Quarantining foreigners under difficult conditions runs counter to public health norms and hints of xenophobia.

On his overseas trip, the president was met with a lot less cheering and a lot more tough talk.

Tortured and humiliated, I felt the power of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime -- and the 'fearsome resource' of the dissidents.

The movie is intended to satirize homophobia, but too often it misses the mark.

Under the country's Constitution, the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya was legal.

There's plenty of blame to go around in the budget crisis. Fingers can be pointed at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democrats, Republicans -- and you and me.

Some conservatives say the U.S. has won the fight against racism, but the battle still has many fronts.

The departing Alaska governor doesn't just line people up on different sides of an issue; she turns them against each other.

When times get tough, the property tax measure comes under attack, but it's no boogeyman.

My first puffs at 16 were all about smooth moves, fashion statements and rebellion. The hard part came later.

Experiencing art is a crucial to producing young people who can understand the world's complexity. That's something philanthropic leaders should remember.

The debate over whether the 5-month-old plan is working is still a little premature, but that hasn't stopped economists and politicians from jumping into the fray. The most urgent reason: jobs.

Without action by policymakers, an increasing imbalance between federal spending and revenues will produce a dangerous deficit.

As their stories show, our culture of celebrity can absolve or destroy.

The foodstuff was once viewed as unnatural and dangerous. Its rise to a global staple may tell us something about today's genetically modified crops.

The pitch to lobbyists to hobnob with government officials and reporters was crass, but selling access is a Washington tradition.

The pop star's repeated cosmetic procedures don't necessarily mean he was uncomfortable with his gender or his ethnicity or both.

Karen Bass: The year of the car accident that took the life of California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' daughter was incorrect in the June 27 Patt Morrison Asks. The accident occurred in 2006, not 2008.

A judge overseeing endangered salmon on the Columbia and Snake rivers is raising the possibility of dam removal. If politics trumps science this time, how can we hope to deal with climate change?

How many troops here; what anti-terror tactics to employ there -- those questions miss the point.

With so much evil in the world, why are we so reluctant to use the term?

There are warnings signs that the president and his allies are looking at government-run rationing of care for the oldest and sickest.

The Republicans need a White House candidate with ideas, steadiness and the ability to unify. That's not Alaska's departing governor.

The foodstuff was once viewed as unnatural and dangerous. Its rise to a global staple may tell us something about today's genetically modified crops.

A free-market approach would move away from employer-provided insurance and increase competition among both insurers and health providers.

The debate over whether the 5-month-old plan is working is still a little premature, but that hasn't stopped economists and politicians from jumping into the fray. The most urgent reason: jobs.

A former NHS patient has some advice for Americans skeptical of single-payer, government-run healthcare: You'll get over it.

She may remain a tabloid celebrity and darling of the Christian right, but her decision to resign as Alaska's governor means she's through as a presidential contender.

Cartoonists Matt Davies, Tom Toles and Joel Pett offer some perspective on the news of the day.

Single-payer. Insurance-based. Socialized medicine. Free-market reform. A lot of terms are flying in the debate over what shape healthcare reform should take in the U.S. Ask two people to tell you how it should be approached, and you'll get six answers. But at this stage in the process, it's important to put all ideas on the table. With that in mind, we present three viewpoints on what a new system should -- and shouldn't -- look like.

On her work with the Feminist Majority and its efforts to help the women of Afghanistan.

The elegant expressions of John Courtney Murray and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. celebrate our American identity.

A lot of the lore that surrounds the holiday isn't accurate, but its meaning and power are undeniable.

Cutting fraud and waste won't solve the entire budget mess, but it needs to be done, the governor says.

Going forward, the debacle hopefully has taught us to set aside money for our veterans, crack down on fraud and be honest about the costs of war.

Why does there seem to be an undercurrent of pity for the adulterous South Carolina governor.

The slugger has angered some Dodger fans, but his case isn't just black and white.

For years, the government and the army have not dealt with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal regions, but as the threat becomes clear, Islamabad will need international help.

It'll cost the state about $1 billion to keep capital punishment on the books for the next five years. Is it worth it?

Online instruction would allow an institution faced with budget pressures to do more with less.

A novel full of whimsy centers on the life of a Chicago family.

The ballot measure will do nothing to solve California's fiscal woes.

Writers share their stories of what drew them into the pages of books and the escapes, surprises and solace they find there.

To get to the bottom of the Bush administration's torture policies, we must start at the top.

In a Bay Area neighborhood, what's unseen tells the story.

In the '70s, Galeano's essay was a call to arms. Latin America is different now -- or is it?

This year's Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning went to centrist Steve Breen, raising some eyebrows on the left and right.

A firefighters exam in New Haven, Conn., poses some tough questions on discrimination for the Supreme Court.

Letters from children offer advice to the president

The civil rights leader's family is shamelessly selling his legacy.

Environmental protection can be done more efficiently and for less cost at the local level.

A legislator proposes a plan to better protect the crop from pathogens.

The capture and trial of the Nazi war criminal carries timely lessons in justice.

The agency's sweeping new power to battle global warming is another example of the weakening of democratic controls.

The city's multi-racial past may hold the key to its multi-racial future.

Campaign contribution laws in California are far too lax.

The former U.S. senator admires Obama but is puzzled by his adoption of the Bush administration's policy of dragging out the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Many celebrities are making a good buck at fundraisers.

The Irish Nobel laureate may be on to something with his notion that the arts can help people through troubled economic times.

More damage was done canceling a Santa Monica fundraiser than could ever have occurred by allowing a controversial comic to perform.

Shooting three Somali pirates was a good start. Now let's shoot some more.

Political sanctions rarely work, but Pyongyang responds quickly when its bank accounts are threatened.

During his trip, the U.S. president should focus less on short-term military goals and more on helping our neighbor build effective institutions of government.

Here in the U.S., immigrants have learned to commodify their ethnic identities, and this month's controversy in Los Angeles over a proposal to create a Little Bangladesh in the middle of Koreatown is

We can't start fixing things until we can get a handle on the toxic assets behind the financial crisis.

A lobbying effort by Californians for federal stimulus dollars meets with mixed results.

A proposal to provide reactors to the United Arab Emirates could be the prototype of a deal between the U.S. and Tehran.

The measure on the May ballot would give the state a vital rainy-day fund.

The police union has won a court order preventing officials from naming the officers involved, but that defeats accountability in the case.

Cartoonists Matt Davies, Tom Toles and Joel Pett offer their views.

Why even name Los Angeles' new police headquarters?

Fifteen years ago, efforts at genocide killed about 800,000 Rwandans. Now that tragedy is providing the government with a cover for repression.

Saigon's rigged presidential election undermined U.S. efforts decades ago; similar corruption in Kabul can only aid the Taliban today.

An independent panel would propose a package of spending reductions, which the Legislature and governor must then accept or reject with no amendments.

One way urban photographer Camilo Vergara compels us to acknowledge the humanity of forgotten places is by capturing multiple examples of a ubiquitous object or feature -- as mundane as rusting cars, abandoned service stations or eviscerated trees, or as potentially incendiary as religious iconography.

People can disagree about his controversial positions, but that's no reason to keep the former Bush aide from teaching law.

The controversial 'torture' memo and others reflect tunnel vision that would not be acceptable in a student, never mind a teacher of law.

When is a politician's love life not worth media attention? When the public no longer cares.

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