Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/425846
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 Unlike Barack Obama, I am not a father to teenage girls, but it must be something like being President with this obstructionist congress. No good deed for Obama goes unpunished by Repub- licans in Washington, and the recent climate agree- ment with China is a good example. America showing world leadership? Finding progress where there was once only problems? Reaching the most important international cli- mate deal in the history of the world. I can't even, mutters congress, its eyes fixed on the glowing screen, thumbs furiously typing up articles of impeachment or begging for a booking on Fox News. That is literally the greatest thing, said no one ever. Sorry not sorry. This deal should be an easy sell. The U.S. and China have the two biggest econo- mies in the world and pro- duce the most pollution. China, in particular, is out of control. It finishes a new coal plant about every 10 days and is responsible for 60 percent of the growth in global carbon emissions over the past 15 years. No country produces more greenhouse gases than China, which un- til now refused to do much about it. But one downfall of Chi- na's growing economy is that it created a mid- dle class as big as the en- tire population of the United States, and it likes to breathe. So China agreed to boost its share of non-fos- sil fuel energy to around 20 percent by 2030. That is a staggering goal. Right now, coal fuels China's economic growth. Giving up coal isn't easy—for one, it's really cheap—and 20 percent of China's energy portfo- lio by 2030 is expected to be 1,000 gigawatts. To put that in perspective, that's about as much as all the electric- ity produced in the United States. And what does it cost the United States? Do we have to give them Guam and a ter- ritory to be named later? Nope. We need to acceler- ate our carbon pollution re- ductions from 17 percent by 2020 to 26-28 percent. This is ambitious, will require massive innovation and in- vestment in new energy, and shows the kind of leadership that the United States used to show in the world all the time. So of course congress hates it. Because cutting car- bon emissions by that much will force us to finally cut coal out of our energy diet, it shouldn't surprise any- one that the incoming Ma- jority Leader Mitch McCon- nell, who hails from coal-rich Kentucky, hates the deal. He said, "It requires the Chi- nese to do nothing at all for 16 years, while these carbon emission regulations are cre- ating havoc in my state and other states across the coun- try," a statement Politifact rated as "mostly false." Speaker John Boehner pro- vided the smoky baritone to his duet with McConnell, saying the agreement showed that the President "intends to double down on his job- crushing policies no matter how devastating the impact." There is no problem so large that this congress can't ignore it. They have rede- fined immigration reform to mean everything but actu- ally reforming immigration— and then done nothing. They responded to a jobs crisis by refusing to pass a jobs bill. There have been so many school shootings since New- ton that we've lost count, and congress has not done a thing about gun safety. And on global warming, congress has done worse than nothing by making a virtue of their feigned igno- rance. When it comes to cli- mate change, one thing that McConnell and Boehner can agree on is that they are not scientists. Well guys, you're not passing any legislation, so you're not really legisla- tors either. While congressional lead- ers drag their feet while the planet cooks, Obama and Chinese President Xi Jin- ping are acting like grown- ups. Even if China and the U.S. meet their goals, it won't solve global warming. But the rest of the world wasn't going to help if we didn't lead. Now real progress is possible, no thanks to con- gress. Some might think it un- fair to compare this intransi- gent congress to snotty teen- agers, and they have a point. Teenagers grow up. Partisan tantrums have no place in foreign policy, especially on something that could liter- ally save the world. JasonStanfordisaregu- lar contributor to the Austin American-Statesman, a Dem- ocratic consultant and a Tru- man National Security Proj- ect partner. You can email him at stanford@oppresearch.com and follow him on Twitter @ JasStanford. James Stanford Congress predictably on side of dirty air Cartoonist's take CAPTION Tehama County Planning Director Sean Moore will ad- dress the Tea Party Patriots tonight, 6 p.m. at the Westside Grange on Wal- nut Street. The County Planner may have some insight and po- sitions on the proposed Com- munity Correc- tions Reentry and Day Report- ing Center on Madison Street. Likewise, the rezoning of the acreage off of Baker into high- density-housing. I wrote a column for Aug. 26 on the unfortunate kill- ing of Michael Brown by Of- ficer Wilson in what has now turned out—based on the forensic evidence and facts contained in the grand jury report—to be an en- tirely justified shooting. In the course of an attempt by Brown to grapple with Wilson for his gun, involv- ing a violent physical as- sault on the officer inside his cruiser after Brown's strong-arm robbery and as- sault in a convenience store, his charging of the officer left Wilson with no option but to fatally shoot him. Every word of my Aug. 26 column has been borne out as the truth; I will post it to- day at DonPolson.blogspot. com for anyone doubting my veracity and accuracy. When large portions of the African- American community, the liberal elite in news media, public office and the Demo- crat Party are so possessed by, and willing to act and speak from, some combina- tion of ignorance, malintent, delusion and falsehood—it is nothing short of disturbing. Even the AP wrote and ad- mitted that the whole "hands up; don't shoot" chant has no basis in fact. Those same groups heap scorn, invective and condem- nation on conservative Re- publicans like Rudy Giuliani and Rich Lowry for rightly pointing out the simple unde- niable truth that crime and anti-social behavior prompts police to protect minority ar- eas the only way they know how—with tough law enforce- ment. Even black witnesses that backed up Officer Wil- son's story repeatedly ex- pressed fear for their safety should their identity become known, such is the mob men- tality, vindictiveness and group-think of parts of out citizenry. I wish that the correct les- sons were being taken from the incident; many in the ra- cial grievance industry do not see such criminal activ- ity (all of which involves vio- lence against people or their belongings) as proof of the need for proper upbring- ing of young boys and men. No, these defenders and apol- ogists for low standards in schools and communities see it rather as proof of so- ciety's unfairness and exces- sively harsh punishments, dis- criminately meted out to cer- tain groups. The way I see it, if families, schools and com- munities pat the heads of young miscreants and say, "there, there, you can't help it," they are effectively pro- nouncing sentences of misery, deprivation, injury and death to countless criminals-in-the- making as well as their vic- tims. Early lessons of values, respect and morality serve us all. About the curious case of the President Who Would Be Emperor, Barack Obama, Charles C. W. Cooke penned, "Obama's Imperial Transfor- mation Is Now Complete— The president has become everything he ran against" (1 0, NationalReview.com). While his executive orders legalizing millions of ille- gal aliens constitute an un- precedented usurpation of the legislative branch's Con- stitutional powers, the truest standard of hypocrisy starts with Obama's own words. Then-Senator Obama con- descendingly pronounced in 2008 that he "taught consti- tutional law for ten years" and took "the Constitution very seriously…(and that) the biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. That is what I intend to reverse when I'm presi- dent." Obama eagerly reminded "immigration activists" in 2011, in a speech at Bell Multi- cultural High School in Wash- ington, D.C., that he was not a king. "With respect to the notion that I can just sus- pend deportations through ex- ecutive order, that's just not the case. Because there are laws on the books that Con- gress has passed…The execu- tive branch's job is to enforce and implement those laws… There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immi- gration system that for me to simply, through executive or- der, to ignore those congres- sional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president." Obama made that or simi- lar arguments more than 20 times. Yet, in 2012, he did ex- actly what he insisted he could not: Obama simply pro- nounced the implementation of DACA, absent legislation, to legalize (not deport) chil- dren here illegally. Again, in 2013, he eloquently explained to impatient illegal immi- grants that he cannot waive deportation for an entire cate- gory of people with the stroke of a pen: "I'm not the em- peror of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed…" From "Obama's Will to Power" (Mona Charen, Na- tionalReview.com, 1 3): "He showed no fealty to the law when he dictated terms to the auto industry in violation of bankruptcy law…(obtaining no) congressional approval for military action in Libya; when he made 'recess' appointments to the NLRB while congress wasn't in recess; when he waived the work requirements of the welfare laws" or aban- doned enforcement of federal marijuana laws. Not to men- tion the dozens of extralegal, executive changes to Obam- acare. Hence, I said last week that he is, by his own admission, "Emperor Obama" and I share Sen. Jeff Sessions' sentiments in a USA Today editorial: "We must stop Emperor Obama." Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at don- plsn@yahoo.com. The way I see it Just verdict; lawless emperor But one downfall of China's growing economy is that it created a middle class as big as the entire population of the United States, and it likes to breathe. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Build a walking bridge over the street and keep the street open. Justine McMahan: On alternatives to closure of Madison Street for county jail expansion (Build a) tunnel. Making downtown Red Bluff even more ugly will not help business. Daniela Sartori : On alternatives to closure of Madison Street for county jail expansion Assemblyman Dan Logue 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95928, 530 895- 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, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@ governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa 507 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer 1700 Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510 286- 8537, fax 202 224-0454 Contact your officials Don Polson OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, December 2, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6