Archive By Section - Columnists
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 ...
Gary Horton: Woeful waste water fees are water torture
Over at the Santa Clarita Economic Development Corporation last week, things got rightfully hot and bothered over ... storm water run-off.
Richard Hood: Want to be a world changer? Be a man
The greatest need the world has is for you to be a man. This is not an easy thing to learn and must be taught. You must put away childish attitudes and learn to do the right thing. You must choose who will be your teacher, your mentor, your counselor, your friend, your father figure. Let others follow the crowd, sports heroes and music idols. They have nothing to say and nothing to offer. ...
Tom Purcell: It's all Nixon's fault
It's Nixon's fault. I speak of the financial woes of the U.S. Postal Service and the news last week that its hopes to cut Saturday mail delivery to save a few billion dollars a year. As it goes, President Nixon, tired of strikes by then-government postal workers, signed the Postal Reorganization Act into law in 1971. It established the Postal Service as a quasi-private organization required to pay its own bills with revenue it earns ...
Charlie Vignola: You built that, but not alone
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Republicans got a lot of mileage from President Obama's famously - and deliberately - misquoted line, "You didn't build that."
Diana West: Another attempt to silence critics of Islam
I may be the only American who has seen both the "panic room" where Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard fled in 2010 as a Somali Muslim man hacked at the door with an ax, and the apartment house where recently Danish journalist Lars Hedegaard, 70, was almost killed by an "Arab"- or "Pakistani"-looking man posing as a postman.
Steve Lunetta: Severe left turn right about now
"Dumb moderates and Republicans never saw it coming. I fooled 'em. Fooled them all! I even hoodwinked liberals along the way. Lincoln was wrong - you can fool all of the people all of the time!"
David Hegg: Why the rule of law?
Since our founding, the United States of America has been committed to the "rule of law." This term, while familiar, is often not understood. We believe in it, but most of us don't really know what it means.
Cokie and Steven Roberts: The debate over immigration reform
The gathering debate over immigration reform is really about two different groups. One is the 11 million immigrants who are here illegally. The other was described by President Obama as "the folks who try to come here legally but have a hard time doing so."
Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall
The Bureau of Justice reports that graffiti is the most common type of property vandalism and costs the average taxpayer anywhere from $3 to $5 per year to clean up.
Tim Myers: No predictions for 2014 City Council election
Local wonks and the (slim) number of folk who follow Santa Clarita city politics may soon forget the historic 2012 City Council election - which saw a sitting mayor turned out of office for the first time and an incumbent for only the third time, as well as another incumbent assailed by locally powerful politicians, including our own Congressman Buck McKeon, coming first in the election and garnering the third most votes in city history - almost did not happen.
Tammy Messina: The debate on safety in our schools
Between the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and all the subsequent talk about gun control and what the Second Amendment really means, we're seeing more and more school-related "weapons" incidents.
Articles by Section - Columnists
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.
Phil Kerpen: Sick people versus lobbyists
What if you had to choose between making insurance more affordable for Americans with pre-existing conditions or funding lobbyists and political hacks? That's the decision the House will face when it considers H.R. 1549, the Helping Sick Americans Now Act, sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania. It should be an easy choice.
Tim Myers: Setting a bad example
I often utilize the term "geography" partisan. The definition of a geography partisan? An elected official or someone who aspires to elective office who adopts a party label pretty much solely because that party stands dominant in the particular area where the individual lives.
Dick Cesaroni: Congress, listen to the voters, not the NRA
I am a wavering Republican. By that I mean I am at the crossroads of going to the right, left or just canceling my participation all together.
Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall
In Santa Clarita you know you can shop for the latest styles or eat at a terrific restaurant, but did you also know that you can enjoy some of the best hiking in the region on oak-shaded trails with creeks and waterfalls?
What other abuse can be heaped on Castaic?
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority has plans to place a carpool lane on Interstate 5 northbound from Highway 14 to Parker Road in Castaic. In fact, a Metro committee approved the plan - as a toll road - this week.
Right Here Right Now: Ending bad finance deals in education
In a rare display of solidarity, the California Assembly approved AB 182 by a vote of 73-0.
