Comcast has filed a "petition for special relief" with the Federal Communications Commission declaring that its cable television rates are no longer subject to regulation in Albany, the unincorporated parts of Benton County, as well as Lebanon, Philomath, Sodaville, Sweet Home, Tangent and Waterloo. That's because, the company says, there is "effective competition" in those franchise areas for television programming from satellite TV providers DirecTV and EchoStar Communications.

The petition comes as a surprise because Albany and other jurisdictions have never tried to regulate cable TV rates. In fact Albany has insisted that it doesn't have the authority to regulate cable rates.

A spokeswoman for the cable company, however, told the D-H: "We are subject to rate regulation."

She might have been mistaken, but the FCC filing to ward off potential rate regulation suggests that she was right. Why would the company go to the trouble of filing an elaborate petition to become exempt from something from which it is already exempt? (hh)

Merit pay: Where do they have it?

President Obama has launched a renewed national discussion about merit pay for teachers. He says he's for it. But if this is such a great idea, how come it is so rarely carried out in other fields?

For example, what kind of merit pay system results in corporations paying their chiefs multimillion-

dollar salaries and bonuses while their operations pile up losses?

If merit pay is such a wonderful idea, why don't we apply it in the government generally, or in the armed forces? (Two centuries ago the British navy did have a merit-pay system of sorts: Officers and crews shared in the value of enemy ships and cargoes they had captured. How could the Navy make that work today?)

They say that professional sports is the ultimate example of merit pay in action. So how come star players sometimes drown in riches even while their teams lose? Because their contracts say so - based on expectations, not merit.

Clearly there's good sense in rewarding workers who do good work - including school teachers - more than those whose work is only so-so. The trouble lies in making such a system work. (hh)

No cloning? Don't bet on it

When he reversed the federal policy on federal support for research using embryonic stem cells, President Obama said nothing should ever be done to clone human beings. He's right, but he's kidding himself if he thinks it won't be tried - and eventually carried out. If something can be done, sooner or later it will be done. And whether anybody likes it or not, basic research in the biological sciences makes it ever more likely that sooner or later cloning humans will be a scientific fact of life. (hh)

The muzzling of Sizemore

Bill Sizemore last week had more legal restrictions placed on his activities in raising money and sponsoring ballot measures in Oregon, all stemming from the verdict by a Portland jury in a fraud lawsuit brought by two unions whose political power he had tried to curtail. Sizemore can be a nuisance, but his muzzling by the courts ought to trouble anybody interested in politics remaining free. If he breaks the law, he ought to be prosecuted like anyone else. Otherwise the courts should leave him alone. (hh)