A blog about Kern County, Politics, and Religion & Faith.
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We must learn to live within our means Absence of newspapers hurts communities Once again: Harvey Milk Day is a bad idea Student's freedom quashed in college classroom Flood of hope Hold on to at least some library services Tech ed a big win for students KHSD belt-tightening riles up parents One crazy week for this conservative Why not enforce the smoking laws we already have? June 06 July 06 August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09 January 10 February 10 June 06 May 06 April 06 March 06 February 06 January 06 December 05 November 05 October 05 September 05 August 05 July 05 Blog RollAsk The Californian Editorials Entertainment Eye of Bakersfield Faith Forum Fired Up! Inside Sports Neighbors Right Thinking Sound Off Talk of the Town 
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It seems to me the best way to survive the current economic crisis is to heed the advice of those who survived the last one. The big one.
It's a concept many of our state and federal leaders, including our new president, apparently fail to grasp, given their predilection for higher taxes and $800 billion spending sprees.
Some who struggled through the Great Depression wonder why policymakers dismiss common sense policies like less government and lower tax rates — policies that give...
When you’re 70-something and your day starts before dawn and the world is hushed and the coffee’s hot and you walk out your front door and — rats! — there’s not a newspaper in sight — well, your morning is pretty much shot.
That’s what the nice lady said a few years ago, when her call found its way to my newsroom phone, instead of circulation. We talked for 10 minutes about late...
Didn’t we just do this?
Wasn’t it a mere six months ago that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation designating Harvey Milk’s birthday a day of “special significance in California’s public schools?
Indeed it was, yet the bill has risen once more, buoyed by a gold statuette and a lawmaker determined to harangue California voters into submission.
The last bill — AB 2567 — was to have established May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in honor of...
Think freedom of speech is alive and well on California's college campuses
I’m starting to wonder.
It was in fine form back in 1992, when, as a returning student, I took a speech class at Bakersfield College.
It was obvious my political and social views differed from those of my professor’s, but that difference never interfered with my freedom to speak or her ability to fairly grade my efforts.
Jonathan Lopez, a student at Los Angeles...
A couple years ago, a Bakersfield church gave a few of its members a bit of seed money with instructions to “get out there.”
Now, every Saturday night downtown, the hungry are fed, the friendless are befriended and lives are transformed.
Anybody wondering how we will communally survive one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history should consider the works of Flood Ministries of Bakersfield, an all-volunteer, faith-based nonprofit group, whose simple purpose...
A bit of friendly advice: Don’t mess with librarians.
They have words and they know how to use them.
I was reminded of that this week after I unintentionally conveyed in a recent column that library services on our high school campuses are superfluous.
I didn’t actually say that, but my suggestion of a temporary suspension of library services as part of district budget cuts prompted a flood of choice words from local librarians. Words...
At last.
Tech Ed is back.
It’s been a long time coming, but career technical education will soon return to many Kern County high schools as a graduation requirement thanks to some progressive thinkers on the Kern High School District board of trustees.
Trustees voted this week to proceed with their Career Technical Education Pathways plan. As a result, those kids thinking of dropping out — those who lack the interest or ability or family support to finish high school...
Budget woes are nothing new for our schools, but impending budget cuts really have parents talking.
“Did you hear?” one anxious mom asked me this week. “Stockdale High School cut their band.”
Shocking if it were true, which it absolutely is not, says Stockdale band director John Biller, who started Stockdale’s music program when the school opened 18 years ago.
“Wow, I hadn’t heard that one,” Biller said on Thursday. “There’s a lot...
What a week.
What an exhilarating, surprising, maddening week.
Our new president was ushered into office in a celebration so moving and so historic that Americans of all races wept as Barack Hussein Obama promised to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
It was a day to set aside partisan differences and most of us did.
But the honeymoon will soon be over and the man elected to lead — not by virtue of a proven record, but by a vague promise of change — has...
Yet another report came out this week, confirming that Kern County is a miserable place to live.
Just last week, Bakersfield made Forbes.com’s list of America’s 10 most boring cities. This week we have the news that we were fourth in the nation in property foreclosures in 2008, and, on Thursday, the American Lung Association of California gave Kern County a big fat “F” for its failure to protect its people from second-hand smoke.
Honestly, how do we live...
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