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4A Daily News – Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Opinion Earth Day and futurist follies DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 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 letters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All 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 cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submitted will be considered for publication. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong community newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehicles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its communities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the residents and businesses of Tehama County. 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 It has now been 43 years and a day since the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. Four years ago it was designated as International Mother Earth Day by a resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2009, much to the chagrin of local Agenda 21 alarmists. Yesterday was celebrated in over 192 countries based on a concept credited to John McConnell who at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco in 1969 proposed March 21, 1970 as a day to celebrate Mother Earth and work towards its preservation. In less than a month, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson founded a separate Earth Day on April 22 with a focus on the United States. Denis Hayes, the prominent environmental activist that first managed the Solar Energy Research Institute and now directs the Earth Day Network and nonprofit Bullit foundation, expanded its reach to the point where over a billion people worldwide took part in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular holiday in the world. Unfortunately in addition to the paranoid Agenda 21 opponents many locals view environmentalism as an overreach of hypocritical liberals to deny others the enjoyment and utilization of public and private areas as they might like. Public lands are now protected by vigilant game wardens, park rangers, and environmentalists to ensure that they are not damaged in ways that alter the habitat, plant life, or sanctity of natural areas. Even private lands must heed to regulations that limit their use, exploitation, and adverse impacts on neighboring lands. While such regulations are seen by conservatives and libertarians as governmental overreach into their private property and affairs, their perspective must be tempered by the rest of earth's inhabitants to ensure that our precious land, water, and air are sustained in sufficient quantities and qualities to support life. At the end of the day all of us must live together by equitably sharing these resources that are essential for life, which means we must all be vanguards to avoid practices that damage our ecosystems and champion those that protect it. Such is the purpose of Earth Day – to express gratitude for a bountiful world, celebrate a sustainability ethic, and gain awareness of human impacts and responsibilities as inhabitants and stewards of planet Earth. In the scheme of things minor actions taken by many of us significantly influences the condition of our environment. Things such as using low-flow shower heads, running washing machines only when full, recycling, taking the stairs, riding that serve to trap solar energy in a bike to the store, taking a bus to our atmosphere and oceans, causwork, planting a garden, shopping ing unprecedented rates of global warming, drought, wild at the farmers market, fires, and marine habitat and installing insulation, devastation. LED lights, solar energy In this columnist's systems, and efficient opinion time is increassprinklers. Some of ingly short for Amerithese come at no cost, cans in particular and indeed they may even humans in general to save time and money, heed the warnings of requiring only that you scientists that forecast a make choices that condyer dryer future, and sider impacts on the discount those that environment and others. Considering the rapid Richard claim unspecified technological rescues. It is rates of technological both prudent and development many rewarding to take futurists predict a day actions today that limit when technology will your impacts on the solve the vexing probplanet, particularly as lems of the day. Such world population conwas the claim of nuclear tinues to increase and power supporters in the '60s and '70s that predicted "elec- increasingly marginal areas are tricity too cheap to meter" and that exploited for resources and econuclear fuel disposal and storage nomic development. Rather than posed no significant problem. The fight the inevitable by discounting reality is that nuclear energy power human responsibility for environplants are too expensive to build mental damage, please join the bilsafely where alternatives exist and lion or so that recognize the virtues their highly radioactive and toxic and dangers of Earth Day and fuel rods remain stored in pools of futurist follies. water adjacent to aging facilities, Richard Mazzucchi is a retired posing a risk for the next 20,000 research engineer specializing in years. Meanwhile we continue to burn fossil fuels with abandon, energy efficiency and renewable releasing millions of tons of green- energy. He can be reached at house gases into the atmosphere, living-green@att.net. Mazzucchi Positive Point Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Dan Logue, 1550 Humboldt Road, Ste. 4, Chico, CA 95928, 530-895-4217 STATE SENATOR — Jim Nielsen, 2635 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico, CA 95928, (530) 879-7424, senator.nielsen@senate.ca.gov GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Doug LaMalfa 506 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-225-3076. 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. Commentary Lincoln dinner; Obama's bloody nose, fit Here's a "last call" for folks to reserve their place or table at this year's Red, White and Blue Republican dinner, Vets Hall, this Saturday; 5 PM for the pre-dinner mixer. We'll hear from several of our fellow Republicans, not the least of which will be Elizabeth Emken, our candidate for U.S. Senate last year. We who heard her at our election headquarters can attest to her insightful ability to connect with regular working folks on the issues confronting California and America. Three improvements, if I may say, over previous dinners: First, the "virtual" Abraham Lincoln refers to Mr. Frank Jones, who has played Mr. Lincoln for about 35 years at churches and schools. Next, dinner service is going back to buffet style with two serving lines; you can personalize choices of British beef short ribs, pork loin medallions and the other delectable side items. Finally, the price of dinner, $40 per person, includes an entry in the drawing for $300 in Lincoln $5 bills. Additional drawing tickets are available and advisable; making it a cash award has the advantage of not committing someone a particular rifle or shotgun they may not want or need, or a gift card for a retailer they dislike. As usual, the silent auction items will be highly bid worthy. Anyway, the caterer needs a head count; you will be glad you did your part for your local Republican party. Call 529-1226 soon for more information and reservations. The title of the Powerlineblog.com analysis, "A Lame Duck Squawks, But Why?" only starts to describe the pathetic and ultimately fruitless efforts of Democrats and their classless, petty, disingenuous leader, President Obama, to wring some modicum of new gun laws out of the senseless slaughter in Newtown, Connecticut in December. Socalled "lame duck" status usually waits until a president is politically impotent with only a year or two left in his term and an opposition emboldened to obstruct his every initiative. However, Obama's lameness may have shown itself in the arrogance-driven hubris of his thinly-veiled, venom-filled, petulant fit over getting his political nose bloodied in the Senate; Democrats were forced to show their losing hand over the "thin gruel" of expanded background checks. Obama's Rose Garden speech, more accurately described as "an angry rant," demonstrated more raw emotion, as it were, than he displayed over the original killings; this months-long campaign of staged outrage and maudlin hearttugging was designed to cynically advance an off-the-ideologicalshelf gun control agenda. No such anger emerged over Benghazi, the Fort Hood terrorist murders, or even the terror attack in Boston. He reserves his real vitriol for his political opponents, Americans all, ideologically dead to him. Dead children are, the way I see it, little but political props for an Obama who demurred that politics had nothing to do with his gun control measures ("My starting point is not to worry about the politics. My starting point is to focus on what makes sense, what works [to make] our children safe [and] reduce the incidence of gun violence." 1/14) Nothing he or Harry Reid proposed to legislate or implement by executive fiat would Senator as well as peel off some have stopped the crazed Adam Republicans (which it did). VulnerLanza from stealing and using able Democrats still voted against it (in that every amendweapons his mother ment needed 60 votes), legally bought, weapons dooming both pro- and any law abiding citizen anti- gun amendments. should rightfully be able Funny thing, though: to own. The only way to there were more votes stop criminally insane for pro-gun than antikillers would have been gun amendments for the institutional left, in If it were true, as the form of civil rights Obama-crats, repeat, lawyers, mental health that 90 percent want advocates and Democrats universal background in legislatures, to facilichecks, all Democrat tate committing those Senators would have deemed unsafe to themDon voted for it. There is no selves or others to incarPolson such poll, where people cerated treatment. the curYet, here's Obama, The way are informed ofCriminal rent National demonizing his political Instant Background opponents in the Rose I see it Check system, and 9 of Garden: "The gun lobby 10 still want Obama's and its allies willfully lied about the bill. It came down to pol- background checks. People rightitics … This pattern of spreading fully suspect that registration and untruths … served a purpose." No, criminalization of lawful guns and it's Mr. Obama, "spreading law-abiding citizens will follow untruths," who "willfully lied," and don't want it. Only 4 percent of made up stuff, misrepresented Americans think gun control is a polls, studies and statistics, who priority, nearly last in importance has sullied the office he holds (Gallup). 40 percent of gun sales outside through fabrication for crass political gain. Because none of it would the current system? Bogus number. ever pass in the Republican-con- Military style assault weapons? trolled House of Representatives, Made up terminology. Federal gun the whole "anti-gun" (Harry Reid's crime prosecution? Lowest in Los words) campaign has been nothing Angeles, Chicago and New York. more than a shameless plan to pro- Enforce current federal laws, vide the Democrat base with get- Barack Obama and Eric Holder, out-the-vote campaign motivation before passing, and asking the lawto deliver the House back to Nancy abiding to comply with, yet more laws. Pelosi. So, how sweet the irony: The Don Polson has called Red Bluff Obama/Reid jam down of legislation, stripped of measures that home since 1988. He can be by e-mail at could defeat Democrats in 2014, reached was supposed to garner every Dem donplsn@yahoo.com.