European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 22, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday april 222007 stars and stripes Page 21 opinion what newspapers Are saying at Home the following editorial excerpts Are selected from a Cross Section of newspapers throughout the United states the editorials Are provided by the associated press and other stateside syndicates Flore troops not longer Tours the Kansas cry to Star the pentagons recent decision to extend army combat in Afghanistan and Iraq to 15 months highlights the increasing stress experienced by our ground forces if s also a reminder that the Bush administration should have pushed for a Perma nent troop increase Long ago the army says it is extending combat Tours to 15 months from 12 months to allow units now stateside enough time to recuperate and retrain defense Secretary Robert Gates said that without extending Tours he would have been forced to deploy some troops before they had finished a full year stateside extending army combat Tours will Cre ate a real hardship for troops now deployed and their families along with the growing equipment crisis this is evidence of severe Strain on an overstretched Mili tary Congress should move rapidly to expand the permanent Force and provide the equip ment that troops need to fulfil their mis Sions and with the Federal debt still climbing president Bush must work with lawmakers to figure out How to pay for the military expansion worst fear is of the unknown the Memphis Tenn commercial Appeal there really Are no words to adequately describe How sickening and senseless Mon Days shootings on the Campus of Virginia tech were this incident will no doubt prompt schools across the country to review their Security and emergency warning proce dures sadly though theres no Way to completely secure sprawling campuses like Vir Ginia techs without turning them into the equivalent of prisons and that is one reason Why this Type of tragedy strikes hard not just at Virginia tech students faculty members and their families we can All relate to the fear of being caught up in some random act of violence As we go about our daily As the investigation into mondays shoot Ings continues information May come to Light that could help make campuses and other Public places safer against future at tacks or we May get a better understand ing of what prompted this one individual to How others like him can get the help they need but we May also find out there Are no broader lessons to be Learned Here this May be a simple Case where bad things happened to Good people a lot of Good people Colleg loan payback needed the Miami Herald Colleg bound students and their parents owe a great big thank you to new York attorney general Andrew Cuomo for his dogged Pursuit of the Uchto oozy relationship Between lending institutions and dozens of colleges and universities Cuomo found that financial ties Between the companies and schools benefited the lenders at the expense of the students and their parents Csomos targeted investigations cant put an end to the practices at All schools but Congress can and it should begin this week when it opens hearings on the student loan scandal Csomos investigations found that Many colleges their financial id officers prickly City by Scott Stantis with gifts trips and stocks for signing up students with Loans the Loans end up Cost ing the students and their parents hundreds of dollars More per loan the investigations have uncovered Many practices that work against students interest among them Stock options some schools Finan Cia Laid officers own Stock and have Stock options in companies that Are on their schools preferred list of lenders preferred lenders this is a schools select list of lenders recommended to Stu Dent borrowers trouble is More than 90 percent of student borrowers choose a Lender from their schools preferred list Revenue sharing an arrangement that looks suspiciously like a Kickback schools get payments from lenders based on How Many students Are referred to the Lender Cah centers students May think these offices that provide loan information Are operated by school personnel they Are not Many Are operated by lenders when Cuomo testifies before Congress this week he will recommend that the Federal government adopt his student loan code of conduct policy Good idea the code would prohibit lenders gifts and trips ban payments to schools based on preferred Lender programs and discourage lenders from giving anything of value to a school in Exchange for loan favors among other things stealth tax needs a tweak the Kentucky Post Covington congressional democrats Are talking about taking on a Tough Issue that presi Dent Bush and the republicans ducked for the past six years the alternative mini mum tax the amt is a stealth tax that unless con Gress As it usually does patches it on a Yearb year basis imposes higher taxes on a growing number of people last year it snared 34million taxpayers this year the number is 23 the problem was that the amt was never indexed for inflation or adjusted for Bush tax cuts thus its reach keeps grow ing and for some tax brackets will completely gobble up the Bush cuts the amt disallows most exemptions and deductions and permits Only limited medical deductions it is especially Puni Tive to Large families in High tax eliminating it would Cost is trillion Over the decade and simply postponing it this year would Cost s50 billion that loss of Rev Enue would have to be made up somehow this year the amt will bag 20 percent or More of taxpayers in Connecticut Mary land new Jersey Massachusetts and Cali fornia with new York not far behind by no coincidence these Are All democratic states House democrats Are talking about exempting about 97 percent of taxpayers those earring less thants200poo Admak ing up at least part of the difference by eliminating deductions exemptions and credits elsewhere in the code the politics of repeal really dont matter left alone the amt will inevitably be unfair to More than just the Blue states explore catastrophe fund plan the Tampa Fla Tribune even As gov Charlie Crist lobbied in Washington this month for a National catastrophe fund the Bush administration summarily dismissed the idea while its not surprising such a proposal would meet resistance from some Mem Bers of Congress the administrations uncompromising opposition is disappointing the creation of an emergency fund de serves a hearing in Congress and the presi Dent need not get in the Way proponents of a National emergency fund say it would help existing state insurance programs private insurers and rein surfers when claims reach catastrophic pro portions As the Florida legislature deter mined during january special session on spiking homeowners insurance premiums if insurers know their losses would be capped they would be under less pressure to raise rates that5s Why Crist and Florida us Sena tors Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez Are pushing the creation of a congressional panel to consider an emergency fund the governor Calls it a matter of National de sense and Hes right the government has a duty to protect its citizens and no state is immune from cataclysmic natural or Home made disasters whether Congress ultimately favors a Federal emergency fund it would be Worth lawmakers efforts to establish a commis Sion to study the National disaster insurance marketplace always polished on Diamond Goshen ind news the legacy of Jackie Robinson major league baseballs first Black player was celebrated last but the accolades were tempered by the realization that a de Clining number of big league players Are Black a total of 84 percent of major league players Are Black the lowest number in at least two decades but baseball is More diverse than other pro sports with an increasing number of players from latin America and Asia a total of 294 percent last year were latinos and 24 percent were asian Robinson persevered and carried him self with class and dignity the shattering of baseballs color Barrier was a precursor to the nations integration efforts but it is still a sobering realization that it has Only been 60 years that Black men were allowed to participate in the nations pastime nil eyeing Bottom line too Star Tribune Minneapolis get the impression that nowadays sports especially football and the Money that goes with it is less a Way out of trouble than an enabler of criminal conduct at least 50 National football league players have been arrested since the Start of 2006 commissioner Roger Goodell was right this month to announce a crackdown his Rule changes undertaken with the cooperation of the players Union allow the nil to discipline rogue players even before their cases reach court his suspension of Adam Packman Jones for the 2007 season will Cost the ten Nessee defender million in salary Jones has been arrested five times and questioned in five other cases since turn ing pro in 2004 Goodell also suspended Chris Henry who has been arrested four times in three states for gun drug alcohol and driving offences since going pro in 2005 if s Good that the Nils tougher new stance also carries More behavioural train ing for players although finding a better class of friends is a Tough sell for suddenly Rich kids who want to show off Back on the old Block where unfortunately the notion of holds considerable a peal More than really caring about its miscreants new England owner Robert Kraft Best expressed the leagues overriding motive if s worried about a bad image and the commercial consequences Woi Fowitz poor Standar bearer the Star Ledger of Newark no when Paul Wolfowitz moved from the defense department to become president of the world Bank in june 2005 some development experts cheered they believed Wolfowitz would demand greater account ability and Good governance from coun tries that received world Bank funds so that Money would go for development rather than padding the pockets of corrupt Lead ers still staffers at the Bank we rent Happy for them Wolfowitz was a key architect of Neo conservatism and an Iraq Hawk he brought with him several Aco Lytes to help push through his views rather than building consensus added to the mis Trust no wonder then that staffers were primed for a fight when word came out that Wolfowitz had helped his Girlfriend Shaha Riza who had been a Bank employee to a Job at the state depart ment that added to her income Wolfowitz tenure at the world Bank looked to be in peril should it be probably the world Bank should be a Model of the values it pro motes if the Banks president is an advocate for clean governance he should be Able to meet those standards himself Wol Fowitz fell far Short of his own exacting Ide als Fiu re