My dentist of 20 years calls me ''his dinosaur.'' I'm one of only a couple of his patients who gets teeth drilled and filled, crowns implanted -- dang near everything -- without an anesthetic. Anesthetic was never offered to me as a kid. And my Catholic upbringing suggested, ''Suffer in silence, offering your pain for the souls in ...

Do you care who runs California's lottery? Would you mind if Blue Cross or some other HMO provided care in the state's prisons? Do you have feelings for (or understand) the Williamson Act or the State Compensation Insurance Fund? Those were some of the ways mentioned to two-dozen Central California hospital officials April 25 by Assembly Minority ...