U.S. attorneys

The firing of the U.S. attorneys in 2006 is back in the news and on today's LAT editorial page. By now the story should have died a natural death. People are still investigating this controversy and the investigation will continue, apparently, until someone is found guilty of something having little or nothing to do with the firings. It's a complete waste of time and resources, and partly explains why governmental budgets must be so high. The Justice Department, Congressional committees, witnesses and judges surely have more productive ways of spending their time.  

Pelosi's rant

What kind of judgment does it take to go before a crowd of voters whose votes you need and tell half of them they're no good scoundrels? The answer is poor judgment, which is what Pelosi has. How a person having such poor judgment could reach a level where he or she is third in line for the presidency is impossible to understand. It does not speak well of a political system that such a person would fill such a key position. 

What kind of political party would make a person with such poor judgment their leader? Who would follow such a leader? Only the dull and ignorant, which is why 95 members of Pelosi's own party voted against the "bailout" bill yesterday.

Pelosi and Barney Frank have told us repeatedly that they had a deal. Obviously, they never had a deal. What kind of judgment does it take to claim you have a deal when you don't?

Congress's approval rating is in the teens, with justification. With leaders like Pelosi and Harry Reid and negotiators like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, poor results should be expected.

Just like the depression

LAT columnist Al Martinez writes today that it feels just like the Great Depression, during which he claims to have grown up. In the course of his diatribe, he takes a few shots at President Bush, calling him "pasty-faced and uncertain," which may reveal more about Martinez than Bush.

During the depression of the 1930s, a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Today, 6 percent are nationwide, 7 percent in California. Breadlines were everywhere then, but there are few if any now. Prices then were falling, now they're increasing at 5 percent per year. The economy shrank during the depression, now it's growing, at 3 percent last quarter.

Anyone who says today is like the depression of the 1930s either didn't live then or has forgotten what it was like.

LAT favors silent preachers

The LAT argues in an editorial this morning that some preachers in California and other states are proposing to tell their congregations this Sunday that they are duty-bound to vote for John McCain. Arguing "the separation of church and state," the LAT suggests that the First Amendment prohibits what the preachers propose to do, but doesn't say it outright; instead, the LAT says that tax laws prohibit it.

Clearly, the First Amendment doesn't come into play here on a religion basis -- thought it may on a free speech basis -- because it restricts Congress, not the American people. It says Congress shall make no law establishing a religion or preventing the free exercise thereof. Tax laws are often murky. The preachers may have to debate the IRS on the question. The LAT shouldn't prejudge the issue.

Rutten chimes in

LAT columnist Tim Rutten agrees with LAT editors about "the separation of church and state" and fleshes out the debate a little more in a column this morning. Evangelical Protestant preachers in 22 states will participate in a "pulpit initiative" this weekend which they intend will test the validity of what Rutten says is a 54-year old provision of the Internal Revenue Code that bans "political endorsements by tax-exempt organizations, including churches." 

The preachers and their lawyers evidently believe either that the ban is unconstitutional or that it doesn't require what Rutten and the LAT think it does. We'll see. Try it in a court of law and see what the courts think. The issue ought to be settled one way or the other.

Barney Frank isn't a czar

Since Henry Paulson introduced his "bailout" plan, the media have treated Barney Frank as its sole source of news on the process of negotiations. Even Chris Dodd played second fiddle to Frank, partly because Paulson chose to negotiate primarily with Frank. It turns out that Barney is just another congressman, chairman of a key committee but ineffective in negotiating for the entire Congress.

Paulson should have known better. He shouldn't have paid Frank as much attention as he did. He should have insisted on bringing House Republicans into the negotiations.

And the media ought to stop being Barney Frank's mouthpiece. 

LAT: Teenage girls have rights

The LAT argued yesterday that teenage girls have the right to kill their unborn babies without parental notification. They can't get a cavity filled or a tan in a tanning salon without parental approval but a serious procedure like an abortion is OK. That's the essence of the LAT argument.

Proposition 4 on the California ballot in November proposes to stop teenagers from getting abortions without parental notification but it contains plenty of ways to avoid notification.  For example, a teenager can escape the notification requirement by alleging parental abuse or fear of same.  

The LAT argues that Proposition 4 is just the latest attempt by anti-abortion forces to put restrictions on abortions. The LAT argues that the abuse escape valve wouldn't be effective because of the way the provision is written. Would the LAT support Proposition 4 if the abuse escape valve were re-written? Not likely. They oppose any restrictions on the right to an abortion, regardless of age or circumstances.