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6A – Daily News – Tuesday, July 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 Fish passage Editor: 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. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity 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 vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents 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 Race against time Commentary One headline after another seems to confirm that racism remains a serious problem in America. Yet, while deeply dis- turbing, the situation is neither unexpected nor necessarily an indication of a significant shift in the nation's character. Present conditions - from economic distress at home, to war and the specter of terrorism abroad - create a perfect storm for racial upheaval. Over the last decade, three developments in particular have stirred those with racial bias to erupt, much as bees react when their hive is disturbed. The first was 9/11, which, along with lesser acts of terror- ism that followed, triggered legitimate fears among many Americans, while also inviting inappropriate prejudice against those of Muslim lineage. Then came increases in illegal immi- gration in the Southwest at a time of severe nationwide unem- ployment, making latent bias against Latinos boil over. And there was, of course, the election of the nation's first black presi- dent, which has become an emo- tional call to action among clos- eted and cowardly Americans for whom equal rights is more an abstract concept than a philo- sophical way of life. Within this triad of racial hatred, the bigotry exposed by Obama's Presidency is in some respects the most painful, and yet the easiest to understand. The election of a black chief executive did not, in and of itself, move the line that sepa- rates the fair from the biased. It did, however, underscore how far the nation had progressed to that point, and it challenged - perhaps even dared - the preju- diced among us to reveal them- selves, which is what they are doing. Overt acts of racism can be limited by laws or curbed by social pressure, but an actual shift in the nation's conscious- ness takes generations to accomplish. Moreover, each period of meaningful racial progress, such as occurred in the mid-sixties, is often preced- ed by vocal and even violent outbursts, as the fearful become more threatened. In his memorable speech on race during the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama spoke of his white grandmother, "a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe." People who struggle, and sometimes fail, to overcome the fear that leads to racism are nonetheless, said Mr. Obama, "a part of America, this country that I love." Such compassion was sorely lacking among administration officials who reacted in knee- jerk style last week when the deliberately distorted video of Shirley Sherrod, an official in the Agricul- ture Department and an African-American, caused a political and media firestorm. Although it was not clear at first, Sherrod was actually using her own life experiences to underscore how racial bias is difficult to overcome - a process that in her case took many years, and was similar in many ways to what President Obama had recalled about his grandmother. For all the parsing of Sher- rod's speech, little attention has been given to the message she actually sought to deliver at the NAACP dinner last March, on the 45th anniversary of her father's funeral. He was shot in front of three white witnesses by a white man, who an all- white jury refused to indict. That's when she dedicated her life to helping black Americans escape the racial hatred that her family faced. "I've come to realize," she explained, "that we have to work together and - you know, it's sad that we don't have a room full of whites and blacks here tonight, because we have to overcome the divisions that we have." Peter Funt "Our communities are not going to thrive…our children won't have the com- munities that they need to be able to stay in and live in and have a good life if we can't figure this out. White people, black people, Hispanic people, we all have to do our part to make our communi- ties a safe place, a healthy place, a good environment." Added President Obama at week's end: "If there's a lesson to be drawn from this episode, it's that rather than us jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers at each other, we should all look inward and try to examine what's in our own hearts." That's a slow and painful process, as Shirley Sherrod dis- covered, as must we all Peter Funt writes about newspapers at www.FuntonFronts.com and 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. Nobody knew about this Stone guy? Why does it take so long to drag the truth out of peo- ple? What is this? Ostrich land? Back in the sixties I and some of my friends used to go to Rio Vista for a bass festival. Stripers were generally in the delta and great fun to catch and eat. The number of stripers above Sacramento was not sig- nificant. Stripers as far up the river as Colusa were rare. We'll be catching them in Red Bluff and Redding before long. This whole thing about the Delta Smelt, the pumps killing them while pumping water into the San Joaquin Valley, the Red Bluff diversion dam; all of this is just smoke from every special interest group in California. They holler and they claim and they lie. Everything out of their mouths is pure B.S. and you all know it. Here are the facts, Fish eat smaller fish. In 1879 a "I'm smarter than you fish expert professor" by name of Livingston Stone imported an invasive species of fish, i.e., striped bass into the delta from New Jersey. The stripers not only started eating the fingerling salmon on their way to the sea, but in between hatches they ate the Delta Smelt. The commercial fishermen are willing to blame all of the above for the decimation of the salmon population. The fact that they take whole schools of fish in one netting in the open ocean cannot possibly have any impact on the salmon popula- tion. If you have any knowledge of the life cycle of the salmon you know the lie in that. The biologists will argue any one of the points depending on their particular specialty. Nobody in this dogfight is telling any more than a minis- cule piece of the truth and then, only the truths that divert atten- tion away from their own guilt in this disaster. Adult salmon do not feed after entering the delta and so they do not impact the delta smelt or the stripers. It's a phys- iological thing. Pumps and dams never had a damn thing to do with it. Go back to the beginning. Fish eat smaller fish. California feeds the nation with fruits, vegetables and nuts. Now that the striped bass have taken over the ecology we have some fairly simple deci- sions to make, and if you have any morals, you have to ask the question, which fish kidnapped the delta? And which fish is more important to northern Cal- ifornia? As I see it we have to do these three things. 1) Supply water to our crops and orchards before we destroy those industries. 2) Declare a moratorium on fishing for salmon in our conti- nental waters from Mexico to the Cana- dian border until our salmon can recover. 3) Choose. Either salmon or stripers. Either eliminate the invasive species, or give up on the salmon. The salmon have no weapon with which to fight back. Fred Boest, Red Bluff Punishing those who work hard Editor: A recent Daily News letter to the editor favored punishing those who worked hard, devel- oped their skills, saved and invested. The punishment includes higher taxes and distri- bution of savings to those who chose to not work as hard and learn workplace skills. There are millions of legal immigrants who came to our country and fully paid for every service received. There is a larg- er number who will never pay for their government services received. The entitlement mentality is having serious adverse conse- quences for our nation. The ground swell of those opposing amnesty of illegal border crossers is because of the wel- fare entitlements accompanying amnesty. Your Turn Those born during the 1930s recession were taught very early that each child is responsible for their own self improve- ment, and to avoid pub- lic welfare. For many Social Security, Medicare, Med- icaid, Food Stamps, free public school, sub-prime loan subsi- dies and soon ObamaCare are unearned entitlements, instead of an earned repayment of excess taxes paid. Only half of Americans now pay more taxes than received in services. Every American dur- ing their 45-year work career should at least fully pay for every service actually received from the local, state, and nation- al government during their life- time. Anyone receiving more Social Security or Medicare than the lifetime taxes paid by the employee and employer, plus 8 percent annual com- pounded interest on the invest- ment, is a welfare recipiant. Our nation now has as much debt per citizen as debt default- er Greece, Spain, Portugal and the UK because of the entitle- ment mentality fostered by lib- eral legislators. Debt must always be repaid, hopefully by cutting public spending and reducing taxes to encourage job formation. Joseph Neff, Corning 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.