Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/324960
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD 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 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 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 PerspectiveonNomlaki dispute Editor: With regards to the ongoing disputes of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, I feel the public needs to be informed of the deci- sions the tribe has taken regard- ing the removal of 76 members from their tribal roll. Code of Federal Regulations- Chapter 25 Indians Tribes operate under Fed- eral law, not State or Local law — County. Because of this, tribes are able to operate Gaming facil- ities, whereas, no other natural citizens can or are able too. Sovereign Immunity 1. Under federal regulations each tribe is a sovereign nation, the same manner in which these countries have — United States, Canada, Russia, Mexico, China, etc. 2. These nations set up their own rules, regulations, laws, gov- ernments and so forth. No one can tell a sovereign nation what it can or cannot do. For example, Immigration and Naturalization Laws. Each nation sets up its own laws regarding who can and who cannot be a citizen of their coun- try. With this in mind, what hap- pens to a person if they enter these countries without proper documentation? Is not the perpe- trator dealt with? Does the per- petrator receive due process? Native tribes have the same power to terminate or remove any individuals from their tribal rolls, who they feel have violated their laws to enter into their country — tribal jurisdiction — without proper documentation or who have crossed their bor- ders without going through the proper channels. What the Crosby, Lohse and Pata family members have done and are continuing to attempt, is enter into our country — tribal jurisdiction — without provid- ing proper documentation, there- fore, the citizens — tribal mem- bers — have upheld their im- migration laws — membership criteria — and removed them. Just as an illegal immigrant who fraudulently steals and uses a Social Security number from a natural born U.S. citizen, to make it appear they have legal status here; this is what I believe the Pata family is guilty of. Somehow, someone or maybe even a few natural citizens — direct lineal decedents — who have been entrusted to guard the borders of our country — tribe — have allowed this family to en- ter into our country — tribal ter- ritory. The Pata family's status of be- ing a natural born citizen — di- rect lineal descendant — of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indi- ans was misleading, therefore, the citizens of the Band stood on their sovereign right to exclude them from their tribe and tribal lands. The tribe does not have to jus- tify these actions. Taking it to the media is a courtesy. Our pa- tronage of our businesses are of a great concern for us, there- fore, we want the public to be aware of the stance that the tribe has taken due to the many com- plaints of the general public to Chairman Freeman of the moral turpitude of some of the Pata family members. Their actions and behavior were not only shameful; they were libelous, without limitation or justification. As any country that is un- der any kind of threat, does it not call in reinforcement to pro- tect the territorial integrity of that country? This is the reason for security being on our tribal lands. The United States has Border Patrol to guard its bor- ders; our security is acting in the same manner. We are not going to allow for- eigners to take over our country — territorial lands — any fur- ther or have them impose on us their beliefs in thinking that em- bezzlement, theft, falsification of documents, is the true Nomlaki way. This has not only been a hu- miliation to us as direct lineal descendants, it is an outright dis- grace. We hope the public now has a better understanding of why the actions of the Paskenta Band have been taken. —AnnDalson,Paskenta Seen and heard Editor: Today we got an endorsement flyer in the mail. Howard Jar- vis was on the cover. I remember when Prop. 13 went in, to this day the liberals fight it and continue to say our schools have suffered. Teachers, students, on and on. Also today I heard on the ra- dio of the top unions who have given many millions of dollars to push their candidate, always a lib- eral. The NEA was right up there, I forget, $49 million something like that since the 1980s. Maybe if these union due monies were used for our schools they'd be in better shape, teachers would be paid more, etc. You think? At the time Prop. 13 was voted in, we were in our second house wondering if we can keep it be- cause the property taxes were suppose to double. When it won, I remember breathing a sigh of relief and just couldn't believe it. Anything is possible if you be- lieve and are willing to work at it. State of Jefferson comes to mind. On my job I'm on the road a lot. My co-worker says with the State of Jefferson our roads will go to hell. My neck hurts at times driving around Red Bluff espe- cially. Some of those roads can't get any worse. Maybe the State of Jefferson can do something about that. I heard today Shasta County will get a $50 thousand dollar grant to fix their roads. We opinion writers have our let- ters on the internet, do you know? I have two categories, and some- body asked why the Republicans haven't done anything to help create jobs. The only reply that comes to mind is if Harry Reid was booted out, maybe something could be done. Half the time he won't come to the table and appar- ently the Republicans are too stu- pid or scared to force the issue. When anybody lets somebody like that create a vacuum in our coun- try it's inexcusable. Why can't somebody do some- thing about all this baloney go- ing on in this country. Obama out on the campaign trail when he was elected to be Commander In Chief. He avoids everything and thinks nobody notices. Well, Mr. President, we notice. I was noticing all those ar- eas along the freeway that had shredded bark put down. Re- ally looked good. Keep won- dering why and what's the pur- pose. Now all you see are weeds growing in it. We need to get those prisoners off their behinds and do some weeding. And still, what's the purpose of it all. How much money did that cost. Our roads have gone to pot and they landscape the roadside. — Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Real solutions, not chasing tails Editor: Those who profit most from our country should be willing to contribute the most to our coun- try — if they don't, they will cause it to stagnate and deteri- orate. They are wasting a huge por- tion of our country's fortune by playing stupid political games, while failing to finance research, development projects, education etc. — things that enrich and benefit all of our citizenry. It's time we stop them from pushing us to chase our tails, round and round, in a futile waste of our precious resources. Such is this nonsense about creating a Jefferson State, or making asi- nine arguments that the original founders fought against collecting taxes, not opposing their taxes going to England; and about whether there can be a marriage between a man and his gun. The whole Jefferson fantasy gives rich people even more con- trol over our lives. It is designed by welfare farmers, who take millions from us in subsidies, then vote to deny food to poor children, damaging their brains and bodies. These wealthy wel- fare recipients do their best to eliminate public schools and ed- ucation. What they are doing are excellent ways to cripple our fu- ture edge in the world, and to create real class division and warfare in our society. Is it that those rich are so self- ish, so crazy, or so plainly mean- spirited? Or, maybe, it is a com- bination of those three? Perhaps, there is a different reason. There is a saying, "those who do not know history will re- peat its mistakes." It also means "those who do not know history will fail to repeat its successes." Critical solutions to farm auto- mation and unemployment in the 1930s resulted in the end of child labor, shrank the 80-hour work week to 40 hours. It brought a 90% tax rate on the super-rich, which was supported and used by both Republican and Demo- cratic elected officials. It didn't destroy our coun- try — it financed our dams and roads. It re-built Europe and England and our military ca- pacity. It fostered education, re- search and development proj- ects. It made a huge, vibrant middle-class while paying our immense WWII debt, imple- mented Social Security with un- employment insurance, etc. Solving real problems is a wonderful adventure — let's use lessons from the past to help re- build our country again. — Diana Thompson, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take In the bad old days, medieval German Lords figured out how to pocket some quick coin by charging a toll on the primitive paths meandering across their lands. The money wasn't used to improve the roads or better the lives of the peasants or clean the rivers their pigs pooped in but rather heighten the piles in their treasury. Even back then, you just couldn't have enough pew- ter candlesticks. During the Gilded Age, the flushest 1 percent of the country held 1/3 of the national income. In the 1920s, this figure ramped up to 2/5ths. Molehills com- pared to today's mountainous wealth, where the richest 400 American families control more money than the poorest 165 mil- lion of their fellow citizens put together. And if all 165 million were knelt end to end, those 400 families would have foot- rests from any compass point. Rich people have exploited these high court rulings like foxes given skeleton keys to the Tyson chicken empire. Any pol- itician who espouses lower- ing taxes on the rich and blunt- ing the powers of the poor gets backed. With unlimited sums. Of course the poor have free speech too, but we might as well be whispering downstage at a Metallica concert. A plutocracy is a society where the rich make the rules- quickly becoming our norm. The 9th richest man in the world, Sheldon Adelson, focuses on pol- iticians whose Israeli policies most closely mirror his. That's it. One issue. In 2012, he gave 90 million to various GOP presiden- tial candidates. And in the next election cycle, he is reportedly ready to triple that number, re- cently holding auditions in Las Vegas for his own personal pres- idential candidate American Idol. Once again: not Clay Aiken. The most Darth-like of the new Robber Barons are the Koch Brothers, David and Charles, each richer than Adel- son. These self-made inheri- tors of a vast oil empire are re- sponsible for jumpstarting the Tea Party and ALEC, and are now hand picking candidates all over the country; pouring in vast amounts of money to get them and their skewed legacies elected. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is one of the first generation Kochbots. If so desired, the Koch Fam- ily could spend a billion dol- lars a year for the next 85 years buying politicians. Bankrupting the rest of us through Kochbot legislated tolls on the primitive paths meandering across Koch owned lands. Especially egre- gious when ALL the lands are Koch owned. Welcome to the American Kochocracy. Email Will at durst@caglecar- toons.com. Visit to willdurst.com to find about more about his new CD, "Elect to Laugh" and calen- dar of personal appearances. Will Durst The Kochocracy WASHINGTON What Winston Churchill said of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles — that he was a bull who carried his own china shop around with him — is true of Susan Rice, who is, to be polite, accident prone. When in September 2012 she was deputed to sell to the public the fable that the Benghazi at- tack was just an unfortunately vigorous movie review — a re- sponse to an Internet video — it could have been that she, rather than Secretary of State Hill- ary Clinton, was given this de- grading duty because Rice was merely U.N. ambassador, an or- namental position at an inconse- quential institution. Today, how- ever, Rice is Barack Obama's na- tional security adviser, so two conclusions must be drawn. Perhaps she did not know, in advance of the swap of five terrorists for Sgt. Bowe Berg- dahl, the, shall we say, ambigui- ties about Bergdahl's departure from his platoon in Afghanistan, and the reportedly deadly con- sequences of his behavior. If so, then she has pioneered a degree of incompetence exotic even for this 10-thumbed administra- tion. If, however, she did know, and still allowed Obama to pres- ent this as a mellow moment of national satisfaction, she is con- dign punishment for his choice of such hirelings. Perhaps this exchange really is, as Obama said in defending it, an excellent thing "regard- less of the circumstances, what- ever those circumstances may turn out to be." His confidence in its excellence is striking, con- sidering that he acknowledges that we do not know the facts about what would seem to be important "circumstances." Such as the note Bergdahl reportedly left before disap- pearing, in which he supposedly said he did not approve of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. And the notably strong and nu- merous expressions of anger by members of Bergdahl's bat- talion concerning his comport- ment and its costs. Obama did not comply with the law requiring presidents to notify Congress 30 days be- fore such exchanges. Politico can be cited about this not be- cause among the media it is ex- ceptionally, well, understanding of Obama's exuberant notion of executive latitude but because it is not. Politico headlined a story on his noncompliance with the law "Obama May Finally Be Go- ing Rogue on Gitmo." Politico said Obama's "assertive" act "defied Congress" — Congress, not the rule of law — in order "to get that process [of closing Guantanamo Bay prison] mov- ing." It sent "a clear message" that "Obama is now willing to wield his executive powers to get the job done." Or, as used to be said in extenuation of strong leaders, "to make the trains run on time." This explanation should be accorded open-minded, but not empty-minded, consideration. It should be considered in light of the fact that as the Veter- ans Affairs debacle continued, Obama went to Afghanistan to hug some troops, then com- pleted the terrorists-for-Berg- dahl transaction. And in light of the fact that Obama waged a seven-month military interven- tion in Libya's civil war with- out complying with the law (the War Powers Resolution) that requires presidents to termi- nate within 60 to 90 days a mil- itary action not authorized or subsequently approved by Con- gress. Obama says his agents "con- sulted with Congress for quite some time" about prisoner ex- changes with the Taliban. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Com- mittee, says there have been no consultations since 2011. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., says "I don't like it when the White House says the intelli- gence committees were briefed. Because we weren't." He says Obama is "referring to ... 2011- 2012, when I was still in grade school." Now, now. "Assertive" pres- idents can't be expected to "go rogue" without ruffling feath- ers. And omelets cannot be made without breaking eggs. Etc. If the military stalls on turn- ing over files to Congress per- taining to the five years of Bergdahl's absence, we will at least know that there is no na- tional institution remaining to be corrupted. George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. George Will When a president goes rogue OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, June 5, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6