Archive By Section - Columnists
Sharon Lajer: Preserving the heart of homeownership
"Home is where the heart is." "A man's home is his castle." "There's no place like home."
Jami Davis: Support the Violence Against Women Act
Unfortunately, with the impending "fiscal cliff" disaster taking front and center on the national media stage, fleeting attention has been paid to the imminent doom of a groundbreaking bipartisan piece of legislation intended to protect victims of intimate partner violence.
Gary Horton: Conservative Congress betrays U.S.
No price is too high to pay to protect our school kids," says Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association. No price of course, except sensible controls limiting unfettered proliferation of semi-automatic weaponry.
Jonathan Kraut: Culture of violence must be changed
I debated whether my Christmas Day message to you should discuss something as terrible as the deaths of the innocent. Today is a day to celebrate our faith, family, the offering and receiving of gifts and of hope for a better tomorrow.
Steve Lunetta: Now we can celebrate Christmas
If you are reading this, the end of the world did not happen last Friday. All the predictions about the end of the world were false and erroneous. All of this happened because of a stone shortage.
Howard ‘Buck’ McKeon: Congrats on city’s 25th
Last week, our hometown celebrated a remarkable milestone, our 25th anniversary. Santa Clarita has grown from a small, unincorporated town into a thriving city and one of the best places to live and do business in California. We have become a place where businesses can grow, families can safely raise their children and all can enjoy an exceptional quality of life.
David Hegg: The measure of success is significance
As the year nears its end, it is valuable to look back across the months and seasons to evaluate just how we have used the time given to us. Since life itself consists of a succession of moments, the most successful lives are those that use as many of those moments to accomplish what is good. But there's the rub. Just what is good? What defines success?
Tim Myers: Shooting sprees are rare but hit hard
"This kind of thing doesn't happen in Newtown." This statement came over and over again from local residents of the site of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut that occurred on Dec. 14, made to the general public much more disturbing because it happened in a "nice" place rather than the hellholes the public associates with violence and crime. I hearken back to a family vacation that we took during the summer of 2000 to ...
Marsha McLean: It’s never worth it to drink and then drive
During the holiday season, it is common to hear reminders about the perils of drinking and driving on the radio, TV or read it in the newspaper. It's a simple message that we all know and it's the message that, if taken to heart, has the power to save lives.
Alice Khosravy: Process still matters to county voters
The latest installment in the local tax debate rages on as the Los Angeles County supervisors attempt to pass the Clean Water, Clean Beaches Measure. The Clean Water, Clean Beaches Measure is described by proponents as "an extensive effort to protect public health, and increase drinking water supplies, by cleaning up our rivers, lakes, bays, beaches and coastal waters. Los Angeles County waterways have been found to be contaminated with toxins, trash and health-threatening pollutants ...
Charlie Vignola: What’s needed to pass gun control laws?
On the morning I learned about the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., I talked about the incident with a colleague of mine at work and actually cried. So did my colleague. We both have children in elementary school, so the very thought that this could easily have happened to our own kids really hit home.
Gary Horton: Reflect on ourselves to solve violence
"The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26 And so ended our Sunday service with the reassurance that God will protect. Pressing toward our sanctuary's exit, an old-timer friend paused to shake my hand. This gentleman has been around a long time and in his long life he's ...
Nat Hentoff: Ron Wyden provides good political example
In my more than 60 years of reporting on Congress, I have always focused on truly independent members who, regardless of party, are faithful to the Constitution. For years, an especially insistent example has been Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Tom Purcell: Making rich French flee
Sheesh! Successful people in France are getting a lot of grief lately. As it goes, socialist French President Francois Hollande has raised the tax rate on those earning more than $1.3 million to 75 percent. Hollande has decided that $1.3 million is enough for the rich to be rich and they only need to keep 25 percent of their earnings beyond that. The rich, however, are telling Hollande to pound salt. According to many reports, ...
Donna Brazile: Right to work for less money and no clout?
In the 1967 movie "Cool Hand Luke," the Captain (Strother Martin) beats Luke (Paul Newman) and delivers one of the most famous lines in film: "What we've got here is failure to communicate."
Articles by Section - Columnists
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.
Kevin Bayona: What happens after Boston?
The bombings in Boston are beyond what I ever thought I would see in an American city.
Jim Mullen: Algebra comes in handy
Pop quiz: How often do you use algebra, trigonometry and calculus as an adult? Most of us would say "never"! The folks who do use advanced math would say that without it, you wouldn't have cellphones and Wi-Fi and TV and weather satellites and GPS and Google and nuclear power and a gazillion other things that make modern life worth living. And for a change, both camps would be right.
Gary Horton: Timeless lessons to be remembered
Last week our Starbucks friend Herman invited Carrie and me to attend a special Holocaust memorial service at Santa Clarita Valley's Congregation Beth Shalom.
Maria Gutzeit: California needs to improve business attitude
My one-word summary of the community lobby day put on by Assemblyman Scott Wilk. R-Santa Clarita, and KHTS radio last month?
Peter Funt: Steal this video
Back in 1971 when the hippie revolution's Pied Piper, Abbie Hoffman, authored "Steal This Book," he got the very outrage he sought. Thirty publishing houses rejected it and, when the book finally came out, more than a dozen newspapers refused to print ads to promote it.
Kevin Buck: It's been a long and winding road
Over the course of a lifetime I have observed, joined, written about and learned much from political battles.
David Hegg: Ethically Speaking
The existence of evil in our world has been the grounds for some of the greatest questions we humans ever ask. Why did tragedy take the life of someone so young? Why did a stray bullet hit an innocent bystander? Why did my father die of Alzheimer's?
Kathryn Lopez: Abortion law ramifications frightening
In the face of the darkness that befell Newton, Conn., there has been an expectation of something more, but it doesn't have to do with legislation. Father Peter Cameron, a Dominican priest, preached to the families gathered at St. Rose of Lima Church there the Sunday after the school massacre about the hope that he saw in them.
Timothy Myers: What I like about the SCV
The die for the Myers clan is finally cast. This past week we made an offer on a home in Irvine, California.
