Opinion: In today’s pages: California budget blues and the Fan Merchandise of Doom
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Psychologist Carol Tavris and oncologist Avrum Bluming put the latest breast cancer scare in perspective, and cartoonist J.D. Crowe comments on Hillary Clinton and John McCain’s accusations of ‘elitism’ against Barack Obama. Web editor Tim Cavanaugh wonders if the Vermont/Manchester project can survive the gentrification wars, and Patt Morrison searches between California’s seat cushions for some spare change:
From Yreka to San Ysidro, official California is busted flat. We’re so broke that Fabian Nuñez is probably drinking Two-Buck Chuck. The temptations to make ends meet with corporate/civic deals are enormous. Budget Helper recipes can be a blessing for cities and states through the lean years, or they can become desperate sellouts that elected bodies can’t scrape off their shoes once times turn good again.
The editorial board slams the state Legislature for neglecting the inmate medical system — and leaving California with a $7-billion bill — and sounds the alarm on world hunger as one of the greatest threats to international stability. The board also rolls its eyes at the New York Yankees’ quest to dig a Red Sox jersey out of its new stadium:
... when somebody in the Yankees’ front office ordered construction workers on Sunday to drill chunks out of the foundation — a five-hour job that cost a reported $50,000 — in order to remove the voodoo Fan Merchandise of Doom, it became clear that this incident was more than just a harmless sports prank. It was a reminder that for all of humanity’s pretensions to modernity and reason, we are essentially just bald monkeys who wear shoes.
Readers provide some perspective on closing U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo. Maria Matan writes:
Having just watched the better part of the ‘John Adams’ series on HBO, and having a basic knowledge of the Constitution, it seems to me unlikely that our founding fathers would have stood behind the Bush administration’s assumption that offshore detentions at Guantanamo can be justified without sufficient evidence to bring charges.