Republicans Improved Outlook For Congress
What a difference a week makes. Just a week ago Roll Call carried an article that with GOP Assemblyman Tim Donnelly in the runoff with Gov. Jerry Brown, Democrats would score big wins in Congressional races in California. But after Tuesday’s election, it now looks as through Republicans, not Democrats, might make congressional gains in […]
East Bay Republicans’ Surprise – GOP Giant Killers Oust Noteworthy Dems
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows and that certainly was the case last Tuesday as voters appear to have retired former Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, State Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett and political heavyweight Steve Glazer. Assembly District 16: The strongest is clearly Catharine Baker, the sole Republican and top vote-getter who won with 36.5% […]
Asian Quotas in the Ivy League? “We See Nothing! Nothing!”
I was invited to speak at the annual conference of the Education Writers Association, with the topic of my panel being the perspective of Asian-Americans on Affirmative Action policies in college admissions. Despite having the only white face among the four presenters, I believe my analysis made a useful contribution. A couple of months ago, the issue […]
Time for Legislature to Say No to Further High Speed Rail Funding
As we approach State budget approval time, it is appropriate to review the lack of funding for the HSR project. The March 27th hearing in Senator Mark DeSaulnier’s committee, produced much information. The committee produced a summary report of the hearing which can in full be viewed at here: From this report we read: ————————— […]
Want to Save Newspapers? Then Journalists Need to Grow Up
Newspapers are in trouble. Not just because of the Internet and advertising and subscriptions. But because, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll, only 28 percent of Americans think that journalists contribute a lot to society’s well-being. That’s pretty bad considering that journalists like to consider themselves guardians of democracy. This chasm between vaunted self-regard […]