The Periscope Post

Christian Science Monitor France and its deportation of Roma

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to deport about 700 Roma from France has received both criticism and praise from various corners of the globe. But the Christian Science Monitor saw a similarity between the immigration situation in France and that in America. “The French government says it’s cracking down on crimes committed by Roma and breaking up their illegal camps,” said the Monitor, “The Obama administration, too, is making crime a priority in deportations of illegal aliens.” The Monitor supported deportation if the illegal immigrant commits a crime, but it guessed that it would not be easy for France for to “distinguish between criminals and noncriminals, between wayward individuals and communities that are simply different. Quite challenging will be finding a way to alleviate poverty among a group that treasures its apartness from society and its institutions.” The Monitor consoled that “as in America, when these kinds of challenges loom, political hyperbole only makes them more difficult to solve.”

Washington Post Something for everyone

Barack Obama is not the only US President to have said, many times, that the US cannot lead overseas if it is not strong at home. Following his second Oval Office Speech, however, the Wasington Post opined: “A president leading a nation at war doesn’t have the luxury of deciding that the domestic piece of that equation is now his ‘most urgent task.’ Mr. Obama might wish that he could pour all of his energies into invigorating manufacturing, reducing dependence on foreign oil, nurturing entrepreneurship and improving education … But, as he has said, al-Qaeda has not given him, or the country, that choice.” The paper therefore found Obama’s insistence on deadlines “discordant”. “If the United States is under attack,” the paper said, “it must fight until the danger has eased, not until it decides that fighting has become too costly.”

The New York Times The real say on pay

A provision in the new financial reform law requires companies to disclose the ratio of difference between a chief executive’s pay package and that of a typical employee. Corporate lawyers have stepped forward to say that this will prove a “logistical nightmare” to calculate because “the ratio would be unfairly complex to calculate and could encourage false comparisons.” The New York Times suggested that the problem lies not with logistics: “[T]he real problem is that C.E.O.’s and corporate boards would have to justify — to shareholders, employees and the public — what are sure to be some very large gaps between pay at the top and pay for everyone else.” The paper pointed out that C.E.O. pay has “skyrocketed” while workers’ pay has “stagnated”. “It is also clear,” they said, “that skewed pay and rising income inequality correlate to bubbles and crashes.” The Times suggested that the best approach would be to compare the pay gap against the global as well as the American workforce. But the paper was adamant that such a comparison should be made.

The Boston Globe Supreme Court, Congress need new rules for GPS searches

The fourth Amendment of the US Constitution protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” but only where there is “a legitimate expectation of privacy.’’ The Boston Globe noted that the test for “legitimate expectation” is “fast becoming outmoded in an age when advancing technology makes possible a degree of relentless 24/7 surveillance that would have been the stuff of science fiction four decades ago.” Looking at the example of a suspect whose car was tagged by the authorities with a GPS device, the Globe appealed for a rethink. “The Supreme Court should take the first opportunity to reassess its test in light of improved electronic surveillance devices, and Congress should step in to provide guidelines of its own.” The Globe quoted Chief Judge Alex Kozinski as saying: “There is something creepy and un-American about such clandestine and underhanded behavior. To those of us who have lived under a totalitarian regime, there is an eerie feeling of déjà vu.’’