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• Dave Cogdill gets boot

• 2.5 percent pay cut for firefighters

• Lodi Unified School District trustees approve layoff of 390 teachers

• Local schools, governments look to cash in on stimulus

• Principals among those on list of Lodi Unified School District top 20 wage earners

• Regional Roundup

• No decision on Galt High district layoffs

• Correction

• Tracy native killed while serving in Afghanistan with the Marine Corps

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• Regional Roundup

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Group investigates reports of haunting

October 31st, 2009

• Area schools have no plans of closing due to H1N1 virus

• Tokay High evacuation

• Gated communities in Lodi

• Finishing touches on Hill House replica

• Regional Roundup

• In remembrance of Kyle Coumas

• Lodi-area Halloween events

• City of Lodi settles case of mistaken identity

• Lodi a reflection of Halloween's retail emergence

• Izzy Laviola and Seth Siddle-Mitchell crowned Tokay homecoming queen and king

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (63)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (60)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (56)
• Universal health care solves big problems (42)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
• Words from our forefathers (26)
• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home (18)
• Falcons trample over Galt's playoff hopes (17)
• Stuck in neutral? Hardly! (17)

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Like NASCAR drivers, our politicians should wear uniforms clearly stating their sponsors

A most distinguished Highway Patrol retiree called me the other day to suggest some ideas he and a couple of his friends were tossing around that could, if put to use, save the state of California a little money and instill an additional modicum of honesty and real work ethic among the politicians and bureaucrats who presently run things, both in public and behind the scenes.

For one thing, he said for the sake of simplicity we should more clearly identify the primary players, their partners and sponsors. To start with, the various individuals who have their snouts in the public trough should be obliged to wear uniforms of a sort. The politicians' clothes might resemble those worn by NASCAR drivers and their crews, hard hats and all. Their political affiliation should be clearly marked by big "Rs," "Ds" and "Is" displayed on their chests sort of like the big red "As" that outed some less-than-distinguished persons many years ago. The politicos' sponsors' logos would be prominently sewn on their clothes and caps. That way, when you are out hustling their favors and votes on one matter or another, you'd know who else is kissing their rings to garner favors — it'd say so right on their uniforms. That way, you could temper your ardor based on the competition or lack thereof.

They already have special license plates on their (our) government-issued cars, and if we continue to pay for the use of the cars they should have the cars painted pink, or at the least have global petitioners so we will have some idea what kind of official business they are up to when we see them parked in front of an expensive or sinful joint spending our hard-earned money. There aren't all that many Mary Kay super sales people in Sacramento so they wouldn't get mixed up with the political hustlers very often.

Actually, if my friends had their way, the "Rs," "Is" and "Ds" would be driving their own cars just like the rest of us, and the gas in the tanks would be paid for the same way the rest of us do, from our own earnings. The perks used by those people sometimes exceed the cost of having the public servant in our employ in the first place, so such "incentives" would simply disappear and save the state a slug of dough.

The perk restriction would, of course, apply to who pays the hired help. When we hire someone, we pay that person out of our earnings. They should too; fair is fair.

We have heard the same lament for the half century I can attest to: "Unless you pay politicians more money, you won't get quality people, and that it is important to return experienced people to their jobs." I have only one comment: Look what experience and big pay checks got us so far. We have not had a workable budget on time in this state since Hector was a pup.

Besides, how does paying a person a salary make them more or less honest than they were or are?

While we are on this subject, serving one term in office shouldn't qualify those people for retirement any more than four years do for the rest of us. After they have been in office for one term, their pensions shouldn't start for at least 30 more years whether or not they were re-elected. That way they will have to work for a living exactly as we do or even President Ulysses S. Grant did after he left office. What the heck, if they could pull it off, let them go out on speaking tours representing ego-hustling companies and earn their own dang millions, but still not get one government pension penny until the minimum time elapses.

We are stuck in a mindset that says, "I know he is a dirty rotten scoundrel but he's our dirty rotten scoundrel, so we have to re-elect him."

My distinguished colleagues and I emphatically say, "Get over it and elect the right people. It'll do us all good to think before we punch out one more chad."

Bob Bader is a chiropractor and a writer. You can reach him at bobbyo@softcom.net.