Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/36417
4A Daily News – Wednesday, July 13, 2011 Opinion 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 City Council Editor: I have just come from the very long City Council meeting in which the City Council has voted down the rezoning issue to allow PATH to build a shelter on Breckenridge. 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 I am disappointed but I was so encouraged when they took a count and there were more than 250 in favor and I think it 68 opposed. In this case location was the issue as far as three of the council votes against. That was Forest Flynn, Rob Schmid, and Wayne Brown. PATH more than likely will lose the grant as we have already had a one-year exten- sion and to request to move it again to a new location may not be granted by the state. It is not a simple procedure. The only thing people did not realize (at the meeting) is that all of the complaints of home- less loitering, hanging out on people’s property are now not going to change. It will be there because they have no alterna- tive. We were trying to change some of that. I heard some pretty bizzare things and false stats about homeless people and it was sad the ignorance of some about this issue. Please contact PATH any- time for correct information or help about homelessness. Some seem to think we should lock them inside in the daytime. We wanted to offer programs to help keep people in during the day so they wouldn't want to wander the streets. Now we can only do the basics. Hopefully we will still feed, provide a bed and send them out to the community every day. We have nothing from May 1 thru October 31. That's why you see so many camps. I hope we can all work on this and be part of the solution. with me. Fire Editor: Chris and I want to thank everyone who came by our house on the morning of July 4th and put out a fire that could of done a lot of damage, if it wasn't for neighbors who took water hoses and put the fire out. We could have lost a lot. Thanks again to everyone on Parkway Drive in the Bend. Maria Schaul, Red Bluff Politicos Editor: Every year it is the same old crap. Can’t get a budget out on time. If I had my way we would fine these idiots for inefficiency. Let them cry about no pay; they seem to revel in junketing all over the world and cam- paigning at every occasion on our bucks. A little payback seems appropriate. This two party system is for the birds. They talk big but their actions belie their mouths. A little fact finding at home would be a welcome innovation. We have seen what their fact finding has accomplished, not only in the state but the world. Thad Blanchard Sr., Gerber Landof the free? Editor: For those who have heard our National Anthem, does this ring a bell? “O say, does that star-span- Ending homelessness begins Pam Klein, Red Bluff gled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” My question is, are we still the land of the free? According to a Virginia think tank, the Mercatus Center, the residents of New York, New Jersey and Califor- nia have the least indi- vidual liberties and free- doms in the U.S. New Hampshire, South Dakota and Indiana are at the top of the indi- vidual liberties and freedom list. This comes as no surprise to those who were born during the depression era of the late ‘20s and ‘30s and in school during the patriotic times of the ‘40s and the responsible time of the ‘50s when Ike was in the White House, women were in the kitchen, tinker bell was in the closet and immi- gration laws were enforced. Migrant workers came to work during harvest season, then went back to where they came from until the next year. The rankings are based on fac- tors such as taxes, government spending and regulations. Cali- fornia not only taxes and regulates its economy more than most other states, it also aggressively inter- feres in the personal lives of its residents. California simply needs to cut government spending. The budgetary categories most out of line with the rest of the country are administration, social services, environment and housing. Labor laws are extremely strict. California is one of only five states to mandate short-term disability insurance. Health-insur- ance coverage mandates add about 49 percent to the cost of pre- miums in the state. The state’s lia- bility system almost reaches the abysmal quality of the Deep South. On personal freedoms, Califor- nia does well on same-sex part- nerships and marijuana. However, it also has the most restrictive gun laws in the country, a highly restrictive policy Your Turn regime for motorists and smoking bans. Illegal immigration costs the taxpayers of California about $10.5 billion annually. A whopping $7.7 billion of that goes to educate the children of illegal aliens that account for 15 percent of the student body. The taxpayers pay $1.4 billion to provide health care for illegal aliens and their families. An equal amount is spent incarcerating illegals that commit crimes in this state. The Orange County Register reported that some lifeguards in our nearly bankrupt state make more than $200,000 per year. Closer to home, our Board of Supervisors, in the last couple of years, gave several elected offi- cials and department heads pay raises. More recently, pay raises to employees in the Department of Education and word was going around that a new four- door, heavy-duty pickup was in the budget for our illustrious County Administrator. My ques- tion is, if so, what possible rea- son would he need a four-door, heavy-duty pickup? Could it be, he needs it to drive back and forth from his home in Redding and the county will pick up the fuel bill? We, in California, can thank the progressive liberals — the politically correct name, in my opinion, for socialists and com- munists — that voted the pro- gressive liberals into office who are driving this state over a cliff and into bankruptcy. Les Wolfe, Red Bluff 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: gover- nor@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 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Fidel: No, Virginia Commentary Cuba's "Ministry of Letters to Fidel" is running six months behind, as usual. And so it is that retired communist dictator Fidel Castro just lately received — and replied to — a letter sent to him last Christmas. Dear Fidel, I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is a Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in the Communist Party paper Granma, it's so." Please tell me the truth, former El Presidente. Is there a Santa Claus? — Virginia O'Hanlon Dear Virginia, your little friends are wrong. Their tiny little minds prevent them from seeing the real truth — the truth that lives only in Cuba. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him. Only Fidel and the 15 members of the Cuban Politburo can comprehend the mysteries of the universe. No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. Santa Claus is a fiction exploited by Yankee capitalist pigs to extend corporate greed and materialism. In America, Virginia, private corporations -- not a benev- olent dictator, such as Fidel — own the means of production and enslave the multitudes into lives of despair. Santa Claus does not exist in America or anywhere, Virginia, just as certainly as love and gen- erosity and devotion do not exist. For if they did exist — if indeed man was not at his core stupid and evil — then there would be no need for government. There would be no need for smart men like Fidel to enforce, under the threat of tor- ture, jail and death, the basic good- ness that abounds only in Cuba. Alas! How dreary would the advanced communist civilization of Cuba be if our people believed in Santa Claus. If Fidel allowed Santa to exist, where would the revolution be? A foolhardy child- hood faith would eventually delude all Cubans. They would begin to squander their time not on advanc- ing the revolution, but on poetry and romance and other self-indul- gent pursuits that would ultimately make our existence here intolera- ble. Believe in Santa Claus, Vir- ginia? You might as well believe in fairies. You might as well get your papa and your uncles to watch inside all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch this Santa Claus, and when, after this great effort, you do not see Santa Claus coming down, then what will that prove? It will prove that Fidel is right yet again. There is no Santa Claus, Virginia. The most real things in the world are only those things that Fidel sees. Did Fidel ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not. Fidel only sees the good life the revolu- tion has brought to Cuba -- free health care for all, free housing and the best fleet of '58 Studebakers in all of Latin America. Thank God. Santa Claus has never lived and never will. A thou- sand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will still not exist, and yet, in evil capitalistic countries like Tom Purcell America, his myth will continue to deceive, so that only rich corporations get richer as the poor grow poorer. Alas! There is no Santa Claus, Virginia. There is no Christmas. Goodwill and goodness are possible only in Cuba thanks to the Politburo's strict rules that are faith- fully enforced by the brothers and sisters of the revolution — or else. Now that I have answered your question, Virginia, Fidel has a question for you: What are the names of these little friends who have been telling you lies about this Santa Claus? Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. ———