Opinion: In today’s pages: Learning to love L.A., stepfathers
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Garrison Keillor learns to love Los Angeles:
A Midwesterner goes to L.A. and feels a certain sense of moral disapproval. The squalor, the opulence, the expense of natural resources to support middle-class life in an arid place, the fascination with the misshapen lives of young celebs. It isn’t the Canaan it was for our grandparents. We look at it and see a rundown bungalow selling for half a million and cars inching along the 405 and say, ‘No thanks.’ But it’s good to know there’s another point of view. The sun does shine there, and people enjoy their lives — the spirit of la pura vida, or the love of life for its own sake, the opposite of Calvinist America.
Editor and author Adam Bellow (son of Saul) gives recognition to his Papa Joe and other stepdads in time for Father’s Day. Former Mexican foreign minister Jorge G. Castaneda points out that the immigration bill -- dead or alive -- has a significant geopolitical impact, and columnist Ronald Brownstein profiles ‘the two Hillarys.’
The editorial board is skeptical about Sudan’s recent acceptance of U.N. peacekeepers. It advocates shutting down Guantanamo as the first step to restoring American values, and says that a lawsuit against the Department of Water and Power is a loss for taxpayers no matter who wins.
Letter writers wonder if the Bill of Rights should extend beyond our borders. Los Angeles’ Ronald O. Richards notes: ‘Of course, the Bush administration has shown no interest in protecting constitutional liberties even within the borders of the United States, much less outside of the country, so it would appear that this will continue to be a moot point, at least until January 2009.’