Should a sales tax on services -- the crew that trims your lawn, your yoga instructor and the person who watches your kids -- be part of the solution to California's $16 billion (so far) budget deficit? That notion is again being floated by folks like Lucien Wulsin Jr., executive director of the Insure the Uninsured Project, and Sacramento Bee ...

Wanna go nuts? Try to keep track of more than a smidgen of the 2,000 to 3,000 bills introduced EACH YEAR by legislators in Sacramento. So, over a two-year session -- when they are in session -- there are may be more than 5,000 bills to dispose of (that's way too many to act on). Wanna create some sanity? I agree with Fresno Bee editorial page ...

If the choices were only that simple. I'm talking about California health care reform. The Assembly has passed the Schwarzenegger-Nunez near-universal coverage bill. Senate President pro tem Don Perata is saying, not so fast -- no Senate review until January, after some costing out. There will be a clear winner when all this plays out. But don't ...