LAT badmouths McCain

Also on the front page today, the LAT takes John McCain to task for not releasing his wife's tax returns. It's petty. McCain's wife's share of community income is shown on a schedule attached to McCain's return. Besides, the McCains released the tax returns of their foundation. Did the Clintons do that?

Benedict in color

Pope Benedict finally made the front page of the LAT this morning, in living color. Benedict was at the U.N., which may explain why the picture made the front page. The LAT loves the U.N.

Inside, the LAT devotes a page to Benedict's visit, including pictures in color.

LAT opposes capital punishment

In an editorial today, the LAT speculates that some future Supreme Court will declare capital punishment illegal and argues that the recent 7-2 decision in the Kentucky case makes that more likely. Neither of these arguments makes any sense.

But the LAT compounds its silliness by criticizing Justice Scalia for sensibly arguing that decisions about capital punishment should be made by legislatures instead of courts. The LAT curiously calls that "sputtering."

More importantly, the LAT misses the whole point. Capital punishment is wrong because is requires the taking of a human life which is precious and sacred and God-given, whatever the choices made by the person who lived that life. Capital punishment is no more defensible than abortion or euthanasia. They all involve the taking of a precious, sacred and God-given human life.

LAT pictures Benedict in black and white

LAT coverage of the pope's visit begins on page A3 -- and ends there -- with a couple of nice black and white pictures, both of which would have been glorious in color. Printing press problems prevent color on page A3, you say? Reporting on the Iraq war on page A6 is covered in color. And all the Macy's ads are in color.

LAT whitewashes Dems, ignores pope

On today's front page, the LAT carries a story about how Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous were picking on Hill and Barack the other night, laments the price of gasoline, trashes California health care insurers, reports that the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles may be "setting quotas" and tells readers that new security scanners at LAX will reveal their private parts. Sadly, it nearly ignores the pope's visit, probably the most newsworthy recent event.

NewsHour reports on Pope Benedict visit

Last night, PBS's NewsHour reported on the visit of Pope Benedict to the U.S. for the first time. The report, however, focused almost entirely on the abuse scandal and other problems within the church. Positive aspects of the visit and the church were ignored. The NewsHour's discussion panel inevitably included a man who touted the end of celibacy, women in the priesthood, abortion and other issues, all of which are dead issues within the church and pointless even to mention in a discussion of the pope's visit. Apparently, NewsHour editors were unable to see beyond the issues they focused on, and this says more about the NewsHour than about the pope's visit or the Catholic Church.

LAT assigns burdens to Pope Benedict

In an editorial this morning, the LAT loads down Pope Benedict with things to avoid during his visit to the U.S. Among these is that Benedict should not fault Catholic colleges for allowing "robust debate" about "abortion, homosexuality and women's rights." Benedict surely appreciates the help.