In today's opinion pages, the editorial board calls on Barack Obama (and Hillary Clinton) to stay on the road toward dialogue with Iran, perhaps with an assist from Russia; and to play ball with the nations of the world, misguided as they may be, as they take up a draft document at the "Durban II" conference in Geneva.

To be sure, the draft document reportedly contains provisions that no freedom- or peace-loving nation could possibly support. Not only does it make outrageous allegations about Israeli "apartheid," but it seeks to equate "defamation of religions" with human rights abuses. This is a reprehensible attempt by Muslim nations to restrict speech in the free world by condemning depictions of Muhammad or any other expression they find offensive.

The point, the board says, is that the U.S. could be more constructive by showing up. sticking to its principles and shaping the final consensus document.

The board also gives Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. a, uh, high five for vowing not to raid medical marijuana dispensaries, but notes that this falls short of resolving the relationship between the federal drug laws and California's legalization of the use of medical marijuana.

On the Op-Ed page, Barbie turns 50. Novelist Amy Goldman Koss reflects on her childhood version of the doll, with its short hair and missing foot.

Columnist Gregory Rodriguez examines the link between recession (joblessness) and social networking(job offers). And, come to think of it, the clear relationship between layoffs and LinkedIn.And screenwriter Toni Ann Johnson continues the "Postcards from the Recession" series. Today's postcard is from Morningside Circle in South Los Angeles.

Folks here have always known how to get by in tough times. They grow fruit trees and vegetable gardens, clip coupons, re-sole shoes and repair clothing. They save on gasoline at Costco and find bargains at the dollar store. Most will live through the recession the way they've been living -- within their means.

Johnson's postcard follows up Sunday's by Susan Straight from the Inland Empire. Tomorrow: Silver Lake.

Photo: Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images

The editorial board finds intriguing an idea raised about Proposition 8 during Thursday's state Supreme Court hearing: Having the state recognize only civil unions, while couples take their marriage vows at the religious or other private institution of their choice.

But just as marriage and family traditions have altered dramatically -- with shorter and more frequent marriages in a lifetime, couples living outside the married state and prenuptial agreements that trump customary family agreements -- it is time to consider an altered state role in domestic legalities. Justice Chin opened the discussion, and it is worth continuing.

The board also says the economy isn't a good reason to deny California a clean-air waiver to regulate greenhouse gases. In fact, the board says, Detroit will ultimately benefit from the production of more fuel-efficient cars. The board also calls on the world community to stand behind the International Criminal Court's warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir on charges of war crimes related to the atrocities in Darfur.

On the other side of the fold, writer Joe Queenan tells the investment experts to pipe down about the long-term value of stocks; this is indeed the time to panic. And columnist Joel Stein fantastizes about the up side of unemployment.

Illustration: Randall Enos for the Times

The editorial board continues to parse President Obama's budget intentions, noting that though his blueprint is indeed transparent about the costs of the Iraq war, it is less forthright about the probably near-term future of the economy. The board also bemoans fractured immigration policies that provide residency to some refugees but not others, and sides with a student who gave a religiously-based speech in class about his views against same-sex marriage, after which he allegedly was taken to task by the professor.

As long as he was opposing same-sex marriage on religious grounds -- and not harassing individual students -- he was making an argument that figured prominently in the public debate about Proposition 8. It's not an argument this page finds persuasive, but we wouldn't try to suppress it. Neither should a college preparing students to live in a contentious democracy.

On the other side of the fold, political journalist Marc Cooper chides Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his  fuzzy response to questions about whether he will commit to serving out a full second term if he is elected. Take a pass on running for governor and pay full attention to the city's tremendous needs, Cooper advises. And Joel Stein reflects on how everyone loves science, until it contradicts what they want to believe.

People on the far right don't believe in evolution, global warming or doing stem cell research. Most of their opposition is rooted in the fact that these ideas challenge the Bible, which is the oldest book they know. I'm guessing Greek conservatives are OK with killing your dad and making love to your mom.

But since I moved to L.A., I've discovered that liberals hate science just as much as conservatives, and they talk about it a lot more. They'll reject any study that contradicts their Mother-Nature-is-perfect myth, which is oddly similar to the conservatives' thesis."

The Times editorial board is doing cartwheels over President Obama's order that the Environmental Protection Agency reconsider allowing California to set tough auto emissions standards -- but still doesn't think it goes far enough. What's needed now, the board says, is higher gas taxes. On the same theme, we're thrilled that Obama reversed President Bush's ban on funding for foreign-aid groups that perform or even mention abortion, but think congressional action is still needed to ensure the next administration doesn't change course again. And the board is appalled by the Supreme Court majority's decision in an Alabama search-and-seizure case, which will only encourage sloppy record-keeping by police.

Over on the Op-Ed page, Gail Javitt and Kathy Hudson point out that what nearly happened to President Barack Obama during the campaign -- when breakfast leftovers containing traces of his DNA were offered for auction on eBay, meaning deeply private information might have been disclosed to the public -- is becoming an increasingly common problem even for the non-famous, thanks to improvements in DNA analysis technology and the absence of laws on seizure and disclosure of genetic information.

Jean Ross, head of the California Budget Project, decries a Republican proposal to avoid future state budget impasses by putting a hard cap on annual spending. Such caps don't account for cost increases for services like health care or changes in demographics, and would result in permanent, draconian cuts in California services, Ross writes. And David Ambroz, a lawyer who was himself a foster child, is confused by "people who call themselves pro-family yet would prefer to see [foster] children bounce from home to home" than allow them to be raised by gay couples. Several states, most recently Arkansas, ban unmarried couples from serving as foster parents, largely as a way of keeping gays and lesbians out of the system. "Kids shouldn't become pawns in the nation's culture wars," Ambroz concludes.

* Cartoon by Tom Toles / Washington Post

Monday's Los Angeles Times editorial page declares war on the sun. No, not really; but the page wants to know whether the solar energy proposal on the March 3 ballot is the real thing, or just another "Million Trees":

Los Angeles should have an ambitious solar energy plan, and the DWP is right to pursue it, as are the council and the mayor. But because of the slapdash and suspicious way the program has been rolled out, voters need to be on the alert. The city muffed a solar plan a decade ago, and the resulting bad will delayed, until now, a serious second attempt. Voters deserve to know whether they are being asked to sign on to a well-thought-out plan, or just another idea only half-baked by the L.A. sunshine.

The editorial board also finds some common-sense lessons for Barack Obama in the draft report on Iraq reconstruction by the Bush administration's special inspector general, and hopes South Africa's Congress of the People will stave off one-party rule.

Opposite the editorial page, Opinion contributing editor Rob Long discusses Jay Leno, NBC, economic downturn and shipping. Critic Katha Pollitt weighs in on Rick Warren and Obama, calling the president-elect's choice to give the inauguration invocation an insult. Columnist Gregory Rodriguez grapples with Bernard L. Madoff, hate crimes and "affinity fraud."

* Photo by Andrew Gombert / EPA

The Federal Communications Commission needs a makeover--an updated look, or at least attitude, for our time, the editorial board writes. That's especially true of the time and attention it gives to enforcing decency rules:

The FCC also showed an alarming willingness to use government power to impose ineffective and discriminatory decency rules on broadcasters in the name of shielding children from profane or violent programming. More relevant to a bygone era's media environment, such rules reflect how poorly the commissioners seem to understand today's technological realities.

The Obama family hasn't even had time to pick a puppy yet, and already President-elect Barack Obama is confronted with missile threats from Russia. Missile defense threats are rattling their own sabres, but Obama "should not react to the rhetoric from either quarter, but he should reconsider missile defense on its merits -- or lack thereof. The president-elect rightly is skeptical of the defense shield, given that it doesn't yet work and it's intended to defend against nuclear-tipped Iranian missiles that don't yet exist," the board advises.  It also calls on federal immigration authorities to be open about their rules for deportation of detained illegal immigrants and to inform potential deportess of their rights.

On the other side of the fold, Los Angele Unified school board member Tamar Galatzan wants a more consistent system for approving and assessing charter schools:

Charters should not be rewarded for simply out- performing their underachieving LAUSD counterparts. The philosophy of charter schools is based on accountability, and the district must hold them to their promises. Lack of accountability is not uncommon in the school district, but we cannot let it seep into the charter movement as well.

Arguments about the genocide in Rwanda are at the heart of a court case in which the African nation seeks to shake itself free of French influence. And Joel Stein calls for a "No Gays for a Day" day, in which the gay and lesbian community would display its financial clout by staying home from work and shopping.

Illustration by Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Daily News

Who can possibly stop talking election yet? Not the Times' Opinion Manufacturing Division. Both the editorial board and Wayne State University professor John Corvino predict that, as society gains a deeper understanding of and appreciation for gay rights, there's a good chance voters will repeal the newly passed Proposition 8 in coming years. The board calls on the African American community, which voted heavily in favor of the gay-marriage ban, to remember the shared struggle of civil rights and how once society viewed interracial marriage as ungodly -- a few decades before the child of an interracial couple would be elected president.

The editorial board also applauds both presidential candidates' speeches on election night. After a long absence, the board says, the John McCain who reaches across the aisle to make things work, and who puts service to his country, showed himself. And Barack Obama reminded Americans of something they also haven't heard in a long time -- that success depends on people giving to their country as well as taking from it.

On the other side of the fold, Patt Morrison wonders whether party labels of outlived their usefulness:

How meaningful and relevant are candidates' political parties anymore? When a New England Republican can be more progressive than a Texas Democrat, when millions regard themselves as independents and occupy the takeout-menu middle on political issues, why do we need to belong to parties? Why red, why blue, why even purple, when there's the big deluxe Crayola box to choose from?

In a burst of free advice for Obama, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher offers trandition guidance to the president-elect and Rosa Brooks has ideas for how he can mend the country's global relations.

AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

The editorial board calls for a reality check on McCain’s silly claims about ACORN undermining democracy. But we note that a similar check, and broader discussion, is in order on true questions about voter security.

We also express concern over the "religious cleansing" of Christians from Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East and call for pressure from Muslim-dominated regions to keep pluralism alive:

The religious cleansing of Christians in Iraq is part of a larger pattern in which a faith with its origins in the Middle East is being driven out of its native region. From Iraq to Lebanon, which once claimed a Christian majority, to Bethlehem, the West Bank town revered as the birthplace of Jesus, intra-Muslim violence and the Arab-Israeli struggle have combined to persuade (and in some cases force) Christians to relocate to Europe or North America.

And the editorial board has something to say about Chicago’s new "gay-friendly" high school. It seems to us that the good intentions could well be masking a strategy to make life easier for school administrators while leaving school a decidedly unfriendly place for kids who, in one way or another, don’t feel like they fit in:

Chicago’s concern for its gay students is commendable, but far from solving the problem, the creation of a cloistered, segregated environment represents an easy escape — not so much for the transferring students as for school leaders. Instead of asking whether gay teens need a respite from the meanness of high school, the school board should be asking why principals haven’t been creating campuses with zero tolerance for ugly behavior.

Lionel Beehner takes serious issue with the State Department’s "state sponsors of terrorism" list, which the writer sees as just a farcical excuse for punishing nations the United States doesn’t like, instead of a tool to stop terrorism. Meanwhile, South African journalist Mark Gevisser looks at his nation’s political situation in the post-Mbeki era, as well as the challenges –- and opportunities –- facing African National Congress leader (and likely president) Jacob Zuma as he comes to Washington for meetings with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. And perhaps others:

In the unlikely event that he meets with Barack Obama, one would hope that the Democratic candidate would interrogate his visitor about something he knows only too well, from his own father’s experiences in Kenya: that patronage governs politics to an extremely unhealthy degree in Africa, and that government corruption is inevitable.

Last, but certainly not least, Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez writes about Mexicans settling down for work – in Detroit.

Acorn photo: AP

Hot-button issues dominate Thursday's Letters to the editor: offshore drilling off the California Coast, marijuana laws, global warming, developers and L.A. politicians, and abortion. 

Responding to columnist Jonah Goldberg's piece on Obama's position on abortion, Pasadena's John Rude writes that

...Goldberg seizes on the candidate's reluctant support of abortion as Obama's moral weakness. Wedge politics are the refuge of politicians (and columnists) who lack moral vision.  This is not Obama.

*Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In Letters today, readers blast the Editorial Board for its opposition to Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage, for its concerns that taggers could get hurt if they have to scrub their own scribbles, and for urging the government to issue more visas for tech workers.  Fumes Bob Johnson, of Buffalo Grove, Ill.:

Why do we need more skilled foreign workers when so many American technology professionals are looking for work outside the profession?  ... Corporate America is crying tech worker shortages when in fact no such shortages exist.  Why not call this what it really is--a cheap tech professional shortage.

Opposing takes on a story about Rhodesian farmers, and complaints about Jessica's Law, too.

*Photo: Robert Durell/Los Angeles Times