With the completion of its seventh season as the Sacramento region’s principal venue for the performing arts, the Mondavi Center (on the campus of U.C. Davis) has established itself as a wonderful place to hear great music, see quality performances, and listen to interesting speakers.  The 2008-2009 season provided generous offerings of each kind […]

     President Obama covered a lot of ground in his ground-breaking speech in Cairo last week.  Most observers give him high marks for the cosmetic aspects of the address (quoting the Talmud, the Koran and the New Testament of the Bible – all on the subject of peace – was a clear and easy way […]

            Among the less ridiculous charges (less ridiculous, for example, than the “reverse racist” attack that Rush Limbaugh and others of his ilk have fashioned) that have been leveled against the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court is the suggestion that diversity should not be necessary on the […]

            Back in the day (the radical anti-war days of the 1960s that is), the argument in favor of violent protest was cloaked in the slippery term that was all the rage on college campuses.    “Situational ethics” was the way to justify all manner of illegal and immoral conduct.  It was, in essence, a play […]