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Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Immigration Change Vital For GOP, But Not Enough
Posted Apr. 27, 2013, 8:56 am
Last fall’s overwhelming, more than 3-1 Latino vote for President Obama has at last gotten leading Republican politicians to realize they can’t permanently treat all 11 million undocumented immigrants like criminals.
Opinion, California, Santa Monica, Courts, Government
Court's Hit At Governor Jerry Brown Actually Helps Him
Posted Apr. 27, 2013, 8:47 am
Normally, it's uncomfortable at best to hear a federal judge -- let alone a panel of three such jurists -- thunder criticism atone from the bench.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Governor Jerry Brown Now Looking At A 2014 Cakewalk
Posted Apr. 20, 2013, 10:16 am
Like flowers blooming in the spring, Republican candidates for governor have begun to pop up during the last few weeks.
News, Santa Monica, Government
Ousted Assemblywoman Betsy Butler To Run For 62nd Assembly District Seat
Posted Apr. 14, 2013, 9:30 am
Former Democratic Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, who lost in a close race to Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom for the 50th Assembly District last year, will seek the 62nd Assembly District seat of termed out Assemblyman Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, in 2014, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Will Farm Labor Shortage Drive Immigration Changes?
Posted Apr. 13, 2013, 8:19 am
There has been some dispute over whether the labor shortages California farmers reported over the last few years are real. It turns out they are very real, but that doesn’t quiet the skeptics.
Opinion, California, Santa Monica, Government
Beware Of Easy California Municipal Bankruptcies
Posted Apr. 13, 2013, 7:58 am
No one is seriously suggesting that California will soon become another Cyprus, the Greek-speaking Mediterranean island nation whose economic bailout plan includes dunning holders of “large” bank accounts as much as half their holdings and freezing the rest.
News, Santa Monica, Government
"Peace Mom" To Stop In Santa Monica Sunday As Part Of Ride Across America
Posted Apr. 6, 2013, 9:27 am
“Peace mom” Cindy Sheehan will make a stop in Santa Monica Sunday as part of her bike ride from California to Washington, D.C.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Government
GOP Revival Will Take Big Orange County Change
Posted Apr. 6, 2013, 9:05 am
For more than half a century, the Election Night fate of California Republican candidates could be foretold early in the vote count: If a Republican emerged from Orange County with a lead of 250,000 or more votes, he or she would almost always win statewide office.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Enjoy Your Local Post Office… NOW!
Posted Apr. 6, 2013, 9:02 am
I think Americans are unfairly and even wrongly apathetic about whether or not the U.S. Postal Service survives into the 21st century. Waiting in line at any of the three Santa Monica branches I frequent (5th and Arizona, 1217 Wilshire, 2720 Neilson Way) one is tempted to point at trends and conclude that the day of the mailed letter, the brown paper-wrapped box from Grandma for your birthday, the card with $5 in it for your high school graduation… all of that is vanishing Americana.
Environment, Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Fracking: Potential Miracle And Big Challenge
Posted Apr. 6, 2013, 8:58 am
Starting with the day in January 1848 when gold flakes and nuggets first turned up at Sutter’s Mill northeast of Sacramento, California has seen plenty of economic miracles, each focused in a different part of the state.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Will State GOP Follow National Party's Immigration Shift?
Posted Mar. 30, 2013, 6:00 am
The dramatically tectonic nature of the national Republican Party’s shift on immigration policy wasn’t really clear until Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, long a favorite of the ultra-conservative Tea Party, in late March suddenly came out for a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants – even though he doesn’t want it called anything like that.
California, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
California Money Switches Rouse Voter Suspicion
Posted Mar. 30, 2013, 6:00 am
One reason Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax increases passed so handily last fall was that many voters became convinced that if they didn’t say yes to the new levies, the sky would fall.
Opinion, Columnist, Government
Bruce Davis Shows Why Some Prisoners Should Never Be Freed
Posted Mar. 16, 2013, 6:00 am
California’s Parole Board goes by the book, even when it comes to the most heinous murderers. It pretty much has to, or its decisions will be overturned by the courts, which must rule on the letter of the law.
Opinion, Columnist, Government
Utility Regulators Creating A Banana Republic?
Posted Mar. 16, 2013, 6:00 am
Banana republics got their appellation during the 1920s, when dictators ruling countries like Honduras and Guatemala made decisions on the say-so of banana growing companies, strictly for the profit of those companies – and usually at the expense of the local citizenry.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Air Board May Have It Right On Cap And Trade
Posted Mar. 9, 2013, 9:28 am
From the moment AB 32 and its mandate for greenhouse gas reductions passed in 2006, conservative opponents and climate change deniers have vilifie...
Health, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
The Ins & Outs Of Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage
Posted Mar. 3, 2013, 9:09 am
Since 2006, everyone with Medicare has had access to outpatient prescription drug coverage. As there are a lot of options and choices to be made, the path to that coverage can be complicated. In an effort to lessen some of those complications, here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about Medicare prescription drug coverage.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Immigration Amnesty A Sure Thing? Don't Bet The House
Posted Mar. 2, 2013, 8:42 am
Major politicians both nationally and in California are talking as if changes in America’s immigration system are now inevitable, including a guest worker program and “amnesty,” the code name for allowing some kind of pathway for illegal immigrants eventually to become U.S. citizens.
Opinion, California, Santa Monica, Government
Governor Jerry Brown Unlikely To Get All He Wants For English Learners
Posted Mar. 2, 2013, 8:39 am
Gov. Jerry Brown has never described it quite this way, but the essence of what he wants to do with many of the new tax dollars from last fall’s Proposition 30 is finish the job begun in 1971 by the Serrano v. Priest decision of the California Supreme Court.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Time To Get Serious About Texas War On California
Posted Feb. 23, 2013, 9:40 am
It’s easy to see the four-day job-poaching foray into California just completed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry as an isolated incident. But this was really just the latest skirmish in an economic war the Lone Star state has waged against California for more than a decade.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Hometown Hero: The California List And Bettina Duval
Posted Feb. 23, 2013, 9:10 am
Bettina Duval started The CALIFORNIA LIST (californialist.org) in April 2002. Her mission: to create opportunities for women to run for public office and the election of pro-choice, democratic women to the California State Senate, Assembly, and Executive Branch.
Environment, Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Fracking Gives New Meaning To California's Rejecting LNG
Posted Feb. 23, 2013, 9:07 am
California could have three or more facilities receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG) today, but for massive popular resistance to the prices and possible dangers they might have brought. If those plants had been built, the phenomenon of fracking would mean something very different than it now does.
Environment, Opinion, Columnist, Government
California Environmental Quality Act Battle Lines: Needless Delays Vs. 'Do No Harm'
Posted Feb. 16, 2013, 8:56 am
The battle lines over what may become this year’s most contentious, intractable legislative battle began to form within a day or two of when Gov. Jerry Brown uttered two key sentences in his mid-January state of the state speech:
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
The Gun In My Life: Mirror Columnist Steve Stajich
Posted Feb. 16, 2013, 8:51 am
The photo you see is a picture of the gun in my life right now. It’s not a real gun; it’s a prop for my current theater piece “AUTO PARTS.” It’s used at a moment when a jilted wife seeks her revenge on her husband. It’s actually a pellet pistol, used to shoot plastic pellets. They are available at most sporting goods stores and this one cost me $18 bucks.
Opinion, Santa Monica, Columnist, Government
Likely New GOP Chief: 'I'll Leave Issues To Others'
Posted Feb. 2, 2013, 6:00 am
Almost every California Republican today realizes the party faces a serious dilemma upon whose resolution hinges the very life of the GOP in America’s largest state.
News, Santa Monica, Government
State Senator Ted Lieu Now Represents Santa Monica Residents
Posted Feb. 1, 2013, 8:16 am
A unique set of circumstances has altered the political representation of Santa Monica’s electorate as a State Senator that residents did not vote for is now representing the City.
