By Ryan Swan THE SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION last month once again found itself in the news — this time exceeding the attention of California residents and attaining the status of international recognition. On June 7, officials from Southern California Edison, the chief operator of SONGS, announced it would be permanently closed following a […]
A Different Drummer: Mini me
By Steve Gibbs YOU KNOW, I TAKE GOOD CARE of my tenants at my little storage building out in the Nevada desert. I’m a generous and flexible man. I work with tenants down on their luck, tenants with consistency problems, and all the rest. I bought the place in 2004 on the cheap and it’s […]
Bruce Robinson: When K.I.S.S. is the best cure
POLITICIANS LOVE COMPLEXITY. We’ve seen it in the evolution of every government reform bill ever enacted — from education (No Child Left Behind) to health care (ObamaCare). We’re seeing it again with yet another attempt at immigration reform. I guess you could say the first bill passed in 1986 was too simple because it offered […]
Do Benicians want tar-sands oil brought here?
By Roger Straw MANY THANKS TO BENICIA HERALD REPORTER Donna Beth Weilenmann for her detailed report, “Valero rail project: City has no control over oil source” (June 12). It is unfortunate that City Manager Brad Kilger is quoted saying, “The city does not have the authority to control the refinery’s crude sources.” The source of […]
Dennis Lund: The telling of two tales: Benghazi versus Abu Ghraib
“I don’t think anybody lied to anybody. And let’s find out exactly, together, what happened, because we need — we got (sic) a lot more important things to move on to and get done.” — John Kerry, April 17, 2013 IN TESTIMONY BEFORE A CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE, Secretary of State Kerry, while dismissing the importance of […]
Jerome Page: Our choices for shaping the future
BEFORE DELVING INTO MORE OF THE DEBATE ON GLOBAL WARMING, a brief comment on the role of the Republican Party in providing leadership on the issue. During President Obama’s first term — and continuing to the present day — the GOP developed a clear, coherent and well-orchestrated strategy to contest for the leadership role in […]
Rick Ernst: America is sick
THE GREED OF THOSE IN THE food, dairy, pharmaceutical and medical industries — supported by the U.S. government and the medical profession — is costing American lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 130 million Americans suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and high […]
Matt Talbot: Earn this
“EARN THIS. EARN IT.” Those were the last words spoken by Capt. John H. Miller in Steven Spielberg’s landmark 1998 war film, “Saving Private Ryan.” He speaks the words to the titular Private Ryan, but he also speaks them to us, the descendants of the men who went ashore on June 6, 1944. He was […]
Jerome Page: The fog of Benghazi
PERHAPS NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE LAND and of losses in battle or attacks by the enemy has the ratio of words per casualty achieved the levels of the saga of Benghazi. Ten, 20 years from now one can picture an old tea party couple sitting on a park bench, looking into each others’ […]
Matt Talbot: A meditation on hope and community
Station 6: Veronica Helps Jesus Christ speaks: Can you be brave enough, my other self, to wipe my bloody face? Where is my face, you ask? At home whenever eyes fill up with tears, at work when tensions rise, on playgrounds, in the slums, the courts, the hospitals, the jails — wherever suffering exists — […]