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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 Boy,arethefolksatthesyn- dicated game show "Jeopardy" in trouble after introducing a new category: "What Do Women Want." In one prompt, Alex Trebek gave contestants these clues: "Some help around the house; would it kill you to get out the Bissell bagless canister one of these every once in a while?" Answer: "What is a vacuum cleaner?" In another, Trebek said: "Time to exercise perhaps in a class in this discipline named for founder Joseph, who ini- tially called it contrology?" Answer: "What are Pilates?" In a third, he said: "A pair of jeans that fit well, like the 535s from this brand." Answer: "What are Levi's?" It didn't take long for the grievance community to launch a full assault on the lousy sexists. "What is equal pay? What is the right to make my own health decisions? What is treated like a human?" tweeted one woman. "What is to be an equal member of society?" tweeted another woman. "What is paid sick leave, equal pay, affordable child care, respect?" tweeted a third woman. Sheesh. One woman suggested that "Jeopardy" create a "What Do Men Want" category that is "equally belittling and super- ficial." I couldn't agree more — though the reaction would a little different. Trebek: "Arms and legs harvested from inhumanely- treated poultry, submersed in hot lard and served with flu- ids known to cause poor judg- ment." Answer: "What are hot wings and ice-cold beer?" Trebek: "A private room in a house outfitted with large dis- play monitors, fermented adult beverages and no women. Answer: What is a man cave?" Trebek: "The lyrics are: 'It's hard to kiss the lips at night that chew my butt off all day long.'" Answer: "What is a great country song?" Male tweeters and bloggers would respond with joy and hilarity if "Jeopardy" applied such stereotypes to them. Unfortunately, we live in a time when we are expected to disregard one truth: that men and women are different. We are supposed to believe that there are zero emotional or mental differences among the sexes. Why, just as many men as women worry about sweep- ing the rug and keeping the house spotless — even though humorist P.J. O'Rourke says typical males clean their place about once every girl- friend. Just as many men as women like to wear stylish, color- matching sweatsuits in Pilates classes — and have a group latte afterward to discuss baby showers, relationships and the spring sale at Bed, Bath & Be- yond. Just as many men as women are asking their spouses these days if their Levi's jeans are making their backsides look fat. So it's no wonder women are so offended by a silly game show. AOL news sums up their in- dignation well: "Rather than focus on serious topics like equal rights or significant achievements of women, the new section was filled with stereotypes of housework, fit- ted jeans and Pilates." OK, fair enough. Here's what is also fair: This heated overreaction is telling about where we are as a nation and a society. We are becoming masters at responding with indignation to matters that are small as we lose the ability to distinguish small matters from those that are truly large. Right now the Middle East is going up in flames, the Eb- ola virus is running amok in West Africa and looking to ex- pand, ObamaCare is killing any hopes of economic vitality and we are nearing $20 tril- lion in debt — an amount we can never repay. But too few are indignant about our very real challenges. I'll bet more people would find offense with these "Jeop- ardy" clues: Trebek: "Absolutely noth- ing." Answer: "What are men re- ally thinking?" Tom Purcell I'lltakeWhat Do Women Want Alex We are becoming masters at responding with indignation to matters that are small as we lose the ability to distinguish small matters from those that are truly large. Cartoonist's take After 13 years of war in Af- ghanistan — the longest in US history — the US government has achieved no victory. Afghan- istan is in chaos and would col- lapse completely without regular infusions of US money. The war has been a failure, but Washing- ton will not admit it. More than 2,000 US fight- ers have been killed in the 13 year Afghan war. More than 20,000 Afghan civilians were also killed. According to a study last year by a Harvard Univer- sity researcher, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost in to- tal between four and six tril- lion dollars. There is no way of looking at the US invasion of Af- ghanistan and seeing a success. So in light of this failure, what does the Obama Admin- istration do? Do they admit the mistake? Do they pull the re- maining US troops out of Af- ghanistan and try to avoid mak- ing matters even worse? No! As with all US government pro- grams, if the desired result is not achieved they just pump in more resources and continue with the same policies. The past 13 years have been an utter fail- ure, so this past week the US government signed on for ten more years of war! US troops were legally re- quired to be out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, accord- ing to a status of forces agree- ment between the US and Af- ghanistan. The US was unsuc- cessful in negotiating a new status of forces agreement with outgoing president Hamid Kar- zai. The Afghan leader had grown critical of the US mili- tary presence — which has actu- ally increased under President Obama. So, the US needed a new puppet in government. As international correspon- dent Eric Margolis pointed out recently, the elections in Af- ghanistan earlier this year were a farce. The candidates were hand-picked by the US govern- ment. Furthermore, wrote Mar- golis, "[t]he largest, most pop- ular party in Afghanistan, Tal- iban...[has] been excluded as 'terrorists' from the current and past elections." But they got their new status of forces agreement. US troops will remain through 2024. The United States' war on Iraq has also been a failure. The neocons want to blame the cur- rent disintegration of Iraq on President Obama for pulling US troops out. This is historical re- visionism at its worst. The real blame goes to those who put the troops in in the first place. In fact, President Obama didn't even want to pull US troops out of Iraq. He had tried to re-negotiate a new status of forces agreement with the Ma- liki government in Iraq, but Ma- liki hesitated to extend immu- nity from prosecution to the remaining US troops. The US re- sponded by turning on Maliki, eventually demanding that he step down even though he had been elected. Maintaining US troops in Iraq would not have prevented the current unrest there for the simple reason that it was the presence of US troops in the first place that caused the un- rest. It was the US invasion that led to the emergence of al-Qa- eda in Iraq and other extrem- ist Islamist groups. This should not have been a surprise to war planners: Saddam Hussein had been using brutal means to keep these groups at bay for decades. The same is true with Afghan- istan. The Taliban government of 2001 in Afghanistan did not at- tack the United States. Al-Qa- eda did. But the 2003 US attack on Iraq under false pretenses re- moved a leader who had fought ruthlessly against al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist fighters. The result was that the al-Qaeda we were supposed to be fight- ing in Afghanistan flourished in post-invasion Iraq, along with other even more brutal groups. Will our government ever learn that invasion and occupation are not the solution, but rather the problem? No new status of forces agreement can change that basic fact. RonPaulisaformerCongress- man and Presidential can- didate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul The real status of forces in Afghanistan and Iraq Another view By Peter Funt On the road in Atlanta, the Pirates learned they were among 10 teams to make it to baseball's postseason. Reporter Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described what followed: "The center of the visiting clubhouse turned into a foun- tain of champagne and beer. Everyone wore science-class style glasses, except (star out- fielder Andrew) McCutchen, who donned ski goggles. Cigar smoke filled the air. No coach or broadcaster was safe from flying alcohol." Baseball welcomes these cel- ebrations, which seem to get more raucous and contrived every season. They're also more frequent, now that the postsea- son has been expanded to in- clude more teams. The World Series winner will stage five such bashes along the way. The Pirates and A's on the other hand wasted all that champagne before getting knocked out in a single "wild card" game. Overblown clubhouse cele- brations are another of base- ball's tired — and sometimes dangerous — traditions that live on for no good reason. For example, at the slightest sign of an altercation during a game all 50 players plus their coaches storm onto the field, following decades-old protocol. The NBA forbids players from leaving the bench in such situations; base- ball, on the other hand, seems not to care. In 2010 Major League Base- ball did take the step of ban- ning beer in post-game cele- brations, limiting the alcohol to champagne. But the rule is ignored, as was evident when Madison Bumgarner chugged four beers at once following the Giants' wild-card win over the Pirates. Totally lacking in spontane- ity, the celebrations are planned far in advance. Heavy duty plastic is affixed to all play- ers' lockers. Teams purchase roughly 100 bottles of cham- pagne along with protective goggles for each participant. The result is like a bad real- ity show: no formal script, but every move sanctioned by a wink from the producers. During the Giants' two cele- brations so far this fall, many of the players were intent on dous- ing cable-TV reporter Amy Gut- ierrez, who smilingly conducted live interviews while wiping her eyes and giggling as one might at a sorority party. This was accompanied by a profan- ity-laced speech from outfielder Hunter Pence, for which the ca- ble channel apologized the fol- lowing day. There's nothing wrong with men who are paid to play a kids' game having license to act like the boys of summer in occasional celebrations. What concerns some fans — and even baseball veterans — is the stagecraft, the volume of alco- hol, and the frequency of the events so early in the long post- season process. Former pitcher Jim Bouton, who literally wrote the book on clubhouse behavior ("Ball Four," 1970), told the San Jose Mer- cury News, "There was a time when drinking some cham- pagne and sliding into po- tato salad had some real fun in it." His current view: "Teams are over-celebrating...trying to think of what new gimmick will get you on the cover of Sports Illustrated." Maybe these spectacles wouldn't prompt concern were it not for the fact that the sev- eral pro sports are finding it increasingly difficult to con- trol off-field behavior by play- ers, and in-stadium behavior by fans. In both categories, exces- sive drinking is too often a con- tributor. Even the NFL, which seems incapable of doing anything right when it comes to policing its players, has banned alcohol in post-game celebrations. What's the takeaway for young fans when they watch on live TV as Andrew McCutchen smokes, Hunter Pence drops f- bombs and Madison Bumgar- ner drinks four beers at once? Perhaps the solution is to simply close the clubhouse door and bar all media while play- ers exercise their right to blow off steam and rejoice as they see fit. That won't happen be- cause it's not really players who are in control. It's team own- ers, PR people and MLB itself. They won't curb this spectacle because it's not personal — as a true celebration should be — it's just business. Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic," is available at Am- azon.com and CandidCamera. com. Baseball drinks up, dumbs down OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, October 8, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4