Big Five: A Passenger Bill of Rights?

A roundup of opinions in today's Los Angles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today:

Airline Regulation: After JetBlue left thousands of its passengers stranded in airports last week, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) and Representative Mike Thompson (D-Ca.) proposed a "Passenger Bill of Rights" to regulate airlines' behavior. The LAT slams the proposed legislation, arguing that JetBlue and other carriers will correct their mistakes without government regulation ... the WaPo supports a federal Passenger Bill of Rights, as long as it sets "minimal standards of decency" without "saddling the very competitive and not-very-profitable airline industry with potentially crippling penalties" ... USA Today doesn't mention the bill, but commends JetBlue for handling the crisis well and proposing its own Customer Bill of Rights to help improve airline passengers' flying experiences.

Supreme Court Sides with Philip Morris: The NYT argues that the Supreme Court's decision yesterday to overturn an $80 million settlement against Philip Morris proves that the Court is more "concerned about -- and more willing to protect -- the powerful than the powerless"... the WSJ supports the Court's decision, but argues that it didn't provide enough guidance to lower courts on how to rule in punitive-damage cases.

Today's Editorials:

LAT ... argues that since a federal appeals court has now upheld a ban on habeas corpus for Guantanamo Bay detainees, the new Democratic-controlled Congress should overturn the ban that the former Republican-controlled Congress put in place.

NYT ... calls Condoleezza Rice's attempt to revive Palestinian-Israeli peace talks a "charade," and notes that the secretary of state "clearly arrived with no new ideas -- and no idea of how to wheedle or pressure either side into making any of the compromises needed to stimulate the dangerously moribund peace effort" ... calls on President Bush to create a task force charged with planning an update to the country's aging road, water and energy infrastructures ... defends the Newbery Medal-winning childrens' book "The Higher Power of Lucky" that has come under attack by some librarians because it includes the word "scrotum."

WaPo ... accuses the Bush administration and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf of standing idly by as al-Qaeda sets up and runs training camps in Pakistan, and suggests that inaction could lead to another September 11 ... criticizes the Army for allowing conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the treatment facility for many veterans, to deteriorate.

WSJ ... argues that the Democratic Congress is paying back Big Labor for helping them win last November by passing laws granting collective bargaining rights to the Transportation Safety Administration's airport screeners ... argues that when considering the merger of Sirius and XM satellite radio companies, the Federal Communications Commission shouldn't make the same mistakes it made earlier when blocking two satellite television providers from joining forces.

USA Today ... provides a litany of complaints on how the Iraq war is being carried out: without support from U.S. allies; without proper body armor for our troops; and without adequate health care for veterans when they return to the United States.

Today's Columns:

LAT: Max Boot draws comparisons between Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Iraq today, and argues that lessons from the Balkans should compel us to send more, not fewer, troops to Iraq ... Joseph Loconte explains how William Wilberforce mixed politics and religion in his fight against slavery in Britain, and urges modern skeptics of religion to learn from his example.

Plus ... Mike Downey on why Chicago should host the Oscars ... Erin Aubry Kaplan on race and nationalism in Cuba.

NYT: Geoffrey Stone urges Congress to pass a journalist-source privilege law granting journalists the right to confidentiality like psychiatrists and lawyers ... Peter Funt notes that by calling herself just "Hillary" on most of her campaign literature, Hillary Clinton is the first major single-name candidate since 1952, when Ike campaigned for the presidency.

Plus ... Gerald Posner on how new footage of John F. Kennedy's last moments in Dallas support the single-bullet theory of his assassination ... Maureen Dowd on Hollywood and Barack Obama.

WaPo: Ruth Marcus pulls out her notes from a 2005 interview with Mitt Romney (you can read or listen to the interview yourself) and skewers his wishy-washy answer on abortion: "Listening to Romney that day was like watching a chameleon in the fleeting moment that its color changes to suit its environment" ... Raja Kamal and Tom Palmer highlight the case of Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, a 22-year-old Egyptian who has been imprisoned for criticizing religious extremism on a blog, and argue that blogging "should not be a crime" ... David Ignatius, writing from Qatar, says that Middle Eastern anti-Americanism isn't as bad as you think it is, it's worse: The Middle East is "giving up on us," he writes, "on our ability to make good decisions, to solve problems, to play the role of honest broker."

Plus ... Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley on why he opposes the death penalty ... Robert Samuelson on what we don't know about the global economy.

WSJ: Michael Rubin and Danielle Pletka argue that dialogue will not derail Iran from its nuclear ambitions: "Now is not the time to talk," they write. "If Washington and Europe truly believe in the primacy of multilateralism and diplomacy, now is the time to ratchet up the [economic and political] pressure."

Plus ... Paul Ingrassia on DaimlerChrysler's looming divorce ... Paul Vigna on why the Internet will trump entertainment studios.

USA Today: Bruce Kluger describes an experience he had during Jim Crow America and explains how racism has changed over the past 45 years.

By Rob Anderson |  February 21, 2007; 6:33 AM ET
Previous: Cross Country: More on 2008 | Next: Cross Country: Obama's "Blackness," Romney's Haircut