Archive By Section - Columnists
The wife’s not a fan of the fan
My wife hates my fan. It's a little white 2-speed oscillating fan that I use to keep cool at night while I sleep. My little fan helps save energy and money by giving my air conditioner a rest, yet my wife can't stand the thing. But before I make my wife out to have a red tail and a pitchfork, I should give a little background on the fan. I can't lie. I don't just ...
Good manners include good dressing habits
Dressing, being fashionable, wardrobe management - they all pose questions from time to time. Women deliberate over what to wear, when to wear it, how it looks and fits, how it makes them feel. Men pick it out, put it on and move along.
Tax naïveté: We need smaller budgets, not higher taxes
'We've got so much taxation. I don't know of a single foreign product that enters this country untaxed except the answer to prayer."
The water conservation conundrum
Water conservation is a good thing. It is a "mom and apple pie" issue with which everyone agrees. It is as old as the "waste not, want not" attitude of our grandparents and is just good common sense in all aspects of our lives, whether we are talking about water, electricity, food or gasoline.
Putting our lives on hold
Driving south on Interstate 5 from Castaic, one passes a smattering of billboards to the west of the highway. We don't see roadway advertisements much in squeaky-clean Santa Clarita, so it's always a treat to get blasted by billboard clutter while driving through our less appearance-policed neighborhoods. Thank our L.A. County government, I suppose.
Summertime blues and reds
This is shaping up to be one of the best political years ever. The Democratic Party has already presented us with a historic primary race (and near dead heat) between two U.S. Senators, one black, the other a woman. On the Republican side, the nominee is the oldest presidential candidate in the history of the United States. America has come a long way in my lifetime. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have broken ...
A helping hand for our feathered and feral friends
There's been considerable squawking lately over the wild ducks and geese inhabiting a certain area of Valencia.
The Golden State is killing the golden goose
When I was about 10 years old, my parents taught me some very important lessons about the basics of money. You earn it, you pay taxes on it, you save some, you give some away, and you spend the rest.
It’s too easy to use and abuse the language of urban development
Politics fills itself with code language. We see it and will continue to see it in the current presidential campaign.
Are we an urban center, a bedroom community, a suburb, or something else?
What is Santa Clarita? A bedroom community? A suburb of Los Angeles? An urban center? I would argue that Santa Clarita is all of these things in part, and none of these things entirely.
July is 'Access Awareness Month'
This July, California observes Access Awareness Month to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since its passage, progress has been made toward more accessible communities. Yet significant gaps in access persist, despite the efforts by many to comply.
To drill or not to drill?
On June 18 President Bush asked federal legislators to end the ban on offshore oil drilling. Even though this does not help our short-term national anxiety over the cost of gas at the pump, it is a way to obtain billions of barrels of our own oil. To drill or not to drill remains the question.
4-year-old’s sincerity not so sincere
My 4-year-old son hurt my feelings the other day. He said he wanted my wife to drive him to school. When I told him that I was going to take him, he said, "No! I don't want you to take me. I want Mommy."
High ozone levels endanger our valley
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's "Air Now" interactive Web site, Santa Clarita once again has some of the worst air pollution in the nation this month.
High ozone levels endanger our valley
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's "Air Now" interactive Web site, Santa Clarita once again has some of the worst air pollution in the nation this month.
Articles by Section - Columnists
Joe Gandelman: Terrorists: Not just failing to connect the dots
Gary Horton: Time to trim some public and private fat
Through their anti-Obama, obstructionist regime, Republicans have at least done one thing right - they have attuned Americans to waste in government spending.
Jason Stanford: Cheating on standardized tests commonplace
Atlanta wasn't an isolated incident. Neither was El Paso, or Washington, D.C., or Columbus. A new General Accounting Office report demonstrates that cheating by school officials on standardized tests has become commonplace, despite the use of security measures the report recommends.
Tina Dupuy: Apple could pay for Moore — and more
Investigators say due to some creative Ireland-based tax gimmicks, Apple has managed to keep $75 billion away from the IRS's reach just in the years 2009-2012.
Tom Purcell: Men, get a wallet
What to get for the contemporary male who has everything? The Man Bag.
Susan Stamper Brown: Truth floats despite tyranny on the Potomac
rogressivism thrives best when truth is suppressed, but suppressed truth is still truth.
Steve Lunetta: Understanding the true cost of freedom
pulled out the paper this bright Monday morning and started reading. Of course, I have my bagel with strawberry cream cheese, oat bran cereal and tall glass of orange juice at the ready. I know how to start my holiday day.
Rick Jensen: Shades of Richard Milhous... Obama
The cover-up is worse than the crime. The crime is so heinous it requires a cover-up.
John Kiernan: What's a real scandal?
I have watched the radical wing of the Republican Party do everything they can to obstruct Obama and his administration.
David Hegg: What's happening to the U.S.?
Increasingly a very simple question is becoming part of our daily conversation. "What's happening to our country?"
Matt Mackowiak: Scandals
When it rains, it pours. The combined weight of the three growing Obama administration scandals is weighing down the White House and overwhelming their ability to control the story or advance their agenda.
Timothy Myers: Manufactured and actual milestones
One thinks about milestones in life, but few can actually point to a day when their life really changed, for good or ill.
