The University of California System is in serious trouble. The budget shortfalls have forced administrators to cut all faculty salaries by 8%. I wonder how long before other schools start raiding the UC system for talent; I’ve already heard rumors of certain high profile academics planning to leave. What was once the [...]

I have to admit that the Mark Sanford sex scandal has captured my attention. Usually I don’t care about these things (John Ensign, John Edwards, David Vitter, Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton, etc.) except to bemoan the tragedy of gifted and skilled political voices who threw it all away. To paraphrase what Dee [...]

It strikes me that the way congress has gone about developing a health care plan is to come up with an ideal plan, and then see how much it costs. When those budget figures come out, they panic, but are already anchored on a plan.
Another approach would be to start with a [...]

As the health care debate continues on, I’ve seen a lot of liberals cite poll numbers that the majority of Americans would like a public plan, and moreover would be willing to pay higher taxes for that plan. This annoys me. There is a difference between favoring something in the abstract, and favoring [...]

I understand the hullabaloo over the recent controversial Iranian election from the Iranians point of view. After all, the President of Iran does have real power to effect domestic and social policy (within the constraints set by the Supreme Leader and the clerics, of course, but some power nonetheless). What I don’t understand [...]

I was recently forwarded a sermon by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, a mega-church pastor (Coral Ridge Ministries) and syndicated televangelist. The sermon, “Christianity and the Federal Deficit” laid out pretty succinctly the basic arch-conservative argument against liberal fiscal policies, and phrases it in quasi-Biblical terms to boot. I will note that [...]

The university where I work has, in the past, allowed summer interns. Students from other universities who wanted research experience, would come here over the summer and join a lab. The students would benefit from learning about how research works with all the skills that entails, procuring letters of recommendation for future applications [...]

Yesterday I posted on how the GOP has become totally ineffective - whining about problems rather than trying to solve them. Lest I be accused of being hypocritical (whining about the GOP without suggesting solutions) allow me to start with some concrete suggestions. Today, the issue at hand is the confirmation of Justice [...]

Conservatives like to blame budget deficits on spending increases. During the 2008 election, they blamed their own addition to spending on the budget deficits of the Bush years. Lately, I’ve seen many conservatives blame spending for the budget crisis in California. And they have the numbers to back up their claim, or [...]

Last night at the GOP fundraiser, there were a number of speeches that made me roll my eyes in disgust at the republicans. I ranged from frustration, to disbelief, to anger at what was being said. And the crazy thing was, I agreed with most of it.
The government spent billions bailing [...]