Opinion: In today’s pages: the Balkans, Bali, and Bambi
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Novelist Denise Hamilton wonders what happened when electronic deer edge out real ones:
Any season of the year, Angelenos touch up brown lawns with green paint or transform our semiarid landscape into English country gardens. Come Christmastime, our frontyards evolve into personal movie sets. We can tinker with reality even more, creating a rugged, snowy wildlife narrative, even though it might be 92 degrees on Christmas Day with kids splashing in the pool.Sometimes I wonder what the real deer think when they come down from their hillsides and catch a glimpse of their electronic brethren. Do they recognize the simulacra of themselves? Does Bambi nuzzle up to its wire mother?
Columnist Rosa Brooks has an idea -- using our intelligence, for once, by extending an olive branch to Iran. Contributing editor Timothy Garton Ash suggests asking Serbians to trade power over Kosovo for better relations with the EU. Columnist Patt Morrison says fire-season parking restrictions do less for fire safety and more to hamper canyon and hillside dwellers.
The editorial board says the Senate should start climate repair at home if Bali doesn’t produce results. The board also has recommendations for stopping another Balkan crisis, and reminds the country of the three American hostages held in Colombia.
Readers respond to The Times’ criticism of the LAUSD’s new image consultant. Pasadena’s Virginia Olive Hoge holds no punches: ‘This editorial proved nothing except that The Times can dish out bash journalism at its worst -- and this one packed a knockout punch.’