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PUBLISHED 10/30/08 -----
President Bush’s advice to Americans after terrorists attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 was to go shopping. And after the failing economy “attacked” last year, the president and Congress approved a “stimulus plan” predicated on the hope Americans would again “go shopping.”
A lot of this shopping is done with plastic. Buy now and pay later with credit cards.
Over four decades, credit card use has grown from a luxury enjoyed by...
PUBLISHED 10/29/08 ----
Central Valley air-quality officials predict we’ll have three or four times the number of no-burn days this winter as in recent years. That’s a downer, no question.
But it’s a sacrifice worth making, given the valley’s propensity for asthma and other lung and heart ailments. And it’s a necessity, in view of the ever-more-stringent federal guidelines that the air district must keep foremost in mind.
The Bakersfield area had only 12...
PUBLISHED 10/28/08 ------
Ken Mettler takes his campaign signs seriously. Maybe a little too seriously. Crossing a busy intersection and wading through a rival encampment of demonstrators to confiscate a few altered “Yes on 8” yard signs Friday night was just inviting trouble.
Yes, he had good reason to be annoyed that “No on 8” marchers had modified some of those blue- and-yellow “Yes on 8” signs (so that they read “no”) and were waving...
PUBLISHED 10/28/08 -----
Yeah, misinforming voters is a real funny joke. Maybe a local talk show genius should wonder: Why aren’t people laughing? He contends only Democrats and stupid people aren’t laughing. Guess again, buddy.
The radio genius announced on his show last week that because of an expected heavy turnout, Republican voters are being asked to cast their ballots on Nov. 4 and Democrats on Nov. 5. The polls are open ONLY on Nov. 4. Gullible first-time voters...
PUBLISHED 10/26/08 ----
After two years of effort and many costly studies, Kern County supervisors last week approved plans to expand the Big West of California refinery.
The contentious route this expansion has followed is testimony that the system works — maybe not always, but certainly in this case. Public concerns can be heard and elected leaders can make decisions that address safety and environmental threats, while promoting economic development.
Now surrounded by homes,...
PUBLISHED 10/24/08 -----
The McCain campaign continues to raise questions about Barack Obama’s associations with ACORN, the left-leaning voting rights organization plagued by accusations of falsified voter registrations.
To John McCain, ACORN’s problems represent “maybe ... one of the greatest frauds in voter history.”
Which has to be one of the greatest stretches of the campaign.
Yes, the Louisiana-based Association of Community Organizations for...
PUBLISHED 10/23/08 -----
Eighty-five days of stalemate and the best California legislators could produce was a state budget that already is sinking into the red ink of deficit spending.
Enough said. If that hasn’t convinced you Sacramento is BROKEN, nothing will.
And we have only ourselves to blame if we don’t do something about it on Nov. 4.
Proposition 11 isn’t the “big cure” for California’s dysfunctional Legislature. But it is a step in the right...
PUBLISHED 10/22/08 -----
Kern County voters find themselves in an unusually agreeable position when it comes to selecting a new Kern County Superior Court judge. Both candidates for the vacancy are well qualified. Both would likely do an outstanding job. In fact, both deserve judgeships.
But voters get to select only one — Bakersfield attorney Charles “Chip” Brehmer or Kern County Deputy District Attorney Holly Mitchell.
Comparisons are difficult because the two...
PUBLISHED 10/21/08 -----
If these were sound economic times, Propositions 3 and 12 would make perfect sense.
It’s indisputable that California hospitals could use a financial jolt to expand services for both children and adults — a boost Prop. 3 would supply with a $980 million bond.
Without question, veterans need and deserve the opportunity to obtain low-interest loans to buy homes — aid that Prop. 12 would provide through the sale of $900 million in general...
PUBLISHED 10/21/08 ----
The 30th Assembly District race pits retired highway patrolman Danny Gilmore, a Republican, of Hanford against Shafter City Councilwoman Fran Florez, a Democrat and Shafter‘s former mayor.
Why, then, do the combatants still seem to be termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra and her predecessor and arch-nemesis, state Sen. Dean Florez? Largely because Parra has made it so, endorsing Republican Gilmore, who she narrowly defeated in 2006, over fellow Democrat Fran...
PUBLISHED 10/21/08 -----
When it comes to Congress, experience counts for a lot. Kern County is fortunate to have two congressmen who have plenty.
This Nov. 4, Kern County voters should return Republican Kevin McCarthy and Democrat Jim Costa to Washington.
Costa, seeking a third term serving the 20th Congressional District, was a state legislator for 24 years before voters sent him to Congress in 2004.
Costa immediately became chairman of the Natural Resources Committee’s...
PUBLISHED 10/19/08 -----
American troops fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, while America’s relations with its allies falter. The economic suffering in the U.S. spreads.
The challenges facing the next U.S. president are enormous. A strong, steady, experienced leader must steer us through these turbulent times. Republican John McCain is that leader.
Tested, McCain has demonstrated personal and political courage. Voters should elect him our next president.
In 2000, this newspaper...
PUBLISHED 10/17/08 ----
The promise of high-speed rail is an enticing one. Getting from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 21⁄2 hours (and for a mere $55) can only be good for long-distance commuters, statewide air quality, job creation potential and furthering California’s hard-earned leadership role in America.
The Californian has consistently supported continued funding for the long-proposed system of 220-mph trains — and we continue to support it. The idea of moving...
PUBLISHED 10/17/08 ----
By David Richmond ----
As a member of The Californian’s community editorial board who was asked and agreed to recuse myself from the endorsement meeting regarding the Kern High School District Board election, I feel a responsibility to express my strong disagreement with The Californian’s endorsement of Pastor Chad Vegas.
Pastor Vegas has been nothing but divisive, possessed with a singular agenda. He has taken a district which has for years been...
PUBLISHED 10/17/08 -----
by Dianne Hardisty ------
David Richmond is one of five volunteer community advisers to The Californian’s editorial board. These advisers meet once or twice a month with the newspaper’s editorial board, which is headed by The Californian’s publisher, Ginger Moorhouse, and includes Opinion section staff and newspaper executives.
During election cycles, editorial board members meet with candidates and proposition campaign representatives as one of...
PUBLISHED 10/16/08 ----
Proposition 8 has inspired more passion and outrage than any measure on California’s November ballot, and for understandable reasons.
Both proponents and opponents of the proposed same-sex marriage ban draw their arguments not so much from the finer points of responsible public policy as from a deeply felt sense of right and wrong. To many proponents of a constitutional ban, homosexual unions are simply undeserving of the societal or religious recognition...
PUBLISHED 10/15/08 ----
T. Boone Pickens wants to pick your pocket. The Texas billionaire, listed by Forbes as the 131st wealthiest American, is going about it legally with Proposition 10, a scheme with something for almost everyone to dislike.
The so-called Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy Bonds Initiative hinges on voters’ willingness to fund $5 billion in bonds at a time when we can least afford to increase public indebtedness. That factor alone might be enough to...
PUBLISHED 10/14/08 -----
Proposition 5 on the Nov. 4 ballot is a dangerous proposal to change California’s drug laws and reduce the punishment doled out to the criminals they target. Vote NO.
In opposing Prop. 5, California’s Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein stated it best:
“Not only would Prop. 5 reduce accountability, it could allow gang members and other criminals accused of identity theft, domestic violence, child abuse, car theft, killing someone while driving...
PUBLISHED 10/9/08 ----
The ink is still wet on the $103.4 billion state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators signed a couple of weeks ago, but we are now told California’s financial house of cards is collapsing.
Blame the national credit crunch, the slowing economy, the housing meltdown and other factors.
Put it all together “and you have a situation where the budget we just passed will likely not last through January,” Senate President Pro Tem Don...
PUBLISHED 10/12/08 -----
Chad Vegas has become a lightning rod for controversy, much of it of his own making.
Were the “In God We Trust” posters he championed worth all those Kern High School District dollars? Anyone who’s noticed the mandatory posters actually hanging in high school classrooms — they’re really just hard-to-read, widely ignored visual clutter — would resoundingly say no.
Was it central to the educational mission that the district...
PUBLISHED 10/07/08 -----
Richard Jennings should be angry. The rest of us should be scared. What happened to Jennings could happen to any of us.
Jennings lives on Mesa Verde Way. His backyard brick wall runs along Stockdale Highway, west of El Rio Drive in southwest Bakersfield.
When Jennings returned home from vacation, he found that a limb from his tree had fallen on the wall, knocking out about eight bricks.
Jennings was told the wall belonged to the city, and that he could not...
PUBLISHED 10/3/08 ----
Mind if we kidnap your big-screen TV while you’re at work today? We’ll bring it back right after the football season. Promise. Oh, and can you manage without your spiffy little classic Porsche this weekend? A few days at the coast and we’ll have it back in your driveway without a scratch. Really. Assuming all goes well.
You may be under the impression that these confiscations of your property are theft. Sorry, you’ll have to prove we do not...
PUBLISHED 10/02/08 ------
Seldom have we seen a ballot measure unite so many often-warring interests — utility companies, environmental groups, government energy regulators, alternative energy producers and both political parties.
The problem: Proposition 7 has united these groups in opposition.
Prop. 7 is so poorly written and the potential consequences so dire that groups that would normally support an alternative energy initiation are screaming: NO!
California voters should...
PUBLISHED 10/01 -----
Now that the state’s budgetary smoke has begun to clear, expect the long-discussed conversion of Highway 99 from a state route to a federal interstate to come back to the table.
California Department of Transportation officials believe they can get a waiver on many of the requirements that would normally have been associated with transforming the San Joaquin Valley’s main artery into an interstate highway.
Back in 2005, Caltrans officials said the...
PUBLISHED 9/30/08 -----
House Republicans gave voice to millions of angry, frustrated Americans when they voted Monday to reject the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.
But in doing so, bailout opponents did nothing to stem the tide of economic peril facing this nation. In fact, they’ve waded deeper — taking us all with them in the process.
“The Dow just dropped by 600 points!” Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., shouted on the floor of the House as the outcome...
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