Lights out two

The temps in Southern California are back to normal but 1,300 homes are still without power. Some of those homes are served by DWP, others by SCE. It's disgusting.

Lights out

It's almost criminal that Southern California should have as many blackouts as it has had in the last week, but no one blames the power companies (LA Dept of Water & Power and Southern California Edison.) Why not?

If Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and Palm Springs, which have daily temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in the summer, can have uninterrupted electrical power, why can't Southern California?

The power outages are mostly caused by faulty transformers, some of which are 50 or more years old. Those old transformers, besides being old, were installed at a time when the electrical load was much less that it is now. Why have those old transformers not been upgraded? Perhaps because power company management and the California Public Utilities Commission are criminally negligent.

Puzzling LAT editorial

This morning the LAT argues its a shame Washington doesn't know why Iran released two Americans it had held on trumped-up charges. A better question is why they were held in the first place. The LAT argues we'd know more if we would talk to Iran, while simultaneously admitting that Iranian politics "remains a black box."

The LAT, like most liberals, is quick to blame the U.S. when a totalitarian state behaves in an inexplicable way.

Hiltzik's news analysis

In a piece in today's Business Section labeled "News Analysis," LAT reporter Michael Hiltzik writes about Countrywide Financial's problems. He notes that Countrywide's delinquency and foreclosure rates have soared "on many Countrywide loans." Does he mean to say those rates have soared for the company as a whole or only for certain loans? It isn't clear and maybe that's what Hiltzik intended. Nowhere does he say what the rates are or were except on a graph that depicts Countrywide's "total loans pending foreclosure." The graph shows the percent of loans pending foreclosure rising from .4 in 2004 (the low point) to .74 in 2007. That's a surge but at less than one percent the high point is still very low. Certainly it isn't high enough to threaten Countrywide's existence.

It isn't clear what "news analysis" means to the LAT. Is news analysis something that belongs in the opinion section but is published elsewhere in the newspaper? Is it a piece about which the editors couldn't decide? Does it contain mostly fact and a little opinion but not much news? Only the LAT knows for sure.

LAT on Republicans

The LAT's Janet Hook this morning explains, from a liberal's perspective, how far off base the Republican presidential candidates and the GOP are. She suggests that the candidates misunderstand the mood of the country and she expresses surprise and disappointment that they continue to support Bush policies with only slight modification. She seems to think that Republican voters are nut-cases. To prove her case, she quotes a political analyst from the Brooking Institution, which she labels "centrist," who argues that the GOP must remake itself but must suffer one or two electoral defeats before it comes to realize that.

It's all quite reasonable to a liberal.

Doyle McManus

LAT reporter Doyle McManus, formerly Washington bureau chief, writes this morning about the politics of the Iraq war debate in Washington. McManus is nothing if not partisan, and he seldom includes in his work quotes from named sources. Usually he writes of things he says he knows or things he's been told by "an administration official" or " a defense department official" or just "officials." He repeats that pattern today but he's a bit less partisan and he quotes some reputable people by name, such as Dennis Ross. Still, the piece mainly repeats what has been reported already by various media outlets. It contains no revelations.

LAT on Teresa

In an editorial today, the LAT says readers of the new Mother Teresa book shouldn't be surprised that Teresa sometimes had doubts about her religion and God's existence, and shouldn't be disappointed. Teresa's doubts do not diminish Teresa's faith or her good works, say LAT editors, exhibiting rare insight -- for the LAT.