LAT: People who oppose same-sex marriage are bigots.

That's the argument the LAT makes in an editorial today. Some county clerks in California are allowing employees who oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds to opt out of performing them, and the LAT objects. We've long allowed conscientious objectors to opt out -- of serving in the military, for example. But that shouldn't be allowed in connection with same-sex marriages, according to the LAT. People need to do their jobs and keep their opinions to themselves, says the LAT.

If it were a cause the LAT opposed -- say licensing hunters to thin heards of goats to rectify an overpopulation problem or authorizing drilling in ANWAR to raise the supply of domestically- produced crude oil -- the LAT would, most likely, favor permitting conscientious objectors to opt out.

Unconstitutionally poor healthcare for inmates

On today's front page, a LAT reporter writes that healthcare for inmates in California prisons is "unconstitutionally poor." No authority for that claim is cited so how does the reporter know?

A liberal San Francisco federal judge (is there any other kind?) has taken charge and appointed a receiver. To do what the LAT doesn't say.

Democrats want to spend $7 billion to build medical facilities for inmates. It's $7 billion the state, which has a deficit, doesn't have. Republicans are opposed and that makes them targets of the LAT.

Stimulus for foreigners

The LAT argues this morning that foreign-born spouses of people who file a joint return are getting the shaft because they don't get a stimulus payment. But the LAT is nitpicking. Only a few foreigners will miss their stimulus payment.

Anyone who has a social security number is eligible for a stimulus payment. Anyone who is qualified to work in the United States can obtain a social security number. The only joint return filers who will not qualify for a stimulus payment, assuming they meet other conditions, are resident aliens who can't get a social security number because they have chosen not to apply to the Department of Homeland Security for permission to work here.

LAT finds bias hard to prevent

When the names of Barack Obama and John McCain appear in the same headline in the LAT, Obama's name invariably comes first. Why? That's just the way it is at the LAT.

Begining on the front page today, LAT reporters offer news and commentary about McCain's and Obama's campaigning in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada over the weekend. On the whole, the reporting is reasonably balanced but the headline and first few paragraphs are tilted toward Obama.

LAT equates Obama/McCain religion problems

And then says McCain's are worse. Obama attended Wright's church and listened to his sermons for 20 years. Wright even married the Obamas and baptized their children. McCain never attended a single service at John Hagee's church and never heard Rod Parsley preach. It doesn't matter to the LAT. McCain is worse.

LAT highlights McCain's ailments

Despite doctors giving McCain a near clean bill of health, the LAT this morning calls attention to his prior health problems. The real story, the LAT apparently believes, is that McCain is old and has had significant health problems that may recur, including cancer.

LAT softens up SOCAL for Obama

SOCAL is Southern California. On the front page today, the LAT reports that a poll they've done indicates that either Obama or Hill will beat McCain but Obama will beat him worse. Also, the LAT says Hill's supporters will vote for Obama in the general.

OK, but what's so great about that. The Dems have been getting all the news coverage and California is a Dem paradise. It would be surprising if a poll didn't show a Dem leading. But settle down. Report the news, impartially and unbiased -- or fair and balanced if you prefer.

LAT likes fiddling with tax code

The Internal Revenue Code is far too complex. It's jammed with bright ideas from politicians that are intended to right some wrong or influence some behavior on the part of taxpayers, all of which tend to complicate the Code. Tax laws ought to have only one objective: to collect revenue. They should be neutral otherwise. Only then can they be simplified.

The LAT argues for tax credits, which should influence some taxpayers to behave as the LAT wishes them to behave. The LAT is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

LAT cooks the books

The LAT reports this morning on a poll it took with KTLA TV regarding gay marriage in California. The LAT reports that only a small majority of those polled supports a proposed California Constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage. The LAT also says that the prospects for the proposed amendment are poor because large early majorities are usually necessary if an amendment is to pass.

The LAT could properly have reported that a majority of Californians supports the ban. But that would have required leaving out the editorializing.

LAT: FDA needs more moolah

The LAT argued yesterday that the FDA needs $275 million more, even if it hasn't asked for it. Bureaucracies always need more. It's in their DNA. And somebody or some newspaper always wants them to do more, which is why government always gets bigger, never smaller.

The FDA does some good things, and those things ought to be financed. But not everything they do is good, or done well, even if well intended.

LAT nails GOP coffin shut

The LAT this morning tries to nail the final nails into the GOP coffin. After defeats in three straight special congressional elections, the LAT says Republicans are dead meat. How is this a news story?

LAT eulogizes George

Well, maybe not eulogize but the LAT today definitely tries to humanize. The "George" under discussion is Ronald George, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, who wrote the opinion and supplied the fourth vote in the same-sex marriage decree. George says he was only trying to do the right thing. What he actually was doing was substituting his judgment for the judgment of a majority of Californians, who voted in 2000 to outlaw gay marriage.

George is the kind of judge or justice that drives conservatives up the wall. Like the justices in Roe v Wade, he found something in the California constitution (they found it in the federal constitution) that wasn't there. George ought to be recalled.

Recall Supreme Court justices

Four California Supreme Court justices, the ones who voted for the same-sex marriage decree, ought to be recalled. Can they be? There was talk of recalling Rose Bird when she was Chief Justice. Unless something has changed, presumably recalls are possible. If possible, these four ought to be recalled for dereliction of duty, or just because they are biased.

LAT suffers from inbreeding

Or is it inhaling? Today's two LAT editorials say more about the writers and the newspaper than about the issues discussed, which were ... what? Oh! One was: Bush is bad and McCain doesn't stand a chance. The other, Obama is good and Wright doesn't matter.

LAT editorial writers are inhaling one another's exhale. Fresh air is needed, that and some original thought.

LAT: Mass. happy after court decree

The LAT reports today that everything is hunky-dory in Massachusetts now that gays can marry there. Why gay families are just like heterosexual ones, the LAT says.

And life is simpler now because a woman can call her partner her wife instead of her partner. Are there two wives then? Or is one of the women a husband? The LAT doesn't say.

And a same-sex male couple have a 16-year-old daughter. Did both sire the daughter? Which one gave birth? The LAT doesn't say.

LAT touts gay marriage

The LAT argues in an editorial this morning that the California Supreme Court was right in holding that same-sex marriages are legal in California. Tradition has no significance, the LAT argues. Things have changed since 2000 when voters passed Proposition 22 defining marriage as a union of one man with one woman, the LAT says. Don't support a constitutional amendment, the LAT argues.

But a court, even a supreme one, can't change by decree what has always been. Marriage is between one man and one woman. A family consists of a husband and wife with children. Two men or two women living together does not constitute a family even if they're raising children. This can't be changed by judicial fiat.

Noonan's depression

Columnist Peggy Noonan effectively buries the Republican Party today, in her own mind. Gloom and doom is what she sees. Republicans will lose big in November. Obama's signs are everywhere. Bush is at fault, a familiar refrain in her columns.

But Obama is a flawed candidate, as Hillary would be if nominated. McCain has his problems but Obama has more. Surely it isn't necessary to say what they are: He's an empty suit. No experience in a big job. Specializes in platitudes. Leftist voting record. No accomplishments in the Senate. Liberal ideas. Wants more government in citizens' lives. Weak foreign affairs credentials. No military credentials. But he's good with black voters.

So far as Republicans generally are concerned, they need to quit wallowing in self-pity, dump the negativity propagated by Noonan and her sympathizers, get busy promoting their brand.

Fingar your agency

Today, in a piece by Greg Miller, the LAT introduces Thomas Fingar, analyst-in-chief for U.S. intelligence . Fingar is a former State Department analyst whose latest product was the intelligence report on Iran that was published five months ago. That report concluded that Iran had halted nuclear weapons work in 2003. A footnote, however, clarified that Iran had only stopped warhead design work, not the effort to enrich uranium, which is more challenging. Presentation of the report in that form (with the more revealing information presented in a footnote) suggests that the report was designed to mislead.

California Supremes legalize same-sex "marriage"

The California Supreme Court today concluded that California law discriminates again couples who enter into same-sex unions by failing to call those unions "marriages." For couples who take the required legal steps, such unions are called "Domestic Partnerships" under California law. The Supreme Court argues that although domestic partners have nearly identical rights to married people under California law, they are discriminated against because the term "marriage" is not applied to their "partnership."

What the decision will mean isn't clear, at least to this old fool. Presumably, the Domestic Partnership law is now invalid. Apparently, local governments will have to grant marriage licenses to any two people who apply for one providing they've fulfilled requirements that apply to heterosexual couples (like age, blood tests, etc.) Once they get the marriage certificate, presumably, licensed same-sex couples can file joint California income tax returns. But federal law doesn't recognize same-sex marriages so they must file as unmarried persons for federal purposes.

The Court's opinion is 172 pages long and contains lots of superfluos analysis that concludes that marriages are about loving relationships and raising children. The Court concludes that the ability to procreate is not a requirement of marriage.

Clinton win ignored

To the LAT, Hillary Clinton's win in West Virginia didn't merit front-page treatment. Instead, it appeared on page A14. Does this demonstrate a pro-Obama bias?

Gates v Rumsfeld

LAT reporter Julian Barnes interprets a remark by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates as criticism of his predecessor. Without quoting him, Barnes says that Gates argued that a president's national security team ought to get along and suggested that Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell didn't always. Implicitly, Barnes points the finger at Rumsfeld but Powell was an outsider within the Bush administration. His ideas and objectives didn't always dovetail with those of the administration.

China gets good press

On today's front page, LAT reporter Barbara Demick glorifies the Chinese response to the 7.9 earthquake while acknowledging that nearly all the news coverage has come from state-owned television and other state-owned media. Finally, Demick quotes a Chinese favorably comparing the Chinese response to the earthquake with the U.S handling of Hurricane Katrina. If only Bush could get such press.

Home teams ahead 17 to 1

As of today, NBA home teams have won 16 out of 17 playoff contests. It isn't coincidental.

NBA refereeing needs balance

In NBA playoff games, and perhaps in regular season games as well, the home team gets the benefit of the doubt on foul calls.

That was clearly demonstrated in yesterday's Jazz-Lakers game when the Lakers' Luke Walton was fouled by the Jazz's Ronnie Price while attempting a lay up. TV broadcaster Mike Tirico called it a great block of Walton's shot attempt by a little guy who had earlier been injured in a collision with the Lakers' Rony Turiaf (ruled a flagrant foul on Turiaf.) But Price blocked not only the ball but Walton's body as well, knocking Walton on his wallet under the basket. (If Walton had not been knocked down, he could have rebounded the blocked shot and scored.) The referees failed to make a call on the play.

The Lakers-Jazz series is even now with each team winning both their home games. The Spurs-Hornet series is similar. Favorable home-team foul calls have made it that way.

Myanmar regime cruel; White House at fault

The Myanmar regime would have done the right things but for White House scolding. That's the LAT's pitch in a piece by Paul Richter published Saturday on page A12 as news. Previously, the LAT made the same argument in an editorial.

Shahad wants to walk

On Saturday, the LAT published a piece by Tina Susman and Said Rifai on page A8 about a 12-year-old Iraqi girl named Shahad Abbas Aziz who lost both legs below the knee in a roadside bombing in Baqubah, her home town. A Yank, Staff Sergeant Luis Falcon of New York, befriended the girl and helped arrange for prosthetic limbs so that her one wish could be fulfilled. "All I want is legs to walk to school," the LAT quoted her as saying.

The picture that accompanies the article shows a cute young girl in a denim jumper wearing ear rings. She'd fit right in in a Southern California mall. Sgt. Falcon deserves a medal and the LAT deserves an award for publishing the story, though it should have appeared on page one.

LAT to Hill: Quit

The LAT argues today that Hillary's run for the Democratic nomination is over and she should recognize that and quit the race. The LAT says if Clinton would quit then the campaign between Obama and McCain could begin and the debate would be about serious issues instead of "lapel pins and pandering over gas taxes."

Where's the fire? What's the rush. Anyhow, the LAT may not find the McCain-Obama debate to be all that serious or educational or enlightening. The main question will be what kind of president Obama would make. From what has been revealed thus far -- Wright connection, Ayers connection, "bitter" remarks, Michelle's speeches -- Obama's prospects do not appear promising.

LAT favors shield law

The LAT argues today for a federal shield law for journalists, saying it's in the public interest. It must be, the LAT argues, because Bush opposes it and Senate Republicans are blocking it. The argument rings hollow. The LAT repeatedly violates its own stated policy of restricting the use of anonymous sources.

LAT anti-death penalty

The LAT argues today on behalf of a convicted murderer, saying he will escape the death penalty only because of pro bono work by a dedicated lawyer. It's hard to feel sympathy for a convicted murderer -- the case at issue is not about that murder but a second one. The lawyer, of course, deserves praise for his work. But the LAT argues against the death penalty because it is too costly. They can do better than that. The death penalty is wrong because it involves the taking of a human life.

LAT blasts White House, again

Some things never change. In an editorial this morning, the LAT chastises the White House for being critical of Myanmar's treatment of its people. Myanmar's dictators might not react kindly to White House criticism, the LAT fears. How much worse could they get?

LAT touts higher taxes

The LAT argues this morning in an editorial for a California sales tax on services, especially those of lawyers and accountants. California needs more revenue to close an expected $20 billion hole in next year's budget, the LAT says. A tax on services would help, they say.

But California's government needs to learn to live within its resources. Starve the beast.

LAT cites global warming

Like most liberals, the LAT blames anything it doesn't understand on global warming ... or George Bush. Saturday morning, the LAT blamed the poor crop of salmon on global warming, among other things. It's tiresome.

Lexington on Wright

This week Lexington rightly condemns Jeremiah Wright's coming out party in Detroit and Washington. Lexington says "Wright belongs to a generation of activists" that includes Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton "who thrived in part by playing to the resentments of their black supporters." All true.

But then Lexington says Obama "belongs to a much more pragmatic generation, people who want to get beyond racial polarization and enter the political mainstream." How does Lexington know that? From what evidence?

Dems on Fox News

The LAT today reports that Fox News is attracting more and more Democrat politicians -- Hill and Barack are recent examples. It's where the viewers are, the LAT correctly says.

Governator to raise taxes

The LAT reports this morning that California's governator is looking for ways to raise taxes to cover a deficit that could amount to $20 billion. If true, it's enough to send a person into a rage. California has for years spent more than it took in, though the amount it takes in rises each year. The legislature raises spending faster. Spending targets are based on the highest revenues ever collected. If revenue growth falls short a deficit results. The legislature then wants to raise taxes to cover the deficit. But California is already one of the highest taxed states. Raising taxes drives successful people and businesses out of state. They are replaced by immigrants who don't pay much in taxes. It's a vicious circle that could become a whirlpool, drowning California in debt.

Noonan not bothered by Wright

In today's columns, published in the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan says she thinks Preacher Wright is wrong but she isn't bothered by him. She says it's OK for blacks to cling to their anger over slavery because she and her fellow Irish cling to their anger over the treatment the English inflicted on them. Really, both are symptomatic of paranoia. Both need to get over it. The Irish most likely have, despite what Noonan says.

Wright is a threat to black people if other black preachers are like him and black church-goers believe what such black preachers preach. Wright-thinking and preaching keeps blacks down. To rise up, they need to abandon such thinking and preaching.

Dems and the LAT sadly disappointed

The fact that the economy did not contract during the first quarter is so disappointing to Democrat politicians and the LAT that they're trying to change the definition of a recession. The standard definition -- two consecutive quarters of negative growth -- isn't adequate for today's conditions. It contradicts what they've been saying. It must change. Is that what Obama means by "change?"