We are in the holiday season and many of us think of what we might do to help others. There are many, many persons throughout the United States who are in medical need of a stem cell transplant after other cancer therapies have failed. Modern technology has made donating stem cells much like donating blood. […]
Last winter, I dedicated a column to an explanation of the new Common Core State Standards. In fact, I started with, “A big change is on the horizon for California schools: the implementation of Common Core State Standards.” In September, I read about a recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the public’s attitudes toward the […]
Now that the Tea Party has taken its ball and gone home, leaving the government of the United States in shutdown, we sadly must all admit that, while awful, this closure is far from the worst thing to befall us. OK–perhaps “befall” is inaccurate, in that it implies something happening to us, when in reality […]
I and no other good minded and non criminal record person have a single reason to use the park currently because we have no reason to: Hang out there Be seen there Walk there Visit there Play there Party there Drink or do drugs there Sleep there Sell drugs there Seek prostitutes there Panhandle or […]
Who will “blink” first in this “government shut-down” (of 17% of what the government normally spends in the name of the people)? Will it be the Speaker of the House John Boehner? Will it be the President giving orders to the Senate Majority Leader of Congress, Harry Reid, who he has controlled from the beginning? […]
Once again, right-wing lawmakers in Congress have shown how disconnected they are from the needs of people in Tulare County. From forcing our nation into a federal government shutdown, engaging in futile votes to defund the Affordable Care Act, and approaching the debt ceiling deadline that’s just a week away, right-wing lawmakers are lurching from […]
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, […]