Opinion: In today’s pages: Holder, Obama and Schwarzenegger
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The Op-Ed page offers a moving account by Joseph F. Connor about the lingering damage of terrorism. Conner’s father was killed more than 33 years ago by a bomb planted in a restaurant in New York’s financial district. The crime was never solved, but a Puerto Rican terrorist group, the FALN, claimed responsibility. Ten FALN members were convicted and imprisoned in 1981 on conspiracy and weapons charges, but in 1999, most were granted clemency by President Clinton -- with the help of his then deputy attorney general, Eric Holder, now President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for attorney general:
In considering his department’s recommendation on clemency, [Holder] met with supporters of the terrorists but ignored their victims. He pushed staff members to drop their strong opposition to a presidential pardon for the FALN members and alter a report they had prepared for the president recommending against clemency. Today, although two turned down their pardons because they were unwilling to renounce violence, many of the convicted FALN members walk free. And a man who was instrumental in their release may become the highest law enforcer in the land.
Columnist Joel Stein, meanwhile, notes how recessions bring on a wave of buyer’s regret about whole categories of products. He offers a dozen examples, from tasting menus to dog gyms. We’ve invited readers to contribute their own lists to this blog post.
On the editorial page, the Times editorial board distills from President Bush’s time in office some lessons about war for the president-elect:
The first lesson for Obama is that a war against a concept, such as evil, or a tactic, such as terrorism, is going to be endless. The United States cannot afford and cannot win endless wars. It is true that for seven years the country has been spared another attack, and we assume the U.S. pursuit of Al Qaeda is at least partly to thank for that. But terrorism hasn’t been defeated; it is as widely used as ever. Second, Obama should reject the idea of preventive war, which is morally and legally questionable and opens the door for any powerful state to invade a weaker one.
The board also faults Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a singular failure on the state’s finances: ‘he has not delivered to Californians any sense of the scale of the budget problem.’ And it takes a whimsical look at Europe through the eyes of Czech bad-boy artist David Cerny.
Wrapping up the Opinion spread, our readers contribute letters on homeowners fighting fires for themselves, state highway projects, the state budget, cuts to the state university system, and the late Ricardo Montalban.
Photo courtesy of Joseph F. Connor; Los Angeles Times photo illustration