Press Telegram

Tuesday's Speakout

Little man. The cartoonist who draws Mallard Fillmore is a little man. His cartoons say more about him that they do about the people he constantly puts down. I'm appalled that you would run the comic. Slippery felines. Licensing cats is a great idea. All you have to do is catch them.

Tuesday's Letters to the Editor

'School News' clarification Re "School News isn't needed" (Letters, Oct. 26):

Clean Trucks and Hot Air

When the Port of Long Beach made peace with the trucking association last week, it was a victory for clean air. Why, then, did a local environmental group go on the attack? Simple. The group, which calls itself the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, is fronting for the Teamsters Union, which wants to make the port trucking businesses easy prey.

Richard Cohen: Give the General Only What He Needs in Afghanistan

Years ago, I bought an old Time magazine - the issue with the 1965 Man of the Year on the cover. I stuffed it into an old picture frame and kept it around to remind me both of the fallibility of men, and, even, of Time magazine. It was of Gen. William C. Westmoreland. He was the Vietnam era's Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Westmoreland was an utter failure and I do not mean to suggest that McChrystal is the same. Yet at the time the square-jawed Westmoreland appeared on the cover of Time, he was se...

Women Architects of Change

For the Long Beach Convention Center, the annual Women's Conference is a unique experience. More than 20,000 women gathered to share wisdom and experience, seemingly ready to change the world. A male is relatively rare in that environment, but no one is made to feel unwelcome. The theme this year, "Be Who You Are, an Architect of Change," was apt for program segments as practical as managing your money or starting your own business. And as philosophical as What Happens When Women Run Things.

Wednesday's Letters to the Editor

In defense of 'payday' loans Re "Payday lending must be controlled" (Editorial, Oct. 26):

Wednesday's Speakout

Cat advice. I'm a cat owner, and I think it's inhumane to keep a cat indoors all the time. People who want to adopt a cat should just lie, lie, lie about keeping a cat indoors. Cat licenses. If people would keep their cats in at night it would solve a lot of problems. Licensing would convince people to do just that.

Dan Walters: Pension Fund's Inside Deals Raise a Stench

Remember the old saying, "Once burned, twice shy"? It's supposed to mean that when one has a bad experience, one should be more cautious in similarly dangerous circumstances. California got burned in the early 1990s when Leon Black, fresh off a career with the scandal-tainted Drexel Burnham Lambert junk bond shop, set up his own investment firm and persuaded the state's new insurance commissioner, John Garamendi, to seize a supposedly insolvent Executive Life.

Ruben Navarrette: Are Teachers Being Left Behind at Colleges That Don't Teach?

By stalling on issues ranging from Afghanistan to immigration reform, President Obama has earned a reputation for being indecisive. Yet Obama did make one decision that was positively brilliant - naming Arne Duncan as secretary of education. Duncan proved this again last week when he zeroed in on an often- overlooked part of the education reform equation: the nation's teachers colleges. In a speech at Columbia University's Teachers College, Duncan delivered a stinging critique of the schools ...