Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/409594
Insomemindsthiselec- tion is about holding Presi- dent Obama and the Demo- cratic Party re- sponsible for all the ills that plague contem- porary life and keeping Califor- nia as it is with- out crediting them for restor- ing our econ- omy, increasing employment and providing health insur- ance for millions of addi- tional Americans or consider- ing how California can be im- proved. The progress has been laudable considering that Re- publicans do everything possi- ble to block the President's ini- tiatives, even forcing a total shutdown of the federal gov- ernment, and have done noth- ing to address climate change or resolve immigration issues. Don't be tricked by their fear baiting and finger pointing to gain control of the Senate and continue counterproductive gridlock. Moving beyond broad par- tisan concerns please con- sider the specific issues facing us here in Tehama County to- day. The first of which is the "enthusiasm gap" which cedes voting power to a minority of impassioned voters driven by campaign professionals to re- flect only the views of wealthy special interests. Look beyond 30 second sound bites, spe- cious attack ads, and mislead- ing mailers to understand the real issues and select candi- dates that can best serve you. Rather than follow col- league Don Polson's advice to just say no to all the important propositions and blindly select Republican candidates I en- courage you to review the Vot- er's Guide and study candidate positions and qualifications. Propositions 1 and 2 ensure respectively that California maintains a budgetary "rainy day fund" and secures fund- ing to modernize and improve water storage and delivery sys- tems to protect us against un- predictable economic and cli- matic ups and downs. These are sound and well vetted pro- posals to keep the state afloat and protect local agriculture and water quality. Vote yes. Proposition 45 requires Cali- fornia health insurance provid- ers publicly disclose and jus- tify requested rates as required by 35 other states. Don't be tricked by disingenuous claims by insurance companies that the proposition will empower politicians to limit medical care and complicate the Af- fordable Care Act. Vote yes. Proposition 46 allows for random drug testing of doc- tors, controls the distribution of excess prescription drugs, and adjusts malpractice pen- alties to keep pace with infla- tion. Again insurance com- panies are misleading voters to believe this is a dollar grab by medical malpractice law- yers. The provisions should de- crease medical costs by mini- mizing malpractice and keep- ing pharmaceuticals from being abused. Vote yes. Proposition 47 will classify simple drug possession and non-violent property crimes as misdemeanors to keep from populating our prisons and help ensure low-level offend- ers get local treatment and re- habilitation services. The cost of building more prisons and employing more correctional officers is far greater than the cost of local treatment and re- habilitation of non-violent of- fenders not to mention im- proved family welfare and re- duced recidivism. Vote yes. Proposition 48 is ensures that Indian casinos stay on the reservations. A yes vote would allow for unbridled casino gam- bling throughout California by distant tribes. This is unfair to tribes that have already built casinos on their own land by al- lowing other tribes to site ca- sinos wherever they wish. Not only would this hurt exist- ing casinos, it would also give tribes unlimited and exclusive rights to build casinos on non- tribal land. Vote no. Heidi Hall is running against incumbent Doug LaMalfa for the U.S. House of Representa- tives. Heidi is clearly your best choice — she is inquisitive, well informed, eloquent and person- able, compared to the stodgy and seldom seen Tea Party dar- ling LaMalfa. Considering his votes to cut food aid to the hun- gry, restrict and privatize Social Security and claims that Con- gress has been rather produc- tive of late it is irresponsible to let him continue. Vote for Heidi Hall. The 4th District State Senate race has software engineer and educator CJ Jawahar challeng- ing incumbent Jim Nielsen, our carpet bagging rancher with a home outside the district and a long history in state politics. CJ is running to work for you rather than pursue the parti- san politics of Jim Nielsen. Al- though CJ is a Democrat he is against Governor Brown's twin tunnels project preferring in- stead to build reservoirs and preserve farm land. He believes we need to focus at the root causes of crime rather than building more prisons. In ad- dition CJ thinks that hydraulic fracking is not appropriate for California while Nielsen think it and other environmental as- saults are just fine. Vote for CJ Jawahar. Red Bluff's own Jim Reed is running against newby James Gallagher for the State Assem- bly. Jim Reed is a moderate Democrat who supports 2nd Amendment rights, local water management, responsible forest management, a woman's right to choose, and marriage equal- ity. He has run on his ideas and experience as opposed to James Gallagher's pathetic and irre- sponsible mud-slinging. Jim's local experience and sage ma- turity will bring more funds and services to Tehama County than his predecessors and com- petitor. Vote for Jim Reed. Finally for Tehama County Supervisor we have accom- plished local businesswoman Candy Carlson versus polit- ical appointee Sandy Bruce. The choice here is clear if you want someone to represent you rather than just rubber stamp what other Supervisors favor. Candy will ask the tough questions, listen to your feed- back before casting votes and remain loyal to those that sup- port her. I can't say the same for Sandy Bruce. But by all means get to the polls before 8 tonight — or else. RichardMazzucchiisaretired research engineer specializing in energy efficiency and renew- able energy. He has travelled extensively and now makes his home in Los Molinos, where he is striving to manifest a sus- tainable and spiritual lifestyle and operate a barbecue equip- ment and supply business. He can be reached at living- green@att.net. Positivepoint Get to the polls by 8 o'clock tonight or else Cartoonist's take NATEBEELER Providing a venue for Re- publican and Tea Party Patriot brothers and sisters to share what promises to be an evening of celebratory cheer, Tehama County Republicans are inviting folks to their 508 Main St. headquarters to- night. There'll be re- freshments, pizza and a big screen showing election returns as they come in. I can't think of a better way to commemorate what I believe will be an his- toric night of Republican gains across the nation in U.S. Senate, House and state contests. Our local contests will, more- over, provide great cheer and affirmation that we live among the sane, right-leaning and thinking part of what could once again become a great state were it to depart from the fa- natical anti-business, anti-re- source use, pro-public employee union and pro-tax and regula- tory path. You will see a Republican landslide in which taking the Senate from the Harry Reid/ Barack Obama's leftist grip will be but one indication of the American electorate's repudi- ation of Obama-ism. In "Dem- ocrats about to pay for sup- porting the failed President Obama," by Hugh Hewitt, ma- jor Democrat candidate prat- falls —"Landrieu thinks Louisi- anans are bigots. Orman thinks Dole's a clown. Braley thinks Io- wans are hicks. Will Coakley now attack Paul Revere?"— are noted. Hewitt says this midterm march began when, in his in- auguration, Obama simply de- clared a decade of conflict over while our Islamic enemies were still fighting us. "The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on the border of Turkey and in the sub- urbs of Baghdad tell us all we need to know about the presi- dent who lost a peace by bolting from Iraq even as he prepares to do the same in Afghanistan… "Americans are tired of him and his eager loyalists. A big knock down is coming and hopefully it will clear the pres- ident's head and remind him that the other branches, and the other party are equal to him and his; and that executive or- ders, the endlessly divisive rhet- oric and continuing stonewalls on the IRS and Benghazi are not going to help his legacy, but merely cement it as the worst president of modern times." Our Beltway, Obama-cen- tric MSM have predictably 1) held off on the most accurate and devastating to Democrats polling until the last weekend of the race and 2) attempted to downplay the importance of the coming tsunami by telling their readers and viewers that it's "an election about nothing" (Wash- ington Post, followed in short order by a dozen or so of the usual liberal suspects in unbi- ased wolf's garb). Au contraire says Stephen F. Hayes (Weekly Standard) in "An Election About Everything" (11/3 edition): "It is being fought over exactly the kinds of things that ought to determine our elections…the size and scope of government…the rule of law… the security of the citizenry… competence…integrity…honor. "It's about a government that makes promises to those who have defended the coun- try and then fails those vet- erans. A president who offers soothing reassurances on his sweeping health care reforms and shrugs his shoulders when consumers learn those assur- ances were fraudulent;" web- sites that cost billions but don't function; "smart power" that isn't very smart; Obama caring more about ending, not winning, wars; a president who ignores restrictions on his power and rewrites laws that inconvenience him; fed- eral agencies that target cit- izens because of their politi- cal beliefs; a White House that claims ignorance of what its agents are up to because gov- ernment is too 'vast." A note of follow up on the deadly, debilitating Entero- virus, EV-D68, that many have strongly suggested was brought into American via the many tens of thousands of il- legal alien children that, with no small encouragement from Obama's agencies and policies, flagrantly flooded our borders: Look up "Obama's Border Pol- icy Fueled Epidemic, Evidence Shows," by Neil Munro (Daily- Caller.com) and "The Case of the Mystery Virus, Cont'd," by Scott Johnson (Powerlineblog. com). It is no longer a case of "co- incidence doesn't prove cau- sation" but rather "reason- able suspicion," close to "proba- ble cause," that diseases known and medically identified to ex- ist in elevated levels, in Central American countries, accompa- nied those children to Amer- ican cities. The evidence and tracked outbreaks are such that it behooves the CDC to under- take the meticulous steps of vi- ral analysis warranted when- ever communicable diseases en- ter this country. The burden of proof in the negative is on the CDC; mapping and tracking EV- D68 is essential to satisfy rea- sonable suspicions. Obama sycophants should research, before engaging in knee jerk attacks, by troubling themselves with hard news and papers such as "Human rhino- viruses and Enterovirus in in- fluenza—like illness in Latin America" (virologyj.com). MSM like ABC News have been keen to try to characterize the cause as "unidentified" and a "mys- tery." Internist Dr. Foley wrote at Powerlineblog.com that while "there will be a good deal of epidemiological work to be done before this can be scien- tifically associated, there is a deafening silence on the part of public health officials and the mainstream media in even speculating about this associ- ation. This is not a simple case of being politically selective about the news, it is downright dangerous and could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the emergence of diseases long absent from daily life in America…" Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it An election, and victory, that's really about important things Moving beyond broad partisan concerns please consider the specific issues facing us here in Tehama County today. 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 Richard Mazzucchi Don Polson Assemblyman Dan Logue 150Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95928, 530895- 4217 Senator Jim Nielsen 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@senate. ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown State Capital Building, Sacra- mento 95814, 916445-2841, fax 916558-3160, governor@ governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa 507Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415393- 0707, fax 415393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer 1700Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510286-8537, fax 202224-0454 Contact your officials You will see a Republican landslide in which taking the Senate from the Harry Reid/Barack Obama's leftist grip will be but one indication of the American electorate's repudiation of Obama-ism. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, November 4, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6