Rex Babin Cartoons

Olympic torch relay

• More cartoons

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Editorial: Provenza, Chamberlain for supervisor in Yolo

Three attractive candidates are vying to become Yolo County's 4th District supervisor. They are John Ferrera, chief of staff for the chair of the state Senate budget committee; Jim Provenza, a Davis school board member and lobbyist for the Los Angeles district attorney; and Cathy Kennedy, a manager with the California Restaurants Association....(more)

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George F. Will: The other side of housing crisis

Lewis Carroll, call your office. Or, better still, the author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" should call Washington, where the government's determination to solve the housing "crisis" produced this lead paragraph in a recent New York Times story: "Federal agencies are intensifying a criminal investigation of the mortgage industry and focusing on whether some lenders turned a blind eye to inflated income figures provided by borrowers."...(more)

Editorial: No interest, no school

Only 12 students have signed up to attend a proposed small high school at the former Marian Anderson school....(more)

Marie Cocco: The tale of the 20th hijacker

For weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when images of twisted metal and smoldering debris still filled television screens and the wail of bagpipes at firefighters' funerals sounded day after day, there was one face that seemed to embody the terror. It was that of Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the suicide highjackers, with his steely eyes and tight lips that appeared to reflect the evil within. Seven years later, if we were to seek a portrait that is emblematic of the way the United States has tried -- and failed -- to bring those responsible for the heinous plot to justice, we would have to produce a photograph of Mohammed al-Qahtani....(more)

Harold Meyerson: John McCain's America

If the McCain campaign is still trying out songs, there's one by a couple of Brits, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, that it should consider. We have to change the words "an Englishman" to "American" to get it to work, but, that done, the song expresses succinctly and entirely the case for John McCain and, by implication, against Barack Obama: For he himself has said it, And it's greatly to his credit, That he is American! That he is American! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sum total of the Republican message this year. That is why McCain's first post-primary ad proclaimed him "the American president Americans have been waiting for." Not the "strong" or "experienced" president, though those are contrasts he could seek to draw with Obama. The "American" president -- because that's the only contrast through which McCain has even a chance of prevailing....(more)

David Ignatius: The demise of Arab centrists

Watching the news from Lebanon, it's poignant to read the title of a new memoir by Jordan's former foreign minister, Marwan Muasher -- "The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation." The daily headlines tell us that centrist Arabs such as Muasher are becoming an endangered species....(more)

James E. Tilton: Investing in prison reform pays in safety

One year ago this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the most comprehensive and bipartisan prison reform legislation that California has ever seen. The law's passage was in response to a combination of crises that had the state's prison system on the verge of collapse. While there is still much hard work to be done, California is finally on the right track toward real prison reform....(more)

Maureen Dowd: Raspberry for Barry

In grim times, a bitter Hillary clings to bitter voters who in grim times supposedly cling to guns, religion and antipathy to people who aren't like them. Mining that antipathy, the New York senator has been working hard to get the hard-working white voters of hardscrabble Appalachia so she can show that a black man can't yet be elected president....(more)

Letters to the editor

Simple solution to budget crisis

...(more)

Daniel Weintraub: Schwarzenegger gives up trying to balance budget

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has now abandoned his goal of fixing the problem that led to his historic election in 2003. With the revised budget proposal he released Wednesday, the governor has effectively conceded that California's era of perpetual budget deficits will not end on his watch....(more)

David S. Broder: Lessons from West Virginia

Barack Obama really didn't need a victory in West Virginia. He was already well on his way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination, and the 28 delegates at stake were not going to change that picture, no matter how that primary came out....(more)

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

• Editorial: Peters is the choice for 3rd District supervisor in Sacramento County

• Editorial: Jack Scott is good choice for community college chancellor

• Peter Schrag: Initiative-industrial complex: Stalking rent control

• Jeremy Ben-Ami: Five myths on who's 'pro-Israel'

• Hecker and Perry: The right path with N. Korea

• Ruben Navarrette Jr.: The problem with McCain

• Marc Fisher: MLK memorial needs a fresh start

• Trudy Rubin: Myanmar's refusal to accept aid is criminal

• Paul Greenberg: The campaign that won't end

• Letters to the editor

• Bob Herbert: Here come the millennials

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

• Editorial: Knight, Michelin are best for El Dorado County Board of Supervisors

• Editorial: Let public in on government labor deals

• Daniel Weintraub: Fargo can't explain Sacramento's rising crime rate

• Paul Krugman: The oil nonbubble

• Cal Thomas: In defense of 'Big Oil'

• Andres Oppenheimer: Politics of Mexican anti-drug aid

• Nat Hentoff: Secret laws

• E.J. Dionne Jr.: Hillary Clinton beyond '08

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