MIDSTATE REVIEW & OPINION

Commentary on current events by local experts

• Keep
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a new Right to Know Law to make government more transparent by providing greater access to public records. While officials around Pennsylvania prepare for that landmark reform to go into effect in January, many of those same officials are closing the door on public access to government meetings.

• Big Three have missed the big picture
It has become conventional wisdom that the reeling U.S. auto industry desperately needs to innovate. The hard part for Detroit is working out how.

• Highway stimulus is right way to go
When the Works Progress Administration ended in 1943, it had employed more than 8.5 million people on 1.4 million individual projects. More than 650,000 miles of highways, roads and streets were built, and more than 124,000 bridges were constructed, repaired or improved.

• A TALL ORDER
Barack Obama is hardly the first president to take office at a time of national crisis. No one confronted a greater crisis than Abraham Lincoln, who watched the South secede in the four months between his election in 1860 and his inauguration on March 4, 1861.

• Higher education needs a lift
The U.S. used to be a world leader in educational attainment. No longer.

• Military deserves Obama's attention
One of President-elect Barack Obama's top priorities should be to set aside substantial funds to re-arm and re-equip the nation's military.

• We must keep eyes on free enterprise, individual liberty
Thank you for this splendid award named for one of my favorite Pennsylvanians. In the spirit of Ben Franklin, let me state in brief five basic principles which I believe should provide guidance to our nation and our commonwealth as we try to work our way through these perilous times.

• All eyes are on Obama
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called on President-elect Barack Obama to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process now, even before he officially takes office. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has already spoken to Obama about pulling American troops out of Iraq. And Iranian President Ahmadinejad has warned that the world expects Obama to break with the foreign policies of George W. Bush.

• Gay-rights loss in California stifles dream
Among the thousands of congratulations pouring in from around the world for President-elect Barack Obama, the media quickly focused on one that seemed to mirror Obama's own quiet but resolute "Yes we can" idealism.

• Porn goes too far in pervading kids' lives
A friend who knows I have written a book about porn recently told me a compelling story about his 11-year-old son's experience with Google, the most popular Internet search engine. My friend had been teaching the boy to use Google to find information about "pirates," "Battle of Gettysburg," and "Star Wars." Anything you want to know more about, he told his son, you just type into the search box.

• 'Performance royalty' threatens local radio
Good intentions and knee-jerk reactions often cause more problems than solutions. The Oct. 26 article by Tony Butala, "Copyright law silences rights of radio artists," carries buckets of water for the record labels, but misses the importance of radio's role to the local economy.

• Obama inherits a world of problems
To set things in the right direction and revive America's fortunes, the Obama administration must resist the temptation to simply look inward and address these economic difficulties at home, for two reasons. First, the world remains a dangerous place, and America's leadership is required as a stabilizing force. Second, perhaps more so than at any other time in our country's history, our security and economic prosperity at home is linked to the security and economic prosperity of the rest of the world.

• Book, monument reflect state's sacrifice in Vietnam
The Moving Wall, which is a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., came to Harrisburg recently. On the wall, which includes 32 sets of brothers, are also the names of 3,142 Pennsylvanians, including 54 men from Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia, which had the highest casualty rate of any high school in the nation.

• GOP lost sight of its principles
As I watched election returns Tuesday and it became evident that Barack Obama had been elected the 44th president of the United States, I wasn't surprised. For many Republicans, we could see it coming.

• To the
Regardless of what happens Tuesday -- whether Barack Obama wins handily or John McCain ekes out a victory -- Democrats are almost certain to increase their margins in the House and Senate.