California is on the cusp of financial Armageddon. Finding a solution to the state's $20 billion budget hole should be priority No. 1 for state lawmakers, regardless of party.
If you've never spoken at a public meeting of an elected body -- city council, school board or others -- the prospect can be intimidating.
The California Public Employee Retirement System has launched a public relations campaign intended to tone down the rhetoric in the increasingly raucous debate over public employee pensions.
The U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are edging up on Vietnam -- which lasted eight years and five months -- as the longest wars in U.S. history.
The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Feb. 7:
Like many unemployed job hunters, Taylor Whitman wrestles with financial panic.
It has been more than four decades since the Congress of the United States has been able to summon the will to pass a major piece of social legislation. Not since 1965, when Medicare and the Voting Rights Act both overcame decades of opposition to become law, has Congress proved itself up to the task.
Editor: What is wrong with all the unions of private and government employees? There is no money out there, and for the unions to try to keep up their pay demands is outrageous.
Editor: I was curious about Steve Cameron's sports column Monday that Tim Tebow's Super Bowl commercial was inappropriate.
Editor: The most common words at the national, state and local level is jobs, jobs, jobs.
Editor: Even though I am 88 years old, I still thought I had retained some of my analytical powers. The news story about the snakes, though, makes me wonder.
Editor: The Merced Union High School District trustees need to look deeper into their budget to meet reduced funding and maintain the high school librarian-teacher positions at the five high schools.
Editor: I am deeply concerned about the state of health care in this country. We currently live in a system that is unsustainable. How can this country survive when such large percentage of everyone's income is going to health care?
Editor: Sarah Palin (herself the mother of a developmentally disabled child) seems to think the use of the word "retard" is acceptable in describing one's political opponents -- at least if the word is being uttered by a right-wing ideologue, such as Rush Limbaugh.
Editor: Rep. Dennis Cardoza votes for a federal budget that contained 8,200 earmarks. Then he votes for a health care bill that's going to cost in the vicinity of $1 trillion. Now with an election coming up, he says he's going to go back to his Blue Dog days.
Imagine if you will, the Western world is reeling with economic distress.
Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" may be the right thing to do, but there's only one reason to do it: military effectiveness.
The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Feb. 7:
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