Health care reform must be done properly

President Barack Obama is correct to push for health care reform, but it must be done the right way or this generational chance to fix our badly flawed system will be lost. The president's allies in Congress must realize that the current bills need to be amended and debated.

If a terrible reform package is passed by Congress, we will only be exchanging a bad system for another bad system that will cost the federal treasury even more than it does now. The goal must be to cover everyone and control the skyrocketing costs of health care. The current bills don't do that, according to most reviews.

This is what the director of the Congressional Budget Office said about the bills in Congress: They don't “reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.”

Walter Cronkite: "And that's the way it was"

Journalism legend Walter Cronkite died today at age 92 and there won't be another like him. Cronkite was so good at his job as the CBS news anchor that he was called "the most trusted man in America."

Cronkite was America's news anchor at "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981. I remember him telling the nation in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas. I was 14 and Cronkite made an indelible impression on me.

As I reviewed the news coverage of Cronkite's death, I came across this fact that so so much about his impact on television news: "He was the broadcaster to whom the title "anchorman" was first applied, and he came so identified in that role that eventually his own name became the term for the job in other languages. (Swedish anchors are known as Kronkiters; In Holland, they are Cronkiters.)"

The tributes are pouring in, and CBS is preparing a special called "That's the Way it Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite." It will air at 7 p.m. Sunday. This will have a lot of special footage of Cronkite covering the defining news stories of his generation.

Future of Yosemite National Park being debated

A federal judge in California has ordered the National Park Service to come up with a new plan to limit the crowds in the most sensitive area of Yosemite National Park, and the Park Service is looking for public comments on the direction this crown jewel of our park system should take.

Beginning Monday in Fresno, the public will have nine opportunities to weigh in on Yosemite. The Fresno Bee sizes up the complex Yosemite questions in this editorial published on Sunday.

There also will be hearings in Oakhurst, Mariposa, Lee Vining, Yosemite National Park, Groveland, Pasadena, Foster City and Sacramento.

"The key to the plan is establishing how many people can visit the Merced River without trampling vegetation, eroding the banks and harming creatures in the area," according to The Fresno Bee. "The Park Service's previous plan did not have a firm limit, and proposed a monitoring program so limits could be adjusted depending on the river's condition and the number of visitors. That idea was overturned by the court. Now a new plan is being drafted."

Michael Jackson is a ratings machine

There are many who say they've heard too much of Michael Jackson, and wish the media would just let it go. That's missing what drives media coverage -- the audience. If people wanted the coverage to stop, it would. The media are driven by ratings, and the Michael Jackson death and its many details has a huge audience in this country and abroad.

You may not be watching, but your family members and neighbors are, even if they are telling you how excessive the coverage has been. The dirty little secret is they can't get enough of Michael Jackson.

Quite simply, Jackson's death has made a lot of people money, including the tabloid newspapers and the cable television shows that even have commentattors saying how terrible this obsession with Jackson is. And it's the public who is providing this monumental audience.

Here's one example of the Jackson phenomenon: Three of the Top 10 selling albums on the iTunes Music Store this week are Jackson albums. No. 1 is 'The Essential Michael Jackson," No. 4 is his "Numbers Ones," and No. 6 is "Thriller."

Tuesday's memorial service was so popular among computers users, the streaming video slowed down the entire Internet.

But if you think the memorial service was the final act for the King of Pop, it wasn't. There will be all sorts of sordid details coming out, and we'll be examining other parts of his life in detail. We'll want to know what will happen with his kids, and what really killed him. We'll want to know about his plastic surgeries and the child molestation charges. And where will he be buried, and can we visit the grave.

So no one wants to hear anymore about Michael Jackson -- except everyone you know.

How to pay for health care reform

The biggest obstacle in the way of health care reform is the method of paying for it. Tax increases don't seem to have support in Congress, although there could be some targeted increases on wealthier Americans. But it appears that reform would have to be paid for through savings in other areas and federal subsidies. It could cost as much as $1 trillion to reform health care over the next 10 years.

That seems like a much better investment than the $1 trillion the feds gave banks, which then continued to refuse to lend to consumers and used part of it for bonuses for their executives.

But this nation needs health care reform and President Barack Obama is right to push for it immediately. Congress, beholden to the insurance industry, will find many excuses for not acting on this needed reform. But Americans deserve a fair system that covers everyone, no matter their pre-existing conditions.

Tell Congress to fix this badly brokern system now.

Palin is resigning before Mark Sanford?

If there's a Republican governor who should resign, it's South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. But the news came Friday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would resign at the end of the month.

That means Palin can now concentrate on running for president in 2012 without that messy business of having to stay in Alaska and look after the state. This way it's easier to raise money and make political conenctions in the crucial Midwest, South and Northeast.

The Associated Press says Palin will leave office on July 26 -- which means she won't finish her first term as governor of Alaska.

Here's a quote the AP is reporting from Palin:

“I know when it’s time to pass the ball,” said Palin, almost tearfully announcing that she would hand the office over to the lieutenant governor. “All I ask is that you trust me with this decision...”

"Some are going to question the timing of this,” she said in an impromptu news conference at her home. “This decision has been in the works for a while.”

It's time for Mark Sanford to resign

South Carolina residents have been stunned to find out what a flake their governor really is. The one-time conservative hero needs to resign as governor of South Carolina immediately. No state business will get done while this saga plays out.

It's one thing to get a little gossip on a philandering politician, but we've been getting too much information about Sanford's lover in Argentina, and other sordid details of his private life. He needs to shut up, resign and get his life back together.

Sanford only has 18 months left in her term, but he needs to go now.

Six of his state's major newspapers have called for his resignation, as well as more than half of the Republican caucus in his state legislature. There's no doubt he'll resign. The only question is when.