Louisiana editorial roundup

Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:

Aug. 12

The Daily Star, Hammond, La., on the higher education commissioner's salary:

Governmental employees in top administrative positions are forcing financial hardships on their underlings and other members of the public without sharing commensurately in the pain and sacrifice.

The still-intact salaries of top job holders are nauseating to Louisiana's dwindling middle class and the growing numbers of the working poor. Lawmakers are right to raise questions.

The higher education commissioner's salary is an example. ...

His $25,000 monthly base pay is more than many Louisiana residents make in a year.

The Board of Regents points out that health and retirement benefits are not part of the plan.

According to the Census Bureau, one in five of us doesn't have health and retirement benefits either. But neither do we get the $1,500 monthly provision for housing and the $600 monthly for a car that's included in the interim commissioner's pay package.

The Board of Regents also points out that the interim commissioner's $162,600 six-month pay package is less than former Commissioner Sally Clausen's $425,000 yearly pay package. So how much they will want us taxpayers to pay the commissioner after the interim?

Leaders lose the public's respect when they do not take on a fair share of the suffering.

Online:

http://www.hammondstar.com

___

Aug. 14

The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., on religious freedom:

"The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."

That is not, except indirectly, a commentary on the overheated rhetoric directed against a mosque to be built near the World Trade Center site.

Those are, rather, the words of the president of the United States, delivered six days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

President George W. Bush met with leaders of the Islamic Center in the nation's capital.

He spoke directly to reports that American women were reluctant to wear their headscarves outside of the house, for fear of criticism or worse.

Bush's remarks should be remembered every time some self-promoting politician or public figure criticizes the rights of Americans to worship as they choose, and build houses of faith where they have a right to. ...

That is one of Bush's legacies, that after an attack by Islamic extremists, he spoke firmly and often of the importance of recognizing the vital distinction between terrorism and Islam.

May his words be remembered today.

Online:

http://www.2theadvocate.com

___

Aug. 16

The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, on the anticompetitive state funeral industry:

St. Joseph Abbey near Covington wants to sell handcrafted cypress coffins to earn money to meet the educational and medical needs of its 36 Benedictine monks.

But where the monks saw economic opportunity, the Louisiana Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors saw something else: the threat of competition. All but one of the board's members are licensed embalmers and funeral directors. It sent the abbey a cease-and-desist order, followed by a formal complaint that the abbey's "illegal third party casket sales place funeral homes in an unfavorable position with families."

Michael Rasch, the board's attorney, said that the board doesn't create the law but that each member swears to enforce it. "That's what they are doing," he said.

But the law in question clearly exists to protect the financial interests of funeral directors.

There have been two attempts to amend it in the state Legislature. The first, in 2008, would have allowed non-licensed funeral directors to sell caskets. This spring, a state senator attempted to exempt the monks from the licensing requirement. In both cases, the measures were defeated after funeral directors and industry lobbyists opposed them.

With no legislative relief in sight, the abbey is turning to the courts. It has filed suit asking a federal judge to strike down the law on the grounds that it violates the 14th Amendment clause of due process, privileges or immunities and equal protection. The suit calls the situation "anticompetitive" and points out that a casket isn't required for burial in any state of the country.

There's no logical reason to require monks to get a funeral director's license - something that requires classes and an apprenticeship - in order to make and sell coffins. They're also required to set up a traditional funeral parlor complete with embalming equipment, even though they're only working on wood.

This isn't the only example of a law that seems designed to fend off economic competition. Until July, anyone aspiring to be a retail florist in Louisiana had to pass a floral arranging test judged by a licensed florist. The state Legislature finally amended that law.

That's what needs to happen here.

Online:

http://www.nola.com