Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/500736
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@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 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 We're just a week into her long slow victory trot to the Democrats' 2016 presidential nomination and already I'm sick of the media coverage of Hill- ary Clinton. You can't escape her. She's ev- erywhere. And I'm not talking about the usual hugs and kisses she's been getting from her idolaters and cheerleaders in the liberal mainstream news media. I'm talking about the con- servative media outlets — Fox News and the radio talk shows. It's been all-Hillary-all-the- time for 10 days. I'm the biggest anti-Hillary guy I know, but I'm tired of listening to Fox and talk radio beat up on her so much. I know they have to keep their conservative choirs happy with nonstop Hillary bash-fests. But they're way overdoing it. Apparently they have noth- ing else to talk about besides Hillary. I did an interview Wednes- day morning with a conserva- tive talk show and the first ques- tion I got was about her. I said if conservative outlets would stop talking about Hill- ary, almost no one would men- tion her name. I'm not kidding. I'm going to ask my friend Brent Bozell III of the Media Research Center to compare how many times the name Hillary is heard on liberal outlets versus conserva- tive outlets. I guarantee she's getting more airtime from con- servatives. I understand talk radio is all about getting higher ratings. I also realize there are a few million people out there who are frustrated by eight years of Obama and who enjoy nothing better than hearing Hillary be- ing bashed 24/7 by conserva- tives. But beating up on Hillary so heavily now is a waste of valu- able conservative airtime and it might backfire in the election next year. Everyone can see already that she'll be a certain loser in 2016. Even her fellow Democrats are nervous. She's washed up. She's all failure and scandal and de- ceitfulness. On top of that, she's gone be- yond predictable. She's already said everything she's ever going to say — a hundred times — and she never had anything to say in the first place. And anyway, Hillary's old, old news. Is there anything about her we don't know yet? If she discovers a new mole on her arm at noon, we'll hear about it tonight on the evening news. Beating on Hillary is great fun, I admit. But conservatives should be careful not to be too rough on her too soon. She's the best (i.e., the weak- est and worst) Democrat candi- date Republicans could hope for in 2016. The last thing conserva- tives want is to see her knocked out of the race early and give another Democrat like Martin O'Malley of Maryland a chance to get in the race. So let's give Hillary some slack. Let's try to keep her off the conservative airwaves for a while. To make room for more news that matters, I challenge the ra- dio talk shows and Fox News to go Hillary-free for a week. I don't care if Hillary is caught on camera burning her email server in her fireplace to- morrow, or if she is abducted and held for ransom by space aliens tonight. Please spare us the details, conservative media — at least until next week. I'm tired of running into peo- ple at the supermarket who ask me, "What do you think about Hillary?" For a week I don't want to think or talk about Hillary. I want to talk about baseball. About Peter Rose being hired by Fox as an analyst. About coun- try music. Anything but Hillary. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). He is the president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. He can be reached at Reagan@caglecartoons. com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan Hillary this, Hillary that, all day long Cartoonist's take On Saturday eve- nings, after the Round- Up, we have a bonfire down in the grove. After the traditional hot dogs and chili have been con- sumed, and darkness has descended, we sit and talk while bask- ing in the warmth of the fire and the ambiance of the mas- sive oak trees presiding over the grove. This year we welcomed a vet- eran politician from a nearby state, and he candidly gave us the benefit of his political wis- dom. He said the most reward- ing aspect of his 11-year tenure was being able to solve the in- dividual problems of his con- stituents. He also told us of the most disturbing aspect of pol- itics, but I've forgotten what that was. Anyhow, while we agreed that it might be time for a woman President, he thought the field was pretty thin at the moment, but that Condo- leezza Rice might be a winner if she ran. I replied that I knew a Stanford alumnus who might shed light on the prospect of her running. However, the Stan- ford grad said that, in his opin- ion, she would not run if nomi- nated — that she preferred the academic life now and did not need national office for her sur- vival. I put in my two cents by suggesting a Bush/Rice ticket might corner the market, but all pontificators merely stared at the bonfire deep in thought. ••• Easy product identification department: Erectile dysfunction ads on television, such as Cialis and Vi- agra, can be readily recognized with the remote on mute (which is advised) because in the Vi- agra ads, the women are always barefoot. Someone involved in Viagra advertizing must have concluded that a Barefoot Con- tessa would add a certain piz- zazz to selling their product. ••• When a person gets a lit- tle age on them, they might be thinking about their disposi- tion. Not their attitude, per se, but their actual disposition — i.e., what's to become of them when they die.* So when Wil- liam and his little bow wow Uno came in last week and we got to talking about disposition of our remains, I asked Wil- liam, "What will happen to Uno when you die?" William replied, "Well, as I plan to be cremated, I believe he will be cre- mated with me, because he will just pine away without me." If that doesn't choke you up then you haven't met lit- tle Uno. *I was going to use "shuf- fle off this mortal coil" for it is one of the few Shakespear- ean quotes I know and it makes me sound literary, learned and amongst the elite. However, all these years I assumed that the phrase meant "to die." And yet, sources say that "coil" refers to tumults or troubles. Scho- penhauer conjectured that this phrase might have been in- volved in a typesetter's error or a slip of the author's pen, and should have been "shuttled off." This verb itself no longer exists, but "shuttle" is an implement used in weaving. Accordingly, the meaning might be, "…when we have unwound and worked off this coil of mortality." Is that clear, or should we ask a Shake- spearean aficionado such as R. Scheuler? ••• TIME publishes an annual list of the 100 most influential people on earth and what they have achieved is a bewildering list of people in which only 20 are known to me. This suggests that I am either ignorant of how the world turns or the compilers of the list are all a hell of a lot younger than yours truly. If this is the case, then TIME should promptly publish a list with the cautionary heading of "The 100 most influential people accord- ing to folks over 60." Given enough time and en- ergy I could compile that list myself. It would be a piece of cake. True, all of the peo- ple would be indigenous to Red Bluff, or at least Tehama County. And some on the list would have already gone to their reward. However, as W.S. put it, "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." Someone should write a book on this subject. Someone that has lived long and knows where, as they say, the bodies are buried. ••• County Manager B. Good- win reports that the County has made an undisclosed amount offer to purchase the pres- ent Daily News building on Di- amond Avenue, with intent to house the County Library therein and now awaits a re- sponse from the seller or sell- er's agent. Unfortunately said agent for the seller happens to be back east and is a little slow on the draw. Although the original site for the library move was desig- nated to be out on the western reaches of our fair city, cooler heads have prevailed and it ap- pears the Diamond site offers the best bang for the county bucks. It is regrettable that a downsized county library could not have used an existing and expanded building — i.e. the former Herbert Kraft Free Li- brary on Jefferson. ••• If a few intellectuals demand a return of The Quiz, then why not? We know that John Stein- beck wrote "Of Mice and Men," but what title did he first give the book? Harper Lee wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird" but first called it what? And Joseph Heller wrote the great "Catch 22" but what did he first name it? ••• A single swallow does not a summer make, but the Giants whipping the Dodgers Tues- day night after the latter win- ning 7 straight and the former having a lousy start, made one comfortable and assured when wearing a Giants baseball cap again. With the return of Pence in May, our boys may be, once again, contenders. ••• A woman was afraid of den- tists, but after much arguing with her husband, she agreed to go to one. After examining her, the dentist turned to the hus- band and said, "Your wife has a terrible bite." The husband re- plied, "If you think that's bad you ought to hear her bark!" Suggested slogan for the American Dental Association: "Nothing dentured, nothing gained." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail. com. I say A long-standing Round-Up tradition The last thing conservatives want is to see her knocked out of the race early and give another Democrat like Martin O'Malley of Maryland a chance to get in the race. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. And yet the roads near my house are still so pocked with chuck-holes, I'm going to need a 4WD in a year or two. Ann Taylor-Minch: On a budget shortfall due to declining gas tax revenue I moved away in 1983. Most of the same roads are still in horrible disrepair. This is over 30years. Shame on you. Steve Luzzadder-Preston: On a budget shortfall due to declining gas tax revenue Robert Minch StateandNational Assemblyman James Gallagher, 150Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95973, 530895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916445-2841, fax 916558-3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507Cannon House Office Build- ing, Washington D.C. 20515, 202225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Fran- cisco 94104, 415393-0707, fax 415393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510286-8537, fax 202224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, April 24, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4