National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley didn’t mince words in his Nov. 8 memo on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s failings, criticizing him for his political weaknesses. As many bloggers and pundits have noticed, some of the criticisms have a familiar ring.

Hadley on Maliki: “He impressed me as a leader who wanted to be strong but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so.”

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum on Bush: “[He was] a very unfamiliar type of heavyweight. Words often failed him, his memory sometimes betrayed him....”

Hadley on Maliki: “The information he receives is undoubtedly skewed by his small circle of Dawa advisers, coloring his actions and interpretation of reality.”

Former CIA analyst Paul Pillar: “The Bush administration deviated from the professional standard not only in using policy to drive intelligence, but also in aggressively using intelligence to win public support for its decision to go to war. This meant selectively adducing data--'cherry-picking'--rather than using the intelligence community’s own analytic judgments.”

Hadley on Maliki: “[Maliki should] Shake up his cabinet by appointing nonsectarian, capable technocrats in key service (and security) ministries.”

Veteran White House journalist Helen Thomas: “It’s time for President Bush to shake up his Cabinet, starting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and some of his cohorts at the Pentagon who have made so many costly mistakes.”

Hadley on Maliki: “He may simply not have the political or security capabilities to take such steps.”

Former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta: “He has really burned up whatever mandate he had from that last election.”

The major record companies and the music publishers have begun an internecine battle over royalties that could determine whether the industry can take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the Internet and new technology. Read more about it on the Bit Player blog.

A few years ago, I counted the billboards I passed going to work in the morning. I counted them facing either direction, on either side of Sunset Boulevard. There were 36. My commute is four miles long.

The L.A. City Council and City Attorney seem exhausted by their fight with the billboard companies, which sue and appeal, sue and appeal, to keep reasonable laws at bay as long as possible. Meanwhile, those companies rake in about $2 billion a year. And they are desparate to hold on to this income. This from an AP business story on Oct. 31, for instance (italics mine):

Clear Channel Communications Inc., which is examining whether to sell all or parts of itself, said Monday that third-quarter earnings fell 9.5%, but the largest operator of radio stations in the country eked out higher-than-expected profit and revenue....

Revenue from Clear Channel Outdoor, which sells advertising on billboards and at bus stops, rose 8% from a year earlier. Outdoor revenue grew 12% in the company's Americas segment.

So of course Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor sue. They have nothing to lose, and money to gain each year they put off regulation. While the Regency settlement, already given final approval, seems like small potatoes it's particularly distateful. That company's shady practices were the subject of a 5,000-word investigative story in Oct. 2005 by Times' staffer Ted Rohrlich. They were also suspected poisoning trees that blocked views of their billboards near LAX.

But as we all learned this week in the drama-laced Tennie Pierce case, the mayor can in fact veto such settlements. So I took some hope from a small detail deep in Rohrlich's piece. Back in 2001, when Regency was doling out free billboard space to political candidates, it gave $260,000-worth to James Hahn -- who was running against now-mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mr. Mayor: payback time?

Over in the news pages, Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton today pours cold Sierra runoff on the environmentalist dream of tearing down the Toulumne River's O'Shaughnessy Dam so that Hetch Hetchy Valley near Yosemite can be restored to its original meadow splendor, memorably described by naturalist hero John Muir as "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." (Here's a useful before-and-after comparison; also, see this Travel section piece from a half-year ago, and another from the short-lived Outdoors section.)

Skelton's takes mirrors that of our Editorial Board, which stated this July (sorry, no link):

[I]t's not at all clear that dismantling the dam and restoring the valley is the right thing to do now. [...]

[R]estoring the valley would be hellishly expensive -- $3 billion to $10 billion. [...]

Restoring Hetch Hetchy is a beautiful environmental dream. But it does not belong on anyone's short list of priority projects.

Any dams closer to home on the demolition list? Why, yes -- the silt-packed Matilija Dam, keeping the Ventura River at bay. According to a recent VC Reporter article,

A $130 million project to topple the massive Matilija Dam would be well underway if Ventura County, state agencies and local organizations could provide the local $52 million portion of the project's whopping price tag.

And there's the Malibu Creek's Rindge Dam. All of which is an elaborate excuse to link to still more river-related Christmas books:

Dam Politics: Restoring America's Rivers, by William R. Lowry (April 2003).

Watershed: The Undamming of America, by Elizabeth Grossman (June 2002).

Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, by Patrick McCully (December 2001).

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History, by Norris Hundley, Jr. (March 2001).

And, of course, the classic: Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner (August 1986).

Jesse Jackson wants people to hold their tongues. John Ridley gives him an earful.

Kevin E. Fry says the settlement in the Regency Outdoor Advertising suit is a sham that will leave the city with more billboards than ever.

"Dehumanized inmates and dehumanized jailers are a threat to everyone when they walk the streets."

"Shake up the silly behavior in the Fire Department and fire some pranksters."

"Now I'm through in one swallow."

"If the so-called Islamo-fascists want to cannibalize themselves in endless civil strife, well then, God is great, isn't he?"

"The fewer quitters we have around, the better."

"Nowhere is there precedent for requiring a copyright owner to forbid unauthorized use of a work in order to prevent such exploitation."

"Otherwise, this will be a case of fool me twice, shame on me."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out in Letters.

Get out of Harman's way: Pelosi avoided the wrong decision but has yet to make the right one on a crucial committee appointment.

LAFD goes to the dogs: If the Tennie Pierce case goes to court, it could be good for the city -- but not because it will be cheap.

Amen to fighting AIDS: Bush and the evangelical movement have done more than they get credit for in efforts to stem the disease.

Some of us just attended a meeting about what newspapers can do with websites, at which we were made aware of a nifty page worth bookmarking -- the Washington Post's Faces of the Fallen: Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties (they actually mean "fatalities"), where you can read mini-bios on all 3,203 Americans killed, break down the fallen by state, see a city-by-city breakdown among the 329 from California or the seven from Long Beach; or just focus on Pfc. George Torres.

What does this newspaper do? There's a useful collection of stories and special packages over at latimes.com/iraq, and a much cruder (though constantly updated) PDF file of fatalaties.

Jonah Goldberg says World War II/Iraq comparisons are stupid.

Robert Pastor proposes a North American Investment Fund to get the continent on the same economic level.

In last week's OC Weekly, occasional Times op-ed contributor Gustavo Arellano wrote about a new book by Patrick Mitchell, Santa Ana River Guide: From Crest to Coast - 110 Miles Along Southern California's Largest River System, which Arellano calls "an entertaining, informative read that's part travel guide, history, encyclopedia, biography -- and part activist tome for those who dream of a Santa Ana River restored to its natural state."

This is the latest in a flurry of semi-recent books on Southern California's various embattled rivers. Because it's almost Christmas, I thought it might be fun to compile a list. If there are any missing titles, please add them in the comments:

Down by the Los Angeles River: Friends of the Los Angeles River's Official Guide, by Joe Linton (October 2005).

The Sespe Wild: Southern California's Last Free River, by Bradley John Monsma (July 2004).

Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles, by Jared Orsi (January 2004).

The Definitive Guide to the Waterfalls of Southern and Central California, by Chris Shaffer (March 2003).

The Definitive Guide to Fishing in Southern California, by Chris Shaffer (June 2001).

Rio L. A.: Tales from the Los Angeles River, by our very own Patt Morrison and Mark Lamonica (May 2001).

The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth, by Blake Gumprecht (April 1999).

I'm still holding out hope for the Compton Creek, but mostly I'm shocked to not find on a quick search any Charles Lummis-style odes to the great Arroyo Seco....

From Sigrid Fry-Revere's piece on stem cell research funding yesterday:

In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 71, which provided $3 billion in public funds for stem cell research. Two years later, challenges to its constitutionality are still pending. Religious and taxpayer groups lost a first round in court, but their appeals, or any other state attempts to fund stem cell research, are likely to be tied up in court for at least another year.

Luckily for California, several private philanthropic organizations have loaned the state $14 million to start providing grants. This confirms the conclusions of a September 2005 article in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., which found that when public funding for research lapses, private funders almost always step in to take up the slack, often funding projects at a higher rate than did the government.

Other states have had similar experiences. The Ohio governor earmarked $19.4 million for Case Western University for stem cell research, but the Legislature banned it. Funds pledged by Illinois and New Jersey — $10 million and $5 million, respectively — are tied up in legislative limbo because politicians can't agree on what types of stem cell research should be funded and where the money should come from. Only one state got it right: Missouri. This month, voters passed a ballot initiative amending the Missouri Constitution to protect the right to pursue and benefit from any stem cell research or therapies allowed under federal law or available to other Americans. Government funding was not the issue; it was the need to guarantee that research could proceed without political interference. The Stowers Institute for Medical Research was standing by with $2 billion in funding. Once the amendment passed, research began within days.

The story of the Missouri initiative reflects one of the main drivers of the original Prop 71. At the time, proponents of 71 were arguing, to me at any rate, that the goal of that initiative was not so much to get public funds as to get the state on record as being in favor of stem-cell research—and by extension, to head off a series of efforts to ban this research outright. Here's how Robert Klein—then head of the Yes On 71 committee and now chairman of the oversight committee for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine—described it:

"In 2002 and 2003, when the Weldon bill was in the House of Representatives, Proposition 71 wasn't even a dream," says Robert Klein, chairman of the Yes On 71 Coalition. "The Brownback bill didn't involve public funding at all. The Bush administration has gotten Costa Rica to front a UN bill outlawing this research worldwide. It's initiatives like this that made our own congressional allies to tell us 'We can't hold this dike back forever. You need to get enough funding to scientists so they can show some results.' Historically, public funding has broadened public support."

That last bit is a perfect specimen of the kind of mad logic public funding brings with it. The best way to convince yourself that a new scientific process is not evil is to spend your own tax dollars convincing yourself it's not evil. The worst part is that I'm not sure Klein was wrong about this.

Because Arnold values his own personal political legacy and trajectory more than Republican partisanship, sometime in this second term, he, and his Democratic allies, are indeed going to raise taxes. And why not? To make health care universal in California? To make us the national environmental leader? To achieve any of the monumental programs he wants attached to his name and record, Arnold will have no choice. And he’ll most likely have popular approval. Californians rarely balk at reasonable taxes when a clear, beneficial outcome is attached. Probably nothing would serve Schwarzenegger better than to confront a Republican legislative rebellion on his right flank. Staring down his own party’s anti-everything troglodytes would only consolidate his dominance of the political center and, with his current outreach to his left, might even give him the majority he would need to displace Boxer.

Is Michael "Kramer" Richards Jewish, or not? Call me a dehumanizer, but this interests me less than whether the main characters of Seinfeld were Jewish. Which is to say, I never thought about it much, and always assumed all of them were, until reading Cathy Seipp:

[W]hich character was and which wasn't Jewish on "Seinfeld" evolved from casual, almost improvisational whims rather than careful consideration. Take George Costanza's Italian surname, although that character (a stand-in for co-creator Larry David) seemed the most Jewish of all.

"We didn't have any idea we were doing a show," David said, when I asked him about the Costanza business. "We were doing a pilot, and Jerry knew a guy named Costanza, and it was, oh, we'll call him Costanza."

But then why were the Jewish princessy Elaine and Kramer (the name Kramer is typically Jewish) also supposed to be gentile?

"Elaine wasn't Jewish," David responded, sounding like he was thinking aloud when I questioned him about it. "I knew she was from Maryland, and at least in my head she wasn't Jewish. Costanza's half-Jewish. And Kramer ... hmm ... so maybe he wasn't a Jew? He said he wasn't Jewish -- that was in the show? I wasn't there [at that point.]"

Over at Pajamas Media, Seipp also makes the obvious-yet-underexamined point that racism and advancing age often correlate well:

A friend (who, like me, is in his 40s) and I happened to be chatting about the Richards debacle. My friend said he thought the N-word will be with us until those who grew up hearing it as a matter of course pass away. He mentioned in particular his kindly grandmother who, when provoked, could let loose with a stream of racist invective that could curl your hair. One of the many ways daily life in American is better now than it was in decades past is that such vile eruptions are now rare enough to be considered newsworthy.

This reminded me of my own grandmother, who thankfully never used the N-word. But like most Jews of that generation she always said "schwartzer" - always insisting it was not impolite at all, because it's just the Yiddish term for black, so what's the problem? That was disingenious, of course; any insider's term for outsiders is always at least a little rude. If schwartzer just means black, for instance, then how come my grandmother never said she had a schwartzer cat?

Wal-Mart recently jumped into the downloadable movie business, once again coming a bit late to the party. This time, the company's approach is significantly different from that taken by Apple and other rivals: it's selling downloads bundled with the DVD version of the movie (only one movie, "Superman Returns," is available at this point). In other words, the download is a complement to the disc, not a substitute. That's how many of the major entertainment companies would like the business to evolve, with people paying an extra charge to put a copy of their movies onto their portable player or PC. Read more on this topic at the Bit Player blog.

Barry Lando looks at the statistics and concludes that Iraq's conflict is in the same league with the American and Lebanese civil wars.

"So why don't we work out mutually beneficial deals with the world's communist, fascist and religious dictators?"

"When McCain's voting record shows he is indeed a conservative Republican, when he backs down from habeas corpus and kisses up to right-wing ideologues, he loses his "maverick" standing."

"Perhaps the U.S. should consider buying out the Israeli settlements and giving the land back to Palestinians."

"At last, a high-profile politician is willing to go on record with support for the entertainment industry."

"Both sides can now find irony in the fact that the Getty Bronze is actually Greek and sank while being borne to Italy as the spoils of Roman power."

"Yes, L.A.'s finest get away with it again."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out, in Letters.

Max Boot says regional Iraq peace talks will cost too much and deliver too little.

Folly and faux pas: Between political gaffes, the French talk a good game—but words in wartime are cheap.

Why is movie attendance up? Maybe because there are more movies that suck less.

The pope and the eastern church: Benedict XVI must mend fences with Orthodox Christians as well as Muslims.

Erin Aubry Kaplan punctures the idea that affirmative action should be a source of shame.

Amos Oz repeats the list of painful ingredients that will have to go into a real Israeli-Palestinian peace.

A few weeks ago the Times editorial board piped up in favor of naming Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) to the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, rather than Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.). Harman's role is yet to be determined, but Hastings is toast. Incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) gave the acquitted-of-bribery congressman the bad news in a closed door meeting.

While Pelosi may be through kicking Hastings around, the Almighty is not: "Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet," Hastings announced in a statement.

Special Hymietown Update: Michael McGough notes that Hastings is repeating a 1984 statement by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, which was generally interpreted as an apology for his famous anti-Semitic slur against the Big Apple. Jackson's quote:

If, in my low moments, in word, deed or attitude, through some error of temper, taste, or tone, I have caused anyone discomfort, created pain, or revived someone's fears, that was not my truest self. If there were occasions when my grape turned into a raisin and my joy bell lost its resonance, please forgive me. Charge it to my head and not to my heart. My head—so limited in its finitude; my heart, which is boundless in its love for the human family. I am not a perfect servant. I am a public servant doing my best against the odds. As I develop and serve, be patient: God is not finished with me yet.

In my column Sunday examining John McCain's political ideology, I talked of how he admires people with character flaws if said flaws are channeled in the service of the Higher Power of patriotic duty, often manifesting in the use of military force. Nowhere is that more evident than in his writings on his idol, Teddy Roosevelt, as culled from his 2003 bestseller, Worth the Fighting For. Many passages of that book contain all these elements, and are, in their way, more illuminating when quoted at length. You can see what I mean after the jump.

Having lulled countless bus riders into a trance with this piece on L.A. mass transit's TV party, I must lay a wreath at the smoldering remains of Jack Shafer's magisterial study of the bus-plunge story. What is the bus-plunge story? It's a now-forgotten genre of filler news item detailing mass-fatality bus accidents in what they used to call the Third World. Shafer explains:

Plunge should appear in the hed; the piece should be only a couple of sentences long; and it should "include the number feared dead, the identity of any group on board"—a soccer team, church choir, or students—"as well as the distance of the plunge from the capital city." The words ravine or gorge should appear.

Fitting the utilitarian nature of that description, the bus-plunge story was the Johnny Bravo of news: popular because it fit the small spaces at the end of cut-and-paste stories. Here's a Shafer close reading of a bus-plunge story:

Bus Plunge Kills 8
LAS PALMAS, Canary Islands, July 20 (UPI)—Eight persons perished today when a small bus plunged over a 300-foot cliff into the sea near the town of Mogan. One man jumped from the vehicle before it reached the edge and was saved. All the victims were Spaniards.

As typeset, this article takes up 10 lines. I assume that the copy editor who cut this piece from the AP wire included the sentences about the jumper and the victims' nationality to maximize the makeup editors' options. By physically snipping one sentence, the makeup editors could reduce it to a nine-line story on the fly. By snipping two, they could cork an even smaller layout hole with a six-line story.

Shafer is not the discoverer of the bus-plunge story. Fans have been following the phenomenon for many years, and even the original bus-plunge editors had some ironic distance on the genre: They were aware of bus-plunge as a distinct genre even while they were creating it. Wikipedia's bus-plunge entry has been up for more than a year, and there's a bus-plunge news site. Shafer has followed up the immensely popular story. Plunge into it.

Joel Stein finds a New York restaurateur who's successful, well read, and looking for his Mr. Right at Sean Hannity's dating service.

As state funding for stem cell research fails to materialize, Sigrid Fry-Revere argues that the private sector is a better source.

"In dealing intelligently with seniors, don't make a religion of choice."

"And tint it green for old times' sake."

"Or are we all stuck in the medieval religious conflicts?"

"That Benedict shares many of the same reactionary, divisive and intolerant social and religious attitudes that characterize fundamentalist Islam is hardly reassuring to the rest of us."

"It was an ongoing joke that the road we were building was for the NVA to use as soon as we were gone."

"Each adult American above the poverty line who supported the administration's decision to invade Iraq should send  $100 to $1,000, depending on wealth, to the appropriate nongovernmental agency set up to help the Iraqi people."

"Indeed, the conflict between the Shiites and Sunnis mirrors conflicts that black and Latino residents have with many Korean shop owners."

"I will keep this tucked away for a rainy day."

"Attempts to limit growth will result in overcrowding and less affordable housing."

"But then, when I listen to Mencia or Chappelle, I'm similarly stunned."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out in Letters.

Throw Olmert a bone: Israel's olive branch is an opportunity for the Palestinians—if they can accept the facts of life in the Mideast.

A high point for Nepal: Its people have managed to nullify a tyrannical king and push insurgents toward peace.

Which way, California Republicans? Governor Schwarzenegger's policies won the state, but will his party get the message?

Getty Museum director Michael Brand details the museum's painful negotiations with the Italian government over "Victorious Youth" and other works.

By far, the biggest fan favorite in our Thanksgiving editorials greatest hits (and leftovers!) was the 1912 bit about the "effete despotism of Europe," and the impostor "pie de pumpkin" being served in the fashionable salons of Paris. So by popular demand, after the jump you will find the old-timey newspaper stylings of a Nov. 28, 1912 editorial.

As a fan of both John Leguizamo and celebrity memoirs, I've been enjoying Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends, the diminutive fireball's warts-and-all mid-career retrospective. Some choice bits:

On Ellen Barkin: "That bent nose, that twisted face. She looks like whoever was sculpting her had a seizure toward the end. It's sexy as hell. All you think about is doggy-style when you're with her."

On Steven Seagal: "I wanted to say, "You run like a big, fat girl." Because he does. Watch one of his movies sometime. If you can stand to. Runs like a big fat sissy doing double dutch."

On Nicole Kidman: "[B]eing that low all the time, I got to peek up Nicole Kidman's skirt. Let me just say the curtains match the carpet."

On Brian Dennehy: "I think he was drying out at the time, so that made him a little edgy."

On making What's the Worst That Could Happen?: "That's the worst that can happen to you—watching that movie."

Leguizamo has a beef with Al Pacino's lead performance in Carlito's Way, writing: "I guess he got to play a Puerto Rican on the same reverse-affirmative-action program that let him play a Cuban in Scarface...Pacino is...really very good, in spite of all the people who say he's very good. But his Nuyorican accent sounded like Foghorn Leghorn."

This seems like a legitimate gripe, but if Leguizamo is going to complain about cross-ethnic casting, I've got three words for him: Super Mario Brothers. At a time when Italian-Americans everywhere were bellyaching about negative stereotypes in Mafia movies, Nintendo's courageous plumbers were two positive, hard-working, mustachioed role models all sons of Italy could look to with pride. Yet when it came time to cast the film version of that game, Hollywood decided a Colombian and a rotund Cockney were "close enough" for the movies.

Leguizamo took that part with a spritely Mario leap, and went on to play another great Italian-American role in the wonderful Spike Lee joint Summer of Sam. Did he worry about any of the great movie Italians—Tony Shalhoub, maybe, or Ben Affleck—he was putting out of work? Maybe someday all Italian parts will be reserved for true-blue paisans like Mercedes Ruehl and James Caan, thoroughbred Greeks like Andrea Martin and Anthony Quinn will get all the Greek roles, Jews will be limned by certified kosher performers like Stanley Tucci and John Turturro, and the Irish will only be played by true sons of Erin like the Estevez brothers and, um, James Caan. Until then, Leguizamo must accept his complicity in the ongoing hate crime of all-purpose-ethnic casting.

HBO has yet to join the online TV revolution, offering neither downloads for sale nor on-demand streams of its signature productions. In a recent interview, though, HBO's chief executive talked about the network's plan to bring its shows online -- but only for current subscribers to HBO's TV channel. Head over to the Bit Player blog to read more about why this is a lame idea.

The Comics Curmudgeon asks if there's any way to save the funny pages.

"Jonah Goldberg proves again that he is to journalism what George Bush is to the presidency.

"He too is right."

"Ruby deserves to live her golden years as a free elephant would, with access to a herd she can bond with, and land she can roam for hours and hours each day.

"Granted, the machines are noisy, but you are restricted on the speed and the trails you can take in the park, and animals are not afraid of the snowmobiles.

"And our treatment of them there is just plain shameful."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out in Letters.

Expedite the AGOA: Congress should avoid the political entanglements and extend trade legislation vital to the poorest continent.

The Ethan question: A child's senseless death raises concerns about the priorities of federal crime policies.

Keroack is wack: Bush made a poor choice in selecting who will oversee how millions are spent on family planning.

Niall Ferguson looks over the Middle East's civil warscape and says, "Confused? You will be."

Dr. Susan Love and Sue Rochman count up just a few of the many things we don't know about breast cancer.

Already feeling the hubris of its still-unlaunched Chandrayaan I lunar probe, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to land on Mars by 2012 or 2013. Says ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair: "Mars is emerging on our horizon. The [geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle] can take a payload to Mars and our Deep Space Network can track it all the way. There is a lot of interest in Mars, though the distances are large. The missions of the United States and the European Space Agency have given us some interesting data. Let us see what value addition our mission can bring."

Let us indeed. ISRO promises it will use "powerful remote-sensing gadgets" to explore the Valles Marineris, which Mars buffs recognize as the Red Planet's Grand Canyon. (Fans of Ben Bova's laconically titled Mars will also remember that the VM was the locus of life-on-Mars speculation in that book.) Some skepticism is in order: Mars is many orders of magnitude more difficult than the Moon—which the ISRO has also not reached yet—and the loose terms being thrown around indicate some complacency about how hard the chosen landing site is. My understanding is that NASA and the European Space Agency have stayed away from the otherwise very inviting Valles Marineris because, even by the never-promising standards of Martian landing sites, it is particularly difficult. The ESA, by comparison, chose the relatively safe Isidis Planitita for its Beagle 2 landing site, and still failed to land the craft safely. Landing on Mars is no picnic.

Nevertheless, this ambition should be cheered even by those who view space exploration through the grotesque lens of national competition and publicly funded space agencies. NASA is badly trailing the Russian space agency in revenue-generating ideas, and the agency needs to abandon its publicity-driven fondness for manned space travel—a wonderful idea, but one that should be left to people who are willing to put up their own money for it. The more rival agencies putting robot probes up on the next planet, the better.

Related: Mars Global Surveyor, R.I.P.

"It's all your fault," one man screams at Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki as a crowd of Shiites throw rocks at the leader's car. Reuters reports that "Iraqis...decry" Maliki's inability to rein in militants and jumpstart the economy, but the use of the term "Iraqis" at all must now be seen as wishful thinking. To the extent that any such group exists, it is united only in its desire to kick the United States out of the country formerly known as Iraq. It's a pretty safe bet that when the Baghdad rockers say they want Maliki to put up a better fight against militants, they're not thinking of the Mahdi army.

Matt Welch describes the disturbing collectivist mentality of the man who would be the next maximum leader of the United States.

Greg Rodriguez considers the Singapore model favored by schools superintendent David L. Brewer.

Lebanon on the brink: A political murder could spark a disastrous chain of events. The U.S. must help protect its fragile regime.

Clean up the Navajos' poisoned land: Uranium mining has wreaked havoc on the Navajo people. The country owes it to them to clean up the mess.

Another try for L.A. ballet: Los Angeles Ballet is the latest company to attempt success against long odds. We wish it well.

All the reporters' character flaws: Alicia C. Shepard reviews the late Alan J. Pakula's notes to see how Woodward and Bernstein complemented, and hated, each other.

You can't beat us; join us: David Eun says stop worrying and learn to love Google. 

The pope and the Muslims' common enemy—your freedom: As Pope Benedict XVI talks Turkey, John L. Allen Jr. looks to the anti-modern fanatic Sayyid Qutb and finds the Holy Father's spiritual brother.

Poison and the KGB, perfect together: David Wise takes a toxic tour of Russian espionage history.   

West Bank bamboozlement: Gershom Gorenberg surveys the not-quite-legal shenanigans on Palestinian-owned settlement land. 

Komedy Korner: Barbara Garson proposes defending America with killing jokes.

Fundies out of nappies: Michael Bywater says fundamentalism is not as infantile as originally advertised.

Jonathan Chait wonders if restoring Saddam Hussein to power is any worse than any other scenarios for Iraq.

Jon Healey finds an ominous precursor to YouTube and MySpace.

Swati Pandey, exhausted with the social-networking singles scene, settles in with good ol' MySpace.

With even the Times arguing against the intrusive Live Free Or Die Hard location filming, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa says we need to keep movie shoots from defecting to Canada.

Martin Kimel says a charitable gift to an endowment-rich school is a waste.

"This is a rough description of a libertarian outlook, which I also have noted and approve."

"Surely the MTA would not put such devices on its rail lines and besiege its more affluent ridership with debt consolidation advertisements and the weather conditions in Dallas."

"To truly go native in the area between downtown and the beaches, the city would have to get rid of all the trees and even shrubs."

"The answer to the educational problem is not paying top teachers more."

"Presumably this will be the first American courthouse in our history to be built without jury boxes or a place for the public to view open proceedings."

"It is hard to get people to cooperate while bombing their nation."

"So I'm exercising a certain amount of maternalism."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out in Letters.

Alexander Litvinenko gets a deadly dose of polonium-210, and it's hard to take Vladimir Putin's denials seriously.

Tender the one-buck coin, buck the one-dollar bill.

What do the vintners buy half so precious as the thing they sell? A slimming dose of resveratrol, apparently.

Meghan Daum rewinds the latest body-clock scare.

David Drucker, a liberal who headed to Canada after the 2004 election, pulls over his Volvo, turns down NPR, takes a sip of latte, and rolls up his Utne Reader to announce that even a Democratic congress can't bring him back from the Great White North.

I'm an admirer of Michael Shermer's writing (I cited him in my last pronouncement on intelligent design (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05271/578754.stm).

But readers of his op-ed about everyone's inner Kramer should know that the Implicit Association Test used to out closet bigots is controversial.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/12/19/invisible_bias.

Even if one accepts that a test (or brain scan) can ferret out concealed bigotry, it makes sense to observe the traditional distinction between words and thoughts, even if in some situations it's something of a legal fiction. Michael Richards' offense was what he said (and to whom he said it), not the imagery of his unconscious.

   Instead of congratulating Richards for "having the courage to confess in public what far too many of us still harbor in private," we should lament that that he didn't respond to those hecklers with "Yo-Yo Ma!" or "Hochie Mama!"

Patt Morrison finds the perfect antidote to the hard-sell midterms: Cal Worthington and his dog Spot.

"One question to the White House and the New Age generation: What have you learned from history?"

"I hope we are being lied to about this war on terror."

"That Pelosi's other consideration in this essential matter is meeting racial quotas for blacks and Latinos makes her posture all the more egregious."

"If the waitress is required to pay taxes on her income, shouldn't the billionaire be required to pay taxes on his?"

"To continue arguing that Jewish settlements are an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians is to ignore the overwhelming evidence to the contrary."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out in Letters.

Remembering Robert Altman, Garrison Keillor dreams, among other things, of Lindsay Lohan reclining on a couch.

Jonah "Dr. Zaius" Goldberg explains how belief in the Sacred Scrolls promotes good behavior among all apes.

125 years of L.A. Times Thanksgiving editorials. For ones that didn't make the cut, see item just below.

Tomorrow we will devote the entire Editorial page to a collection of Times Thanksgiving-related editorials of the past 125 years (well, really from the last 106, but who's counting!).

As you can imagine, much of interest did not make the cut. So to whet your appetite for the main course tomorrow, here's a look at some editorials from the 1910s, with an emphasis placed on how we felt about our warring cousins in Europe. First up, 1912:

From the Black Sea to the Adriatic the land is filled with the graves of the victims of battle and pestilence. While the great powers of Europe will probably not engage in actual battle over the carving of Turkey, yet their maxim is "the best security for peace is the most tremendous preparation for war," and they are building dreadnoughts, and equipping arsenals, and withdrawing hundreds of thousands of men from productive industry and drilling them as soldiers.

In Southeastern Europe the air is murky with the smoke of battle and thick with the fragments of dissolving empire. In our own favored land peace and plenty abound. America is favored by Almighty Power.

Then 1914:

[T]oday in this queen city of the queenliest realm beneath the sun, in this fairest of all the fair daughters of America, we gather around the plenteous boards and thank God that the war and sorrows and desolation of the lands beyond the sea have touched us not.

1915:

For across the Atlantic the lands of Europe are steeped in blood, the industries of Europe are wrecked, the homes of Europe are desolated, and over the empty treasure boxes of nine nations bankruptcy hovers like a bird of night.

The best manhood of Europe has been slaughtered, wives have been widowed, children made fatherless, and hunger and sickness and death stalk abroad.

Oh, God, the pity of it!

We return thanks to the Infinite Father who has prospered this land while other lands have sorely suffered, and again and yet again we repeat the prayer which thus far the God of the Nations has abundantly answered:

"From battle, murder and sudden death, good Lord deliver us."

1916:

To the people of Southern California almost every day in the year is a thanksgiving day. No better evidence of this fact is to be found than in the campaign in which Los Angeles and surrounding cities are now engaged, securing funds for the relief of the suffering widows and orphans of Germany.... This is a cause to which offerings are being contributed by rich and poor alike and by people of all nationalities and all walks of life. Yesterday a one-armed man walked into the room and deposited a silver dollar, refusing to give his name. That is the kind of charity that counts and that is true thanksgiving.

1917:

Success continues to follow the fighting flags of freedom. Seven days ago Gen. Byng drove his unexpected wedge clean through the middle of the German entrenchments, smashing the Hindenburg line like a plate of glass. The news from the battle front is still full of encouragement to the champions of democracy.

For the first time since the battle of the Marne the Boche has been driven from his dug-outs and cellars and "pill boxes" and forced to fight in the open. In such open fighting scientific mathematical organization counts for little against the gallant and chivalrous spirit. On a front thirty-two miles long to a depth of eight mils at the apex Gen. Haig's intrepid soldiers are driving cold steel and the fear of God into the hearts of the Hun invaders.

Every branch of the Allied armies has felt the electric thrill of coming victory.

Stay tuned tomorrow, for red-baiting the Pilgrims, kicking William Jennings Bryan when he's down, referring to God as "Him" as late as 1966, and other fun Thanksgiving-editorial highlights. This blog will likely be gorging on bird until Friday.

Erin Aubry Kaplan's column The O.J.-Kramer discrepancy, has been getting the two-minute hate treatment out there in the world.

Virginian Michael Oliver calls it "the dumbest editorial in history," which he later amends to second-dumbest. Dickinson college prof Crispin Sartwell terms it a "very odd column." Lefty Barbara O'Brien says it's "too stupid to be real." Dr. Steven Taylor finds Kaplan "straining to create moral equivalence." Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan reckons it's "a terribly weak argument," and Commentator Steve Sailer files it under the "Dept. of 'Huh?'"

It wasn't hard to predict that L.A. Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez would make waves with his column from this Sunday, What's left of the L.A. left?, the thesis of which is contained in these two paragraphs:

For most of the last generation, L.A.'s public intellectual life has been dominated by editors, thinkers and writers who ran the ideological gamut from A to B — from committed liberal to strident leftist. But in the last few years, as the Labor Left has consolidated its control over City Hall, it has simultaneously lost its firm grip on the small class of writers and thinkers who narrate L.A.'s civic life for the broader public.

Remember the early 1990s, after the city had self-destructed and a Republican mayor presided? Back then, Marxist apocalypticist Mike Davis ruled the intellectual roost and attained cult-like status. It's not that everyone agreed with Davis' dark millenarian vision, but few challenged him publicly in part because his zealous followers bullied dissenters. Anyone to the right of Friedrich Engels was labeled a fascist and risked personal attacks. The despair in the wake of the riots had made left-wing noir all the rage, and, as historian Kevin Starr once quipped, for a brief moment in L.A., pessimism passed for deep thought.

What was possibly surprising was the vehemence and free-associative nature of Davis' rebuttal, as expressed in an e-mail to Op-Ed Editor Nicholas Goldberg that quickly wound up on Kevin Roderick's L.A. Observed, under the subject heading of "tokenism is the deeper issue." Excerpt:

I don't really give a shit what lies and innuendo you guys print about me, but you might give some consideration to the Times' unchanging paternalist policy of allowing only one token (and since the death of Frank del Olmo - conservative) Latino voice to regularly appear on its Op-Ed and Opinion pages.

Davis and Rodriguez, as befits two of L.A.'s leading interpreters, have some history. A quick Google search brings up this sharp Rodriguez quote from a 1998 Salon feature about Davis coming under increasing attack for his scholarship:

"I object to the way he treats Latinos -- they have been fodder for his Marxist fantasies," says Gregory Rodriguez, associate editor for the Pacific News Service. "I think it's condescending. I tend to tie Mike Davis into a whole Anglo-apocalyptic school. There's a generation of whites who are growing older, and they have a sense that the end is near. The era in which their preeminence was unique is over, and Mike Davis feeds into that. At the same time, this is the moment other groups are going to get a piece of the pie, so Davis is dooming our world at the very moment we are taking our place in it."

And, from a 1999 San Francisco Chronicle essay:

Davis' earlier work was viewed with suspicion, especially by minority groups who saw themselves as the future of the city. His view, said Gregory Rodriguez of the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, was "self-indulgent" and "crap."

In a 2000 Times book review discussing (among others) Davis' "Magical Urbanism," Rodriguez was more measured:

Mike Davis does a better job exploring the nuances of Latino identity at the opening of his volume of what are essentially short essays. In an energetic chapter titled "Buscando America," he tackles the multifaceted and ever-changing nature of what he calls "Latinidad." He perceptively concludes that "to be Latino in the United States ... is to participate in a unique process of cultural syncretism that may be a transformative template for the whole society." Davis is most interesting when he explores the ways in which Latin American immigrants are affecting U.S. life and culture. The book's most illuminating chapter tells of Latinos reinventing and re-configuring the urban landscape.

But most of the book is a sensationalist polemic in which the lives of powerless Latinos are directed by Anglo bosses making "Orwellian threats," INS officials who sound like "Slobodan Milosevic" and Orange County teenagers who act like "haughty Beverly Hills 90210 wannabes." Davis is surprisingly careless on key facts. For example, he misidentifies former California State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) as a representative of the San Gabriel Valley, cites the wrong year for the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and claims that Mexico recently passed a law allowing dual citizenship. (The Mexican government was careful to allow only naturalized U.S. citizens to reclaim the more limited rights that come with dual "nationality.")

Other reaction to Rodriguez's piece included former LA Weekly news editor Alan Mittelstaedt, in an e-mail published at L.A. Observed, saying his former publication was caricaturized. Excerpt:

Rodriguez made some valid points about the media's coverage of so-called leftist leaders and causes, but I wish to dispute his central thesis that demeans the work and reputation of the news staff and freelancers at the L.A. Weekly. The paper's focus on hard-hitting, investigative work challenging liberal sacred cows did not begin with the recent takeover by New Times. An era when the paper served as the left's unwavering mouthpiece ended long ago.

And Brady Westwater, the one-man Mike Davis-demythologizer, gives Rodriguez kudos, albeit with a characteristic correction.

Change the school calendar: Why should so many public schools be half-empty today?

Affiliates show their juice: What the O.J. cancellation tells us about outdated FCC rules.

The Puritans weren't all that: The Pilgrims were more fun than you think.

It's been a banner week locally for the non-MSM media, particularly blogs. Or has it?? Let's roll tape:

City Council settles a racial-harassment lawsuit with black LAFD firefighter Tennie Pierce after his colleagues served dog food in his spaghetti