Opinion: In today’s pages: the McCain-Obama debate, homosexuality and religion, and the Foothill South toll road
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So much crunchy goodness from the Opinion Manufacturing Division, it’s hard to pick a place to start. Maybe that’s why this post is going up so late in the day.... Anyway, we offer three (count ‘em, 3) pieces on the presidential candidates and their views. The editorial board weighs in on Tuesday night’s debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, saying McCain needs to do more to persuade voters that ‘he has a cogent, coherent economic proposal.’ On the Op-Ed side, attorney Anat Hakim contends that Obama’s ‘actions and associations ... leave many Jews feeling uneasy.’ And noting the tussle over Sarah Palin’s view that homosexuality is a choice, author Nathaniel Frank argues that it’s time to move on to a different question:
Religious Americans often speak of a surge of emotion from deep within them, of hearing a calling from something outside of themselves and of following the dictates of their conscience. Likewise, gays and lesbians frequently describe same-sex attractions as an undeniable force or a deep-seated feeling that they must respect if they are to be true to themselves. How one responds to these stirrings may be largely a matter of choice, just as one may choose whether to act on a belief or whether to practice a faith. But American institutions properly protect our right to practice the religion that speaks to our soul. Why not champion a homosexual’s right to honor erotic, romantic and emotional callings in the same way, so long as doing so doesn’t harm others?
Dorothy Green, founder of Heal the Bay, rounds out the Op-Ed page with a manifesto on water policy in California.
Elsewhere on the editorial page, the Times’ editorial board urges state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to offer relief to more troubled mortgage holders, using as a model the settlement between Bank of America and several state attorneys general. And it calls on the feds to reject the proposed Foothill South toll road:
Because the toll would be costly and the road would divert commuters away from the employment centers to which they most commonly drive, its ability to substantially reduce traffic on a chronically congested section of Interstate 5 is questionable; on the toll road most similar to this project, the San Joaquin Hills, ridership remains low. What about this is in the national interest?
Cartoon: Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader