Published: March 30, 2008 04:16 pm            

Weekly wrap - Monday, March 31, 2008

On gas prices:

Indiana 9th District Rep. Baron Hill recently sent a letter to President Bush requesting that he suspend purchases of fuel oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and let it flow into the open marketplace, increasing the supply of fuel to consumers with the idea of driving down the prices we all pay at the gasoline pump.

The letter, also signed by Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, asks the president to direct the Department of Energy to temporarily stop buying oil for the reserve program and contends that doing so “would allow more oil to remain on the market, and thus drive down gas prices for consumers” by as much as a quarter a gallon of gasoline.

The letter states that the strategic reserve is 95 percent full — about the same level it was when President Bush approved a temporary suspension to relieve supply and price crunches after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in summer 2005.

A better long-term reaction would be for Congress to lift restrictions on drilling for oil and allow market forces to better respond through development of alternative energy sources and more freely allow the construction of nuclear power plants. But for now, a temporary suspension of the reserve program could make sense.

– The Tribune, Seymour

On Indiana basketball coach search:

Now that this Indiana University men’s basketball season has finished disintegrating, observers will turn their attention to the search for a new coach.

IU President Michael McRobbie put in place a 10-person search committee, headed by former IU athlete and trustee Harry Gonso. The message: McRobbie doesn’t want athletic director Rick Greenspan alone recommending the next coach.

No one has spoken about who Greenspan heard from and listened to before hiring Kelvin Sampson two years ago. That hire turned out to be a disaster, and Greenspan is the person in position to take responsibility. McRobbie had to pursue a different strategy this time.

The next coach must look at the Indiana job as the opportunity of a lifetime, a position from which he can build a team that is one of the best 25 in the country year after year.

Hoosier fans expect no less.

– The Herald-Times, Bloomington

On Iraq war:

In March 2003, America embarked on a war in Iraq intended to stabilize the region, remove a tyrant from power, reduce the possibility of terrorist attacks on America and her interests, and diminish the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

Five years later, Saddam Hussein is dead. The three other objectives have been met completely, partially or not at all, depending on your perspective and political viewpoint.

The cost to the United States has been massive.

• The death count of American military personnel reached 4,000 when four U.S. soldiers were killed in a bomb attack last Sunday in Baghdad. More than 20,000 have been injured, many permanently. And untold thousands more suffer from psychological and emotional disorders related to combat.

• Two Nobel-prize winning economists are predicting that

the cost to America’s treasury for the war will be more than

$3 trillion.

President Bush defended the war by saying “this is a fight America can and must win.” But how is victory defined? And what costs are we willing to pay?

America needs to begin developing a concrete plan to end this Iraq occupation and start the healing process for both countries.

– The Herald Bulletin, Anderson

        

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