The San Diego Union Tribune

There's a rule that politicians are reminded of: “do no harm.” In recent months, politicians have implicitly amended the rule to say “do no harm -- unless immigration is involved.” The rancor sparked by a failed New York plan to permit illegal immigrants access to driver's licenses and the fallen federal and state versions of the DREAM Act highlight a dangerous obsession with keeping illegal immigrants from accessing the supposed privileges of citizenship at any cost.

In today's debates, considerations of… more

Get rich with no risk. The classic business pitch is usually too good to be true – unless you're talking about the student loan business. Student loans, which banks and other lenders avoided in decades past, have become a creditor's dream...This month, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo disclosed that the financial aid directors of three universities had held stock in Student Loan Xpress. Earlier, five other universities agreed to pay a $3.2 million settlement after… more

Gov. Schwarzenegger has successfully called attention to California's ongoing health care crisis by proposing a comprehensive plan that calls for shared responsibility in finding a solution to our state's broken health care system.And make no mistake, it is a broken system. Hospitals and physicians have been living with the effects of this crisis for some time now demonstrated by hospital closures and relocation of providers. For example, in the past decade, more than 65 emergency rooms and more… more

MEXICO CITY – Mexicans living abroad sent home a record $23 billion last year, raising new questions about whether the government of President Felipe Calderón can afford to slow migration.

In just one year, the amount of money migrants wired their families jumped 15 percent, according to Mexico's central bank, overtaking tourism to become the nation's second-biggest source of foreign income after oil. “This is a river of gold that flows into Latin America and Mexico.… more

SACRAMENTO – It was a watershed moment in his campaign for re-election. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned to Democratic challenger Phil Angelides during their one and only debate and said: “I can tell by the joy I see in your eyes that you love to raise taxes. Why don't you just say right now, 'I love increasing your taxes?' ”These days, Schwarzenegger certainly isn't shy about asking taxpayers for more, but it's hard to tell if he gets any… more

SACRAMENTO – Comprehensive health care reform was once considered to be part of the electrified third rail of politics, bringing shock and pain to anyone who dared touch it.Now, promoting major health care changes is getting safer.Across the nation, governors and state lawmakers are following the lead of Massachusetts and California in proposing plans to cut soaring health care costs and cover many of the 46 million Americans with no insurance.Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania… more

Visits to the doctor often leave Katherine Beatty feeling sicker than when she left home...

Beatty is part of a Medicare experiment to see if old-fashioned house calls can improve the health of some of the agency's sickest beneficiaries while saving taxpayers money.

If the three-year pilot project in California and two other states is successful, Medicare officials likely would try the service on a larger scale before asking Congress to make it a permanent part of the federal government's health… more

California first lady Maria Shriver, John Edwards and other political luminaries have converged on Los Angeles for a summit on California poverty. The organizers asked speakers to present ways to help California's poor that are "innovative, practical and achievable."

That's a tall order, but it's a timely one. California is at a crossroads in how it assists its less fortunate residents. We can limit ourselves to the old tools and policies. Or California can lead the country in the democratization… more

With members of Congress home for summer recess, the smoke is still clearing over the smoldering ruins of what's left to fiscal restraint and the federal budget. Even a Republican-controlled Congress can't seem to resist spending Americans' tax dollars. The incentive for each district representative and GOP leaders to bring home the bacon is too tempting to resist.

When Democrats were in control of Congress until 1994, Republicans routinely accused Democrats of spending like drunken sailors on a Saturday night… more

Prospects for the governor's controversial redistricting initiative have grown appropriately dim. Whatever its ultimate fate, Schwarzenegger has done a good and decent thing in using his considerable bully pulpit power to raise awareness about the relatively obscure, but important issue of political gerrymandering. Without his call to arms, the powers that be in Sacramento almost certainly would have continued ignoring the very obvious problems with our process for drawing legislative districts lines. They're paying attention now.

But political gerrymandering is… more