Viewpoints

A year into Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to realign public safety, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has produced a vision of "The Future of California Corrections," whose plans, not surprisingly, are mirrored in the recent May revise budget.

Another Little League Saturday at the park. I'm at the concession stand. Behind me, one person says to another, "How could they let someone make All-Stars who showed up for tryouts 45 minutes late?"

There are those who tell the truth. There are those who distort the truth. And then there's Mitt Romney.

Progressives have yearned for President Barack Obama to follow Harry Truman's strategy from the 1948 campaign by giving his Republican opponents hell. Now that Obama is doing just that, his critics say he's not looking presidential.

When I was in Vietnam, Armed Forces Radio frequently played a song called "Abraham, Martin and John."

Driving can bring out the worst in people, which means it also brings out pet peeves that set off the rest of us.

In recent years, we Californians have become staggeringly lazy when it comes to forming our half-baked beliefs and prejudices.

A state budget deficit eclipsing $15 billion, the nation's third-highest unemployment rate at 10.9 percent, and 2.1 million residents eager but unable to find work.

After the Kings' and the Maloofs' rejection of the downtown arena deal, the question is what's next for the railyard?

When news broke that a vial of Ronald Reagan's blood was being auctioned online, the price quickly jumped to $30,000 as websites and blogs explored a tantalizing possibility: Did this mean the late president could be cloned?

The past several days of Newark Mayor Cory Booker's life have been painfully amusing to watch.

On the first day of the first free presidential election in Egyptian history, 10 young men sat in a circle in a rundown cafe in the working-class quarter of Saida Zainab.

The fracking boom has made its way to California. Companies are already fracking in at least six counties and they're poised to expand operations.

I love to look into the past to find clues to the present and the future. It is amazing how you can connect the dots of history and visualize the road ahead. You can see clues in the rearview mirror that are shaping the world of the Internet and online gaming, the most exciting new technology industry in the world today.

Who are the dastardly enemies of free enterprise who decided to make an issue of Mitt Romney's tenure at the private-equity firm Bain Capital? Er, those would be his fellow Republicans.

We think of branding as something ranchers do to their cattle. But it's also what pimps do to women and girls they control across America.

Clark Kerr, the former University of California president, was probably not the first person to say it and he won't be the last, but he was on target when he noted, "The best investment that any society makes is in the education of its young people."

JPMorgan Chase has spent upward of $20 million on lobbying and campaign contributions in the past three years. On Tuesday, the bank received a healthy dividend on that investment.

Earlier this week, I visited a cavernous warehouse at McClellan Park and met with the owners of a small business that has developed a new generation of energy-efficient air conditioners.

Regardless of the degree, one of the most important skills the California State University expects of its students is the ability to think critically. A key component of critical thinking is the ability to distinguish symbols from facts.

Novelist John Grisham could hardly spin a more provocative fiction: The president and his surrogates mount an aggressive campaign to intimidate the chief justice of the United States, implying ruin and ridicule should he fail to vote in a pivotal case according to the ruling political party's wishes.

All across America, elected officials at the state and national levels are moving to restrict access to reproductive health care and reproductive rights.

With its support for gay marriage, the NAACP has done more than strike a blow for fairness and equality. The nation's most venerable civil rights organization has made itself relevant again.

Ever heard of "hopium"? That's the drug California lawmakers are on whenever they sit down to craft a state budget. They're addicted.

In this election, we're not having an argument that pits capitalism against socialism. We are trying to decide what kind of capitalism we want. It is a debate as American as Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay – which is to say that we have always done this.

With the U.S. House and Senate each having finally passed a multi-year, multibillion-dollar federal transportation authorization bill, Congress now must reconcile the differences between the two versions.

American federalism was purposely crafted to make change difficult. As much as we complain about the inefficiency of government – sometimes with good reason – we often forget that its slow speed has given us a strong and stable democracy. Decisions that affect the public, or the spending of public dollars, should be methodical.

California's history and commitment to environmental and clean energy leadership is unquestionable, with energy efficiency standards, renewable energy programs and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, to name a few.

There's a historic adage that says justice delayed is justice denied. The same can be said about equality. When civil rights come with a waiting period for some but not others; well, that's not equal.

What a difference four years make.