Opinion: In today’s pages: Independent Kosovo, illegal immigration
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Oxford University professor Timothy Garton Ash warily eyes Kosovo’s declaration of independence, and cartoonist Nick Anderson deems President Bush’s Pakistan policy dead in the water in the wake of the country’s parlimentary elections. Former White House science advisor staffer Bruce W. MacDonald and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Charles D. Ferguson take aim at the administration’s decision to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite. Rosa Brooks points to the military elephant in the Bush administration’s Africa policies, and Patt Morrison sprays graffiti all over Mayor Villaraigosa’s plan to sell naming rights to public buildings:
Outraged by the thought of the Xbox Public Library? I was too, once. Better an Xbox Public Library than a closed public library. When I can’t step into an elevator without being turned into a captive audience for commercials on a video monitor, that battle is over; America Inc. has won. Our leaders like us to be consumers, not citizens. Citizens have rights; consumers just have needs. With the Bush administration jonesing for privatizing, we’re lucky to have dodged the Pfizer FDR Memorial (‘We have nothing to fear but chronic pain itself.’)
The editorial board washes its hands of the proposed Las Lomas housing project, and takes no excuses from Pomona police for overlooking the body of Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta when they impounded her vehicle. The board also tries to tame anti-illegal immigration fervor before it gets out of hand:
That illegal immigrants living in the United States place an economic burden on schools, hospitals, prisons and other public services is undeniable, but it’s also true that they contribute to our economy and our society in myriad ways. Bullying them into leaving is counterproductive and downright mean. It’s also shortsighted. Many immigrant families are blended, made up of legal immigrants, illegal ones and U.S.-born citizens. Harsh laws and deportations may satisfy the popular hunger for instantaneous immigration reform, but the result will be a legacy of anguish and resentment among millions of people who aren’t going anywhere.
Readers react to Fidel Castro’s retirement. Arnold G. Regardie writes:
You could have saved all the ink you spilled over the resignation of dictator Fidel Castro and summed it all up in four words: Goodbye and good riddance.