Columnists

The Public Eye: An Enemy of the People: Texas Money vs. Clean Air

By Bob Burnett
Friday October 15, 2010 - 05:21:00 PM

Ibsen’s classic play An Enemy of the People tells the story of Thomas Stockman who warns citizens of his Norwegian town that their primary tourist attraction, public baths, is a contaminated health hazard. Manipulated by wealthy polluters, the townspeople refuse to accept the truth, turn against Stockman, and brand him “enemy of the people.” Now a similar drama is being played out in California where wealthy polluters are trying to convince voters to repeal the state’s clean air act (AB 32). -more-


Eclectic Rants: The Demise of Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

By Ralph E. Stone
Friday October 15, 2010 - 06:02:00 PM

On October 12, 2010, Judge Virginia A. Phillips of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California issued a nationwide injunction banning enforcement of "don’t ask, don’t tell" (DADT), the law that prohibits openly gay men and women from serving in the military. Thus, the court in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America stopped the 17-year ban on openly gay servicemen and women under which some 14,000 gays and lesbians have been discharged from the military when their sexual orientation was disclosed. The DADT policy passed during the Clinton administration was a cowardly compromise that satisfied no one. The court ruled that the policy regarding gays serving in the military violated service members' Fifth Amendment rights to due process and freedom of speech. -more-


Senior Power : Old enough to make a difference?

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Friday October 15, 2010 - 04:39:00 PM

Ten years ago there were 3,595,658 persons aged 65 and older living in California-- 10.6% of the population. T he Berkeley Daily Planet (November 1, 2000) front-paged my “Old enough to make a difference” article regarding the then-upcoming election. -more-