How do you create a lasting peace when you do not include in negotiations the people who need to be involved to make it work (Ukraine and Gaza)? How does someone who considers himself a shrewd negotiator sacrifice his trump cards (NATO, Donbas) before negotiations even begin? How do you believe and trust people who […]
Letters To The Editor
Posted inOpinion
Don’t Palestinians have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
No matter who is in our White House, Israel rules our country. Three hundred and twenty-nine members of our House of Representatives are supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) political action committee. In the last congressional elections, AIPAC spent millions of dollars to defeat candidates who would not do their bidding. A […]
Posted inOpinion
County supervisors deserve the pay raise
I can already hear the howls of outrage about the proposed pay hike for our Board of Supervisors. What I don’t hear is an understanding of how hard they work, and how grossly underpaid they have been for far too long. Consider this: According to a recent survey of comparable counties, Santa Barbara County Supervisors […]
Posted inOpinion
Until Palestine is free
Since Oct. 7, 2023, all of us have experienced continuing, intense grief. Many of us are mourning cousins, siblings, classmates, parents … all of us are grieving the astounding loss of Palestinian lives as well as the very structure of Gazan life. There is nothing left of Gaza, yet its people rush back—on foot—to sift […]
Posted inOpinion
Local leaders must protect our immigrants
In one of Donald Trump’s first acts in office, he stripped away protections for schools, hospitals, and places of worship from immigration enforcement. These were once safe spaces where people could learn, receive health care, and pray without fear. Now they have been turned into targets for ICE raids. This is unconscionable. As the world’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Nipomo needed more info earlier for battery facility
San Luis Obispo County residents deserve consistent and transparent leadership. Yet, when it comes to the controversial Caballero battery storage project in Nipomo, the response from San Luis Obispo County 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding tells a different story. If this project were next to Trilogy, an area where Paulding has historically focused much of […]
Posted inOpinion
All people deserve dignity
In response to “Encampments return to Santa Maria Riverbed” (Jan. 30): I understand that Japan removes homeless people from the street, provides a livable detention area with basic needs. Basically, they are incarcerated. They are cleaned up (from addiction) and given an opportunity to improve their ability to thrive and return back into society. If […]
Posted inOpinion
A small group of us could change a lot of things
This is to thank Gary Freiberg for his opinion piece in the Sun reminding us of the power of the people (“The price is wrong,” Jan. 30). Yes! Let’s start with having fewer eggs (or none at all until prices come down). Buy some nuts at the farmers market. Walnuts are shaped like our brains, […]
Posted inOpinion
Safer wind farms for all
Whether you are for or against wind farms off our coast, or on land for that matter, we all want them safer for the planet. With the idea of minimizing bird mortality, I have a couple of suggestions. To minimize deaths during the day, the blades as well as their support structure could be painted […]
Posted inOpinion
Are we prepared?
As wildfires rage across Southern California, it’s impossible not to think about how vulnerable our own Santa Ynez Valley could be in a similar scenario. Fires are unpredictable, devastating, and increasingly common in drought-prone areas like ours. Add to that the overgrowth, high winds, and the growing number of high-density developments here, and it’s clear […]
Posted inOpinion
Our Pyrocene era
We live in the “Pyrocene” era … the age of fire. Supercharged Santa Ana winds, record high temperatures, and drought have fueled the current wildfire crisis. There is death in Los Angeles County, tens of thousands have been displaced, and countless homes are reduced to ashes. In the far north of our state, massive fires […]
Posted inOpinion
Protect the ocean from industrial development
A proposal from the federal government to industrialize the ocean along the Central Coast and Humboldt coastlines with hundreds of 700-foot-tall floating wind turbines would set a precedent that ocean industrialization is acceptable, destroy the character of the Central Coast, and kill ocean wildlife. The Pacific Ocean is home to mammals, birds, and countless varieties […]