California
When Did David Brooks Turn Into My Grandmother?
My paternal grandmother was the most determinedly pessimistic person I ever met. She witnessed during her lifetime a Great Depression and (from her perch in the Bronx) two world wars, but had she been born into a thousand-year reign of peace and prosperity I doubt she would have been a more hopeful person. On Nov. 10, 1989, I happened to be visiting my parents in California. Nana, then approaching 90 and in failing health, was sitting at the breakfast table when I came downstairs. READ MORE >>
Centrists: Veiled In Secrecy, Eager For Attention
Dear Candidates, Stop Blaming Your Wives
Western Civilization
Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art 1945-1980 An Initiative of The Getty Foundation I. READ MORE >>
The Dissenter
On July 30, 2011, thousands of public school teachers rallied on the southwest corner of the Ellipse, near the White House. Union members mingled with the occasional communist pamphleteer, and, on a temporary stage, a series of activists, students, scholars, and teachers put forward variations on a theme: Standardized tests and corporate interests are ruining public education. READ MORE >>
Live Free Or Die Seeking A Birth Certificate
Why Has the Obama Administration Declared War on Medical Marijuana?
Los Angeles—When you get a new car, you start noticing the same model all over the highway. It’s the same way when you figure out what California’s marijuana dispensaries look like—green crosses and signage about “medicine” and “420” start popping up all over the City of Angels: On your commute to work, in your neighborhood, around the corner from your favorite restaurant. To put it bluntly, it’s not hard to find weed in California. READ MORE >>
The Case Against Referendums: From Greece to California, They Always End Up Undermining Democracy
In calling for a referendum on Greece’s bailout plan, Prime Minister George Papandreou has, it could be said, embraced one of his country’s oldest political traditions: direct democracy. The idea that the citizens of a state should all cast votes to decide matters of common interest was arguably born within an easy walk of his Athens office, some two and a half millennia ago. READ MORE >>
Blinded
As everyone by now knows, Solyndra, a California-based solar panel manufacturer, has gone bankrupt and defaulted on $535 million in loans, the payment of which was guaranteed by the Department of Energy (DOE). And, as everyone also knows, a White House official, who was connected through his wife to a law firm that worked for Solyndra, may have inappropriately involved himself in the loan process. READ MORE >>
