European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 3, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 2007 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 the editorials Are provided by the associated press and other stateside Price gouging the Greenwood Commonwealth with Gas prices averaging better than a gallon in those who sell fuel dont have a whole lot of Public sentiment in their they make an easy target for a head Lin seeking politician in an election Good politics also makes for Good such is the Case with attorney general Jim hoods crackdown on gasoline distributors accused of Price gouging following Hurricane Hood announced that five Mississippi distributors have agreed to pay the state Al most in combined penalties rather than go to the five companies did not acknowledge any wrongdoing follow ing the 2005 killer but the implication of the settlement is a company Doest Fork Over that kind of Money if it thinks theres nothing to the pricing gasoline can be a complicated but what the state Law says about Price gouging after a natural disaster is companies Are not expected to take a but nor Are they allowed to Jack up their profits to take advantage of others the distributors can raise their prices to cover the higher prices being charged to them or other new additional but they cant get greedy and add More than but its improperly defined Naples Daify news americans held a referendum on Gaso line prices this memorial Day weekend and voted by driving put of town in record their verdict on prices running a gallon and higher they dont like them but they can live with them As Long As Gas is readily that should prompt the Senate when it returns from its own Holiday to reject a truly bad idea sent its Way by the this Bill seeks to Dampen Gas prices by criminalizing Price the Bill contains penalties of up to million for companies and up to Mil lion and 10 years in jail for but since the Arab Oil embargo of the Federal Trade commission and the department of Energy have investigated More than 30 by one High Gas Oline prices and have never found any Evi Dence of manipulation or Price the culprit always turns out to be Supply and aggravated by such factors As refinery Market misjudgments and congresses own of encounter productive efforts to steer the Industry in directions it deems the Price gouging Bill is a backdoor at tempt at Price which inevitably fail and inevitably Hurt Consumers in the Iran uncooperative the Elpaso Texas times for its North Korea is dragging its feet on the agreed shutdown of its Yon by in nuclear allowing nuclear inspectors on site and stopping its production of nuclear though no one seems to know for sure How extensive that production then theres far from Stop Ping its uranium enrichment program As demanded by the Security is actually expanding its nuclear prickly City by Scott Stantis a report from Mohamed head of the International atomic Energy blamed Tehran for blocking inspection efforts so that the Agency could no longer Monitor activities and says that they were of a peaceful particularly chilling was the ideas expression of concern about its deteriorating understanding of certain parts of Iran nuclear the is considering increasing sanctions against which will do absolutely no Iran is obviously intent on producing nuclear and nothing Short of Force will Stop As for North its intentions Are the but its methods Are slightly differ Iran and North Korea pose significant Security problems for their areas of the world and for the United if their nuclear ambitions Arent the world could pay a High Price later smoking kills and it costs the Wichita Eagle every year in the United americans die from smoking related ill another people die from in Haling secondhand in tobacco kills More americans annually than car accidents and fires with annual healthcare costs of according to a major new report from the Institute of that a National epidemic of staggering proportions but one that can be brought under if state and Federal lawmakers heed the institutes Call to the report could lend support to Kathleen Sebelius 2004 proposal to raise state tobacco taxes by 50 to a to help cover the states her plan went nowhere in the but Sebelius recently said she might push the tax hike again next its becoming More difficult to ignore the according to a surgeon Gener als report last nearly 60 percent of kids Ages 3 to or about 22 million Chil Are exposed to secondhand often in their there is no Safe level of that report the Public debate on tobacco is Chang with the clearer understanding that to Bacco is a Public health Scourge and preventable cause of health experts now have Given lawmakers a Clear Blue print for How to reduce those health give Fra resources courier Post of Cherry Hill Consumers should be Able to rely on the food and drug administration to protect them from unsafe a Cleveland cardiologist last month published an analysis linking the diabetes drug Vandia with a 43 percent increased risk of heart attacks for a Federal food and drug administration review of the drug several years ago deemed it Safe and millions of people have taken the diabetes the Fra Hast required the drug to put warnings on a Andias and the drug maker disputes the Cleveland clinics study by Steven Nissen and contends Vandia is but after apparently missing health prob lems associated with the painkiller Viox and safety questions raised about a drug coated heart it appears the Federal Agency needs its own warning Label Consumers it is Clear the Fra cannot always be re lied upon to do its As the Case of Viox that drug was pulled from the mar Ket by its Merck and in Al though Merck had told the Fra three years earlier that Viox doubled the rate of cardiovascular problems in Congress plans hearings on Fra safety issues and the conduct of top Agency offi but lawmakers must go beyond Fin it is vital the Fra receives the funding and authority to uncover and enforce safety turn off the open spigot first Northwest Arkansas Fayetteville the More debate we the More sep tical we become that Congress and the president have the capability to solve the political quagmire that an estimated 12 Mil lion illegal immigrants at stake is the Security of americas Bor Ders and the very Way this land of Immi Grants turns foreigners into our Economy is a key part of this debate As president Bush supports the current pro posed but aside from his Sig can he deliver enough votes in con Gress to make a on May the Senate unanimously backed requiring that illegal aliens pay Back taxes on earnings collected in the United states while they were sen ate majority Leader Harry Reid int saying the legislation would Cre ate a permanent underclass of people Here to work in lows kill but do not have a Chance to put Down its a very Good and yet the dirty secret of too Many american businesses today is that they employ knowingly or not illegal aliens who will do anything to stay in this As Long As illegal immigration is an open setting limits on Legal immigration is an exercise in control the Bor then we can have a healthy debate Over what Pur nation should do about the millions of illegal immigrants whose Migra Tion happened because our government Al Lowed it to rank amateurs at protesting the Cincinnati Post having just finished ranking the High school seniors who applied to their institutions delighting breaking the hearts of More a dozen colleges have decided that they themselves dont want to be at least not by news world some schools Are chagrined at being rated in the third or fourth its sort of like being placed on the waiting or being told youre just not Good the most controversial of the news and world reports indicators is peer assessment How the institutions rank each now 12 colleges say they will no longer rank other colleges and will provide the Magazine Only with publicly available they pledge not to use the rankings in their promotional and they Are urging other schools to do the the attempted revolt is probably a doomed the magazines evaluations May not be the Bible of High school Stu dents and their parents scouting but it ranks right up there with the other colleges trying to opt put of the rankings should listen to what their own admissions offices Tell the applicants Treyve rejected dealing with Hurt and disappointment is a part of theres a school for even if it is 145th on a list of Gore like to flirt the Mountain if you need any More indication that we Start our presidential elections much too look at the storm Over two people who Haven even said there going to each Day mass emails Are sent out to Tell of the latest news about unannounced Republican candidate Fred and each Day pundits speculate Over when and where Al Gore will jump into the democratic race for its As if both Thompson and Gore Are waiting and maybe secretly hoping for the current Field of candidates to in paving the Way for a new candidate to emerge As a of course if Thompson and Gore indeed plan to enter the race but dont handle this there will be a lot of resentment among the faithful in each  also be behind in fund the Early Start to the 2008 presidential election has driven a lot of but states dont help by bunching the primaries so Early in the presidential election if we grow tired of it All even before 2008 gets then something is wrong with the