Los Angeles Times - Opinion

Letters to the editor

Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Know when to say goodbye

A green industrial revolution?

Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Does it matter if some staples run out, or will the same ingenuity that produced oil refining in the late 19th century and the "green revolution" in the late 20th century save us again in the future?

Gardner and Clark finish their Dust-Up today with a debate on the potential of resource scarcity to spark government programs and technological innovation. Previously, they discussed the increasing resource demands of developing nations, government policies aimed at altering consumption habits, increasing food prices and the question of whether global trends in overall supply and demand portend a coming era of scarcity .

War's shopping cart

Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Pepsi, Apple, Krispy Kreme and other consumer firms profit from Iraq too.

Last month, a review of 2006 congressional financial disclosure statements by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics found that lawmakers have as much as $196 million "invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the start of the Iraq war." An Associated Press article on the report, however, offered a caveat: "Not all the companies invested in by lawmakers are typical defense contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received defense-related contracts."

This bud's for you, and you, and you too

Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

How I got my hands on some marijuana -- the legal (and easy) way.

Sometimes I can't believe how Californian California is. Women walk around half-naked, waiters call patrons "dude," and medical marijuana is legal. But I wondered just how legal. Could anyone buy it? Even me, who doesn't have cancer, AIDS, arthritis, glaucoma or even any previous pot-smoking experience?

No wasteful recalls

Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Misuse of the recall process to settle political scores is no way to get the state out of the mess it's in.

If anybody wonders why California's Legislature seems perennially incapable of solving the state's budget problems, fixing its disastrous prison system or improving its benighted schools, consider the strange case of the Denham recall.

Bush's reading program doesn't pass

Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

President Bush touts accountability in education. So why is he trying to save the poorly run Reading First?

With the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush took a major role in bringing accountability to public education. No longer would the federal government give unfettered money to schools that weren't using it wisely to raise student achievement. Failing schools would be required to put Title I money toward offering private outside tutoring; over time, they could be shut down and revamped altogether.

For some Palestinians, one state with Israel is better than none

Thu, 8 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Frustrated by years of failed peace talks for a two-state solution, some are giving up hope of independence and pushing the idea of a single democratic state with equal rights for all.

Frustrated by years of on-and-off peace talks with Israel, Palestinians are losing hope for an independent homeland, and some are proposing a radically different cause: a shared state with equal rights for Palestinians and Jews.

Letters to the editor

Thu, 8 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Taco trucks: Yum or yuck?

China, India and Malthus

Thu, 8 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

How does the emergence of large, formerly poor countries (such as China and India) as major consumers affect the global economy and the environment? Gregory Clark and Gary Gardner debate.

Today, Clark and Gardner discuss the increasing resource demands of developing nations. Previously, they debated government policies aimed at altering consumption habits, increasing food prices and the question of whether global trends in overall supply and demand portend a coming era of scarcity . They'll finish their Dust-Up tomorrow with a discussion on the future of green technology.

Vandalism and art, writ large

Thu, 8 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

L.A. muralists often see their works ruined -- both by vandals with spray cans and numb skulls with paint rollers.

Kent Twitchell's fabulous six-story mural of artist Ed Ruscha -- whitewashed. My my. Tsk tsk. What a shock.