Opinion: Gentrification, The Middle East and More: A Weekend’s Worth of Opinion

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Weekend and Monday Opinion from the LA Times:

Eric Franceschi: Lured Virtually Into the Real Finland
Why I’ve spent three years staring down Rovakatu Street.

Niall Ferguson: Look! Up in the sky! It’s America!
Tony Blair doesn’t share Europe’s vision of American power, and he’s right.

Zama Coursen-Neff: The Taliban’s War on Education
Schoolgirls are still under fire in Afghanistan.

Ernest W. Lefever: There Once Was a Man Who Loved Limericks
An ode to the humble, and often vulgar, poetic form.

Editorials

Playground Reform of the LAUSD
Politicians are acting childish while arguing over a bad plan.

How the West Was Sold
Auctioning off government land and giving the money to communities robs the federal treasury and could waste natural resources.

No Free Metro Rides
The mayor’s idea for free transit for a day would be costly and ineffective.

Selected Weekend Commentary:

Tom Slater: The Downside of Upscale
The battle over skid row is part of a long war between the poor and those who would displace them.

Caleb Carr: Why Good Countries Fight Dirty Wars
Think democracies wage clean wars? Think again.

Douglas Johnson: Where a Porn Palace Stood
Down-at-the-heels neighborhoods are spiffing up for success.

Judith Yaphe: Iraq Isn’t About Us Anymore
The U.S. has few options in Iraq.

Diane Ravitch: Bill Gates, the Nation’s Superintendent of Schools
His foundation has big clout in American education. How will it wield its power?

Gregory Rodruigez: Resilence Among the Ruins
How do people cope with life in a war zone? Through a delicate balance of memory and denial.

Tamar Jacoby: Amnesty Is Not a Four-Letter Word
Voters don’t like amnesty, but they’ll swallow some form of it to fix immigration.

Meghan Daum: Sweating Your Way to Enlightenment
The social politics of climate control.