Opinion

Both the violin and its player surely will be among the finest to ever appear with our homegrown symphony.

I can’t say I know old violins as well as I know old guitars, but instruments generally rise in value based on the materials used in their construction and skill of the craftsmen who build them.

Feb. 7, 2012 — President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address Nov. 19, 1863, to mark the devotion of soldiers on both sides of a nation embroiled in a great civil war.

While Lincoln said his speech would soon be forgotten, it has become arguably one of the most well known presidential speeches of all time.

Despite the bloody turmoil of a nation divided, in his Gettysburg Address Lincoln evoked the everlasting notion of a government “of the people, by the people (and) for the people.”

Although the liner notes bill it as “hilarious,” that is probably an exaggeration. It is, however, a satiric poke at the whole idea of “neutral observation” underlying scientific studies and very funny indeed.

The movie was made in 2003, but takes place in the early ’50s or even a couple of years before.

Jan. 31, 2012 — OK. All right. Enough of this recall business already.

Lassen County District 5 Supervisor Jack Hanson has come under fire again from a small but vocal group of his constituents.

To hear them say it, it’s probably a good thing we don’t tar and feather our political varmints up here in Lassen County because Hanson would sure be a prime candidate for that unfriendly treatment.