Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/407725
Thoughmerelyachildin the 1920s, I was not directly responsible for the Great De- pression, which evidently lasted until 1939. A check with Google produced the following paragraphs. "Although the United States had experi- enced several depressions be- fore the stock market crash on October 27, 1929, none had been as severe nor as long lasting before 'Black Thurs- day' struck Wall Street. At first, economists and lead- ers thought this was a mild bump, perhaps merely a cor- rection of the market, or in any case, no worse than the recession the nation suffered after World War I. Numbers soon proved the optimists incorrect. The depression steadily worsened. By spring of 1933, when FDR took the oath of office, unemployment had risen from 8 to 15 mil- lion (roughly 1/3 of the non- farmer workforce) and the gross national product had decreased from $103.8 billion to $55.7 billion. Forty percent of the farms in Mississippi were on the auction block on FDR's inauguration day. Al- though the depression was worldwide, no other coun- try except Germany reached so high a percentage of un- employed. The poor were hit the hardest. By 1932, Har- lem had an unemployment rate of 50 percent and prop- erty owned or managed by blacks fell from 30 percent to 5 percent in 1935. Farmers in the Midwest were doubly hit by economic downturns and the Dust Bowl. Schools, with budgets shrinking, shortened both the school day and the school year. No one knew how best to respond to the crisis. Presi- dent Hoover believed the dole would do more harm than good and that local govern- ments and private charities should provide relief to the un- employed and homeless. By 1931, some states began to of- fer aid to local communities. FDR, then governor of New York, worked with Harry Hop- kins and Frances Perkins to begin a direct work relief pro- gram, but this helped only a very few." Anyhow we thought the re- cession of 2007 was a big deal, but nothing compares with the crash of 1929. Perhaps your vote next Tues- day, or a future Tuesday, will keep a depression from ever happening again. ••• I would like to be thought of as healthy, wealthy and wise. However, I often fall short in all categories. I am healthy because I never smoked nor drank, have had the best of health care and now function well with various replacement parts. D. Stroud, county assessor, no longer has to quiz me about the value of my personal as- sets and I demonstrate weekly my wisdom — or lack of same — when I poke my nose in other people's business. Take my remarks last Friday re- garding the Mormon religion. Please. I should have adhered to the instructions of H. L. Mencken when he admonished us. "We must respect the other fellow's religion, in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beauti- ful and his children smart." H. L. actually wrote "but only in the sense," but that is rather severe, restrictive and counter- productive. Last Friday I made sport of the declarations of the Mor- mon founder Joseph Smith, especially when it came to wearing custom made under- wear which, allegedly and ac- cording to the AP Wire Ser- vice, "is worn daily by devout adult Latter-day Saints as a re- minder of their commitment to God." This custom was none of my business, and I apologize to those who wear this attire, and, in fact, apologize to any offended by my remarks. ••• A little possibly unintended humor was generated when the Russian Tennis Federation referred to the famous ath- letic and powerful William sis- ters, as the "Williams broth- ers." Serena replied, "They were very insensitive and ex- tremely sexist as well as rac- ist." Perhaps it was the fault of translators. ••• Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, and Tuesday it is time to vote. It is time to roll back the clock one hour on Sunday, and time to vote forward Tues- day to keep the state of Cali- fornia intact. And you should vote, you know. You may not know or care who is running for state offices, but city and county measures need your at- tention. You should vote for those who have prior experi- ence running a business, and you should vote for indepen- dent thinkers who will not rubber stamp their vote for the majority. Do not let gender get in your way. Look at the way our male leaders have handled the job on all levels of govern- ment. ••• More bumper stickers? "Born O.K. the first time," "Vi- sualize whirled peas," "If evo- lution is just a theory, then re- ligion is just an opinion." ••• It is always instructive to learn how our local columnists will vote, but it may be coun- terproductive to their choices. If one reads columns for in- sight, that is one thing, If they are read for entertainment, that is another. However, it matters little as to whether writers adhere to their party line. It is the personality, and the money, of the person as- piring to office that will spell victory or defeat. In the age of television, the charismatic candidate will carry the day even though we know that their every move is choreo- graphed to the minute and re- hearsed to a fare-thee-well, but you knew that. In this sense, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," and so on. W.S. wrote that many years ago and little has changed since. ••• A man was out walking when he fell over the edge of a cliff. As he hurtled towards the ground below he managed to grab and hang onto a protrud- ing tree branch. Staring down a 200-foot drop to almost cer- tain death, he cried out, "Help! Somebody help me! Is anyone up there?" A deep voice came back, "Yes, my son, I am up here." "Who is it? Is it the Lord?" "Yes, my son." "Can you help me?" "Yes, my son. Just let go of the branch and I will catch you." The man thought for a mo- ment then shouted, "Anybody else up there?" RobertMinchisalifelongres- ident of Red Bluff, former col- umnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmur- ray@hotmail.com. Isay Time to get up and get out to vote Cartoonist's take Here it comes. Creeping down dark alleys. Overturn- ing garbage cans and spook- ing black cats. The scariest day of the year. With the exception of your next birth- day, that is. Hal- loween. All Hal- low's Eve. The night preceding All Saint's Day. Time to carve a gourd. Besides being an excellent excuse to gorge on candy corn and toffee apples, it is also an occasion used by many reli- gions to honor deceased rela- tives by placing lighted candles on the graves of the dead. Prob- ably where that whole ghosts and witches and ghouls and devils thing got started. How pink princesses, Ninja Turtles and Mickey Mouse got thrown into the mix, is anyone's guess. Supposedly, Celtic pagans (or is it pagan Celtics) originated the merrymaking way back in the B.C.s with something called Samhain, a harvest fes- tival halfway between the au- tumnal equinox and the Winter Solstice. Designed as a blowout before the onset of winter — winter is coming — it featured much feasting and not a little drinking, if you catch my drift. There very well may have been carousing. Not to mention rev- eling and frolicking. These were pagans, after all. Then around the 8th century, Catholics introduced All Saints Day into their liturgical calen- dar to honor dead saints; just happening to coincide with the extant partying. So all good lit- tle Christians could still have their fun honoring dead peo- ple; but do it in the name of the Lord instead of some Wicker Guy destined to burn up in a big bonfire. If you can't beat em, conjoin em. Today Halloween has morphed into a hodgepodge of ever evolving rituals includ- ing scary movies and wearing costumes and traipsing door to door begging for treats and threatening to play tricks if none are given. Behavior, seem- ingly leaked over from Hallow- een's holiday neighbor: Elec- tion Day. In some municipalities the orange and black has become nothing less than a loosely or- ganized bacchanalia — named after Bacchus, one of the old gods of which we previously spoke. Entire districts of whole towns given over to mass feast- ing and much drinking and very definitely carousing. Be- cause we are the neopagans. Of course, for those living in San Francisco and New Orleans, Halloween is redundant. It is a murky and confus- ing time, which may come from October and November stem- ming from the words eight and nine, but being the tenth and eleventh months of the year. For this we can thank Julius, that wacky Emperor, who al- tered the Roman calendar from 10 months to 12, naming one of them after himself. And his buddy Augustus. It was a Cae- sar thing. Like a salad. Then, when Halloween ends, the black and orange will be taken down and the red and green will go up. And every third radio station will begin playing non- stop Christmas songs. Another Christian cele- bration merging with a pagan one. Saturnalia was held follow- ing the solstice to celebrate the dragon not eating the sun, and the return of the light. Again: pretty much exactly what Christmas is all about. Then down the line, there will New Year's Eve, and both it and Christmas and Thanks- giving, will all be observed by a whole lot of feasting and not a little drinking. Not to mention carousing, reveling and frolick- ing. Oh, my, yes, there will be frolicking. Anyone beginning to detect a pattern here? Will Durst is an award- winning, nationally acclaimed political comic. Go to willdurst. com for more about the documentary film "3 Still Standing," and a calendar guide to personal appearances such as his hit one- man show "BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG." Email Will at durst@ caglecartoons.com. He will be performing Saturday, Nov. 15 at Red Bluff's State Theatre. Call 529-2787 or visit statetheatreredbluff.com for information. Will Durst The orange and black for Halloween Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Youareclueless,undertheDemocrats70% of the people believe this country is headed in the wrong direction. You are in the minor- ity. Les Wolfe: In response to a comment about Don Polson's weekly column Tourism? Really? This is Red Bluff. You will never hear a family talk about going to Red Bluff for vacation. I'm sure that (capital) could be used for a better purpose. Lee Sears: On a proposal to create a Business Improvement District to promote tourism 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 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 Robert Minch Will Durst Assemblyman Dan Logue 150Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95928, 530895- 4217 Senator Jim Nielsen 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@senate. ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown State Capital Building, Sacra- mento 95814, 916445-2841, fax 916558-3160, governor@ governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa 507Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415393- 0707, fax 415393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer 1700Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510286-8537, fax 202224-0454 Contact your officials Today Halloween has morphed into a hodgepodge of ever evolving rituals including scary movies and wearing costumes and traipsing door to door begging for treats and threatening to play tricks if none are given. Behavior, seemingly leaked over from Halloween's holiday neighbor: Election Day. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, October 31, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4