From all the bad economic news of the past week, I keep thinking about the Santa Rosa teachers camped out overnight in the rain - just so they could be first in line for a buy-out. The first 68 teachers, Staff Writer Kerry Benefield reported, were to be offered $45,000 [...]

"Fixtures for sale today."- Sign in Healdsburg store window.A tough week, wasn't it?The national economy continued to spiral down, taking jobs and consumer confidence with it. All of a sudden, financial experts were talking about nationalizing the banks. (Who would have predicted that three months ago?)The embarrassment that we call [...]

The Wall Street Journal today posts one of the most predictable stories from the 2008 presidential campaign. The National Republican Party, the Journal says, is now determined to become no less tech savvy than the Democrats.Throughout 2008, it was clear that the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama was light years [...]

On his first day in office, President Obama said the federal government keeps secrets whenever it finds a defensible reason to do so. In his administration, he promised, that will change.In the coming months, we'll see if the president keeps his word. When the pressure is on, politicians often forget [...]

The Obama administration is considering a financial bailout for troubled state governments. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes that translates into $26 billion for public works projects in California. Meanwhile, state government has mismanaged itself to the brink of bankruptcy. So, here's the question: Would you trust the state government to manage [...]

Watching the performers pay tribute to him during Sunday's televised concert at the Lincoln Memorial, I wondered how Barack Obama deals with the adulation and the expectations. How does he keep his head on straight while Tom Hanks, Bono, Tiger Woods, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and millions of other people are [...]

Once upon a time, California built universities, schools, freeways and water projects that were the envy of the world. An ambitious public agenda, advanced by mainstream politicians from both parties, became the engine that drove the state's prosperity - and made all things possible.During that time, state government paid its [...]

In the last decade, Californians have endured more than their share of melodramas in state government. Perhaps that's why there is so little uproar about the current mess. Having heard the politicians cry wolf so many times, our reaction is: Ho-hum, another budget crisis.Here's the problem: There really is a [...]

On a frigid New Year's Eve, more than a thousand people were jammed into the Memorial Union at Iowa State University. The candidate for president was more than an hour late, but no one seemed to mind. When Barack Obama finally took the stage at 9:40 p.m., the faithful applauded [...]

The Sacramento Bee today reports - here - that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing mid-year budget cuts that respond to the gaping hole in the state budget. Without revenue increases, that could mean at much as $40 billion in spending reductions over a period of 18 months. (The 18-month deficit [...]