In the depths of the worst recession since World War II, California may be giving birth to a new export industry.
If you have been trying to ignore the daily grind of bad news out of California's Capitol, we don't blame you.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar offered some federal assistance to ease the California water crisis, and that at least shows the Obama administration finally has put this emergency on its radar screen.
No one at the Air Resources Board is claiming that its new regulation requiring auto windows to do a better job reflecting and absorbing the sun's rays will dramatically slash California's greenhouse gas emissions, the historic goal that Assembly Bill 32 mandated when it became law in 2006.
Remember what happened the last time the Marlins awakened on July 3 in first place? No, you don't.
I don't know how many Michiganders are traveling to the Toledo area this weekend to see Michelle Wie play in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic. I suspect some people are going explicitly to see her, and a lot of people - golf fans, even - cannot imagine wanting to see her.
I know mature adults who pretend they won't watch Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Saturday.
Editor: College life is not meant to be easy, but I joined many others in a recent discussion about the financial status of those of us who will be attending college in the fall. A question that was originally intended to be a joke soon got serious: "Where is the college students' bailout?"
Editor: According to the Sun-Star's own guidelines for letters to the editor, "Letters should be on topics of general, local interest."
Editor: Is it me or does the center lane on 16th Street, across from Western Motors, look like three swastikas.
Editor: I am writing to challenge the Merced County Board of Supervisors and Merced City Council to show that they really have some compassion and understanding along with good leadership skills by removing the ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in Merced County.
Editor: I was amused, puzzled, irritated, and saddened by the one-dimensional column Saturday by Herbert A. Opalek and published for public consumption by the Sun-Star. His tone bothered me on several levels, but the icing on the cake was in his closing statement:
Editor: I'm a can hunter who is just trying to make it on very little income.
Editor: I cannot believe what I am reading. There are those who actually believe that the single-payer health plan, "Obamahealth," is going to work for the betterment of our country.
Editor: The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill also called the "Cap and Tax Bill" is actually titled American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Doesn't that sound like something we could all use?
BAGHDAD -- Random thoughts and feelings while in Iraq:
My Leadership Merced Class 24 "graduated" last night back home.Wish I could have been with them.
Some years ago I read a blog that began in this way: "I was told in Sunday school the word 'Christian' means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the Christian media are words of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell Christian with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ."
WASHINGTON -- It may seem strange to Americans, so close to our independence celebration, that Iraqis should break out the fireworks when our troops withdraw.
Remember what happened the last time the Marlins awakened on July 3 in first place? No, you don't.
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