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6A – Daily News – Wednesday, February 16, 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 Raccoon in photos 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 photo of the raccoon in the Readers Photos section is really cute, but in California it is illegal to keep wild animals as pets. Hopefully that is an old photo and the animal will not have to be confiscated. Wildlife pets can be very dangerous and since they are deprived of their wild life, they may also become depressed. Karen Scheuermann, Cottonwood Response Editor: In response to Ms. Cressy's Feb. 8 letter on the opinion page I would like to help her with her problems. Stop watching the wrong channel, on tv, and you should be fine. Our leader, or I should say, leaders, did not tell you to save your money. Bush and Obama pushed the stimulus plans to get people with money to spend money. The idea is that if rich people buy at stores, then stores would make money. If stores make money, then they will not only hire people, but buy more prod- ucts from manufacturers. The manufacturers, then would hire more people. That would lead to even more employment. The more jobs, the happier people feel. That leads to more shop- ping and jobs. It sounds easy, but there's a catch. Poor people like me, who make less than $35,000 a year, spend about 95 percent of our paychecks to live. We don't spend a lot on frivolous items. The rich were the ones who were suppose to spend money. That's what Bush called the trickle down effect. Your prob- lem is that you and the rich peo- ple didn't spend a lot of money. You are saving it. Bush gave the rich a tax break, and now the Republicans have given the rich another tax break. There's an old say that “stu- pidity is doing the same thing over, and over again expecting a different result.” Now you know who you're really mad at. Jon Blankenship, Red Bluff Lobby Day in Sacramento Editor: Capitol Resource Institute (capitolresource.org) of Sacra- mento is an organization with a mission to educate, advocate, protect and defend family- friendly policies in the Califor- nia Legislature and at local government levels. Each year they hold several lobby days in Sacramento for citizens to attend. The first lobby day this year will be held March 15 from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. The day will start at the Secre- tary of State Bldg. 1500 11th St. in Sacramento. They will teach us about lobbying our legisla- tures, give out packets of mate- rials and send groups of people to the Capitol to talk to mem- bers of the state Legislature. Citizens will be able to lobby their legislator against Senate Bill 48 by Mark Leno of San Francisco. This bill would require instruction in social sciences, such as geography, history, economics, commu- nication, psychology, political science and more, to include the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. This bill requires the instruction of these contributions to all pub- lic school students from kindergarten through 12th grade. This is currently the case in Alameda County and parents are told they have no legal right to keep their children at home when these classes are taught. We must let our elected representatives know we do not want our children indoctri- nated with such material while at school. We can all look around and see the moral decline of our children. Are you ready to help reign in the out of control gov- erning by our elected officials? This is not about placing blame, this is about right and wrong, and taking a stand with Sacramento. Our state officials and the schools need to stop thinking they are responsible for being the parent for school children. The family is respon- sible for teaching their chil- dren the moral lessons in life, not the school. It doesn’t mat- ter if you are a parent, grand- parent, or just a concerned cit- izen, this lobby day is for all people interested in fighting this effort of Big Brother. A Day at the Capitol also Your Turn gives citizens an opportunity to understand the issues of the day while equipping them in order to be able to clearly and effective- ly communicate their political perspective in front of members of the leg- islature or their staff. This day will empower peo- ple who have never walked into a legislator’s office and help educate repeat attendees on this year’s legislative prospects. No matter how you feel about the subject of homosexu- ality, it should not be taught by the schools. If you can not attend the Lobby Day, I highly recommend all who are con- cerned with the subjects that are being taught in school to start and continue attending all the school board meetings. You don’t know what is hap- pening unless you are a wit- ness to the decisions being made at the meetings. Please get involved, our children are vulnerable and we adults are the ones to stand up and hold those responsible accountable for what is being taught. If interested please contact La Tanya Wright via email at ltgwright@gmail.com or call La Tanya at Capitol Resource Institute (916) 498-1940 x10. Patty Smith, Paskenta 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. Why we need romance Commentary We sure could use some more romance right about now - - particularly among our younger people. I speak of the debate sur- rounding "Skins," the latest provocative MTV show. It por- trays teens indulging in illegal drugs, booze and "hooking up." Many argue that the show elevates deviant behavior -- that it will encourage highly impres- sionable teens to mimic what they see. Others argue that today's teens are grappling with a lot of these issues in real life -- that the show helps showcase the dangers of such behaviors. Such programming is bound to occur in a free, open society with a massive mass culture and several hundred cable-TV chan- nels in competition with each other. Freedom opens the flood- gates for everything that is not so good in the human heart -- greed, dishonesty, salaciousness -- but it also opens the flood- gates for everything that is good in the human heart, such as gen- erosity and selflessness and integrity. And romance. In our loud, over-sexualized culture, I feel that young people are being cheated. They're being taught everything about biologi- cal functions, but know so little about our higher functions -- so little about romance. We humans have two natures, in a manner of speak- ing. We're part animal, to be sure. We're a few links away from monkeys -- at least most of us are! But don't we also have hearts, souls, minds and spirits? Our lower nature is biologi- cal and clinical. It is the one so often celebrated in the popular culture. Our popular culture does its best to keep our lower nature, our animal part, in a constant state of agitation and overdrive. When our biological side is inflamed, all we think about are animal things, such as booze and sex and indulging our phys- ical needs. MTV might call this "realis- tic" and kids might think such a show is "hip," but what it is mostly about, in my opinion, is provocative programming designed to exploit young, impressionable kids. Consider: "Skins" airs at 10 p.m. with a "TV-MA" rating. That means it is not appropriate for viewers under 17, but isn't that MTV's core audience? Of course it is. According to Nielsen Co., more than a third of the 3 million viewers who watched the first "Skins" episode were under 18. MTV is airing racy fare to draw in lots of teens, a highly coveted marketing demograph- ic, so it can make lots of dough. And it is robbing young people of any notion of romance in the process. In our free and open society, I suppose, it is easier to draw viewers by appealing to their lower nature rather than their higher nature. But appealing to their higher nature could be most profitable -- and good, too. I'll bet if you sat any teen down to watch "An Affair to Remember," say, or many of the old romantic films, he'd be just as moved as the original viewers were. Romance appeals to our higher nature. It appeals to our Tom Purcell sense of hopefulness and ideals. Romance is about kindness and honesty and graciousness and affection. It is about trust. It is the sense that someone places you above all others and cares more for your needs than his or her own. It is about a long- ing for love, a com- mitment to another, a harmony of two peo- ple coming together to create something much more beautiful than they could ever have created or been on their own. Maybe if MTV crafted a show that celebrated teen romance, rather than teens gone wild, it'd be on to some- thing big. 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. But then, I'm a romantic. ———