Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/49823
6A Daily News – Saturday, December 10, 2011 Opinion D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Joni Morris Editor: Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Saturday night, at the State Theatre here in Red Bluff, we had the great pleasure of seeing Joni Morris and her After Mid- night Band. To say Joni has a great voice is an understatement. She does- n't just imitate artists from the late '50s & '60s, she sounds even better than some of them. We've seen many big country music stars perform over the years, and can honestly say we've seen very few that could top Joni Morris' performance. Above all, the acoustics of the old State Theatre beat all. Every word and every note was absolutely clear. This was the first time in many years that the band didn't drown out the singer. It was also wonderful that the sound wasn't so loud that we couldn't wait for the show to be over so we could leave the building. We were very disappointed that the audience wasn't larger. If anyone would like a little taste of what you missed Satur- day night, I just found Joni's website, where you can watch a medley of her video perfor- mances — http://www.jonimor- ris.com/pages/videoandpho- tos.html. If Joni Morris and her band come to Red Bluff again next year, you can bet we'll get tick- ets. Hope to see you there. Barbara Benefield, Red Bluff Occupy movement Editor: After talking with several peo- ple that are either involved with the Occupy Movement or at least sympathetic to it, I've come to the conclusion that they are not well informed about the facts of how this country operates. One of the main objects of ire by these misguided miscreants was not being afforded a free col- lege education. When I reminded them they were just given 12 years of free education, and everyone is given that, but not everyone is qualified to attend college. I also reminded them that the taxpayers of this state heavily sub- sidize colleges in California and we are $13 billion in deficit just this year. I favor the way the Tea Party Patriots demonstrated. They got organized and had a civil discussion with speakers and when it was over they picked up their trash and went home. Your Turn Once home, just about each city has an active Tea Party group. They further discuss issues about fiscal responsibility, constitution- ally limited government and free market economics. They know that you have to get involved at the local level to get any changes in the national level. I hope the Occupy Movement will learn this and get out of our parks and go home and try to elect some change using democracy and quit whining for free stuff. Jeff Heaney, Corning Payroll tax cuts Editor: The malfeasance and lack of sincerity by our politicians in Washington is currently being demonstrated with the exten- sion of the payroll tax deduc- tion. For years, the thrust was to increase FICA contribu- tions because Social Security was under funded and the trust fund was going to run dry. Do they cut taxes to help the economy in a recession? No, they cut payroll FICA contri- butions thereby ensuring an earlier demise of Social Security. The people that need the help are not those who are working, but rather the unemployed who don't pay FICA. The real reason for this move was that the politicians gain imme- diate favor with the voters who now have an increase in take home pay, but the result of this cut is that the retirement income provided our old age by the Social Security Trust fund has less likelihood surviving. of served? Whose interest has been Tom Kimler, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Rationales shared by all Commentary The recent alignment of the NRA with gay marriage rights activists was enlightening. The NRA, which has vehemently fought sterner federal gun control laws, is now urging more federal control of guns with a law that would have required all states accept the carry and conceal laws of other states. The NRA is using the same logic as supporters of gay marriage who claim every state must recognize the marriage laws of every other state. Next thing you know people visiting our state will have to prove their state of resi- dence at entrance in order to assure they can exercise their native state rights while in California and local law enforcements will need to memorize a whole new set of out of state standards. In politics there are strange con- figurations of people using the same arguments for seemingly diverse causes; as in the case above, they are not necessarily bedfellows, but they can use the same argument. Sailors claim any port in a storm, as do political activists. My grandchildren can use whichever piece of logic seems to fit the circumstances; they seem to mimic our politicians by choosing their rationale for action based on expediency; it matters not that their reason for doing this today is inconsistent with their reason for doing something else yesterday. Children, of course, are naïve; politicians believe we are naïve. I thought it was fascinating that the lobbyists for the food industry could convince Congress that we could not afford to upgrade the nutritional standards for student meals in the schools. Those lobby- ists' efforts led our Congress to debate whether or not pizza could be considered a vegetable accord- ing to some pundits. Some industry lobbyists proclaimed the federal government should not be telling school children what they should eat. Sounds like Marie Antoinette saying "let them eat cake." Food industry lobbyists also do not believe the federal government should assure the safety of their products through inspections, and health and safety standards; those lobbyists want us to believe the industry is capable and willing to do that job for us. They do not want the "marketplace mechanism" interfered with by the government. By that logic, if enough folks get sick and die from eating some products, the market mechanism will eliminate that product from the shelves. Free markets work if consumers are fully informed, and the food industry keeps us "fully informed" by using miniscule print to list most of their ingredients on pack- ages, and requiring us to purchase special glasses to take to the super- market along with a pocket sized chemical dictionary. Of course it is okay for the fed- eral government to disrupt the free market by providing subsidies (aka stimulus money) to agricultural producers such as tobacco farmers. There was a total of $194,435,671 in federal tobacco subsidies in 2010 according to the 2011 Farm Subsidy Data Base. At the same time, of course, the federal govern- ment is trying to require somewhat graphic warnings on cigarette packages in order to discourage smokers from adding to our national healthcare costs. Those arguing for federal aid to tobacco do not mind government interfer- ence in the market mechanism; those for discouraging smoking and lower health care costs want fully informed consumers, a neces- sary condition for the market mechanism to work. No one is willing to take the next logical step of removing tobacco from the market place. Pat Murphy, retired Superintendent of Red Bluff Joint Union High School District, taught me a lot in the ten years I had the pleasure of work- ing with him. He would often say to me, "Joe, it depends on whose ox is being gored". I guess the federal control argument is a typical issue that can be used both ways for various goals, as is the rationale for drawing election lines. The California branch of the Republican Party is upset because the Citizens Redistricting Com- mittee, which it praised as a good idea, did not produce new election district boundaries that would help their shrinking minority within the state. Now the state GOP is spending money to put a referendum on the ballot to dis- miss the commission's results. This is a good example of what happens when you get something you wish for, and also of switch- ing logic in mid stream. I am sure the GOP should not ask the majority Democrats to redraw those election lines, but I am also sure that whenever lines are drawn someone feels left out. A neutral person's logic will always upset someone. Ask a judge. The "Super Committee" dashed into the phone booth and put on its costume, but then kryp- Joe Harrop tonite stymied their alleged efforts, making it impossible for that committee to perform its assigned task. The committee did agree the federal deficit is a serious problem and someone should solve it. My mother-in- law always said there is a big difference between saying "some- one should do some- thing", and "I'm going to do something." Most children learn this les- son when they read about the little red hen. Apparently there was too little common ground for those on the committee. Each "side" is explaining that the other "side" won't make enough concessions. Who is on the American side? In America we allow our elect- ed leaders to point fingers at each other while publicly kicking the can of fiscal problems down the road past the next election date. The so-called "triggered cuts" cre- ated by the Super Committee's failure allegedly will not take place until 2013, after we have most likely re-elected the current crop of non-doers. Abraham Lin- coln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." Our current crop of representatives seems to be bet- ting against that. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.