The Periscope Post

The Los Angeles Times “Let religious freedom ring”

“Is constructing an Islamic community center two blocks from ground zero an insult to the victims of 9/11and their families?” wondered The Los Angeles Times. For Sarah Palin it is. So too for Newt Gingrich. But they are “wrong”. The notion that the 9/11 terrorists are “representative of their religion” is both “unfair and un-American,” said the paper. As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently affirmed: “Everything the United States stands for, New York stands for, is tolerance and openness.” The Los Angeles Times heartily agreed.

The Washington Post “Terrorists on video”

Colombia’s outgoing President, Álvaro Uribe, has presented evidence of Venezuela’s continuing support for FARC. Good for him, said The Washington Post. Uribe is “deeply frustrated by the failure of the international community to hold Mr. Chávez accountable” and had this been happening in the Middle East it would “surely be before the U.N. Security Council”. Now it is hoped that other democracies will support Colombia. “The Obama administration is characteristically lukewarm”; but thankfully one of the leading candidates in Brazil’s presidential election campaign, José Serra, said “it is undeniable that Chávez is sheltering these FARC” militants”. Were Brazilian support to be withdrawn, “Mr. Chávez might have to rethink his terrorist alliance,” said the paper.

The New York Times “Breaking a promise on surveillance”

The Obama administration has called for the right to see citizens’ email correspondents and browsing history without legal permission. That smacks of surveillance, said a disappointed New York Times. “There is no reason we cannot fight terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties,” Barack Obama once said. But that was during the election. “Democrats in Congress can remind Mr. Obama of his campaign promises by refusing this request,” advised the paper.

USA Today “Myths mar effort to solve nation’s immigrant woes”

Two myths persist in the wake of Susan Bolton’s ruling to block Arizona’s new immigration law, said USA Today. One is that violence along the border is “spiraling out of control”. The other is that illegal immigration is “surging to record numbers”. Neither is true. Border crime rates are at worst flat and Mexican immigration has declined hugely in the past decade. The number of illegals crossing the border is also down. Of course, illegal immigration remains a “big problem”. But the paper hoped for a “cool-headed, balanced solution” to it, including “credible border and workplace enforcement”. For now, “overheated political rhetoric and fear rooted in fiction just prolong the unhappy status quo.”