Archive By Section - Columnists
Kevin Buck: Straw men live in glass houses
Webster's dictionary has several different definitions for the word socialism. The one conservative fear and loathe the most is:
Tom Purcell: A nail in the coffin of Americans' rights
oy, do I feel sorry for smokers these days. Smoking used to be so fashionable and hip in the James Dean and Steve McQueen days. Women who smoked used to be sexy. No sooner did they pull a Virginia Slim out of a cigarette case than men would rush at them with lighters. Even when smoking was cool, people knew it wasn't healthy. Some unhealthy smokers sued tobacco companies for concealing the unhealthful effects of ...
David Hegg: Ethically Speaking
Sometimes it turns out that famous clichés are just plain wrong, or at least wrong in enough important situations to make them suspect. One with which I particularly disagree is "Familiarity breeds contempt." I know what it is supposed to identify, and I flatly disagree. Familiarity, with the right people, in the right way, and for the right reasons, actually breeds contentment.
Steve and Cokie Roberts: Fixing Fox and the GOP
Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News Channel, is a very smart man. And he knows how to count, a skill that has apparently eluded many of his fellow conservatives.
Edward Headington: In honor of Presidents' Day 2013
Presidents' Day is a time set aside to celebrate the legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and also remember all of the Presidents of the United States (POTUS) that have made our nation great.
Steve Lunetta: The case against Democrats
A friend of mine recently sent me one of those political emails that screams for fact-checking. You know the ones I mean - "Obama is really a space alien and we have proof!" or "Hilary Clinton Smokes Pot with Harry Reid."
Michael Reagan: Making Sense
Our failure in chief gave us his annual blurred vision of America again Tuesday night. Based on his State of the Union message, Barack Obama's eyesight is as ideologically impaired as ever. Despite four years of failure, he still sees only one road America can go down to regain its economic health. Not down the capitalist road of free enterprise and liberty that made us the richest country in history. He wants to continue down ...
Diana West: Why aren't feathers flying over Brennan nomination?
We all know what happens when the fox guards the chicken coop - or do we? Our state of psychological disarmament makes us unable to recognize even such an obvious threat. I can't think of another explanation for why the country hasn't melted down the Capitol switchboard with phone calls to U.S. senators beseeching them not to confirm John Brennan as the next director of the CIA. What's so scary about Brennan, currently President Obama's ...
Marsha McLean: Live from City Hall
One of the comments I often hear from people who visit Santa Clarita for the first time is how beautiful our city looks.
Daryl Cagle: That First Amendment can be soooooo annoying
I syndicate the cartoons of Rick McKee, the brilliant, conservative cartoonist from The Augusta Chronicle, to newspapers around the world.
Tim Myers: Competition is the spice of local life
Our youngest son, a senior at Valencia High School, ain't happy. At least his Twitter feed indicates a certain upset with the sports staff of The Signal. What upset our 6-foot, 2-inch-tall co-captain of the powerful Valencia varsity tennis team, who recently decided to attend the University of Nevada? During the tennis off season, he counts himself a member of Viking Nation, the student athletic rooting section for Valencia High School, along with a trunkful ...
Danny Tyree: Voluntary retirement: Can you take a hint?
With an editorial titled "Pope Sets Example For Other Aging Leaders," USA Today tried laying a major guilt trip on the nation's authority figures.
Rick Jensen: Gun law didn’t stop shooting in Delaware
Welcome to Delaware, reader. While "our own" Joe Biden was promoting government control of your gun accessories in the nearby major media market of Philadelphia, network, local and national press reporters wheeled into "DelaWhere?" to document the horrible carnage of a most violently dysfunctional custody and child support battle.
Dick Polman: Christie’s girth is a truly weighty issue
Chris Christie got laughs on the Letterman show last week when he showed up with a doughnut. I get what he was trying to do. People keep goofing on his girth, and a former White House doctor had just told CNN that if Christie were elected president, "I'm worried about this man dying in office." So he figures that the best way to defuse the issue is to make light of his weight. But this ...
Joe Gandelman: Horsing around with Europe’s beef supply
Beef contaminated with horsemeat has sparked a multi-nation controversy in Europe. It's no secret that the French have long been galloping gourmets. Gobbling horsemeat there dates back to the country's 18th century revolution, when rich folks' horses began to fill food supply gaps. Today horsemeat is still found in many stores there. The French's appetite for it has declined. But partygoers in the United Kingdom would be utterly sickened if they discovered they ate horse ...
Articles by Section - Columnists
Timothy Myers: Gearing up for a chloride war
One of my favorite tales of Santa Clarita political lore involves former Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, and I happen to know that it actually occurred.
Bob Kellar: Live from City Hall
With more than 1,100 businesses small and large, the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce represents tens of thousands of local jobs and employees and is Santa Clarita's premier business membership organization.
Phil Kerpen: Obama’s FAA harm offensive
If sequestration happens and nobody feels it, does it have a political impact?
Kathryn Lopez: Real questions in evil's wake
Martin Richard's life ended as he waited at the Boston Marathon finish line on a local holiday. He was there to celebrate his dad's victory with his family.
Tom Purcell: Fighting for the America we want it to be
I listened to a Frank Sinatra tune this week - "The House I Live In" - and enjoyed a renewed desire to fight on.
Joe Gandelman: Was Twitter for the birds?
When James French became the last person to be executed in 1966 under Oklahoma's death penalty law, he uttered these famous last words (no joke) that quickly belong to the ages: "Hey fellas," he shouted to reporters there to witness his electrocution. "How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? 'French Fries!'"
Dick Polman: Bombing is lame excuse to halt immigration reform
Conservatives have been desperately trying to halt the bipartisan momentum for path-to-citizenship immigration reform, and, thanks to the Boston bombing, they think they've finally found the perfect (phony) argument: Fear of foreign terrorism.
Gary Horton: Lobbyists are at the root of our violent culture
After the Brothers Tsarnaev blew their lids and went on their Boston pressure-cooker bombing spree, it wasn't surprising that sooner or later unregistered, illegally obtained guns and rifles would show up in the bloody mix.
The Village Idiot: Plan the marriage first, then the wedding
"I got an email today," Mel told me. "Chardonnay and Jackson are splitting up. They only got married four months ago. It's so sad. I played guitar at their wedding."
SCV Voices: Special interests only ones to benefit from toll roads
I was reading the article last week about making the HOV lanes on the I-5 through Santa Clarita toll lanes ("Metro committee approves I-5 toll lanes in SCV," April 17).
Blame the bombers, and nothing else
We are fortunate that the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt rendered both radicalized 26-year-old Tamarlan Tsarnaev and his 19-year-old brother Dzhokar no longer any threat.
No television, no worries
Besides aliens with eyes in the back of their heads, a possible interracial baby mix-up at the maternity ward and "Bet he'll laugh if I say 'shoehorn,'" one of my most indelible memories of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" has proven strangely prophetic.
Texas blast exposes disaster relief hypocrites
As of this writing, we know the fertilizer explosion in West, Texas, killed at least 14 residents and injured 200 others with many still missing.
Steve Lunetta: For the true scientist faith is inevitable
A co-worker the other day made an interesting comment. She said "I think its amazing that you are a scientist but still be a Christian. That must be very difficult to do."
Peter Funt: The only way to win is to not give in to fear
A Boston firefighter, one of many who rushed in to aid bomb victims last Monday, told a TV interviewer, "We will win. I promise you, we will win."
