Faced with the two charging rhinos of the California budget crisis, these rhinos being higher taxes and fewer services, governor-elect Jerry Brown apparently will choose to adroitly sidestep them, allowing them to go charging into the laps of you, the voter, who will then decide what to do.

The partisan lines in the debate over extending Bush's tax cuts are clear at this point: (most) Democrats want tax cuts for the middle and lower class, but not for the wealthy- the top two percent of income earners in the country. Republicans on the other hand, want tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy, no exceptions.

Even as the House passed its own version of the Dream Act and the Senate postponed voting on the measure for now, immigration reform activists are hoping for a late breakthrough as time runs out in the 111th Congress.

With its founder in the custody of British authorities, and the organization’s website under sustained attacks, Wikileaks is now receiving significant support from the international Pirate Party movement.

What if California's prison crisis would end - its overcrowding would ease, its spiraling prison costs would settle, and its streets would become much safer for law-abiding citizens - just as soon as Californians realized that their safety cannot be measured in the number of people behind bars?