Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era from Lancaster, Pennsylvania • 10

Opinion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012, LANCASTER, PAGE A10 Sutelljgcutcr Journal Founded 179 1 Earle D. Cornelius Editor of the Editorial Paja A sensible candidate in the 37th XeLl 0T6M with A AUbneAtnv-AteRse taiw6Pont a TROtATOeSlUeMTOBAKA- Qft.VoAmi wnuea WAie TViRee Hitwes to in A STWjeo AND ANWM? AnertPV AV WWM AND HW dtwaMrr(iDTspcfiuN-TH ANAGUe 4L ANDVdeU. GDNCUJDe WIM 1 A GATfeTRotA GoJ.ROtAfieY. Publiihrrs f.Sfili-1017 Andrew Slrinnian Co-publisher John F. Stcinman WMHW J.

Hale Meinman John K. Stcinman In our view Our rights, our history Split-personality party He was killed by a sniper in 1963. Collins, McNair, Robertson and Wesley died in a firebombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, that same year. Chaney, Goodman and Schwer-ner were civil rights workers who were arrested, then released to Ku Klux Klansmen who murdered them and buried their bodies in an earthen dam in Mississippi in 1964. Those were dark days for this nation.

No one with an understanding of humanity or our nations history wants to return to those days. Merediths admission to a public university 50 years ago sparked a movement, a belief, as the Declaration of independence declared 236 years ago, that all men and women are created equal. And yet, 50 years after Merediths historic enrollment, there is growing sentiment to restrict peoples rights. Some have argued that the 14th Amendment, giving citizenship to all native-born and naturalized residents including the children of illegal immigrants should be amended or repealed. And while voter ID laws have been a flashpoint of the electoral debate, people tend to overlook the fact that Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips said in 2010 that restricting voting solely to property owners makes a lot of sense.

The rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the attached amendments are in constant tension. They are a gift as well as a burden. Ensuring that those rights accrue to all Americans is imperative if we are to live as a united people. James Meredith doesnt like the term civil rights.

He simply points to the U.S. Constitution and calls them American rights. Anything less is an insult, he said. Monday marked the 50th anniversary of Merediths admission to the University of Mississippi. He was the first black student admitted to what was then an all-white public university.

That is a hard concept for students today to grasp. For perspective, consider this: His admission came 100 years and nine days after President Abraham Lincoln announced his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. His admission came 15 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in professional sports. His admission came after the United States sent a man into orbit around the Earth. Meredith may not like the term civil rights, but his courage and perseverance marked a turning point in the movement and in the nations history.

Less than a year later, federal courts ordered the University of Alabama to integrate. The actions proved that the pen was mightier than the sword, but the policies and laws written in ink were stained in blood. People may recognize Merediths name, but what about the names of Medgar Evers, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson or Cynthia Wesley? Who remembers James Earl Chaney or Andrew Goodman or Henry Schwemer? Evers was leading a campaign for integration in Jackson, Miss. that much attention to politics most of the time. But as the presidential election has begun to loom, theyve started to notice.

They saw the Republican primaries and then they watched the Republican convention. And theyve found a GOP far removed from the compassionate conservatism the party tried to sell in 2000. Instead, theyve found a party dominated by tea partiers, nativists, social Danvinists, homophobes, right-wing evangelicals, and a few rich people whose only interest is to become even wealthier. These regressive elements were there in 2000, to be sure. They lurked in the GOP in the 1990s, when Newt Gingrich took over the House.

They were there in the 1980s, too, although Ronald Reagans sunny disposition gave them cover. In truth, theyve been part of the GOP for more than half a century. But never before have these re-gressives held so much sw'ay in the Republican Party. Never before have they called the shots. Unfortunately for the GOP, most Americans dont share these extreme views.

In other words, the GOPs problem isnt Mitt Romney. Its the other way around. Mitt Romneys problem is the GOP. The GOP is also the problem for an increasing number of Republicans around the country in Senate and House races. Sen.

Scott Brown, for example, is well-liked in Massachusetts. Up until recently the polls showed him slightly ahead of his opponent, Elizabeth Warren. But Browns poll numbers have been dropping in recent weeks. Thats not because of the Romney campaign. Romney was governor of Massachusetts; if Romney had been Browns problem, it w'ould have been a problem from the start.

Brown is dropping because hes had to carry the burden of the publics increasing distaste for the GOP The same is true of Senate races in Virginia, Florida and elsewhere. Romney hasnt been letting the GOP down. To the contrary, Romneys been giving this GOP exactly what it wants in a candidate. And thats exactly the problem for Romney as it is for many other Republican candidates because what the GOP wants is not at all what the rest of America wants. Voices There are two major theories about why Mitt Romney is dropping in the polls.

One is that Romney is a lousy candidate, unable to connect with people or make his case. The other is that Americans are finally beginning to see how radical the GOP has become and are repudiating it. Most Republicans hold to the first view, for obvious reasons. And their long knives are already out. Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan called the Romney campaign incompetent and a rolling calamity.

Republican guru William Kristol termed Romneys videotaped remarks arrogant and stupid. Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, slammed Romney for running a lackluster campaign. As his poll numbers continue to slide, conservative carping against Romney is growing louder prompting his wife, Ann Romney, to tell conservatives, Stop it. This is hard. You w7ant to try it? Get in the ring.

OK, so maybe Romney isnt the best campaigner the world has ever seen. Hes no Bill Clinton. But to put all the blame on Romney and his campaign misses a fundamental reality: Todays Republican Party is more radical and extreme than its been in more than 80 years. Dont just take my w7ord for it. Norman Omstein, a distinguished political observer and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (hardly a liberal bastion) and his colleague Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than four decades.

They say theyve never seen Washington as dysfunctional as it is now. And they blame Republicans. We have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party, they wrote in the Washington Post in April. In their view, the GOP has become ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. While Democrats may have moved from their 40-yard line to their 25, say Omstein and Mann, the Republicans have gone from their 40 to somewhere behind their goal post.

Most Americans dont pay all Robert Reich American WHAT OTHER NEWSPAPERS ARE SAYING I dont get the impression Man-heim native Mindy Fee wants to go to Harrisburg to shake up the world. I also dont think ego is whats driving her to be the next state representative from the 37th District. Fee, whos never before run for office, just figured shed be good at representing the people shes known all her life. Fees appropriately modest ambition gives me hope the 47-year-old sales executive from Manheim Borough will do more listening and thinking if she gets elected than scheming and grandstanding. Ive chosen the word if here only as a courtesy to Russ Stahley.

Hes the rumpled, rambling, oddly excitable Democrat opposing Fee in the race to represent the deeply red district in northern Lancaster County. Stahley, 73, a retired Methodist minister, is talking up school funding reform in his campaign, and he pledges to donate 10 percent of his salary to local causes. Nice gesture, that. Still, he doesnt stand a prayer. I went Tliesday to the lightly attended Fee-Stahley debate in bustling Durlach mainly to see what kind of politician Fee is and to get a sense of what we can expect after she takes office.

I came away from the tame, 90-minute forum thinking that, in Fee, the voters are going to get two things. First, theyre going to get a hometown girl who couldnt be prouder of representing the place where she was born and raised and where she and her late husband raised their three children. Other than going all the way to Millersville to get a degree in economics, Fee has been Manheim through-and-through. The man she married, the late Tom Fee, became the mayor, for goodness sake. A Manheim Central football booster, Fee was the candidate who legendary high school coach Mike Williams endorsed a few weeks before last Aprils three-way GOP primary.

He called her honest and positive. At that point, it was game over. So its not a surprise to read on Fees website that shes for family farms, the Second Amendment and the unborn. And what is it shes against? That would be special interest groups from outside our area." (Italics added.) United Mine Workers, youve been issued fair warning. The second thing voters are going to get in Fee is competence.

Fee struck me as disciplined, professional and self-confident. Her handshake is firm. She looks you in the eye. Shes pleasant and personable, but not a bubbly sort. Fee describes herself as a social and fiscal conservative, but shes more Nikki Haley than Sarah Palin.

A casting director might see her as more Nicole Kidman than Sally Field. There was nothing wonkish about Fees presentation. She didnt put forth any nine-point plans. My one criticism is she was too carefully scripted. She read from notes in answering many questions.

Her answers were clear as a result, but she was unnecessarily cautious and perhaps not comfortable thinking on her feet. But thats a quibble. In her closing, Fee said strength, compassion and optimism are her communitys greatest assets, and she wants to take those values to Harrisburg. Sure, the sentiment is a platitude, but its the kind of vision that unites people. It suggests to me shes more committed to a better Pennsylvania than to winning ideological warfare.

So Im hoping Fee can avoid the pitfalls of hyper-partisanship and parochialism that are endemic in Harrisburg. Im hoping she can cross party lines. Im hoping she can find common ground with people who love Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or the Poconos as much as she loves Manheim. Were a diverse state with huge problems lawmakers keep kicking down the road. The fact that Fee expressed interest, for example, in finding fairer revenue sources to unshackle school districts from property taxes suggests to me shes willing to think big and lead.

If Fee proves to be more of a problem solver than a bomb thrower, then she will be a credit to Lancaster County. jhawkeslnpnews.com The revelation that the (New York) Department of Environmental Conservation isnt keeping up with inspections of old gas and oil wells w'ould be troubling under any circumstances. Coming at a time when theres talk of DEC taking on far more work to keep tabs on fracking deepens our concerns. The finding by the Associated Press that thousands of potentially problematic wells remain unaddressed highlights some of the key unanswered questions in the debate over high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing: How7 will an agency that has been decimated by staff cuts keep up with a veritable gas rush in New York? How much will it cost, and who will pay? DEC will need to grow if this is to be done right unless, of course, the state wants to follow the lead of Pennsylvania, which has been simply ignoring some other crucial environmental regulation in a vain effort to keep on top of fracking. What about an extraction fee a tax on the industry for removing irreplaceable resources, to at least cover the new costs to the state? Heres w'hat New York state ought to say to those would-be drillers: Our taxpayers will not pay for the privilege of letting someone else make money.

Albany (N.Y) Times Union People Poll: Who won the first debate? The first presidential debate between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Gov. Mitt Romney was held Wednesday. Who won the first presidential debate? Press 1 to vote for Barack Obama. Press 2 to vote for Mitt Romney. Press 3 if it was a draw.

To vote, dial toll-free 1-866-346-286 3. Calls will be received until 3 p.m. Friday. Results of the People Poll will be published Saturday. Republicans and reproductive rights XA Costa Rican women are appealing to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to overturn a national law banning in-vitro fertilization.

The states national ombudsman, Ofelia Taitel-baum, started the process, saying people will understand that this is about rights that are appropriate for our times. In the worldwide debate over abortion and womens rights, this might seem like an unusual law. After all, in-vitro fertilization actually creates life. But Costa Rica is heavily Catholic, and the Vatican openly opposes in-vitro fertilization, widely known as IVF. When British scientist Robert Edwards won the 2010 Nobel Prize for his development of in-vitro fertilization therapy, Monsignor Carrasco, the Vaticans spokesman for bio-ethics, declared that because of IVF, a large number of freezers in the world are filled with embryos.

In the best of cases they are transferred into a uterus, but most probably will end up abandoned or dead. The odd thing is that Costa Rica is one of Latin Americas most progressive nations, a true, longtime democracy that has one of the re Joel Brinkley American back-alley abortionists. Unsafe abortions continue to be widespread, and nearly all are performed in developing countries where abortion is restricted, the U.N. said. That number was 21.6 million in 2008, the last year for which statistics are available.

Said the U.N.: globally, its estimated that 47,000 women lose their lives each year from the complications from unsafe abortions No other nation in the Western world restricts abortion as severely as the Republican Party platform advocates. In fact, the U.N. study shows that since 1996, far more nations have been liberalizing their abortion policies than restricting them. However, it also adds that some states impose policy conditions that might not be reflected in actual law, among them a compulsory waiting period, parental or spousal consent, or mandatory counseling. It did not report that any other countries order invasive ultrasound examinations before an abortion is permitted, another favored Republican proposal.

Will the Republicans get their way? Not likely. Most Americans, women particularly, adamantly oppose that. funding for Planned Parenthood, the organization that provides health-care services for poor women nationwide Well, even those four Latin American nations that forbid abortion under any circumstances all provide government-funded family-planning services, the United Nations reported. So do Iran, Bangladesh, North Korea and Timor-Leste, the Southeast Asian country that is the worlds most heavily Catholic state. In August, a federal appeals court ruled that Texas can end financing for Planned Parenthood clinics.

The states Republican-con-trolled legislature had passed a law last year forbidding state funding for any organization affiliated with abortion providers. All of this seems to be another big problem for Romney, who has been self-immolating over the last few weeks. A recent Gallup poll showed a continuing gender gap in President Obamas favor. Female voters preferred Obama by 8 percentage points, and the Democrats are seizing on that, running ads about the Republicans war on women. The truth is that if the Republicans got their way, many American women wanting or needing an abortion would certainly turn to gions more liberal abortion policies.

The state allows abortion in cases that are important to the womans physical or mental health. Last year, the United Nations published a study of abortion and related policies worldwide and found that the most restrictive laws are in Latin America. But in truth, the studys findings show that the United States would be home to the worlds most restrictive abortion policy if the Republican Party has its way. The partys platform calls for a constitutional amendment that would forbid abortion under all circumstances. The U.N.

study shows that only four of the worlds 230 states have similarly restrictive policies El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile and Dominican Republic. All of them are predominantly Roman Catholic. The Vatican firmly opposes contraception and abortion. About 95 percent of Dominicans are Catholic, for example, while fewer than one-quarter of Americans identify themselves as members of that faith. But the Republican position takes the prohibition even further.

Mitt Romney and many other Republicans are vowing to eliminate oiees.