Free Republic

After banning plastic bags from chain grocery stores and bottled water from City Hall, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has set his sights on soda - working up a plan to charge a new city fee to big retailers of sugar drinks. "The bottom line is that there is a direct nexus between high-fructose corn syrup drinks like colas and Big Gulps and obesity among schoolkids," Newsom said Friday. The idea of taxing soda to combat obesity - which is being touted as the first in the nation - has been roiling around in health circles for some time, including...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have a lot of explaining to do. He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on. With only a slim, two-year record in the U.S. Senate, Obama doesn't have many controversial congressional votes which political opponents can frame into attack ads. But his eight years as an Illinois state senator are sprinkled with potentially explosive land mines, such as...

...Obama's revelations about his drug use in high school and college - contained in his first book - raise questions about whether his youthful behavior could come back to haunt him. Many political experts doubt that his admissions would prove troublesome in the primaries...

Phil Angelides won his wicked mano a mano brawl with state Controller Steve Westly for the Democratic nomination for governor, but now the state treasurer has to take his campaign call for higher taxes to a penny-pinching electorate that turned down a variety of pricey ballot measures Tuesday. Voters not only rejected the controversial Proposition 82, which would have raised taxes on wealthy Californians to pay for universal preschool, but also defeated Proposition 81, a $600 million library bond measure that had no organized opposition. In the Bay Area, efforts to boost local sales taxes to improve transportation were beaten...

State Treasurer Phil Angelides said Friday that as governor he would close corporate tax loopholes and raise taxes on the highest income earners to increase education funding for K-12 schools, the same tax proposals he's made to cut tuition at California's public colleges. Speaking at a Capitol rally organized by the California Federation of Teachers to criticize Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his education funding policies, Angelides called for higher teacher salaries and a full commitment to the state's Proposition 98 guarantee. "It's time for a governor who's actually willing to ask multimillionaires to chip in, ask corporations to chip in,...

<p>"That's right -- we're offering $10,000 cash to anyone who can prove George W. Bush fulfilled his Guard duty in Alabama," Wednesday's strip said. "So if you served with Mr. Bush -- even if only in the officers' club -- we want to hear from you right now!"</p>