Local Commentaries

Churches help people worship God, not institutions. States help people serve communities, not bureaucracies.

However, things can get messy. Take last month’s government announcement that contraceptives must be included in the basic health insurance by employers who happen to be churches. A reasonable compromise is likely, but the administration not relaxing that provision of the Affordable Care Act angered Catholic bishops. Condemnations of the rule have come from more than 150 bishops. However, those are men who’ve been unable to convince most Catholics of the validity of their teaching on birth control.

More than 100,000 people in all 50 states already have signed an online petition as part of a grassroots campaign on Change.org that demands Sallie Mae stop charging unemployed college graduates or other student borrowers a $50 fee for forbearance on their student loans.

Borrowers who can’t pay the extra $50 fee are put into default.

First, you may ask, what’s “forbearance”? Then, you may wonder, who’s Sallie Mae?

If people are in need - starving, say, or in a burning home - it’s crazy to check IDs of those trying to help. And if you want to assist the rescue, you aid the rescuers, whether they’re Klan members or Sierra Clubbers. If you want to hurt the rescuers, you attack them - especially in the pocketbook - and ignore the people who need help.

Until leaders at Susan G. Komen reversed course last Friday, they’d planned to ignore women benefiting from Planned Parenthood exams they help underwrite because they’d rather hurt Planned Parenthood.

Unexpected alliances are possible when people look beyond “bi-partisan” confines and seek common ground, and this winter, unlikely allies re-formed to help save the Internet.

Conservative and liberal interests unified against Congress’s bills to regulate the Internet, reminiscent of an effective trend that grew out of the same dispute a few years ago.

 A large and growing number of Americans are poor or at risk of becoming poor as a consequence of the Great Recession, and many will struggle during a recovery, according to a white paper released last week by the national broadcaster whose appearance last week at the 20th annual Martin Luther King luncheon in Peoria was cancelled after some people complained that he’d criticized President Obama.

Occupy Peoria protestors were starting to assemble on Main Street one Saturday in October, when I was reading a magazine, eating an omelet and drinking coffee at a nearby café. A dad at an adjacent table looked out the window at the dozens of demonstrators, turned to his daughter, and said, “What are they complaining about? Half of the country pays no taxes at all!”

Not wanting to ruin a Bradley University’s Parents Weekend visit, I said nothing, wolfed down the eggs, drained the coffee, and crossed the street to join the rally (noticing as I left that the student was rolling her eyes and shaking her head).

 The parent’s remark is an old story. And a false one.