Opinion: In today’s pages: Sue OPEC, AP strategy, USDA madness
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Columnist Rosa Brooks details John McCain’s flip-flop on terror:
It was McCain who refused to sanction torture. It was McCain who said Guantanamo detainees ‘have rights under various human rights declarations. And one of them is the right not to be detained indefinitely.’ It was McCain who advocated moving Guantanamo detainees to Kansas’ Ft. Leavenworth, where they would come under the certain jurisdiction of federal courts. It was McCain who insisted that we respect the basic rights even of enemies who ‘don’t deserve our sympathy’ because ‘this isn’t about who they are. This is about who we are.’ John McCain, who are you now?
Law professors Darren Bush, Harry First, and John J. Flynn note that the U.S. has sued many a multinational cartel in the past, so why not OPEC? The New America Foundation’s Rourke O’Brien says having a car shouldn’t prevent families from receiving welfare. And columnist Patt Morrison attends a book club at Camp Gonzales.
The editorial board tells the Los Angeles Police Protective League to stop blocking sound public policy that would open misconduct hearings to the public. The board says the USDA should stop interfering with private companies that want to test for mad cow. And finally, the board suggests a better strategy for the Associated Press than blocking bloggers from using AP content.
On the letters page, readers criticize the paper for its Lakers coverage. Glendale’s Brian Bard says the paper took a ‘cheap shot’ at Kobe Bryant, but San Diego’s Russ Wilson says, ‘Bryant’s ego is fed daily by the vain Times.... Thank God that’s over.’
*Cartoon by Scott Stantis, Birmingham News