6A – Daily News – Tuesday, February 15, 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
Vehicle fee Editor:
Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com
Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com
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Hold up. Slow down. If you
wait a half a second, there’ll be time for me to hop on the Ronald Reagan 100th birth- anniversary bandwagon, onto which I plan on leaping with both feet. Well, to be honest, not so much jumping on as using a Sherman tank to slam sideways into it, then soaking the floor- boards with fermented cabbage shreds marinated in red wine vinegar-infused deer urine. Because, like it or not, a certain amount of pendulum swing is necessary here less the gods descend enraged, and blind us for our collective self-inflicted myopia. We can be forgiven for feel-
ing fittingly dazed and confused from the deluge of month- long wall-to-wall television specials, radio reports and magazine cover stories all tinged in that faint, beige, gauzy haze of selec- tive memory that so easily metastasizes into revisionist his- tory. The man was not Saint Ronny. He was an actor, who legendarily turned down Boga- rt’s part in the movie "Casablan- ca." Think how history would have changed: Bogart might have become president. Then again, Casablanca would be a
Assemblyman Jim Nielsen has come up with a plan to secure funding for rural public safety programs. He wants to keep the 0.15 percent increase in the state's vehicle license fee that is due to sunset on June 30. Why is there a vehicle license fee? We bought a new truck in 2009 and paid more than $3,000 taxes on that truck at the time of purchase. We just paid the vehicle fee of $650 for this year.
The fee is based on the value of the truck. Isn't that double taxation? Why is this being allowed? It is outrageous that we are being taxed several times on the purchase of our vehicle. Once when we purchase it and then every year when we re- license it.
These fees must be stopped.
We are retired and on a fixed income. We cannot afford more taxation. California needs to cut back on their spending instead of creating more taxes. Joyce Pickering, Red Bluff
SmartMeters
Editor: I received a letter from PG&E last week informing me I was on their installation list for the new and much talked about SmartMeter. In spite of all the written propaganda that PG&E has written and sends to cus- tomers in their efforts to con- vince everyone this new tech- nology is in the people’s best interest, I have yet to hear any- thing positive to support those
PG&E declarations.
In what I considered my best interest I telephoned PG&E to remove my name from their installation list as I did not want the new SmartMeter. I was quickly told they could not do that.
When I explained I had just lost my husband and I had not heard anything positive about the SmartMeter I did not want to be more upset than I already was at that time and to please take my name off their list. Although, the man who talked with me was very nice he told me he would put my name at the very end of the list. However, I did not have a choice. I would have to take the SmartMeter whether I want- ed it or not. That statement was very hard to take being told by someone with a heavy accent who obviously was not raised in this country. Needless to say my feathers were ruffled and being a woman and an American from the old school I resented being told there was not anything I could do. That statement only escalated my resolve to go toe to toe with PG&E over the matter of being forced to accept a SmartMeter. For a week I gave the matter a lot of thought. Even scratched my head vigorously to stimulate the process. I know we must accept progress, but is this real- ly progress or just another card up the sleeve of a large monop- oly to cut their expenses and enhance their bottom line. While writing this letter I noticed a young man installing a meter at the neighbor’s home so I ventured out to talk with
him. He told me that he had a contract with PG&E to install the SmartMeters and I was not on his list that day. I was most happy when I heard that. Nonetheless, he told me that
I would eventually be on the list. When I told him my objec- tions and that I was
writing a
letter to the editor of our local newspaper to vent my frustrations his expres- sion suddenly changed and he looked very concerned. He told me to be careful about causing any problems for PG&E. He confessed that he had already been threatened by people and refused entry on properties. I told him that I could not help the actions of others but I felt it was wrong for PG&E to force the people to accept the SmartMeter without a choice and I felt compelled to continue my protest. He warned me that PG&E would retaliate by removing the old meter and leave me without any power whatsoever. I am 78 years of age, and I took that warning as a threat. What else could it be? That warning told me just what sort of authority I was going to have to face. But even more to the point, since when does big business dictate to the citizens of California they must accept a product or survive without elec- tricity? That is totally against our constitution of civil rights, and I do not remember voting for SmartMeters. So I am taking the only option left to me, that being the power of the pen. I am sending this letter to all my elected officials. I believe I
Your Turn
should have been offered a choice, whether to remain on the old system should I not want the new SmartMeter. Who knows I too may have decided to have a SmartMeter once I heard positive things from cus- tomers who were really pleased with the performance of this new technology, but until then, I want the choice of staying on the old sys- tem without the threat of retaliation. To those who already have a Smart- Meter, just a thought
for the day. I do not know any- thing about electricity, but I do know the new SmartMeter does not run on batteries. I wonder, if to monitor the power usage on your electricity line does the SmartMeter use power from your line. After all that Smart- Meter runs every second, every minute, every hour of every day and are you paying for it? Does PG&E give a credit to their cus- tomers for enhancing their bot- tom line.
I cannot help but wonder. If
anyone is interested in joining the crusade against PG&E’s policy of retaliation to always control and maintain their power, please write to your elected officials. It seems that the people’s only weapon is the power of the pen or to start a petition. To obtain the names and addresses of your local and state elected officials you can call your local libraries and they will help you. Or see below.
Gloria Darlene Linch, 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 3070 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.
100 years of Reagan Commentary
lousy movie. Some folks have been so
feverish with Reagan-Palooza there’s renewed talk of putting his face on the ten-dollar bill. Excuse me? Wouldn’t food stamps be more appropriate? Or considering what he did for Wall Street, maybe the ten thousand- dollar bill. On a related note, the US Postal Service unveiled the third stamp honoring the 40th POTUS, the distinction being this is a forever stamp, so apro- pos when you consider his lega- cy on America’s disenfran- chised.
Let us not forget, the Father of Modern Conservatism rou- tinely fell asleep during Cabinet meetings, consulted astrology charts for the most auspicious time to take foreign policy trips, said ketchup is a vegetable and trees cause pollution. Hey, I got a funny joke for you: What did they call the homeless before Reagan. Mental patients! Does the term "Jared Loughner" have any meaning here?
And yes, I am cognizant of the depth of reeking heap of steaming feces into which I’m stepping, in these Tea Party-ish times where taking out Reagan is sacrilege. Like painting horns
on posters of the Pope at a con- vent for retired nuns. Singing "Hello Dalai" at Richard Gere’s house. Think Mother Teresa with fractional- ly less leper activity. An example: His son Ron Jr. wrote a book, and in it intimat- ed that Dad may have, once or twice, possi- bly exhibited symp- toms of forgetfulness while in the Oval Office, and KABLAM!!, the right- eous right came down on him like a wall of bricks on a grape. Totally ignoring 1994, when Dutch himself wrote a letter to the press detailing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. My theory is he wrote the letter 12 years ear- lier and just forgot to mail it. I was never afraid he was going to push the button, I always worried he was going to nod off and fall on it.
pains to be seen singing psalms to the Great Communicator, and when these two star-crossed lovers can carve time out from their busy schedule of peering into focus group mir- rors, we’re talking a miracle. Like most presidents, Obama is just a figurehead, but Reagan… was a hood ornament. A position Gov. Palin merely aspires to.
Will
Durst Raging Moderate
Coming soon from Ulysses Press: "Where the Rogue Things Go!" Pre-order your copy at Amazon. Now. Go on. Do it.
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Then again, maybe the human male lead in "Bedtime for Bonzo" really does possess mystical powers. Both Sarah Palin and Barack Obama took
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