Commentary, editorials and opinion, opinions

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas recently joined commentators Rush Limbaugh, Patrick Buchanan and others in using the word "socialist" to describe President Barack Obama and his policies, and we all know what's coming: a verbal bombardment.

Those who believe the End Times are imminent will be pleased to know that physicists in Switzerland are planning to fire up the Large Hadron Collider this weekend, fortuitously one week after the doomsday movie "2012" opened.

Jerry Brown's first governorship of California was marked by what one might term -- charitably -- a high degree of flexibility.

Although he generally hewed to a liberal line after his 1974 election, Brown was often willing to bend ideology for political advantage, a tendency that some called "flakiness."

When Sarah Palin comes to your house for dinner, do not invite John McCain's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt; his top aide, Nicole Wallace; or CBS anchor Katie Couric. They come in for a real beating as America's most interesting politician settles scores that still rankle from the 2008 presidential campaign in "Going Rogue: An American Life."

WASHINGTON - Unfortunately, the government's decision to prosecute the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in a civilian court and the prospect of an eventual traumatic trial of the mass murderer of 13 persons at Fort Hood, Tex., hold the distinct possibility of exacerbating already virulent anti-Muslim sentiment in this country.

Shooting a rocket booster into the moon, followed four minutes later by an instrument-laden spacecraft, turned out to be, if not a public-relations dud, at least a major letdown.

The accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four of his accused accomplices will stand trial where they should have been tried in the first place -- a civilian federal courthouse in Manhattan only blocks from the site of the World Trade Center.

Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has just proposed financial reform legislation that is enormous even by the bloated standards of our contemporary Congress. An alphabet soup of new agencies and arrangements are envisioned.

Contrary to a popular fallacy that science and religion are at odds with each other, it's quite the opposite.

Science and religion are the best of friends. And like good friends, they complement each other and produce beautiful music together.

Advocates of overhauling California's troubled pension system for public employees couldn't have chosen a more providential moment to launch their reform campaign.