Opinion: In today’s pages: California break-down, Long Beach build-up, plus the pope, the flu and the court
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With today’s visit to Jerusalem by Pope Benedict XVI, Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center leads off the Op-Ed page with a look at past papal visits, with a smattering of missteps and snipes. Things are better today, Hier says:
On the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, Jews around the world need to acknowledge that the Catholic Church of 2009 is no longer the same institution it was under Pius XII. Jews and Catholics may have their differences, but Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem confirms that the Catholic Church, once a main source of anti-Semitism, is today an important voice in validating the Jewish people’s right to fulfill a historic and spiritual destiny.
Author Arthur Allen walks through some of the known unknowns about the flu, swine and otherwise. And columnist Gregory Rodriguez ponders the role of Latinos as President Obama considers his Supreme Court choice.
On the editorial page, the ed board compares California to a gas-guzzler nearly out of fuel, and the May 19 ballot measures to a gas station:
California must get on a different road, change its political dynamic and perhaps its political structure, but it can do that only if it can move. And to move, voters must pass the ballot measures. There is little point in arguing over the next turn if the discussion takes place in the back seat of a rusted-out hulk.
The board also calls on the Long Beach City Council to ignore the false environmental objections and give the go-ahead to the Middle Harbor project, the port’s first major construction effort since 2002:
The piers would have clean cargo-handling equipment and would allow container ships to plug in to shore-based power while docked, so they wouldn’t have to keep their engines running during loading and unloading. That would cut a tremendous amount of diesel pollution, as would rules imposed on ships using the new terminals -- they would have to switch to low-sulfur diesel fuel when within 40 miles of the port, and slow down to about half their normal speed.
And the board calls for the confirmation of Indian University law professor Dawn Johnsen to head President Obama’s Office of Legal Counsel.