LEHIGH VALLEY OPINION

Editorials, letters to the editor and columns from The Express-Times

Just before the observance of World AIDS Day this week, researchers announced the success of a saturation approach that could reverse the spread of HIV infection -- testing everyone annually and immediately treating HIV-positive people with drug therapies.

That's OK as a limited model, but to be effective, health funding must focus on all infectious diseases, not just HIV/AIDS.

Tough times have hit college endowments at the same time I need colleges to have as much money as possible. Just my luck.

With Kid No.3 ready to head off into the collegiate world, I haven't a clue how I'm going to afford it all. Realistically, it shouldn't be a problem. Billions upon billions of dollars have been given to colleges in recent years and finally, within the last year or two, some colleges have begun to give back.

But it's not enough colleges and not enough money.

Continue reading "Private college costs are way out of line with reality, and in tough times, they should be cut" »

Last week's attacks in Mumbai, India, are a wake-up call for Pakistan to take steps against terror groups within its borders. That should be the message from the Bush administration, along with a call for restraint between nuclear-armed neighbors.

The pragmatic Barack Obama.

And his liberal fans still love him.

Amazing.

In the end he is what his resume says he is -- a Harvard lawyer who put in enough years working in the community to kick start a political career. This guy is not the flaming liberal he was painted to be. First-generation Americans tend to be more conservative at heart.

He sees his role as CEO -- the guiding light in a centrist administration. All the plums went to solid leaders who may lean a bit left as a group, but stray right on many issues, such as national and economic security. Obama will provide the direction, they will create the success.

Continue reading "The Obama who brings us success may sooner than later sound nothing like the candidate liberals so loved" »

In the Easton Area School District, a new PTA program is reversing a trend by encouraging dads -- along with moms -- to be more engaged in their children's education.

Now that my Turkey coma has officially worn off I am taking the opportunity to blabber about my long Thanksgiving weekend in the Valley.

College kids from all over the country come home the weekend before Thanksgiving and reunite with classmates and do typical Valley things that you don't get to do once you leave the area. A lot of these same people will be screaming and yelling in the Lafayette parking lot at about 10am on Thanksgiving day year after year. Personally, I will never be one, but then again I never was one. Being I don't live in New Jersey (thank God) and live west of Route 33 I have never been at the "Phillisburg" v. Easton football game. Some of my best friends (who also didn't attend either school) go every year and I personally don't get it. On a holiday where a Turkey is involved (and maybe creamed onions) I will not be at a high school extra curricular activity, of my own alma mater or otherwise. (If my alma mater decides to start a tradition of a basketball game on Christmas morning with its archrival... I'll be elsewhere.)

Continue reading "Thanksgiving in the Valley" »

President Bush is feeling pressure to issue 11th-hour pardons and commutations to convicted criminals, from Scooter Libby to Marion Jones.

He also might be considering pardons for people who haven't been charged with anything, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and retired pitcher Roger Clemens, to shield them from future prosecution. Bush should stick to his conservative approach on granting pardons.

It's Saturday -- time for a look back at the best and worst newsmakers of the week. Check out the latest edition of Turkeys and Trophies.

Yes, it was Thursday, not Saturday, and it was Thanksgiving. It should not be difficult to find reasons to give thanks.

And while a typical "Genevieve" entry would involve dialogue between me and my 86-year-old mother, this one does not. This entry comes from a very gifted writer in the family, sister Judy, the middle child and world's best pal to Gen.

The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper asked readers to submit essays on why they are thankful this Thanksgiving. Fortunately, my sister is among the breed of people who reads a daily newspaper stem-to-stern every day.

It's not dififfcult to see (below) why the editors there included Judy's note in their Thanksgiving Day edition.

Continue reading "Saturdays with Genevieve: In Thanksgiving, what makes you most grateful?" »

The Lehigh Valley should appreciate Al Boscov. Call the 79-year-old retired businessman the Comeback Kid for rolling up his sleeves to purchase his family's struggling department store.

A $35 million state-backed federal loan -- available if the company emerges from bankruptcy -- is assisting the $300 million deal. The Boscov family is kicking in $50 million.

That's good news for this region, where Boscov's operates in Palmer and Whitehall townships.

Thursday will be my last Easton-P'burg game, I'm told by a colleague.

Because, after 15 years of having children in Easton schools, the last one graduates come spring. And my peripheral ownership of the game will be gone.

Continue reading "Easton-P'burg: A tradition worth the experience. In one of my final wishes as an EASD parent: Go Red Rovers" »

Every year we hear about some turkey or another being spared by some big shot somewhere. (This Sarah Palin video is beyond belief).

I guess the biggest deal is when the POTUS grants a reprieve to some gobbler, who presumably goes on to live a happy life (Does anyone really keep track of this; these birds don't become inadvertent dinner at some point?).

But I never hear of a tree pardon.

Continue reading "Turkey pardons are a dime a dozen, but Christmas trees bite the dust all the time" »

The November edition of "Voice of the People" with host John Richetta, Express-Times Editor Joseph P. Owens and Managing Editor Jim Deegan was recorded at noon Tuesday at the Palmer Park Mall in Palmer Township.

During the hour-long show, the trio polled mall patrons about who will win the Easton-Phillipsburg football game on Thanksgiving Day, took some heat from an Easton woman who misses the TV guide no longer published in the newspaper and talked about other topics in the news during the past month.

Click play below to listen to the hour-long show, or download it here. Post a comment with your reaction.

Continue reading "'Voice of the People' hosts interact with Palmer Park Mall patrons" »

The economy is a mess. American troops continue to be in harm's way. Too many children are hungry or homeless. Too many senior citizens are lonely or can't afford to buy groceries or prescription medications. The weather is gloomy. And the roads are congested.

But if we take the time, we all can find at least one thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

For some, it's easier than others, including the Grassi family. Luke Grassi, a former standout wrestler at Phillipsburg High School, underwent a successful liver transplant earlier this year.

"This year Thanksgiving is especially meaningful to us. We have been blessed with gifts beyond all gifts," Brenda and Luke Grassi write in a letter to The Express-Times. "There just doesn't seem to be the right group of words that can express how we feel. Luke continues to feel better each day. The doctors say he should be back to school in January. Part of his speedy recovery is attributed to our community, and how so many have touched his life.".

Read the Grassi family's full letter and post a comment below sharing what you're thankful for this year.

Check out other letters to the editor.

I was watching Henry Paulson on the TV this morning; I tuned in toward the end of his news conference. His tie askew, eyes wild and overall appearance slightly disheveled and on edge, the treasury secretary looked like he'd pulled an all-nighter and needed a nap. Or at least to cut back on the caffeine. That this guy is trying to gin up confidence in his economic shell game is quite scary. He looks like he could use a blast of Thorazine.

Today's news was that the government is going to buy up those toxic mortgage assets that last week Paulson said were too difficult to buy up. So, instead, hundreds of billions of dollars were spent investing in banks. But the banks wouldn't lend. So, now, after wasting all that money, the government will use hundreds of billions more -- this time the Fed's cash -- to do what it was supposed to do in the first place.

Continue reading "The treasury secretary is wearing no clothes. And he has a scary look in his eyes." »

One reader is upset because a New Jersey man was placed on 10 years of probation after sexually assaulting a Hellertown teenager.

"A serious injustice has occurred in Northampton County," Debby Uhler writes.

She doesn't understand why Judge Anthony Beltrami placed Repheal Swan on probation for sexually assaulting a girl when she was 13 and 14 years old even though the minimum recommended sentence was six months in jail.

Continue reading "OPINION: Miscarriage of justice?" »

I've been wondering for a while what it was like to be living in November 1929. Were the folks stunned but hopeful, looking for the turnaround just around the next corner? Were they cautiously optimistic that the turn-down would turn up by the spring? Did they trust their leaders and trust in their own abilities to adapt and come back? Did they know that the Hoover presidency was doomed before it was half over?

Did they realize once they got Franklin Roosevelt that it would still be 10 more years before happy days -- well, really, not so happy days because we were fighting a war -- would return to the economy? That the stock market wouldn't be fully back until the mid-1950s?

Continue reading "Our future is not paved with the pieces of our depressing past. It's ours to decide, if we're willing to work hard and be honest." »

The Easton Area School District's new five-year expansion plan must be based on what taxpayers can afford in troubled times -- not on discounts that contractors might offer in a tough economy.

Until the Big Three automakers come up with a business plan and show how they'll streamline their industry with $25 billion in federal aid, Congress must say "no" to a bailout.