Opinion: Making the Rounds
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Here’s this week’s sampling of the sites that offered their own spin to the work of the Times’ Opinion Manufacturing Division:
New Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner first initiative that would inject up to $2 trillion in public and private money into the financial system was a hot topic in cyberspace. Over at U.S. News and World Report, their round-up of newspapers that have opined over the proposal included an L.A. Times editorial wherein we say that Geithner’s plan would ‘would address some of the biggest weaknesses of the previous effort.’ The Week noted our interest in the initiative coupled with our wariness of its risks and lack of details.
Upset over the Justice Department’s decision to uphold the Bush administration’s claims of “state secrets,” ACLU took to their blog. In a post at Blog of Rights, Ateqah Khaki mentions an editorial where we urged the new administration to reconsider sustaining the privilege.
On Commentary Magazine’s Contention blog, Jonathan Tobin’s Anticipating the Anti-Bibi Trend looks at the elections in Israel and the media’s “Bibi-bashing.” In the piece, he takes issue with a Times editorial where we expected voters “move to the right,” in favor for promises of security over peacemaking.
On his blog The Mad Professah Lectures, Ron Buckmire highlights a Times editorial that “took the Obama administration to task” for making it unclear whether his version of President Bush’s faith-based initiative would allow religious charities receiving federal funds to be unfair in hiring.
Over at My SoCal’d Life, “agentslaeyer’s” newspaper recommendations include a trio of L.A. Times articles, one of which is an “FRIGHTENING in its honesty” opinion piece by Times editorial writer Marjorie Miller where she interviewed teens from Israel and Palestine about the prospects for peace.
LA Progressive’s Carl Matthes wrote a blog post Will June Be Gay Wedding Month—Again? that examined the California Supreme Court’s announcement that it would hear arguments March 5 over the constitutionality of Proposition 8. In it, he cites the Times editorial that questions President Obama’s support for civil unions that carry all the rights of marriage, as long as they aren’t actually called marriages.
A post by Carlos Macias on Journalism on the Americas examines the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s release of several high-profile hostages, and suggests the act may be an attempt to gain sympathy. His post cites a Times editorial that describes the hostages’ release as “a stunt intended to revive public support for an unworthy cause.”
Former Times staffer Joe Mathews of The Blockbuster Democracy Blog likes our recent effort to seek the public’s help in deciding what position to take on city Charter Amendment E, a ballot measure that would allow the city council and mayor to offer incentives to businesses to relocate or expand here. LA Observed’s Kevin Roderick also gave kudos to our new approach, highlighting the audio and text excerpts posted from the editorial board’s interviews with proponents and opponents of Measure E.
And for those who weren’t aware that two elections are taking place in Burbank, Married to the Blog’s Daniel Evans reiterates the point in his post, Burbank Follower 2.9.09, by linking to our blog post.
At A Humane Nation, Wayne Pacelle examines Proposition 2—the California ballot measure that, among other things, stops the confinement of egg-laying hens in cages and crates. In his post, Pacelle questions Times editorial writer Karin Klein’s blog post which argued against a policy that would hike the cost of eggs by requiring that all eggs sold in California be cage-free.