In today's pages: Cigarette taxes, Sarah Palin jokes and Iranian protests
It's Back to the Future day on the editorial page, with the Times board taking up tobacco taxes, gay rights and a controversy involving Sarah Palin. Which makes me wonder -- just as you can reduce every Hollywood film to a handful of plot outlines, does every editorial similarly spring from a crib sheet of topics? But I digress.
In light of the California budget crisis, the board says it's willing to support a whopping $2.10 increase in the tax on cigarettes in order to sustain the state's safety net. That's something of a reversal for the Times board, which usually argues against using targeted taxes to support specific programs, especially when those programs have a broad public purpose. But these aren't usual times. The board also criticizes President Obama for failing to follow through on campaign promises to push for more equal treatment of gays. And it laments how Palin, her supporters and David Letterman have milked the controversy over his tawdry joke last week about one of Palin's daughters:
Over on the Op-Ed page, columnist Tim Rutten praises California's Roman Catholic bishops for urging Sacramento not to close the state's yawning budget gap by eviscerating programs for the poor, children and the disabled. Iranian dissident and exile Ramin Jahanbegloo notes the schisms within Iran that fuel the current protests. And Abigail Thernstrom, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, recaps the action so far on a major Supreme Court test of the Voting Rights Act.
Finally, in Letters to the Editor, readers weigh in on recent articles and opinion pieces about Guantanamo Bay, animal rights, Chicago's climate of corruption and O.J. Simpson.
Credit: Ed Hall / Artizans.com
-- Jon Healey
Palin 2012 ?!
Let's hope this is the end of the David Letterman - Sarah Palin feud. While last week Letterman apologized, it was in a snarky sort of way, and wasn't accepted by Palin...
Exclusive Video here:david letterman sarah palin "joke"
Posted by: Alex | June 18, 2009 at 04:51 AM
California needs politicians with the backbones needed to apply an across the board percentage cut of all expenses, including salaries. No need to sell any assets, or lay off anyone.
My personal hope is for a replacement of every one of our State's politicians with the next two statewide election cycles. It's long past time for a complete house cleaning. We need intellectuals, not actors, relatives of the wealthy (Many of whom can't seem to find or retain jobs other than those they've been appointed to by the pulling of strings and strong arm tactics), or puppets with too much makeup and hairspray.
It's long past time to "Get Real!".
Or perhaps it might be cheaper in the long run to wait no longer, and to initiate impeachments based on incompetence and acting like very immature children.
Posted by: Lindsey McMillen | June 17, 2009 at 01:50 PM
We need to purge the stupidity in this country, people fuzz and go out of their way for a stupid joke, yet say nothing and do nothing about gas prices soaring sky high
Posted by: Genes | June 17, 2009 at 01:15 PM
From the perspective of ratings and late night viewership versus exposure from print media and televised news, who really reached more people with another example of Letterman's lack of boundaries where humor is concerned: Palin complaining or Letterman telling the joke?
Frankly I feel like I've been forced to view two toddlers throwing sand at each other on a playground for the last week. Can they both go to their rooms now?
Posted by: Skeptic | June 17, 2009 at 12:24 PM
I guess its Ok to make jokes about a white kid, but heaven forbid you call anybody a nappy headed ho.
Posted by: Dale | June 17, 2009 at 11:24 AM