Who's the bigger flip-flopper on same-sex marriage, Mitt Romney or President Obama? When it comes to hot-button issues like this one, both politicians appear to have tailored their views according to the political winds -- but that doesn't mean they don't have fundamental differences, particularly as each man's position has "evolved."

Obama's evolution took explosive form last week when he announced on ABC's "Good Morning America"that he thinks "same-sex couples should be able to get married." That's a big contrast from his stance in 2004, when he laid out his views in a debate during the...

On Tuesday morning, The Times’ headline on its news story read: "Jerry Brown's plea to voters: 'Please increase taxes temporarily' "

On Tuesday afternoon, The Times’ readers answered: "Drop dead."

On Tuesday morning, The Times’ headline on its editorial read: "Brown's bloody budget."

On Tuesday afternoon, The Times’ readers answered: "So what?"

Well, no one said it was going to be easy.

Here’s what Brown is offering to cut, according to The Times’ story:

The Times’ April 30 editorial, "The danger of UC autonomy," which challenges our proposal for modernizing University of California governance, deserves a response.

First, the editorial predicts that allowing each campus more autonomy would risk turning highly sought-after schools such as UC Berkeley and UCLA into institutions that serve most wealthy students, while qualified middle-class applicants would be drawn to other, less competitive UC schools. The editorial doesn’t mention the recently announced Middle Class Access Plan for Berkeley, whereby no UC Berkeley student from a...

In a Grub Street post, Krista Simmons points to a series of recent raw milk mishaps across the country. Never mind the raw milk advocates who swear by its many health benefits. Simmons not only argues against consuming raw milk but also against the push to legalize it.

“Much as we support...

What in the world is going on in the People’s Republic of Santa Monica?

Just like the famed financier and the banking giant that bears his name, the liberal bastion by the bay has discovered its inner J.P. Morgan.

(Oh, don’t be silly:  It isn’t abandoning its rent-control laws.  Heck, even New York City isn’t that capitalist!)

No, Santa Monica has decided to fill its civic coffers the old-fashioned way -- by fleecing visitors. But it’s going about it in a new, high-tech way, The Times reported,  “installing 6,000 new high-tech meters that use ground sensors to...

The outgoing president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, waves goodbye to his countrymen on Tuesday.

He’s already waved to me.

My friend Daniella Milton and I were trudging out early from our Paris hotel on a jet-lagged morning in autumn 2007, resigned to the likelihood that, like the Louvre on Tuesdays, all of Paris, on a November mid-morning Sunday, would probably be fermé – closed.

We decided that our best shot would be to head for the Monoprix on the Champs-Élysées. It’s a chain store that’s a bit like the Target of France, and a good place to go once you’ve unpacked...

So what’s the deal with Carmen Trutanich, anyway? Is he the goofy but dangerous loose cannon, power-hungry crazy man that so many former supporters love to hate? Or is he the reform-oriented outsider who, in his own description, made a few high-profile missteps in his first few months because he was unfamiliar with the culture of City Hall, and then settled down to be a solid administrator of an office that dispenses sound advice to city leaders and prosecutes dangerous criminals and nuisance violators?

It is in many ways the key question in the June 5 race for district attorney. Few...

Even when Danette Meyers lost a case -- a few weeks ago -- she won. The Metropolitan News-Enterprise brought a California Public Records Act action to compel Meyers to release her personnel records, and she fought it, she said, on principle. The judge reviewed the file in chambers and, based on what she saw, she ruled for the newspaper -- because Meyers’ record was so “stellar” there was no good reason to keep it out of public view. The judge’s explanation almost amounted to an endorsement, and Meyers has in fact used it in her campaign materials.

“Her consistently...

This week JPMorgan Chase disclosed that bumbling by its traders caused $2 billion in losses in about six weeks, with potentially more to come. But the bank's chief executive, James Dimon, said Thursday that the company still expects to earn more than twice that amount after taxes this quarter. Those earnings won't match the $5.38 billion the bank took in from January through March, but it's not meager either.

In other words, the loss that sent the bank's shares down about 10% Friday won't actually leave the company in the red. It just won't be printing money quite so rapidly.

You won't find much...

Time magazine fanned the flame around the "attachment parenting" debate Thursday with its provocative cover of a young mom breast-feeding her almost 4-year-old-son. Imagine the controversy the cover would have sparked if she were feeding him vegan breast milk? Oy.

The New York Times broached this topic on Room For Debate last month, pitting former child actress and attachment parenting advocate Mayim Bialik against, well, working women. In Motherhood vs. Feminism, the moderator asked: “Has women's obsession with being the perfect mother destroyed feminism?” Bialik argues:

We care...

Imagine you're a carpenter who has fallen on hard times. The city announces that it's giving away $100 gift certificates good for buying groceries to anybody who turns in a full set of construction tools. Are you going to hand in your hammers and saws and assure that you'll never work again? Only if you're exceptionally desperate or exceptionally stupid.

This is the principle at play with the city of L.A.'s gun buyback program, which Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck announced Friday. Those who turn in firearms at six locations around L.A. on Saturday will receive gift...