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4A Daily News – Wednesday, August 10, 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 Robin Hood can't lead us out of the debt hole Editor: President Obama's class 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. 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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 warfare program of robbing those who saved and invested to pay for those who made poor choices, will not reduce the Reid-Polosi-Obama deficit spending hole. The 50 percent who are not paying Federal income taxes, must bear the responsibility of pay- ing their past, current, and future fair share of the deficit. There are not enough wealthy earners and savers to ransom those who chose to decline continuing education, those who bought overpriced homes with sub-prime loans, and those who receive more in Medicaid and Social Security benefits than they have paid into the 7.65 percent annual entitlement tax, and those who have received more in public school expenses for their children, than they have paid in state and local taxes. It is time to tax as income employer paid health insur- ance, to tax as income home sale profits, and to tax as income mortgage interest payments. and to limit pubic employee pensions to the amount received by a Social Security taxpayer, but decreased by shortened work years. It is time for those who pay too little taxes to bear the burden of their Socialist vot- ing records. Joseph J. Neff, Corning Polson Editor: Mr.Polson's comments equating advocates of federal spending with pedophiles (Aug.8) are too much,even for one so extreme as the DN's cracked-pot conservative columnist. Pedophilia and the acts of pedophiles are justifiably held to be among the most morally repulsive conditions and behaviors in any civilized society. That societal viewpoint is shared across the political spectrum by liberals,moder- ates,conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. To equate an advocacy of federal spending, no matter how well reasoned and paid for through responsible taxa- tion and spending cuts, with the sexual violation of a child is despicable over-the-top trash talk. Mr. Polson has his right of free speech,which I would not restrain. He does not, however, have an immunity from rightful condemnation and censure for his disgusting and irresponsi- ble comments. Marty Mathisen, Corning More Polson Is Mr. Polson "targeted", as he alleged in a column of late? Or does his column provide a target rich environment? A veritable shell game of complicated misinformation begging "Take me! Take me, you beast!"? Target — redistribu- tion. I refer to the pri- mary authority on the matter. Adam Smith, author of "The Wealth of Nations", the "bible" of capitalism. A quote from his earlier work, "To Moral Sentiments" contains a phrase that, I sus- pect, many people will be familiar with. "They are led by an invisi- ble hand to make nearly the same distribution of the nec- essaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal por- tions among all its inhabi- tants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society," Notice the last part. Now, I know Mr. Polson’s explanation for our current failure in equal distribution. It’s the liberal’s fault. Now, even if this ridicu- lous, and bombastic, charge were true, the idea that equal- ity of distribution is in "the interest of the society" is established. Unless you think Adam Smith was a "liberal do gooder". Target - government never balances it’s checkbook. Sounds great if you just don’t think about it. Most the time I go around not thinking. And you can pour all sorts of huey into my head and I’ll believe it! Until I think about it. Most people have an income, and spend that income. And maybe save Your Turn some also. And if people want to buy a house, and/or a car, and/or some other things, they purchase what they cannot pay for immediately by borrowing money. And they buy as big and nice a house as they can afford. And "afford" means how much income they can spend on monthly payments. Businesses borrow money. You, generally, cannot BE in business unless you borrow money. Because your busi- ness, what ever it is, is based on the capitalist principle that you are going to make more money with the bor- rowed money than what it costs you to borrow it. Other- wise, you go to work for the person who CAN do that. The government does exactly the same thing. It borrows more than its imme- diate income can pay for. Just exactly like every other per- son or business in the whole world. Borrowing money has nothing to do with balancing a checkbook except recording payments on it. Now after that, how MUCH money to borrow ....... THAT’s a valid discussion. But we have to dispense with the target shell and its poten- tial covered pea first. government balances its check book very well. The If it didn’t, and publish all the results, who would know the difference anyway? James Bryant, 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; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Fat president, lean government? Commentary A week ago, Los Angeles Times editors asked readers if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has the look of a president. "Is America ready for a presi- dent who, frankly, doesn't look healthy?" they asked. Sheesh! You'd think corpulent Americans might catch a break in these sensitive times. The editors explained that presi- dential image has always been important. That's why presidents conceal bad habits —Barack Obama's smoking, for instance — while portraying themselves as vig- orous and fit. But how do you conceal an Ernest Borgnine gut? The editors explained that in the TV era, being fit and good-looking surely doesn't hurt presidential aspirations; Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin (if she runs) are examples. Fair enough. But the editors overlooked an interesting historical truth: Our chubbier presidents have run some of our leaner governments. Washington Examiner colum- nist Gene Healy, commenting on a Slate article that examined chubbier presidents' records, offered some interesting insights. Of our four chubbiest chief executives — William Howard Taft, William McKinley, Grover Cleveland and Zachary Taylor — "three governed lightly," Healy said. McKinley brought high tariffs and an unnecessary war, but Cleve- land thwarted government growth by "wielding his veto pen more than any president before him." And Taft, who installed a plus- sized bathtub in the White House, didn't start any major wars or feder- al programs and fought Teddy Roo- sevelt's "grandiose visions of presi- dential power." Those fellows governed well before my time, but not our most recent chubby president, Bill Clin- ton. He had the appearance, as comedian Dennis Miller put it, "of the guy at your fraternity who used to tap the keg." He worked hard to portray him- self as fit and vigorous — though that didn't work out so well. We had to suffer through images of him jogging through Washing- ton, flabby thighs and gut jiggling, veins bulging from his reddened forehead. Whatever Clinton gained with the public was quickly shattered when a canny photographer caught him and Hillary dancing in swimsuits during a Virgin Islands vacation. His flab- by torso was on display for the world to see. During a 1993 Martha's Vineyard vacation, photog- raphers captured him swimming in the surf. His big-gutted image made clear that our commander in chief made more than one pass at the buffet. But nobody much cared. Say what you will about Clin- ton, but he turned out to be prag- matic. Compromising with Repub- licans, he left office with a gusher of a surplus. He was followed by George W. Bush, our fittest president, who spent $5 trillion more than our gov- ernment brought in, driving our debt to nearly $11 trillion. Bush was followed by Obama, one of our leanest presidents. Though he inherited a mess, his Keynesian gamble has not worked so well. Our debt has grown by $4 Tom Purcell trillion on his watch, and he has presided over Ameri- ca's first-ever credit downgrade. Meanwhile, Christie has taken on entrenched interests and turned New Jer- sey's sizable deficit into a surplus. To be sure, difficult times call for difficult measures, and in such times, folks don't care so much about appear- ance as about results. The informal L.A. Times survey backs that up. Some 70 percent of respon- dents said Christie's weight and appearance are not an issue. Which makes sense to me. A fat president and a lean gov- ernment are suddenly looking bet- ter than a lean president and a fat government. Tom Purcell, a freelance writer is also a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Email Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons.com.