Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/813600
ChipThompson, Editor 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: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS In my almost two decades serving as an elected official in the California Assembly I did learn to hate, but really just dislike, what I thought were all the le and right wing radicals within both the Democrat and Re- publican parties. IhaveoftenusedAmerica's two major political parties as a good analogy when I talk about the challenges between a man and a woman who might be struggling with their marriage. When two dis- tinct sides bat- tle I have learned that it does not easily lead to a compromise somewhere in the middle that will work. As an Assemblyman, my ac- tions and votes resulted in get- ting two "handles" my legisla- tive colleagues used to call me. I was usually the "Gang of One" or the "Maverick from Mo- doc." I was called the Gang of One because I would occasion- ally be voting alone against all the other 79 members of the As- sembly. My second handle was because one of the nine coun- ties I was honored to represent was Modoc County in the most northeastern corner of Califor- nia. My take today is that polit- ical partisanship has become much more extreme, especially with the Presidency of Donald Trump. His obvious modus ope- randi is to always attack when criticized. It's interesting that the Pres- ident's very own wife, Melania, has strongly opposed bullying as America's First Lady. Yet our newest President seems to en- joy being a bully himself on re- peated occasions. I don't even think he is a solid Republican. And, I believe Mr. Trump would not change anything at all if he were a Democrat. His personal history of campaign contribu- tions shows no reliable loyalty. Tell me what you think. I think our first lady should tell her husband to stop bully- ing. Last year during the elec- tion Mr. Trump began by at- tacking each and every one of the 16 other Republicans he ran against. Now that he has won, it looks like he has decided to go after the media. That's usu- ally because he is displeased with whatever he sees on televi- sion or reads in a newspaper. I don't think Mr. Trump has as many brains or is nearly as cool as former President Barack Obama. That's because I believe our 44th President gained a lot more respect by simply being nicer than his successor, Don- ald Trump. Since 1995 I have been regis- tered "Decline to State" in Cal- ifornia. I also did that because I became a lobbyist and knew I would be talking constantly to both parties. As of 2017 almost one quar- ter of all California voters choose not to register in one of the two major parties. Many registered in the Independent Party. It is often referred to as NPP — no political party. That group has been gaining ground since 1990, a trend that pleases me. As an elected official I dis- covered my more nonpartisan approach was sometimes a bur- den. As one politician told me, "When you stand in the middle of the road, you should expect both sides will be striking you as they go different ways (left or right)." I believe bad partisanship is now on firm display at our na- tion's Capitol. The dictionary defines partisanship as a bi- ased and emotional allegiance. I don't think that's good or pro- ductive if one is really trying to Make America Great Again. Mytakeonthemovies I recommend you see "Gifted." A darling seven year old actress will steal your heart. I don't believe McKenna Grace will have to wait many more years before she gets an Oscar. StanStathamserved1976-1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965- 1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@gmail.com. StanStatham My take on partisanship It's interesting that the President's very own wife, Melania, has strongly opposed bullying as America's First Lady. Yet our newest President seems to enjoy being a bully himself on repeated occasions. Columnist should check his own facts Editor: I needed some relief. My usual response to Mr. Polson's Tuesday column would be to fact check him, and then fact check the quoted sources, typically with results not favorable to Mr. Pol- son's chosen line of thinking. Today, with the April 18 col- umn, I found the opening lines refreshing, "It is past time to provide readers with some fac- tual observations…" It sure is time, but readers would do well not to look to Mr. Polson's columns for those facts. There is a reason this column is found on the opinion page, not the news pages. In large part, Mr. Polson's column is loaded with opin- ions. A few may be his own, but more often than not the col- umn relies on restating lengthy segments from the opinion, views, commentary of other au- thors who have forums of their own. In today's column, there are segments from three other authors. In my humble opinion, the editorial staff at the Red Bluff Daily News errs by giving so much space to such an irrele- vant compilation of non-local opinions, but hey, that's just my opinion. As my late dad used to say, "Opinions are like (a bodily orifice), everyone has one". Two weeks ago, Mr. Polson at- tempted to smear Planned Par- enthood using "information" from the Center for Medical Progress. This group has nothing to do with medicine, or progress. It is an anti-abortion group best known for its heavily edited vid- eos purporting to show Planned Parenthood staff discussing the sale of tissue from aborted fe- tuses. The videos have been the basis for over a dozen felony charges, against the individuals involved in their making, within the state of California. Several states initiated their own investigations into Planned Parenthood as a result of these videos, none of the investiga- tions found any wrong-doing on the part of Planned Parenthood. Mr. Polson does provide his own opinion today on the sub- ject of President Trump's tax re- turns; he asks "What difference, at this point, does it make?" Mr. Polson claims he has yet to hear a "substantive, relevant" answer to that question. I can only guess Mr. Polson is only looking to his right-wing echo chamber opinion sites for an answer, or he would re- alize the following: Two ma- jor figures in Mr. Trump's cam- paign and administration have, or will, filed retroactive paper- work that they served as foreign agents both before and during the campaign. Fired NSA direc- tor Michael Flynn worked for Turkish interests. Former cam- paign chairman Paul Manafort was employed by Russian and Ukraine interests to influence public opinion, including in the USA, in favor of Russian Presi- dent Vladimir Putin. The Secre- tary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, is the former vice chairman of the bank in Cyprus through which payments from Russians to Manafort were channeled. This is just one example of pos- sibly serious conflicts of interest with the Trump administration. A thorough review of Mr. Trump's complete tax returns would show who he is in part- nerships with, who he borrows money from, who he has sold assets to, whether those assets were sold at fair market value, what banks he makes payments to or receives interest payments from. In other words, one could determine whether President Trump is acting in his own best interests or the country's as he negotiates deals, signs legisla- tion, makes trade agreements, decides on military involvement, creates tax plans and appoints judges, staff, cabinet members and U.S. attorneys. Seems substantive and rele- vant to me. So, have your opinions Mr. Polson. You are entitled to them. Your reader fan base is enti- tled to share them. Just don't ex- pect the rest of us to accept your opinion as fact. — Nanci Souza, Red Bluff Military needs LaMalfa's support Editor: Currently, the Military Offi- cers' Association of America is tracking five key bills affecting our military and its personnel. MOAA is an independent, non-profit and politically non- partisan organization, with fo- cus on legislation affecting the military. Over the years, the MOAA website at www.moaa.org has proven to be a reliable source of information for tracking how well individual politicians sup- port military-related legislation. Of the five bills winding their way through the legislative pro- cess, Rep. Doug LaMalfa is co- sponsoring only one, HR 299, Support Blue Water Navy Vet- erans. For whatever reason, LaMalfa has chosen not to co-sponsor the remaining four bills. They include HR 1384 — Fix Call Up Orders for Guard and Reserve; HR 333 — Support full concur- rent receipt for disabled mili- tary retirees; HR 303 — Sup- port the Retired Pay Restora- tion Act and HR 92 — Support the CHAMPVA Children's Pro- tection Act. All these bills have been around for several years, but can't seem to garner the support necessary to become law. For whatever reason, Con- gressman LaMalfa has decided these bills are not worthy of his support and co-sponsorship. Previous attempts to ascertain his rationale have gone unan- swered. Dare I say, perhaps you'll have better luck than me. — Pete Stiglich, Cottonwood Your opinions Cartoonist's take Inertia. "A tendency to do noth- ing or to remain unchanged" is how one dictionary defines it. For movement of any kind to occur some type of force needs to applied to overcome inertia — and set some- thing in motion. This column isn't about physics, but my personal inabil- ity to plan a trip. Many retired folks do lots of traveling. They're always going somewhere, or planning their next trip. But not me. Trip plan- ning and the thought of making reservations brings on the anxi- ety of imagining everything that could go wrong. I've written before about the perils of holiday travel and the incomprehensible airline fares. And the recent United Airlines fiasco fresh in the news cer- tainly doesn't increase my com- fort level. Many people like to take short trips over long weekends, flying to Phoenix, San Diego or LA. But I never saw the rationale of ex- pending all that effort and ex- pense for just a couple of days. And in the North State we also have to drive two or three hours to SFO or Sacramento to catch a flight. When we decided to move up here, I thought that the Redding airport might come in handy. Not. So, when every flight requires its own road trip to the airport, then vacations are even less appealing for a hesitant vaca- tion planner. Besides, the unknown breeds apprehension. Will the hotel be nice? Will we enjoy the destina- tion? How about the weather? Bad weather can certainly have an effect on things. Our Christ- mas fling to Palm Springs was during the only rain they had ex- perienced in months — and it was a deluge. And since my wife failed to see the attraction of the place, we came home early. Work-related travel was never a problem. SFO had always been a 30-minute drive. The destination was already decided. Just find a hotel, and even that was already selected if I was attending a con- ference. The only anxiety was whether my flight home would be on time. It's just different when it's the success of the entire fam- ily vacation at stake. My problem is compounded by the fact that we only have two short travel windows each year, because of my wife's job. Some- times she gets some exotic travel inspirations the week before she's off. "Why don't we go to Singa- pore or Hong Kong," she asks in- nocently, as my body starts go- ing into stroke mode. Just the thought of trying to find a rea- sonably priced flight that would fit into our brief travel niche starts to affect my breathing. And who wants to do all that traveling for just a few days. Plus, the drive to SFO, and the cost of parking. There is not enough time. So we stay home. Lots of people really enjoy cruises. But again, it's virtually impossible to find a cruise that fits exactly into a specific travel window. Which ship, and what destination? What will the cabin be like, or the shore excursions? And we'll still have to fly to the embarkation point. Also, you usu- ally have to book cruises far in advance, so what if we change our minds? And finally, I quake at the thought of being trapped on a cruise we don't like. Maybe we should just stay home. You see, I already know what it's like to stay home. I like our place. I enjoy the serenity and na- ture. Besides, I've travelled to quite a few places already. And I like our place. But you know, once my wife doesn't work anymore, I just might be able to handle one of those European river cruises. We'll see. Corky Pickering and his wife relocated from the Bay Area to Cottonwood in 2014. He recently retired from the federal government as an attorney advising law enforcement. He has been a rock and roll bass player and a Marine JAG. He can be reached at thecork6@gmail.com. Corky Pickering The law of inertia when in travel planning Corky Pickering Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, April 20, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4