Archive By Section - Other Views
Obama-Biden: Hope and chains
Vice President Joe Biden played the race card this week when he drawled Southern-style to a racially mixed audience that if Mitt Romney takes the White House, he'll "unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y'all back in chains."
Bad Sacramento deal: More felons, less money
When the Legislature passed Governor Brown's public safety "realignment" plan last year, I was vehemently opposed to it because I predicted that it would put Californians in serious danger. Regardless, we were promised that the plan would save money without compromising justice. But judging from recent history and a new report from the Chief Probation Officers of California, the Valley is receiving none of what we were promised. It turns out, I was right to be concerned.
Temp agencies: Shortcut to nowhere
It seemed that Joseph Holman, a 51-year-old redhead from Brooklyn, had climbed into the middle class the old-fashioned way: by the sweat of his brow.
No citizen needs an assault weapon
For all of the gun lovers, feel free to go buy your Glock, shotgun, hunting rifle, .22 pistol, .357 magnum or any of the other guns at your disposal, but you do not need an AK-47.
All Ohioans should be able to vote early
The campaigns of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are engaged in a fierce battle in Ohio, knowing full well that it is one of the critical battleground states that could determine who wins in November.
Gabby's hair: Issue of life & death?
Gabrielle Douglas became the fourth American - and first black female - to win a gold medal in women's individual all-around gymnastics. Effervescent and attractive, Gabby stands to make millions of dollars in endorsements. But she has received criticism - in the social media, via Twitter, Facebook and, according to The Daily Beast, several "black blogs."
Accuracy: Not in campaign ads
In this very negative election season, the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns don't sweat accuracy. Even if fact-checking PolitiFact rates a 30-second spot as "pants-on-fire" false or Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler gives it four Pinocchios - his maximum rating - no worries; they don't clean up their act. As Slate's John Dickerson wrote, to the grizzled campaign operatives of 2012, "if you're not getting four Pinocchios or a pants-on-fire, you're not doing it right."
Death penalty & Jared Lee Loughner
Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty Tuesday to 19 counts involving a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left six dead and 13 others, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wounded. As part of the deal, Loughner will receive a sentence of life without parole. Victims' families have been spared the rigors of a trial, and prosecutors can be sure that Loughner will never again endanger the general public. Thank the federal death penalty, which applied because Loughner shot people at a federally protected political event.
Harry Reid has one big mouth
Whenever a name Republican says something stupid or indefensible or arguably both, for the next three days folks will open a conversation by asking me (the only Republican they know) what I think about the latest GOP gaffe.
Extra parent could split baby more ways
State Sen. Mark Leno wants California to recognize that a child can have "more than two legal parents." So he wrote a bill, SB 1476, which, he argues, wouldn't change the definition of a parent - for example, live-in lovers would not qualify - but would allow family court to recognize more than two parents only "when it is required to be in the best interest of the child." He stresses that if the bill becomes law, "none of our sponsors or supporters believe that this authority will be used very often."
Will poll stymie pension changes?
The Field Poll is rarely wrong in gauging public sentiment. Its final reading prior to a major election almost never deviates more than 4 percent or 5 percent from the final vote.
Culture war: The Chick-fil-A front
Two weeks ago, Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A, an Atlanta company famous for its juicy chicken sandwiches, appeared on "The Ken Coleman Show" to air his biblical belief that those who champion same-sex marriage are risking divine retribution upon us all.
Our rights versus authoritarian wrong
One of the juiciest ironies of Tampa's newly-minted law to suppress protest at the upcoming Republican National Convention is that it bans the carrying of water pistols by protesters. However, thanks to Florida's nutty right-wing governor, anyone with a concealed-weapon permit is free to tote an actual bullet-firing pistol! Apparently, the authorities really do consider blood to be thicker than water.
No tolerance for Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A President and COO Dan Cathy faces a consumer protest for expressing his opposition to same-sex marriage. Fair enough. Offended, the Democratic mayors of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco threatened to prevent the Georgia-based fast-food company from operating in their cities!
California dropout report better
A combination of computerized tracking and public pressure have joined to make reporting of school dropouts in California the best in America, but those reports are still not good enough.
Articles by Section - Other Views
Ferguson obscures much bigger problems in the ‘Black community’
From the very beginning, this was much ado about an aberration, a tragic aberration to be sure, but an aberration nonetheless.
Ferguson, the ‘Local Crime Story’
Last year, Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell stood trial in Philadelphia for the deaths of one woman and seven babies who had their throats slit, but national reporters didn't want to cover it. It's a "local crime story," they said. Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple said that when he asked national reporters about avoiding the Gosnell story, the typical response was "Get out of my face with this agenda-driven stuff, and come back when you have a real story."
Don’t Shoot Before All the Facts Are Known
We hand a man a gun and ask him to protect us. If something goes horribly wrong, perhaps in a flurry of panic, we don't rush to punish him. We make sure a criminal justice system meant to protect all citizens also protects him. We blanket him in the presumption of innocence. It's the reason juries are loath to convict and, as happened in Missouri, grand juries are loath to indict officers involved in shootings.
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