California Forum

The U.S. Senate insulted us the other day and got a good laugh at our expense, once again.

When it comes to politics, we Californians are well-known for being a bit fickle.

The people of Syria fighting to overthrow a harsh dictator must feel abandoned by the world community.

As the city of Elk Grove prepares for the future, it is imperative the past is not repeated. The era of big box strip malls and an endless sea of rooftops is over. It doesn't work. Strip malls expand, houses sprout up, precious resources are wasted and the bubble bursts. This has been a repeating pattern in suburban America, and it is time to make a change.

California has long been known for its flourishing agricultural sector. From small, niche farms to large-scale operations, our state's farms have been critical in creating jobs and safe, locally grown food for our tables.

I spent last weekend in Indianapolis, where I attended my 26th NFL Super Bowl. It was a tremendous experience, one of the most exciting Super Bowls that I've seen.

Mitt Romney's recent losses to Rick Santorum in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota revealed a truism that Romney might want to study – but not too much!

"How many of you," Scott Rasmussen asked the crowd at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference, "have ever mocked or made fun of the president's call for hope and change? Raise your hands."

The time has come to hit the reset button in Sacramento.

President Barack Obama never was Mr. Smith.

Slowly but surely, nonprofits and local communities are exploring what they can do to keep open the 70 state parks slated to close on July 1.

This is Kelly Strong, a veteran of the Iraq War. His family is in a federal program aiding seriously injured vets who need daily help or supervision. It's a blessing – one that only post-9/11 veterans receive.

Unless you're steeped in Idaho politics, you've probably never heard of Frank VanderSloot. But the wealthy Republican businessman and people like him around the country are wielding outsized influence on the 2012 presidential election.

Alice Waters, one of the world's best-known chefs and an icon of the sustainable food movement, is making plans to bring one of her signature projects to Sacramento.

Sometimes what The Bee provides along with our watchdog investigations is a giant megaphone.

I'm about to commit a sacrilege so unAmerican that neither presidential pardon nor papal dispensation will provide absolution:

Park Romney says some pretty wild things.

If we had our druthers, we'd let voters decide this November on the once-delayed $11.1 billion water bond, passed by lawmakers in 2009. The sooner voters dispatch this albatross, putting it out of its misery, the sooner California can get serious about smarter and more equitable alternatives for financing needed water infrastructure.

The blockbuster Facebook public stock offering will produce a welcome windfall for the state.

After enduring a painful recession and a slow recovery, there are some good signs that growth in the California economy is finally starting to accelerate. Yet the budget deficit remains a serious issue, largely because the state is grappling not just with cyclical issues caused by the recession but with a long-term structural gap that can be traced all the way back to the dot-com boom and bust. Despite spending cuts and a recovery in revenue flows, the budget deficit is still in the $9 billion range. This is better than the $25 billion seen last year, but it shows the depth of the issues being faced.

Back in 1841, not long before Sacramento established its first city charter, a young Bostonian by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson published an essay titled "Self-Reliance," and in it he penned these words: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Posts from McClatchy reporters and editors covering Washington, Jerusalem, Afghanistan and beyond.

If you use Gmail, YouTube or any other Google services, it's been impossible to miss – we're updating our privacy policies on March 1. These kinds of changes can lead to lots of confusion, so let me keep it simple: We're doing this to make our privacy commitments more understandable and to make Google work better for you.

You'll likely be hearing a lot of talk about the Panama Canal over the next couple of years.