The winners and the losers

• Winner: Mexican authorities this week seized at least 26 tons of cocaine from a ship that docked in Manzanillo. That kind of a bust is good for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it shows the Mexicans may finally be getting serious about trying to "cripple drug lords and bring them to justice," in the words of Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Of course, Americans could help cripple those thugs if they would reduce the constant demand for illegal drugs north of the border.

• Loser: A draconian law aimed at punishing illegal immigrants took effect in Oklahoma this week amid a lawsuit that seeks to overturn it. Among other things, it makes harboring or transporting illegal immigrants a felony.

The law demonstrates the intense need for a federal solution that recognizes the economy's dependence on laborers from the South and provides an orderly way to protect against criminals who enter the country. Simply hurting people is not the answer. Unfortunately, Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, wants to introduce the Oklahoma law in Utah.

• Winner: Parents are getting better, at least according to a Census Bureau survey. More children today have restrictions on their TV viewing and are participating in educational extracurricular activities than was the case a decade ago. Parents also are reading more to their kids. It's hard to know whether parents themselves are simply better people, or whether television today is so awful no decent person would let a child watch it.