Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/248497
4A Daily News – Saturday, January 25, 2014 Opinion 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 Zoning change Editor: It was announced at the Red Bluff Tea Party meeting Tuesday that at next Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting there will be a vote on changing the zoning on a piece of property on Baker Road, which will allow the construction of "stack and pack 'em" apartments for low income residents of the county. Baker Road appears at present to have single family residences on large lots. How does this kind of apartment construction, bringing in perhaps thousands of residents, fit in with the type of housing already there? I can see why they would have to change the zoning, but I would think the current residents in the area would object to this kind of dwelling in their neighborhood. I also understand that these apartments are being built to accommodate low income families, as required by the county's general plan. Why was this inserted into our general plan and by whom? Is some federal or state agency dangling a carrot — or a basket full of money — in front of our supervisors? Do we really need this kind of development in Tehama County, which already has a high poverty rate? And with our unemployment rate already well above the state average, just where do the supervisors expect these people to find jobs? Or do they expect them to find jobs? This seems like an important time for the people of Tehama County, and especially those in the Baker Road vicinity, to show up at next week's supervisor meeting — 10 a.m. Jan. 28 at the corner of Oak and Jackson — to get some of these questions answered and voice concerns, one way or the other. And I'd really like to hear our supervisors respond to these questions, not the county administrator. Wouldn't it be funny if someone found fairy shrimp in a mud hole on Baker Road and this whole project just slinked away? John Ward, Red Bluff center, which combines video feeds from more than a thousand cameras mounted throughout the city, and designed to monitor particular images with license plates, thermal body impression and facial Your recognition among Editor: them. While the public is Obviously, such engaged in watching information is not Honey Boo Boo and likely to be withheld Dancing with the Stars, Small from scrutiny by NSA, FBI, Brother has been empowered CIA or any other of our prying to actively participate in local spy agencies. physical surveillance, in an These are conditions we effort to supplement Big once categorically condemned Brother's (NSA) electronic as examples of human rights monitoring of emails and violation and depravity, phone calls on a national scale. endemic to such totalitarian The city of Oakland has been states as the Soviet Union, Nazi selected to test a prototype sys- Germany and East Germany, tem under the name of Domain Evidently, our government Awareness Center which is in tandem with select members funded by the Department of of our business community is Homeland Security and imple- engaged in the process of mented by Military Application reviving and replicating the International Corporation, a very systems we once loathed private for profit company. and opposed. At issue is a sophisticated surWhither bound, America? veillance hub, or so called fusion Joe Bahlke, Red Bluff The all seeing eye Turn Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Dan Logue, 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, 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) 5583160; E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Doug LaMalfa 506 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-2253076. U.S. SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 3930710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Commentary The State of the Union address should be a Q&A Tuesday, a joint session of Congress and those Americans who bother to tune in will be subjected to a presidential infomercial. The State of the Union address, required by the Constitution, once launched government policies and clarified national goals. Today, the event is little more than a pep rally with obligatory standing ovations. There is no proscribed method in the Constitution for how the State of the Union should be delivered to Congress. Until Woodrow Wilson chose to deliver an address in person in 1913, presidents usually just sent letters to Capitol Hill at the beginning of the year. Why not convert this relic into a useful tool that would invigorate American democracy and engage a disengaged electorate? Let's upgrade the State of the Union to something like "prime minister's questions": In parliamentary systems, this is when a prime minister responds in person to elected representatives, usually in a live broadcast. By adopting this format, President Barack Obama could stage a captivating event that the American electorate would find far more interesting. What passes for our political dialogue — surrogates and talking heads — encourages little more than bluster. Direct questions to the president by elected representatives could do much to rekindle our democratic spirit. This wouldn't need to be a circus: Disrupting the dignity of the event with flippant or ridiculous comments could lead to excoriation, as we have seen in the past. Remember that after he shouted "You lie" during Obama's 2009 State of the Union, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., was rebuked by the House and apologized. In 2010, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was criticized after mouthing "Not true" during the address. There have been stinging repercussions when audience members have strayed outside the bounds of decorum, leading us to believe that propriety would abide in a Q&A. The president could open the State of the Union with a statement of no more than 10 minutes that, as before, would recognize national accomplishments of the past year and outline new initiatives. Then, the floor would be turned over to the vice president, in his role as president of the Senate, and the speaker of the House or the ranking minority leader. They would moderate together. Party leaders could select up to seven of their representatives to ask prepared questions, similar to the town hall format of some presidential debates. Every representative would be allowed to submit questions to party leaders, and some questions might be chosen at random. The result: a candid discussion between the executive and legislative branches. Lawmakers would be able to raise their constituents' concerns to the level of the presidency — to truly and visibly represent the people. Representatives would be in the spotlight, and their behavior could have the same positive or negative consequences that the president faces after a State of the Union address. Insightful, valid questions could build a representative's political credibility, while those less deserving of the office might expose his or her buffoonery. There is no shortage of issues unique, democratic forum. Changing the State of the that could and should be addressed by members of both Union is risky, but Obama, at least, has the oratory parties and the president. For example, Guest View skills and confidence to pull it off and, most Obama might be asked how long he intends to Lawrence important, set a precedent. Done well, the leave troops in event could inspire the Afghanistan if he can public and energize — reach a security agreeDoug or in Obama's case, ment with Hamid reenergize — a presiKarzai, what he will do dency. if the Geneva conferIs it too much to ence fails to end the ask that, at least once bloodshed in Syria or what sanctions he is relaxing on a year, we move beyond sound Iran as part of the deal to limit bites to something more subits nuclear enrichment program. stantive and, well, democratic? Every newsworthy topic — The president is not royalty, National Security Agency sur- and there are precious few veillance, the Keystone pipeline, times when he must face his fracking, immigration law, political opposition in an open whether enough "young invinci- forum. And while the State of bles" are signing up for health the Union's current format care, the prospect of future gov- makes for great inside-theernment shutdowns — would be Beltway entertainment — and even for great drinking games fair game. Not every president could — for the rest of the country, weather the type of public inter- the speech is little more than rogation that prime ministers an opportunity to watch basregularly endure. Success at a ketball or catch up on "Breakrevamped State of the Union ing Bad." A new State of the Union would require deep knowledge and clever, quick answers. Per- could reconnect a disengaged haps Bill Clinton — known for electorate to its government — his State of the Union ad-libs — and celebrate our representative or George W. Bush could have democracy. used this format effectively, but Korb is a senior fellow at the what about Lyndon Johnson or Center for American Progress Ronald Reagan? LBJ preferred to work behind the scenes, often and an adjunct professor of bullying the opposition, a tactic security studies at Georgetown that would not play well before a University. Doug Brooks is prime-time audience; Reagan president emeritus of the Stability relied heavily on subordinates, International and detailed policy questions in Operations Association and a public forum could have been serves on the board of directors the Afghan-American challenging. But whether they of of Commerce. succeed or fail, America's com- Chamber Authors' emails: manders in chief would have the opportunity to defend and pro- lkorb@americanprogress.org; mote their presidencies in a doug.brooks@hoosier84.com. Korb Brooks