Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/270994
The Tea Party Patri- ots will have as guest speaker tonight Char- lene Reid, Director of the Tehama County So- cial Services. On a re- lated note, "Tehama County is losing out on $6.9 million in addi- tional economic activity because not all individuals eli- gible for Cal Fresh assistance enroll in the program, accord- ing to a report released Thurs- day (from California Food Pol- icy Advocates)." I get that advocates for ever- greater government transfer payment programs—income- qualified or means tested ben - efits—consider it a success, or "progress" if you will, to expand the reach of such programs to all who qualify. However, if the intended re - cipients are the "poor," why is 125 percent of the poverty level the cutoff? Doesn't the higher cutoff for any benefit program make it harder for people to rationalize earning more if it means losing government hand - outs? Such perverse logic is in- herent in, for instance, Obam- acare. Shouldn't people aspire to provide for themselves at some point? When a single mom must earn as much as $65,000 in some states to fully replace all federal and state benefits, aren't we providing a disincen - tive to the traditional Ameri- can principle of self-sufficiency? Depending on the government is, by definition, depending on other people's forcibly coerced tax "contributions." Then, doesn't the whole con - cept of $7 million of "addi- tional economic activity" in Te- hama County become econom- ically counterproductive? It had to be taken from taxpay- ers, now deprived of their "ad- ditional economic activity," or borrowed against future wage- earners, also depriving them of same. We've been assured by liberal politicians and big-gov - ernment advocates that a dol- lar spent by government multi- plies, apparently by economic magic, as it gets spent locally. That, however, is fallacious logic and defies common sense. That dollar, whether taken from a taxpayer or borrowed from future earners, loses the value it would have created. Benefit programs have admin - istrative costs, or the inter- est cost of debt. The director and staff of any social services agency reduce—not increase— the "economic activity" pro - duced by those programs. Such are the quandaries I pose, writing and offering through a labor of love, my in - sights, facts and studied opin- ions. When a critic issues a broad-brush, nonspecific ha- rangue and never actually uses anything I've written, I can only dismiss, with preju- dice, such criticism as being irrelevant to my presenting the truth, as I see it. I could item - ize dozens of topics covered over the last year, which would con- tain few, if any, of the items a writer says I supposedly obsessed over in this column. Another writer, were he deprived of topics such as marijuana, homelessness, global warm - ing and never-ending broad- sides at Republicans and the Tea Party, would be left with rather thin gruel for material. To each their own. Broadcast, cable (Fox News excepted) and major print news media coverage resembles, as I see it, rather repetitive "dog bites man," conventional, lib - eral-left approaches to stories. This column diverges and looks for, as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story." This is the only weekly column written by a local conservative in all of Northern California. For instance, the reporting on President Obama's "broth - er's keeper" initiative contained repetitive phrases and perspec- tives: Obama's "deeply per- sonal" and "heartfelt" cause to reach out to minority men in dire circumstances received praise and warm emotional cov - erage. I heard not a word of cu- riosity over his documented in- difference to his own impover- ished brother in Africa living in squalor in a hut with but a few dollars of income. In an in- terview by filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, his brother did not share Obama's leftist political perspective and receives not one whit of financial support from his wealthy American sib - ling. In a book by Obama's half- brother, he recounted his one visit from his rising commu - nity-organizer relative, that Barack acted overly black, and dismissed the half-brother's ap- preciation of classical music, like Chopin, as being too white of a interest. He also receives no support from the "1 percent" president. Then there is the larger, "el - ephant in the room" perspec- tive—avoided by mainstream news media and analysts— that, through a half a century of welfare programs and pol - icies that undermine the nu- clear family, tens of millions of young black boys and men have no father in their lives. One of the single greatest predictors of any young man growing to be crime-and-drug-free, edu - cated and gainfully employed is having a father in the home and in his life. Does no one else see, and have the willing - ness to point out, that Barack Obama was abandoned by both his mother and all father fig- ures, replacing them with re- ported communist Frank Mar- shal Davis in Hawaii. Obama, unsurprisingly, now sees the government, through tax- payer-funded initiatives, as the logical replacement for the ab- sent fathers of young, minor- ity men. Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, I don't see any of the liberal media elite rushing to apologize to either Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney, whom they ridiculed roundly for having the foresight and temerity to point to an invasion of Ukraine (Palin) by our biggest global ad - versary, Russia (Romney), dur- ing their national campaigns in 2008 and 2012. As I've said be- fore, being a liberal means, to the left, never having to admit error, much less apologize for said errors. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com. Column Dependency state — is it in Tehama to stay? Cartoonist's take At the sold-out Demo- cratic Fundraiser in Red Bluff we were introduced to Heidi Hall who is run- ning to replace Doug La Malfa as our congressio- nal representative this November. In my opin- ion she deserves your vote – here is why. Heidi was born and raised in North- ern California to teachers who valued hard work, education and equality of opportunity. She has spent two decades in public ser - vice, protecting and managing our natural resources and work- ing to promote sustainable solu- tions to modern challenges. She has fought her whole life for com- mon sense government that en- courages innovation, responsibly protects our resources, and em- powers communities. Heidi spent her career making government more efficient to en- courage innovative green busi- nesses and entrepreneurs, and to ensure a level playing field for all companies. She knows that we can restore economic vitality to our rural communities by shift - ing resources to the real job-cre- ators and making big corpora- tions pay their fair share. She'll make sure that our communi- ties, with vast forest and water resources that benefit the whole state, will always have a seat at the table, and will share in the prosperity that our natural re - sources provide. Heidi firmly believes that a strong middle class is key to America's future. That's why she will always work to make the dream of middle class life into a reality for working families, by protecting the right to retire, making college more affordable, and ensuring that all Americans have access to quality, afford - able health care. As the working mother of two boys, she knows first-hand the hardships that working families can face, and will always speak up for us when we're threatened. In Congress, Heidi will work to enact a comprehen - sive program of immigra- tion reform that includes a path to citizenship. Mil- lions of undocumented residents have built lives, raised families, and fully integrated themselves into our society. But we have erected more bar - riers to block them from achiev- ing the dream of citizenship than at any time in over a century. We need to allow these Ameri- cans-to-be to come forward, be- gin a fair process that will lead to eventual citizenship, and take the last steps to becoming full members of the American fam - ily. There's nothing fair about a tax system that rewards the wealthiest corporations and CEOs while forcing mid - dle class families to pay for it. Right now, some of America's largest companies pay noth- ing in income tax, even while raking in record profits. Many even have negative tax rates, actually getting huge subsi - dies from the government while working families struggle. Meanwhile, the federal gov- ernment continues to run mas- sive deficits and rack up debts that our children will have to pay down. We have to fix this. We need fundamental reform that gives middle class families a lower income tax rate than millionaires, and that asks the richest companies and individ - uals to pay their fair share, so that working families can get by. The greatest threat to our na - tional security, public health and long-term economic growth is climate change. Our country has to take immediate steps to re - duce its impact on our lives and land. In Congress, Heidi will sup- port market-based solutions to reduce greenhouse emissions, tax benefits for companies that work to limit their emissions, and investing in a clean energy infrastructure, including new funding for alternative fuels and renewable power generation. Heidi will work to strengthen our job training programs for veterans, to help them better re - integrate into civilian life. She will also work to establish a civil- ian certification program, which will translate military training into certification for many civil- ian positions, such as commer- cial transportation, mechani- cal and electrical repairs, and project management. Heidi will aggressively support legisla- tion to modernize the VA's dis- ability claims processing pro- gram, digitizing claims paper- work and adding support staff to help guide veterans through the claims process. These men and women kept faith with us, and we cannot abandon them now that they've come home. The American Jobs Act will put millions of our people back to work. It provides funding to keep teachers in classrooms, police of - ficers on the streets, and con- struction crews operating. It es- tablishes new programs to invest in modernizing and retrofitting homes and businesses to become more energy efficient, rebuilds our crumbling infrastructure, and helps local governments af - ford to keep their schools prop- erly staffed and maintained. Heidi will proudly work to secure its passage in Congress. If like most of us you are sick and tired of our dysfunctional government and representative La Malfa who serves only the Tea Party extremists know that Heidi Hall will serve us well in Congress. Richard Mazzucchi is a retired re - search engineer specializing in en- ergy efficiency and renewable en- ergy. He has travelled extensively and now makes his home in Los Molinos, where he is striving to manifest a sustainable and spirit - ual lifestyle and operate a barbe- cue equipment and supply business. He can be reached at living-green@ att.net. Column Heidi Hall will serve us well in the House of Representatives Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, I don't see any of the liberal media elite rushing to apologize to either Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney, whom they ridiculed roundly for having the foresight and temerity to point to an invasion of Ukraine (Palin) by our biggest global adversary, Russia (Romney), during their national campaigns in 2008 and 2012. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. I like the separate line item for added sugar, the more realistic serving size and the larger calorie font. All good things I think! Adam Knight: Facebook comment on Daily News article on proposed changes to nutrition It's really sickening that this could not wait. Putting those poor kids through hell on the anniversary of Marysa's death. Heard par- ents let their kids stay home!! Shame on you RBHS Shame on you!! Hope Marie Nichols: Facebook comment on article about RBUHS lockdown drill Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EdItoRIal BoaRd How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151 ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBooK.CoM/ RBdAIlyNEwS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REdBluFFNEwS Don Polson Richard Mazzucchi OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com tuesday, March 4, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBooK.CoM/RBdAIlyNEwS AND TwITTER.CoM/REdBluFFNEwS a6