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4A – Daily News – Monday, January 3, 2011 Opinion Your awesome power of intention 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 A new study conducted by the 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. 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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 Harvard Medical School sug- gests that the placebo effect may work even if patients are entirely aware of what they are taking. When a group of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were told they were taking a completely inert substance that would reduce their symptoms "via a mind-body self-healing process" 59% reported feeling better, compared to only 35% of a similar group that received no treatment at all. Other work has shown that patients who believe they will benefit from a placebo show more activity in the regions of their brains associated with the anticipation of pleasure and the dulling of pain. Tapping into these neural net- works may be of help to those suffering from disorders beyond IBS, providing real relief with no real chemistry. It is my belief that this placebo effect is a demonstration of the power of intention, an ability of the human consciousness to out-picture itself. Many people of faith have come to realize the power of prayer not only for themselves but for those they pray for. In my mind it is the sharing of these prayers with the afflicted that helps bring about the desired relief, as another demonstration of the powers of intention. So you might be asking "why would an opinion columnist bother us with such psycho-bab- ble?" The answer is that I believe that much of our present political and economic unrest stems from the conflicts of our individual powers of intention. So long as significant portions of the elec- torate and those active in com- merce have polarized views of the ideal future it would seem that powers of intention, if they exist, are working at cross pur- poses. The inevitable result is one that can retard progress by keeping everyone stuck in a state of conflict. One way to test this hypothe- sis is for all Americans to align their intentions with the follow- ing: "I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with lib- erty and justice for all." This pledge unifies us as one indivisi- ble republic and requires us to grace one another with liberty and justice. While we may not all agree on all the particulars of our governance there should be no question regarding our unity of purpose and intentions for it. To deride another’s informed choices or cavalierly dictate what you think is best for all are actions not likely to change hearts and minds to your liking. Instead such practices tend to be condescend- ing and divisive. The power of our great nation is most potent if citizens share a common vision and intention for their future. We saw this when gasoline prices exceeded $4 per gal- lon, with almost uni- versal intention to avoid the high costs of inefficient vehicles and transportation, leading to a surge in demand for hybrid vehicles, local shopping and services, and awareness of the need to change our lifestyles. While this inten- tion was short lived for many once gas prices receded, others continued their pursuit of more sustainable living in deference to abundant evidence of environ- mental damage, national security concerns, and inevitable supply shortages. One can also look to the power of our national resolve as Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point we faced the horrors of World War II and rallied as a nation to secure our freedom and defend the democratic ideals of our allies. In these times of national dis- tress I beseech all Americans to honor the sacrifices of those that fought and died to pro- tect our democracy by setting your intention to better respond to the struggles of our broth- ers and sisters by respectfully working together to perfect our republic. To do other- wise and turn a cold shoulder is, in my humble opinion, an injustice and failure to righteously focus your awesome power of intention to help make our world a better place. Richard Mazzucchi is a retired research engineer specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. He has travelled extensively and now makes his home in Los Molinos, where he is striving to manifest a sustainable and spiritual lifestyle. He can be reached at living-green@att.net. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3063 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. Like day, night – lunacy follows liberalism Commentary It’s an almost seamless transi- tion from the concept of fantasy vs. reality, that I wrote about last week, to what can be properly catego- rized as lunacy in so much of what passes for conventional wisdom by our friends on the left. The catchy headline from the December 23 Daily News, "She thinks my trac- tor’s smoggy," belied just such lunacy of regulation, spending and junk science. Suggesting little con- troversy, the article described how over $27,000 of state grant money would replace one 1989 tractor, while other unspecified funds would replace other tractors. Over a year ago, I wrote in detail and with sources about the fraudulent use of diesel emissions studies to support the California- only regulation of on-road and off- road (construction and farming) diesel exhaust. It’s not categorized as a source of injury or death by the EPA; the scientist that contributed to the study withdrew his support when his data was misused; the scale of the supposed problem was reduced by the recessionary affect on trucking; and, finally, indepen- dent researchers concluded that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) overestimated the pollu- tion by a factor of 340 percent. That lunacy affected primarily over-the-road diesel trucks, which pose no serious pollution problem. This deal with construction and farm equipment just takes the loony-bin cake, however. Let’s just put it all together for you: 1) Dust and exhaust from farm and con- struction rigs have been around for a hundred years with no dis- cernible harm, 2) The equipment was built to last decades to give the owner a fair return on his money, 3) Junk science peddled by ARB drove liberals in Sacramento to legislate and regulate something needing no oversight, 4) California is broke, busted, in arrears, finan- cially empty, but 5) They’re com- ing up with oodles, maybe mil- lions, of dollars to turn good rigs into junk. Unbelievable, in my opinion. Attempts to polish the prospects for 2011 appeared earlier. Picking arbitrary points in the Washington musical chairs of presidents and trying to draw comparisons is a fool’s errand, since the chief exec- utive does not write the budget – Congress does. Those famous sur- pluses at the end of President Clin- ton’s term had nothing to do with his policies, but rather the juxtapo- sition of profits and gains from the so-called tech stock bubble (raising tax revenues) and the Republican Congress holding the reigns of spending. The last budget written by Republicans before the Democrat takeover in 2007 had what is now a laughably small $160 billion deficit, about one tenth the size of those produced by the Pelosi/Reid budgets. CNSNews, using official debt figures published by the U.S. Treasury, concluded that the "The federal government has accumulat- ed more new debt – $3.22 trillion – during the tenure of the 111th Con- gress (meaning the Democratic Congress just ended) than it did during the first 100 Congresses combined," or the first 220 years of our nation. The national debt under the Republican 110th Congress did grow too much, by almost $2 tril- lion, including non-bud- getary items, but the Democrats topped it by 64 percent while barely breaking a sweat. But let’s just be honest that the 5 percent unemploy- ment rate and record number of months (over 50) of economic growth between recessions under President Bush was not, in any fantasti- cally stretched meaning, bad for the middle class. And just another real- ity check: saying that 365,000 jobs were creat- ed or saved in California is yet another excursion into fantasy jobs num- bers. There is no such list any- where of these people and their jobs – it is simply an application of fuzzy math used by liberal econo- mists in the administration, relying on liberal think tanks stating that government spending creates or saves jobs. That’s a fallacy that flies in the face of logic as well as other groups like the Heritage Foundation that found that a dollar of federal spending, rather than equaling $1.50 of new cash in the economy, actually has only about 15 cents of new money. That’s because it is all fake money and must be first taken from taxpayers or borrowed or it inflates our cur- rency. It is also a misnomer to call a Don Polson The way I see it credit or refund or rebate to some- one, or even millions of some ones, that owe no income taxes, a tax cut. Along with other so-called "invest- ments" or grants or pro- jects or programs, it is all a spending binge by var- ious levels of govern- ment that are the most wasteful, inefficient and corrupt elements of our nation. Saying that aid from Washington kept teachers from being fired neglects to account for the fact that state and local governments have not lost anywhere near the percentage of jobs of the private sector. For much of the recession, state and local govern- ments actually added employees, including hundreds of thousands by the federal government. Teach- ers losing their jobs are regrettable but how much borrowed, deficit- increasing money must be spent to insulate government workers from unemployment. To liberals desperate to put a ribbon and makeup on the worst economy in over 50 years, which is stubbornly refusing to improve from the wasteful deficit-spending, and irresponsible, wrong-headed government mandates and regula- tions – well, the spin and misrepre- sentations just keep getting bolder. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.