Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/16643
4A – Daily News – Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Opinion No on Prop 19 Editor: 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 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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They would be able to create their own version of the license fee sched- ule. They could take applications for these license seekers, do back- grounds on applicants, inspect places where the perspective busi- ness would take place and decide how big or small the business could be according to location, plus tax on the revenue they bring in. A separate license schedule of fees could be written up for com- mercial growing and processing, hopefully in isolated agricultural areas only!!! If there are more applicants than licenses available hold a public lottery drawing. According to the, Priority Draw- ing Notice, Redding has for a liquor license; applicants must have a Two Year Lease agreement for the premises for which the application is filed. Shasta also has a similar special license for houseboats. Liquor licenses range in price from $100 to $12,000 with an annual renewal fee as high as $876. What ever the governing board decides for the fee schedule they can charge enough to hire a full, or part-time enforcement officers to over see all legal aspects of operations, like the ABC does for the liquor license. This is legal and would not be a violation of anyone’s rights. Even the advocates for the collec- tives who were at the meeting had no objections to this proposal; they just want something legal that says they can get on with dealing their medical marijuana. In no way does this mean I would support proposition 19 under this special license propos- al. Proposition 19 was written just to legalize marijuana with no lim- its and the guide lines are as vague as proposition 215’s. If it passes every marijuana user will be pushing the limits crying foul if anyone tries to stop them from taking the next step into harder drugs. Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff Tea Party and the Taliban Editor: While participating in the weekly peace vigil of the Red Bluff Peace And Justice Coali- tion, I've noted several similarities between the Taliban of Afghanistan and The Tea Party of America: 1. Both groups use fear and intimidation to achieve their aims. Last Saturday, for example some supporters of the Tea Party tried to block our use of the sidewalk by standing in the street in front of our peace signs. 2. Both the Taliban and the Tea Party use religious fundamental- ism to justify war. 3. They are rabidly patriotic and well-armed defenders of ancient mythology. 4. They rage against paying taxes to a democratically elected central government. 5. They dislike foreigners, minorities, secular society and alternative lifestyles. Sarah Palin says, "The Tea Party wants to take the coun- try back." Back to what, I wonder? Obvi- come to our aid if that happened? Should you like to join our stand for peace just show up at the corner of Oak and Main streets, any saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. We've been there for eight years, but it's not too late to make a difference. Guy Mount, Cottonwood Your Turn ous answer: dominant rule by European Americans. I don't see many Native or Mexican or African American folks at Tea Party meetings. 6. They attack schools for teaching modern ideas like evolu- tion, social tolerance and cultural relativism. 7. They are guided by a sense of self-righteous arrogance. 8. Each side outlaws the use of the other side's favorite intoxicant — alcohol or opium. 9. They are not interested in protecting the environment, but are quite willing to blow up the earth -- if only they could only get their hands on a nuke. 10. Courage is defined as going to war with a gun in your hands, not standing bravely on a street corner in the heart of Tea Party or Taliban territory with a sign that reads "Honk For Peace." For that you are called a coward. I know I'm supposed to be worried about a Taliban victory in Afghanistan, but I'm a lot more concerned about the possibility of Tea Party control right here at home. Would the Marine Corps Hogan letter Editor: Bob Hogan has sug- gested that I read the let- ter from Donald Ward on our tax expenditures. I have read several of these type letters which suggest the writer only has one eye open. I do agree that the wars have cost us a huge amount of tax money, as well as loss of life for a large number of our military. If that is the only spending pro- grams our current leaders passed, then Mr. Ward might be believ- able, but there have been huge increases in all areas of the budget — not just new programs and var- ious bailouts. One day we’ll find out how costly our new healthcare pro- gram is, but this was designed so we would not learn this until after the presidential election. Since I’ve already served 22 years in the military, his remarks about my replacing one of our young men today is not possible. I would suggest that Bob go over instead, but his views are apparent so I don't think that would help. If he is younger than I and receives paychecks, he will one day understand why the tax and spend programs must be cur- tailed. We have to live within our means. Donald Perry, 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. Wary of the technology aware Commentary My new cell phone calls peo- ple on its own. I know this because people I don't know call me back, asking why I phoned. I tell them I didn't phone them -- my phone did. Which makes them sore. Unlike the first cell phone I had -- it was big and heavy and all I could use it for was to phone other people, which I never did because it cost $400 a minute to do that -- my new phone is a "smart phone." It is called the HTC Incredi- ble and it is based on Google's new Android technology -- a pretty creepy technology when you think about it. An android, in science fic- tion, is a robot that thinks and acts like a human being -- which could explain the calls my phone is making. My Incredible is otherwise amazing. It is a computer that fits in the palm of my hand -- it's 50,000 times more powerful than the giant IBM machines that took up whole city blocks just 30 years ago. It offers an "open source" operating system -- that means anyone can develop software programs to make it do "cool" things. One program offers GPS. A human voice tells me exactly how to get -- "Connelly's Irish Pub to your right" -- exactly where I want to go. Another lets me display all the bar-code tags I use -- for my gym, supermarket, etc. -- so I don't have to carry all those tags around. Others let me call people any- where in the world for free, determine the weather no matter where I am, or get instant infor- mation and comparative pricing on any product in any store. Which is a blessing and a curse. As easy as it is to understand and use the Incredible, it takes time to install and master useful applications. And no sooner do you master one than Google or somebody else invents several hundred more. If you ask me, these new technologies are driving a quiet revolution in our country. The old divides -- rich vs. poor, liberals vs. conservatives, Democrats vs. Republicans -- are so 2008. All are giving way to the new divide: people who understand technology vs. those who don't. The technology-aware will soon rule the world, if they don't already. They already know everything about us -- everything we do is electronically accessi- ble somewhere. So dependent are we on the technolo- gies they produce -- we rely on sophisticat- ed software programs to access our money so we can buy food, gas and, thanks to technological confu- sion, much-needed alcohol -- that he who controls the digital world can, at will, control most everything in our world. I'm waiting for the day when some pimple-faced kid, tired of still getting wedgies in his senior year of college, will write a program that shuts down our cars, our homes, everything -- until we hand over the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and all the gold bullion held by the Fed- eral Reserve. The technologically aware are different from you and me. They invented texting, a tech- nology that makes you press both thumbs against a miniature cell-phone keypad to bastardize the English language. And here I thought we'd mastered key- board technology with the typewriter, which utilizes all our fingers. What will the technolo- gy-aware make us use next? A hammer and chisel! Tom In any event, my Purcell Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. new phone has so many new applications and doodads that I bump things while trying to access other things, and my phone calls people I don't know. But I shouldn't complain. My phone wrote this column. ———