Before the Judicial Council was voted in by the people of the State in California, the local judge was a Justice of the Peace and was known to the people as a J.P. He would…
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The Turks were so patient for putting up with me this fall as I cycled around the western half of Turkey. I cringe now when I recall the many times, while in conversation with strangers,…
NOT SO TABOO Editor, This week's letters section is a fine demonstration of why sex, religion and politics are traditionally taboo topics in “polite” company. An observation: Sex, religion and politics are, aside from the…
“To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.” — Nadia Boulanger During the four years in the early 1990’s when I ran the Creative Writing program for the…
It’s been a triumphant month for Big Oil. First, the Obama administration teamed with the Chinese delegation to scuttle the timid climate agenda at the Durban summit. Then recidivist offender British Petroleum won the rights…
Too bad Kim Jong-il kicked the bucket last weekend. If the divine hand that laid low the North Korean leader had held off for a week or so, Kim would have been sustained by the…
In what is probably a first in the history of wine's conquest of all arable land in northern California, a 528-acre expanse of former wetlands in southern Sonoma County is set to be converted into…
The court was waiting for the defendant, Ira ‘Redhawk’ Reyes. Reyes was on his way to the County Courthouse in Ukiah from his home in Covelo. We knew Redhawk was on the way because his…
Most people are at least dimly aware that our government murders whole families of vaguely identified terrorists by unmanned aircraft called drones. The drones, which also take high-resolution photos, are operated by a video-raised kid…