In the end, the roller coaster ride that Shirley Sherrod experienced last month may well leave her better off than she was before she was forced onto it.  If so, she will probably be the only person who can say so.             Just about everyone else who got involved in the case looks worse than they did, […]

            (I wrote this column ten years ago.  In the succeeding decade, the growing power of faceless corporations and the seeming ineptitude of government agencies have only increased the anger that all too many Americans are feeling.  The field is ripe for charlatans, demagogues and scoundrels, and the country’s future is ever more in doubt.) […]

            The most impressive thing about the Fourth of July celebration in Miami this year may have been that it took place at all.  Of course, the same could probably be said every year in this part of the country (meaning South Florida).              The reason is the highly unpredictable and often highly uncooperative weather that […]

           Don’t look now, but the new year is already into middle age.  With six of the twelve months now behind us, and with the summer doldrums (artistic performance-wise, at least) setting in fast, here’s a look at the best of what we’ve had to entertain us in and around Sacramento so far this year.  […]