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4A Daily News – Saturday, August 20, 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 Dogs at park Editor: I am writing in regards to Kids 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. 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Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Festival at RiverFront in Red Bluff. As for our family of three, we took our five-year-old daughter and all had an awesome day. We have lived in Rancho Tehama for over a year now, mov- ing from Vacaville, Calif. and they had no activities at all there. The only downside we noticed, from our point of view, were the 50 percent of dogs with or without leashes. Pitbulls to name one were not leashed. Come on, kids were present. Thank you to all the sponsors and staff. You did great. Kirsten Owens, Rancho Tehama Polson Your Turn Editor: Regarding the controversy surrounding Mr. Polson's recent column, letter writers last week stated the case quite elo- quently. The col- umn was despica- ble. Regarding Mr. Polson's snippet in this week's col- umn: "Space has run out before I could respond to last week's controversy. Next time." Mr. Polson is a coward. He should have addressed the issue, and apologized like a man. Nanci Souza, Red Bluff Few businesses can pass higher costs on to consumers Editor: Cities and counties wrongly assume that citizen consumers can afford inflation increases on government fees and services. The fact is Social Security receivers have not had an infla- tion increase for two years, in spite of double digit retirement inflation rates. Savers have seen their income on investments reduced by two-thirds since the start of the October 2007 recession. Most private sector employ- ees have seen their gross income, adjusted for inflation decline. Private sector employ- ers must increase productivity by terminating employees and improving efficiency to adapt to the average 30 percent commod- ity price increases each of the past two years. States, counties, and cities should similarly increase pro- ductivity by doing more with fewer employees, no pay raises, have employees pay at least one- third of their health insurance costs and halve vacation days, sick days and vacation days to nonunion private sector levels. Too many public employees have never worked as private sector employees, and need to emphasize continuing produc- tivity increases without raising taxes or fees. Joseph Neff, Corning Your officials Commentary Role play We took our three great-nieces and their family to Turtle Bay the other day; we had a great time, learning about wild life and gross human products such as snot, gas, and urine. In the lavatory was an informational message posted over the urinals. It pointed out that the average male takes 45 seconds to urinate but the average female needs 79 seconds, and that is why there is always a line outside the women's lavatories in public places. There has been a lot of news about the role of women in various societies lately, and the news gives one pause to think. On our shuttle ride to the Sacramento Airport in transit to Minneapolis I overheard the conversation of a couple of women on their way to Hawaii. One said she had found something she needed for her trip in the bot- tom of her ex-husband's laundry basket; the other women asked if the first speaker did her husband's laundry. "I was not his laundry lady," she answered. "Maybe that had something to do with the divorce." The other woman says she threw some of her ex-husband's things into the wash if there was room. Apparently there was no agreement on the division of labor in those two women's households. On a visit with my doctor in the 1970s, we drifted into a conversa- tion about household chores; I mentioned that I did the floors at home. After I explained why, he told me "don't let any of the other guys know. You'll ruin it for the rest of us." Apparently I had wandered out of my gender specific role. According to Ariel Levy, a writer for The New Yorker, 95 per- cent of Italian men have never used a washing machine. I guess they do not do floors or windows either. In France Elisabeth Badinter is criticizing the feminist movement because she feels it has reverted to a biologically defended position on the role of women rather than asserting equality. She feels the cur- rent feminist movement has a defensive position which will undermine what progress has been made in France, a country where women were not allowed to vote until after WWII. After the problems between the head of the International Monetary Fund and a hotel maid, many point- ed out that the concept of sexual harassment was foreign to most Frenchmen. Italy is all a boil about the appetites of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi is a notori- ous womanizer, and is currently in legal trouble for allegedly having intimate relations for money with an underage professional woman. The legal age of consent for a woman in Italy is 14. The Prime Minister alleged paid for sex with someone who was 16 at the time. Although it may have been consen- sual, and she may have told him she was 24, paying for that kind of rela- tionship with a 16 year old is illegal in Italy--even if it seems inconsis- tent with the legal age of consent. In our country, of course, having rela- tions with a 14 year old is statutory rape, and in most of the United States paying for intimate relations is against the law regardless of age. Berlusconi is trying to fight this charge against him, but in the meantime is not covering up his preference for young women. In a recent speech in Sicily, he joked "Have you heard the latest poll? They asked women if they would like to sleep with me. Thirty-three percent said yes; the 67 percent asked "again?" In this country a politician might get away with some peccadilloes, but public statements like Berlus- coni's would never be tolerated. Those asserting the rights of women still have an upward journey. Freya Stark, a noted mid twentieth century writer about the Middle East once commented that "The great and almost only comfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is sur- prised." Most likely her remarks hold true in many areas today. his error, but he truly was sorry. I called later and politely asked him to explain the problem to me. All of a sudden it wasn't a problem but something he could take care of. Joe Harrop Roles were some- what clearer when we were first married in the mid- 1960's. If one of the children was ill, there was never a question about who would stay home to take care of them, my wife, of course. Things have changed. My children and their spouses share that duty with- out hesitation. They also share chores around the house, each doing what they do best regardless of stereotypes that I was raised with. My two sons do much of the cooking in their families, as does my son-in-law. I remember going to buy a car locally in 1976; my wife and I test drove the car and discussed it in front of the salesman, but when we got into the sales pitch cubicle he spoke directly to me, ignoring my wife almost completely. When we bought our most recent car six years ago the salesperson spoke to and listened to each of us. On another occasion in the early 1980s a local travel agent made a mistake, booking our flight for the wrong day and wrong price; when my wife called him about it she got the runaround and was told the agent couldn't do anything about Sara Palin, who was thrust upon the national stage with little prepara- tion, was not only ridiculed for her igno- rance about issues, histo- ry, and current events, but she was also made fun of because of her gender. She has gotten even with those who denigrated her, laughing all the way to the bank. The role of women is different from country to country, even with- in western civilization, and even within religions practiced in our own country. We shutter to hear of the actions against women in parts of the Muslim world, ranging from denying education to stoning. We wonder about the infanticide of Chinese female babies. We watch the pressures within the Roman Catholic Church for woman's priesthood. We cringe at the thought of female genital mutila- tion in Africa. I'd like to think my perspective on women has matured over time, but I still have a silent chuckle at the long lines for the women's restroom in older facilities. Some things don't change. My wife says, "You've come a long way, baby, but you have a long way to go." Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.