Opinion: In today’s pages
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Columnist Gregory Rodriguez wonders what the city would be without its signature smog:
I don’t love smog, but I admit to appreciating its cultural role in our lives. It was a recurring character in Raymond Chandler novels. ‘The weather was hot and sticky and the acid sting of the smog had crept as far west as Beverly Hills,’ he wrote in ‘The Long Goodbye.’ It was a menacing presence in Joel Schumacher’s 1993 classic film, ‘Falling Down.’ And, in real life, it was the symbol of the costs and limits to developing the only metropolis that was built on the promise of the suburban dream.
Eric Mann and Manuel Criollo say no to fare hikes by L.A.’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, while Rand Corp.’s Martin Wachs argues that the MTA should vary fares instead of raising them outright. Columnist Niall Ferguson reflects on British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s foreign policy.
The editorial board chastises the LAUSD for its uneven disciplinary policies. It also explains why Scotland’s Nationalist Party isn’t gunning for independence, and why a recent Supreme Court ruling doesn’t give police full freedom to pursue high speed chases.
Letter writers debate American hyper-masculinity, with L.A.’s Donald Kilhefner putting the blame on ‘an institutionalized culture of heterosexual supremacy.’