Where Lincoln Was Right and Obama Is Wrong

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

What I will remember most about President Obama when he leaves office will be his extreme discomfort living in our country. His land, this is not. In his bones, he is no more American than Putin, Cameron or Merkel.

Mr. Nice Guy Makes Magic – Vanquishes Himself

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

When the Culver City Democratic Club endorsed the troubling – and troubled – Christopher Armenta this week for the state Assembly special election on Dec. 3, it was a precise replica of the national Democratic Party’s nomination in 2008 of the low-grade greaseball Swish Obama. Both candidates have…

In Defense of Vernon Taylor

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

During my almost 13 years in Culver City, David Mielke, president of the Teachers Union, is one of the kindest, the most sensitive and the funniest persons I have met. A grievous faux pas has been committed, though, by Mr. Mielke and the union leadership. It must be publicly acknowledged.

Mielke Says There Is an Explanation. Will Taylor Supporters Revolt?

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

Suddenly the once rosy School Board campaign – 13 days out – is souring faster than an elderly lady plumped into a rocking chair in a darkened room, desperately hoping to polish her pale pallor. The previously unexplained subtraction of endorsed Vernon Taylor from a candidate recommendation letter written by the president of the Teachers Union and sent out to voters is the new No. 1 negative bombshell.

Cooper and Clarke Defend 12 Set-Asides at Culver Villas

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

Third in a series. With a staggering 1,448 residents or would-be residents of Culver City applying for housing at the Culver Villas on Irving Place – scheduled for completion next month – how can City Hall automatically – arrogantly? – award 12 of the 28 scarce units to employees of the School District and the city?

Rigged?

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

Second in a series. Three years ago, when City Hall, in its specialized wisdom, was deciding which Deserving Citizens should be accorded the privilege of inhabiting the pristine corridors of the still-not-open Culver Villas on Irving Place, a balmy decision was made that causes some people to call others nasty names.

The Desperate Tenant

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

Just before 10 o’clock this morning near a heavily traveled intersection in Culver City, two women, one borderline elderly, the other youthful, were conversing. Suddenly the 70ish woman, tall, slender and composed, exploded…

What Is So Foul About Rent Control?

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

The first commandment for rookie politicians is to learn your constituencies. The second is to preside over them, with balance, with relative equality, without favor toward the have-nots or the haves. The third lesson for freshmen is…

Obama Makes Chamberlain Look Like a Patriot

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

It was a red-faced Munich Moment that, with typical self-referential bizzarity, he slyly converted into a Eunuch Movement. As Swishy swayed last night, Neville Chamberlain sprang from the grave with the verve of Yasiel Puig. Swishy asked a White House aide afterward, “Who is Chamberlain?”

Why Not Sweep the Gutter Instead of Wasting Energy on Mitchell

Ari L. NoonanEditor's Essays

It takes a measure of hubris to write this story on the day after our colleague Tom Elias reported on the huge turnout of, ahem, newly registered Latinos – or somebody who looked like them – who thronged to the polls last November and voted to re-elect the President. Since liberals believe…