,5000 troops on peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan next month. There, there are already French and German troops and the two countries also have units on the Balkans. France has troops in the Ivory Coast and leads, on behalf of the European Union, a peacekeeping mission in Congo.
So (French and German) troops are sold out and France and Germany can with a good conscience reject American wishes (of sending troops to Iraq).
Man wakes after 19 years
The El Dorado (Ark.) News-Times, July 13
Imagine being in a coma for 19 years, not uttering a word . . . the world literally passing you by.
That’s what happened to Terry Wallis of Mountain View. He slipped into a coma after a 1984 car accident. He fully regained consciousness last month and has slowly begun speaking, something his family describes as nothing short of a miracle. …
Again, imagine missing 19 years of your life, waking up to find a 19-year-old daughter, family members absent due to death … that your country is on its third president since your accident and has fought in two wars.
Imagine seeing nothing but blinks and hearing nothing but grunts as communication from your loved one, and out of the blue one day … they wake up and start talking.
Wallis, now 39, was riding with a friend in July 1984, when their car left the road and plunged into a creek. He and his friend were found the next day underneath a bridge. The friend was dead and Wallis was comatose.
His daughter, Amber, was born shortly before the accident, but he was unable to communicate directly with her for almost two decades. She is now 19 and her dad has said he wants to walk again, for her. …
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