Democracy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Democracy: September 19th, 2012
More top news and analysis excerpts below:
ELECTIONS 2012/ROMNEY: Romney: I’ll deliver recovery, not dependency - USA TODAY
Mitt Romney: “Under President Obama, we have a stagnant economy that fosters government dependency. My policies will create a growing economy that fosters upward mobility.”
ELECTIONS 2012/ROMNEY: Romney Says Remarks Help Clarify Position – NY Times
JIM RUTENBERG, ASHLEY PARKER: Facing criticism for saying 47 percent of voters believe they are “victims,” Mitt Romney sought to steer the conversation toward a debate about government’s role in people’s lives.
ROMNEY VIDEO: How the Romney Campaign Scrambled to Respond – NY Times
MICHAEL BARBARO: The campaign put together a quick news conference at a fund-raiser on Monday night to explain Mitt Romney’s remarks at a previous, private fund-raiser.
ELECTORAL MAP: Wisconsin Offers Window Into Challenges Facing Romney – NY Times
JEFF ZELENY, MARJORIE CONNELLY: Mitt Romney’s campaign has pointed to Wisconsin as a place whose Republican resurgence could rub off on Mr. Romney, but he trails by six points among likely voters, a new poll found.
ELECTIONS 2012: Mitt Romney, Class Warrior – NYT, OPINION
Turning the rich against the poor is Mr. Romney’s campaign tactic and his plan for governing.
ROMNEY CHANCES: Romney’s Campaign Is Far from Dead - TIME OPINION
MASSIMO CALABRESI: The election is still weeks away, the debates are yet to come, and the distance separating the two candidates in the polls just isn’t that big. Saying Obama has the edge and that Romney is in trouble seems credible; declaring the race over does not.
*MORE ELECTIONS 2012 NEWS AND ANALYSIS BELOW [link]
TEACHER’S STRIKE: Teachers End Chicago Strike on Second Try – NY Times
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates celebrated after the delegates voted to suspend the strike against the school district on Tuesday. Union delegates endorsed a proposed contract, allowing 350,000 children to return to classes on Wednesday.
LEGISLATION: Congress Near End of Session Where Partisanship Impeded Output – NY Times
JENNIFER STEINHAUER: The 112th Congress, soon to depart for its election recess, is set to enter the record books as the least productive body in a generation, passing a mere 173 public laws as of last month.
LEGISLATION: Republicans Push to Help Immigrant Science Graduates Stay – NY Times
The largely partisan measure would allocate up to 55,000 visas of the current annual pool to graduates with advanced degrees in science and technology.
LEGISLATION: Hello, We Must Be Going – NYT, EDITORIAL
Congress has decided politicking and vacationing is more important than getting the people’s work done.
VOTER RIGHTS: Judge Is Told to Examine Effect of Law on Voter ID – NY Times
ETHAN BRONNER: The judge who upheld a new voter ID requirement in Pennsylvania gets two weeks to determine if the state is doing enough to make IDs available to voters.
VOTER RIGHTS: Looking, Very Closely, for Voter Fraud – NY Times
Busloads of illegal voters, cited by voter fraud groups like True the Vote, have yet to be seen. But that has not deterred such organizations, which widely support conservative causes.
VOTER RIGHTS: Voter ID laws and roll purges defraud democracy - GUARDIAN, OPINION
Ana Marie Cox: Americans instinctively back fairness, which is why ‘voter fraud’ has made a strong Republican rallying cry. But it’s a con.
RELIGION: A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus’ Wife – NY Times
LAURIE GOODSTEIN: A Harvard historian of early Christianity said the papyrus, written in Coptic in the fourth century, contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …’ ”
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Appeals Court Reverses Campaign-Donor Ruling - WSJ
An appeals court reversed a lower court ruling that likely would have led to greater disclosure of who is paying for certain election ads.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: California and the Fourth Amendment – NYT, EDITORIAL
The costs of taking DNA samples from people arrested but not convicted dwarf the benefits. It is also, unfortunately, unconstitutional.
SUPREME COURT: From Justice Thomas, a Talk About Race, Faith and the Court – NY Times
ADAM LIPTAK: Justice Thomas opened up in a public interview at the National Archives, talking about his race, his faith and relations among the justices after a contentious Supreme Court term.
EDUCATION: Young, Gifted and Neglected – NYT, OPINION
CHESTER E. FINN Jr.: Public education’s neglect of high-ability students doesn’t just deny individuals opportunities they deserve. It also imperils the country’s future supply of scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs.
INDEFINITE DETENTION: U.S. Appeals Judge Grants Stay of Ruling on Detention Law - NYT
CHARLIE SAVAGE: A ruling blocking enforcement of a law authorizing the infinite detention of terrorism suspects is on hold for now, after an “emergency” stay requested by the Obama administration.
OCCUPY: Is Occupy a Fad? – NYT DEALBOOK
Occupy Wall Street celebrated its one-year anniversary on Monday as protesters filled the Financial District. But the movement — which initially struck a chord, or a nerve, depending on your view — doesn’t seem to be generating the same buzz anymore.
HEALTH: Are Stroke Drugs Better Than Stents? - WSJ
A debate is taking place among physicians over whether drug therapies to prevent stroke have surpassed stents or carotid artery surgery as the best treatment for many patients with artery blockage in the neck.
HEALTH: Dallas Copes With Unpredictability of West Nile Virus – NYT
As the West Nile virus outbreak seems to be subsiding, the hardest-hit county in the nation, Dallas County, tries to come to terms with the seeming randomness of the fatalities.
ATF/NEVADA: Nevada Prosecutors Refuse ATF Cases in Spat - WSJ
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is battling federal prosecutors in Nevada who are refusing to prosecute cases by investigators in the ATF’s Reno office.
ABUSE TRIAL: Prosecutors Deny Priest Was Urged to Lie in Abuse Case – NY Times
A motion filed in Philadelphia said that a former clergyman was pressured to falsely admit to abusing a boy as part of the terms of a plea deal.
MORE ELECTION 2012 STORIES:
ROMNEY FOREIGN POLICY: Middle East Comments Could Vex a Romney Administration - NYT
Mitt Romney’s views on the Middle East and Iran may have already been well known, but comments of his that were captured on video at a fund-raiser could bring difficulties if he wins the presidency.
ROMNEY 47% MATH: Romney’s 47% paying no taxes combines elderly with poor workers – WP
Elderly Americans and low-wage workers make up the bulk of those who don’t pay income taxes, a group that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said are “dependent on government” and see themselves as “victims.”
ROMNEY VIDEO: Romney: ‘Recovery, not dependency’ - Politico
ALEXANDER BURNS : In a USA Today op-ed, he tries to put a positive spin on the themes he discussed at the May fundraiser.
ROMNEY VIDEO/OBAMA: Obama, on Letterman Show, Responds to Romney Comments - NYT
The president told the “Late Show” audience that Mr. Romney was “writing off a big chunk of the country.”
BUSH/ROMNEY: George W. Bush is the real drag on Romney – FT, OPINION
Bruce Bartlett: One would think that as the years have gone by that Barack Obama would in essence ‘own’ the economy
The Common Good publishes a U.S. domestic news digest every weekday, available here.
