OPINION - News - Unites States Newspapers - NSBK

School for all: How do you build peaceful, thriving nations? Build schools

2010-03-13 08:18:07: Education builds peace. That's what Julie Bolz told us on a recent visit to Houston, and she should know.

Greek trauma: European Union appears admirably determined to contain debt trouble

2010-03-13 08:18:07: In recent weeks, all eyes in global financial circles have been on … Greece. Yes, Greece.

How General Motors got rolled by its own dealers

2010-03-13 00:18:19: IT'S OFFICIAL: Auto dealers have defeated General Motors. In the bankruptcy settlement that paved the way for tens of billions of dollars in federal aid, GM got the authority to trim its network of 6,000 dealers by about a third. Though necessary to GM's competitiveness, the move infuriated the dealers who were slated for closure. They went to Congress for protection and got it, in the form of a law that gave every dealer the right to take GM to arbitration. Some 1,160 dealers exercised that right, and on March 5 GM said that, rather than fight them all -- at enormous cost in time and money -- it will reinstate 661.

Interfere, no, but U.S. should be monitoring Iraqi deliberations

2010-03-13 00:18:19: ELECTION DAY in Iraq last Sunday started out violently but ended well, with a turnout that exceeded that of last year's local elections -- not to mention most U.S. presidential votes. Since then, the counting has been slow and messy, with loud but so far unsubstantiated charges of fraud. The preliminary results show a close race between the mainly Shiite coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a second Shiite alliance and a nationalist and secular ticket that received heavy support in Sunni areas.

In Virginia, a watered-down bill on charter schools

2010-03-13 00:18:19: GETTING NEW charter school legislation through the Virginia General Assembly was a top priority of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R). He succeeded -- but we have to wonder if the compromises he made to win legislative approval undermine his worthy goals. It remains to be seen if the bill he proclaimed as a victory will lead to more charters being established in the state.

Best of the Web Today: Pelosi's Pig in a Poke

2010-03-12 17:18:10: "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

Burma shunned U.S. diplomacy with new election law. Now what?

2010-03-12 04:18:21: PRESIDENT OBAMA took office hoping that constructive diplomacy could yield progress on some of the thorniest foreign-policy challenges facing the United States. Among these was Burma, a Southeast Asian nation of 50 million people that has been misruled into poverty, decline and perpetual warfare by a benighted military dictatorship. Mr. Obama did not abandon economic sanctions against the regime, but he did hold out the prospect of warmer relations if Burma's regime would show some sign of easing up on its people.

All earmarks should be banned in the House and Senate

2010-03-12 04:18:21: SEVEN HOUSE members, including Northern Virginia Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D), collected more than $840,000 in political contributions from employees and clients of a lobbying firm, Paul Magliocchetti and Associates Group (PMA), during a two-year span. In that same period, the lawmakers, strategically situated on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, directed more than $245 million in earmarks to clients of PMA.

Md. is behind the times and the cost of living on child support

2010-03-12 04:18:21: THE LAST TIME Maryland calculated what parents should reasonably pay in child support was 1988. That's when the price of a stamp was 22 cents, the average cost of a new home was $138,300 and a gallon of gas went for $1.08. It is time Maryland stop shortchanging children and approve a long-needed update of the guidelines governing child support.

Haitian president drops the ball on addressing corruption concerns

2010-03-11 01:38:23: RENÃ� PRÃ�VAL, president of Haiti, has been in Washington discussing how to help his earthquake-ravaged country ahead of a major international donors conference this month. Unsurprisingly, given Haiti's history of wasted and purloined foreign aid, he is being asked about the perils of corruption and what measures the Haitian government might devise to minimize misuse and theft of the billions of dollars in recovery assistance flowing into the country and the billions more expected. Surprisingly, he seems utterly unprepared to discuss the matter.

Serious flaws in D.C.'s paramedic system

2010-03-11 01:38:21: "THE DECISION not to immediately transport a 2-year-old with respiratory symptoms is inexcusable." That judgment by Joseph Wright, senior vice president of Children's National Medical Center, is troubling testimony of the problems that -- four years after the David Rosenbaum case -- still exist in the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. City officials are appropriately examining the case of Stephanie Stephens, a Southeast toddler who died last month after emergency personnel decided against taking her to a hospital. They need to determine why more progress hasn't been made in fixing the systematic deficiencies first identified in Mr. Rosenbaum's case -- which, tragically, appear to be a factor in the death of this small child.

The Senate should act on a sensible food-protection bill

2010-03-11 01:38:20: THANKS TO federal regulations that took effect in September, a new salmonella contamination attributed to a flavor enhancer was caught and a recall begun. But inspection documents released by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday showed that a Las Vegas company continued to distribute the ingredient even after samples came back tainted. Unfortunately, legislation that would have prevented contamination at the source and would further secure the nation's food supply languishes in the Senate.

Congress is running out of time to save the Postal Service

2010-03-10 05:38:25: ON THE INTERNET, friends can communicate across continents via live video hook-ups for free. Companies can exchange 100-page documents in nanoseconds. Meanwhile, at the U.S. Postal Service, 600,000 employees spend their days stamping and sorting large pieces of paper and carrying them by plane, train and truck to every home and office from Guam to Georgetown -- as federal law requires. This quaint business model was bound to be stressed by recession, and it has been. Mail volume fell from an all-time high of 213 billion pieces in 2006 to 177 billion in 2009, with more declines to come. The Postal Service is on course to lose more than $7 billion this year, despite substantial recent cost-cutting, and it could lose more than $238 billion by 2020. Approaching the limits of its federal credit line, the USPS must change drastically or go bust.

Congress must act soon to reauthorize D.C. scholarship program

2010-03-10 05:38:25: DON'T BE FOOLED by the excuses offered by Senate Democratic leaders about why no vote has been scheduled to reauthorize the District's federally funded private school voucher program. The truth is that opponents know how bad it would look to vote against a program that has helped low-income, minority children get a better education. So instead they take no action and hope the program dies a slow, quiet death. Those championing vouchers are right to call out Senate leaders for their cowardly refusal to -- at the very least -- allow a fair hearing for this successful program.

In Virginia, legalized discrimination is alive and well

2010-03-10 05:38:21: IN A MARCH 4 missive to state colleges and universities, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) argued that the schools had overstepped their legal bounds by enacting nondiscrimination policies that include protections for sexual orientation. Under Mr. Cuccinelli's reading of the law, the schools must refrain from offering more protections than the law requires unless the Virginia General Assembly explicitly authorizes them. The attorney general admonished the schools to "take appropriate actions to bring their policies in conformance with the law and public policy of Virginia." Translation: Discrimination is alive, well and now encouraged in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Best of the Web Today: The Step-Dance Kerfuffle

2010-03-09 15:58:12: "Some white girls win . . . and it exposes the worst of this generation of America."

Justice's welcome push to improve legal counsel for poor defendants

2010-03-09 02:58:23: THEY ARE common stories by now: The court-appointed defense lawyer who falls asleep during a client's murder trial. The beleaguered big-city public defender who barely has a chance to scan a client's file as she rushes from courtroom to courtroom, laboring under a crushing caseload.

Teacher misconduct

2010-03-09 02:58:23: DISTRICT LAW considers it a crime when doctors betray a trust and have sex with patients, no matter their age. Ditto for hospital volunteers, ambulance drivers and other people entrusted with caring for others. But, for reasons that no one can really explain, this common-sense protection doesn't apply to teachers and students. It's an anomaly that needs to be addressed as officials assess how well the system deals with teacher misconduct.

From proximity to peace?

2010-03-09 02:58:20: THE OBAMA administration appears near to a diplomatic achievement it expected long ago: the relaunch of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. It will be a modest start -- not a big conference or a convocation to Camp David but "proximity talks," in which envoy George J. Mitchell will shuttle between the two camps. This is, in one sense, a step backward for Israeli-Palestinian relations, since the two sides have been talking directly to each other, off and on, since 1991. But Mr. Mitchell says he hopes his brokering will quickly lead to direct talks, and the administration believes that even this stunted process will be better than none at all.

That Other Government Takeover

2010-03-08 19:58:11: What else may go into 'reconciliation.'

George Melloan: The Euro Has Been a Smashing Success

2010-03-08 19:58:11: Greeks knew it would be a boon to taverna keepers to share a currency with rich German tourists.

O'Grady: Foreign Aid and Salvadoran Corruption

2010-03-08 19:58:11: The World Bank should audit former President Tony Saca.

Friend and Faux on Human Rights

2010-03-08 19:58:11: Iran bids to join the U.N.'s rights body.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, ObamaCare

2010-03-08 19:58:11: Is the White House playing a double game with House Democrats?

Riley: Charter Schools Flourish in Harlem

2010-03-08 19:58:11: But teachers unions are still trying to stop their growth.

Bob Litan: Visas for the Next Sergey Brin

2010-03-08 19:58:11: To create more jobs, let's import more employers.

Beginning With the Word

2010-03-08 19:58:11: The King James Bible has influenced the prose style and literary voice of many American writers. Robert Alter traces its effect in "Pen of Iron." Stephen Miller reviews.

Martyr to the Public Option

2010-03-08 19:58:11: JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL Rep. Eric Massa suspects the real reason he is being forced from office is that he wouldn't play ball with the House leadership on health care.

Best of the Web Today: Mirror, Mirror

2010-03-08 19:58:11: Textbook economics is "a bizarre point of view"--according to the textbook's author!

The list of Race to the Top finalists needs some whittling.

2010-03-08 00:18:22: THE LIST of finalists for coveted Race to the Top dollars is not as exclusive as Education Secretary Arne Duncan suggested that it would be. Nearly one-third of those applying for the coveted education dollars were picked, and some states with sorry educational policies (such as New York) managed to get on the list. It's a far cry from the "very, very high bar" promised by Mr. Duncan -- but what really matters is the choice of the winners. There are enough finalists with refreshingly strong proposals that we still have hope that Mr. Duncan will deliver on his promise of rewarding only the best of the best.

A leading Japanese politician espouses a 9/11 fantasy

2010-03-08 00:18:22: YUKIHISA FUJITA is an influential member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. As chief of the DPJ's international department and head of the Research Committee on Foreign Affairs in the upper house of Japan's parliament, to which he was elected in 2007, he is a Brahmin in the foreign policy establishment of Washington's most important East Asian ally. He also seems to think that America's rendering of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, is a gigantic hoax.

Metro, laid bare

2010-03-08 00:18:21: FIRST, THE apparently good news about Metro: As General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. gets set to step down next month, the agency has found a seasoned veteran, retired New Jersey Transit chief Richard Sarles, to take the reins on an interim basis while Metro's board of directors searches for a permanent replacement. Given the tiny universe of candidates qualified to oversee an operation of Metro's size, scope and vexing problems, Mr. Sarles's appointment means one less headache in the short term for the network's governing board, which already has its hands full with plenty of others.

Editorial Notebook: The Kite Makers

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Kite makers dance through Haitian camps with rubbery exuberance, resisting the desperation of the devastated country with homemade joy.

Editorial: If Reform Fails

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Americans need to know these basic facts as Congress decides whether to approve comprehensive health care reform or continue with what we have.

Editorial: ‘If You Bring in the Cops’

2010-03-07 02:58:09: A police training program in Afghanistan, oriented toward ensuring civilian security, not paramilitary combat against the Taliban, must be one of Washington’s top priorities.

Editorial: A.I.G., Greece, and Who’s Next?

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Washington must stop stalling and fix the derivatives market, which kneecapped American firms and contributed to the debt crisis in Greece.

I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor : A Vote of Thanks

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Because of the sacrifices of the troops in Iraq, the country will vote freely this Sunday. Many Iraqis are grateful.

Op-Ed Contributor: Algebra in Wonderland

2010-03-07 02:58:09: The other-worldly events in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” can be interpreted as satire on 19th-century advances in mathematics.

Op-Ed Contributor: The Unbearable Lightness of Leading

2010-03-07 02:58:09: President Obama’s weight: imagine the scandal.

Op-Ed Contributors: Trading Away Productivity

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Washington acknowledges that much of America’s economic policy rides on false assumptions, but has yet to correct it.

I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor : The Lesser Path

2010-03-07 02:58:09: The presence of unimpeachable virtue makes me feel like breaking bottles. But Father Lesser gave me something, whether I thought I wanted it or not

Op-Ed Contributor: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Change

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Arguments over training costs, civil rights and individual performance miss the point. In combat, unit cohesion is more important.

Letters to the International Herald Tribune: Conservative Priorities

2010-03-07 02:58:09: For the last 30 years, America's policies have embraced individualism but we have lost the sense of collective good.

Letters to the Editor: A Failure to Regulate

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Autism is just the tip of the iceberg when we consider the avalanche of toxic materials American and European companies have been putting into their products.

Letters to the International Herald Tribune: Truth and Justice in Rwanda

2010-03-07 02:58:09: To survivors of the genocide in Rwanda and to human rights advocates, the statement from President Nicolas Sarkozy is deeply offensive.

Letters to the International Herald Tribune: Pulling Out of Afghanistan

2010-03-07 02:58:09: The Dutch don't agree with the connection you make between Afghanistan and our security.

Op-Ed Columnist: Dreaming the Possible Dream

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Two innovators have defied the recession to shepherd clean-tech start-ups with the potential to be disruptive game changers.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Spread of Superbugs

2010-03-07 02:58:09: Agricultural use of antibiotics produces cheaper meat but is widely seen as a major reason for the rise of superbugs. The agribusiness lobby is heading off efforts at reform.

Op-Ed Columnist: Arabia: Inshallah, Obama

2010-03-07 02:58:09: The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, laments the need for less talk and more peace in the region.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Up-or-Down Vote on Obama’s Presidency

2010-03-07 02:58:09: We face the alarming prospect that Barack Obama’s presidency could be toast if he doesn’t make good on health care reform and a year’s worth of false starts.

In search of Plan C

2010-03-06 21:38:21: THE DILEMMA posed by President Obama's health-care proposal was aptly captured by Berkshire Hathaway chief executive Warren Buffett last week during an interview on CNBC. The status quo is unacceptable, the noted investor said; the proposal is deficient. "If it was a choice today between Plan A, which is what we've got, or Plan B, what is in front of -- the Senate bill, I would vote for the Senate bill," Mr. Buffett said. "But I would much rather see a Plan C that really attacks costs." (Disclosure: Mr. Buffett serves on the board of directors of The Washington Post Co. He had no input into this editorial.)

Endgame in Iraq

2010-03-06 21:38:21: PRESIDENT OBAMA has so far made foreign policy priorities out of turning the tide of the war in Afghanistan, "resetting" relations with Russia, stopping Iran's nuclear program and relaunching the Middle East peace process. Yet the most important foreign policy test of his presidency may begin Sunday in a country he has held somewhat at arm's length: Iraq. Millions of Iraqis will choose among more than 6,000 candidates for 325 seats in parliament, in what may be the most free elections ever staged in the Arab Middle East. Whether it comes off without serious disruption by violence or fraud, and what happens in the political bargaining that follows, will determine the future of Iraq and America's relationship with it.

Remember them in November

2010-03-06 21:38:21: AS EXPECTED, the Maryland House Judiciary Committee wrongly killed a bill on Thursday that would have made it easier for victims of domestic violence to obtain protective orders. H.B. 700 would have brought Maryland into conformance with the practices of every other state in the country. As an election-year service to voters, here is the 15 to 6 vote:

Mail drop: For most, dropping Saturday home delivery seems like no big deal

2010-03-06 02:58:05: Surprisingly, there seems to be relatively little public outcry over the Postal Service's recommendation to eliminate Saturday mail delivery.

Hedge funds probe exposes heart of Greek crisis

2010-03-06 01:38:19: THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT has ordered several U.S. hedge funds to retain records relating to trading in the euro, perhaps for a probe of speculators' role in the Greek debt crisis that has hammered the European currency. Justice's action lends a measure of validation to the many European officials who blame the "hedgies" for colluding against the euro beyond what economic fundamentals warrant. Indeed, European Union regulators are discussing measures to limit betting on government bonds that the speculators don't actually hold -- so-called "naked" credit default swaps.

Foreign officials suspected of rights abuses should be deported

2010-03-06 01:38:19: IN THE SUMMER of 1988, Aziz Deria had left Somalia and was living in the United States when he heard the horrible news: His father, Mohamed, and brother, Mustafa, had apparently been dragged from their home and murdered by Somali soldiers intent on killing members of the Isaaq clan.

A criminal probe is the right action for Churchill alleged grade-changing scheme

2010-03-06 01:38:19: THERE ALWAYS have been students who cheat, but usually the offense is handled by their teachers and parents. So it's stunning that a criminal investigation has been opened into the grade-changing scheme at a top Montgomery County high school. Authorities are right to insist on getting to the bottom of this scandalous affair. Their involvement should serve as a wake-up call about a school culture that could give rise to such extensive abuses.

Op-Ed Columnist: Cops vs. Kids

2010-03-06 00:18:10: It’s time to rein in the way police and safety officers in New York public schools mistreat students.

Filling a need: Kudos to local clinics for expanding services to the medically uninsured

2010-03-05 06:58:06: It's ironic that a city with the largest medical complex in the world, home to renowned hospitals, medical schools and research institutions, is also home to the largest percentage of medically uninsured people in the nation — one out of every three.

Up or down: Bring on the congressional vote on health care reform. Let’s get it settled

2010-03-05 06:58:06: President Obama has drawn a line in the sand on health care reform.

Targeting Justice Department lawyers for work in terrorism cases is misdirected

2010-03-05 05:38:20: THE VIDEO opens with an image of Eric H. Holder Jr., as ominous music plays in the background. Soon a headline reading "DOJ: Department of Jihad?" flashes on-screen as the narrator delivers the text in a conspiratorial tone: "So who did President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder hire? [A]ttorneys who represented or advocated for terrorist detainees. Who are these government officials? . . . Whose values do they share? Tell Eric Holder Americans have a right to know the identities of the al Qaeda 7."

Raising the gas tax might be the only way to wean Americans off oil

2010-03-05 05:38:20: GEORGE W. BUSH declared four years ago that America is addicted to oil, a dependency that dirties the air, leaves the economy vulnerable to the volatility of a single commodity and enriches distasteful foreign regimes.

Reallocating education money hurts poor children most

2010-03-05 05:38:20: AS VIRGINIA heads into the final days of the General Assembly, House and Senate negotiators will work to reach a budget agreement. Among the critical issues to be decided is how to apportion the state's precious education dollars. Here we hope that lawmakers don't abandon the important principle of directing resources to where they are most needed and where they do the most good.

Op-Ed Columnist: Senator Bunning’s Universe

2010-03-05 04:18:09: Democratic and Republican debates over unemployment benefits and health care show that the parties currently live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Wal-Mart Hippies

2010-03-05 04:18:09: The Tea Party’s raging against the machine echoes an older radicalism from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

Best of the Web today

2010-03-04 22:38:10: From the WSJ Opinion Archives

Best of the Web Today: Obama's Vietnam

2010-03-04 15:58:10: "This is the last helicopter out of Saigon."

Globalist: Iran in Its Intricacy

2010-03-04 14:58:10: It is time for Iran to find the balance between faith and pluralism that has eluded it for a century.

Opinion: EPA's tougher ozone standard will be good for the Bay Area

2010-03-04 03:28:14: How much do you think about the quality of the air you breathe? Unless you are one of the growing numbers of people suffering from asthma or another respiratory disease, you may not have thought about it at all.

Editorial: Keep politicians' hands off state redistricting

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Quietly, a group of California Democrats is trying to subvert the will of the voters. Twelve members of Congress and Assemblywoman Karen Bass, who is running for a congressional seat, have contributed more than $150,000 to a campaign to repeal Proposition 11 through an initiative on the November

Opinion:

2010-03-04 03:28:14: It is early evening on Capitol Hill, and I am sitting with Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, who, along with Sen.

Opinion: Krauthammer: The price of modernity

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Amazingly, the congressional hearings on Toyota were relatively civilized. Apart from some inevitable theatrical hectoring, the questioning was generally respectful, the emotions controlled.

Opinion: Pitts: On race and the tea party

2010-03-04 03:28:14: A few words on the meaning of tea. They are occasioned by a recent commentary by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC.

Opinion: Ruben Navarrette Jr.: A little stigma is just fine for California food stamp recipients

2010-03-04 03:28:14: At the intersection of the nanny state and the welfare state is a bill in the California Legislature that would make it easier for food stamp recipients to buy fruits and vegetables.

Opinion: Reform California pensions, or taxpayers will revolt -- again

2010-03-04 03:28:14: The public pension system in California needs common-sense reform.For more than three decades, I have served as an elected official in Santa Clara County.

Editorial: Healthy Workers creates win for small business, employees

2010-03-04 03:28:14: The folks who gave you the wonderful Children's Health Initiative are at it again. Their newest effort, Healthy Workers, to be introduced Monday, is designed to increase access to health insurance for small businesses and low- to middle-income workers in Santa Clara County.

Editorial: Silicon Valley women executives inspire middle-school girls

2010-03-04 03:28:14: It was not the usual stump speech for Carly Fiorina. Strolling through the packed room, microphone in hand, she looked members of the audience in the eye, one after another, and talked about — being afraid.

Opinion: Consumers still lose with new credit card law

2010-03-04 03:28:14: This week, the much anticipated Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) takes effect.

Opinion: Walters: Beware of rosy state revenue scenarios

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Officially, the state has a budget gap of about $20 billion, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a budget that relies, incredibly, on getting an extra $6.9 billion in federal aid. But the Legislature, appears to be joining Schwarzenegger in the 'rosy scenario' approach.

Opinion: Nicholas D. Kristof: Everyday toxins pose long-term hazards

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Autism was first identified in 1943 in an obscure medical journal. Since then, it has become a frighteningly common affliction, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting recently that autism disorders now affect almost 1 percent of children.

Opinion: Victor Davis Hanson: Obama changes his tune much too late

2010-03-04 03:28:14: The United States may very well owe a crushing $20 trillion by 2020. And thus President Barack Obama last week named a bipartisan commission to find ways to address our national debt.

Friedman: Can politics trump culture in Iraq?

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Will Iraq's new politics triumph over its cultural divides, or will its cultural/sectarian divides sink its fledgling democracy? We still don't know.

Editorial: San Jose police chief must decide if beating was appropriate

2010-03-04 03:28:14: It's no surprise that the district attorney has declined to press resisting-arrest charges against Phuong Ho, the college student whose beating by four San Jose police officers was captured on videotape.

Opinion: California high-speed rail financing is a fantasy

2010-03-04 03:28:14: The California High-Speed Rail Authority has long touted the wonderful fantasy of high-speed trains. On the authority's Web site, viewers are shown a sleek, ultramodern train zooming through a backdrop of green rolling hills and lush scenery, all at speeds up to 225 miles per hour.

Editorial: Reason to believe Google verdict in Italy will be isolated

2010-03-04 03:28:14: It's hard to find anyone, save the prosecutor, who will defend an Italian judge's decision Wednesday to convict three Google executives of invasion of privacy.

Opinion: Richard Cohen: Regarding Iran, it's time to fight crazy with crazy

2010-03-04 03:28:14: A question relating to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program: Is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad crazy like Adolf Hitler, or is he crazy like, of all people, Richard Nixon?

Opinion: California workers' comp battle will have to wait

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Under the 2004 legislation, the Division of Workers' Compensation was to have reviewed and amended the rules governing permanent disability eligibility, adopted in 2005, by Jan. 1, 2010. But the administration isn't complying.

Opinion: Only true competition will effectively reform health care

2010-03-04 03:28:14: The surprising result in last month's special election for the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat has raised concerns among Democratic congressional leaders whether they can pass a health care bill they've been working on for nearly a year.

Editorial: California should rally behind Obama's health reforms

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's break with the Republican Party on President Barack Obama's health care plan signals what's at stake for California.

Editorial: Government should handle all student lending

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Given a choice, would you use taxpayer money to subsidize banks, or to help students pay for college?

Opinion: Church-state lines have changed since the Kennedy days

2010-03-04 03:28:14: If Roman Catholic bishops acted in 1960 the way they act today, John Kennedy might never have been elected president.

Editorial: Anthem rate hike shines light on need for comprehensive reforms

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Assemblyman Dave Jones tried in 2007 and 2009 to pass legislation giving California greater authority to regulate health insurance companies' rate increases.

Opinion: Death penalty is a just punishment; the system works

2010-03-04 03:28:14: Among the most hotly debated issues in California is the death penalty. As public safety leaders, we agree with the overwhelming majority of Californians that capital punishment is a powerful deterrent preventing crime as well as a just punishment for the most violent offenses.

Opinion: Friedman: Say farewell to the fat years

2010-03-04 03:28:14: A small news item from Tracy caught my eye last week. Local station CBS 13 reported: "Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency.

Opinion: Rubin: Taliban arrest is a milestone

2010-03-04 03:28:14: There's been a flood of news coverage of a major U.S. offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Opinion: A bailout out for Greece, a cold shoulder for California

2010-03-04 03:28:14: If I were the governor of California, cursed with an insoluble budget crisis, and if I had asked the federal government for help and been rebuffed, and if I hailed from Europe and noticed that the European Union had agreed — in principle at least — to bail out Greece, I might be

Opinion: Navarrette: Fright night on the left

2010-03-04 03:28:14: With the midterm elections approaching, liberal Democrats have a simple strategy for reaching out to Latino voters: fear and loathing.

Opinion: Remember the historical role of federal investment in Silicon Valley

2010-03-04 03:28:14: There are two distinct narratives about Silicon Valley. It is time to reconcile them and move to the next stage of our region's evolution in the changing global economy.

Editorial: Initiative process just as infected by money as the rest of politics

2010-03-04 03:28:14: California's initiative process is widely viewed as the people's last resort — an avenue for grass-roots action when the Legislature fails.

Opinion: For governors, no easy choices

2010-03-04 03:28:14: WASHINGTON — As the nation's governors gather in Washington for their annual winter meeting, the states they lead are facing what one knowledgeable authority calls "a lost decade" of stagnant or declining revenues and budget crises.