Opinion: In today’s pages: O.J. Simpson, sex offenders, and a psychic
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The editorial board comments on the new O.J. Simpson saga:
The events that transpired Thursday at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas remain murky to all but their participants, who are giving contradictory accounts. The facts were at first murky in June 1994 too, when the only things the world knew were that Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a male acquaintance were found murdered outside her Brentwood condominium and that O.J. was the prime suspect. This time, age and the knowledge that he can get away with anything seem to have mellowed Simpson; rather than lead police on a low-speed chase down the Strip in a white Bronco, he calmly granted media interviews in his hotel room until officers arrived to arrest him Sunday morning.
The board hopes Congress will protect attorney-client privilege no matter who the client is, and also evaluates Bush’s nominee to replace Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.
Columnist Jonah Goldberg argues that Alan Greenspan is no Bush-basher, contrary to liberal claims. Human Rights Watch U.S. program director Jamie Fellner says California’s sex offender registries and residency restrictions may make us feel safer, but they don’t really work. The University of Iowa’s Kembrew McLeod reveals the story of 1970s psychic Uri Geller, who has the power to make embarrassing YouTube clips vanish, but possibly not the power to escape copyright laws. Doshisha University’s Philip J. Cunningham visits China and finds that Mao Tse-Tung has become the very thing he worked to ban from China--a brand name.
Readers respond to the editorial board’s take on the achievement gap. Los Angeles Leadership Academy executive director Roger Lowenstein says, ‘...your point that ‘race’ needs to be acknowledged is unfortunate and dead wrong.’