Community Voices
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Stuck between apathy and dependence
The average life span of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years: bondage to spiritual faith to great courage to liberty to abundance to selfishness to complacency to apathy to dependence and back to bondage.
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Maybe we should also blame Obama for gravity
The writer of a Nov. 2 letter, "Swine flu scourge is Obama's fault," claims that "Bush warned us 18 months ago about the H1N1 flu and took steps to ensure we would have enough vaccine."
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Newest Wal-Mart Superstore overcame bogus opposition to become a reality
It took nearly six years, but Bakersfield finally has its first Walmart Supercenter. A far-out lawsuit and stealth campaign by a bogus citizens group could not stop this environmentally friendly, one-stop department and grocery store for low-price hunting residents of our community.
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Taft city manager: We'll do whatever it takes to help you start a business here
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act should start to provide some economic stimulus by the end of this year, according to some economists. Meanwhile, the City of Taft is nearing completion of our planning efforts and we believe that we will be poised for sustainable growth.
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For eight decades FDIC has done job government created it to do
Confidence. Next to money, that is one of the most critical "assets" a bank can have. A customer must be confident that his or her bank is strong, safe and properly managed. Regulators must be confident that rules are being followed and managers are good stewards of their customers' and shareholders' deposits and investments.
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Turns out blight is my own problem
I recently moved back to Bakersfield from Los Angeles, and immediately upon my return I realized where the focus of attention had been during my absence.
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State needs a ballot initiative banning public-employee unions from politics
The Tea Party Patriots have a solution to create meaningful political reform in California. It is to reduce the disproportionate power of the public employee unions, which form the largest special interest in politics by far.
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Politicians, not old folks, responsible for economic woes
Warren Coats' Oct. 18 Community Voices article, "Younger people shouldn't have to support elders," started out about visiting his ailing mother and then went into a rant over greedy old people ripping off poor young people.
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Soot causes lung problems, period
Lois Henry's Oct. 21 column, "State air board can't ignore credibility problems," is another attempt to change the conversation about the reason the California Air Resources Board is working to cut diesel emissions: public health.
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Turns out blight is my own problem
I recently moved back to Bakersfield from Los Angeles, and immediately upon my return I realized where the focus of attention had been during my absence.
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Some questions for PG&E we haven't yet received satisfactory answers on
The reliability of PG&E's SmartMeters has been questioned by a state senator, media statewide and Kern County ratepayers. Just in case Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the California Public Utility Commission neglect to solicit my thoughts regarding independent testing, I decided to share my opinion with them via a medium that is sure not to get lost in the mail. Here goes:
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U.S. cities must do a better job of planning for baby boomers' active retirement years
During the Vietnam War decades ago, it was a commonly heard protesters' chant: "Hell no, we won't go." That protesting generation of baby boomers now seems to be taking the same chant into its aging years.
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Americans like what is familiar, even if better solution might be out there
The health care debate has polarized the nation so much that it now seems prudent to pause and ascertain the facts before we float farther on the waves of this debate.
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Traffic reduction tax has plenty of benefits
During the first OPEC oil boycott a Southern California radio station reported that a major hospital had delayed the opening of its new emergency room; it wouldn't be effectively utilized due to decreased need. One can't help wondering how many lives were "saved" during the boycott. Soon enough America was back to our profligate ways and doubtlessly the emergency room was thriving.
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In case you missed It: Californians' withholding taxes are going up by 10 percent
Taxes: For most, they get taken out each paycheck, allocated to their respective governmental level and then dispersed as funding for a given government program. Typically handled by a payroll department, the taxes are taken swiftly and stealthily, leaving taxpayers with a pay stub reflecting the difference between wages earned and wages taken home.
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Toll of domestic violence on children can be profound to both child and society
As a counselor at the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault, I am especially compelled during Domestic Violence Awareness Month to speak up about the most innocent victims of this tragedy: children.
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In case you missed It: Californians' taxes are going up by 10 percent
Taxes: For most, they get taken out each paycheck, allocated to their respective governmental level and then dispersed as funding for a given government program. Typically handled by a payroll department, the taxes are taken swiftly and stealthily, leaving taxpayers with a pay stub reflecting the difference between wages earned and wages taken home.
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One way to ease physician shortage: Extend authority to pharmacists, others
No matter what side of the political fence you sit, you should be terrified by the raw numbers associated with the shortage of medical practitioners, not just physicians, facing the U.S. today. And the dire predictions we're hearing about practitioner shortages are based on current numbers. Think how much worse the shortage will be when the people now without health insurance start seeking medical attention in a universal-care setting, as Robert Price pointed out in his Oct. 12 column, "We've got to find more doctors, expert says."
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Younger people shouldn't have to support elders
My mother, Sue Coats, has been a frequent contributor to these pages. I am here in Bakersfield, the place of my birth, to visit her in her hospital bed at Rosewood. Worrying about my parents' care -- my father is still able to live in the assisted care section of Rosewood -- has redoubled my disgust with the AARP and the greed of some of our elders.
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The lesson of six little motherless kittens
I found them on a rainy March evening. They were deep inside some tangled, wet bushes and my husband and I had to chop our way in to them. As he started to pull them out, one by one, I counted, "One, two, three, four, five -- and, oh my god, six!" They were about two to three weeks old, as close as I could figure. They were all screaming for food. We had found their mother dead, poisoned, we thought, a few days earlier.