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]]> Here’s what you do if you want an immediate demonstration of media bias in political coverage and to see trap doors open on the heads of leftists throughout the land as little birds step out singing, “Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo.” You speak the name of Sarah Palin and let it be known she’s traveling about the land saying stuff. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:40:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199897 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199900
]]> Once again, the hard choices fall to local officials who have virtually no control over their revenue and no choice but to face parents and students and apologize for slashing programs - again. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:35:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199900 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199901
]]> Jerry Brown’s first governorship of California was marked by what one might term - charitably - a high degree of flexibility. Although he generally hewed to a liberal line after his 1974 election, Brown was often willing to bend ideology for political advantage, a tendency that some called “flakiness.” Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:35:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199901 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199907
]]> On Monday, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force took a step backward in the fight against breast cancer. The task force announced that it would no longer recommend routine mammograms for women between the ages of 40 and 49, a group that accounts for about one out of six breast cancers. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:21:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199907 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199952
]]> Normal human beings - let’s call them real Americans - cannot understand why, 10 months after President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Congress is still tied down in a procedural torture chamber trying to pass the health care bill Obama promised in his campaign. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:36:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199952 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199905
]]> The editorial is from the Washington Post: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:31:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091120/opinion/911199905 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091119/opinion/911189915
]]> If you follow the debate around the energy/climate bills working through Congress you will notice that the drill-baby-drill opponents of this legislation are now making two claims. One is that the globe has been cooling lately, not warming, and the other is that America simply can’t afford any kind of cap-and-trade/carbon tax. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:57:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091119/opinion/911189915 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091119/opinion/911189924
]]> Years ago, pundits and pols began redrawing the California political map with an east-west divide, erasing the historic north-south split. Now they can partition it north-south again, at least in mapping the reignited water war. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:41:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091119/opinion/911189924 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911189898
]]> Food was short - in some cases, scarce - in the homes of 49 million people, including 17 million children, in 2008, according to the USDA’s annual survey. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:16:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911189898 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911189928
]]> Dear Sammy Sosa: Are you happy with yourself now? Are you more confident and self-assured? When you look in the mirror, do you like yourself better, now that you are white? Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:23:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911189928 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179918
]]> When Santa Rosa Mayor Susan Gorin gives her State of the City address this morning, we would encourage her to be candid - if we believed there was any other option. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:07:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179918 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179916
]]> Even as we wade through the wreckage of the housing collapse, Americans remain a staunchly house-proud people. And our government is apparently determined to encourage us: This month, President Obama signed into law an extension and expansion of the popular homebuyer tax credit, which had been scheduled to expire at the end of November. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179916 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179928
]]> Many Latinos probably feel like salsa dancing in the streets now that CNN has finally cleared the air by purging itself of Lou Dobbs. Dobbs’ problem wasn’t that he opposed illegal immigration. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:53:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179928 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179927
]]> When European settlers first came to North America, they saw flocks of geese so big that it took them 30 minutes to all take flight and forests that seemed to stretch to infinity. They came to two conclusions: That God’s plans for humanity could be completed here, and that they could get really rich in the process. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:53:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179927 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179932
]]> What will the United States be like in 20 years when today’s toddlers are in college or trying to land that first job or maybe thinking about starting a family? The answer will depend to a great extent on decisions we make now about the American infrastructure. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:31:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179932 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911189906
]]> If you’re able to help, here are some organizations in Sonoma County that provide groceries or meals for people in need: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:10:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911189906 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179925
]]> This editorial is from the Washington Post: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:56:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091118/opinion/911179925 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169898
]]> A lot of people are worrying about the world coming to an end in 2012. Bummer. I thought we’d gotten over all that in 2000. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:21:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169898 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169912
]]> Advocates of overhauling California’s troubled pension system for public employees couldn’t have chosen a more providential moment to launch their reform campaign. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:11:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169912 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169916
]]> I saw the other day that George W. Bush is raising money for his proposed policy institute at Southern Methodist University. I did some research and found out that there are something like 3,000 policy institutes, most of them hosting convocations about nothing much and issuing papers no one reads. I suggest therefore that Bush use his money to do... Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:08:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169916 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169905
]]> This editorial is by Dale McFeatters of Scripps Howard News Service: Shooting a rocket booster into the moon, followed four minutes later by an instrument-laden spacecraft, turned out to be, if not a public-relations dud, at least a major letdown. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:22:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091117/opinion/911169905 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911169897
]]> How exactly does a secure loan become unsecured and then go undetected for four years? It’s sloppy and unprofessional at best. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:28:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911169897 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911139887
]]> The most dreadful burden of the presidency - the power to send men and women to die for their country - seems to weigh heavily on Barack Obama these days. He went to Dover Air Force Base to salute the coffins of fallen troops. He gave a moving speech at the memorial service for victims of last week’s killings at Fort Hood. On Veterans Day,... Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:06:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911139887 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911139892
]]> It seemed like eavesdropping on a private conversation - or reading a rival journalist’s notes. But I eagerly did it anyway out of curiosity about Jerry Brown. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:59:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911139892 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911139899
]]> Imagine a time when government work was exciting, widely admired and much sought after. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:52:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091116/opinion/911139899 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139885
]]> In a four-week stretch this fall, the Santa Rosa City Schools district obtained five restraining orders against accused of attacking teachers or administrators. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:10:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139885 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139874
]]> Consider, for a moment, a tale of two countries. Both have suffered a severe recession and lost jobs as a result - but not on the same scale. In Country A, employment has fallen more than 5 percent, and the unemployment rate has more than doubled. In Country B, employment has fallen only half a percent, and unemployment is only slightly... Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:29:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139874 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139876
]]> The more President Barack Obama examines our options in Afghanistan, the less he likes the choices he sees. But, as the old saying goes, to govern is to choose - and he has stretched the internal debate to the breaking point. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139876 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139930
]]> THE ECONOMIST Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:17:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139930 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139932
]]> Now we can say, with no real doubt, that the Obama administration has suffered its first major foreign policy failure,, and it’s hard to see a way to recover. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:11:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091115/opinion/911139932