Archive By Section - Columnists
Gary Horton: Woeful waste water fees are water torture
Over at the Santa Clarita Economic Development Corporation last week, things got rightfully hot and bothered over ... storm water run-off.
Richard Hood: Want to be a world changer? Be a man
The greatest need the world has is for you to be a man. This is not an easy thing to learn and must be taught. You must put away childish attitudes and learn to do the right thing. You must choose who will be your teacher, your mentor, your counselor, your friend, your father figure. Let others follow the crowd, sports heroes and music idols. They have nothing to say and nothing to offer. ...
Tom Purcell: It's all Nixon's fault
It's Nixon's fault. I speak of the financial woes of the U.S. Postal Service and the news last week that its hopes to cut Saturday mail delivery to save a few billion dollars a year. As it goes, President Nixon, tired of strikes by then-government postal workers, signed the Postal Reorganization Act into law in 1971. It established the Postal Service as a quasi-private organization required to pay its own bills with revenue it earns ...
Charlie Vignola: You built that, but not alone
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Republicans got a lot of mileage from President Obama's famously - and deliberately - misquoted line, "You didn't build that."
Diana West: Another attempt to silence critics of Islam
I may be the only American who has seen both the "panic room" where Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard fled in 2010 as a Somali Muslim man hacked at the door with an ax, and the apartment house where recently Danish journalist Lars Hedegaard, 70, was almost killed by an "Arab"- or "Pakistani"-looking man posing as a postman.
Steve Lunetta: Severe left turn right about now
"Dumb moderates and Republicans never saw it coming. I fooled 'em. Fooled them all! I even hoodwinked liberals along the way. Lincoln was wrong - you can fool all of the people all of the time!"
David Hegg: Why the rule of law?
Since our founding, the United States of America has been committed to the "rule of law." This term, while familiar, is often not understood. We believe in it, but most of us don't really know what it means.
Cokie and Steven Roberts: The debate over immigration reform
The gathering debate over immigration reform is really about two different groups. One is the 11 million immigrants who are here illegally. The other was described by President Obama as "the folks who try to come here legally but have a hard time doing so."
Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall
The Bureau of Justice reports that graffiti is the most common type of property vandalism and costs the average taxpayer anywhere from $3 to $5 per year to clean up.
Tim Myers: No predictions for 2014 City Council election
Local wonks and the (slim) number of folk who follow Santa Clarita city politics may soon forget the historic 2012 City Council election - which saw a sitting mayor turned out of office for the first time and an incumbent for only the third time, as well as another incumbent assailed by locally powerful politicians, including our own Congressman Buck McKeon, coming first in the election and garnering the third most votes in city history - almost did not happen.
Tammy Messina: The debate on safety in our schools
Between the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and all the subsequent talk about gun control and what the Second Amendment really means, we're seeing more and more school-related "weapons" incidents.
Rick Jensen: Obama skeets the shooting truth
"I do skeet shooting." Of course you do, Mr. President. "I do skeet shooting all the time." Which is why skeet shooters (not "doers" of skeet or "skeeters" as you call them) took a quick look at your photo and noted your aim is straight ahead, not upward where the clay target would be. They also noticed you're pictured using a gun designed for trap shooting, wearing ...
Susan Stamper Brown: Yes, God made farmers
What was it about the Dodge' commercial "God Made a Farmer" that stirred the souls of so many Americans during the Super Bowl? Maybe it was the imagery of the dirt and grit of real America, not the white-washed concrete meccas many of us call home. Maybe for just a moment we were unplugged from our instant and superficial world and taken back to a time when we were ...
George Runner: Bullet tax will backfire
If you want to grow government these days, it seems the fashionable thing to do is invent new taxes.
Kevin Bayona: Are we ready for an encore in the Falklands?
When economic times are bad, what better than to reclaim your sovereignty over a small archipelago located in the frigid waters of the South Atlantic Ocean?
Articles by Section - Columnists
Steve and Cokie Roberts: Astonishing attack on our core values
Finally, an issue Republicans and Democrats can agree on:
The Village Idiot: Please, invade my privacy
A world-famous entertainer announced that she and her boyfriend were splitting up in one of the saddest tweets I've ever read: "We have decided to go our separate ways. Please respect our privacy."
Charlie Vignola: A scandal is only a scandal when it happens to Democrats
Imagine for a moment a President of the United States who ignored warnings about an imminent terrorist threat that resulted in an attack that killed American citizens, then argued that we didn't need an investigation to figure out what went wrong.
Tom Purcell: Advice from the master
ill Clinton, wearing a white toga and a crown of gold, sat in a garden while attractive women fed him grapes. President Obama, having just suffered the most devastating week of his presidency, sat nearby, seeking advice in the art of telling whoppers. Using the Socratic method of teaching, Clinton began to tutor his new student.
Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall
May is Building Safety Month and the ideal time to tackle all of those home-improvement projects on your "to do" list before summer is in full swing.
David Hegg: Of progress and purpose
There is no debate that time marches on. The sun rises, shines, and sets, and then does it all over again, day after day. And each day we encounter the unknown components of a whole new 24-hour set of life experience.
Tim Myers: Where respect for private property ends
As a Midwesterner and a Lutheran, I must admit to a great love of irony, and there is nothing more entertaining and ironic than the practical behavior of an elected official, particularly a locally elected official, when their ideology runs straight into the practicalities of the moment.
Phil Kerpen: Government can't be trusted with our health
"We have a large government," political consultant David Axelrod offered as a plea of ignorance to all of the scandals swirling around his boss. "Part of being president is there's so much beneath you that you can't know because the government is so vast."
The Village Idiot: Why I hate my Facebook friends
When I first signed up for Facebook, I was thrilled to get back in touch with old friends, distant relatives, high school classmates and old co-workers. I'd check in to find out that they had new children, new spouses, new lives, new hobbies, new kitchens, new news.
Gary Horton" Why can't California be more like Texas?
I just returned from a three-day business trip to Austin, Texas. This was my third visit to Austin in 18 months. Each time, my visit has focused on business opportunities stemming from Austin's robust population growth.
Jonathan Kraut: Domestic violence advocates needed
My firm was contacted last year to support a domestic case involving a young woman and her year-old baby. She needed help keeping legal custody of her child. The baby's father, a volunteer counselor with a drug rehab program, had claimed the mother of his child was unfit and a drug user.
Tom Purcell: Speech to the best graduating class ever
Students, faculty, family members and friends, it is my great honor to deliver your commencement speech today.
Jason Stanford: What Rick Perry can learn from California
The faux pas bordered on sedition. The Texas Association of Dairymen sent blocks of mild cheddar to state senate offices "in appreciation for your hard work this legislative session on behalf of the people of Texas." Legislative offices often get free-and perfectly legal-swag from special interests. The problem arose when someone read the label. The company that made the cheese was based in California.
Cliff Schecter: The United States really needs to grow up already
This country needs an enema. I paraphrase, of course, from Jack Nicholson's take on Gotham City in his turn at The Joker.
Maria Gutzeit: Cycling is not all about Lance
Recently, people asked me with sincerity in their eyes if I am reconsidering my involvement in cycling because of the Lance Armstrong scandal. My response: Pftttt.
