Lexington on Spitzer

Lexington of The Economist begins his or her March 15th column by trashing Eliot Spitzer, who deserves it, but then goes off on a tangent. Lexington thinks Americans are too prudish, guilty of criminalizing merely sinful behavior, with the result that bureaucrats have too much power, jails are too full, court calendars are overloaded and the FBI wastes critical resources that could be devoted to tracking down terrorists. The argument is sound but Lexington overdoes it and comes off as an America-hater, which he or she may be, given that he or she probably is a European, transplanted or not.

Spitzer discovery Bush's fault

Paul Campos, in today's Orange County Register, argues that Eliot Spitzer could have kept on doing what he was doing but for the Bush administration's inappropriate and perhaps unlawful intervention. Spitzer did nothing wrong, argues Campos, nothing serious at least. The wrong-doer, according to Campos, was the Bush administration, which brought down a leading Democrat office-holder. Campos offers no facts, only suppositions.

LAT on Fallon

The LAT editorializes this morning on the Fallon resignation, arguing that Fallon is right and Petraeus is wrong. But the LAT offers no new facts, only suppositions.

John McLaughlin: conservative

In the Orange County Register's Orange Grove column this morning, columnist Denny Freidenrich, who says he's a political consultant in Laguna Beach, CA, identifies TV talk show host John McLaughlin as a conservative. It makes you wonder who Freidenrich consults with.

Shame! Shame! Shame!

That's not for Eliot Spitzer. It's what the LAT says to President Bush this morning in an editorial. If you disagree with the LAT, that is, if you don't do what the LAT wants you to do then you are shameful, the LAT editorial seems to say. Today's subject is Bush's veto of the bill that would have outlawed waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation tactics. The LAT takes the position that it is the authority on such matters and that anyone who doesn't agree is to be shamed.

The LAT is at least consistent. It takes the same position on global warming, Iraq, Blackwater, terrorist surveillance and many other issues. Shame on anyone who doesn't agree with the LAT.

UCLA says recession unlikely

The LAT reports today that forecasters at UCLA don't think the economy is headed for a recession. Growth will slow to nearly nothing, they say, but contraction isn't likely. It sounds reasonable, unlike predictions of LAT columnists like Gosselin and Petruno who seem to pray for a depression.

Same-sex unions

In an editorial today, the LAT argues there's no difference between a same-sex union and marriage. Well, one difference is the sex of the partners. Another is that a married couple ordinarily is able to procreate, something same-sex partners can't do. If that seems elemental it's because it is. It's no help to argue, for example, that women are the same as men, or that men are the same as women. They aren't. Some things are immutable.