There is an extreme group out there that wants to impose their extreme agenda on America. They say that something basic to our identities; something that defines who we are in the world and how we relate most intimately with others; something that defines our relationship to the Divine; something primal and powerful and often misunderstood, is something that we are born with and therefore completely out of our control. ......

First of all, we have to get rid of the fluff, like health insurance coverage for acupressure. Throw out the massage therapists and the chiropractors as well. I mean, would you pay someone from East Bay MUD to come out with a divining rod to look for water in your yard? I didn’t think so. So why should I pay for someone’s witchcraft. Sorry, of course I mean “alternative medicine”. ......

The Bay Area and our neighbor to the north, Portland, Oregon, have had a friendly competition over which of us is the greenest state. Portland scored big points by providing proof positive that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) a.k.a. the Stimulus Bill, has created good paying, permanent jobs in the new, greener economy. The Energy Efficiency and Community Block Grant (EECBG) program, which targets urban settings for energy ......

I began my trip last week with a few days visiting my father, two sisters, and a bunch of nieces and nephews living just north of Washington DC in Maryland. Both my sisters have recently been treated for cancer, so it was very good to see them happy and healthy. My older sister lost her job around the time she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After her COBRA insurance ran ......

The most energy efficient home is one that's already built. Keeping a home out of a landfill saves all the materials in the house, as well as all the energy used to create the materials—the building's embodied energy. And historic homes preserve a slice of culture that would otherwise be lost forever. And what's better than keeping one 100-year-old house out of the landfill? Keeping two 100-year-old houses out of ......