Opinion in Brief

SpongeBob hubbub

Conservative evangelist James Dobson of Focus on the Family has come out swinging in recent days, appearing on various media outlets to refute accusations that he has outed Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” as being gay. Fellow evangelist Jerry Falwell once leveled similar charges against Tinky-Winky of Teletubbies fame.

Dobson’s real problem, he claims, is that the cartoon characters in a video distributed to 61,000 elementary schools across the country are being “hijacked” to promote a “pro-homosexual” agenda. The video, produced by the by the We are Family Foundation, encourages children to go to the organization’s Web site and sign a tolerance pledge that includes sexual identity.

It was unfair of the media to reduce Dobson’s message to an absurdity by linking it to SpongeBob’s character (the video features many other cartoons), but it isn’t fair of Dobson to confuse promotion of tolerance with a pro-homosexual agenda. While the morality of homosexuality may be a point of contention, tolerance for others should not.

End of the line

The 1996 Telecommunications Act was supposed to increase competition between telephone providers, but now nearly a decade later, it seems to have had the opposite effect. Instead of competing, telephone companies have consolidated, and SBC’s acquisition Monday of AT&T has only increased the trend.

When the 1996 act was passed, it was meant to allow local phone providers like Verizon and SBC to provide long distance only if they allowed equivalent competition for local phone service. Part of the blame for AT&T’s death may lie in a recent Federal Communication Commission ruling that ended this requirement, forcing AT&T to leave the local phone market.

In 1996 there were eight local phone companies; today there are four, and now they’re set to merge with their former long-distance competitors. Ultimately, the end of a company that traces its history back to Alexander Graham Bell may spell the end for competition as well.

Extreme makeover

On the first day of Black History Month, Sen. George Allen, R-VA, announced his co-sponsorship of a bill with Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-LA, to apologize for the Senate’s filibustering of anti-lynching laws in the early part of the 20th century. While the aim is laudable, Allen’s civil rights record is not.

As Virginia governor in 1994, Allen proclaimed April “Confederate Heritage Month” without a condemnation of slavery. In 2000, he was caught with a confederate flag and hangman’s noose in his law office. Instead of apologizing, he dismissed the items as “mere decorations.”

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the Republican Party is embarking on a campaign to recast itself as the party of civil rights in the image of Lincoln and Eisenhower. But the party’s southern strategy and opposition to civil rights legislation should not be forgotten either.