Opinion

Iraq has shown the limits of U.S. power. We must change America, not the world.

The new Assembly speaker wants an independent look at the state's revenue.

Teens are letting emoticons and other forms of chat-speak slip into their essays and homework.

Kennedy legacy: In Tim Rutten's May 10 column, poet Arthur Hugh Clough was identified as an American. He was British.

Judea Pearl says early Zionists acted in good faith to coexist peacefully with Palestinians. George E. Bisharat replies that all partition efforts before Israel was established in 1948 treated Palestinians unfairly.

After six decades, the Jewish state's hopes for peace are near death.

The planet is nearing a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast.

America failed to heed Walter Reuther's ideas for a social safety net. But we may get a second chance.

Israelis and Palestinians must share the land. Equally.

The meddler and the martyr. That's what Achilles and Odysseus had to deal with.

L.A. County's cultural life may depend on who fills Yvonne Burke's board seat.

Foreign cartoonists on the U.S. presidential race.

Does it matter if some staples run out, or will the same ingenuity that produced oil refining in the late 19th century and the "green revolution" in the late 20th century save us again in the future?

Pepsi, Apple, Krispy Kreme and other consumer firms profit from Iraq too.

How I got my hands on some marijuana -- the legal (and easy) way.

Cartoonists on the polygamous Mormon sect and the McCain-Bush relationship.

What would the ideal U.S. drug policy be? What would you keep and reject from current laws?

Cartoonists on the week's explosive issues.

Do cartoonists have something against the Clintons?

The two presidents have their similarities, but history will probably judge them very differently.

Cartoonists abandon the cerebral realms for a more satisfying punchline.

Cartoonists mix politics and religion.

Cartoonists on the Spitzer prostitution scandal.

Despite the toxic misogyny aimed at her, Clinton has good reason to stay in the race.

Some cartoonists focused on wars that didn't involve Clinton and Obama.

The threat posed by synthetic bugs is microscopic. So why are U.S. officials making such a big deal?

Outsized and shamelessly phony, the Hollywood sign is an ideal L.A. icon, but it's not our only landmark.

Views of the presidential race from Texas and Ohio.

In the extinction of the Carolina parakeet is a parable on the relationship of man and nature.

Giving you a raw deal on healthcare is what those firms are supposed to do.

Californians who want to live in hazardous areas shouldn't count on the rest of us to pay the price.

John Sherffius wins the first big honor of the cartoonists' award season.

West Africa's conflicts are officially over, but rape, brutality and terror continue.

Not all cartoonists were caught up in the Obama-Clinton frenzy.

Cartoonists on the U.S. economy's effect on the world.

It wasn't the message or the messenger that failed the Giuliani campaign, it was how the message was delivered.

Polls and statistics point to several possibilities, but at the end of the day, people vote for individuals, not races or genders.

A former Republican campaign manager details a few he used before getting sent to prison over one.

The week in political cartoons.

Overdependence on 'blockbuster' drugs is taking a toll on the industry.

If you can't stick to that New Year's resolution, try putting your money where your mouth is.

For Democrats, the decision on Feb. 5 just isn't that important.

A few cartoons that didn't follow the week's script.

Once again, personal choices are under attack by good-for-you government.

If neuroscientists want to understand the mystery of consciousness, they'll need new methods.

As pundits pondered gender and color, and Democratic kingmakers evoked the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., cartoonists raced to make sure our minority voices were heard. Well, seen. Many caricatured the exchange between the Clinton and Obama camps as scurrilous mudslinging or low blows to the memory of the civil rights leader. Jack Ohman's ever-effective visual style was evocative, even as he took uncivil liberties with a famous speech. Signe Wilkinson managed a bemused, detached African American worldview, pretty good for a white chick. And Rob Rogers drew up a few thousand reasons why even a big-tent debate needs to be widened.

Trying to go back to the beginning in foreign policy, the Bush administration has hit a dead end.

If every Hillary, Mitt and Barack promises it, how can it mean anything?

A sampling of cartoons that didn't focus on the presidential election.

Two starkly different candidates want to replace Supervisor Yvonne Burke.

Media hype and political quick fixes have swelled our inmate population.

Just rethinking how we use water can be as effective as huge infrastructure projects.

Cartoonists on the 2008 campaign post-Iowa.

These days, the former special prosecutor pursues service and conscience in the law.

The Bhutto assassination demonstrates anew the folly of the administration's efforts to manage history.

The best of a traditionally off-week for cartoonists.

A South Los Angeles man's murder draws more than 100 comments on The Times' Homicide Report blog.

If the governor goes through with his proposed tax hikes, it will be even harder to tell him from a Democrat.

The GOP should lose the holier-than-thou attitude and foster a climate favoring faith.

Cartoonists on the baseball steroid revelations.

Doubting the hereafter doesn't mean you can't meet an angel now and then.

Is it Hillary Clinton who's too divisive, or is it the political process?

Couching it in simple terms, Psych 101 could probably do Bush some good.

Works of artist Martin Ramirez discovered in a garage illuminate the late mental patient's own creative world.

The Archdiocese of L.A. says incidents peaked from the late 1950s to the early '80s. The church is studying why.

Don't think cartoonists play nice just because of the holidays.

The governor's second thoughts about budget votes shouldn't distract him from redistricting.