With London and Sharm el-Sheik Attacks, Maybe L.A. Times Will Start Calling Terrorists Terrorists On Regular Basis

Written from China Poot Bay, Alaska --

With the London and Sharm el-Sheik attacks, and Michael Kinsley's blessed move to quit as editorial pages editor, maybe the L.A. Times will begin, on a regular basis, to call the terrorists "terrorists," rather than "militants."

This has been a sore point at the Times, for too long. It's high time the paper show its readers it stands consistently on the right side in the struggle now rending the world.

So I think it would be best to make an overt style change, one announced in the paper. Some subscribers may come back right away.

Also, I hope the Times will now make clear editorially that it stands by Judy Miller and her courageous stand against the nation's courts' attempt to do away with the First Amendment.

Just as when the Berlin Wall came down, it didn't take long for the Communist order to collapse in Eastern Europe, so, with the end of the Carroll-Kinsley order at the Times, the newspaper should make it plain quickly that widespread policy objections have been heard and will be acted upon.

I certainly don't expect the Times to become a conservative paper. It will remain a moderately liberal one, I'm sure. But certain excesses. amd the confusion generated so often by Kinsley, can and must stop.