Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal Asia has published an editorial arguing that the process for “electing” Hong Kong’s next chief executive reflects the erosion of the “one country, two systems” principle that was supposed to allow Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and ultimately full democracy.

A new survey of 1,000 registered voters has found that 60 percent of respondents say state employees should contribute more to their pension fund, and 60 percent also say they are against raising taxes to pay for state budget shortfalls. The poll was conducted by veteran Democratic pollster Douglas Schoen on behalf of the Manhattan Institute. Schoen writes more about his poll's findings in the Wall Street Journal:

Today is Equal Pay Day, which supposedly "symbolizes how far into 2011 women must work to earn what men earned in 2010." But in today's Wall Street Journal, Carrie Lukas explains the disparity between average wages for men and women in economic terms:

The Wall Street Journal reports that online music provider Pandora has been subpoenaed in a grand jury investigation of information sharing linked to its smartphone application.

Yuval Levin raises an essential point:

A few months ago the Wall Street Journal ran a splendid essay by Allen Barra that could only be described as therapeutic. Entitled “What ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Isn’t,” it was a calm, clear-headed, even humorous, evisceration of a novel that seems to be universally admired, required reading in every classroom--and a sickening repository of every enlightened cliché about American life, with particular emphasis on the segregated South.

Tomorrow's Wall Street Journal features an op-ed by Dan Senor, "An Open Letter on the Ground Zero Mosque: The location undermines the goal of interfaith understanding."

Travel writing can be tough, despite what you might think. You're jotting down notes about the beautiful sunset, rather than just watching it. Coming up with the right words is a constant struggle. And still I wonder with great envy how Toni Bentley, a ballerina and author, landed the plum assignment of reviewing the Royal Mansour hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, for the Wall Street Journal, which, according to her description, sounds like the most opulent and extravagant hotel in the world.

As the Legal Times's Tony Mauro reports today, both the Wall Street Journal editorial board and the Judicial Crisis Network are asking whether Elena Kagan would, if appointed the Supreme Court, be required to recuse herself from cases involving the Obamacare litigation.

My eyebrow rose last week when I read that GM CEO Ed Whitacre's Wall Street Journal op-ed was titled "The GM Bailout: Paid Back in Full." This isn't true--GM may have paid off loans from the federal government, but the Treasury is still GM's majority shareholder, at a cost of about $50 billion. That money won't be recouped (at a probable loss) until GM goes public. Wall Street Journal headline writers: The GM bailout is not paid back!

Gary Locke, the Secretary of Commerce, has now weighed in on the impact of Obamacare on health care costs by pointing out that since there will no longer be uninsured individuals, “this law reduces the hidden tax of about $1,000 for family coverage that those with insurance pay to cover the cost of the uninsured who rely on emergency rooms for care.”  

The Democrats' race to pass health care reform is getting exhausting. It's not only the constant rush of developments to the story. The poor undecided congressmen are also tuckered out:

Rep. Jason Altmire has met with President Obama twice this month and received a phone call from Air Force One. Two planes circled his western Pennsylvania district, trailing banners urging him to vote against the health-care bill. And conservative "tea party" activists confronted him at his office, trying to force him to answer: "Are you for or against the bill?"

The pressure has been extreme over the past two weeks on Altmire and the few dozen House Democrats who say they still have not decidedhow they will vote on ambitious legislation designed to remake the nation's health-care system.

Says Bart Stupak: “All the phones are unplugged at our house — tired of the obscene calls and threats. [My wife] won’t watch TV,” Stupak said during an hourlong interview with The Hill in his Rayburn office. “People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.”