Columnist.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is getting hammered because he signed an order requiring that sixth-graders be vaccinated against the HPV virus in 2007. Perhaps the most toxic mix in GOP presidential politics is the combination of sex, power and mandates. All three elements play a role in this controversy.
There is a line between being tolerant and having no standards whatsoever, and that's a line that San Francisco passed a long time ago. Public nudity has become the costume de rigueur in certain corners of the Special City. Twice in the past year, I've seen groups of nude adults walking or biking around the Embarcadero -- to the delight of some tourists and the disgust of others. "Clothing-optional" could be the city's new motto, along with "age-inappropriate."
California Gov. Jerry Brown scored a victory for common sense last week when he vetoed a bill that would have imposed criminal penalties on minors -- or their parents -- who ski or snowboard without a helmet. "While I appreciate the value of wearing a ski helmet, I am concerned about the continuing and seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state," Brown explained. "Not every human problem deserves a law." That veto endeared Brown to conservatives who have grown wary of the Democratic Legislature's nanny-state ways. It also highlighted how unpredictable Brown can be.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a problem. The GOP primary has turned into a two-man race between him and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, it became clear during Wednesday's debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Unfortunately for the Texas governor, Republicans have learned the lesson of Sarah Palin. In 2008, the Alaska governor was the fresh face. She promised to be a popular, plain-speaking running mate who could energize the GOP base and appeal to independent voters. Palin did energize the base, but she also turned out to be a polarizing figure who tarnished the party brand.
"I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy," GOP presidential hopeful and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman recently tweeted. You've got to hand it to Huntsman; he sure knows how to endear himself to folks who won't vote in the Republican primary. Huntsman has said that he fears that the GOP will be perceived as the "anti-science party." That is, he gave a nod to Democrats' conceit that theirs is the party of science. Why? Because the Dems don't tolerate questions about evolution or global warming.
Last year, President Barack Obama came to the Bay Area to tout "green jobs" at an event at solar panel manufacturer Solyndra's Fremont plant. Quoth the president: "The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra." On Wednesday, Solyndra announced it was shuttering its remaining Fremont factory, laying off 1,100 workers and filing for bankruptcy. It was a sorry day for the Bay Area.
There are two Americas. In one America, working stiffs wonder whether it makes sense for the government to pay unemployment benefits for 99 weeks. In this America, folks have a lot of sympathy for those who are out of work through no fault of their own, but they also fear that when government writes unemployment checks for almost two years, that's an incentive not to get a job. In another America, there is strong support for President Barack Obama's call for another extension of jobless benefits to 99 weeks. Like Obama, these Americans believe that unemployment benefits stimulate the economy. Some want to extend benefits further. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., has introduced a measure to add another 14 weeks on top of 99 weeks.
When the Scots released convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi on Aug. 20, 2009 -- ostensibly because prostate cancer left him less than three months to live -- Megrahi presented a stooped, frail figure as he boarded his getaway plane. Hours later, when he landed to a hero's welcome in Tripoli, Libya, however, Megrahi appeared triumphant and radiant. Two years later, Megrahi is still alive -- although perhaps not for long. CNN's Nic Robertson talked his way into Megrahi's supersize mansion, where he videotaped the freed terrorist "apparently in a coma." Maybe. Maybe not.
As Texas governor, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry has presided over 234 executions. It's a record number, which, The Washington Post reported last week, bestows on Perry "a law-and-order credential that none of his competitors can match -- even if they wanted to." Watch how pundits will try to turn that statistic into a political negative -- and paint Perry as the governor with blood on his spurs -- even though American voters overwhelmingly support the death penalty.
During one of the protests that shut down Bay Area Rapid Transit this month, an anonymous protester -- hiding behind a Guy Fawkes mask -- stood with a sign that read, "Mubarak Gaddafi BART." Talk about delusions of oppression. Egyptians risked torture, imprisonment and their very lives to oust the heavy-handed Hosni Mubarak regime. Libyan rebels have been engaged in months of bloody combat to evict Moammar Gadhafi from power.
President Barack Obama is in a pickle. Immigration enforcement actually is working -- or at least it was working. Under the Obama administration, the government has removed almost 400,000 illegal immigrants annually. That's 4 percent of the 10 million illegal immigrants estimated to be living in America -- and it sends a warning to those thinking of illegally entering the United States.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is the first casualty of the Ames, Iowa, straw poll. After he came in third -- behind firebrand Reps. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul -- he pulled out of the 2012 GOP presidential race. In politics, you find little sympathy for losers. Insiders point to Pawlenty's failure in a June CNN debate to attack former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for enacting a state universal health care plan. Pawlenty had dubbed the term "Obamneycare" to link Romney's health care law to President Barack Obama's. If Mr. "Minnesota Nice" could not go after Romney when the moment was ripe, politicos asked, perhaps he lacked the fire to go after President Obama, as well.
Castro Valley, Calif., is the spot where the East Bay meets the 1950s. In the old parts of town, there's a white rock lawn on every block. First names are big -- as in Al's Food Market, Gigi's Florist and Pete's Hardware. Residents boast about the parks and go fishing at Lake Chabot. Castro Valley is famous for its diners. No dinner crowds -- they close in the afternoon. If you're looking for fast food, you can find it on Castro Valley Boulevard. There are no high-end retail outlets or chichi restaurants. You don't see pairings of pedestrians enjoying a stroll down the boulevard. "It's not Walnut Creek," Smart N Cleaner owner Namjoo Kim observes.
California Gov. Jerry Brown believes that "the occupant of the White House should be the candidate who wins the most votes." On Monday, he signed a bill that could hand the state's 55 electoral votes not to the candidate who wins California, but to the candidate who wins the most votes nationally. If states representing a majority of electoral votes -- the magic number is 270 -- pass similar legislation, the California bill will activate. To date, eight states and the District of Columbia -- representing 132 electoral votes -- have passed laws to join an interstate popular-vote compact. (The beauty of the interstate compact, proponents argue, is that it does not require a hard-to-muster amendment to the Constitution, as the compact still allows states to choose how their electors vote.)
Beware any candidate who tells you he is not a politician -- after he refers to himself in the third person. That would be San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who on occasion now refers to himself as "Ed Lee." In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's John Coté on Sunday, Ed Lee asserted, "I am not a politician." Ed Lee also told Coté: "Ed Lee is not changing. I've changed my mind, but I'm still the Ed Lee that (people) know."
On Wednesday, congressional Democrats were doing everything in their power not to end the legislative stalemate that shut down the Federal Aviation Administration, but to make sure everyone blamed Republicans. So they did what they always do; they held a news conference to denounce Republicans' "my way or the highway" approach when they wanted their way for the airways. But the Democrats' usual tap dance didn't click. The news conference backfired. The next day, the Senate announced a deal to keep the FAA in business temporarily.
Republicans running in the 2012 presidential primary have a credibility gap. Only one announced candidate -- former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, and he is not exactly a household name -- supported the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011, which passed with 174 House and 28 Senate Republican votes this week. The others argued that the compromise debt-ceiling package did not meet their standards. GOP primary voters should ask themselves, Will the field's ideological purity ruin the GOP's chance of retaking the White House? Will Americans see candidates who could not support workable legislation as credible when they vote in November 2012?
White House spokesman Jay Carney called the debt ceiling deal "a victory for the American people." There are days when I feel sorry for Carney. At Monday's press briefing, CBS reporter Norah O'Donnell challenged Carney's happy-face view of the deal when she observed that President Barack Obama had failed to push Republicans to accept a deal with $1 in tax increases for every $3 in spending cuts. O'Donnell continued, "You have Democrats saying, 'You gave them everything they wanted, and we got nothing.'"
The world is becoming unbalanced. In pockets across the globe, women are giving birth to too many boys. In China, the sex ratio is 121 boys to 100 girls. In India, it's 112-to-100. Sex selection also is a force in the Balkans, Armenia and Georgia. In her eye-opening book, "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," journalist Mara Hvistendahl estimates that ultrasound and abortion have "claimed over 160 million potential women and girls -- in Asia alone." That's more than the entire female population of the United States. If you think that scarcity makes women more valuable, you are right -- but that does not mean females benefit. As "surplus men" have trouble finding mates, young girls are forced into prostitution. Others are forced into arranged marriages. On Taiwan's eBay, Hvistendahl finds three Vietnamese women for sale for $5,400.
Here is what I do not understand: President Barack Obama is acutely aware of what will happen if Congress fails to raise the government's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. As he told the nation Monday, if Washington does not raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, rating agencies are expected to downgrade the government's AAA credit rating, and interest rates will rise for everyone. The fallout could spark "a deep economic crisis." So why did Obama choose this moment to demand fiscal reform in Washington? When bipartisan commission heads Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson proposed a $4 trillion debt reduction package, Obama could have embraced the plan or supported it with changes, without putting the full faith and credit of the nation on the line. But he rejected the proposal. So why is he pushing for a $4 trillion deal now -- when failure to win it would put the U.S. economy at greater risk?
