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GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD 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 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 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 By Joe Gandelman JustasWorldWarIdidn't prove to be "the war to end all wars," the 20th century didn't turn out to be when the nearly unimaginable brutality and in- describable evil represented by German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime was definitively laid to rest. The evil is back. Big-time. This time it's in the form of the militant Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is battling to take over Syria and Iraq and has already blurred the two countries' boundar- ies. It's leaving trails of bodies — and horrors — in its path. If it were a movie, you could ti- tle early 21st century "The Evil Strikes Back." The images of this Sunni group that even Al Qaeda re- portedly found too brutal are coming fast and furious — and sickeningly. Only this isn't Hollywood, but a nightmarish reality faced by those in Syria or Iraq whose lives cross with a group seeking to take over the Mid- dle East and — some believe — beyond by imposing an ultra- conservative caliphate. It's a case of the bloody ends justifying the warped, theo- logical means. According to The Daily Mail, a 21-page let- ter found at Osama bin Lad- en's compound after his kill- ing urged the cutting of all ties with ISIS because its ul- tra-brutality could damage Al Qaeda's reputation. And Al Qaeda didn't exactly enjoy the reputation of a group that played Patty Cake with infi- dels. Populations that cross paths with Caliph Abu Bakr al-Bagh- dadi's self-declared Islamic State must convert to Islam and pay tribute — or else. The Internet brims with grim ex- amples of or-elses: photos and videos, many hyped via social media by ISIS to create fear and recruit. Among other things, they show mass execution shoot- ings of Iraqi security forces, graphic beheadings, and rows of victims' heads on sticks. One shows fighters walking bound prisoners over to the water's edge, making them kneel, then shooting them in the back of the head and push- ing them quickly into the wa- ter. It's unflinching assembly- line-mass-murder that would make Hitler proud. According to Reuters, an Iraqi government official re- cently reported that ISIS has killed 500 Yazidis, including women and children who were buried alive. ISIS is also systematically destroying Iraq's cultural and religious artifacts. I'll never forget how stunned my late father Rich- ard Gandelman was in the weeks following 9/11. He and other members of The Great- est Generation thought the kind of evil Hitler represented was eradicated when Amer- ica won the war. Shortly af- ter 9/11, I sat with him and other family members at Car- mine's Tuscan Grill in New Haven and when 9/11 came up he seemed doubly anguished. I sensed he had felt that his grandkids wouldn't have to grow up in this kind of world — and now it was clear that The Evil had not vanished but merely resurfaced elsewhere under a different name. You get the feeling that the extent of ISIS' threat — includ- ing in the long-term to Amer- ica's national security — isn't fully grasped by policy makers or the American public. "A militarized Islamic State made secure and per- manent by dismembering Syria and Iraq is a far worse danger to the world order than Russia's annexation of Crimea," wrote The Moder- ate Voice's Foreign Colum- nist Brij Khindaria. "It will alter power equations in the entire region stretching from Lebanon to India and West China. It could inspire creation of similar Islamic States in Libya and Afghani- stan, which are teetering on the edge of chaos." He warns: "It will also trigger a fierce rivalry be- tween IS and the remnants of al-Qaeda..... Both may un- dertake spectacular acts of terrorism against Ameri- cans and Europeans to seek leadership of Muslim ex- tremists fighting against the West's 'decadent' influence and moderate Muslims in the Arab world." Can Americans take this se- riously enough? Khindaria and others point out that President Barack Obama still seems to view ISIS as a regional prob- lem. Are we too mired in our self- ies, and 24/7 partisan and ideo- logical polemical wars? Can we finally get dead serious? Because, from all indica- tions, ISIS is d-e-a-d serious, as the people who were cruci- fied, beheaded, shot or buried alive by them could contest. If they were still here. JoeGandelmanisavet- eran journalist who wrote for newspapers overseas and in the United States. He can be reached at jgandelman@the- moderatevoice.com. Independent's Eye Evil strikes back Cartoonist's take Since 1998 it has been prohib- ited by federal law for states and localities to tax Internet access. This policy, known as the Internet Tax Freedom Act, has been ex- tended three times with broad bi- partisan support. But it is set to expire again on November 1, and some Senate Democrats appear willing, this time, to allow it to actually expire if they can't use it to leverage an unrelated tax issue. It's a dangerous game that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars and worsen the digital divide by pricing some lower income Amer- icans off of the Internet entirely. The House, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, passed a bill last month to make the ban on Internet access taxes per- manent. It was a voice vote — meaning not a single member objected. "The permanent Inter- net Tax Freedom Act merely pre- vents Internet access taxes and unfair multiple and discrimi- natory taxes on e-commerce," Goodlatte explained on the House floor. "It does not tackle the issue of Internet sales taxes." And that, for many senators, is the problem. The Senate has already passed a highly contro- versial bill authorizing states to collect sales taxes on out-of- state purchases called the Mar- ketplace Fairness Act. But that bill — which is popular with re- tailers but not with most con- sumers, for obvious reasons — has not moved in the House. Before the Senate left for its August recess, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas made a motion for the Senate to, like the House, unani- mously pass a permanent exten- sion of the ban on Internet access taxes. "One of the reasons the In- ternet has been such an entrepre- neurial haven is that Congress has wisely decided to keep it free from taxation, not to subject the Internet to taxation," Cruz said. Unlike the House, however, his request was met not just with an objection but a rather emphatic one, voiced by Democratic Sena- tor Heidi Heitkamp of North Da- kota, likely on behalf of Senate Democratic leaders. Heitkamp began with con- cerns that the bipartisan, 18- year policy of banning Inter- net access taxes potentially in- fringed the "sovereign right of States and local governments under the 10th Amendment," an unusual concern from a liberal Democrat who supports national labor, environmental, and health care laws. (It also implies a mis- understanding of the purpose of the commerce clause, which as Cato scholar Roger Pilon often points out was intended to em- power Congress to regulate or "make regular" interstate com- merce by striking down barri- ers. Like Internet access taxes.) Then she got to her real point: holding the successful, wildly popular ban on Internet access taxes hostage to their desire to force the House to authorize In- ternet sales taxes. "I believe we too need to ad- dress the Internet tax morato- rium which expires on November 1," Heitkamp said. "But... we also need to have a discussion in this context of commerce clause re- sponsibility, to give the States the right to decide whether they are, in fact, going to collect State and local taxes and use taxes." (Use tax is the term for a tax owed on out-of-state purchases for which sales tax is not collected.) While the ban on Internet ac- cess taxes enjoys nearly univer- sal support, the idea of facilitat- ing Internet sales tax is widely opposed by the public and is highly controversial in Congress. It is unlikely that issue will be resolved before the November 1 deadline, and therefore bringing it into the discussion is a dan- gerous game that risks allowing the ban on access taxes to expire. That would be a disaster. The liberal Center of Bud- get and Policy Priorities has es- timated the impact of allowing states and localities to tax Inter- net access as a $7 billion tax hike, assuming states and localities tax Internet access like other services. But Katie McAuliffe of Amer- icans for Tax Reform warns that the tax bite could be much big- ger: "The average sales tax rate on voice services is 17 percent, and 12 percent on video services, while the average general sales tax rate is 7 percent." The Internet Tax Freedom Act has never been controversial be- fore and shouldn't be contro- versial now. Senate Democrats need to stop playing games and approve the House bill imme- diately when they return from their summer vacation. Phil Kerpen can be reached at phil@americancommitment. org. Phil Kerpen A big new tax coming to your Internet bill Another view By Rick Jensen Obama has failed to help de- feat Islamists in Syria, leading to the growth of The Islamic State — The Radical Islamist Murderers Formerly Known as ISIS — and fails to define a for- eign policy for the U.S. This according to Hillary Clinton, who spoke to well- known foreign affairs reporter Jeffrey Goldberg in the liberal publication The Atlantic. The "new" Hillary flexes her biceps over Iran, saying she was always against Iran having nu- clear enrichment (except for when she wasn't) and staunchly defends Israel as no liberal Democrat ever defends Israel, saying, "Israel has a right to de- fend itself. The steps Hamas has taken to embed rockets and command-and-control facilities and tunnel entrances in civilian areas, this makes a response by Israel difficult." "Just as we try to do in the United States and be as care- ful as possible in going after targets to avoid civilians, [mis- takes are made]", she told Gold- berg, who asked if she believed that Israel had done enough to prevent the deaths of children and other innocent people. "We've made them. I don't know a nation, no matter what its values are—and I think that democratic nations have demon- strably better values in a conflict position—that hasn't made er- rors, but ultimately the responsi- bility rests with Hamas." So when did Hillary leave the Democratic Party and become a conservative Republican? More importantly, who is she talking to? Like her husband Bill and her former boss Barack, Hillary considers the politics and counts the votes before speak- ing in a controlled public set- ting. That's why this American- centric conservative foreign policy stance is so interesting. The liberal reaction is ex- pected. The influential leftwing or- ganization MoveOn immedi- ately issued a fatwa against any Democrat criticizing Obama and taking a strong policy stance against Iran or enter- taining "policies advocated by right-wing war hawks." Well, she did just that, espe- cially regarding Israel. Her positioning statements are interesting because they presume she will not have a strong far left- wing primary opponent more ap- pealing to the liberal base. She certainly isn't trying to appeal to Republicans, is she? The GOP has an elephantine memory of her own crimes dur- ing her husband's presidency including illegal possession of hundreds of her "enemies'" FBI files, campaign financing schemes that put her bundlers in jail, etc. as well as Benghazi. Will a muscular approach to foreign affairs maintain her popularity with women when a liberal contender promising to keep their sons and daughters home away from battles comes forward? That is, after all, the liberal base that voted so en- thusiastically for the man she is trying so hard to remove from her political universe. Hillary wants to be perceived as competent; the anti-Obama. President Obama has simpli- fied his approach to foreign pol- icy as "Don't say stupid (stuff)." He doesn't really use the word, "stuff." We will, though. Hillary takes aim at Obama's lack of any foreign policy, say- ing, "Great nations need organ- izing principles, and 'Don't do stupid stuff' is not an organiz- ing principle." How can Democratic pri- mary voters who want the troops home at any price and close Guantanamo pull the le- ver for a woman who says, "The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the origina- tors of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle— the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled."? My God, that's what conserv- atives and Tea Party Americans predicted! How Sarah Palin of her. Hillary talks a good game but remember she was the one who did stupid stuff including taking the embarrassingly ill- fated "Reset" button to Minis- ter Sergei Lavrov only to dis- cover it read "Overcharge" in Russian. She's also the giddy Secretary of State who foolishly tried to engage her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mot- taki, in a parking lot with no preconditions. Can "Hillary the Hawk" win primary votes? She's counting on women voting for her because she's a woman and presuming her more liberal opponent to be a much weaker candidate than Obama was in 2008. Rick Jensen is Delaware's award-winning conservative talk show host, streaming live on WDEL.com 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. PST. Contact Rick at rick@ wdel.com, or follow him on Twitter @Jensen1150WDEL. Who is Hillary talking to? OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, August 21, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6