Inside GovernmentBrown Right to Cut Women’s CommissionMonday, February 6th, 2012 FEB. 6, 2012 Any time there is a chick-fest at the Capitol, eyes roll. Last week a legislative hearing about women wasn’t the usual love fest of everything woman. This whining group was lobbying to save a state commission from budget cuts, hardly the picture of classic suffragettes. T... Diversity Trumps Education In CAFriday, January 20th, 2012 Katy Grimes: Since when are race and ethnicity "front and center in the state's education system"? Isn't education supposed to be the goal? In an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, Linda J. Wong, executive director of the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, touted... California Runs Schools Like DMVMonday, December 19th, 2011 DEC. 19, 2011 "Race to the Top" federal education funding California just "won" is more like "Race to Control." Students won't be helped. Instead, schools will just become more like the DMV. The grant is just another way to continue expanding the monstrosity that has become of the California e... More Lawmakers, Less Harm?Monday, December 19th, 2011Dec. 19, 2011 The approval rating for the job done by the California Legislature remains pitiful, ranging in the past year or so from a record-low 9 percent to 16 percent. That percentage of Californians would no doubt support any possible idea you place before them on a public opinion poll, whic... Brown Shows His Union LabelMonday, October 17th, 2011 OCT. 17, 2011 As the legislative session came to an end, some Capitol observers expressed a glimmer of hope that Gov. Jerry Brown would be the independent, reform-minded governor that he swore he would be when he ran for office. After the governor argued that not every problem deserves a governme... Obamacare No Boon to CA WorkersThursday, September 29th, 2011Sept. 29, 2011 A coalition of 26 states filed a petition this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care reform law. California should have been the 27th. That’s because no state stands to take a bigger economic... Part-Time Leg Could Save CAThursday, September 15th, 2011 SEPT. 15, 2011 As the most regulated, taxed and governed state in the country, California is quickly disintegrating into an unrecognizable oligarchy -- a power structure controlled by a small number of people. In typical oligarchies, rulers are usually royalty or the wealthy, or there is military... 9/11 Memorials in PerspectiveMonday, September 12th, 2011 SEPT. 11, 2011 In my years writing for newspapers, I've always hated the commemoration ritual. What new insight can we offer about Thanksgiving? What words can still capture the essence of D-Day? And this weekend, what can we really say that ameliorates the horror of 9/11? Mainly, I hate how c... Schools Chief’s Sacrifice Not So HeroicTuesday, September 6th, 2011 SEPT. 6, 2001 Fresno School Superintendent Larry Powell has been getting the hero treatment in the national media for his reportedly selfless decision to give up his annual salary and benefits of $290,000 a year and, instead, take only $31,000 in salary. He's doing it for the kids, he said, to sa... Sacramento Council FolliesFriday, August 19th, 2011 AUG 19, 2011 Sacramento’s City Council has not had a great few months -- or a great year. Even the past couple of years have been really disastrous. The eight council members and mayor have lost four city managers in only 18 months, bamboozled citizens with their redistricting plan, hired an un... |