Archive By Section - Editorial
Reviving the power of questioning
With the 2012 Presidential Election just around the corner, the American public is caught in the midst of a torrent of propaganda. As the popular trend of politicians fashioning their own facts abounds, folks here and around the nation encounter the same issue: what are we supposed to take to heart? I think the newer generation is hit hardest by this difficult decision. They're the most impressionable, having only recently been exposed to ...
Customers put to work
Walter Reuther - a labor leader if there ever was one - was once given a tour of a modernized Ford assembly plant.
Democrats honor labor with exception of farm workers
Honor labor. You'll hear a lot of that in traditional Labor Day speeches made by politicians. It's too bad few really believe it including Democrats. Sure the Democrats make their stand in high profile cases such as blocking much of Gov. Jerry Brown's meaningful pension reforms designed to keep the state from hitting the financial skids. Don't think it was out of solidarity with workers. That's far from it. The state employee unions, much like ...
Getting more out of each gallon of gasoline
It's commonplace to observe that we live in very partisan times. Red versus blue factions dominate our public discussions, and there often seems very little room made for agreement in the middle.
Take our water and give us your garbage
Give us your garbage, your hardcore felons, and your air pollution. Take our water, our food, and our lifestyle to accommodate high speed rail so you don't have to waste time traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco. That pretty much sums up where the San Joaquin Valley stands when it comes to the political muscle in Sacramento controlled by those on the urbanized coast. The latest example of the fact the weakest region in ...
Planning for the future of Turlock
I am in the midst of planning an extended family camping trip - a venture that will, hopefully, include at least six different households and bring cousins together for more than just a few hours of chit chat. Family reunions and get-togethers are nothing new; it's been an American tradition for decades. The trouble I'm encountering is getting my family members to commit to a date that is far enough in the future to ...
Can’t find a job? Learn Spanish
Sarah is frustrated. She says she's been pounding the pavement for the better part of the last year - mostly in Modesto, Stockton, and Manteca - looking for a job. She has front office skills and is essentially looking for work as a receptionist. But in about what she estimates are half of the inquiries she makes, she is told almost out of the gate that she doesn't qualify. The reason? She doesn't speak Spanish. ...
Sugar taxes: The real goal to fatten government coffers
Sugar taxes are not about health. They are about taxes. Nowhere is this clearer than in Northern California where Richmond has placed a measure on the Nov. 6 ballot to impose a penny per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened drinks sold by merchants. First, it is cleverly disguised as a stealth tax. That means the consumer's receipt will never show they are paying the tax. Instead, the Richmond City Council has placed wording on the ballot ...
Valley keeps getting short end of stick
What did the San Joaquin Valley do wrong? First, Congress commissions a report that calls the Valley the New Appalachia. Congress responds by "helping" by unleashing the Environmental Protection Agency that pushes for new air quality standards that can't be met even if everyone in the Valley gave up their vehicles and walked barefoot to work, school, and the store. The high-speed rail folks come up with a plan that basically replicates Sherman's March to ...
Fairs, farmers key partners with local food banks
The success of food banks is based on relationships in local communities with individuals, faith-based organizations, retailers and food service businesses -just to name a few. Additional partnerships with food producers and processors assist with sourcing local, fresh foods that can be provided to needy families. Some of these relationships have innovative roots, and fairs are an example of that.
State parks worth fighting for
Whenever I travel back to my hometown in Indiana, the first thing I notice as the airplane makes its decent into Indianapolis is the vast swath of green that seems to cover the entire state. You don't realize how few trees actually grow naturally in California's Central Valley until you see an aerial view of Midwest lushness. Tree climbing is a mandated childhood activity in Indiana and no house has fewer than three ...
The $300K road kill question
Why are deer getting killed by a car crossing the freeway? Believe it or not - finding the answer is going to cost state taxpayers $300,000. This is not a joke. While potholes pop up on freeways and money is being squirreled away by the state Parks & Recreation Department, Caltrans is spending $300,000 to work with the Department of Fish & Game and the University of California, Davis, to find out why some deer ...
Redefining learning for new school year
The rapid approaching of another school year raises an idea that has unfortunately been buried beneath years of disregard. Writer and social critic John Ruskin put it well with his eloquent remark: "The entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right thing, but to enjoy right things; not merely industrious, but to love industry; not merely learned, but to love knowledge." No doubt, it is quite ...
The reality of sci-fi
Like many people around the world, I am a fan of science fiction. The genre asks the question "what if?" and then allows for an infinite number of answers. What if is fun to ponder, but a new scientific development - and the implications of its usage - have me wondering, should we? It's always fun to watch classic science fiction movies that portray the future - which is usually close to the ...
Does it hurt? Not as much as having cancer
I have never met Joseph Greenwood. By all indications, the 18-year-old Ripon High graduate is a solid citizen with a great attitude. The former wrestler and track athlete is also a fighter. Joseph is being treated for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Joseph - and others like him - are the reason I set aside a three-hour block of my time every three weeks to donate platelets. Platelets are critical in fighting leukemia, ...
Articles by Section - Editorial
Environmental perfection claims another 118 jobs
Clean air, or perhaps more precisely, environmental perfection is the killer of blue collar head-of-household jobs in the San Joaquin Valley. The 118 men and women who are about to lose their paychecks at one of Lathrop's most high profile and longest employers - the Pilkington flat glass manufacturing facility - are the latest victims. Sixteen years ago it was 220 workers at Manteca's Spreckels Sugar plant. In both cases, each manufacturer had spent ...
Google Glass may do for eye sight what iPods have for hearing
Remember the good old days? It's when TVs required vacuum tubes and about the flattest they got was three feet deep. Meanwhile the screen was the size of a moderate-sized tablet and, if you were lucky, produced a relatively clean black and white image devoid of snow. Now TVs thinner than a book dubbed "The Wit and Wisdom of Congress" adorn the walls in many homes. They are often larger than the screens that ...
New report highlights the need for a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill
This week, the White House released a new report showing the critical need for Congressional passage of a new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill. This comprehensive report highlights how the thriving business of agriculture is a cornerstone of America's economy, creating jobs and boosting opportunity. Agricultural production and its related sectors contributed $743 billion to U.S. GDP in 2011, accounting for nearly 5 percent of economic output. Today about one out of every 12 jobs ...
'Wild Turkey on the Rocks?'
Much we believe about turkeys is not true. Myth No. 1: They were served at the "first Thanksgiving" feast in Plymouth, Mass. There's no evidence for that. The Plymouth Colony governor, an observer wrote, "sent foure men on fowling" for the dinner. Fowling is an Old English reference to waterfowl. So ducks and geese were probably on the menu, not turkey. Myth No. 2: Benjamin Franklin proposed that the wild turkey ...
Giving so much more than thanks
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American invention, and I think it must be one of our finest. The celebrations, the food, the parades and pronouncements give us an annual reminder of all that we are so thankful for – and also a reminder to share our blessings. One benefit of my position as California's Secretary of Agriculture is that my department coordinates the annual State Employees Food Drive, which last year donated 647,110 pounds ...
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