Robin Abcarian: Perspective
11:14 AM PDT, May 8, 2013
Sanford victory shows adultery, lies can't trump party loyalty
It would be too easy to make fun of the good Christian voters of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District who saw fit to return their disgraced former Gov. Mark Sanford to the office he once held.
5:42 PM PDT, May 7, 2013
Military sex crime record should bring shame
Maybe, in the end, we will thank Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinksi, head of the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention Unit, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery early Sunday after a woman reported he drunkenly approached her in a parking lot and grabbed her breasts and buttocks.
12:29 PM PDT, May 6, 2013
Commentary
Respect Boston's pain, bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev somewhere else
What kind of power do the living have over the dead?
2:42 PM PDT, May 3, 2013
'Twerking': The pornification of the culture
You may not have heard the term “twerking” before now, but you’ve probably seen it.
6:37 PM PDT, May 2, 2013
PERSPECTIVE
A promising second act for Shriver
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, California's most, ah, colorful former first couple, were back in the news this week.
4:48 PM PDT, May 2, 2013
Plan B contraception and Obama's betrayal of women
President Obama spit his game, as the kids say, when he spoke to an enthusiastic crowd at a Planned Parenthood conference a little over a week ago: “You’re making me blush,” he cooed to their thunderous applause. “I love you back.”
3:18 PM PDT, May 1, 2013
Do cellphone distracted driver laws go too far? Court will decide
Is it legal to read your smartphone map while driving?
10:32 AM PDT, May 1, 2013
Commentary
Shriver or Schwarzenegger: Whose reinvention is working better?
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, California’s most, ah, colorful former first couple, were back in the news this week.
3:23 PM PDT, April 30, 2013
Jason Collins and Tim Tebow: Lessons in being true to yourself
On Monday, two stories captivated the sports world: pro basketball player Jason Collins came out as gay, and the outspoken Christian quarterback Tim Tebow was cut from the New York Jets.
4:18 PM PDT, April 29, 2013
Jason Collins would be a marketing bonanza for any NBA team
It’s been fun reading the qualifiers and questions about Jason Collins’ place in history this morning, after the NBA player came out of the closet.
12:52 PM PDT, April 29, 2013
Sarah Palin's vulgar tweets: Not funny or effective
Sarah Palin reared her head in American airspace this weekend.
3:00 PM PDT, April 26, 2013
Letting non-citizens serve on juries: How can you oppose it?
Having served on my share of juries, including a six-week legal malpractice trial over a Malibu real estate deal gone south that gives me a headache just to think about, I think the push to allow non-citizens to serve on California juries is kind of a genius move.
6:34 PM PDT, April 25, 2013
Driver ticketed for using iPhone's map app isn't giving up yet
FRESNO — The Convicted Distracted Driver is sitting in a study carrel in the Cal State Fresno library, which, come to think of it, looks a little like a prison visiting room.
4:59 PM PDT, April 25, 2013
Gwyneth Paltrow 'most beautiful' : A bad message for girls
It pained me to read that Gwyneth Paltrow was named People magazine’s “Most Beautiful Woman in the World.”
1:36 PM PDT, April 24, 2013
New low for L.A.: Ticketing cars at broken parking meters
What gets me mad about driving in Los Angeles?
12:18 PM PDT, April 23, 2013
Beware, Siri: Even voice texting is dangerous while driving
If you think your smartphone’s fancy voice recognition software lets you text safely while you are driving, think again.
11:47 AM PDT, April 22, 2013
Reese Witherspoon has Celebrity Entitlement Syndrome
A delightful new entry in the Celebrities Behaving Badly file comes to us this week from Atlanta, where the Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, 37, arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, apparently confused the traffic stop with an audition for an American Express commercial:
9:19 AM PDT, April 20, 2013
Boston bombing: Reddit learns how 'witch hunts can start'
The social networking site Reddit found itself in the middle of a terrible situation this week after it fingered a missing Brown student as one of the Boston Marathon bombers.
4:48 PM PDT, April 18, 2013
PERSPECTIVE
For Muslims, bad memories and new worries
There are few Muslims in the small northeast Ohio town where Karen lives with her Palestinian American husband and their five children.
5:15 PM PDT, April 18, 2013
Boston bombing: Bad journalism fuels terrorism hysteria
What is wrong with the New York Post?
7:47 AM PDT, April 16, 2013
ROBIN ABCARIAN PERSPECTIVE
Boston bombings: Muslims fear another 'hysteria'
We will know soon enough who unleashed Monday’s grotesque violence on Boston. But it is fair to say that many Muslims who heard that explosions had marred the end of the Boston Marathon had a simple, poignant thought: Please don’t let it be a Muslim.
5:24 PM PDT, April 15, 2013
COMMENTARY
After the Boston Marathon explosions, a daunting task for us all
The proliferation of cameras at the 117th annual Boston Marathon, one of the country’s most beloved and longstanding outdoor sporting events, ensured that whether or not we want to see what happened, we will be unable to avoid images of the two explosions and their aftermath.
11:28 AM PDT, April 15, 2013
ROBIN ABCARIAN PERSPECTIVE
Audrie Pott, suicide and the shame of sexual assault
Every so often, we read stories about honor killings that leave us feeling despair about the treatment of women in other cultures. Usually, the common thread is rape, and the “shame” that befalls a family in its aftermath. It is the victim’s fault. And so the family acts.
2:33 PM PDT, April 11, 2013
Another fumble for Mark Zuckerberg (not the Facebook IPO)
How much egg can one face take? I really never thought I would say these words, but poor Mark Zuckerberg.
10:35 AM PDT, April 11, 2013
Commentary
As Senate acts, trying to figure out why Americans love their guns
The Senate voted Thursday morning to allow the gun debate to go forward. Looks as if this pistol-packin’ nation may end up with a background check requirement after all -- though there’s no guarantee that even that modest measure will ultimately become law, as my colleague Mike Memoli explains.
4:16 PM PDT, April 10, 2013
Gun background check compromise: More NRA fear mongering
As the Senate prepares to vote Thursday on what appears to be a very modest proposal to increase background checks of gun purchasers at gun shows and on the Internet — leaving a great big loophole for families and friends, or should I say “friends,” — I felt compelled to check the gun lobby’s temperature.
8:59 AM PDT, April 10, 2013
Commentary
Just looking at your phone while driving is now a crime
Direction-impaired drivers, prepare to meet your doom.
10:40 AM PDT, April 9, 2013
Commentary
Secret tape of McConnell bashing Ashley Judd: Anatomy of a smear
Mother Jones strikes again.
11:31 AM PDT, April 8, 2013
Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton and the glass ceiling
Margaret Thatcher was a historic, transformational figure who did many amazing and contradictory things in her life. She was a free market authoritarian who metaphorically bashed her opponents with her famous handbag until they submitted to her will.
9:13 AM PDT, April 6, 2013
The Plan B morning-after pill and the new war on abortion
North Dakota is trying to ban all abortions. Arkansas is trying to ban them after 12 weeks. Mississippi is down to its last abortion clinic.
10:12 AM PDT, April 5, 2013
Commentary
Rutgers basketball video exposes a culture of abuse
How is it that a coach entrusted with the well-being and development of a team of exceptional athletes could stoop to abusing them the way fired Rutgers men’s basketball Mike Rice did?
5:26 PM PDT, April 4, 2013
Obama calls Kamala Harris 'best-looking:' Accurate, but sexist?
Let’s just get it out on the table:
5:46 PM PDT, April 3, 2013
A tax on overweight airline passengers: a brutal airline policy
When teensy-weensy Samoa Airlines debuted its pay-by-the-kilo policy in January, I doubt it expected to set off an international controversy about fat discrimination.
1:18 PM PDT, April 3, 2013
Commentary
Rutgers University basketball video feels like domestic violence
It’s been a long time since I’ve written about domestic violence.
3:33 PM PDT, April 2, 2013
NRA says more guns in schools will protect children
Think of the NRA’s newly proposed National School Shield initiative as a kiddie version of the National Missile Defense program. Star Wars for Schoolyards. A hail of bullets will protect everyone!
11:45 AM PDT, April 2, 2013
Commentary
Does Obama have another Rev. Wright problem? Not with Luis Leon
It was a sad moment for many Republicans during the 2008 presidential contest when Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to let his staff use the fiery left-wing sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
11:16 AM PDT, April 1, 2013
Criticism of Cesar Chavez Google doodle: Intolerance at its worst
There’s no intolerance like good conservative intolerance.
5:00 AM PDT, April 2, 2013
Cesar Chavez Google doodle flap: Conservatives fight back
I still don’t think Google insulted Christians around the world when it chose to honor Cesar Chavez rather than focus on Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, which happened to be the 86th birthday of the late civil rights icon.
2:49 PM PDT, March 29, 2013
Robin Abcarian Perspective
Don Young's racist slur not good for GOP's minority outreach
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Republican elected official who casually uses the racist term “wetbacks” during a radio interview is a dunderhead of the first magnitude.
8:33 AM PDT, March 29, 2013
Robin Abcarian Perspective
Should smokers pay more for health insurance?
I’m one of those non-smoking California types who has grown “allergic” to smoking. Can’t stand to be around people who smoke, can’t stand the way they stink up the joint, can’t stand to look at an ashtray full of butts.
4:36 PM PDT, March 28, 2013
Sex harassment scandal rocks the peace of Bikram yoga world
They just keep coming and coming and coming.
8:08 AM PDT, March 28, 2013
ROBIN ABCARIAN PERSPECTIVE
In gay-marriage debate, couples deserve more than 'skim milk'
It is not always easy to follow the audio transcript of the last two days’ Supreme Court arguments over gay marriage.
1:38 PM PDT, March 27, 2013
ROBIN ABCARIAN PERSPECTIVE
Petraeus apology for affair doesn't go far enough
Glad to see that the self-imposed purda of retired Gen. David Petraeus is coming to an end.
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