Supreme Court another reason to vote Republican

An interesting editorial appeared recently in the Los Angeles Times. It was titled "A vote against history" and referenced the Supreme Court decision that upheld Indiana's requirement for voter identification.

Halloween monsters in May

It's almost summertime - time for swimming pools, time for beach parties and time for barbecues. My 4-year-old son says it's time for Halloween.

Can biofuel solve our energy crisis?

With gas more than $4 per gallon, we are now all looking at ways to conserve or convert our energy use away from this expensive source. Environmentalists and others have long been concerned about our dependence on oil. Remember the hoopla over the secret energy meetings held among White House higher-ups early in 2000? The rising gas prices were easily predictable, and everyone wanted our government to do something about it. The solution did not lie in ...

Revolt against $4 tomatoes

Mother's Day. Rushing through Pavilions, gathering groceries for our barbecue just one hour before folks hit the front door. Today's menu: burgers and dogs, baked beans, chips and salsa. And we plan to do the burgers up right, what with big beefsteak tomato slices, white onions, crisp lettuce, American cheese - the works.

Knowing more about our judges

In just a week, California's citizens will be voting for various political candidates-including individuals who want to serve as superior court judges in Los Angeles County.

Imagining the world without America's sacrifices

It is truly a wonderful life we lead in the Santa Clarita Valley and in this great country of ours! We are blessed with an abundance of resources and an ample array of individual freedoms to take advantage of those resources as the spirit moves us. That we take such a notion for granted is a tribute to the individuals who secured such freedoms for us - the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast ...

McCain masters political comebacks

In the 1992 Democratic New Hampshire primary, while drafting a concession speech to massage a draining eight-point second -place finish, Clinton speechwriter Paul Begala concocted a line that maneuvered the Gennifer-Flowers-draf- letter-drenched Bill Clinton into the primary's seeming winner. By spinning a second place finish that had actually fizzled from a 2-point lead on Jan. 19, according to a Boston Globe poll, into the magical circus tent voila of "the comeback kid," the Clinton campaign ...

Judging the judges for June 3 election

Hold on, Santa Clarita, there is another election on the horizon! I was scanning over my ballot earlier this week thinking about whom I am voting for in the June 3 California Primary. Though it is considered by many a rather ho-hum nothing election, there is a great deal at stake in two weeks. Your participation in this upcoming election is really very important. First, the easy choices:

Remembering our heroes in the SCV

I'm glad those few days of scorching weather are behind us! However, I know that August will bring those triple digits back in full force, but until then, I'm enjoying this rainy, cool weather. Ahhh!

Vigilance + water = lives saved

Few news stories are as heartbreaking as those involving children drowning. California's leading cause of accidental death of kids under 5, drowning is profoundly tragic on several levels. It needlessly cuts precious lives short, and in the case of survived near-drownings, can lead to brain damage or other life-changing deficits. It frequently leaves aggrieved families blaming themselves for not preventing the catastrophe from happening in the first place. What a sad, miserable legacy that must ...

What are we doing for Memorial Day?

It's almost Memorial Day weekend, and my family has nothing to do. Last Sunday, I asked my wife what she wanted to do. She said she didn't know. I asked my 4-year-old son what he wanted to do. He also said he didn't know. The two of them asked me what I wanted to do. I said I didn't know. The next day, I left a voicemail for some family friends, asking if they wanted ...

Polluted water shouldn't count

In 2000, after our comments were dismissed, the Friends of the Santa Clara River challenged the Castaic Lake Water Agency in court for overstating the water available to Santa Clarita for existing residents and new development in its Urban Water Management Plan. Four years later, the court finally came to the conclusion that we were right, and that the water agencies had not made the issue of contaminated water clear in their plan.

The times, they are a changin’

It is difficult to believe that only eight years ago the Democratic Party was being relegated to the political scrap heap and Republicans were speaking in terms of wielding power for generations. It is amazing

We need fiscal reform, not education cuts

At City Hall last Tuesday, a huge crowd joined in a rally supporting the Santa Clarita Valley Education Coalition. They were protesting Governor Schwarzenegger's estimated $4.8 billion proposed reduction in education spending. Statewide, there have been many of these public outpourings ever since the governor issued his 10 percent across-the-board budget cuts in January. Among the group were school board trustees, teachers, students, parents, business owners, city officials, school district employees and superintendents. In Santa ...

Summer arrives early in the SCV

While it seems that summer has arrived with guns a-blazing in the SCV, we were fortunate to have the best weather I've ever experienced for Taste of the Town on May 4. Let's hope that June gloom returns ASAP! Seen at Taste of the Town

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. ..."

Danny Tyree: Is the free ride over?

es, I dutifully affix my copyright notice to my column each week, and I've been known to notify the syndicate of suspected unauthorized use; but I haven't gotten anywhere near as persnickety (or creepy) as the entertainment industry.