Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/23358
6A – Daily News – Wednesday, January 19, 2011 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 Lopez article 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 The California Government Code Section 1021 is the well defined law. Mr. Lopez is not qualified to hold elected office, and he should have been denied an application to be a candidate. This is one of the flaws in the Election Code. I learned of this fact that the County Registrar of Elections is not required to veri- fy the candidates’ statements on the forms. This allowed Assem- blyman Jim Nielsen to commit perjury. I made sure she was aware of this. The second time he filed, the Registrar violated her oath of office. I hope the judge who decides the Lopez case obeys his oath and rules on what the code states. The judge who tossed my case on Nielsen ignored his oath. Good luck Corning City Council Donald Bird, Rancho Tehama Letter response Editor: I would like to thank Evan Hin- ton for explaining the difference between science and religion, let- ters Jan. 12. As he correctly states "Science and religion are not mutually exclusive...” The reason religion is not taught in school should be obvious by witnessing Iran or anything other country with an official reli- gion. I would also like to applaud Aaron Standish, letters Jan. 12, for his comments regarding Don Pol- son. I have often thought that the Daily News keeps Polson around for the same reason Fox News keeps their vitriolic personalities. Not for any useful or informative knowledge, but rather to increase readership at the expense of intel- ligent dialogue. Randy Bettis, Red Bluff Evolution Editor: Nancy Godina seems to have stirred up a hornet’s nest by ques- tioning teaching "Darwin’s theory of Evolution." Having been born, raised, and educated in Sacramento I, too, was taught that this was a fact. It wasn't until I was in my mid thirties that I had a cause to question this fact. Being the curious kind I did some investigating of the subject. It is indeed the sacred cow of atheists and agnostics, and they defend it as such. The facts though seem to be a little suspect. Many scientists with doctorates in their fields — paleontology, geology, life sciences and such — don't believe in evolution. Darwin himself stated that if science ever determined that the simple cell, of which all living creatures are composed, turned out not to be simple as he thought, his theory would be wrong. Modern science has found that there is more going on in every individual cell in our bodies than there is at any one time in New York City. Oops. Modern science has also determined that for a liv- ing cell to be created by accident in a chemical stew is impossible. Some of them have gone to suggesting that life was seeded here from outer space because of this impossibility. This only removes the act so far away and so long ago that we really can't tell. Bad science. As for fossil evidence, our museums are full of it and some really weird things were around at some time in the past. But as every museum curator knows, there are no fossils showing a part way of evolving into something else. They are all solidly individuals. The fossils also found in their rock lay- ers tend to not be very neatly laid out. They are frequently mixed up with others that are alleged to be of a differ- ent time period. Evolution a fact? I don't think even Darwin would think so if pre- sented with available evidence. The writers chastising Mrs Godina also went on to make statements questioning her reli- gion. Even claiming that they were all alike. That is really playing with the facts loosely. One tells me I should kill non believers, and another tells me that if I'm bad, I might be reincarnated as a snake. Hard to find any simi- larity. If you would like to know how to tell which one is right give me a call. I would be glad to share the truth with you. Phillip Southern, Red Bluff Evolution is religion, not science Editor: We learn from the scientific method that something must be demonstrable and repeatable to be scientific. After about 150 years of organized experimenta- tion and theorizing, no scientific proof has ever been demonstrat- ed for evolution. Those who believe in evolu- tion believe based on their faith in the theory that it is true. When someone believes by faith, that is religion. Recent discoveries in genet- Your Turn ics have shown that a living thing cannot evolve into a more complex organism because the genome is just not able to make it happen. Mutations and natural selection can cause variation within a species or kind of living thing, but simply cannot create something more complex than what the genome is capable of. For example, a dog will always produce another dog, never an animal more complex than a dog. Scientifically speak- ing, man could not have evolved from a simpler organism because the genome of a simpler creature simply does not have the DNA to get the job done. The scientific evidence that is available points toward creation, not evolution, as the origin of all things in the universe, both liv- ing and non-living. There is an abundance of information avail- able on the subject, just google creation science to learn more. Al McKnight, Corning State budget Editor: Think you could probably balance the state budget in about a month if you raised the fine for driving while talking on a cell phone to about $250 and then wrote up all violators. John Hacker, Red Bluff 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 — Jerry Brown, 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. Uncertain for sure Commentary Boy, is uncertainty making us uncertain. Jonah Lehrer, a specialist in psychology and neuroscience, explains why in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Lehrer cites an experiment in which subjects were asked how much they would offer to pay for either a $50 bookstore gift certifi- cate or one valued at $100. They offered an average of $26.10 and $50, respectively. Then uncertainty was added to the mix. The subjects were told to bid on a lottery in which they were guaranteed to win either the $50 or $100 certificate. You'd think they'd offer at least $26.10 -- after all, the worst they would do is win the $50 certificate -- but they were barely willing to cough up an average of $16. Uncertainty took the gumption out of them. Lehrer cites another experi- ment conducted recently by Cali- fornia Institute of Technology neuroeconomists. Subjects played a simple gam- bling game -- they bet on whether the next card from a deck of 20 would be red or black. At first they were told how many cards in the deck were red and how many were black. This gave them some confidence in calculating the probability of the next card's color, based on the color of the preceding cards. And so it was that "the scien- tists observed increased activity in those parts of the brain, such as the striatum, involved with the expectation of rewards." In a second gambling game, though, subjects were not told how many red and black cards were in the deck of 20. "With less information to go on, the players exhibited substan- tially more activity in the amyg- dala, a brain area associated with scary memories and emotional arousal," Lehrer says. He explains that the gambling games correspond to the way peo- ple make investment decisions. To wit: When a set of risks is fairly well known, people are more willing to act -- but when uncertainty is high, people freeze. And boy, is our uncertainty high these days. In one report a week back, economists discussed whether American supremacy is over and our decline is under way. Another report says 1 million homes were foreclosed in 2010 and the housing market is in worse shape than it was during the Great Depression. A third tells us our kids, woefully unpre- pared for the future, scored near the world's bottom on math and sci- ence aptitude tests -- though they're No. 1 in self-esteem. If that doesn't make you uncertain about the future, this will: Gov- ernment policies are making uncertainty all the worse. Tom Purcell Lehrer says there are 141 tax- code provisions that require con- gressional renewal -- up from fewer than a dozen in the late 1990s. If you are an investor, how can you make investment decisions when you have no idea what cap- ital-gains taxes -- a cost you must factor into your risk calculation -- will be three or four years down the road? If you are a small businessman, how can you determine the cost of new employees or a new plant when it's anybody's guess how much health care, or cap and trade -- or a host of other emerging regulations -- might cost you? So you freeze -- and the whole economy freezes with you. Some certainty is surely what we need -- simplicity, order, a clear understanding of what the rules will be - - but our government has been unable, or unwilling, to give us that. Only the old max- 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. ims hold true. Death and taxes really are the only things certain in life. ———