Local News from The Press Democrat

Vindication for a vaccination

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 16:59:00 -0500

]]> This editorial is from the Los Angeles Times:

America: Not yet lost, but it's close

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 16:56:00 -0500

]]> We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic.

BROOKS: Obama, Biden and a house of tranquility

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 15:11:00 -0500

]]> During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had a Felix and Oscar air about them. Obama was disciplined and professorial while Biden was tactile and approachable. Biden would make an off-color joke, while Obama would put on a contemptuous grimace. Biden would bound friskily onstage to the roar of the crowd. Obama would glide...

WASHINGTON POST: Keeping schools accountable

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 15:18:00 -0500

]]> This editorial is from the Washington Post:

PD Editorial: Empty fields

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 15:29:00 -0500

]]> Educators and parents have long argued over the role of high school sports in public education. But it’s never been an all-or-nothing proposition — until now.

Hyperbole, distortion won't narrow deficit

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 19:18:00 -0500

]]> Social Security “is being used as a piggy bank” for the federal government as retirees are asked to “pay the price for the excess of Wall Street.” “We don’t have the courage to reduce spending so we increase taxes,” the

PD Editorial: State government guide

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 17:59:00 -0500

]]> California is again facing an enormous budget deficit, currently estimated at more than $19 billion through June 2011. You may wish to share your thoughts with your state representatives and leaders in Sacramento. Here's how to contact them.

FRIEDMAN: Postcard from Yemen

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 17:57:00 -0500

]]> SAN'A, Yemen Yemen's former prime minister, Abdul Karim al-Iryani, got right to the point when I arrived at his San'a home for dinner: “So, Thomas, did it take Abdulmutallab to finally get you here?”

Democrats need a health strategy

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 17:50:00 -0500

]]> If President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are still hoping to eke out a victory this year in their long struggle for health care reform, they're going to have to agree on a strategy.

The Republican roots of campaign finance reform

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:40:00 -0500

]]> When I arrived in the U.S. Senate 30 years ago, I was a proud member of a Republican Party known for championing moderation in Congress, restraint in the courts and good-government reform.

U.S. vs. China: No one prospers if rifts become conflicts

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:36:00 -0500

]]> For six decades now, Taiwan has been where the simmering distrust between China and America most risks boiling over. In 1986 Deng Xiaoping called it the “one obstacle in Sino-U.S. relations.”

NAVARRETTE: Obama flunking on education reform

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:30:00 -0500

]]> President Barack Obama had been getting high marks in his first year in office for what seemed to be an insightful approach to education reform. Too bad he flunked the final.

PD Editorial: Don't ask

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:57:00 -0500

]]> Finally, the commander-in-chief and the military’s top brass are moving to get rid of this discriminatory policy, which was eliminated long ago, without negative consequences, by Britain and Canada and the rest of NATO.

Limbaugh's barbs test Palin

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:53:00 -0500

]]> I never thought it would come to this. Sarah Palin is going to have to unheart Rush Limbaugh. Otherwise the only conclusion is that she fakes her emotions, even those that seem most genuine.

BROOKS: The virtues of big-time college sports

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:42:00 -0500

]]> After Hitler came to power, the sociologist Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy emigrated to the United States.

KRUGMAN: Outbreak of deficit hysteria

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:22:00 -0500

]]> These days it’s hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on a news program without encountering stern warnings about the federal budget deficit. The deficit threatens economic recovery, we’re told; it puts American economic stability at risk; it will undermine our influence in the world. These claims generally aren’t stated as...

Child slavery common in Haiti

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:12:00 -0500

]]> When a Haitian man walked up to Noel Ismonin, a pastor from Ottawa working in Haiti, and offered to sell him an orphan boy for $50, he refused and managed to rescue the child.

GOLIS: Last train to Cloverdale

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:04:00 -0500

]]> “Marin County is first in line for the SMART commute train, with central Sonoma County facing at least a two-year delay, under a plan approved Wednesday by transit directors.” — Jan. 20 news story

JAMES CAMERON: The right dreams at NASA

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 16:58:00 -0500

]]> What do rockets burn for fuel? Money. Money that is contributed by working families who have mortgages and children who need braces. And why do the American people support our efforts in space? Because they still believe, to some extent or another, in that shining dream of exploring other worlds. So it could be said that rockets really run on...

A breath of fresh air on global warming

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 16:48:00 -0500

]]> Not long after the flood, when Noah was safely back on dry land, God promised: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man ... And never again will I destroy all living creatures.”

Who dat being a bully?

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:44:00 -0500

]]> This editorial is from the Sacramento Bee: The New Orleans Saints are underdogs going into today's Super Bowl. But as the spat over “Who Dat?” proves, underdogs can sometimes bite back.

Tablet newspapers: The new hope for journalism

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:24:00 -0500

]]> What the lady said made me blush just a bit. I liked it, but it seemed almost too personal.

PD Editorial: Caution

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:27:00 -0500

]]> Death of SR teen another sign of road risks.

RUBIN: Iran using U.S. hikers as pawns in nuclear feud

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:10:00 -0500

]]> More U.S. and international attention should be focused on the plight of three American hikers who have been languishing in solitary confinement in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for six months. They have had no access to a lawyer or any communication with their families, who have no idea of their condition or mental state.

KRISTOF: From 'Oprah' to building a sisterhood in Congo

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:01:00 -0500

]]> BUKAVU, Congo

MIAMI HERALD: Protecting Haiti's orphans

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:17:00 -0500

]]> This editorial is from the Miami Herald: The attempt by Baptist missionaries from Idaho to spirit 33 Haitian kids across the border into the Dominican Republic may have been well-intentioned, even admirable, but it certainly wasn’t very smart.

ECONOMIST: No quick fix for Toyota's damaged reputation

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:06:00 -0500

]]> Safety recalls are a common enough occurrence in the car industry. If handled correctly, few have long-term consequences for the manufacturer involved. However, the disaster now engulfing Toyota is of a different order.

PD Editorial: On the brink

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:26:00 -0500

]]> With its reserves nearly exhausted after years of deficit spending, Rohnert Park can’t sit back and wait for a recovery. And the city is running out of surplus property to sell. So, it must cut spending.

COLLINS: Florida, we have a problem

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 18:04:00 -0500

]]> The Obama administration's proposed budget holds many surprises. OK, you have to be kind of dorky to make that statement.

ROBINSON: A car as dependable as a personal computer

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 15:29:00 -0500

]]> A friend of mine once had a Toyota that wouldn't die. The odometer had only a dim recollection of passing 100,000 miles, the body was dinged and the paint was faded and the interior was worn, but the thing just kept running. He finally parked it at the airport, removed the plates and walked away.