Opinion: In today’s pages: The big TV switch and the Obama-Lohan connection

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Obviously, some California public services will have to be cut, the editorial board observes, but what sense does it make to eliminate CalWorks, a program funded mostly by the federal dollars that enables people to get jobs and pay the rent? The board also notes that this is the big day for switching to digital TV, and it calls on the Federal Communications Commission to define the broadcasters’ public-service obligations for digital channels.

CIA Director Leon E. Panetta might be right in saying that he can’t possibly make public a single paragraph within 65 documents describing his agency’s interrogation techniques, the board says, but that doesn’t mean the federal judge in the case should take his word for it. The judge should review the documents personally before making a decision, the board advises.

On the other side of the fold. a teacher of history and education says the use of the term ‘Hispanic’ to denote an ethnic group is a relatively recent phenomenon in the nation’s history, and one that has served to make those of Latin American descent feel more ‘other’ than they used to. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor should be seen as the first person of Puerto Rican descent who might be appointed to the high court, Jonathan Zimmerman argues, rather than as Hispanic. And Bill Maher has had enough with the puppies and the hamburgers; he wishes President Obama were less visible and barking more orders over the phone. The man is in serious danger of cute media overexposure, Maher huffs:

We like you, we really like you! You’re skinny and in a hurry and in love with a nice lady. But so’s Lindsay Lohan. And like Lohan, we see your name in the paper a lot, but we’re kind of wondering when you’re actually going to do something.