Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/278161
The following appeared Friday in the Wash- ington Post: California was the first state to crack down on tailpipe emissions and the first to establish a comprehensive in-state greenhouse gas program. Now it is posi- tioning itself as a national leader on animal rights — if, that is, its move to give hens more cage room survives a legal attack from other states. Unfortunately, California's legal case isn't as strong as its moral one. Americans rely on cheap chicken and eggs, the products of super-sizing livestock oper- ations while squeezing costs. Farmers pack animals into tiny, crowded and dank pens, leaving hens with scarce room to ex - tend their wings, let alone move around. There is a balance to be struck between keeping food prices low and mitigating the miserable conditions that hu - mans impose on livestock. Cal- ifornia's voters tried in 2008 to push their state closer to achieving that balance, opting to require egg growers to pro - vide hens at least enough room to extend their wings and turn around. The rule takes effect next year. But there was a problem: The voters didn't appreciate that other states weren't going to follow along, and California imports about 4 billion eggs a year. States such as Missouri and Iowa, which between them account for nearly half of Cal - ifornia's egg imports, haven't imposed similar cage-size re- quirements, so they might en- joy a cost advantage over Cali- fornia producers. To right that imbalance, the Golden State's leaders approved a law requir- ing all eggs sold in California to come from farms that com- ply with its cage-size stan- dards, no matter where they are located. Missouri sued last month, arguing that the Constitu - tion gives Congress the ex- clusive right to regulate com- merce that crosses state lines. Last week, five other states, in- cluding Iowa, joined in. Though California's law treats all busi- nesses — in-state and other- wise — the same, the state has to show that its effects on com- merce outside the state are small relative to the local con- cerns it addresses. That is, rightly, a tough standard: With- out strong and exclusive fed- eral regulation of interstate commerce, states could enact all sorts of nice-sounding laws in an effort to benefit local pro - ducers. Congress could and should step in to establish more hu- mane farming rules, or at least to grandfather California's law. Federal lawmakers did some- thing similar for the state's tail- pipe emissions program when they passed the Clean Air Act. Absent federal action, and if the courts rule against the state, California could at least demand labels to distinguish eggs produced according to state standards from those that ar en 't . T ha t w ou ld g iv e C al if or - nians an opportunity to vote at the store as well as the bal- lot box. Editorial California shouldn't count chickens yet Cartoonist's take Editor: As a babyboomer I have started feeling the effects of growing older. Now 67, I feel the same mentally but physically I cannot do things the same as I did even a few years ago without more aches and pains. I walked all over town and never gave it a thought that one day I would find it harder and harder to do. Being legally blind all my life I managed quite well and ac - cepting that I could not drive a car and public transportation was my only option until I mar- ried and had a live in driver as a fringe benefit. My wife Linda was and is always willing to drive me where I wanted to go and I appreciate her for that. I am a self-reliant kind of guy. I like being independent when I can. All of us do and hate the idea of one day giving up that inde - pendence that often leads to an assisted living facility or moving in with the children. More and more I see people in wheelchairs, power chairs, with walkers and canes. On the side - walks, in the bike lanes and in places all over town. I see many sidewalks ob- structed with everything from trash cans, lids, bicycles and toys. Basketball hoop stands to hedges half way into the side - walk and low hanging tree limbs and big truck side mirrors ready to knock you in the head when you try to pass on what should be a safe, clear path for pedestrians and mobility chal - lenged individuals. Remember that one day you may be in the same situation some of us are in today. Please be good neighbors and think about the hazards you create and what it means to a person if they have to step or roll into the street to pass by your home or business. If you have lifted sidewalks, work with the city or county to get repairs made so there will not be trip and fall sit - uations occurring. Thanks for reading this and share it with a neighbor. We all need to be aware in our commu - nity. Larry Stevens, Red Bluff Questioning liberal education Editor: While I don't read Richard Marchuzzi's pieces in their en- tirety on a regular basis, I do, from time to time, try to follow his train of thought as a liberal thinker. He talks a lot about how conservatives are, for the most part, closed off to evolving ways of thinking. In short, he said the world is constantly changing and that our ways of thinking should change with it, as well. If not, we fall behind. Really? Recently, I was doing some research for one of my classes and I came upon an article ti - tled, "What Life Asks of Us" by David Brooks. He wrote the fol- lowing about the purpose of a liberal education from the opin- ion of the Harvard faculty com- mittees. He cited, "The aim of a liberal education, the report de- clared, is to unsettle presump- tions, to defamiliarize the fa- miliar, to reveal what is going on beneath and behind appear- ances, to disorient young people and to help them to find ways to reorient themselves." That sounded okay to me. And, he continued, "The re - port implied an entire way of living. Individuals should learn to think for themselves. They should be skeptical of pre-exist - ing arrangements. They should break free from the way they were raised, examine life from the outside and discover their own values." I've spent nearly my entire adult life doing that; I'm quite happy with who I am and the way I think. However, I get a lit - tle tired of hearing liberals ac- cuse people like me of being stuck in 20th century thought. I'm a moderate conservative with two college degrees. I ex - perienced the liberal collegiate agenda where my views were constantly being challenged, and I now work closely with other teachers who do not think like me. You know what? We agree to disagree and move on. As educators, it's imperative that we find common ground while working together to do what's best for our students. Why can't we apply this same approach to our own society? The truth is we are what we are. The extremists, whether liberal or conservative, need to stop tossing stones and begin making reasonable arguments worth considering for the bet - terment of our communities. Pat Gleason, Red Bluff War in the Middle East Editor: By the end of this year, the U. S. will have fewer than 10,000 troops left in Afghanistan. Technically they say we won? I was disturbed to learn there was a request posted on March 4 to ask Congress for $80 billion for Overseas Contingency Op - erations. Where does Congress- man LaMalfa stand on this is- sue. I want to think Congress is just as tired of these constant wars as the public is. Sharon Young, Red Bluff Cut back to buy Obamacare Editor: Obama tells us if we cut back on cellphones, cable TV, a lit- tle here and there, we can all afford Obamacare. I'm look- ing at an article titled Govern- ment Watch from AMAC about all the waste they do which as usual isn't new. $5,400,000 for bourbon, whiskey and wine for State Department embassies around the world (and don't for - get a stockpile of hand-blown crystal glassware to go with it. $82,000 for a study to find out how best to use social media, specifically Twitter, to provide for shadowing of potentially de - pressed individuals. $1,100,000 for a luxurious, stainless steel bus stop on heated pavement with heated seats, but no pro - tection from the elements. And, $562,000 in artwork for the De- partment of Veterans Affairs — all bought in a single week dur- ing the annual "use it or lose it" budget depletion exercise. I wish I could express my real thoughts about all this, what a shameful, shameful waste of money from the "Do as I say, not as I do" nuts in Washing - ton. Our vets need medical care, they have no computer system and probably won't for a long time, since they spent over $1 trillion on the ACA program. I saw a cartoon today in the pa - per, two republicans talking to each other about how they won't have to dismantle Obam- acare, he's doing it one piece at a time. Just wait, it'll disappear. Good riddance and so sad all that money is down the drain, but hey, if they don't waste it on ACA, they'll waste it on a thou - sand other stupid, frivolous ideas. Also, heard today on the ra- dio, Chicago property taxes may be doubled to fund all the pensions that were promised to employees when they retire. Apparently you can work only 15 years and retire at an early age with full pay and some with 120% of what you made. Eman - uel, Obama's buddy's idea. I say, Good. They deserve it. I hope it happens. So much for making everything equal. What a joke. Does Obama listen to what he says? We need term limits, voter ID, and maybe a part-time Con - gress. Then they'll have to work on the true problems of the world, not the silly and stupid. How did we ever come to this? How did we ever allow this? Hope and change. I hope so. Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Letters The dignity of independent living Without strong and exclusive federal regulation of interstate commerce, states could enact all sorts of nice-sounding laws in an effort to benefit local producers. Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EditoriaL Board How to have your say: 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 no more than two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151 ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FaCEbook.CoM/ rbdailynEwS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @rEdbluFFnEwS Four days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished, its fate remains unknown, adding a cruel uncertainty to the grief of the families and friends of the 239 people onboard. Yet much of the excruciat - ing mystery surrounding the plane's loss could have been averted if the recommendations ensuing from an earlier crash had been followed. On June 1, 2009, an Air France Airbus A330 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disap - peared off the coast of Brazil. It took five days to find the site of the crash — and two more years to retrieve the plane's data recorders from waters some 12,000 feet deep. Three years after that trag - edy, France's air-accident in- vestigation bureau issued its fi- nal report, with more than 40 recommendations. Many relate to the specific circumstances that led to the plane's crash, and it's not yet clear whether they would be relevant to the Malaysia Airlines flight. There is at least one area, however, where their appli - cability is apparent: the re- cording and transmission of flight data. The bureau rec- ommended that the European Aviation Safety Agency and the International Civil Avia- tion Organization "make man- datory as quickly as possible, for aeroplanes making public transport flights with passen- gers over maritime or remote areas, triggering of data trans- mission to facilitate localisa- tion as soon as an emergency situation is detected on board." Such systems exist, but air- lines have balked at the ex- pense of installation and the cost of transmitting and storing huge amounts of data. Yet the bureau was not recommend - ing continuous transmission, but rather "triggered transmis- sion" — when, say, there are un- usual changes in a plane's alti- tude, speed or proximity to the ground. The International Civil Avia- tion Organization, an unwieldy group that moves more like an aircraft carrier than a jet, has so far not made triggered transmission part of its stan - dards and recommended prac- tices. Nor does it seem to have speedily adopted some of the report's many other sensible recommendations — on coordi - nating and training for search and rescue efforts, for instance, or requiring all underwater lo- cating beacons to send trans- missions for 90 days. Which leaves a question that will linger after Flight 370 is found: How many more planes will have to vanish before that happens? — Bloomberg News editorial Air France crash showed how to find the next missing plane OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, March 15, 2014 » MORE AT FaCEbook.CoM/rbdailynEwS AND TwiTTEr.CoM/rEdbluFFnEwS a4