Opinion: In today’s pages: Little Saigon still at war, the U.S.’s Pakistan problem
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Times editor-at-large Thomas Curwen wonders what’s really behind kids’ poor performance at schools, and why no one pays attention:
[P]overty is only part of the problem, which is really more about the complicated existences that all children lead. So why do politicians and school boards spend so much time discussing budgets and testing and oversight and accountability? No doubt they are easier to talk about than the emotional lives of children who are often left to struggle by themselves (or, if they are lucky, with a teacher) through matters of grief, abuse, divorce and special needs. It’s no wonder then that so many teachers feel that what they are up against on a daily basis is often ignored.
The OC Weekly’s Nick Schou asks if protests by Vietnamese exiles in Orange County are the last gasp of the anti-communist generation. The New America Foundation’s Rajan Menon explains why the U.S.’s new problems in Pakistan are a lot like its old problems supporting strongmen throughout history. And screenwriter Mike Armstrong will take a cheap birthday bottle of wine over a donation in his name any day.
The editorial board explores Congress’ options for fixing the mortgage mess, and urges the state legislature to pass a bill that would resolve questions about LNG terminals. The board also says Alberto R. Gonzales isn’t off the hook yet.
Readers respond to California’s various healthcare plans. Elizabeth Sholes of the California Council of Churches says, ‘Healthcare is not and never will be an individual commodity to burden the individual; it is a social responsibility essential to the common good.’