Opinion: In today’s pages: A night at the Christian Oscars
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Writer Todd Balf wonders if race was a factor in the demonization of ex-Olympian Marion Jones, and cartoonist Nick Anderson takes a shot at Congress and its steroid-use hearings. Israeli novelist Amos Oz argues for a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza, and Ronald Brownstein gives a play-by-play of Obama’s eight-contest sweep. Joel Stein discovers the Christian Oscars aren’t so different from the nondenominational ones — except when they are:
Though the Christian Oscars looked just like any other awards show, there were some differences. The Oscars don’t start with a prayer. And they don’t have a letter in their program from President Bush wishing them a successful event. I stared at it for a long time, wondering if all his correspondence begins, ‘I send greetings.’ I got the feeling that Bush expected that, during his presidency, he’d get to meet aliens.
The editorial board gets tangled up in the tussle between free speech and campaign finance law, and wonders why Germany, the erstwhile ‘sick man of Europe,’ is beating the U.S. in export rates. The board also cheers on the University of Southern California’s 25-year lease deal with the Coliseum Commission:
USC gets to stay at home. And there can be little doubt that the Coliseum is home. The university’s consistent presence over the life of the stadium has protected the asset’s value. Olympics -- two of them -- came and went, as did two NFL teams, but the Trojans have been a constant and deserve the long-term commitment that the commission has finally provided.
Readers respond to the board’s take on charter schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District. ‘It’s important that the charter schools not measure student achievement exclusively in terms of success on a college track,’ Joyce Wolfe points out, and Dain Olsen shoots back:
The Times is advocating the wholesale abandonment of the LAUSD’s secondary schools to the charter movement. If this is not tantamount to a radical dismissal of the foundations of democracy, of equality and access to a free, high-quality education for all, I don’t know what is.