Commentaries

On June 15, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West procreated, and on June 26 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and repealed California’s Proposition 8, making me, a card-carrying gay, an almost fully fledged citizen of the United States of America. My mother claims I’m not actually a […]

Smoking banned at Starbucks and 4 Other Surprising Places” was the headline on a popular website.     Perhaps most surprising was the ban enacted by a city in Southern California that prohibits smoking on outdoor patios or balconies, unless “those patios were enclosed and could be completely shut off from the outdoors.” Some bans […]

Sunday morning, my spouse and I were driving down a residential street in SLO when we spotted a run-over, dead squirrel and two concerned female spectators standing nearby. As we slowly passed the squirrel, we noticed something that would radically change our day. The squirrel wasn’t dead. He was broken up, writhing in shock and […]

A slab of concrete near my house in San Luis Obispo contains the following nugget of Stengelese wisdom: The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. This message echoes in politics, a realm where something starts about one thing and often ends about something else. The emphasis usually shifts in ways harmful […]

1. The United States must secure our borders from illegal immigration before we can reform our naturalization system. The United States must negotiate a strict treaty with Mexico to control their border with the United States. Mexico’s refusal or lack of interest in controlling their border with the United States deliberately violates our sovereignty and […]

Regarding the 2013-2014 county budget and the agricultural commissioner/U.C. Cooperative Extension: The Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau represents more than 600 diversified agriculturalists in Santa Barbara County. Agriculture provides a strong economic base of the county, with a local impact of more than $2.5 billion. It has come to the attention of the Santa Barbara […]

And so another study tells us that the younger-than-30 demo is turned off, tuned out, and unlikely to be engaged by politics, unlikely to click on CSPAN and see little more than a failing reality show, unlikely any time soon to invest any more hope in hope. All the usual headlines got trotted out. The […]

Do you have a pet; a beloved creature that is both friend and family? Many of us have had them, and if you haven’t ever had a pet, it is most unfortunate for your childhood. I suggest you get one or seriously consider it if you can. If you had a pet in the past, […]

Get your sexy on!” Malinda, my Zumba instructor, calls out to her students during a particularly provocative hip movement. Are my hips even capable of such a gyrating, spiraling motion? I’ll give it a try, though I may be headed toward my first hip replacement with that last rotation. Here I am, edging my way […]

While I was studying medieval history at the University of Oxford, I met the girl of my dreams. Although we met as students in England, she was from the Netherlands and I was from California. Over two years in Europe and the two summers in the United States we spent together as a couple, I […]