Comments by emptynewsroom
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Posted on January 19 at 10:13 a.m.
As Bill Kristol, the GOP's prissy, churlish and always spiteful titular head once averred, "Americans don't deserve health care."
That's it in a nutshell, really. Republicans can't imagine their country being capable of enjoying the societal benefits that most of the rest of the civilized world takes for granted. Any nation that will gladly drive themselves into the poorhouse with trillions of dollars in war debt and willfully allow bloated corpses to float merrily down the streets of a major metropolitan city has truly lost its soul and has no claim to greatness.
Posted on October 11 at 6:50 p.m.
Wasn't this event TWO WEEKS ago? And the dateline is just yesterday. Did the field reporter take a detour by way of the Panama Canal?
Posted on October 8 at 3:01 p.m.
I have personally been complaining about irresponsible dog owners for many years. The poop of their pets all over the place is just one symptom of a community with a surprisingly high percentage of thoughtless dog walkers. As a beach runner I've been bitten twice, jumped up at aggressively too many times to count and seen hundreds of neatly tied off "doggie bags" left in the sand, never to be picked up on the dog owner's return trip. All dogs should be "on leash" all the time, especially - gosh! - at leash only beaches, which means virtually all of them with the exception of Hendry's Beach at the foot of the Wilcox Property. Many dogs in this town are not trained well and they do not know better than to bother strangers and chase wildlife. The point is, their owners should know better and take responsibility. Heavens knows, very few dog owners will apologize when their dog disturbs an innocent passerby or if they are asked politely to put their dog on a leash. A glare and cold silence is too often the response. Disagree with me dog lovers? Then prove it with your behavior and ask other dog owners to avoid giving all of you a bad name!
Posted on October 2 at 8:18 p.m.
Here we go with the right wingers pushing back again anyone honestly trying to improve our crummy, exclusionary health care "system". Wah! they wail, we don't want VALUE for our money. We don't want guaranteed ACCESS to health care. We don't want to have what EVERY OTHER industrialized nation on the planet has already proven works better than what we have. Fine, let them continue to pay their premiums in a health care "bubble" that is separate from what all others will benefit from with a public option, single payer system.
Posted on September 30 at 9:57 p.m.
Then there's the wonderful work being done by Anthony Carroccio and his team of volunteers at the Organic Soup Kitchen. After over a year of feeding dozens, and sometimes hundreds, weekly, they had to move out of the Veteran's Memorial Building and now provide, healthy, nutritious hot meals to all comers at the Moreton Bay Fig Tree every Sunday. The work of all of these underfunded (if not UNfunded) volunteer operations is literally changing and saving lives. If you haven't visited any of them, stop by, lend a hand and write a check or give an inkind donation of whatever you can spare. You will feel good for a week, I guarantee it.
Posted on September 28 at 8:04 p.m.
How will this all play out? Just go ask all the homeowners and residents that have to inhale the big rig fumes and listen to the cooling units atop tractor trailers in the parking lot of the Trader Joe's barely a block away on upper De la Vina. Quite rightly consumers want great stores, fantastic selection and competitive prices but if the cost to the neighborhood is too high, perhaps its not worth it. For one thing, without a turning lane on State in front of BevMO!, expect a lot of brakes squealing and horns honking as people insist on turning left across two lanes into the parking lot even at peak traffic times. I love TJ's and am glad for the uptown location but I could easily live without a booze warehouse. What's next, a Liquor Barn and Hustler store bookending the Presidio?
Posted on September 28 at 7:08 p.m.
That's all wonderful and having personally met with several of these people and organizations, I have to ask the obvious question -- WHEN DO WE BEGIN DOING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HERE IN SANTA BARBARA (either the city or the country)?
Seriously, just about every other area is responding to the recession and the evaporation of jobs with organizations funded and set up to attract business, jobs and opportunity to their respective regions. Ventura has VCEDA (helmed by Bill Burratto who was involved in the Goleta Economic Summit), San Luis Obispo has the Economic Vitality Corporation and Santa Maria has the Economic Development Commission. Apart from tourism, Santa Barbara does virtually nothing, not to take anything away from WIB, who could use a lot of assistance from other stakeholders.
Posted on September 22 at 11:10 p.m.
Mr. Quaid's best role was probably one of his first, in 'The Last Detail' (1973), a Hal Ashby film with Jack Nicholson. Randy played Meadows, a young Marine arrested for petty theft of $40 and headed for a stiff prison sentence. Life imitates art, apparently.
On Quazy Quaids
Posted on September 22 at 10:48 p.m.
American journalism, especially television and radio, is now ranked as among the worst of western industrialized nations. Too much commentary, gutless, virtually no investigative reporting and a systemic aversion in covering anything that might be detrimental to their corporate masters. Very sad. Not only is it ensuring a poorly uninformed public but it ultimately results in very bad public policy that rarely serves the interests of the taxpayer.
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Posted on April 16 at 11:34 a.m.
The city and the county and our community business organizations do ZERO economic development, unlike San Luis Obispo, City of Santa Maria, Ventura city and county, so therefore we need higher taxes. Instead, we could attract more employers with high paying jobs, but apparently that is out of reach for the custodians of Disneyland-By-The-Sea.
On Taxing downtown bars and restaurants more to defray law enforcement costs