2023

responsibility. It is based on government dependence.

Every American could earn far more, without taking on unnecessary risks, if they could take ownership of their payroll taxes and invest in a personal retirement account.

We have dishonesty and irresponsibility rampant because we have allowed the government to take over so much of our lives in a country where individuals are supposed to be free and responsible only to their Creator in Heaven.

It’s time for big changes in America. The only choice is whether we want to have a future or not.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators. com.

(described as a “peaceful rally” on howardzinn.org … where have you heard that before?) when mounted police charged the marchers. Dr. Zinn was hit and knocked unconscious.

He describes this experience as a turning point in his life. “From that moment on,” he writes, “I was no longer a liberal, a believer in the self-correcting character of American democracy.” His stated goal after the incident was “an uprooting of the old order.”

The book was published in 1980.

According to its publisher, it has sold over three million copies and continues to be used as a history textbook in public and private schools. Dr. Zinn’s book is written in easy-to-understand English, unlike most textbooks that are often dry and even more often, boring, especially to students of the computer era whose attention spans are … shorter than students’ of earlier generations.

In the very first chapter, Dr. Zinn introduces young minds to a wholly different Christopher Columbus.

“I am not worried about disillusioning young people,” Dr. Zinn writes. “We should be able to tell the truth about people whom we have been taught to look upon as heroes, but who really don’t deserve that admiration.

“Why should we,” he asks, “think it heroic to do as Columbus did, arrive in this hemisphere and carry on a rampage of violence, in order to find gold?

The fact that Capt. Columbus steered his three small ships across an unknown ocean to an unknown world, with his crew on the verge of mutiny every step of the way, that his bravery and determination to find a direct route to India by heading west rather than east, isn’t mentioned or acknowledged.

Dr. Zinn claims that Columbus, “like other informed people of his time, knew the world was round and he could sail west in order to get to the Far East.”

So, no big deal, smart people already knew one could get to India by sailing west.

Right. How come no one had done it?

In any case, even if you believed Columbus was a brave and industrious man, the reading of his exploits will quickly disabuse you of any of those notions.

Utilizing Bartolomé de las Casas’s “History of the Indies” (taken from Columbus’s journal accounts), de las Casas notes that “women in Indian society were treated so well as to startle the Spaniards.”

What follows is the description of an Eden-like environment, apparently spoiled and destroyed by the Europeans:

“Marriage laws are nonexistent: Men and women alike choose their mates and leave them as they please, without offense, jealousy or anger.

“Pregnant women work to the last minute and give birth almost painlessly; up the next day, they bathe in the river and are as clean and healthy as before giving birth. If they tire of their men, they give themselves abortions with herbs that force stillbirths …”

Really?

“Why should we find it heroic,” Dr. Zinn continues, “for Andrew Jackson to drive Indians out of their land? Why should we think of Theodore Roosevelt as a hero because he fought in the SpanishAmerican War, driving Spain out of Cuba, but also paving the efore discussing State Street, Did You Know? wants to congratulate all who participated in supporting the efforts to make Rocky Nook Park a Santa Barbara County Historic Landmark, and to thank the county Board of Supervisors, who listened to the voice of the people.

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A tireless champion of the Mission Creek area, Rosanne Crawford states, “Rocky Nook Park with its natural setting and connection to Chumash place names and culture is the most authentic part and oldest heritage of the three adjacent landmarks. This now creates a whole interconnected timeline with Mission Historical Park Landmark and the Old Mission Landmark.” A strong example of how participation and standing your ground does work for the good of the whole.Now, on to the state of State Street: Tess Harper and David Davis gave an update of the State Street Master Plan. We found it interesting amidst the back patting for their outreach efforts that after 5,000-6,000 participants in the surveys, that 79% want State Street to remain closed to cars, and 90% go downtown for food and drinks. The question “How many blocks should be closed?” wasn’t part of the survey.

The outreach was even conducted at schools where fifth through eighth graders were asked what they wanted on State Street. We heard them say a candy store and a soccer field. Wow. Tell that to a State Street investor or property owner.

What we found illuminating was that the three comparison cities used by MIG are nothing like Santa Barbara, at least not in the worldwide reputation for being a destination.

Of course, that may have been before the downturn. Today there are the vacant storefronts (52 empty out of 252) and the overpopulation of transients, some violent.

Another dissimilarity is that two of the three cities are not closed to vehicle traffic. San Luis Obispo (population 50,000) and Greenville, N.C., (pop. 70,000) are NOT closed to cars. And Pearl Street in Boulder, Co (pop. 100,000) is closed for only four blocks.

Why wouldn’t Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade be chosen for a comparison city and street?

The big question is: What will bring retail back to State Street, and will this three-ring circus bring enough paying customers to be fiscally sound? As it looks now, there is nothing stately, nor world class, about State Street.

A preview of what is fast becoming commonplace, and so sad for what is happening to Santa Barbara was on display during the Architectural Board of Review’s Jan. 23 meeting. Every project passed for project design approval and/ or final approval. All save the car wash on La Cumbre Road and the 6-unit AUD project at 515 W. Los Olivos St, were subpar, at least for the standards Santa Barbara used to be allowed to have. Of course, everything has changed with the implementation of Senate Bill 330, which determines that review boards have only five meetings to comment and give direction on a project, and must do so within 90 days.

The massive four-story, 82unit project at 711 N. Milpas St., aka 701 N. Milpas St., received project design approval, with conditions, from the Architectural Board of Review. Jarret Gorin represented the owners, loosely Alan Bleeker and Ed St. George. Mr. Gorin, who in his usual fashion asked for more, made a failed attempt to ask the board to remove the word “shall” from its PDA motion.

The ABR’s responsibilities are so diminished, partly

Financial woes reflect a nation that has lost its way America’s debt: $31.4 trillion IDEAS & COMMENTARY Please see DONOVAN on C4 Please see BUCKLEY on C4 Star Parker The author is with the Center for Urban Renewal and Education James Buckley PURELY POLITICAL COURTESY IMAGE

Wendy McCaw Arthur von Wiesenberger Co-Publisher Co-Publisher