Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/404341
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 WeweregonefromRedBluff for two weeks. There were lots of things I saw that were some- what surprising. These things ac- cumulated in my small cranium and have begun to leak out, and I just had to write about them. When I wasn't driving I noticed a significant number of drivers either on the phone, texting, or multitasking, as in smoking, drinking something and on the phone — maybe they use their knees to steer — something fairly frightening at 75 miles per hour. It makes it difficult to keep from being distracted by potentially distracted drivers. I also noticed a lot of new cars that will most likely be re- called because their turn sig- nals do not work. Usually this is not problem because the driver changing lanes provides some warning by looking over her/his shoulder before cutting in front of you, but those who decide on right or left turns, unaware their signal lights don't work are a problem if you are following too closely. Bumper stickers are always a good source of smiles. I like the one that says, "If you can read this, you are too close." Usually the wording is slightly more gruff, not fit for a family newspaper. Political bumper stickers are also good for a snicker or grin. One said "Keep your own doc- tor." I am not sure the candi- date is concerned about my medical care providers, most of whom I either chose or were referred by my primary care doctor. Maybe that candidate wants me to think if he isn't elected I will not have any voice in my health care. I am not sure if that candidate really thinks anyone can believe his slogan; I do not like candidates who as- sume I cannot think for myself. Then there were all the roadside signs, many only semi-professionally created, that complained that Con- gress is at fault for the dry conditions in the south Cen- tral Valley. I am not why Mother Nature was not cited. All this time I had thought that Congress was good at do- ing not much and not really capable of creating dry condi- tions in the Central Valley. For some reason those signs gave Boxer, Pelosi, and Obama the most blame for the water problems in the Central Val- ley. If it doesn't make sense to blame the weather man for the weather, it might be a relief for some to pick someone else to blame, but blame doesn't solve the problem. One sign said this would not have happened un- der a Romney presidency. Go figure. Maybe this is part of a conspiracy theory about a sin- ister plot to deprive the Central Valley of water — stay tuned, I'm sure there will be a TV spe- cial on this latest conspiracy. Speaking of water issues, there was an interesting anal- ysis of the actual cost of water to Central Valley farmers and the relationship of relatively low water prices to the short- age of water; essentially the article by McKenzie and Shel- ton pointed out that water is "dirt cheap." Water issues will not go away, even as the water may, if pricing policies do not change, according to them; they believe we will not value water until the price goes up. It has become obvious that for some people that one of the qualifications for President is being a hospital administra- tor. At least it seems that some of our representatives claim it is the current President's fault that Ebola has become so frightening. Here again some even claim that if his compet- itor in the last election had won we would not have an Eb- ola crisis. I am pretty sure that the media has contrib- uted greatly to the panic over Ebola, and that the panic has been created by fear mongers and political opportunists. So far only three Americans have contracted the disease, that is three out of 317,297,138 of us, not to mention the un- documented. That amounts to 0.00000094 percent. Speaking of Ebola, did you witness the Congressional hearing last week? Each of our representatives could use some help in public speaking. Speakers from both parties read carefully written state- ments so poorly it would have been laughable if the matter at hand wasn't so serious. Their prepared statements contained the politically correct words and phrases they wanted to use, but their delivery was so flat it would be hard to pick up any emotion or care. Even Doug LaMalfa, who is not noted for public speaking and clarity in what he says, could have done as well as they did. I would hope that our elected representatives would at least take the time before they read their staffers' words out loud to review the points to be made, determine when to put some emphasis on words, and practice a non monotone delivery. Eye contact might be an added nicety. That may be an impractical expectation since they are really so busy al- legedly doing all they do for us. Well, that has emptied my small cranium; since nature abhors a vacuum, I am sure it will be filled up again soon. From the editor Brainleaks a er a couple of weeks away Getoutthevote Editor: The general election nears and it amazes me that so few people who are eligible to vote bother with it. And then they complain about the govern- ment. Primary elections generally have an even lower turn out, which is a shame since the pri- mary election so often selects the choices we vote on in this general election. The media has reported that 2 million Republican voters stayed home for the 2012 general elec- tion, and had they voted for the Republican presidential candi- date, he would have won. So, how's that decision not to vote working out for you? Oh there are many who are happy that you stayed home, and who like the direction this country has gone in the last six years, but is that really the ma- jority of the people in Amer- ica? Is progressivism or social- ism really what the majority of us want? Think back to the riots and looting that recently occurred in Ferguson, Mo. after a white policemen shot an unarmed black man. One state senator, on national TV, said that the current district attorney was unfit to try the case, because he did not represent the black community, despite the fact that he has been voted into the office four times, the last elec- tion being only four days prior to the incident. Obviously, he does represent the people who voted. There's no way he could represent peo- ple who don't vote. And if you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain about who won the election. As a voter, you have the power to elect the people that you support into offices. Oh sure, you may feel that your sin- gle vote doesn't count much. But when 2 million people share that opinion, it adds up to numbers that do make a differ- ence. Don't you see this? You need to vote in the pri- mary election because so many local officials are elected here, and they represent you more than any other branch of gov- ernment. And they decide who goes to run-off elections, both locally and in state and federal elections. You need to vote in the pri- mary for the candidates that best represent your views, and then vote for the best candidate that represents your views in the general election. That's how our government was meant to work. Get in- formed, then vote. Anything less than that, then you have no right to complain that you're not represented. —JohnWard,RedBluff Rancho Tehama Reserve marijuana The Tehama County Board of Supervisors came up with a law that you could grow 12 plants outside with a medical card, but not to sell. The medical card is another insulting issue. This law has opened the door for crime and it financially sup- ports the criminal community. My experiences with people I know to be growing, at this time are yielding 7 to 9 pounds a plant at the sale price of about $1,500 a pound. The down side is, it is taking about 800 gallons of water daily to support 12 plants. Many res- idents have more than 100 plants. Our ground water has been depleted to where many wells have already gone dry. The greed of this opportunity to make money has replaced common sense, so people are ig- noring the law. It is my under- standing the majority of our own RTR board members are growing to sell. The law stating you can grow, but not for sale, is like giving a child candy and telling him not to eat it. — Danny Murray, Rancho Tehama Be informed before you vote Editor: Please everyone, before you vote study the records of these candidates and proposed laws. They truly do affect our lives. We need to get people in of- fice that have actually had jobs, businesses, etc. If peo- ple would have properly vet- ted Obama they would have known how inept he was hav- ing never held a true job and mostly voting present while in the Senate for 1 years. With the Internet it is simple and not very time consuming to check them out. The main thing is to vote the ones out that have got- ten us into these dire condi- tions. I think they should have to reimburse tax payers when they pass something so egre- gious and harmful as Obama Care. Maybe that would make them read laws before signing them and write laws that only contain one subject and a few pages. We have very little say in the matter, but have to pay for their mistakes and live by their laws. It would make a difference on the way they vote if they had to abide by the same laws they force on us. A law I would like to see is when a person commits to run for any office they should be fit- ted with a lie detecting shock collar so we can know at the moment they lie as the main- stream media refuses to hold them accountable. How many times does Obama get to stare into the camera and lie to our faces be- fore he is held responsible for the obscene amounts of money spent and lives affected? Please vote, as it does make a difference. It's one of the few ways we can make a change. Voting is a way to get the mes- sage to politicians that we are not happy with the way things are going. — Dena Hendricks, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take I can't begin to remember how long I've been fantasizing about a law like the one in Eu- rope that now pro- tects a person's Right to Forget. As best I can recall, the Euro- pean Court of Jus- tice affirmed this remarkable le- gal principle last spring after a guy in Spain brought suit against Google, seeking to have cer- tain "personal information" re- moved from Google's search en- gines. To everyone's surprise, if memory serves, the court ruled against Google and said forget- fulness must be viewed through the lens of law, and not as a by- product of wishful thinking or the haze of old age. Google says it now gets an average of 1,000 requests per day from people in the 28 Eu- ropean nations covered by the ruling who want damning in- formation expunged from the Internet. It's like taking a legal mulligan on life. So far, the folks most eager to have details of their past for- gotten tend to be the rich and frequently-Googled, like Greg Lindae, a Netherlands-based private-equity investor who de- manded his name be removed from a 16-year-old Wall Street Journal article that carried the headline, "Ancient Hindu Sex Practice Gets a New-Age Make- over." Mr. Lindae doesn't dispute that he attended the sex work- shop mentioned in the story, he just doesn't like being reminded of it. I hope you are able to read the preceding paragraph before Mr. Lindae succeeds in having it deleted. Legal scholars in the future will undoubtedly look back on this law, assuming they don't forget its details, as a turning point for mankind. Imagine, for example, how different our lives will be when statements such as, "I forgot to trim the hedges," "I forgot to buy milk," and "I forgot to pick up your mother at the train," are backed by the full force of law. I expect the courts in Europe to soon ratify a Right to Pho- toshop law. Bad hair day in the office photo? Fixed. Ex-spouse standing with your kids at the Grand Canyon? Gone. Now, where was I? Before long we'll vaguely re- member Bernie Madoff as a noted philanthropist, John Ed- wards as simply a great family man, and O.J. Simpson as a me- diocre movie actor. Based on the Right to Forget, NBC probably had a raft of hit shows, gas never cost less than three dollars, and the Yankees just finished a winning season. The new law should result in a hiring boon for senior citi- zens. Firms such as Google and Yahoo will be eager to employ folks with the skill to compile sensitive news items for search engines and then quickly for- get them. Pharmaceutical com- panies will be forced to abandon research into memory-enhanc- ing potions and focus instead on wonder drugs to foster forget- fulness. None will benefit more from the Right to Forget than politi- cians for whom, "Let's look at the record" will no longer be problematic when most of it is redacted. Writers, too, should rejoice when readers reach the end of a column and can't seem to recall why they intended to email a litany complaints. But if courts in Europe re- ally want to pursue a fantasy of painting over the past they'll have to Google George Santay- ana and delete what he forecast over a century ago: "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic," is available at Am- azon.com and CandidCamera. com. Peter Funt Thoughts about whatchamacallit Dave Faries Peter Funt OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, October 25, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6