Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/347324
Boy,ourpoliti- cal debate is getting crasser by the mo- ment. And so it is that the National Organiza- tion for Women has put the Little Sisters of the Poor, an inter- national congregation of Ro- man Catholic nuns who have devoted their lives to car- ing for the elderly poor, on its "Dirty 100" list. NOW is upset that the Little Sisters sued the federal gov- ernment, arguing that new ObamaCare mandates are in- hibiting their constitutional right to freely practice their faith — that their vow to ad- vance the dignity of life for every person, no matter how weak or unwanted, means they can never provide insur- ance policies that fund con- traception, abortive drugs and sterilization, which Obam- aCare was forcing them to do. So NOW is calling the Lit- tle Sisters dirty — though the group should have done its re- search before attempting to tarnish some of the most re- markable women who have ever graced this Earth. Little Sisters of the Poor was founded in France by Jeanne Jugan in 1839, when Jugan's as- sociation offered care and dig- nity to her first house guest. Her mission, after all, was to dedicate her life to providing hospitality, dignity and care to the aged poor who could no longer care for themselves. Born to modest circum- stances, she trusted that God would provide the housing and resources she would need to care for her residents and she was correct. To provide for the needs of the aged poor, she began a tra- dition still practiced today by which the Little Sisters visit merchants and others seek- ing alms of every kind — food, clothing, donations. By 1849, she founded six more homes for the elderly. By 1850, she had 500 associ- ates and houses as far away as England. By 1879, the year she died, she had 2,400 associates providing care. Today, Little Sisters of the Poor operates 200 homes in more than 30 coun- tries providing care to more than 13,000 elderly residents — including a wonderfully cheerful op- eration on Pittsburgh's North side. For Jugan's efforts, she was canonized a saint in 2009. Her "dynamism is contin- ued today across the world in the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which she founded and which testifies, af- ter her example, to the mercy of God and the compassionate love of the Heart of Jesus for the lowliest," said Pope Bene- dict XVI at her canonization ceremony. What is most striking about Jugan's legacy is how her worldview was so different from that of NOW and so many others in our culture today. Jugan's interpretation of the term "rights" was that ev- ery individual is a child of God and has a right to expe- rience dignity and love in his or her final days. She never de- manded her government es- tablish mandates to care for the elderly poor or even pro- vide funding. She simply did everything she could as a pri- vate individual to provide dig- nity and love. In the United States, her or- ganization has always been free to operate according to its principles. It has provided health insurance policies for its employees for years that did not fund contraception, abortive drugs or sterilization (though employees were, and still are, free to purchase such items on their own). This was never a press- ing problem until our ever- encroaching federal govern- ment demanded these things be included in insurance poli- cies with the passage of Obam- aCare. So NOW, which considers government-mandated birth control a greater right than that of religious groups to run their organizations according to their religious principles, is calling some of the most hum- ble and accomplished women on the planet dirty. And that's why, as our gov- ernment expands into our personal and religious lives, our political debate is getting crasser by the moment. TomPurcell,authorof"Mis- adventures of a 1970s Child- hood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pitts- burgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons. com. Anotherview Those dirty Little Sisters of the Poor Today, Little Sisters of the Poor operates 200 homes in more than 30 countries providing care to more than 13,000 elderly residents. RedBluffParksandRec Editor: We live on the border of one of the local parks here in Red Bluff. We had noticed that our gate access was impeded by some of the overgrown shrub- bery as well as the shrubbery destroying the integrity of the fence. On Tuesday, July 8, my hus- band talked to one of the work- ers that was mowing the park and explained this dilemma to him. On Wednesday ,July 9, at 8:30 a.m. I had two workers knocking at the door explaining that they would need access to the back yard in order to trim the shrubbery. I was expecting a minor trim. What they did was they elim- inated the bushes in question, they cleaned up their mess and they fixed the fence. I simply wanted to say thank you to Parks and Rec for their timely response to this matter and for their conscientious han- dling of this issue. Thank you, Parks and Rec for a job well done. — Tammy Sheppard, Red Bluff Lack of intelligence Editor: I don't know what has hap- pened to the teaching and learning of the people of this country, but all common sense and intelligence seem to have been slowly taken from the peo- ple of our once great nation. I have seen it happening now for the last 50 years, slowly, so that no one notices just how much has been taken. There are too many examples to mention, but I have one ex- ample that has just come about, and each time I see it, I shud- der at the stupidity of it. On a recent televised news broad- cast Chico ran a story of which people were actually picket- ing about how the poor Pales- tinians were being deprived of their homeland by the greedy Jews. First, there is not, nor has there ever been a nation called Palestine. The so-called Pales- tinians are nothing but tribes of Arabs who took and con- trolled the Jewish nation of Is- rael and kept the Jewish people from true ownership until they finally took it back in 1948. If one believes in the Bi- ble, and if one takes the time to look it up, they will find that God gave the Jews Israel for all time. Now, perhaps the unin- formed are mistaking the non- existent Palestinian nation, which never existed, for the na- tion created by the Romans, and was called The Philistines. If one is to place oneself in a position of knowledge, then they should at least know of that of which they profess to know, and not make complete fools of themselves. — Richard Tamagni, Red Bluff Got honor, courage, commitment? Editor: I know this young lady, I still call her "Ms. Fulcrum Shield of 2009," nationally known in the Young Marines of the Marine Corps League. This Young Marine was 14 years old when our 6th Division Commander, Lt. Col. Mike Wil- son, put a notion in her head that her unit could win the Fulcrum Shield from the Secretary of De- fense at the Pentagon. She took this notion and ran with it. All I had to do was get out of her way. She and several others got the unit involved in more than one activity a month for a year — visiting schools, busi- nesses and agencies in Tehama County. Young Marine Gunnery Sergeant Carlin Bowles led this effort all the way to the Penta- gon in 2009. The Tehama County Young Marines of the Marine Corps League, Detachment 1140 won this prestigious national award. All militarily affiliated youth or- ganizations across the country are invited to participate and compete each year. It is a youth led drug demand reduction ed- ucation effort. Carlin and others in the unit won this award, then in 2010, the unit was named Unit of the Year out of 300. This effort con- tinued yet with several others in the unit so in 2011 the unit won the Kiki Camarena Award from the Drug Enforcement Adminis- tration from Washington, DC. I'll always remember Carlin for bugging me continuously for several days about her desire to make a difference in this com- munity. She made a difference to the youth here. Carlin is go- ing on 20 now and has worked very hard in many areas since she retired from the program. She is a driving force in these areas still. She's a leader. She's a Young Marine for life. Semper Fidelis, Carlin. We love you. — John Minton, Red Bluff A wasted $76 million Editor: So are government wants to make the Golden Gate Bridge suicide proof at a cost of $76 million, and that will prevent people from committing sui- cide. Give me a break. There are over 9,000 guns laws on the books that say that American citizens are not al- lowed to have guns. When was the last time you heard some nut wasn't out shooting up some public place then commit- ting suicide by a self infected gun shot, instead of jumping off of some bridge. There are most likely 10,000 bridges in the USA that are high enough to commit suicide on, so now we have to make them all suicide proof? How about using this money for a good cause, like buying bus tickets for all of those free loading immigrants that are de- stroying our America. Wake up Washington and stop wasting my money. — Jerri Champayne, Tehama Your opinions Cartoonist's take As the height of California's harvest season approaches, the full impact of water shortages on farms and ranches will be- come increasingly apparent— and a study released Tuesday by the University of California, Davis, estimated those impacts could include loss of 17,100 jobs and $2.2 billion in economic damage. California Farm Bureau Federation President Paul Wenger said the report under- scores the need for the state to take swift, decisive action to address its long-term water problems. "One of the saddest things about the losses caused by the drought is that they could have been prevented," Wenger said. "California has spent 35 years pursuing a conser- vation-only strategy that has proven disastrous. When we last built a new reservoir to capture rain or snowmelt, in the late 1970s, California's population was 23 million. Now, we have more than 38 million residents, on the way to 44.3 million by 2030. We must build additional and ex- panded water storage if we are going to be prepared to han- dle drought periods, to accom- modate population growth and capture the warmer, flashier storm runoff linked to climate change." Among the drought's con- sequences, Wenger noted, has been a draw-down of ground- water supplies, as farmers have used wells to make up for part of the reduction in surface wa- ter. That, in turn, has led to calls for statewide groundwater management. "Farm Bureau has long sup- ported groundwater manage- ment at the local level," he said. "Statewide regulation certainly won't fix our ground- water needs, just as it has failed to provide solutions to surface water needs." Ironically, Wenger noted, current state regulations don't consider use of surface water to replenish groundwater as a beneficial use, which compli- cates the ability to recharge un- derground aquifers. "The increasing pressure on groundwater has come from an antiquated surface-water system that's inadequate in the face of continued urban growth and in- effective environmental regula- tion, combined with our inabil- ity to create new and expanded water storage and our inability to manage existing reservoirs ef- fectively to provide water during drought periods," he said. "Rather than seizing on the drought to impose a rushed and poorly designed set of so- called groundwater reforms, we should see the drought as a prediction of what California will continue to experience if we don't improve our water storage system," Wenger con- tinued. "Otherwise, we're des- tined not only to repeat, but to increase losses suffered by California farmers, their em- ployees and the millions who depend on them for nutritious, local food, and to ensure wa- ter shortages that harm every resident and industry in our state." The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 78,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of more than 6.2 million Farm Bureau members. California Farm Bureau Drought losses could have been avoided with action GregStevens,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 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 Tom Purcell Ir on ica ll y, W en ge r n ot ed , c ur re nt s ta te re gu la ti on s d on 't c o ns id er u se o f s ur fa ce wa te r t o r ep le ni sh g ro un dw at er a s a be ne fi ci al u se , w hi ch c ompl ica te s t he ab i li ty t o re ch ar ge u nder gr ou nd a qui fe rs . OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, July 16, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6