Santa Barbara
As a card-carrying member of the Betrayed by John Edwards Alumni Association, I’ll admit that my initial response to his federal indictment for violating campaign laws was skepticism. Yes, Edwards was an egocentric, lying, baby-denying cad who betrayed his dying wife. I doubted, however, that he had committed a crime. READ MORE >>
Western Civilization
Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art 1945-1980 An Initiative of The Getty Foundation I. READ MORE >>
Oh, the Humanity
Tanking Hard
Outsourced Drilling Isn't Pretty, Either
It's quite possible that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will put an end to further offshore drilling in the United States—at least for awhile. READ MORE >>
Obama on Offense
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- What does President Obama's visit to California this week on behalf of embattled Sen. Barbara Boxer have to do with passage of the financial reform bill? Far more than you'd imagine. That Boxer is in any trouble says much of what you need to know about this year's election. California has become a Democratic bastion and Boxer has been a liberal institution who never before faced a serious re-election challenge. READ MORE >>
End State
California is a mess, but I love it all the same--especially the Bay Area, where I lived for 15 years. I went to Berkeley in 1962--a refugee from Amherst College, which at that time was dominated by frat boys with high SAT scores. I didn't go to Berkeley to go to school, but to be a bus ride away from North Beach and the Jazz Workshop. In a broader sense, I went to California for the same reason that other émigrés had been going since the 1840s. I was knocking on the Golden Door. READ MORE >>
Water Your Lawn With A... Dishwasher?
With California now facing its third straight year of drought, pretty much any conservation idea out there—no matter how icky it may sound at first glance—gets a hearing. For instance, as Melinda Burns reports for Miller-McCune today, the state has finally decided to legalize "gray-water" systems, which divert wastewater from dishwashers, laundry machines, sinks, and showers (but obviously not toilets) to irrigate lawns and shrubbery. READ MORE >>
Enough With The Campus Inquisitions!
Blacklist Whitewash
On October 28, 82-year-old screenwriter Paul Jarrico was driving to his home in Ojai, east of Santa Barbara, when his car veered off the Pacific Coast Highway and crashed into a tree. Jarrico was killed. "tragedy," read the headline in The Los Angeles Times. "crash kills hollywood blacklist victim paul jarrico the day after historic apology was made." READ MORE >>
