Sayet uses humor to deliver important message

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/15/09

Political humorists are sort of the wartime diplomats of political debate. Their audiences give them safe passage through their defensive walls and grant them permission to directly influence decisions of hostile entities. Humorless conservative commentators spend years laying siege to liberal castles, pounding their walls with the artillery of reasoned argument, only to fail to dent the hardened fortifications that were designed over a lifetime... read more »

Source: Audra Strickland to announce run for Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector seat

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/10/09

Assemblywoman Audra Strickland will soon announce her intention to become Ventura County’s next treasurer-tax collector, according to a source very close to her office. Larry Matheney, who currently holds that position, announced yesterday that he will not seek a third term. Strickland maintains a high degree of positive name identification in Ventura County, where voters elected her to the Assembly in 2004, reelecting her in 2006 and... read more »

Yet another murder takes place in Oxnard

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/10/09

Yet another murder has occurred in the city of Oxnard yesterday, bringing the death toll up to twelve for the year. In August, I reported that Oxnard’s murder rate was 25 percent higher than Los Angeles. It seems that every month we read in the paper of another murder in the crime-ridden coastal community. Nearby, a Rancho Cucamonga man was shot in the hand around the same time. Police have yet to determine if the incidents were... read more »

Health care reform bill is “capitalism”?

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/10/09

A recent article in the Ventura County Star contained a quote from a local doctor and supporter of the Democrats’ health care plan in which he says, “This is capitalism. This is competition. It’s another car brand. No one’s making you pick it.” Call it reform. Call it a great idea. But whatever you do, don’t call it “capitalism”. It’s a little disconcerting that there are people that think... read more »

Newspaper publishes names of highest paid public employees in Ventura

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/09/09

The Ventura County Star published the names of the highest paid public employees in the county today, raising a question of how privacy issues of public employees should be balanced against the public’s right to know how their tax dollars are spent.  It’s a tough call—I want to know if we are overpaying county employees, but it makes me squeamish to read the names of public safety personnel in the paper. The Star should... read more »

Fall of the Wall, Twenty Years Later

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/09/09

Former Reagan Administration advisers gathered at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Friday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nancy Reagan hosted a panel discussion that included former National Security Adviser Richard Allen, former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese, former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, and Martin Anderson, Reagan’s chief domestic policy adviser. Long retired, the men... read more »

Board cuts five days from school year

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/07/09

The Pleasant Valley School District board decided to cut five days from the school year Thursday night in an attempt to alleviate the ongoing budget problems facing schools around the state. The shortened calendar will save the district, which encompasses Camarillo, approximately $970,000 in salary expenditures, a reduction of about 2.5 percent. The district spends about 86 percent of its budget on employee salaries and benefits, a figure that... read more »

Seeing Red: conservatives "sharpening the long blades" over NY-23

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/01/09

As if conservatives weren't empowered enough after claiming liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava's scalp in the NY-23 special congressional election, they've been given another reason to revolt against the GOP establishment. Dede Scozzafava has endorsed her Democratic opponent over the conservative candidate Doug Hoffman, and now the party has a big "I told you so" coming.   Prior to her endorsement, Red... read more »

Scozzafava episode a warning for GOP

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/01/09

Now that Dede Scozzafava is out of the race in New York’s 23rd special congressional election and thrown her support behind her Democrat opponent, it’s become obvious that the Republican Party has a real problem on its hands. Prior to last week’s developments, the party establishment could ignore conservatives and continue to push for big government in an attempt to out-liberal liberals. The NY-23 revolt now serves as an... read more »

Local Democrats not happy with paper's city council endorsements

By Eric Ingemunson | 11/01/09

Ventura County Democrats aren’t too happy with the Ventura County Star’s endorsement of Republicans in the race for Ventura City Council. “We desperately need you to participate by making phone calls to keep the Republicans and Star newspaper publishers from thwarting the will of the people,” the party wrote in an e-mail to supporters. God forbid a media outlet endorses a Republican. Is it not enough that CBS, NBC, ABC,... read more »