Letters To The Editor

As a longtime activist in Santa Maria, I will be voting for Alice Patino for 5th District supervisor. She is the most sensible and the most responsible candidate for the 5th District. Alice’s character is above reproach. Her connection to the local community cannot be matched! Her countless hours of involvement on committees and commissions […]

A cartoon on the opinion page of a recent edition of The Tribune said it all about the state of the news media these days: Against a backdrop of wars, fires, violence, meteor attacks, and all sorts of other disasters, the newscaster says, “But first the latest on Tiger.” The media focus so much attention […]

Thank you to Lois Capps, the SLO County Board of Supervisors, California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, Sierra Club, City of Morro Bay, Mothers for Peace, and Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility: Thank you all for speaking out for the citizens of SLO County. The sensible, reasonable, and necessary seismic studies regarding earthquake faults that […]

 It’s really starting to bug me how often I seem to hear the wealthy and successful demonized for being … well, wealthy and successful.  These comments astonish me because I think most of us aspire to such things.  Successful (wealthy) businesspeople and those who aspire to be successful (wealthy) businesspeople represent the engine of our […]

 If increased taxes concern your readers, Etta Waterfield is the candidate for the 33rd Assembly District seat most skilled to fight for constituents in Sacramento. Her election would contribute fresh, non-political ideas and common sense at the capitol.  Her experience and knowledge as a former director of economic development and as a Santa Maria planning […]

Elections season is in full swing, and along with countless signs around town the commercials are now rolling in. A radio spot promoting Joyce Dudley for Santa Barbara County District Attorney made me chuckle and gave me insight into the best candidate for the job. The ad cites Ms. Dudley’s experience and the number of […]

No-tax groups are not against taxes, only those for services they don’t like: those that help others than themselves. I don’t like my taxes going for our troops being killed and maimed in useless, unwinnable wars. I don’t like supporting churches with my taxes. I don’t like supporting large airports I will never use, and […]

Several thousand years ago, the Greeks decided to institute an idea of one of their popular philosophers, Democritus. They finally concluded that even though the idea of government run by the people was a wonderful idea, the major weakness was that the people rapidly ran the government into bankruptcy by voting in every luxury they […]

The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst man-caused disaster—ever. We never learn. The oil mess off Santa Barbara in 1969 woke us up locally—but not the rest of civilization. I had hoped we could control our technology, but apparently we can’t. Why do we call ourselves Homo sapiens—meaning “man wise”—when […]

Asking the question “why” can reveal truths and provide solutions. Wanting to go beyond assumptions and dubious assertions, I seemed to remember that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had something to do with the current illegal immigration problem. According to info on the web, here are a few interesting facts: In 1994, the […]

All this fuss about Sarah Palin’s speaking fees and demands raises an existential question: What is the point of CSU Stanislaus?