Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/27050
6A – Daily News – Monday, March 14, 2011 Opinion Republican assault of planet earth 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 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 plan to cut $60 billion from the federal budget targets environ- mental programs so widely it appears to be as much an ideolog- ical gambit as a budgetary one. The House spending bill passed last month wouldn’t just chop $60 billion from the federal budget — it seeks to cut a broad swath through environmental regulation. From fish protections in the north state to water pollution limits in Florida and regulation of green- house gas emissions nationwide, environmental programs are tar- gets of the Republican budget res- olution, which appears to be more about setting a political agenda than about deficit reduction. Their proposal slices the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency bud- get by 30% — the largest cut to any agency. It bars the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emis- sions and from implementing new water pollution limits in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and in Florida. The bill stops the agency from enforcing new limits on toxic emissions, such as mercury, from cement plants and from updating air pollution standards on dust and other coarse particulate matter that exacerbate asthma and lung ail- ments. It withdraws funding for the enforcement of dredge and fill regulations that the EPA recently used to halt a big mountaintop- removal coal project in West Vir- ginia. The legislation blocks a new Bureau of Land Management initiative to identify and protect pristine public lands in the West and withholds funding for a new Forest Service management plan that would regulate off-road vehi- cle use in national forests. It also removes Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the northern Rockies and eliminates hundreds of millions of dollars from a federal land acquisition program. In California, the resolution kills appropriations for a salmon restoration program on the San Joaquin River as well as funding for Endangered Species Act fish protections that have reduced water deliveries from the Sacra- mento-San Joaquin Delta. The measure also withdraws funding for a study on the removal of hydroelectric dams on the Kla- math River and chops $15 million from the Presidio Trust in San Francisco. Fortunately the Senate rejected this misguided spending bill last Thursday, but lawmakers have yet to agree on a budget for the fiscal year. So far lawmakers have only passed a stopgap measure to keep the government operating at a reduced level as they hash out a compromise. Sadly recently elect- ed Tea Party members allied with the old-guard GOP corporate sycophants will continue their rampage to gut the Environmental Protection Agency without regard to the tolls on our planet. Over the years, there have been plenty of hard-fought environmen- tal skirmishes in Con- gress, but the latest battle over the future of climate policy in the US appears to be the toughest one yet. In remarks at the Center for American Progress California rep- resentative Harry Wax- man, who helped to usher in 1990’s landmark Clean Air Act amend- ments, accused his Republican colleagues of taking an increasingly anti-science bent. Prima- facie evidence is our own representative Wally Herger whose head is so completely buried in the sand that he denies mankind’s cul- pability for global warming and environmental damage. While things weren’t always peachy in the past, with major bat- tles over measures to curb acid rain and toxic power-plant emis- sions, it is safe to say there has never been a Congress with such a blatant disconnect of science and public policy. Last Tuesday the House subcommittee on energy and power held a hearing on cli- Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point mate science and the Environmen- tal Protection Agency’s new greenhouse gas regulations. On Thursday, Republicans on that committee took a great leap back- wards by proposing legislation that would decimate those rules. Alarmingly House and Senate Republicans have now put forward a joint proposal that amends the Clean Air Act to say explicitly that it does not apply to greenhouse gas emis- sions and nullifies the EPA’s determination that those gases pose a threat to mankind. In the United States where 90% of what our industries produce is waste, regulation is necessary to clean up their act. As a society we must place a value on clean air and water, hold public health ahead of profit, heed scientific evi- dence of environmental impacts, and direct our representatives to stop this Republican assault of planet earth. Richard Mazzucchi is a retired research engineer specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. He can be reached at living-green@att.net. 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: governor@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 Mont- gomery St., Suite 240, San Francis- co, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224-0454. Some local, state public union observations Commentary This page has seen plenty of opinion on the controversies over successful and ongoing efforts to limit benefits, pensions and collec- tive bargaining by public employee unions. A columnist castigated what he called "union busting." A syndicated writer preposterously tried to describe the mobs of public teachers faking a sick day, bussed- in union activists from throughout the Midwest, and the usual left- wing drum-beating student rabble – as a true "populist movement." She disingenuously regurgitated laughable mischaracterizations of the massive Tea Party movement, descriptions too bizarre to have ever come from real Tea Party lit- erature or statements, and beneath dignifying further. A writer decried that "Manage- ment and the government have been trying to bust up the unions since before Samuel Gompers founded the AF of L." That’s only partly true. Unionization in the 1930s proceeded with much feder- al government support. FDR and union president George Meany opposed public employee union- ization. Here’s President Franklin Roosevelt: "All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining … cannot be transplanted into public service. It has its distinct and insur- mountable limitations when applied to public-personnel man- agement. The very nature and pur- poses of government make it impossible for administrative offi- cials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organi- zations. The employer is the whole people." It is an inaccurate misnomer to even refer to "collective bargaining rights," a phrase seemingly etched in journalistic vernacular. Tens of thousands of reporters and journal- ists belong to "The Newspaper Guild/Communications Workers of America" union; that may explain much of the biased report- ing. The union’s home page promi- nently features anti-Tea Party car- toons, while many of its members supposedly write even-handedly on the Tea Party. There are no such collective bargaining "rights" as we under- stand rights to derive from the Constitution. That doesn’t stop polling that frames the question to Americans as "Do you favor or opposed taking away some collec- tive bargaining rights of the unions?" Naturally, 60 percent of those asked such a leading ques- tion told the New York Times they did not want to take away other Americans’ rights. "Problem is collective bargain- ing is not a right. It is a privilege. There is a big difference between rights and privileges. Americans have the right to vote. The state, barring a felony conviction, cannot take that right away. Driving, on the other hand, is a privilege. The state can refuse you the privilege of driving for a myriad of reasons … In upholding North Carolina’s ban on government union collective bargaining, a federal court wrote in Atkins vs. City of Charlotte: ‘All citizens have the right to associate in groups to advocate their special interests to the government. It is something entirely different to grant any one interest group special status and access to the decision making process.’" (Con Carroll, The Foundry, Heritage.org) Among the tactics of the left is to state that pubic opin- ion agrees with them. On this issue the media have helped push that narrative. The above- mentioned NY Times poll "over sampled" union households and government workers to get their magic "60 per- cent" threshold of appar- ent public support. Ras- mussen Reports found that American voters support Wisconsin Gov- ernor Walker over the unions by about 5 to 4. American voters also disapproved of the Democrat state senators’ tactic to flee the state. Wisconsin voters ees." Republican Allan Mansoor of Costa Mesa reason- ably said, "It’s very hard to rein things in under the current process. Pensions are out of control. They have to be brought back in line with the private sector." Our local teachers, Don Polson The way I see it polled by Dick Morris were found to support the benefit mea- sures Gov. Walker proposed by margins of 4 or 5 to 1, and over 2 to 1 in favor of pay increases lim- ited to the rate of inflation. By 58 to 38, they also support collective bargaining restrictions if the question is framed as "giving schools flexibility (over merit- based tenure/promotion/dis- charge policies)." Gallup found nationwide public opinion sup- port for unions dropped from 58 percent in 2007 to 42 percent in 2010. Hence, the article in the Feb. 23 Daily News ("GOP bill would end state pension bar- gaining") informed us that "a Republican state assemblyman announced legislation Tuesday intended to eliminate collective bargaining for pension benefits by California’s public employ- law enforcement, fire- fighter unions and elected officials appear to have reached agree- ments everyone can live with – no one has, however explained how solvent the finances will be decades down the road. Will sufficient flexibility be found to allow all parties to live within available funds without reducing collective bargaining "privileges"? We’ll see. A writer seemed quite pleased to remind us that I predicted "no recession." I also predicted a Pres- ident McCain. I also predicted President George W. Bush’s reelection and the Republican takeover of the House last fall; that makes me 2 for 4 and not brag- ging. I was accurate that we weren’t yet in recession; Democ- rats were bashing the Bush econo- my with its solid growth and 5 percent unemployment through mid-2008. Democrats have more to be embarrassed about for that as well as pronouncing American failure in Iraq, in my opinion. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.