Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/434363
Oil,likepoliticalpunditry,isacommodity, traded freely on the open market and sub- ject to the laws of supply and demand. The difference of course is that punditry enjoys an abundant and renewable supply, flows freely, and produces nothing of value. Oil, on the other hand, is actually important. The problem is that people think they are related. Solet'sadoptanewrule: The President has very little to do with the price of gas. Full stop. To blame any President for the price of gas makes as much sense as thinking he is somehow responsible for the price of cocoa, gold and rub- ber. It's the same logic that convinced primitive cultures that thunder meant the gods were angry. It's this kind of ig- norance that makes me think we're not ready for sharp tools as a culture. No wonder the aliens hide from us. Speaking of space, Newt Gingrich tried to "own" this issue when he ran for presi- dent, promising that if he was elected gas would cost $2.50 a gallon. Gingrich, who bran- dishes a showy wit that makes him look smart to dumb peo- ple, seemed convinced that Obama's policies were sentenc- ing us to four more years of expensive gasoline. The gov- ernment predicts the aver- age gallon of gas will run you $2.60 next year, which means Gingrich's promise would have made exactly a dime's worth of difference. I used to be as guilty as any- one at seeing the false causa- tion between the price of gas and the President's economic stewardship, but remarkably— and I know this will shock you—I tended to be a harsher critic of expensive gas dur- ing Republican presidencies. It's the kind of connection that feels like it should make sense—until you think about it, that is. Then it just makes you feel stupid, which is where political pundits come in. They never think about it. Pundits used to hold Barack Obama responsible for the high price of oil and the sub- sequent sticker shock at the gas pump. Now some pundits are blaming Obama for cheap oil, which some think will hurt the economy. Somehow Obama isn't re- sponsible at all for steady job growth, low inflation, and shrinking deficits. But the price of a commodity? Oh yeah, that's Obama's fault. (You know where oil futures are traded, don't you? Chicago. Don't be naive, man!) Here's where observers dress up their dim thoughts in their Christmas finest by an- nouncing the obvious: A low price at the pump means the drive to Grandma's house at Thanksgiving will be cheaper. (Gosh. Really?) If oil fetches a lower price, oil companies will be less likely to suck it out of the ground. (No way. Do tell.) Soon cheap oil will scare Texas politicians into thinking that they, these titans of lim- ited government, should har- ness the winds of global eco- nomics to help business. And not knowing a full compliment of words, these politicians will follow this line of think- ing to their inevitable mirage of money under the rainbow: tax cuts! This isn't to say that us- ing tax dollars to bribe energy companies into getting rich doesn't work. Energy compa- nies aren't pundits. They can add and stuff, and so they can tell when drilling for oil in Texas is cheaper than in an- other state where they aren't quite as generous with the people's debit card. But here's where the my- thology breaks down. Dur- ing this long, steady energy boom, our elected leaders have claimed credit for the econ- omy that was fueled (sorry) in part by the energy boom. They bragged about creating a favorable business climate, which in Texas translates to low taxes and easy, breezy regulations. And even when the price of a barrel of oil was north of $100, Texas was happy to volunteer all kinds of tax breaks. The days of $100 for a bar- rel of oil are gone, at least for now. But the formula for the Texas Miracle is still the same. Pointing out the lack of cor- relation at this point would just be mean. Best to just sit back and let the pundits blame Obama and promise that more tax cuts in Texas will have something to do with the price of oil. 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. JasonStanford Obama can't win on oil prices Cartoonist's take If home-made desserts and camaraderie is your thing, the Tea Party Patriots meeting to- night is devoted to just such not- quite-calorie-free activity. Hey, just skip dinner and go for the stuff you normally stin- gily portion out. December 23rd and 30th meet- ings are cancelled. I'd like to share some De- partment of Justice data on fre- quency of rape and sexual as- saults. It goes without saying that any man, or woman for that matter, that forces them- selves on an unwilling victim deserves serious prison time and a life long stain on his or her reputation. True, these per- petrators are overwhelmingly male. However, it should not be neglected that hardly a day goes by without a report show- ing up at Instapundit (pjme- dia.com/instapundit) describing some phase of the legal process applied to a female assaulter of a minor boy or girl, either as teachers or some other figure of authority. Each entry is preceded by the title, "Teach Women Not to Rape," and, before someone starts throwing literary stones my way, they should spend some time perusing the actual cases and instances. This year, over 300 of those reports involved female teachers somewhere in America, a trend which re- minds me that such criminal as- saults were deemed newswor- thy, outrageous and widely con- demnable when committed by priests or Boy Scout leaders. The DOJ statistics cover re- ported acts of "Completed Rape," "Attempted Rape," "Sex- ual Assault" and "Threats of Rape or Sexual Assault." The so-called epidemic and cul- ture of "rape" and "sexual as- sault" on college campuses has been publicized and used to make broad political and cul- tural points that many have questioned. By questioned, it is meant that the widely quoted figure of "one in five" women being assaulted sexually on campuses in America is doubt- ful. The now-debunked Roll- ing Stone story of a "gang rape" at a University of Virginia fra- ternity has fit the popular (at least among the media, aca- demic and cultural left) anti- male theme. I posted the source article, "New DOJ Data On Sexual As- saults: College Students Are Ac- tually Less Likely To Be Victim- ized," from thefederalist.com with links to the full DOJ re- port, on Sunday at donpolson. blogspot.com. "A new report on sexual assault released today by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officially puts to bed the bogus statistic that one in five women on college campuses are victims of sexual assault." The "Average annual num- ber" and "Rate" is provided at the "full study" link. The bot- tom line is that "rape" happens to 6.1 out of 1,000 female stu- dents; when you combine all four categories together, culled from 18 years of crime reports (1995 to 2013), slightly over 12 women out of 1,000 on college campuses are victims per year. To understand how wildly in- flated the "one in five" figure is, just realize that equals 200 women out of 1,000—the real figure, again, is about 12. Even if they meant that in four years of college, 200 out of 1,000 women are assaulted, that would be 50 per year per thou- sand—still over 4 times the ac- tual rate of incidents. What is even more reveal- ing is that the frequency of rape and assault on campuses is less than that for "Nonstudent women;" the raw numbers are twice as high off campus while the frequency is over 15 per 1,000. No one seems disturbed that women not in college suf- fer greater from what, also from DOJ figures, is a crime that has declined dramatically (by about half) since 1997. I have also read that many such crimes are committed by "serial" offenders who have their modus down and, not un- like the accusations against Bill Cosby, show pathology and methodology. Many occur- rences involve inebriation by one or both parties. In incidents at frat houses, for instance when an obviously drunk fe- male is observed being led away, the observing "brother" is reluctant to step in, much less report and provide witness tes- timony against an offending fraternity brother. I'll not provide critics with a fat target by lecturing about the evils of alcohol consumption by young women; an inebriated woman with diminished abil- ity to resist should be treated as a victim of self-inflicted over-in- dulgence, not as an opportunity for sexual exploitation. How- ever, a basic rule for both sexes is that one's reputation and self- respect is far easier to sustain with honor than to salvage af- ter lost control and blacked-out memory leave one open to all manner of indefensible accusa- tions and perfidy. It should also be remembered that the inexcusability of vio- lent rape has been with man- kind for all of recorded civiliza- tion; so have the occurrences of false accusations of rape. I find it hypocritical for the same peo- ple and political spectrums that insist on the presumption of in- nocence for murder and terror- ism suspects, to then say that those accused of sexual assault are assumed guilty because vic- tims are universally truthful. My comment on the report on CIA interrogation released by Senator Diane Feinstein: It is the most deceitful, slanted, ma- nipulated presentation of non- fact, damaging to those pro- tecting us from terrorists, in my memory. Since I began this column in 2005, pushing back against the lies and propaganda over this subject has been no small effort, given the Bush De- rangement Syndrome that drove the accusers. For perspective, read the 7 recent (of 391) posts under the "War on terror" label at donpolson.blogspot.com. 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 Sexual assault statistics, reality It's this kind of ignorance that makes me think we're not ready for sharp tools as a culture. No wonder the aliens hide from us. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Thatisincrediblygoodnews.Rehabilita- tion work for inmates and food for several programs. Very progressive Red Bluff. Daniela Sartori: On the county's purchase of property for an inmate work farm That's great, the old Blue Shield building on St. Mary's (vacant now 15years I think) could also be a great barracks or shelter. Ann Taylor-Minch: On the county's purchase of property for an inmate work farm Greg Stevens, 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 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 The now-debunked Rolling Stone story of a "gang rape" at a University of Virginia fraternity has fit the popular (at least among the media, academic and cultural left) anti-male theme. Don Polson OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, December 16, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6