Capitalism

Say what you like about Michael Moore, he certainly knows how to pick his subjects. "Fahrenheit 9/11" was so au courant about the invasion of Iraq it won the 2004 Palme d'Or at Cannes, and 2007's "Sicko" got the jump on the current healthcare imbroglio. Now, barely a year after the Wall Street meltdown, "Capitalism: A Love Story" examines, in typical love-it-or-leave Moore fashion, the causes of the collapse of the century. "Capitalism" is not just Moore's latest documentary, it is, as the filmmaker himself has said, "the movie I've been making for the past 20 years."

Salt Lake City: the gay parenting capital of the United States? Unexpected as it may sound, a new study finds that the Utah capital and its outskirts have the nation's highest percentage of gay or lesbian couples raising children. FOR THE RECORD: Gay parenting: An article in the May 21 LATExtra section about gay parenting reported that the Salt Lake City area had the nation's largest percentage of same-sex couples raising children. In fact, the percentage is the highest among large metropolitan areas with more than 1 million people.

Capitalism: A system in which the piggish life is equated with the good life. JOSEPH MANDELBERG Granada Hills

About 300 labor union members and other activists staged a demonstration to protest the potential sale of the Los Angeles Times to the politically conservative Koch brothers. Demonstrators marched outside the downtown L.A. headquarters of Oaktree Capital Management, an investment firm that holds a roughly 20% stake in Tribune Co., which owns The Times. Protesters alleged that Charles and David Koch, billionaire siblings who fund conservative causes, want to buy The Times in order to skew the paper's coverage to favor anti-union objectives.

Re "Overvaluing the free market," Opinion, May 8 Michael Kinsley has a wrong premise about capitalism. Its justification is not that it makes a contribution to society (though it does that) but that it respects each individual's right to his own life and the fruits of his efforts. Anyone, rich or poor, who earns his money honestly has the right to use it as he wishes. No on else has a moral claim on it. No one has a right to say how much another person should earn if the money is earned through voluntary trade.

Re Alexander Cockburn's Column Left ("Disaster Will Make Reform Smell Sweeter," Aug. 15): In Sweden they say they have "socialism with a human face." Perhaps what we need here is "capitalism with a human face." RON LAWSON Oxnard

Why aren't more people furious about the LIBOR scandal? That's a question mostly being asked on the political left these days, and they're right to ask it. Here are the basics: Barclays is the second-largest bank in Britain and one of the largest in the world. It has admitted to U.S. and British regulators that it manipulated the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, which basically measures how much it costs banks to borrow money from one another for various periods of time.

The good news is that $2.15 billion of Goldman Sachs' market value was wiped out by a disillusioned executive's very public parting shot at the investment bank's greed and selfish cynicism. The bad news is it will probably be a temporary loss and will do little to change the ethical climate at Goldman Sachs or in the larger world of Wall Street. Pirates are a hard bunch to reform. Greg Smith is the 33-year-old, London-based head of Goldman Sachs' overseas equity derivatives business who quit his job just minutes before his explosive Op-Ed article appeared in Wednesday's New York Times.

The give-away for fans at the Galaxy game Sunday night was a Landon Donovan bobblehead doll. But for Donovan, what mattered was the penalty kick that got away. Donovan failed to convert his second consecutive penalty kick and the Houston Dynamo defeated the Galaxy, 1-0, in front of 20,071 at a chilly Home Depot Center. BOX SCORE: Houston 1, Galaxy 0 The victory gave Houston some solace after the Galaxy defeated the Dynamo in the MLS Cup to win the league championship the last two years, with the Galaxy winning both titles at home.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Wednesday will nominate venture capitalist Thomas Wheeler as the nation's top telecommunications regulator, tapping a major campaign fundraiser with long ties to the media and the telecom industries, White House and industry officials said. Wheeler, managing director of Core Capital Partners in Washington, D.C., would replace Julius Genachowski as chairman of the five-member Federal Communications Commission board. Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who was mentioned as a candidate, will take over as acting chairman when Genachowski steps down in the coming weeks.

[ Updated at 3:45 p.m. on April 24: GE Capital has issued a statement on its revamped gun policy: "As a responsible lender, we regularly review our lending policies and products to meet changing conditions and requirements. In 2008, we adopted a policy to cease providing consumer financing programs to merchants whose primary business is to sell firearms.  Recently, we implemented a more rigorous audit process in our sporting goods segment in light of industry changes, new legislation and tragic events that have caused widespread reexamination of policies on firearms.

Southern California is a hotbed of young and innovative companies, but you wouldn't know it by following the money. Venture capital funding, the lifeblood of start-ups, has fallen sharply in the region this year, according to a report released Thursday. Southern California companies raised $507.6 million from venture-capital investors in the first three months of the year, a 42% decline from the nearly $880 million in the first quarter of 2012. The data were compiled by Dow Jones VentureSource.

If you've received an email about the Boston bombings, do not click on the link. A spam-monitoring lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham says a new malware campaign targeting Windows computers is sending out an "unprecedented" amount of spam emails. If users open the email and click on the link inside, the malware will infect their computers. “The volumes are just astronomical,” said Gary Warner , a cyber researcher with UAB's Computer Research Forensics Lab. PHOTOS: The top smartphones of 2013 The lab looks for spam that can result in users' computers becoming infected, Warner said.

NEW DELHI, India -- An explosion Wednesday near the office of a political party in the high-tech capital of Bangalore wounded 16 people, including eight police officers, officials said. Early evidence suggests that a low-intensity bomb of the type often used in roadside attacks was placed in a motorcycle that was parked near a temple about 300 feet from an office of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, authorities said. Police made up a disproportionate share of the injured because they had been guarding the political office when the explosion happened around 10:45 a.m. local time.

Pluses When the Washington Capitals took the lead in the Southeast Division on Thursday and became the No. 3-ranked team in the East, it was the first time they held a playoff position this season. The Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets have faded and the Capitals have taken advantage by winning seven of their last 10 games. Pittsburgh Penguins forward Tanner Glass was generous to give up his number, 10, to new teammate Brenden Morrow. Glass, who switched to 15, followed that with an even classier move: He said via Twitter any fans who had his jersey with his old number on the back could get it changed to 15 at the team store, "and I'll pay for the switch.

Baseball icon and Brooklyn Dodgers star Jackie Robinson never played for the franchise in Los Angeles, but marketing and outreach efforts tied to a forthcoming biographical film about the famed second baseman are tapping the L.A. team.  The move by Warner Bros., which is distributing "42," makes sense. Robinson, universally revered for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, is a key part of the Dodgers' history. And the team's home is right in Warner Bros.' backyard.