Opinion: In today’s pages: Addictions, arrests, and the great beyond
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The Open Society Institute’s Laura Silber looks at Serbia’s future after the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, and former deputy prime minister of Jordan Marwan Muasher pushes Arab moderate to pursue reform. Columnist Tim Rutten discusses the haves (Aaron Spelling’s widow) and the have-nots (working women). And Chicago Tribune writer Mike Downey wonders where he can pick up an addiction:
New York Times reporter David Carr admittedly was addicted to crack and treated more than one woman horribly and then the mother of his children worse, so where is he now? On the cover of the NYT Sunday Magazine, promoting his new tell-all, that’s where. Neil Steinberg got arrested for a spousal tussle and had his Chicago Sun-Times editors very concerned, but instead of going from bars to behind bars, the thirsty columnist quickly labeled himself ‘Drunkard’ and turned his flaw into a nonfiction book, which the Sun-Times has been only too happy to help him toast.I envy them. Oh, how I want to make a mess of my life so that I can profit by it. I long to tell my story, if only I had a story to tell.
The editorial board asks LAUSD to give charters fair funding if they get a multi-billion-dollar bond measure, and explores the space policies of John McCain and Barack Obama. Finally, the board thinks Flint, Mich. police are taking baggy pants too seriously:
Flint, Mich., has run out of crime. There are no statistics to prove this assertion, but it must be true. Only the total absence of lawbreaking can explain why the police department has turned to fashion enforcement. Flint, best known as the hard-luck, gritty town featured in Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Roger and Me,’ is being mocked across the globe for its police chief’s decision to arrest and ticket the wearers of sagging pants.
On the letters page, readers discuss the state’s not-too-bright financial picture. Anaheim’s Dave Lieberman suggests to California legislators: ‘Admit that you’re not smart enough to balance the budget without passing more debt to the future, and resign, all of you....’
*Cartoon by Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle