latimes.com - Editorials

'Cool cars' backfire

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A state rule requiring tinted windows is an example of regulatory overreaching.

There's a law of diminishing returns for environmental regulation: As more specific rules are applied to ever-smaller details, the negative consequences can outweigh the benefits. California air and energy regulators, whose pioneering methods of reducing pollution and greenhouse gases have made residents justifiably proud, are approaching that tipping point.

Climate change bill is in trouble

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Political tactics tie up the Senate version, and efforts to salvage it may be too little too late.

If you think the partisan divide over healthcare reform is ugly, take a look at the animus in the Senate as debate continues on a key climate change bill. So wide is the gulf that long-held Senate traditions on decorum are breaking down. And as Washington fiddles, the Earth burns.

Two hot buttons

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:33:00 -0800

Senate and House bills limit coverage for illegal immigrants and abortion. But critics aren't satisfied.

Sponsors of the healthcare reform bills in Congress have tried hard to steer the legislation around the hot-button issues of abortion and illegal immigration, but to no avail; controversies about both continue to threaten the measures. Supporters say the bills respect the government's long-standing approach to abortion and undocumented immigrants; opponents, however, argue that the bills would flout current policy by allowing tax dollars to finance abortion on demand and nonemergency medical care for people who are here illegally.

Italy got it right: CIA renditions are wrong

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The conviction of 23 Americans in the abduction of Muslim cleric Abu Omar may be largely symbolic, but it sends an important message to the Obama administration.

'Extrajudicial detentions" and "extraordinary renditions" were nicely scrubbed terms for the Bush administration's policy of capturing suspects in one country and spiriting them away to another, where they were harshly interrogated and even tortured. Now an Italian court has called this CIA practice by its real name -- illegal.

Obama must stand firm on Honduras crisis

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A U.S.-brokered deal to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to office is unraveling, and the Obama administration seems to be wavering.

The Obama administration last week brokered what looked like a promising deal to end the political crisis in Honduras. Sadly, this week it already is fraying. The de facto leaders of Honduras are foot-dragging, prompting President Manuel Zelaya, whom they ousted in a civilian-military coup four months ago, to issue an ultimatum from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital.

At last, a water policy

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Sacramento sets goals and creates frameworks but doesn't make many hard decisions. It's a start, though.

The package adopted by the Legislature early Wednesday is somewhat like a gallon of water poured out of a bucket -- almost impossible to grasp. Its two parts, water policy and funding, are virtually unrelated. Its key provision is a statement of intent (to treat restoring the ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and creating a more reliable water supply for California as co-equal goals), and much of the rest of it erects a framework for making hard choices instead of actually making those choices. It does far too little to halt illegal diversions from, and thus continued degradation of, the delta. But it makes an important start after three decades of inaction. It is historic, and lawmakers -- and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- deserve credit for getting this first crucial phase of the job done.

Time for equal rights for gays is now

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Progress is occurring, but Tuesday's rejection of a same-sex marriage law in Maine shows there's still a lot of work to be done.

If not in Maine, then where? Until the polls closed Tuesday evening, supporters of same-sex marriage appeared to be within grasp of their first voter victory in the nation. New England has been at the forefront of legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The campaign was well run, voter turnout high. Maine residents have a reputation as live-and-let-live sorts, and the polls showed the race as extremely close. Nevertheless, Question 1 -- a measure to ban same-sex marriage -- won solidly. This suggests that despite the moral right on its side, the fight for equality for gays and lesbians will be more difficult, more complicated and probably will take a good while longer than it should.

LAPD's next chief, Charlie Beck

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The capable and popular veteran will inherit the largest, most improved Police Department in city history.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa consulted widely, thought carefully and chose wisely in his selection of Deputy Chief Charlie Beck to become the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. The City Council should confirm Beck without delay, and the LAPD should move forward under this capable veteran, who was raised in the department's traditions and who also has shown a refreshing willingness to adapt to change.

No way to secure school funding

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A bill that would attract federal school grants also includes too many disparate ideas to be practical.

If California schools want a piece of $4.2 billion in new federal education grants, they'll have to make some changes. Legislation by state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) and several coauthors would pave the way for those changes, but the bill is so awkwardly constructed at this point, with so many unnecessary and possibly harmful additions, that it doesn't deserve the fast-track passage Romero is seeking.

Academic salaries: Paying the smart money

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The salaries of college and university presidents have been going up, but savvy leadership has a price.

Whatever happened to the shabby, low-paid academic, pipe in mouth, tweed jacket frayed at the elbows? To start with, many were smart enough to give up smoking. But something has been happening with salaries too. Though most college instructors still earn low pay considering their high education level, there's no question that at the top levels of college management, rock-star contracts have been making wealthy people out of yesterday's intellectuals.