Archive By Section - Columnists
Danny Tyree: Smoking penalties? What other surprises?
According to The Associated Press, many smokers were caught off guard by an obscure provision in The Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. "Obamacare") allowing health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1.
Tom Purcell: A Joe Biden presidency could be good for comedy
Maybe he's just what America needs. Then again, maybe not. I speak of Vice President Joe Biden - who, according to Politico, is "intoxicated" by thoughts of being inaugurated as president in 2017. He'd be delighted to "finish what Barack Obama started." Well, who better to finish what President Obama started than Uncle Joe? I'll bet he'd be even better at runaway government spending, lack of budget discipline and total disinterest in addressing entitlement growth, ...
Jonathan Kraut: Background checks are not ‘universal’
A lot of politicians are clamoring for mandatory "Universal Background Checks" for all gun buyers nationwide. There is no harm to anyone's privacy if gun buyers are screened for criminal records, a history of domestic violence, mental health risk, or other criteria that indicate having a weapon could put others at risk. After all, past behavior helps predict future conduct. I believe that it is the human mind that is the danger and not the instrument that is used.
Maria Gutzeit and B.J. Atkins: NCWD has success with enterprise model
Newhall County Water District has just closed out 2012, and the year was marked by accomplishments reflecting its enterprise model of operation.
Steve Lunetta: Stopping gun violence at the source
In the first two installments of the series, we examined gun control and the potential impact it would have on school violence. We also looked at President Obama's initiatives and rated each one on effectiveness.
NCWD has success with enterprise model
Newhall County Water District has just closed out 2012, and the year was marked by accomplishments reflecting its enterprise model of operation.
Steve Lunetta: Stopping gun violence at the source
In the first two installments of the series, we examined gun control and the potential impact it would have on school violence. We also looked at President Obama's initiatives and rated each one on effectiveness.
Tina Dupuy: Dear GOP - newflash - Cubans are not Mexican
Due to an act of Congress, Cuban nationals who arrive in the U.S. after 1959 cannot be illegal immigrants. They're automatically refugees. It's amnesty! The federal government has spent billions to assist those who've fled Castro's regime. It was a Cold War policy, signed by President Johnson. If they can get to our shores (many have died in the process), they have an instant pathway to citizenship. They just have to get here. And since ...
David Hegg: Passivity and perseverance
At the end of a long day I can often be found mentally exhausted, lounging on our family room couch with a television remote in my hand. They are wonderful things, these remotes. How did we ever get along without them? Imagine having to actually get up and manually change a channel, or turn up the volume.
Nat Hentoff: Sweet Land of Liberty
Having reported on small but growing numbers of public school students who are eagerly learning to be actively knowledgeable citizens, I must now turn to a much larger, growing problem within public education.
Tim Myers: The two Franks of Santa Clarita
The Myers family moved to California and Santa Clarita during the second week of June 1996 - a mere two months after Frank Ferry, current principal of Alemany High School and Santa Clarita City Council member, failed (narrowly) to dislodge an incumbent to capture a seat on the City Council in the then-relatively young city.
Bob Kellar: Live from City Hall
Providing a wide variety of avenues for residents to communicate with their city has long been a hallmark of Santa Clarita.
Donna McCord Basail: Citizens can stop beach tax
Dante Alighieri once said, "The secret of getting things done is to act!" It is so refreshing to see what can happen when a group of concerned citizens decides to act.
J.J. Ladouceur: An open letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein
I'd like to talk to you about consistency in your policies and some contradictions that I find with them. Particularly, I would like to talk about what your opposition to a controversial section of the National Defense Authorization Act and your subsequent support of a ban on assault weapons have in common.
Cher gilmore: A global warming solution
With 2012's record-breaking heat (it was the hottest year our nation has ever experienced) and a resulting series of disasters - wildfires in the West, drought and dust storms across the Great Plains, record ice loss in the Arctic, and Superstorm Sandy, to name a few - Americans are finally waking up to the reality of global warming.
Articles by Section - Columnists
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."
Cher Gilmore: Celebrating good news on Earth Day
On this 43rd anniversary of the first Earth Day, several recent good news events for the environment are worth celebrating:
David Hegg: Find grace in tolerance and disagreement
During the recent edition of college basketball's championship tournament I took great pleasure in cheering for my team. And, we did pretty well, but lost in the Elite Eight round.
