Once on a visit to Las Vegas years ago I met a friend at his hotel, and I happened to notice that the windows to his guest room were sealed shut. You couldn’t open them […]

Hope springs eternal in the hearts not just of people, but political parties, and the hope of both California Democrats and Republicans today is that voters in the other party will desert, or at least […]

I’m not a big tipper. But I do believe in the tipping system if it can be called that. Tip-based incomes create a larger economy and give the individuals involved a certain amount of scheduling […]

Katharine ‘Kit’ Dreyfuss had to choose between being a teacher or a nurse. She won a fellowship to Vanderbilt Peabody to study to be an English teacher. At the same time she was accepted at […]

Once again it’s “Alice in Wonderland” time in Santa Monica as our City Council has passed an ordinance holding homeowners co-responsible when their hired gardeners illegally use leaf blowers. Is there another city in America […]

Just in case anyone needs new evidence that California politicians worry far more about their own survival than that of the people they allegedly serve, check out the contributions for September to the Yes on […]

Whether the human mind tends to edit out all the dark bad parts or not, there does seem to be tendency for our memory mechanisms to erase the gray and uninteresting passages. Hours spent standing […]

There were tough times last week for non-polluting self-propelled travelers in our town. Santa Monica has honorably made significant efforts to make our streets bicycle-friendly. In the past, these efforts may have had as much […]

Trillions of dollars spent. The announced goals: Military victories, winning hearts and minds of foreign peoples, spreading “American democracy.” The results from 1960 through 2010 are one qualified win and three losses – each of […]