New Haven Independent

Connecticut lost three of its best reporters in the last two weeks.

Greg Hladky, who reported from the state Capitol for over two decades for the New Haven Register, was summarily fired. Hurled out of his job.

Lynne Tuohy, one of the best reporters of the courts and courtrooms for the Hartford Courant, along with Mike Regan both got buyouts, although I suspect neither wanted one.

The Register and the Courant say they need to trim costs, forgetting the whole reason why we read their newspapers in the first place: the caliber of the people who write for them.

Hladky, Tuohy and Regan brought experience and professionalism to their respective papers. Shame on the bean counters. Shame on the people who let it happen.

OK, now on to the rest of the news. Just in case you missed it there is a presidential campaign going on. Thanks mostly to those campaigns and fueled by conservative talk radio it has had all the intellectual depth and clarity of the average election for senior class president. Maybe less.

Actually, I am not completely convinced that any of the three would win an election for senior class president based on what they or their surrogates have said this week:

1. Traipsing around the Mideast for unknown reasons, Senator John McCain confused Purim (a Jewish Holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian from Haman’s plot to annihilate them) with Halloween. The explanation of why he mixed the two up is even better. Senator Joe Lieberman (traveling with McCain for no apparent reason as well) said it was because he told John that in both holidays people wear costumes. Guess John missed that comparative religion class in college. And this is the man who would be president. Yikes.

2. Barack Obama said he didn’t know his Church’s priest was a bigot. I have no doubt that Obama isn’t, as his eloquent speech later in the week clearly indicated. Too bad. Should he become the nominee he will not be able to turn on any TV in any state in the nation without seeing his face and the face of Pastor Wright side-by-side. Think the “swift-boating” of John Kerry was bad? If Obama becomes the nominee this is just going to be ugly.

3. Bill Clinton did all but question the patriotism of Obama: “I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,” he told a group of veterans Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina.” And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.” Hillary, please: Tell the former president to just shut up.”You keep telling us if elected you will be the president. Then please do something presidential now. Tell Bill to go home and read a good book. And then another one. He’s killing you. He’s killing us.

But significantly lacking is any discussion about some of the real issues:

“A” is for “Abortion,” and there can be no more important topic to discuss. The United States is one Supreme Court appointee away from declaring women to be second -class citizens. Ignore all of the talk about “life begins at conception” and whatever else the right wing ultra conservative part of the Republican Party has to say about abortion. It comes down to one simple concept: People get to have control of their own bodies. The minute we take that away, the slippery slope becomes a ski-run.

Remember Terry Schiavo? Here is the textbook case of the conflict between an individual’s right to control his or her own body and government intervention. By all accounts she was dead, but led by a cadre of bible beating preachers and right wing conservative whack job mostly Republican congressmen, our government was going to keep her alive “by God,” regardless of her wishes. It was unimportant to these masterminds of the macabre that virtually every doctor who was more than a vet said she was brain dead. It took seven years and numerous judges before that poor woman was allowed to die with some dignity while the “truly religious” prayed for her recovery and salvation. Didn’t it occur to the truly religious that maybe God really wanted her dead and we were standing in the way of his or her will? Just a thought. Anyway, anyone who in any way advocates taking away the right of a woman or anyone else to chose what happens to his or her own body is off my list. Should be yours too.

“B” is for “Budget: Candidates always talk a good game. “No new taxes” they say. The reality check is we are wasting billions of dollars every year in duplicative programs or on “earmarks” that are in the budget only to help congressmen and senators win re-election. It will never stop, so how about a novel solution: balanced budgets.

The president should be required to submit and Congress should be required to pass a balanced budget. Not close Balanced. And there should be a penalty for stupidity. No, we are not going to defund Amtrak and heating subsidies for poor people. We’re just not going to let people freeze in their homes because they can’t afford home heating oil. And no, we’re not gong to eliminate education subsidies for the poor and decrease Medicare funding while we spend $11 billion to buy the president a fleet of new helicopters. This is America, not some third-rate banana republic. We should start acting like adults and not like children who want everything and want to pay for nothing.

Unbalanced budget? Both Congress and the White House must either raise taxes or cut spending to balance it. Make them stay in Washington working 12-hour days until they come up with a budget that is fair and balanced. No breaks for Washington’s Birthday, summer, election day, St. Swithen’s Day.. None. They’ll do a budget deal real fast when they have to work 60-hour work weeks. Worried about flexibility? Toss in a three-year circuit breaker to allow for recessions or other fiscal calamities.

Don’t like my solution? I know the devil is in the details, but I am sure if we lock some of the same people who came up with “sub prime” and “alt-a” mortgages into a room for a few days, we can come up with something simple and workable. Think of it as putting “creative” minds to a useful purpose.

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