Opinion: In today’s pages: Prince off YouTube, cyclists off dope
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The editorial board doesn’t think copyright law should apply so bluntly to a YouTube video of a toddler dancing to Prince. The board also chastises Trabuco Hills High School for teaching kids a bad lesson -- ‘when in trouble, sue.’ Finally, the board criticizes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to cut state worker wages until a budget is passed:
As for Schwarzenegger -- who cares? He’s so rich he doesn’t even take his state salary. Puny matters like paychecks and bills mean little to him. His staff isn’t getting paid either, but they’ll pull through. But while the governor and legislative leaders dicker over the budget (‘Reform!’ argues the governor; ‘Taxes!’ argue the Democrats; ‘Cuts!’ argue the Republicans), they have called no moratorium on raking in the stuff that really matters to them -- political cash.State employees who keep schools open or process health payments or do any of the other work that, like it or not, keeps California functioning are not to blame for the Legislature’s failure to do its job or the governor’s inability to focus lawmakers’ attention in a timely fashion. It’s unfair to drop the burden of state officials’ failure onto them.
On the Op-Ed page, Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway, law professors at Yale and Berkeley, argue that Bush’s latest move in Iraq could harm troops and his successor. Miriam Aroni Krinsky says Congress is finally paying attention to a fix for foster care. And Joel Stein thinks a Tour de France without dope is no fun to watch:
The reason this year’s Tour is miserably boring is that the race’s organizers have severely cracked down on doping. So before you argue that your favorite sport -- baseball, football, horse racing, anything at the Olympics -- has to get tough about performance-enhancing drugs, know that if it does, you’re about to endure years of slow, amateurish, uninspired athleticism. Your sport will be as exciting as guys racing bicycles.
On the letters page, readers disagree on The Times’ campaign coverage. Banning’s Nick Klaus thinks we’re too easy on Obama, and San Bernardino’s Thomas McGovern thinks we’re too easy on McCain.
*Cartoon by Lisa Benson, Washington Post