Breaking up is hard to do

We asked in the editorial above for readers to remember back a few months, when lawmakers thought they had a workable budget.

Nov 19, 2009 | 9:00 pm | (0) Comments

Peering down a budget hole

California government’s level of fiscal irresponsibility in recent years gives new meaning to the word “chronic.”

Nov 19, 2009 | 9:00 pm | (0) Comments

Debt, job losses shadow recovery

Trent Benedetti/Improving North County

The headline from the California Employment Development Department press release last month touted the drop in unemployment to 12.2 percent, from the previous month’s high of 12.3 percent.

Nov 18, 2009 | 9:00 pm | (0) Comments

Confronting bogeyman in the closet

In case you wondered how hysteria spreads, we offer the following “news” item, gleaned from a recent Web search. The item’s headline screams:

Nov 18, 2009 | 9:00 pm | (0) Comments

Remember, it’s your life

And while the Big Debate over health care continues to boil, there is a subtext argument going on about breast cancer-detection protocols.

Nov 17, 2009 | 9:25 pm | (0) Comments

The high cost of defense

In the world of sports, the prevailing belief is that a good offense is the best defense. Score enough points, and you don’t have to worry about stopping the other guys from scoring.

Nov 17, 2009 | 9:25 pm | (0) Comments

Pocket park has shallow pockets

The proposed pocket park on South H Street, which drew some hard questioning from the newer councilmembers in an earlier session, was one of the topics discussed during a City Council workshop on Nov. 2.

Nov 16, 2009 | 10:10 pm | (0) Comments

Getting rid of old drugs

Have you taken a close look inside your medicine cabinet lately? You know, the one in the bathroom, with its lineup of prescription medicines with expiration dates going back to the Clinton administration.

Nov 16, 2009 | 10:10 pm | (0) Comments

The promise that isn’t being kept

Veteran’s Day has come and gone, and unfortunately, so has the attention many Americans pay to the lives and well-being of our armed forces veterans.

Nov 14, 2009 | 9:30 pm | (0) Comments

Fox (News) in the henhouse

Doris O’Brien/If I May Say So

Freedom of speech is not limited to the tolerance of opinions with which we agree. It is a tenet of democracy  granted to the staff of Fox News as well as to their critics. That is why it is sinister when power players in the  executive branch of government pummel a popular segment of t…

Nov 13, 2009 | 10:00 pm | (0) Comments

Blazing a new path into future

There was a time in America when Saturdays were really something special, the end of a long work week, when you could forget the nerve-fraying insistence of the alarm clock next to your bed, and get a few extra ZZZZZs. Saturdays were the whole basis for TGIF festivities.

Nov 13, 2009 | 10:00 pm | (0) Comments

Just another day in paradise

Steve Petty/Look Again

All of you paraskevidekatriaphobes out there are probably going to have trouble reading this column today. My guess is you are cowering under the bed telling the cat to leave you alone and reading the paper by your penlight.

Nov 12, 2009 | 8:55 pm | (0) Comments

This is no season for empty plates

The big holidays are rushing toward us like an asteroid homing in on Earth. Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and the space between that respite and the Christmas season barely gives folks a chance to take a deep breath.

Nov 12, 2009 | 8:55 pm | (0) Comments

Broken promises in road tax measures

Andy Caldwell/Commentary

Twenty years ago, voters agreed to tax themselves for road improvements throughout Santa Barbara County. Measure D raised the sales tax rate one-half of 1 percent, and paid for a lot of freeway-construction and road-maintenance projects.

Nov 11, 2009 | 9:30 pm | (0) Comments

Californians in a really bad mood

At certain times during the year, the Los Angeles Times teams with various research organizations to produce an opinion poll, the purpose of which is to give readers — and voters and lawmakers — an idea of what Californians are really thinking.

Nov 11, 2009 | 9:30 pm | (2) Comments

Teens helping the community

Marell Brooks/The Forward View

The Lompoc Vandenberg branch of the American Association of University Women strives to keep its membership and the public informed about local programs that reflect some of their organization’s public policy priorities.

Nov 10, 2009 | 10:10 pm | (0) Comments

The sentinels of freedomI

It’s Veteran’s Day, and there’s something we’d like you to consider doing at precisely 11 a.m. of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year:

Nov 10, 2009 | 10:10 pm | (0) Comments

Dealing with health care’s split personality

The past few days have been a roller-coaster ride for the Obama administration and advocates of health-care reform.

Nov 09, 2009 | 5:35 pm | (1) Comments

Stone Pines in Lompoc unique

I took a walk with Cindy McCall and about 20 other people through the Italian Stone Pines that grace the 200 to 400 blocks South H a few weeks ago. The young trees were barely as tall as the Boy Scouts who planted them in 1949; so they really aren't 100 years old as many people think. The…

Nov 09, 2009 | 5:30 pm | (1) Comments