Opinion: In today’s pages: Golden Globes, golden opportunities
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Columnist Joel Stein‘s Golden Globes invite lands him in a loud suit and a moral quandary:
[E! News anchor Giuliana Rancic] was concerned because at rehearsals a few hours earlier, the producers told her to ad lib an intro and she didn’t know what to say. She was thinking of expressing support for the striking writers but was unsure.This presented the greatest moral dilemma I had ever faced. I could help her -- and get a pro-union message broadcast on the three networks -- but I would have to violate the union’s strike rules to do it. Sometimes a man has to risk everything for what he believes is right. I wrote for Rancic. And I don’t regret it. Though I do regret it wasn’t funnier.
In another writers strike subplot, Directors Guild President Michael Apted issues an apologia for the union’s deal with the studios. Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Jack Kemp throws his weight behind a bill that would save some homeowners from bankruptcy and foreclosure. Ronald Brownstein gives a rundown of the Republican race, and cartoonist Jeff Danziger sizes up the Democrats’ high-stakes game in Nevada.
The editorial board hopes the striking writers will take their cues from the Directors Guild deal, and it cheers on billionaire Eli Broad’s latest donation to charter schools. The board grows apprehensive at the unveiling of the affordable but pollutive Nano by Tata Motors, worried that ‘the vehicle’s tiny price tag -- about $2,500 -- will make car ownership possible for millions of Indians, which could well render the rest of the world’s efforts to combat global warming moot.’
Readers run through options for the city’s transportation problems. Writes Nihar Patel:
In truth, Los Angeles has only one hope to promote transit use among all income groups: increasing options with buses and trains. We need a grid where a day pass gets you off a train to a bus, or vice versa, as in London. Until that day, from Hollywood, a 20-minute train ride downtown sure beats a never-ending rush-hour bus ride. Join me sometime if you disagree.