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Tony Auth archives | tauth@phillynews.com

Health care losing to politics: Inquirer Editorial: Gov. Christie seems more concerned with currying favor among GOP conservatives.
Barking up wrong tree on ‘fracking’ for gas: After being upbraided by Pennsylvania’s top environmental official because their governor has put the brakes on natural-gas drilling in the region, Delaware residents can say with uncharacteristic pride that their state has gone to the dogs. All it took was a few ill-chosen words from Michael Krancer, Gov. Corbett’s secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, who griped in early May about the First State’s well-founded reluctance to lift the moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River watershed, which is home to 15 million people.
The president tests a stalwart: There are a few things my mother loves unshakably: Jesus, her family, and President Obama — perhaps not in that order. Growing up black in the segregated South left her not bitter, but motivated to ensure her family would have a better life. Obama’s election — and reelection — are part of her dream. But the president’s declaration of support for same-sex marriage pitted her difficulty with homosexuality against her unwavering support for “her man,” Obama. After my daughter was done cheering the president’s announcement, she said, “Uh-oh! What will grandmother say?”
Letters to the Editor: Casey should back marriage equality President Obama and Vice President Biden deserve every accolade for their timely and courageous endorsement of marriage equality (“Once a hot-button item, now a matter of course,” Sunday). Our country’s top leaders have come to the same conclusion that a majority of Americans had already come to: fairness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families is a core American value. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), with his long history of support for other LGBT issues, has not yet taken a stance in favor of marriage equality, and he needs to.
An immigration crackdown killed — by conservatives: Last November, Republicans finally took control of the Mississippi House of Representatives, the final victory of the party’s long Southern strategy. Not since Reconstruction had the GOP controlled every facet of political life in the state. It wasn’t just any Republicans, either. Former Gov. Haley Barbour is considered a moderate now. Gov. Phil Bryant is a creature of the tea party. Though this is not a border state, every aspect of political life was aligned to follow in the footsteps of Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia with sweeping laws against illegal immigration.
Medicare cheaters are soaking the taxpayers: Last year, the federal budget took a hit of $60 billion due to Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse, according to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. This month, federal officials charged more than 100 health-care providers with Medicare fraud as a result of unrelated scams in seven major cities. Federal raids uncovered $452 million worth of false Medicare claims for care that was never provided, making it the biggest single Medicare bust in history. A federal program called Senior Medicare Patrol is using senior-citizen volunteers to educate other seniors about Medicare fraud, including how to detect it and avoid becoming a target. Its mission is to encourage seniors to protect important personal information, look for fraudulent activity, and report wrongdoing. In Pennsylvania, the patrol is administered by the Philadelphia-based Center for Advocacy of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly.
Plan for schools can be improved: Inquirer editorial: There are enough questions about a radical plan to restructure the Philadelphia School District to make everyone involved apprehensive.
For city schools, a century of struggle: Speaking of the Philadelphia School District recently, Mayor Nutter said, “If we don’t take significant action now, the system will collapse.” That “significant action” could include widespread school closings, many more charter schools, and increased local control of the remaining district schools. If this is a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures, we should at least get some perspective on where we’ve been — and how we got here — before we plow ahead.
Giving banks a ride risks being stung: That JPMorgan Chase could lose $2 billion in risky trades involving bonds, with the nation still recovering from a recession caused by big banks, might remind newspaper readers of the parable about the frog and the scorpion. That’s the one where a fearful frog agrees to give a beguiling scorpion a ride across a river on his back, only to be stung halfway across. “Why?” the frog asks, noting that they both will now drown.
Obama ’84: Echoes of Orwell: The calendar says 2012. The propaganda screams Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Obama brain trust in Chicago recently rolled out its new campaign slogan: “Forward.” If the president’s most extreme detractors had wanted to give him a rallying cry more freighted with leftist baggage, they could not have done better.
Lessons from a child’s death: The tragic death of 6-year-old Khalil Wimes can inform efforts to improve Philadelphia’s child-welfare system. The case showed that judges end up making life-and-death decisions about child placement without sufficient information; that parents with long histories with the city’s Department of Human Services can regain custody of children as easily as one-time offenders; and, most obviously, that neighbors and others who should serve as the first line of protection often fail to report suspected abuse. In Khalil’s case, there were four critical junctures where the outcome might have been changed.
Letters to the Editor: A hate crime, not a prank I don’t have any regrets about recruiting a bunch of my privileged, prep-school pals for “pranks” and “high jinks” that included singling out a less popular, defenseless younger student, pinning him down, and cutting off his longish, dyed-blond hair because I didn’t like how he “looked” and I suspected he may have been gay (“Romney apologizes for school ‘pranks,’” Friday). Know why? Because I never would have thought to do that to another human being.
More people can see what he saw: Inquirer Editorial: Albert Barnes wanted his collection to be shared with the general public.
New Barnes museum can’t replicate an idea: By Nicholas M. Tinari Jr.