To tolerate in silence and endure these freakin’ bigots is itself akin to violence– let’s cork these leakin’ spigots. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on the first of January, 1863, in a time vastly more difficult than we endure today. We call it the Civil War. This year, merely droning, President Obama declared June […]
As Dorothy said, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” I might have the same reaction as I enter Visalia Unified’s new elective course at the middle school level, Exploring Technology. The new course provides students the opportunity to explore technology in fun, innovative ways, beginning with a semester-long experience with the Lego […]
In Strawberry Canyon in days of yore, our sturdy eleven could run up the score. But now a wanion hangs over our fellows– and not even Heaven can make gold out of yellow. Football is back–particularly for me, college football. Perhaps nowhere else in American sport is there so ballyhooed and comprehensive a tradition. This […]
Sustained and thoughtful effort is given to public sector process changes that seek to meet mandates passed down through state of California regulations and to cover the necessary costs to get the work done. These changes are made with a focus on local residents, the economy and the changing requirements that must be met. However, […]
The surrounding greenery a proscenium to this view, from my feet upward: tan, green, cobalt, grey, white, sky blue. A rippling, sun-dappled sea offering the sudden flash of a tiny breaker dashing spray upon jagged rock. The horizon, azure, flat as a razor beneath pale roiling cloud where, momentarily, the partial arc of a rainbow […]
How does a Republican, middle-aged white guy win an election in a majority Hispanic and Democratic district? Quite handily it seems. Andy Vidak won 52.2% of the vote in the 16th Senate District (SD16) Special Election on July 23rd. With Vidak’s victory, Republicans are chipping away at the Democrat’s supermajority in both houses of California’s […]
Last month, our inaugural edition debuted a day early, on the 5th, and by the next day, by request, was on its way to France. I remain proud of our accomplishment, but to be honest, felt more like Eisenhower, on another sixth of June, 69 years ago. The paper was a success, sure, but would […]
With farmers across California reporting chronic problems in hiring enough people to tend and harvest crops, we must take action this year in Congress to reform our broken immigration system. The iron is hot right now, and it is feared that if a comprehensive immigration reform bill is not passed this year, it could take […]
Remember Kathie Lee Gifford breaking down when she saw footage of young girls working in a decrepit garment factory for slave wages? They were assembling her personal line of clothing to be sold at Walmart. Kathie Lee subsequently vowed to help put sweatshops out of business. But, 17 years later, have the dismal working conditions […]
Mainstream media, reduced at least to the level of local newspapers, has placed a noose around the neck of our news. Rather than opening a vast panorama of choice, in the same vein as the Internet, local newspapers often constrict our news horizon. Consider the national web of smaller, corporate-owned papers: apart from sports, many […]