Amazon’s New Tactic In An Old Fight

July 28, 2011

California voters will decide if their state is reaching too far in a bid to collect taxes from Amazon.

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Green Shoots For A Frozen Housing Market

March 3, 2011

Almost exactly two years ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told “60 Minutes” that he was beginning to see “green shoots” in the economy. Like the first buds after winter, he said, these events and statistics were signs that the economy would soon grow again. Now I find myself spying hints of green in the housing market, the first part of the economy to enter the recession’s deep freeze. The …

Today’s Miserables Confront Javert’s Three-Strikes Law

August 27, 2010

It cost $47,102 to house an inmate in a California state penitentiary in 2008. For 13 years, Gregory Taylor was one of the people Californians paid to keep locked up. Taylor was jailed for trying to break into a church kitchen to find something to eat. Taylor was homeless at the time and was coping with drug addiction. He had previously received food at the church and occasionally slept there, …

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Putting Pot Over The Counter

July 1, 2010

I don’t often use the words “rationality” and “California” in the same sentence, but American drug laws could take another step toward rationality this fall if California voters legalize personal possession of marijuana. The “war on drugs” has gone on for 41 unproductive years since President Nixon first used that term. In this country, thousands of people have been killed in turf wars and many more have been incarcerated, often …

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When Hands-On Bosses Go Too Far

June 24, 2010

When people complain about bosses who push them around, they usually are not speaking literally. But sometimes they are. On a June morning three years ago, eBay CEO Meg Whitman was preparing for an interview with Reuters about the virtual world Second Life. A recently hired employee, Young Mi Kim, was writing talking points on a white board. Whitman was nervous about the interview, according to reports. Her nerves turned …

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Time To Put Justice On Camera

June 16, 2010

Two lawyers will go before a judge today to make closing arguments on an issue that divides the nation. Though the scene will be captured on camera and people all over the country are eager to watch, the only way to see the video is to go to a federal courthouse in San Francisco. The federal courts’ refusal to allow live broadcast of their proceedings has thus progressed from anachronistic …

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Primary Races To Watch Today

June 8, 2010

The most interesting races to watch today are all west of the Mississippi River, as voters in 10 states cast ballots in primary elections while Arkansas Democrats choose their U.S. Senate candidate in a runoff. In that Arkansas runoff, Sen. Blanche Lincoln is fighting for her political life — and possibly for her party’s Senate majority in the next Congress — against a challenger, Secretary of State Bill Halter, who …

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420: Time To Legalize Pot

July 30, 2009

Sometimes dire necessity can overcome political inertia. That is why I think there is a chance federal laws against marijuana use by adults may finally be relaxed or repealed. In response to severe financial pressures, some state governments, most notably California’s, are interested in legalizing and taxing pot. This will force a re-examination of federal drug laws, and it is high time. The classification of cannabis (marijuana and hashish) as …

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