Old LAO Wisdom

JULY 30, 2010 Oh, what a difference six years makes. We were cleaning out our conference room the other day, going through stacks of old government reports and think tank studies when we found a copy of the Legislative Analyst’s

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DNA tests gone wild

JULY 26, 2010 The University of California, Berkeley, has inadvertently stepped into a brewing ethical debate over genetic testing and medical privacy after it asked the incoming freshman class to submit to the campus cotton swabs with DNA samples from

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Going Green is Becoming Irrelevant

JULY 23, 2010 In spite of the fact that the U. S. Senate has finally thrown in the towel on Cap and trade legislation, California continues to push the green agenda. Yesterday it was announced that Senate majority leader Harry

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Not talking about Fort Ross

JULY 23, 2010 Normally a rundown of the people who won’t comment for a story isn’t all that interesting to read. But in this case – another installment in the quest to find out who knew what in the matter

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No more talk, talk, talk!

JULY 16, 2010 First the awful news. But don’t worry – we’ll get to the ugly stuff later… That’s right, folks: the state Employment Development Department has put out its latest monthly jobs report, and the unemployment situation – as

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SF’s other Golden Gate

JULY 17, 2010 I’d been starting to wonder about whether there are any true progressives left in California, until I heard about Jeff Adachi, San Francisco’s public defender. Many people describe themselves as progressive, mind you, but few seem to

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Those who can’t, organize

JULY 16, 2010 When did nurses, teachers, cops and firefighters become card-carrying union brotherhood and sisterhood thugs? Service jobs used to be defined as jobs where caring for others was the priority; teaching children, providing health and medical care, and

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Can GOP quit weed-whacking?

July 12, 2010 If the California Republican Party were serious about its oft-stated calls for limiting government, then it should be championing an initiative on the November ballot that would reduce government interference in our lives, increase the efficiency of

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I would be a lousy politician

JULY 9, 2010 There seem to be two types of people today – those who are political junkies and those who successfully tune out and totally ignore everything political. As a lifelong political junkie, it’s only been in the last

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No sex at Fort Ross

JULY 7, 2010 The problem is that there’s no sex in this story. It’s got just about everything else – crime, international intrigue, a mysterious Russian billionaire who likes to acquire pricey antiquities, craven politicians, a bankrupt historic state park

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