What to do about the deficit

What to do about the deficit

As one of their last official acts in 2009, members of Congress are debating whether to let the federal government go more deeply into debt....

Cracking down on 'conflict minerals'

The deadliest conflict since World War II, in which 5.4 million people have died and 200,000 women have been raped, rages far from Iraq...

 

A chance for openness at L.A. County counsel's office

If approved, the appointment of Andrea Ordin as county counsel for Los Angeles will give the county a rare opportunity to repair a...

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Too many 'state secrets privilege' cases

Too many 'state secrets privilege' cases

At the beginning of this year, just as President Obama was taking office, a lawsuit was heading to court in California in which the Bush...

Schools race to -- where, exactly?

Schools race to -- where, exactly?

What wouldn't California do for $700 million right now? That's not a rhetorical question. With U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan...

Overhaul of U.S. food safety system is overdue

Overhaul of U.S. food safety system is overdue

Support for overhauling the nation's food safety system is nearly unanimous. Even the agriculture industry agrees, by and large, that...

Hunger in California

Hunger in California

California is a bad place to be hungry. While the demand for food stamps is increasing across the nation, people who are eligible for the...

A bad bioweapons decision

A bad bioweapons decision

The Obama administration has embraced many troubling national security policies adopted by the Bush administration, but in most of these...

The business of Facebook

The business of Facebook

This week, Facebook finally implemented the privacy enhancements it promised several months ago. And...

Logging illogic

Logging illogic

One job-stimulus idea: Have the federal government pay $1 million to keep several dozen people employed for just a few months while damaging...

Variety putting 'pay wall' to the test

Variety putting 'pay wall' to the test

Struggling to adapt to the Internet, entertainment and media companies have gone back and forth over the issue of whether to charge for...

Obama's faith in diplomacy backed up with firepower

Obama's faith in diplomacy backed up with firepower

We've said before, and still believe, that awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize after so short a time in office and so few...

Helping Iran's student protesters

Helping Iran's student protesters

No one understands the revolutionary potential of students better than old revolutionaries. That's one reason Iranian security forces fought...

Chile's poisonous past

Chile's poisonous past

Chile has developed a strong democracy in the 20 years since the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet ended, and yet the blue-eyed...

Don't tap into TARP for jobs program

Don't tap into TARP for jobs program

Eager to put more unemployed Americans to work, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats want to tap into an unexpected source...

Don't kill reform over the public option

Don't kill reform over the public option

Five moderate Senate Democrats struck a tentative compromise this week with five liberal colleagues...

Learning about ethics

Learning about ethics

They seem remarkably similar at first, the two cases involving leaders of publicly funded educational organizations in California who,...

Bolivia banks on Morales

Bolivia banks on Morales

The landslide reelection of Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales this week comes as no surprise. He is the first Aymara Indian and...

Justice comes to Vernon

Justice comes to Vernon

The families that run the city of Vernon (population: 90-something) were alarmed nearly four years ago when a handful of newcomers moved...

A war tax doesn't make sense

A war tax doesn't make sense

How could the federal government make the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan even less acceptable...

The EPA's long-overdue climate change ruling

The EPA's long-overdue climate change ruling

The Environmental Protection Agency released a historic finding Monday that greenhouse gases are endangering public health and welfare. Rep....

Christine Essel for City Council

Christine Essel for City Council

It's voting day in Los Angeles' 2nd Council District, which runs from the hills of the northeastern San Fernando Valley to Ventura...

Victims' rights works both ways

Victims' rights works both ways

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court wisely ruled that it was unconstitutional for a jury deciding...

Climate talks need unity of purpose, not sniping

Climate talks need unity of purpose, not sniping

Norway's environment minister called the United Nations climate negotiations starting today in...

Christine Essel for L.A.'s 2nd District City Council seat

Christine Essel for L.A.'s 2nd District City Council seat

The Times has endorsed former studio executive and city commissioner Christine Essel in Tuesday's 2nd District City Council runoff. We...

Vietnam to Afghanistan

Vietnam to Afghanistan

There is a perennial danger in imagining that one war will replicate the history of another. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney sent troops to...

Toyota's acceleration issue

Toyota's acceleration issue

Toyota did the right thing when it recalled more than 4 million cars and...

South Korea takes a brave look back

South Korea takes a brave look back

The pursuit of peace often trumps the pursuit of justice. The desire to move forward after a war makes political leaders reluctant to stir...

Christine Essel for L.A. City Council

Christine Essel for L.A. City Council

The Times endorsed studio executive Christine Essel in the Sept. 22 special election to fill Los Angeles' 2nd District City Council seat....

Can Comcast connect?

Can Comcast connect?

New Year's Day will mark the end of one of the unhappiest decades ever for the entertainment industry -- a span that saw piracy...

Veterans and gun safety

Veterans and gun safety

Reasonable people agree that precautions should be taken to keep psychologically impaired individuals from buying guns. In the enduring...

Trading with Ecuador

Trading with Ecuador

Peasant farmers in the Andean nations of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru often have a choice of growing two crops: flowers for export to...