InfrastructureWhose First Amendment Rights?Monday, November 7th, 2011 NOV. 7, 2011 The First Amendment is probably the most important right in America. And it is the most abused. Freedom of religion, assembly, speech, petition and press are all protected under the U.S. Constitution as well as the California Constitution. The right of the people “peaceably ... Rural Rebellion BrewingMonday, October 31st, 2011 OCT. 31, 2011 The nearly five-hour drive from the Sacramento area to Yreka, in Siskiyou County by the Oregon border, was a reminder not just of the immense size and beauty of California, but of the vast regional and cultural differences one finds within our 37 million-population state. Sacrame... Jobs Killed by Unendangered SpeciesFriday, October 28th, 2011 OCT. 28, 2011 It’s been 20 years since biologist Jonathan L. Atwood authored a study declaring the California gnatcatcher a distinct subspecies. Based on Atwood’s conclusion, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1993 listed the small blue-gray songbird as “threatened,” restricting lan... Steve Jobs: Free Market CapitalistFriday, October 7th, 2011 OCT. 7, 2011 The late Steve Jobs is remembered this week as a “visionary and creative genius,” as Apple Inc. eulogized him on its website; and as the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford of our time, as the New York Times described Apple’s co-founder in his obituary. Under Jobs, Apple proved the... California’s War on MotoristsSunday, September 25th, 2011 SEPT. 25, 2011 Laguna Niguel motorists should honk their horns in celebration. Their city council this week voted not to join the ranks of local governments throughout the state that have installed red light cameras on their streets. The primary function of “automated traffic enforcement sys... Solyndra Crash Hits Green BusinessesFriday, September 16th, 2011 SEPT. 16, 2011 Solyndra, the Fremont solar-panel manufacturer that went belly up last week, was the subject of a hearing Wednesday all the way in the nation’s Capitol. Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Committee on Oversight and Investigations wanted to get to the botto... Money Down the Subway HoleThursday, August 25th, 2011 AUG. 25, 2011 Nearly $1 billion per mile. That’s more expensive than a manned space mission to Mars. But that’s how much San Francisco’s Central Subway is expected to cost. The “infrastructure” project, which is to be the latest addition to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, was orig... Environmentalists Eclipse Solar EnergyWednesday, August 10th, 2011 AUGUST 10, 2011 PV2 Energy, a San Francisco-based company, plans to build a $1.8 billion 399-megawatt solar farm in Panoche Valley, 50 miles southeast of Hollister in rural San Benito County. It’s the kind of renewable energy project the state of California wants to see more of, as opposed to e... Calif. Can Lead Commercial Space AgeWednesday, July 27th, 2011 JULY 27, 2011 The completion of the Space Shuttle’s 135th and final mission reminded many of us here in the Golden State that Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California was the shuttle’s primary landing site in its first decade of operation. In the shuttle program’s second and third d... Spectacular waste in redwood forestsMonday, July 11th, 2011 JULY 11, 2011 As I took the nearly six-hour drive recently from the Sacramento area, past Ukiah and up to Eureka, through the heart of California's redwood-forested North Coast, I was reminded of the spectacular beauty of California. Driving through Mendocino and Humboldt counties also reminded m... |