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6A – Daily News – Thursday, May 27, 2010 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 False political 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 Up front in America Commentary Every Saturday morning, just for fun and without spending a dime on gas, I take a trip to roughly 100 American cities and towns. I do this through a terrific website operated by the Newse- um, a facility in Washington, DC, dedicated to preserving and promoting the nation's news media, particularly its newspa- pers. At www.newseum.org there is a section called Today's Front Pages which, without comment or embellishment, lets visitors read newspaper "fronts" from around the nation. During my tour on May 22 I saw on the front page of The Durango Herald in Colorado that residents are complaining about the city’s 50-foot pile of snow that was collected during winter and is now brown and smelly and won’t seem to melt, global warming and the coming of summer notwithstanding. The Courier News in New Jersey reported the four mil- lionth fan to attend a Somerset Patriots minor-league baseball game received a year’s supply of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The Stamford Advocate in Connecti- cut ran a photo of a 2000 Jeep Cherokee, bought by a local man for $26,000 because it was once owned by Barack Obama. In Georgia, The Gainesville Times led with news that Scott Haley, 28, was sentenced to two years in prison for posting YouTube videos in which he claimed, falsely, to have killed 16 people in what the paper notes, “could be the first case of its kind in Georgia.” There was legal news in North Dakota as well where The Bismarck Tri- bune told about a guy who is protesting because state officials won’t allow his personalized license plate to read ISNOGOD. In an eye-catching photo on page one of the Herald News in Fall River, Mass., “chain saw artist” Jesse Green is shown making a wooden sculpture of chef Emeril Lagasse, of all peo- ple. According to The Press Jour- nal in Indian River, Fla., an 86- year-old page of math home- work was found at the former Fellsmere School building. “So all these years later,” the story said, “Hallie Alcutt could prove that she really did lose her homework.” Unfortunately, Ms. Alcutt died eight years ago at age 91. In Albany, N.Y., The Times Union reported that a middle school sparked controversy by banning hugging on campus. Meanwhile in Georgia, a front- page story in the Macon Tele- graph said several parents were turned away at high school grad- uation ceremonies for wearing short pants. It was front-page news in Riverside, California’s Press- Enterprise that Jordan Romero, 13, became the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. Other mountains made news, as The Honolulu Star Bulletin ran a photo of the Kilauea Volcano erupt- ing for the 10,000th straight day. As different as the nation’s front pages tend to be, it’s clear that all editors love photos of animals. On this single Saturday, moose were fronted on The Anchorage Daily News and bison on The New York Times. There was a goat on The Harrison Daily Times in Arkansas, a horse on The Washing- ton Post, and a giant octopus on The Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa. The Erie Times- News in Pennsylvania featured a colony of bees, The State in Columbia, S.C. focused on kan- garoos, and The Wisconsin State Journal pictured a monkey. Under the headline “Pooch in tune, The Topeka Capital-Jour- nal in Kansas reported that Donna Nish found 21 four-leaf clovers and three five- leaf clovers growing in her front yard. The Times Record in Fort Smith, Ark., revealed that a pro- gram requiring drunk drivers to tour prisons is running into trouble because many of them are showing up for the tours drunk. Peter Funt Then there was the story on the front page of the Courier-Times in New Castle, Ind., announcing plans for this year’s Memorial Day celebration. The highlight will be a traveling museum about funerals. Reporter Donna Cronk notes that alongside the caskets “there will be complimentary hot dogs, chips, beverages, and tropical shaved ice.” the Pokey,” The Union in Grass Valley, Calif., disclosed that a pit bull named Romeo may have been framed for attacks on neighborhood pets. In Iowa, the lead item in the Sioux City Jour- nal was that a cat named Amaz- ing Grace survived surgery to remove a three-inch nail from her head. In other news of good for- It's apparent that despite the shrinking globe, this remains a remarkably diverse nation. And despite technological changes in the news business, the nation’s front pages still capture it best. Peter Funt is a writer and public speaker. He's also the long-time host of "Candid Camera." A collection of his DVDs is available at www.candidcamera.com. promises Editor: For years we’ve known that in order to be elected, it took money, lots of money. Hence, those with the most money, or who sold out to a political party, were able to run campaigns. But no matter how much money you could gather, it still came down to who could buy or influence the most voters. Votes are power in this coun- try. Rich and poor are equalized by the one man, one vote con- cept of democracy. With this being well known by the politi- cal parties, they have made all kinds of promises to the elec- torate in order to receive their vote. Unfortunately, many if not most of their promises are false or misleading. The more edu- cated and involved the elec- torate, the harder it is to deceive them. I encourage people to get involved and educate yourself as to what promises are being made, based upon the reality of our economic situation. Can these politicians give money to any group or cause if they have none? Where does the money come from? There is no such thing as a free lunch. They already stole our money from Social Security, which we must pay back through taxes. They now steal from our children’s future. I recommend that you get on a computer and look up www.usdebtclock.org to see the financial shape we are in today. The only thing that can reverse this is a self reliant public that will cease expecting the govern- ment to solve all their problems, fund every noble cause and pay for all their needs. The politicians that promise utopia usually have their own interests at heart, not yours. Don’t vote for false promises that will only indebt your chil- dren and enslave you to an all powerful government. As my father-in-law always told me, “There’s only two ways to get financially ahead in life; make more than you spend, or spend less than you make.” Paul R. Moon, Red Bluff Energy needs Editor: Don Polson column of May 3 comments on some statistics that show that solar and wind energy sources do not result in significant decreases in C02 in our atmosphere. He thinks we should continue using oil and coal as energy sources because they are cheaper sources at this time than are solar and wind. He fails to realize that coal and oil are depletable sources that will become only more expensive as they are depleted, while solar and wind are sus- tainable sources that will become cheaper over time. Also, he fails to consider the human costs of oil and coal, like the recent coal mine explosions in West Virginia and China and the oil well explosion in the Gulf. Both resulted in multi- ple worker deaths. The oil well explosion and subsequent pollu- tion may severely damage the Gulf coast’s economy for many years and result in the perma- nent loss of livelihood for fish- ermen. Sorry Don, but small statisti- cal reductions on C02, even if true, do not make a viable argu- ment for coal and oil over solar and wind. You continue to live in the past and refuse to acknowledge that we need a new approach to our energy needs — one that will be sus- tainable over time. Robert Wilkinson, Cottonwood Critical error Editor: I am not one to ignore criti- cism, especially constructive criticism. I suppose no one really cares to be shown mistakes, but con- structive criticism serves to improve one’s writing, speaking or any ability you chose to per- fect. However what Mr. South- Your Turn ern offered up in his letter of April 21 was not criticism but simply insults. And he mis- quoted Sir Winston Churchill to try and put some authentici- ty to it. Churchill did not say, “If you haven’t become a conservative by the time you’re 40, you have no brain.” Churchill was a liber- al well after his 40th birthday. The actual author of that quote was Francois Guisot, a French historian. What Guisot actually said was, “Not to be a Republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head.” If you must resort to put downs and insults why not try doing it in a more colorful way, like saying if your brain was liquefied, there wouldn’t be enough to drown a flea. Or maybe if your brain was dynamite, you wouldn’t be able to blow your nose. If you want to dignify an insult by quoting a famous per- sonality, you really should make sure he actually said it. Orval Strong, Gerber Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), 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), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 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; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454.