Red Bluff Daily News

April 24, 2014

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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 Recently, Barack Obama — a Demosthenes determined to elevate our politics from coarseness to elegance; a Pericles sent to ameliorate our rhetorical impoverishment — spoke at the University of Michigan. He came to that very friendly venue — in 2012, he received 67 percent of the vote in Ann Arbor's county — a\er visiting a local sandwich shop, where a muse must have whispered in the presidential ear. Rep. Paul Ryan, R- Wis., had recently re- leased his budget, so Obama expressed his disapproval by call- ing it, for the benefit of his academic audience, a "meanwich" and a "stinkburger." Try to imagine Franklin Roosevelt or Dwight Eisen - hower or John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan talking like that. It is unimaginable that those grown-ups would re - sort to japes that fourth- graders would not consider sufficiently clever for use on a playground. When Theodore Roosevelt was president, one of his good friends — he had been best man at TR's 1886 wed - ding — was the British dip- lomat Cecil Spring Rice. So, when visitors to Washington wanted to learn about TR, they asked Rice about him, and Springie, as TR called him, would say: "You must always remember that the president is about 6." Today's president is older than that. But he talks like an arrested- development adolescent. Anyone who has tried to engage a member of that age cohort in an argument prob - ably recognizes the four ba- sic teenage tropes, which also are the only arrows in Obama's overrated rhetor- ical quiver. They were all employed by him last week when he went to the White House briefing room to ex - claim, as he is wont to do, about the excellence of the Affordable Care Act. First came the invocation of a straw man. Celebrating the ACA's enrollment num - bers, Obama, referring to Republicans, charged: "They said nobody would sign up." Of course, no one said this. Obama often is what politi - cal philosopher Kenneth Mi- nogue said of an adversary — "a pyromaniac in a field of straw men." Adolescents also try to truncate arguments by say - ing that nothing remains of any arguments against their arguments. Regarding the ACA, Obama said the debate is "settled" and "over." Pro - gressives also say the de- bate about catastrophic con- sequences of man-made cli- mate change is "over," so everyone should pipe down. And they say the debates about the efficacy of uni - versal preschool, and the cost-benefit bal- ance of a minimum wage increase, are over. Declaring an ar- gument over is so much more restful than engaging with evidence. A third rhetorical move by argumentative adoles - cents is to declare that there is nothing to argue about be- cause everything is going along swimmingly. Seven times Obama asserted that the ACA is "working." That is, however, uninformative because it is ambiguous. The ethanol program is "work - ing" in the sense that it is be- ing implemented as its mis- guided architects intended. Nevertheless, the program is a substantial net subtraction from the nation's well-be - ing. The same can be said of sugar import quotas, or ag- riculture subsidies generally, or many hundreds of other government programs that are, unfortunately, "work - ing." Finally, the real discus- sion-stopper for the righ- teous — and there is no righ- teousness like an adoles- cent's — is an assertion that has always been an Obama specialty. It is that there can- not be honorable and intel- ligent disagreement with him. So last week, less than two minutes after saying that the argument about the ACA "isn't about me," he said some important opposition to the ACA is about him, cit - ing "states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid for no other reason than politi- cal spite." This, he said, must be spiteful because expanding Medicaid involves "zero cost to these states." Well. The federal government does pay the full cost of expansion — for three years. After that, however, states will pay up to 10 percent of the expan - sion's costs, which itself will be a large sum. And the 10 percent figure has not been graven on stone by the finger of God. It can be enlarged whenever Congress wants, as surely it will, to enable more federal spending by imposing more burdens on the states. Yet Obama, who aspired to tutor Washington about ci - vility, is incapable of cred- iting opponents with other than base motives. About one thing Obama was right, if contradictory. He said Americans want pol - iticians to talk about other subjects — but that Demo- crats should campaign by celebrating the wondrous- ness of the ACA. This would be candid because it is what progressivism is — a top- down, continent-wide tissue of taxes, mandates and other coercions. Is the debate about it over? Not quite. George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. George F. Will Obama the adolescent president Unanswered questions Editor: We've all seen the lawn signs advocating creation of the State of Jefferson. I have one in my neighborhood that I pass nearly every day. In fact I've seen it so many times I've even scrutinized some of the small print. The signs tell us Jefferson will bring us "lower taxes." Really? How? When I visited the website to get an idea as to how this would be accomplished, I found pre - cious little in the way of detail. One phrase told me, "a favor- able business and corporate tax structure will have all the busi- ness which is leaving California relocate to Jefferson." Really? Can I see the list of companies willing to relocate? Can I get a timetable as to when they'll relocate? Will we get a promise from these outfits they won't pull out and head to Texas if Rick Perry offers them a bet - ter deal? In reality, the Jefferson group has no idea what kind of taxes it will take to operate Jefferson. Lower taxes? For business, yes. For the rest of us, who knows? The website also notes savings realized by way of smaller gov - ernment. Curiously, proponents say Jef- ferson will not have a State Police. We don't have one now. It was merged with the CHP in 1995. They also mention we will not need or have the "5700 state agencies" currently in existence. So, who gets the ax? Will it be the Highway Patrol, Rural Fire Departments, EDD, Corrections, Fish & Wildlife? The website doesn't identify a single agency that won't be duplicated in the new state. While the Jeffersonites talk about smaller, cheaper govern - ment, they cannot tell you what it will look like, what services it will provide or how much it will save. When it comes to facts, we, the voters, have absolutely noth - ing upon which to base a deci- sion. It's easy to see what the pro-Jefferson crowd doesn't like. But that's not the question be- fore us. We're being asked to en- dorse the creation of a new state. Before any voter can say yes, shouldn't we at least have an- swers to some basic questions about taxes and services? David Janott, Red Bluff Vote for a better Tehama Editor: Elections are very important. Tehama County District 3 Su- pervisor candidate Pat Johnston is one of the most caring people I know, when it comes to county problems and concerns, as well as its possibilities. Her passionate stand to help the homeless, while trying to clean up the damage they have done to the city of Red Bluff, is only a couple of her many con - cerns and accomplishments. A true exception of com- bined education, hard work, self- less Christian values and knowl- edge, she will continue to serve our county well. A woman I have known for well more than 10 years, whose sincerity doesn't al - low her to pacify the populace of the status quo or powerful, but to fight for those with no power. Remember a vote for Pat Johnston for District 3 Supervi - sor is a vote for a better Tehama County. KathyBonner, Red Bluff Column on the money Editor: Paul Wenger's article was right on the money in my opin- ion. I hope the board of supervi- sors, mayor and Red Bluff City Council will take note. A definite example of Wenger's points is the elimina - tion of lake Red Bluff and the ef- fect that's had on the ground wa- ter in the Antelope area. Not to mention the economic and rec- reational loss to Red bluff. Once again, I urge county and city leaders to challenge through lit- igation the ruling regarding the permanent lowering of one of Red Bluff's most valuable assets, the river. Terry van Dyke, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take If you don't believe events such as Sunday's "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" day at the Red Bluff Round-Up or the Lady Spar - tans annual "Pink Out" basket- ball game are having an impact on our community, you might be color blind. Since 2006 our rodeo's pink- filled day has raised more than $238,000 for equipment up - grades at the St. Elizabeth Im- aging Center and for mam- mograms for women — and yes even men too. That figure doesn't take into account what was raised this past Sunday. Last summer the Lady Spar - tans donated a $1,300 check to the hospital for use in combat- ting breast cancer. The team annually turns one of its home games into a fundraiser — an idea thought up in 2011 by a stu - dent and player at the time, Jes- sica Macdonald. That's a lot of pink being turned into green. While not specific to breast cancer, all proceeds from local Relay For Life events — Corning's is this weekend — go directly to the American Cancer Society. Unfortunately, as with most things in life, not everything is so black or white. One of the country's largest pink-inspired campaigns is done every October by the National Football League. Players don pink accessories, such as mouth guards, wrist bands and shoes to raise aware - ness for annual screenings for women older than 40. The NFL has even partnered with the American Cancer Soci - ety to donate revenue raised by the game-worn accessories and pink merchandise it sells. But despite technically being a non-profit entity itself, the NFL keeps a nice portion of that reve - nue for its own coffers. According to a report by ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell, after the money is split between the manufac - turer and NFL around 8 percent raised through the pink mer- chandise sales makes its way to the American Cancer Society. Figures such as that sure turn pink into a more angry shade of red. Of course singling out the NFL isn't fair. After all, "everyone else is doing it." There's even a term for it: Pinkwashing. It seems using a charity to raise sale figures and ultimately profit is a too common occur - rence these days and one the NFL didn't lead the charge on so much as hop on the bandwagon. So should we just stop raising money for breast cancer aware - ness? Is there anything else we could do? The answer it seems is right in our own backyard. If you want your donations to have the most bang for the buck and go for things such as a new ultrasound machine for Tehama County's hospital instead of cor - porate bonuses, the answer is simple. Keep your donations local. The more levels a charity gets tied to, the more hands there are to snatch those bucks that were meant for something else. There's reason to support our local charity events. The mes - sage and altruism we're at- tracted to is there, but with the results we expect delivered. If you still want that pink 49ers shirt, a $1 bottle of bleach and some time in the washing machine should do the trick. Then you can rest assured knowing you can give the other $39 to help the people who will actually see you sporting that shirt. Reporter Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, Ext. 109 or by email at rgreene@redbluffdaily - news.com. rich Greene Donate locally for best bang for the buck "anyone who has tried to engage a member of that age cohort in an argument probably recognizes the four basic teenage tropes, which also are the only arrows in obama's overrated rhetorical quiver." after the money is split between the manufacturer and NFl around 8 percent raised through the pink merchandise sales makes its way to the american Cancer Society. George Will OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com thursday, april 24, 2014 » MORE AT FaCEbook.CoM/rbdailynEwS AND TwiTTEr.CoM/rEdbluFFnEwS a6

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