Here's why I disqualify myself from running for public office: I hate phrases like ''staying on message.'' I love showing up early to events. I really do turn off my cell phone(s) and computer(s) at a set time. I really do try to read everything that comes my way. I have a 14-year-old dog that can read my mind and physically blocks me when ...

Forget the 8-ball, health care is behind the glacier in terms of top issues the public is sweating as elections near. One opinion poll lists it floe-ing behind the economy, the war and the price of gas. Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg told the Washington Post: ''For a lot of people who have health insurance, they are paying more for health ...

Lots of smart people like to offer their view of life's niceties and lunacies ''from the 30,000-foot level.'' I came across one by a doc from a specialty near and dear to my heart -- emergency medicine. Dr. William Mallon is the new president of the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. (You'll find wildly ...

Respect and ridicule are never dispensed equally. Just ask ''The Big Five'' who are trying to hash out an already-overdue California budget that has a $15.2 billion hole, and growing. The Sacramento Bee threw some pretty sharp elbows in its July 1 coverage of the budget huddlers and the potentially disastrous impact they might wreak on state ...

Right there, prehistorically young Sean ''James Bond'' Connery's about to be lasered in the most unkind of male places. ''Do you expect me to talk?'' he queries nemesis ''Goldfinger.'' To which the golden one replies, ''No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!'' A couple of weeks ago, Sacramento lawmakers were trying to shoehorn through a $14 ...

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 ...