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PUBLISHED 2-1-2007
Federal Medicare officials must cease their callous attitude about flaws in the Medicare prescription drug program that have resulted in Californians being denied the drug benefits they are entitled.
And state officials should extend an expired emergency program to cover the cost of such drugs when seniors are denied their drugs.
Under the Medicare prescription drug plan, seniors who enroll are reimbursed for their prescription drugs. They are required...
PUBLISHED 2-1-2007
It’s unsafe for foster children to fend for themselves with no guidance, financial stability or education after they turn 18.
Legislation needs to be passed to help these young adults get on their feet and off the streets after they are too old for foster care.
Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, are introducing legislation for a transitional stipend for foster children.
The total cost to the state will be $123...
PUBLISHED 1-31-07
The cameras were rolling last week as Gov. Schwarzenegger and members of his cabinet met at the Dinuba Vocational Center to discuss the disastrous freeze.
Shafter Sen. Dean Florez took notice. He also used the governor’s visit to wrestle a verbal promise that the state would use its more than $2 billion in reserves to help stock food banks in affected areas.
Florez suggested sending $15 million from state’s emergency reserves to hard-pressed counties,...
PUBLISHED 1-31-07
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush made a difficult, but correct decision to keep the Vincent Brothers trial in Kern County.
Brothers is accused of the 2003 murder of his wife, mother-in-law, and three children, ages 4 years, 2 years and 6 weeks.
There is always tension in high-profile criminal cases between a community’s interest and need to scrutinize a trial, and the need for the defendant to have a fair-minded jury.
Sometimes in major cases...
PUBLISHED 1-30-2007
Oh no, they’re at it again. As the Legislature has done at least three times before (1996, 2000, 2004) it is again considering changing California’s primary election date.
The idea has never worked. What is it about no that these politicians don’t understand. In short: Stop it!
The reasoning has been that with a June primary, most presidential nominating delegates have been chosen by other states before Californians have a chance to...
PUBLISHED 1-30-2007
It should not have required a federal appeals court ruling to tell the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it has to better analyze the environmental effects of a terrorist attack at PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo.
Common sense, as well as the law, should have been all that was required.
The ruling came on an appeal from a lower court case brought by Mothers for Peace. The San Luis Obispo watchdog group has been an...
PUBLISHED 1-29-2007
Procrastination is effortless. While it may seem fun, or more interesting than finishing projects, a recent study reveals it can make people poorer, fatter and unhappier.
We should all try to reduce procrastination and distractions.
University of Calgary professor Piers Steel studied procrastination over 10 years — it was supposed to have lasted only five.
With computers, e-mail, Internet, video games and TV all around, people tend to procrastinate —...
PUBLISHED 1-29-2007
Child abuse and spanking are not the same thing. Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, doesn’t seem to realize that.
Lieber introduced a bill that would ban spanking children 3 years or younger.
Parents have the right to appropriately discipline their children.
A light swat will not hurt a toddler; rather it might catch their attention and let them know they are doing wrong. Some children need more than just a stern tone to understand they are doing...
PUBLISHED 1-29-2007
Same-sex couples marrying and raising children are a “hot button” issues with conservatives. But when Vice President Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter became pregnant, conservatives’ criticism of their political ally has been tepid.
And that brings us to Cheney’s interview last week with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, who asked the vice president to respond to a statement from Focus on the Family: “Mary Cheney's pregnancy raises the...
PUBLISHED 1-28-2007
The Bakersfield Planning Commission must not approve reduction of the protective zone around the city’s municipal airport on Union Avenue, between Watts Drive and White Lane.
Consultant Jim Marino has proposed shortening the zone on the south end of the airport from 10,000 feet to 7,000 feet to allow a developer to build 180 homes on 40 acres south of the airport’s single runway.
Such no-build or low-intensity- use zones are commonplace around...
PUBLISHED 1-26-2007
It may seem early to start thinking about the 2016 Summer Olympics, but it will soon be known if Los Angeles is still in the race to host the events.
Having the Olympics in Los Angeles will generate opportunities for Bakersfield and Kern County. We are right on the other side of the Grapevine — a short drive and the action is right in front of our noses.
Events in the county are also a possibility if the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games...
PUBLISHED 1-25-2007
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should go back to law school.
He recently said, even more explicitly than he has before, that federal judges are unqualified to make rulings on national security matters and should defer to the president on them.
What about separation of powers and the independent judiciary to provide checks and balances that the founding fathers and the framers of the Constitution sought so ardently because they knew first hand of the potential...
PUBLISHED 1-25-2007
It’s a student’s worst nightmare: No financial aid; their school has closed; they are stuck with non-transferable units and credits.
That’s the situation with some for-profit colleges in California.
The Bureau of Private Post-secondary and Vocational Education — part of the California Department of Consumer Affairs — is supposed to oversee the operation of for-profit colleges in order to protect students from fraud and employers...
PUBLISHED 1-24-2007
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Bush hoped to salvage his domestic agenda and create a legacy beyond the Iraq War.
The din of the presidential election will drown out other initiatives in 2008. If the president is to make headway on energy development, education, health care and immigration, it will be this year. And he will need the help of Democrats.
In his State of the Union address, the president laid out plans to develop domestic...
PUBLISHED 1-24-2007
Bakersfield’s Congressman Kevin McCarthy and his Republican colleagues complain about the ham-fisted behavior of the congressional Democrat majority.
Democrats are just dishing out to Republicans what they endured when the Republicans controlled Congress over the past 12 years.
Both parties, get a clue: Voters fired Republicans and barely hired Democrats in November. It’s time for those we send to Washington to focus more on the people’s business...
PUBLISHED 1-23-2007
Not again! From the first moment more than a year ago that the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers made Isabella Dam its No. 1 safety concern nationwide, the ability to begin repairs was hobbled by funding snags.
It’s happening again. There is no reason other than politics that this should be allowed — not with the potential of 300,000 downstream residents at risk from such potential disasters as earthquakes.
Funding hold-ups should not be inevitable, not...
PUBLISHED 1-23-2007
An obscure regional agency wields increasing power over how Kern County’s cities grow and how the authorities of many government agencies and special districts overlap. Its commissioners make decisions that affect all of our lives — today and tomorrow.
But it’s name — the Local Agency Formation Commission — likely would bring blank stares or yawns from most people if asked about it.
In recent years, the state Legislature vested new...
PUBLISHED 1-22-2007
Think like a student — a poor college student: You thought your mac and cheese days would be over after graduation. Instead, you are saddled with a lifetime of debt.
The House took a step last week to cut student loan interest rates of 6.8 percent in half. The legislation will benefit only students who take out new loans after July 2007 — and only five years thereafter.
Although students deserve the proposed interest rate savings — which will...
PUBLISHED 1-22-2007
Mike Buday discovered in California a man simply can’t change his name when he marries, but a woman can.
When the El Segundo man applied for a license to marry Diana Bijon, he learned he would have to file a petition, pay a $320 fee, pay to place public notices in newspapers and appear before a judge to change his name to Mike Bijon. The couple wish to continue Bijon’s family name. A woman only needs to fill in a space on a marriage license.
Mike...
PUBLISHED 1-22-2007
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug aimed at treating the 5 percent of U.S. dogs that are obese, and the other 20 to 30 percent that are overweight.
But Slentrol from Pfizer Inc. should not be the answer to overweight dogs.
Instead, dog owners should stop treating their dogs to scraps and excessive amounts of food and treats. More playing and walking time should be invested into dogs.
A dog’s weight sometimes reflects the...
PUBLISHED 1-21-07
The water community must unify behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s critical water development proposals. This will require Kern County water interests to join the team.
In his state of the state speech, the governor proposed spending $4 billion to build two new dams, and an additional $2 billion for environmental mitigation measures.
They are a small, but essential part of Schwarzenegger’s visionary renewal of the state’s crumbling and chronically...
PUBLISHED 1-19-2007
It’s important to watch what you wish for. Bakersfield City Council members Zack Scrivner, Ken Weir and Harold Hanson will realize that.
The television camera still was rolling after the City Council’s Wednesday meeting adjourned. A smiling Scrivner walked over to the recently elected Ward 3 Councilman Ken Weir and robustly shook his hand.
The joy was obvious. Weir was elected in November to the City Council to replace Mike Maggard, who earlier was...
PUBLISHED 1-19-2007
Here’s an idea that shouldn’t be kept waiting. Ward 2 Councilwoman Sue Benham has asked the city manager’s office to post the e-mail addresses of City Council members on the Bakersfield City Web site (www.bakersfieldcity.us)
Benham observed that some Bakersfield residents might want to communicate directly with their City Council representatives, rather than send letters and e-mail messages through the city clerk’s office. Unlike most other...
PUBLISHED 1-18-2007
Wanted: A top-notch administrator to manage a large Kern County agency that two recent independent investigations have determined to be in crisis.
That’s going to be a tough sell. But Kern County supervisors this week agreed to hire an executive head-hunting firm to recruit people to apply for the post of director of their beleaguered Human Services Department.
With most of its funds coming from federal and state sources, the complex and critically important...
PUBLISHED 1-18-2007
Desperation leads to many things. Pathetically for some school districts, it has led to giving students materialistic incentives just to show up.
Motivation and punishment have not worked to keep students in school. So what’s left?
Incentives.
But it shouldn’t be the incentives now being tried by some of the nation’s school districts, including one in Northern California. They include giveaways of cars, iPods, and movie and restaurant...
PUBLISHED 1-17-07
Congressional Democrats must push harder to enact a strong bill allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers for discounts on prescription drugs.
A bill requiring these negotiations recently passed the House 255 to 170. The only opponents were Republicans, although 24 GOP caucus members crossed party lines and supported the bill.
Prospects for the bill in its present form are less certain in the Senate, where Democrats are inclined to...
PUBLISHED 1-17-2007
When additional safety measures are available for students, they should be taken.
Lap and shoulder restraints are now required in school buses in California. But this requirement is only for buses manufactured and sold after July 1, 2005.
Most Kern County school districts purchased their buses shortly before July 2005 and won’t need replacement vehicles for several years — up to 25 years if they are in good condition.
These districts must begin...
PUBLISHED 1-16-2007
State lawmakers are finally realizing that the “traditional” high school system does not work for all students.
Gov. Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal includes $52 million to improve the quality of vocational courses, and increase teacher recruitment and training.
Although it may not be enough to make a complete turnaround in the number of students who graduate, it will help direct students in the right career direction.
Not all students are...
PUBLISHED 1-16-2007
All United States residents soon will have to carry a federally approved identification card or driver’s license.
States have until May 11, 2008 to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005. But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has yet to publish federal regulations for the electronic security features for the cards.
Compliance dates should be pushed back to allow a smoother and a less costly transition.
The selling point for the new IDs is they will...
PUBLISHED 1-15-2007
Everyone’s civil rights can be traced to what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for: Equality. His legacy is tied to black people’s civil rights, particularly those in the Southern states. It’s that community that faced the ugliest and most brutal discrimination in times when people were supposed to be equal.
But King’s peaceful, preaching ways have not only helped blacks, they have helped all people in shaping what our communities are ...
PUBLISHED 1-14-2007
Political polls are fleeting. They test American opinion at a moment in time, usually during a controversy or crisis.
President Bush’s job approval rating was measured last week at 32 percent — a new low in the AP-Ipsos polling. The biggest factor in bringing down the president’s popularity is Americans’ disapproval of the administration’s handling of the war in Iraq. The same poll revealed only 26 percent of Americans favor sending more...
PUBLISHED 1-12-2007
California’s bigger-than-life, action-packed governor thinks big. And that’s what he is doing in his agenda for 2007, which he laid out in his State of the State address. He is calling for another $43 billion in borrowing to pay for prisons, classrooms and dams.
The borrowing is on top of the more than $40 billion Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislators convinced voters to approve on the November ballot.
Mighty big thinking to tackle what the governor...
PUBLISHED 1-11-2007
The vow to “stay the course” is now “change the course” — slightly. In an address to the nation Wednesday night, President Bush unveiled his plan to “surge” troop strength in Iraq and step up economic aid to the wartorn nation.
The president is not asking for our permission. He is not asking for permission from Congress, although lawmakers should flex their power over the administration’s spending to impact the new...
PUBLISHED 1-11-2007
Advanced Placement classes are falling short of College Board requirements. For the first time, and rightfully so, AP courses will be audited to determine if the label is being too loosely used to describe courses.
Suspicions about “fake AP” courses have college officials worried. Students may not be ready to enter more advanced classes in universities.
Students are easily passing courses that have “AP” designations in high school without...
PUBLISHED 1-10-07
Donny Youngblood, Kern County’s new sheriff, was sworn in Monday with a great show. Now it’s showtime.
After perhaps the shortest honeymoon a local politician has enjoyed, Youngblood finds himself and his department under the gun.
Kern County supervisors are pressing the county’s new sheriff to devote more deputies to combating gangs and cranking up enforcement of crime-fighting ordinances, such as the “cool parents” ordinance, the...
PUBLISHED 1-10-07
Lawmakers can easily break taxpayers’ trust, depending on how they choose to spend billions of dollars in bonds approved on the November ballot.
The $40 billion bond package approved by voters is to be spent on programs that don’t yet exist.
The money has no spending guidelines, eligibility criteria or any other spending controls.
A watchdog commission has been proposed by State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang to let the public know...
PUBLISHED 1-9-2007
It is not enough for Congress to say no to a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. It is incumbent on it to approve it or designate a new site — quickly. It’s the law. It’s also a necessity.
Ever since Yucca Mountain’s designation as the nation’s high-level nuclear waste repository in 1982, its development — let alone use — has been stymied by environmentalists, some scientists, Nevada residents and their elected...
PUBLISHED 1-9-2007
Performance enhancers have tainted baseball. It’s about time things get cleared up.
The integrity of America’s pastime is at stake. Players are cheating to beat records and that’s not how a sports “hero” should break them.
After years of steroid controversy, the question now: Should players be stripped of their constitutional rights and privacy to reveal those who tested positive for steroids?
The courts say “yes,” while...
PUBLISHED 1-7-2007
The Friday before Christmas, six teenagers were stabbed — some receiving serious injuries — when a fight broke out at a party at a home in a fashionable northeast Bakersfield neighborhood.
In the aftermath of the melee, residents have stepped forward to complain about the frequent rowdy parties that have rocked their previously quiet neighborhood.
Since May, when the current residents of the La Cresta Drive home moved in, Kern County...
PUBLISHED 1-5-2007
Shafter must use its time and energy to get its own water and development acts together, rather than play spoiler to other jurisdictions’ development plans.
Shafter’s attempt to hold Castle & Cooke’s West Ming project hostage to an unrelated water rights dispute with the city of Bakersfield is all wet.
Last month, Bakersfield planning commissioners were forced to delay their consideration of Castle & Cooke’s West Ming project after...
PUBLISHED 1-4-2007
It is time to kick-start a new effort to find an off-highway vehicle park location in or very near Kern County.
Simple fairness, pent-up recreational need and the tireless efforts of local off-roaders demand heartfelt attempts by state and local officials to make the proposal a reality.
A years-long effort to establish such a park died an 11th-hour death when the state’s Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division stopped development last month.
Dick...
PUBLISHED 1-4-2007
President Bush’s proposal to end the National Children’s Study is a pennywise-but-pound-foolish decision.
The two-decades-long program would study the health of 100,000 U.S.-born children from birth to age 21.
Over 20 years, it would cost $2.7 billion, but the forthcoming first-year funding would be only $69 million.
In the planning for seven years, the study would track children’s physical health, as well as the influence of...
PUBLISHED 1-3-2007
Kern County is an ideal place for two test programs to extend family law services and to provide interpreters for low-income people who do not have adequate legal representation.
California Chief Justice Ronald George says he will ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fund pilot projects to test the ideas in three as yet unnamed counties, one small, medium and large.
One program would pay for attorneys for low-income litigants in family law situations —...
PUBLISHED 1-3-2007
Warnings about online sex offenders should not be taken lightly. The lesson comes close to home with the apprehension of a sex offender who recently was caught in Taft violating his parole and using MySpace.
That incident should remind parents to take the extra step to put controls on their children’s use of the Internet.
Ask what children are doing online and with whom.
The registered sex offender was wearing a GPS tracking device, a device...
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