Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Threatening to undermine the separation of powers that is fundamental to our free society, John McCain says that a Republican Senate would not confirm any potential Supreme Court Justices nominated by Hillary Clinton. This obstreperous partisanship is unprecedented in American history. Responsible politicians know that a complete court is fundamental to the review process necessary to ensure that laws are being carried out in a fair and just manner. While past Senators may hav...
Mr. Zinner: Your recent article about new development being good for the earth was terrific! I agree: Single family residences are inefficient and should be banned. More retail/residential structures should be built to make the entire city look like a modern strip mall. If four stories is good, eight stories is twice as good. Let's build to the sky! They should all be painted white in order to reflect the heat. Your premise that people live where they work is also brilliant!...
What do you do when you are waiting outside the classroom door (or presidential debate) and suddenly realize that you didn't read the mandatory pages for today's discussion? This 10-step formula is fairly simple and easily mastered: 1. Flip through the book, and select a couple of easy-to-understand charts or graphs. If it is a novel, choose some quotes from a main character. Mark the pages. 2. Always allow others to speak first. Let at least one do-gooder, prepared, student s...
WASHINGTON, DC, Oct 14 - This year marks the 25th anniversary of Clarence Thomas' appointment to the Supreme Court and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened last month in Washington, has seen fit to "honor" the jurist by completely ignoring the event and Thomas, himself. Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens, calls the museum's "snub" a deliberate insult. "What else can it be when a prestigious institution...
Dear SMO Observer, While I am not a resident of Santa Monica itself, I have worked at the airport for over Three years now and in that time I have been keeping careful track of the ongoing battle for control of the airport. Recently Measure LV appeared on the radar screen in Santa Monica and I started examining the Measure itself, who its supporters are and a plethora of other important public information. What I have discovered leaves me a bit confused and honestly, alarmed....
Dear Editor, I find it alarming the level of untruths Santa Monica's City officials will tell in their effort to rationalize their illicit actions aimed at strangling and/or closing the airport ("Health Protected by Eviction of Airport Tenant, Santa Monica Official Says," October 3, 2016). Nelson Hernandez (senior advisor to the City Manager on Airport Affairs) raises the issue of "Safety of residents" yet neglects to include the fact that closure of the only two providers of...
If you follow what goes on in Santa Monica City Hall, it's really been pretty much the same since 1982. The City grants massive development permits to favored developers. The City Staff grant developers permits to build huge buildings that are not in the best interest of residents, because they generate traffic, noise, density, trash, without generating jobs or money for local residents. Every 4 years, residents return the same City Council members to office, because they...
Oscar, I adore you. I think you're a great guy. I've voted for you to serve on the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District Board every time you have run for that office because I think you are honest and sincere about wanting what's best for the students. But when you knelt during the Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of the school board meeting on September 22, I think you were out of line. Mr. Craig Foster, I don't know you very well, but I think you were off base in...
The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof published last month a column with the stomach-turning headline, "Anne Frank Today Is a Syrian Girl." Last week, he continued with this analogy, asking his readers, "Would You Hide a Jew From the Nazis?" Kristof goes into detail about the many nations of the world that refused to provide refuge to the Jews. He then tells the stories of a few brave souls – Martha Sharp, Witold Pilecki, Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma, Aristides de Sousa Mendes ...
Donald Trump's effort to woo black voters has gotten off to a rocky start. The GOP nominee's main argument -- that black communities have been poorly served by Democratic leaders -- is certainly powerful. But, as recent polls have shown, this strategy has yet to move the needle with African Americans. What's missing from Trump's appeal is a positive vision for how he will improve the lives of black Americans. And a Republican proposal for creating stable inner-city jobs is exa...
While the American people are demanding drug peace and self-ownership, the DEA is headed in the wrong direction with kratom. The DEA is losing the war on drugs with state after state softening stances on marijuana. 8 states will be voting on legalizing marijuana for recreational AND medicinal purposes in November. Americans are overwhelmingly seeing that prison and government violence are terrible ways to solve the problems of addiction and drug abuse, and they are demanding...
I can't recall a single project proposed by developer NMS that was not approved by our city staff or our City Council. As of September 7, NMS has already contributed $225,000 to the anti-LUVE developer PAC called "HOME." With this war chest, HOME is showering every voter in Santa Monica with mailers full of lies, attempting to confuse them. Their goal is to trick residents into voting against their own interests by opposing LUVE - Measure LV. In 2012, NMS and Chicago based dev...
WASHINGTON, DC, Sep 2 - There won't be an October surprise prior to the 2016 Presidential Elections, at least not as far as Obamacare is concerned, says Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens. "The cat's already out of the bag. In fact, Lamar Alexander, often described as one of the most responsible Senators sitting in Congress, says that when the 2017 enrollment period begins on November 1 - seven days before voters are to pick the next president...
It is my great pleasure to forward City Council actions that we demanded for over 4 years!! The "FBO policy" which authorizes the eviction of Atlantic Aviation – which accounts for 90% of jet flight operations – is attached. This vote represents nearly 100% victory by Sunset Park Anti-Airport (SPAA), dedicated activists such as David Klass, Ben Wang, David Goddard and Alan Levenson, and outraged residents such as yourself. Here are the key points. First, we have fought to evi...
Oil imports could soon be a thing of the past. That's the main takeaway from a new report from Nordic consulting firm Rystad. Researchers estimated the total recoverable oil reserves still buried under American soil. The final figure is astonishing: 264 billion barrels -- more than any other nation in the world. Unlocking these reserves would generate tremendous benefits for the economy and move America towards full energy independence. Yet the White House has repeatedly...
Legislation authored by Senator Ben Allen (D – Santa Monica) that he says will transform the way elections are conducted in California passed the state Assembly today on a vote of 42 - 28. "Our current system of limiting voters to one polling location on a single day has failed. It is time to implement a new voting model that allows people to vote conveniently, close to where they work, shop and congregate," Allen said. Under the new system, every voter will receive a vote b...
Democrats may publicly chide Aetna from pulling out of all but four states in the ACA exchanges, but privately they're breaking out the champagne, led by Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat representative from San Francisco who's credited with pushing the ACA, aka Obamacare, through a bitterly divided congress. Many observers of the health insurance reform have been convinced that Obama and his like-minded left-wing allies presented Obamacare as a "first step," a step expected - and qu...
Those who know me know that I am not afraid to say the emperor has no clothes, there is an elephant in the room, and it's time to call a spade a spade. Whatever Intersex athlete Caster Semenya's True story maybe, it is unfair to make other women compete against her in events such as the Olympic 800 meters. First of all why do we have separate athletic events for men and women anyway? It's because of the presence of testosterone lands on advantage to men in building muscle...
(The following is a statement by Executive Director Jason Peltier of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority on a request by Environmentalists to the State Water Resources Control Board for even more water aimed at protecting Delta Smelt.) LOS BANOS, CA - As environmental special interests request the State Water Resources Control Board expand failed policies on Delta Smelt, Californians are calling on the Board to implement new science-based, common sense approaches to...
One has to wonder whether the adults in charge of the LA Times Editorial Board were part of the recent mass exodus from the Times. The question is raised because of a most recent rambling editorial concerning the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, demonstrating yet again the Times antipathy towards law enforcement. In an editorial ostensibly concerning a delay in the Board of Supervisor's implementation of a "Civilian Oversight Commission", the Times took a bizarre turn and...
Dear Editor, I had my bike stolen yesterday from the 17th Street Metro Station parking lot's bike rack. I called SMPD and filed a police report on line. I thought it would be interesting to see how prevalent bike theft is in Santa Monica. In 2014, there were 400+ bike thefts. In 2015, there were about 580 bike thefts. Rounding and not being too precise, it looks like a 30% increase in bike thefts year over year. I don't know the rate for 2016 but am willing to venture a guess...
Across the board and across the aisle, those who understand politics are teaming up to prevent the economic and environmental disaster that would result from a Trump presidency, but one unexpected group of Americans are willing to throw us all under that bus: privileged young liberals. Bernie Bros who won't listen to Bernie. The left's version of the Tea Party. By now we've all accepted the notion that there are some conservatives who genuinely believe that Trump will make...
The Black Lives Matter movement stands to lose potential support from influential Jewish organizations after release of a platform that slanders Israel. The activist movement associated with protests across the nation in support of blacks wrongfully killed by white and white police officers recently released a lengthy platform of principles. Among those, catalogued under "Invest-Divest," is this statement, filled with old and oft-refuted canards against the Jewish state: "The...
On August 3, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that common sense should prevail when it comes to bathrooms at public schools. The Supreme Court blocked an earlier ruling by a federal appeals court that would have allowed boys to use the girls bathroom and locker rooms if they 'identified' as girls. The original court case was a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Virginia against the Virginia Gloucester County School Board. The ACLU alleged that under Title IX, a federal law that...
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (July 27, 2016) –- Popular recreation spots along the Los Angeles River suffer from very poor water quality, according to a technical report issued today by the environmental group Healthe Bay. Building on Heal the Bay's work as a watchdog for public health at local beaches and fre shwater swimming holes in the Santa Monica Mountains, the organization began monitoring popular, previously unmonitored freshwater recreational areas along the L.A. River l...
