Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/11265
6A – Daily News – Monday, May 31, 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 If Proposition 16 is approved by voters, it will take a two-thirds vote of the electorate before a pub- lic agency could enter the retail power business. By arbitrarily imposing a two- 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. 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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 thirds vote the proposition will make it nearly impossible for local entities to form either municipal utilities, or community wide clean electricity districts called Commu- nity Choice Aggregators (CCAs), thereby essentially establishing a Pacific Gas & Electric monopoly for electrical service in most of California. Not surprisingly it is the primary financial sponsor of the initiative, having contributed $34.5 million through May 2 to make PG&E the Goliath in a David vs. Goliath battle, since Prop. 16's opponents have raised less than $50,000 through early May. The pro-proposition advertising campaign now blanketing the air- waves offers some of the most deceptive and cleverly misleading commercials I have ever seen – a true testament to the dangers of mass media sound-bite cam- paigns. Referred to as the "Tax- payers Right to Vote Act" they hope to trick us into believing that theirs is a mission to limit govern- ment expansion and stop another government boondoggle. Never mind the fact that public power entities provide more eco- nomical electric service to millions of Americans than their privately owned for-profit counterparts. Contrary to their assertions, this is not a new battle, but one that traces its roots to the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, where the federal government began to make direct loans and loan guarantees to pub- lic electric utilities to serve cus- tomers in rural areas. Today more than 2,000 com- munity-owned electric utilities serve more than 45 million Amer- icans under the auspices of the Rural Electrification Administra- tion within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The R.E.A. is consid- ered one of the most immediate and profound successes in the his- tory of federal policy-making for the national economy. By the end of 1938, just two years after its inception, 350 coop- erative projects in 45 states were delivering electricity to 1.5 million farms. The success of the R.E.A. over the next two decades was even more impressive, especially as a self-sustained financing agency. By the mid-1950s nearly all American farms had electrical service that was provided through the R.E.A. or by other means. Monies lent through the R.E.A. were also largely repaid, as the default rate is less than one per- cent. Moreover, as with any signif- icant surge in investment, the accompanying new demands for household electrical appliances spurred growth in home appli- ance manufacturing, and spawned the electri- cal and plumbing trades in rural communities. Electrical service also brought revolution- ary new mediums of communication to rural farms, firms and house- holds. Radio was fol- lowed by television and now internet service as the new streams of information narrow the cultural, educational and commercial divide between urban and rural America. Rural electrifi- cation contributed to the rapid growth of suburbs, and helped cre- ate a more integrated national mar- ket. The manager of the Redding public power provider recently asked viewers of the local news, "Why would one question the altruism of PG&E shareholder investments in support of Proposi- tion 16?" His sarcasm is not a rhetorical question, but one that goes to the roots of much of the Tea Party rhetoric now finding traction with many angry Ameri- cans. Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point PG&E is betting millions that the Tea Party demoga- gary will lend support to Proposition 16 based upon its anti-govern- ment and fiscal restraint underpinnings. Should they succeed this will confirm my fear that many of those caught up in the Tea Party move- ment will fail to thoughtfully consider the facts of this matter, and vote solely on an impassioned and clever- ly packaged mass media campaign. I entreat voters to consider the source of the information provid- ed to you as you weigh its truthfulness and applicability to your moral standards and beliefs. By so doing you will likely "Just Say No" on Proposition 16 to ensure the most economical and reliable electric services possible are provided to the people of Cali- fornia, and to show PG&E that we will not be tricked by their anti- competitive improper Proposition 16. Richard Mazzucchi can be reached at living-green@att.net. 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, Sacramento, 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. Chewing bones; textbooks; pray, remember Commentary As the "candidates nights" wind down, it’s almost refreshing to see some sparks fly, as happened at the Tehama County Tea Party Patriots meeting last Tuesday. Charles Schaupp and Jim Nielsen (candi- dates for the Assembly) took their turns addressing the group and, after hearing from Mr. Nielsen, we were treated to a rather confronta- tional address by Mr. Schaupp. The bone of contention chewed on by Schaupp was the per diem payments received by Nielsen while serving in Sacramento and using his house down south. In response to my question about whether anything "illegal, unethi- cal or improper" occurred, Nielsen stated that there was nothing "ille- gal" or otherwise inappropriate about the payments and offered a heartfelt defense of his activities. Schaupp was quite determined to press the point that they were not in the spirit of being frugal with the taxpayers’ money. Now, I’ve indicated that Nielsen has earned my vote, and I regard accusations of impropriety that surface late in campaigns to be of questionable value. My position is that if Mr. Nielsen has wrongly received any per diem payments, let the record be examined by proper authorities, not a political opponent or potentially partisan newspapers with possible agendas to present a slanted picture. I admire Mr. Schaupp’s record, qualifications and devotion to bringing conservative change to Sacramento. I actually think his presence in the Assembly would approximate a virtual ideological hand grenade, not unlike the real ones he’s surely thrown as a Marine. I hope he gets a shot at political office at some point; I know he’ll fight for what’s right on our behalf. Not to be neglected, Mr. Larry Champion, running unopposed for the Superintendent of Schools, was very gracious with his time and patience dealing with questions from the Patriots. Sometimes one can learn just by finding out that a question isn’t really relevant to a candidate’s area of responsibility. Such was the case when he was asked about the Texas State Board of Education textbook changes, recently in the news when a Demo- cratic state Senator introduced a bill to supposedly protect Califor- nia schools and students from those changes. Mr. Champion had seen the arti- cle and explained that textbook for- mulation and curriculum are an ongoing process and are not sub- ject to political whims and causes. I still found the news of the legisla- tion to be troubling. I found a polit- ical cartoon that appeared on this page weeks ago, mocking the Texas school board, to be insulting, and the arguments against the changes to be fallacious. To use examples: 1) What is wrong with continuing to use the time-honored designations, "B.C. and A.D." which refer to the birth of Jesus Christ, instead of C.E. (Current Era) and B.C.E. (Before …)? We all know that the only motivation is to scrub any vestige of Christianity from the class- room, which is, coincidentally, 2) why the atheists become unhinged over any mention of the impor- tance and centrality of Christianity to the Founders of America and our founding documents, the Declaration of Inde- pendence and the Consti- tution. Given that such Christian influence is beyond dispute, it’s ludi- crous for atheists and lib- erals to object to the truth. 3) There happened to actually be a conservative resurgence in the 80s and 90s – why shouldn’t our children be informed about it? Oh, that’s right, liberals have great insecu- rity over the fact that they have been marginal at times in American histo- ry. You get the idea. Next week I’ll explain how the Arizona law does not, in fact, target legal immigrants as has been alleged. Let’s now turn to the pur- pose for today’s remembrances: Following are excerpts from "A Prayer for the War Dead" by Rev. Dick Kozelka (Ret): "Eternal God, Creator of years, of centuries, Lord of whatever is beyond time, Maker of all species and master of all history … We sing with spirit and pray with courage because you have digni- fied us; have redeemed us from the aimlessness of things going mean- inglessly well. God, lift the hearts of those for whom this holiday is not just diversion, but painful memory and continued depriva- tion. "Bless those whose dear ones Don Polson The way I see it have died … We remember with compassion those who have died serving their countries in combat. There is none of us but must come to bereavement and sep- aration, when all the answers we are offered fail the ques- tion death asks of each of us. We believe that you will provide for us as others have been provided with the ful- fillment of ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be com- forted.’ Amen." One excellent way to remember, and show appreciation for, those who have sacrificed for their coun- try but remain with us, is to con- tribute to the Injured Marine Sem- per Fi Fund. Their motto is "Serv- ing those who preserve our free- dom." With only 7 percent of con- tributions going to administration, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that your donation is almost entirely devoted to healing the physical and emotional injuries of some of our wounded warriors and heroes. The web site is easily accessed at Semperfifund.org and the phone number is 1-760-207-0887; it has "4 star" and "A+" ratings from those who evaluate charitable groups. Don Polson can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com. Prop 16 - An improper proposition