Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/431231
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 Christmaswasaweek away, but Sabrina didn't have enough money to buy the one gift her husband, Beckett, had dreamed of: hair transplants. Beckett, meanwhile, had been desperate to scrape $20,000 together to buy Sa- brina the Christmas gift she longed for: saline implants. But money was tight. True, their fortunes had improved dramatically since the economic collapse of 2008. As the hous- ing bubble burst and a mas- sive correction rippled through the world's economies, Sabrina found herself out of work. Beckett also lost his job in 2008. As an investment banker at a large New York firm, his risky investments, and occa- sional illegal dealings, lost billions for his employer. It's amazing he wasn't in jail. As the massive flow of com- mission checks and bonuses halted, Sabrina and Beckett lost their penthouse and sum- mer home to foreclosure. "It's not fair!" said Sabrina, sobbing. Fortunately, Sabrina and Beckett would not suffer for long — because Wall Street would not suffer for long. Wall Street banks were too big to fail, after all — their failure would have sent the economy into an unimagina- ble tailspin that would have had an effect greater than the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve began buying up the bad debt the banks were holding — or laun- dering that bad debt, as some economists refer to it — essen- tially whitewashing the many bad business decisions, some of them criminal, that the bankers had made. Former Federal Reserve offi- cial Andrew Huszar, who man- aged the Fed's $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed-security buy- ing spree, explained in The Wall Street Journal that the Fed's "quantitative easing" (QE) has been enriching Wall Street bank- ers at the expense of the public. "The central bank continues to spin QE as a tool for help- ing Main Street. But I've come to recognize the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time. The banks hadn't just benefited from the lower cost of making loans. They'd also enjoyed huge capital gains on the rising values of their se- curities holdings and fat com- missions from brokering most of the Fed's QE transactions." Sabrina and Beckett surely benefited from the Wall Street windfall. Beckett was soon making huge commissions and bonuses as an investment banker. Sa- brina was soon making big commissions, too, selling real estate to wealthy bankers. The two had almost made a full recovery to regain their lav- ish, pre-2008 lifestyle. But since their credit hadn't yet fully re- covered, they had to make siz- able down payments to buy back their penthouse and summer home. That is why they lacked the funds for Christmas gifts. But then Sabrina got an idea. She knew a mortgage broker and appraiser who could overstate the value of her penthouse so she could get an inflated home-equity loan. When Christmas Eve ar- rived, Sabrina explained to Beckett how she was able to secure the money she needed to pay for his hair transplants. Beckett began laughing un- controllably. "What is so funny?" said Sa- brina. "You didn't need to bor- row against the penthouse," he said. "My bank did so well this year, my bonus was big enough to pay for your saline implants!" "Oh, Beckett!" Suddenly, Sabrina noticed something different about her husband's male-pattern bald- ness: It was gone! "What happened to your hair?" she said. "My bonus was so big, I had enough to fly to Beverly Hills to have my hair implants done!" Sabrina and Beckett laughed at all the unneces- sary trouble Sabrina had gone through the previous week. It was a Merry Christmas after all. TomPurcell,authorof"Mis- adventures of a 1970s Child- hood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pitts- burgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons. com. Tom Purcell AGi ofthe Magi for 2014 Sabrina and Beckett lost their penthouse and summer home to foreclosure. Cartoonist's take Last week the US House voted overwhelmingly in favor of an anti-Russia resolution so full of war propaganda that it rivals the rhetoric from chilliest era of the Cold War. Ironically, much of the bill condemns Russia for do- ing exactly what the US govern- ment has been doing for years in Syria and Ukraine. For example, one of the rea- sons to condemn Russia in the resolution is the claim that Rus- sia is imposing economic sanc- tions on Ukraine. But how many rounds of sanctions has US gov- ernment imposed on Russia for much of the past year? I guess sanctions are only bad when used by countries Washington doesn't like. The resolution condemns Rus- sia for selling weapons to the Assad government in Syria. But the US has been providing weapons to the rebels in Syria for several years, with many go- ing to terrorist groups like al- Qaeda and ISIS that the US is currently bombing! The resolution condemns what it claims is a Russian in- vasion of Ukraine (for which it offers no proof) and Rus- sian violation of Ukrainian sov- ereignty. But it was the US, by backing a coup against the democratically elected Yanu- kovich government in February, that first violated that country's sovereignty. And as far as a mil- itary presence in Ukraine, it is the US that has openly sent in special forces and other mili- tary advisors to assist the gov- ernment there. How many times have top US military and CIA officials visited Kiev to of- fer advice and probably a lot more? The resolution condemns Russia for what it claims are attempts to "illicitly acquire information" about the US government. But we learned from the Snowden revelations that the NSA is spying on most rest of the world, includ- ing our allies! How can the US claim the moral authority to condemn such actions in oth- ers? The resolution attacks Rus- sian state-funded media, claiming that they "distort public opinion." At the same time the bill demands that the thousands of US state-funded media outlets step up their programming to that part of the world! It also seeks "ap- propriate responses" to Rus- sian media influence in the rest of the world. That should be understood to mean that US diplomats would exert pressure on foreign countries to shut down television net- works like RT. The resolution condemns what it claims is Russia's pro- vision of weapons to the Rus- sian-speaking eastern part of Ukraine, which seeks closer ties with Russia, while demanding that the US government start providing weapons to its proxies on the other side. As I have said, this is one of the worst pieces of legislation I can remember. And trust me, I have seen some pretty bad bills. It is nothing but war propa- ganda and it will likely lead to all sorts of unintended conse- quences. Only ten Members — five from each party — opposed this reckless resolution. Probably most of those who voted in fa- vor did not bother to read the bill. Others who read it and still voted in favor may have calcu- lated that the bill would not come up in the Senate. So they could vote yes and please the hawks in their districts — and more importantly remain in good graces of the hawks who run foreign policy in Washing- ton — without having to worry about the consequences if the bill became law. Whatever the case, we must keep an eye on those Members of Congress who vote to take us closer to war with Russia. We should thank those ten Mem- bers who were able to resist the war propaganda. The hawks in Washington believe that last month's election gave them free rein to start more wars. Now more than ever they must be challenged! Ron Paul is a former Congress- man and Presidential can- didate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul House chooses new Cold War with Russia Another view By Tina Dupuy According to thinkers like also-ran presidential candidate Rick Santorum, America is a Christian nation. Really? The Bible is pro-slav- ery and pro-monarch—two things Americans are (now at least) decidedly against. So how are we a Christian nation, ex- actly? "It's because of the Pilgrims' trek to the New World in search of religious liberty that makes us a Christian nation." The Pilgrims were not the holy Founding Fathers. They were at least seven generations apart. "We were founded on Chris- tian principles." Sure. Which ones, exactly? Nearly all sins are legal. Think about that. With a few excep- tions, sin isn't against the law. You can legally break eight of the 10 Commandments—if you're a cop or a banker, you get a free pass on all ten. The First Amendment shields heretics and false prophets when the Bible condemns them. Tenets like freedom of speech and the right to peacefully as- semble are not in the Bible. Per- sonal liberty, equality—equal rights for women, protections for sodomites and rich people— are not from scripture. Democ- racy and a separation of powers are not psalms. Blasphemy isn't even against the law. So which principles? Empa- thy? Turning the other cheek? Charity? Hospitality? Loving your neighbor? That's hardly our foreign or domestic policy. "No, we're a Christian nation because most of the people who live here self-identify as Chris- tians." OK, that's a nation of Chris- tians, not a Christian nation. And conjuring up religious quotes by the holy Founding Fa- thers doesn't make the case ei- ther. "In every country and every age, the priest has been hos- tile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own," was said by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Jefferson Bible whose detractors (priests) claimed he was an infidel trying to de- stroy religion. We're a nation of mainly Christians but not even re- ally good Christians. We go to church as much as Europe- ans, we just lie about it more. Churches are closing down and filing for bankruptcy, yet Amer- icans tell pollsters they're in church every Sunday. Unaf- filiated, non-religious Ameri- cans are around 20 percent of the population. And those who lie about being religious but re- ally aren't make up another 10- 18 percent of America, accord- ing to a study by the University of Michigan. We're not a Christian nation, we're not even a nation of Chris- tians, we're a nation that lies about our religion. The Bible is fiercely anti-rich people. But not America. So we just omit that part, in fact, we lie about how commie Christian- ity actually is as much as we lie about how often we visit these temples of wealth redistribution. We're not a Christian nation and, truly thank god, because that means we're not a theoc- racy. No, actually, don't thank god for that, thank secularists. Secularists get derided as athe- ists—a UK study suggests athe- ists are trusted as much as rapists. Take that, pedophile priests. Secularists don't have to be anti-religion—people of faith can identify as secularists— they're just individuals who've decided government and reli- gion should be separate. They agree religion is better off—and more importantly government is better off—not being the same thing. Disagree? Three words: Salem Witch Trials. Still un- sure? The Crucible. Don't really feel me? Iran. Because of secularists, adul- tery isn't a capital offense. You're welcome. Oh and this saturnalian orgy of tinsel, shopping and eggnog in December laughably referred to as Christmas? You're welcome for that too. It's a party of good cheer because we don't live un- der biblical authority; gluttony, false idols and envy aren't crim- inalized. Personal freedoms like be- ing able to marry other faiths, nations or races, not marry at all, or even get a divorce? You're welcome. Legal porn's biggest consumer? Utah? You're wel- come, too. Bacon? You're welcome. Foot- ball on Sunday? You're welcome. Your horoscope? You're wel- come. Your angel tattoo? You're welcome. Doing anything on the Sabbath? You're welcome for that too. The reason for the season? Secularists. Capitalists mostly, but secularists generally. The American celebration of Christ- mas isn't Christian. Disagree? Mall Santas. Our country was founded as a secular government and all the freedom from and of religion that comes with that wall of sep- aration. It's nice. Thank secularists. Tina Dupuy is a nation- ally syndicated op-ed colum- nist, investigative journalist, award-winning writer, stand- up comic, on-air commentator and wedge issue fan. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@ya- hoo.com. Thank secularists for Christmas A giant Manhattan penthouse and a sum- mer home in the Hamptons. That was all. There was nothing Sabrina could do but plop onto her designer couch and cry. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, December 10, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6