Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/267928
6A Daily News – Thursday, February 27, 2014 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. 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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 Opinion WASHINGTON -- The many jaundiced assessments of the American Recovery and Rein- vestment Act on the fifth anniversary of its enactment were understandable, given that the sluggish recovery, now drowsing through the second half of its fifth year, is histori- cally anemic. Still, bleak judg- ments about the stimulus spend- ing miss the main point of it, which was to funnel a substan- tial share of its money to union- ized, dues-paying, Democratic- voting government employees. Hence the stimulus succeeded. So there. This illustrates why it is so sublime to be a liberal nowa- days. Viewed through the proper prism, most liberal policies suc- ceed because they can hardly fail. Each achieves one or both of two objectives -- making lib- erals feel good about themselves and being good to liberal candi- dates. Consider Barack Obama's renewed anxiety about global warming, increasingly called "climate change" during the approximately 15 years warm- ing has become annoyingly dif- ficult to detect. Secretary of State John Kerry, our knight of the mournful countenance, was especially apocalyptic recently when warning that climate change is a "weapon of mass destruction." Like Iraq's? Blogger Steven Hayward notes that Kerry, he of the multi- ple mansions and luxury yacht, issued this warning in Indonesia, where the average annual income ($3,420) suggests little latitude for people to reduce their carbon footprints. Never mind. Obama says "the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact." When a politician says, con- cerning an issue involving sci- ence, that the debate is over, you may be sure the debate is rolling on and not going swimmingly for his side. Obama is, however, quite right that climate change is a fact. The climate is always changing: It is not what it was during the Medieval Warm Peri- od (ninth to 13th centuries) or the Little Ice Age (about 1500- 1850). In Indonesia, Kerry embraced Obama's "Shut up, he explained" approach to climate discussion: "The science of cli- mate change is leaping out at us like a scene from a 3-D movie." Leaping scenes? The "absolute- ly certain" science is "some- thing that we understand with absolute assurance of the verac- ity of that science." And "kids at the earliest age can under- stand." No wonder "97 percent" -- who did the poll? -- of cli- mate scientists agree. When a Nazi publishing company pro- duced "100 Authors Against Einstein," the target of this a r g u m e n t - b y - c u m u l a t i o n replied: "Were I wrong, one professor would have been quite enough." Climate alarmism validates the progressive impulse to micromanage others' lives -- their light bulbs, showerheads, toilets, appliances, automo- biles, etc. Although this is a nuisance, it distracts liberals from more serious mischief. And conser- vatives incensed about Obama's proposed $1 billion "climate resilience fund" -- enough for nearly two Solyndra-scale crony capitalism debacles -- should welcome an Obama brainstorm that costs only a single bil- lion. Besides, the "resilience" fund will succeed. It will enhance liberals' self- esteem -- planet-saving heroism is not chopped liver -- and will energize the climate- alarmist portion of the Democ- ratic base for this November's elections. Concerning that portion, there will now be a somewhat awkward pause in the chorus of liberal lamentations about there being "too much money" in pol- itics because of wealthy conser- vatives. During this intermis- sion, the chorus will segue into hosannas of praise for liberal billionaire Tom Steyer. The New York Times says he plans to solicit $50 million from sim- ilarly situated liberals, and to match this with $50 million of his own, and to spend the pile to "pressure federal and state offi- cials to enact climate change measures through a hard-edge campaign of attack ads against governors and lawmakers." The Times says Steyer's organiza- tion, NextGen Climate Action, is "among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch." C o n s e r v a t i v e s should be serene about people exercis- ing their constitution- al right to spend their own money to dis- seminate political speech, including the speech of people who associate in corporate forms for political advocacy. The Supreme Court's excellent 2010 Citizens United ruling, the mention of which sends liberals to their fainting couches, affirmed this right. Still, there is a semantic puz- zle: What are such "outside groups" outside of? Not the political process -- unless the process is the private preserve of the political parties. Liberal campaign finance scolds seem to think so. Applying their mantra that "money is not speech," they have written laws restricting contributions to par- ties, with the predicted effect of driving money into "outside groups." This is redundant evi- dence of why the Law of Unin- tended Consequences might better be called the Law of Unending Liberal Regrets. George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. Perfect climate for liberals Commentary N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY 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 George F. Will 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@sen- ate.ca.gov GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558- 3160; E-mail: governor@gov- ernor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Doug LaMalfa 506 Cannon House Office Building, Wash- ington, DC 20515, 202-225- 3076. 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; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Your officials Immigration policy Editor: During his run for congress, Doug LaMalfa left no doubt where he stood on immigration policy. One only had to read the issue statement posted promi- nently on his campaign web- page. "America needs a clear and enforceable policy that pro- motes legal immigration and doesn't reward illegal immigra- tion. Amnesty is not an accept- able option. Everyone who enters the country needs to have legal documentation." "The current policy does not work and America sends a mixed message when it says to those who come here illegally: don't come but if you do we'll provide drivers licenses and in state tuition or a sanctuary city to live in." Sounds good to me. No rewards, no amnesty, no mixed messages. No wiggle room there. Strangely enough, though, Representative LaMalfa's con- gressional website at www.lamalfa.house.gov is totally silent on immigration. Not a single word. Nothing at all. Just about every other rele- vant topic is included. There's defense and national security, economy and jobs. There's edu- cation, energy, federal spending, financial services, foreign affairs, Social Security and Medicare. And finally, tax reform, transportation and vet- erans issues. But, nary a word on immi- gration. Is this omission an innocent staffer oversight? Or, has the congressman simply lost inter- est in immigration policy? Or, better yet, is he getting squishy and about to renege on his promise of no rewards, no amnesty, no mixed messages? Then, coincidentally, along comes a blog posting by Marc Beauchamp referencing an arti- cle by former Record Search- light journalist Tim Hearden. Hearden's article, published in the Capitol Press, may have inadvertently helped explain what's going on. "A conservative California congressman says he has made a 'pivot' with regard to immi- gration reform and now believes it should be done soon." "LaMalfa said he has been swayed by conversations with farmers – particularly in the nursery industry – who have suffered through labor shortages in recent years. 'Certain- ly we've had some very spirited conversa- tions about how tough it is on them,' the freshman con- gressman said while appearing at a recent cattlemen's dinner here. 'It's been those conversa- tions that have made me kind of pivot and say we've got to get something done.'" Well, isn't that special. All it took was dinner with a few of his agri-business buddies to per- suade Doug he needed to change his strong "no rewards, no amnesty, no mixed mes- sages" pledge. Given he's a self- described life-long farmer, one would have thought he was aware of agri-business' depen- dence on illegal aliens long ago. So I ask the congressman, what's this pivot stuff all about? What are we pivoting from and to? Dare I Say, conservative minds want to know. Pete Stiglich, Cottonwood Splitting California Editor: Today's newspapers both had articles of Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, push- ing a proposal to create six more states rather than splitting California into two. Both articles end with statements. "diluting that identity between six states will never happen and "I don't think anyone is going to give California 12 Senate seats." I was under the impression the secession can happen legally and without state's approval. I hope this is so. But what does this tell us? We're in prison, no chance of parole with good behavior or not, we're slaves to the California gov- ernment, take it or leave it. Now we have another worry to deal with, monitoring our news- rooms. Will this ever end? What is happening in Syria and Ukraine one day will happen here if we keep moving in this direction. It may be many years in the future but one day people will rise up and raise hell. We're all too civi- lized thus far. Give it more time. Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Your Turn