Archive By Section - Columnists
Susan Stamper Brown: Helping charities, voluntary wealth redistribution
With Great Depression-like poverty and homelessness on the rise during this Christmas season 2012, organizations like the Salvation Army are working overtime to make up for the increase worsened by a bloated federal government well on its way to becoming a victim of its own gluttonous appetite.
Betty Arenson: Democrats redefine ‘compromise’
Democrats have blared for a decade that the Bush tax cuts are for the wealthy. Now they panic that expiration of those dangerous Bush tax cuts will gravely harm the middle class. Which message is the truth? Call it ambiguity, hypocrisy or blatant lies; the scorners sow and reap a host of prudent observations and sapient questions.
Cher Gilmore: It’s up to us to act on global warming
The failure of the latest Doha climate talks - which our President didn't even attend and whose efforts the U.S. consistently blocked - clearly shows that we cannot count on our government to take the lead in stopping global warming. This, in spite of the fact that the U.S. is second only to China in annual CO2 emissions, and we know without question that global warming is real, deadly, and human-caused.
Byron York: Obama ups bid as GOP looks for way out of crisis
It's possible to have a strong hand and still overplay it. As Republicans see things, that's what President Obama is doing in the "fiscal cliff" negotiations.
Gary Horton: Free speech, free minds
This past Sunday, a stalwart Republican gal from our church stopped by the coffee counter where I was chugging caffeine and inquired, "Where did my Full Speed To Port column go in the Signal?" As a staunch right-winger, she pretty much hates most of it, but nonetheless missed its publication for whatever enjoyable Wednesday frustration it had long been providing.
Jim Mullen: I’ve been dreaming of a lottery windfall
I won! I won! I won the lottery! Seven dollars on a $10 ticket. I'm taking it as a lump sum, not that they even asked my preference. Now I'm cleaning the living room so it won't look like a pigsty when the photographers arrive. I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of this moment. I am the original guy who never wins anything, but finally, all those years of buying lottery tickets each ...
Tom Purcell: Surviving, understanding the fiscal cliff
I'm not sure I have the energy to keep up." "Ah, yes, you speak of the latest self-created crisis in our government, what some refer to as the 'fiscal cliff.' If Congress and the president don't agree to new terms on spending and taxes, the Budget Control Act of 2011 will automatically go into effect." "And then the sky will fall?" "It won't be pretty. A number of tax breaks, such as the Bush tax ...
Kevin Buck: Tax policies should return to Clinton era
The 2012 election is now in the history books, and since history is written by the winners, the reality-based community victories will be recorded in textbooks for generations to come (Texas excepted).
Will Durst: The Top 10 comedic news stories of this year
First a disclaimer: The Top 10 Comedic News Stories of 2012 should not under any circumstances be confused with the Top 10 Legitimate News Stories of 2012.
Michael Reagan: We need to get America back to being No. 1
Help us, we're falling and we can't get up again. Once upon a time - in 1988 and 1998 to be exact - the United States was the best country for a baby to be born and raised in, at least according to The Economist magazine. But the 2013 edition of the magazine's "where-to-be-born" index has us down at No. 16 - tied with Germany and one spot ahead of the United Arab Emirates. Switzerland, ...
Steve Lunetta: Government pensions are slippery slope
Flying into Ronald Reagan International Airport outside Washington, D.C. is always fun. The prevailing winds blowing down the Potomac River collide with the calmer air over Virginia to make an entertaining swirl of choppy air when landing. What joy.
David Hegg: In search of intellectual honesty
While most have never heard of him, Thomas Nagel is at the center of a controversy that threatens to pull the curtain away from the great and terrible Oz of our day. I am speaking about the almost universally accepted belief that all of life - indeed, every element of the universe and all that exists in it - can be reduced to physical particles, themselves the product of physical processes guided by the principle of natural selection.
Frank Ferry: City celebrates this year’s accomplishments
It has been my honor to serve as your mayor for 2012, and as the year comes to a close, I wanted to share some of the city of Santa Clarita's accomplishments with you.
Tim Myers: From one boomburb to the next
The Santa Clarita City Council members - the wise stewards of the city or the puppets of a dictatorial city manager, depending upon one's point of view, if one even thinks about them at all - recently gave a hagiographic send-off to said alleged dictator Ken Pulskamp during his last meeting in the position before going off into the sunset of his retirement/next city manager job in Burbank.
Susan Stamper Brown: Secular humanists bid ‘A merry un-Christmas’
That "most wonderful time of the year" has arrived, and with it, most predictably, another round of attacks (yawn) by Secular Humanists doing their best to destroy the season by removing the Christ child from the creche.
Articles by Section - Columnists
George Runner: State can't tax itself into prosperity
Last year California voters approved two tax increases aimed at bringing billions more dollars into state coffers.
Joe Guzzardi: Here we go again, immigrants to march on D.C.
Here we go again. On April 10, thousands of illegal immigrants and their lobbyists will gather on the National Mall to support an immigration reform bill that the Senate is expected to introduce this month.
Danny Tyree: Cyborg-bugs and robo-rats
Salon.com recently ran excerpts of Emily Anthes's book "Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up To Biotech's Brave New Beasts," and I may never look at national security the same way again.
Jonathan Kraut: Signs of spring
As warmer weather approaches, there are some tips that I might offer to help you save your hard-earned money, precious resources, and make your home and family safer.
Richard Hood: Confession: It was I who cut down the tree
I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the tree.
Susan Stamper Brown: Camps, clinics and selective ignorance
In a cold and snowy day in January a few years ago, I took a guided tour through the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany.
Phil Kerpen: Repeal the mandate tax
With more than 2,000 pages of legislative text and more than 20,000 pages of regulations so far, most Americans can't possibly know all the details of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
David Hegg: The Value of Valuing Something
About 10 years ago I officiated a wedding for two young people entering into marriage for the first time. It was a big deal, with a proper venue, pictures, and lots of family and friends in attendance. But for me it was very different from any I had done before.
Rick Jensen: Politicians in both parties need some class
Republican Mike Gmoser, the country prosecutor in Butler County, Ohio, wasted taxpayers' time and money by charging Pennsylvania's winter-predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, with "misrepresentation of early spring."
Peter Funt: Taken in by April Fools
he calendar says Monday is April 1, but lately it seems that foolishness occurs year-round.
Tim Myers: Should the Santa Clarita City Council be elected by district?
On Nov. 3, 1987, a now-remarkable 25 percent to 30 percent of eligible voters in the area midwifed the city of Santa Clarita into existence, voting nearly 67 percent to 33 percent in favor of the formation of the city.
Marsha McLean: Live from City Hall
A strong retail environment is one of the foundations of a healthy economy and a strong community.
Scott Wilk: Teacher firing reform needed
As a father of two, I believe no one - particularly a child - should live in fear in his or her school or neighborhood. So one of my top priorities as your assemblyman is public safety.
Joe Gandelman: Sample some popular political whines
The phone rings in a big warehouse in Oriskiny Falls, N.Y.
Jason Stanford: Turning Texas into a battleground state
Those of us who worked for the late Ann Richards used to run our plans by her. The former Texas governor did not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise, and if your plan had flaws, she'd let you know in great detail.
