Joe Guzzardi: Welfare soars as immigrant use skyrockets

Across America, officials in nearly bankrupt cities and states are outraged by the Department of Homeland Security's new website that explains to recently arrived immigrants how they can receive the entire federal welfare benefit cornucopia. The site, Welcome to USA.gov, maintained by DHS' U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS), promotes itself as the "primary gateway for new immigrants to find basic information on how to settle in the United States." Included is a comprehensive section ...

David Hegg: Society needs to focus on spiritual health

Our society is obsessed with health. Or maybe it is better said that we are obsessed with the idea of health. All around us new discoveries and formulas call us to eat better, stay away from decaying agents, exercise and visit our doctors and dentists regularly. Our political system has become enamored with health and with the right everyone has to be healthy. And, since health has become an inalienable right, health care must be available and affordable if we are to be a healthy nation.

Laurene Weste:

There's nothing like the holidays to bring family and friends together. Whether it's decorating a tree, cooking special dishes or watching a movie, the holidays are a time for sharing and friendship.

Will Durst: Fiscal cliff traffic report

So, expect showers and gale-force winds over the next couple of days and don't forget that high-surf advisory is in effect throughout the weekend.

Tim Myers: Placerita: The 800-pound gorilla in room

One of my absolute favorite sayings relates to the "800-pound gorilla in the room." According to Urban Dictionary, which accomplishes much in the definition of vernacular speech, the term references "an overbearing entity in a specific industry or sphere of activity. A seemingly unbeatable presence always to be reckoned with; whose experience, influence, and skill threatens to defeat competitors with little effort."

Betty Arenson: Who are the agendas for anyway?

The recent election gave a supermajority to Democrats in California. The Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press have generously reported that this ultimate domination and total power to now "side-step" Republicans could be dicey. They can also overrule the governor. Whether feigned or not, some appear to have a bit of concern with headlines like "Supermajority holds promise, peril for Democrats" and "Power comes with perils."

Kevin Bayona: Obama’s test will be in diplomacy

The election is finally over, and Barack Obama has been re-elected to another term in the White House. The president will face many challenges, but none will be more important than how America's foreign policy unfolds over the next four years.

Dick Ramirez: The chains are coming off

It's being reported that Grover Norquist's anti-taxing and anti-spending contract of coercion directed toward our political system is crumbling.

Saad Karamat: Focus on Muslim humanity

Four California Muslims ages 21-35 have been arrested on account of their plans to join the Taliban and kill Americans. These arrests come as a big hit to me as a 23-year-old California Muslim.

Jim Mullen: Some years, you just want to stay home

Almost everyone we know has packed up and gone south for the winter. The ones who haven't left yet will be gone soon. Our friends who live south of us are leaving to go even farther south. I have never been to Belize or Costa Rica or the Cayman Islands, but I constantly hear people say they are going back for the fourth or fifth time because they liked it so much. They also have much more money and time.

Brian Springer: Community makes a life wonderful

"It's a Wonderful Life" has always been one of my favorite movies, and the older I get, the more I can relate to its life lessons and subtextual meanings.

Jan Ting: Fear not the fiscal cliff

The so-called "fiscal cliff" is the confluence of three separate legal events on Jan. 1, 2013: expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut, expiration of the so-called "Bush" income and estate tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, and mandatory spending cuts also known as "sequestration." Many commentators are expressing concern that unless Congress intervenes by Jan. 1, the economy will suffer a serious setback. But I don't think that's the worst thing that could ...

Danny Tyree: Philanthropy adapts, is entering the 21st century

Just as Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season for brick-and-mortar retailers and Cyber Monday launches the online shopping season, we now have #GivingTuesday (the day after Cyber Monday) as a starting point for charitable acts by individuals, groups and companies.

Nat Hentoff: US needs second Declaration of Independence

My spirits were temporarily lifted when, last week, the Washington, D.C.-based Daily Caller website reported "more than 675,000 digital signatures appeared on 69 separate secession petitions covering all 50 states, according to ... requests lodged with the White House's 'We the People' online petition system" ("White House 'secede' petitions reach 675,000 signatures, 50-state participation," David Martosko, dailycaller.com, Nov. 14). Moreover, in various parts of the country, citizens infuriated for various reasons by the re-election of ...

Kathryn Lopez: This holiday season, avoid being materialistic

For as long as I can remember, I've always thought about waking up obscenely early the morning after Thanksgiving, to check out the goings-on at the toy or department store. Not because I wanted to shop, but to visit the safari - it's always struck me as quite the exotic mystery, why anyone would want to walk away from a calm morning with family or friends to fight for a parking spot. Of course, now ...

Helen Harwood: SCV Voices

I do wish sometimes that some of your regular contributors to The Signal's Letters to the Editor would spend less time writing unsubstantiated clichés and more time reading up on economics.

Danny Tyree: Candy capitulation: say it ain’t so!

According to ABC News, you should probably get ready for a take-no-prisoners "This is your brain on nougat" campaign.

Byron York: Has Obama overplayed his hand in sequester?

Nine months ago, Barack Obama likened his Republican opposition to an illness. If he could just defeat Mitt Romney, Obama said, then the illness might subside. "I believe that if we're successful in this election - when we're successful in this election - that the fever may break," Obama told a fundraiser in Minneapolis last June.

Tammy Messina: Defending the Second Amendment

Most of us have never had to fight for our freedom. We don't even know what that looks like. In our lifetime, we've always had the right to say what we want and do what we want, as long as we operate inside the law. Many of those who've emigrated from other countries do know what it's like to live without those freedoms and how precious they are once obtained.

Joe Gandelman: Political gridlock

An old vaudeville joke went like this: "Do I look like an idiot? Do I look like a jerk who doesn't know what's going on? Do you think I'm dumb? Don't answer that!"

Kevin Bayona: Is the red menace back?

We don't hear much from Russia these days, but rest assured the Russian Federation is on the move across Eurasia and the world as its pugnacious leader, Vladimir Putin, vies to return Russia to the glory days of the Soviet Union.

Gary Horton: Incompetent staff make it a bad cruise

Cruise ships have become popular vacation scenes over the past decade. A chance to leisurely enjoy freedom of the open seas as ship's staff cater to whims and needs!

Tom Purcell: My parents school the Senate

"All right," said my mother, standing before the members of the U.S. Senate, "it's time for you to get your act together."

Jonathan Kraut: Heroes or vicitms?

I am having a problem with associating the term "hero" with every law-enforcement officer and government employee who has been harmed or died on duty.

Steve Lunetta: Obama's folly

The irony is astounding. The sequestration plan that appears to be a machination by President Obama's White House is now coming back to haunt him big time.

Donna Brazile: Right to vote isn't a racial entitlement

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Shelby County v. Holder - a challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, specifically Section 5, which requires states and localities with a history of voting discrimination against racial and language minorities to get "pre-approved" by the federal government before changing how elections are conducted or voters are registered.

David Hegg: Choosing Chastity

I may be asked to turn in my man card for this, but here goes. On a getaway for my wife's birthday, I joined her to watch an episode of The Bachelor.

Tim Myers: Does election date change help incumbents?

Kathryn Pisaro: Protect music programs in Newhall School District

On Tuesday, the school board for the Newhall School District is going to be asked to cut a music teacher from our already-reduced music program.

Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall

"Government, at its core, is about doing together what we can't do alone. It's why we believe that citizen engagement is vital. ..."