It's been interesting to watch the slowly developing concerns about Ritalin and other stimulants used to help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). After a few reports of sudden deaths among children taking the drugs, the Food and Drug Administration asked drug manufacturers in 2007 to include better warnings with the medications. Now a new study is out that might concern some parents, although it provides no real answers for them.

The study, funded by the FDA and National Institutues of Mental Health, looked at the files on 564 children and teenagers who had died suddenly, with no real explanation for their death. They compared those files with those of an equal number of youngsters who had died in auto accidents. The findings: 10 of those in the first group had been taking Ritalin (other medications were not widely available at the time), while only two of those in the control group had been.

It sounds frightening at first glance-- five times as many? But the children taking Ritalin made up a small portion of either group, and sudden unexplained death is itself an extremely rare occurrence among children and teens. There were other possible factors the researchers couldn't account for. For example, teenagers with ADHD are more likely to experiment with illegal drugs. Could it be that those drugs, rather than Ritalin, caused some or all of the deaths?

The study's conclusion: That there is an association between stimulant use and sudden unexplained death in use. NIMH's conclusion: It always pays to remember that correlation does not imply causality. Just because there was an association doesn't mean that one caused the other. NIMH calls for further studies as well as better screening for heart conditions among youth. And parents are left, as always, to make the best judgment they can on whether to use these daily medications.

Photo by Robert Bukaly/AP

Liberals and conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed dramatically during the past term on everything from the regulation of "indecent" broadcasting to employment discrimination to whether elected judges should recuse themselves from cases involving campaign benefactors.

A notable exception came in the 8-1 holding that an Arizona school had violated the 4th Amendment rights of a 13-year-old girl by subjecting her to a strip search (the dissenter was Clarence Thomas, taking his familiar role as outlier). The near-unanimity confounded publicly expressed fears by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that the result might be affected by the fact that her eight male colleagues "have never been a 13-year-old girl."

Ginsburg's anxiety was understandable given the gender divide at oral arguments over whether removing your clothes is all that traumatic for a teenager. Ginsburg must have cringed ...

The Times editorial board gives a qualified "no" today to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to sell some of the state's real estate. The idea might be worth considering, the editorial board concludes, but it's not going to help with the state's current financial crisis. It would take years to complete Schwarzenegger's proposed sales of such iconic properties as San Quentin and the Memorial Coliseum, which would have to go for bargain prices in today's market, anyway.

The board applauds Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Christine Varney's pledge to hold big business to a tougher antitrust standard than the previous administration did, and points to the European Commission's fine on Intel as an example of how such standards might play out. As for former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Cuban President Fidel Castro, both of whom have been busily talking up the policies of yesterday while trying to forestall the progress of new administrations, the advice goes more like: You worked hard, now take a break. Spend more time with your family. And for heaven's sake, quiet, already.

On the other side of the fold, author Lisa Sweetingham, a Manny Ramirez fan brought up short by his suspension for violating baseball's drug rules, reviews the reasons why so many athletes -- and so many others -- have taken hormones and "accessory" medications. And environmental activist Bill McKibben writes that the combined might of environment groups is still too small to push faster government action on global warming. That, he says, will take grassroots action of the type his 350.org group is promoting.

Illustration by Patrick O'Connor for the Times

Move over, marijuana. A new study finds that adding ginger to food in the days surrounding chemotherapy treatments reduces nausea and vomiting.

My grandmother could have told them that. Ginger ale was her remedy for all abdominal ills. And ginger has been touted by the alternative-health community in recent years as well.

Will this wipe out the whole debate around use of that other herbal remedy for chemotherapy discomfort? It's hard to imagine "medical ginger clinics" having quite the same ring -- or popularity. Besides, ginger can't possibly do as much to stimulate the appetite.

Photograph of cannabis plant by Richard Pedroncelli / AP

No one was surprised when it turned out the majority of 19 banks undergoing "stress tests" needed more money. While the editorial board is sorry about their stress, it also says we need a few more rules here before the federal government shells about billions more in rescue funding.

Companies whose solvency is implicitly guaranteed by the government don't have to pay as much for the money they borrow to fund their operations, giving them a competitive advantage, and they're more cavalier about risk. So they have a strong incentive to become so complex and interconnected that the government will be compelled to bail them out if they stumble again.

Our relief that the flu unfairly named for pigs looks much less deadly than first suspected should not stop the government from instituing some common-sense policy changes that will help slow the spread of such disease in the future. the board says, such as requiring employers to provide paid sick time to every employee so that people in contagious phases of illness will stay home. And the board takes a moment to envy the French who not only eat more brie, drink more wine, stay slimmer and work less, but also get more shut-eye. At least, that's what we think they meant when they said they sleep more.

On the other side of the fold, a pediatrician and a professor of education urge voters not to approve Proposition 1D, which would cut funds for pediatric medical care and preschool for the youngest Californians. Former Times columnist Mike Downey mourns the loss of L.A.'s collective baseball happiness this season after Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games, discipline for taking a banned female fertility drug.

He apologized to everybody in Southern California except the octomom, the topless Miss USA contestant, Steve Lopez and the dude with the cello.

And Kapil Komireddi, an Indian writer whgo specializes in South Asian affairs calls on the U.S. government to safeguard Pakistant's nuclear weapons arsenal as well as offer the country humanitarian aid.

Credit: Lisa Benson / Washington Post Writers Group

Health reform took a major step forward, the editorial board notes, when insurers indicated they were open to ending some of the practices that have kept so many people from being able to obtain insurance -- basing premiums on health history and refusing to cover pre-existing conditions -- as long as everyone is required to purchase insurance.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earns the board's praise for acknowledging that the U.S. market for illegal drugs contributes to the drug violence that has seized Mexico. And the board warns that an attempt by Sen. Dianne Feinstein to give new protections to large swaths of the Mojave Desert could backfire for the environment -- and the desert itself -- if it keeps significant solar projects from being built.

On the other side of the fold, Sarah Chayes, who heads the Arghand Cooperative in Afghanistan, writes that the United States' scaled-back commitments to that country have not only disappointed the population there, but caused many to turn back toward the Taliban.

So when Obama said recently that there were no plans on tap to "rebuild Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy," or when Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the aim wasn't to create "some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there," my colleagues were listening. Such formulations have the effect on Afghans of a cold shower. And without the energy and commitment of the Afghan population, even the narrowest of U.S. goals in Afghanistan -- denying sanctuary to international terrorists -- will not be achieved.

Joel Stein argues against tax deductions for charitable donations. And in the Letters to the Editor, readers weigh in on whether President Obama is wrecking a promising start as the nation's leader.

Illustration: Matt Davies/The Journal News

AIG grabs headlines in Thursday's Letters to the editor.

Many readers are angered by the financial giant's arrogance: how can it take billions in bailout money and hand it over to employees as bonuses? The U.S. government -- and by extension, the American people -- own 80% of the company, after all.  Writes Joannie Parker, of Los Angeles, in response to this report:

American International Group says it has to pay bonuses because of its contracts.

Simple: No contract is valid, because the bonus money is not the company's. The bonus money belongs to the American middle class. It's my money and my neighbors' money.

We do not have to honor a "contract" into which we did not enter. We demand that our money not be distributed to the obscenely greedy executives of AIG. Because AIG no longer has any money, other than our money, it no longer gets to write the rules.

But others, including Robert Dames of Hollywood, find fault with the government:

Washington is awash with bonus fury directed at AIG? I'm sorry, but this seems a badly scripted (or teleprompted) morality play.

President Obama takes more than $100,000 from AIG in contributions in 2008; Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) adds to the bailout bill a clause protecting retention bonuses; Congress votes to accept this clause; Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner approves the bonuses in advance ... and now they are outraged?

It's time to point out that this president and his team are trying to sell us campaign rhetoric. Perhaps this emperor is lacking more than clothes.

Judicial appointments and empathy, yet more backlash on Times coverage of conservative talk radio, and Anna Nicole Smith, too.

Photo: AIG's New York offices.  Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Today's editorial page leads off with kudos to President Obama for reversing the Bush administration's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, but chides him for not calling on Congress to reverse its own restrictions. While we're at it, we helpfully point out that California would be a terrific place to invest some of that federal money, given all the facilities and scientists here thanks to 2004's Proposition 71.

We also call for more transparency on earmarks, as the Senate prepares to approve an omnibus spending bill that contains more than 8,500 of them accounting for $7.7 billion. And we urge Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder to reverse the Bush administration's position on medical marijuana research and change the culture at the Drug Enforcement Agency, whose rigid ideological position on cannabis is thwarting the advancement of science.

On the Op-Ed page, Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver and environmental lawyer Joel Reynolds plea for the state Legislature to fix what ails the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies, an organization whose devotion to toll roads is threatening mobility, the environment and recreation.

David Schenker, Arab politics expert at a Washington think tank, worries that the Obama administration's efforts to reach out toward Syria's authoritarian government will come at the cost of U.S. attempts to advance human rights.  And writer Charles Fleming, in an installment of the "Postcards from the Recession" series about the real-world impacts of the troubled economy, describes the wrenching effects of hard times on Southern California's self-employed creative community.

Finally, columnist Jonah Goldberg wonders why liberals think it's OK for the Obama administration to use the economic crisis as an opportunity to impose a far-reaching liberal agenda, when they excoriated President Bush for using 9/11 as an opportunity to encourage right-wing policies. "It's not leadership. It's fear-mongering," Goldberg says of Obama's style.

All that, and Letters too!

* Photo of a public hearing for the Foothill South toll road by Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

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

President Obama's Tuesday night speech to Congress draws reactions from both halves of the Opinion section today. On the Op-Ed page, columnist Doyle McManus likens Obama's oratorical strategy to that of Ronald Reagan, who used the bully pulpit to increase pressure on Congress to support his proposals. And in the editorial stack, the Times board mulls the challenge faced by congressional Republicans as they try to offer an anti-spending alternative to Obama without seeming to oppose an extremely popular president. (Come to think of it, that's reminscent of Reagan, too, and his relationship with congressional Democrats -- at least at first, before Reagan-bashing became the Dems' favorite pastime.)

Also on the Op-Ed page, Jane Goodall blames the frequent use of chimpanzees in entertainment and advertising for tragedies such as the fatal shooting of a pet chimp named Travis in Connecticut after he mauled a human:

Is it any wonder viewers might think that chimpanzees would make great pets?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Only infant chimpanzees are used in entertainment and advertising, because as they approach maturity, at about 6 to 8 years of age, they become strong and unmanageable.

USC Professor Manuel Pastor urges banks to capitalize on the untapped market in Los Angeles' urban neighborhoods and displace the usurious check-cashing companies that have thrived in their absence. And columnist Tim Rutten echoes Cardinal Roger Mahoney's message about this Lenten season (which starts today, for those of you who aren't practicing Catholics) and the sacrifices that many families in the region have been making since the economy started sliding in 2007.

Rounding out the editorial stack, the board says it's time to stop wasting energy on the "unsubstantiated" link between children's vaccinations and autism. And it calls a proposal to decriminalize and tax marijuana sales "an idea whose time has not come."

Credit: Steve Breen / San Diego Union-Tribune