TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Recent Stories

1. 

   MICHAEL GERSON: Common Core standards arousing baseless fears

   Monday, May 20 2013 11:00 PM

   Modern conservatism comes in two distinct architectural styles. The first seeks to build from scratch, using accurate ideological levels and plumb lines, so every wall is straight and every corner squared. The goal of politics is to apply abstract principles in their purest form. But there is another type of conservatism, often practiced at the state level, which attempts to build out of flawed, existing materials, resulting in some odd angles and incongruous additions. These conservative reformers assemble unexpected alliances, accept reasonable compromises and welcome incremental progress.

   This contrast is increasingly evident in the debate over the Common Core State Standards. To ideological conservatives, it is the "Obamacore"; an...

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2. 

   ESTHER CEPEDA: Hispanic kids missing school -- for vacation

   It's that time. If you're a teacher in a school with a large concentration of Hispanic students, you're doing end-of-year reviews and preparing for final exams -- and you have kids trickling up to you to let you know they won't be around...
3. 

   DANA MILBANK: Obama's critics overplaying their hand

   At the end of a truly dismal week in his presidency, President Obama remains lucky in one crucial category: his opposition. It has been only a matter of days since two scandals -- the IRS harassment of conservative groups and the...
4. 

   MICHAEL GERSON: The IRS needs an audit

   Suppose that the Environmental Protection Agency were to admit offhandedly that the fluoridation of water had only modest communist mind-control effects. Or the United Nations were to concede it has been running fleets of black helicopters...
5. 

   ESTHER CEPEDA: Iron Man's healthful metamorphosis

   Is it just me or is Tony Stark on a health kick? In the third "Iron Man" -- a series that spent its first two installments glorifying the reckless life of a spoiled, rich genius -- Stark, the man inside the metallic exoskeleton, seems to...
6. 

   MICHAEL GERSON: American politics ought to serve the common good

   The Rev. Jim Wallis is a man of the left -- perhaps the defining figure of the evangelical left. So it is not surprising that I should find some of the policy views expressed in his new book, "On God's Side," badly mistaken. But this does...
7. 

   DANA MILBANK: Let's red-card this view of politics as a game

   President Obama said once again last week that Syria's "use of chemical weapons would be a game-changer." The president had played this game many times before. "I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game-changer," he...
9. 

   DANA MILBANK: Washington at its best -- and its worst

   This last weekend of April displays the very best and the very worst of Washington, D.C. Most of the country sees the worst part: the triumph of money and power. For the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday and...
10. 

    MICHAEL GERSON: Ideological impairment over Islam and terrorism

    In 2009, Ruslan Tsarni and his nephew Tamerlan Tsarnaev had a bitter argument over the implications of their faith. Tsarnaev announced he had chosen "God's business" over work or school. "I was shocked when I heard his words, his phrases,...
11. 

    DANA MILBANK: Tail-gunner Ted dominates the conversation

    Is there nobody who can tell Ted Cruz to shut up? The young senator from Texas has been on the job for about 100 days, but he has already turned upside down the Senate's ancient seniority system and is dominating his senior Republican...
12. 

    MICHAEL GERSON: Filling the silence after the sirens

    The sense of helplessness that follows a tragedy is too much for us. So we fill the silence after the sirens with explanations. This is very human -- until it becomes inhuman. For some, the immediate response to events in Boston was the...
13. 

    DANA MILBANK: In aftermath of Boston bombings, a faint echo of 9/11

    The morning after the Boston Marathon bombings, Ben Cardin, the first speaker on the Senate floor after leaders opened the day's session, marked the national crisis with some heartfelt thoughts on -- school libraries. "Across the United...
14. 

    CONNECTING CALIFORNIA: The state pinches its pennies in one regard

    "What a dump," says Brad Pitt near the end of the 2011 film "Moneyball," channeling his inner Bette Davis. Pitt is talking about the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, home stadium of baseball's Oakland Athletics. (It's now known as the O.co...