Reports on the impending death of the Republican Party, at least in California, have come thick and fast since the election last fall of President Barack Obama, accompanied by continued Democratic dominance of legislative races in this state.

So now we know what “post-partisanship” really means:

It's a way for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to transition into whatever he wants to do next, probably a job in President Obama's cabinet since he's now saying he won't run for any other elective office “until you change the Constitution.”

There was a time when the term “states' rights” stood for trampling on the rights of individuals.

Many states asserted, during the great civil rights battles of the 20th century, that they had the right to prevent some citizens from voting, eating in the restaurants of their choice, drinking from public water fountains or sitting where they pleased on buses and trains.

California legislators know well the low esteem in which they are held: A positive rating of just 18 percent in the latest polling. And Gov. Schwarzenegger knows he has a lower-than-ever 38 percent favorable rating in the same surveys.

California legislators know well the low esteem in which they are held: A positive rating of just 18 percent in the latest polling. And Gov. Schwarzenegger knows he has a lower-than-ever 38 percent favorable rating in the same surveys.

At long last, the University of California has taken steps that just might improve its academic quality. This is remarkable because for much of the last decade, it's often seemed as if the U.C. system sought to cheapen its degrees and make them amount to less.

No federal policy shift under President Obama will be more important to California than what he does on illegal immigration. This will have more long-term significance to the nation's biggest state than even the now-taken-for-granted reversal of George W. Bush's refusal to allow enforcement of California's landmark greenhouse gas emission limits on cars and trucks.

Every adult living in California knows, or should know, that the next significant earthquake is coming just as surely as the next big wildfire. It's only a matter of time.

So why is it that virtually every homeowner carries fire insurance, while barely 12 percent bother with earthquake coverage?

Every adult living in California knows, or should know, that the next significant earthquake is coming just as surely as the next big wildfire. It's only a matter of time.

So why is it that virtually every homeowner carries fire insurance, while barely 12 percent bother with earthquake coverage?

Check last fall's election results in the contest for a spot on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, and you'll see that retired businesswoman Doreen Farr won a seat by just 806 votes over Steve Pappas, president of a local school board in the Santa Ynez Valley, near Solvang.

That race would normally have remained obscure and inconsequential outside the county, where environmental issues are often the biggest bones of contention in local politics.