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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 Thankyou,NorthKorea.Yourallegedcyber attack on Sony has, I hope, awakened the American people. America is not doing so well, you see. Sure,weareNo.1inself-es- teem — we are No. 1 at being indignant about a variety of perceived slights — but we're not much good at understand- ing the real problems we face. Consider our debt. It re- cently exceeded $18 trillion — that's $18 million times 1 million, says economist Ste- phen Moore. Writing for Na- tional Review, Moore explains that we haven't yet felt the full weight of our debt because in- terest rates are historically low. When they increase to normal levels, America is go- ing to be in a world of hurt. But few Americans under- stand or worry about that. Here's another threat Amer- icans are ignorant of: cyber at- tack. Few have any idea that our country has been under attack for years or that our ad- versaries have been very suc- cessful stealing from us. Though industrial espio- nage has been around a long time, the fact is that our smart- phones, social media sites and Internet applications have opened up unprecedented op- portunities for skilled adver- saries to penetrate company systems and hide in the back- ground undetected so they can swipe all kinds of proprietary information. One industrial espionage ex- pert told CNN that hungry, emerging economies see ad- vantage in appropriating tech- nology innovations, engineer- ing designs and other intel- lectual property — ideas that took private companies in ad- vanced countries lots of years and billions of dollars to de- velop. If a country wants to really harm America, why drop a bomb when a proper cyber at- tack could shut down our elec- trical grid or our banking sys- tem, creating far more dam- age. These threats are very real. China has been cleaning our clock for years. Thankfully, our government is finally com- ing around. According to The Washing- ton Times, the Pentagon es- tablished the U.S. Cyber Com- mand in 2010. It consolidated the intelligence and cyber war- fare capabilities of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. The Cyber Command "was the primary developer of the Stuxnet computer worm that struck Iran's nuclear comput- ers, causing significant dam- age to centrifuges," says The Times. Cyber warfare tactics continue to come in handy as we shut down the systems through which terrorists are attempting to communicate. So my hat goes off to the dinky communist country North Korea for shedding light on the challenges America is up against. Look, the world is a compet- itive place and there are nasty people out there who wish to do America harm. It's long been time to quit squabbling over the perceived violation of our many perceived rights and put our big boy pants on. We need to get debt and government spending in order. We need to restructure our tax system. We need to get mil- lions of people off the dole and back to work. And we need to unleash our pent-up economic genius to produce the wealth we need to pay our bills. To wit: we need to get serious about serious matters. Because if we don't get more serious in a very serious world, we may lose our status as the largest economy in the world. Oops. I forgot. China over- took America as the No. 1 economy a few weeks ago. Tom Purcell Thanks North Korea for the wake up call Cartoonist's take One hundred years ago last week, on Christmas Eve, 1914, German and British soldiers emerged from the horrors of World War One trench warfare to greet each other, exchange food and gifts, and to wish each other a Merry Christmas. What we re- member now as the "Christmas Truce" began with soldiers sing- ing Christmas carols together from in the trenches. Eventually the two sides climbed out of the trenches and met in person. In the course of this two day truce, which lasted until December 26, 1914, the two sides also ex- changed prisoners, buried their dead, and even played soccer with each other. How amazing to think that the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace could bring a brief pause in one of the most destructive wars in history. How sad that it was not to last. The Christmas Truce showed that given the choice, people do not want to be out fighting and killing each other. It is incred- ibly damaging to most partici- pants in war to face the task of killing their fellow man. That is one reason we see today an ep- idemic of PTSD and suicides among US soldiers sent overseas on multiple deployments. The Christmas Truce in 1914 was joyous for the soldiers, but it was dangerous for the polit- ical leadership on both sides. Such fraternization with the "enemy" could not be tolerated by the war-makers. Never again was the Christmas Truce re- peated on such a scale, as the governments of both sides ex- plicitly prohibited any repeat of such a meeting. Those who had been greeting each other had to go back to killing each other on orders from those well out of harm's way. As much as governments would like to stamp out such hu- manization of the "enemy," it is still the case today that soldiers on the ground will meet and share thoughts with those they are meant to be killing. Earlier this month, soldiers from op- posing sides of the Ukraine civil war met in eastern Ukraine to facilitate the transfer of sup- plies and the rotation of troops. They shook hands and wished that the war would be over. One army battalion commander was quoted as saying at the meet- ing, "I think it's a war between brothers that nobody wants. The top brass should sort things out. And us? We are soldiers, we do what we're told." I am sure these same senti- ments exist in many of the ongo- ing conflicts that are pushed by the governments involved — and in many cases by third party governments seeking to benefit from the conflict. The encouraging message we should take from the Christmas Truce of 100 years ago is that given the opportunity, most hu- mans do not wish to kill each other. As Nazi leader Hermann Goring said during the Nurem- berg war crimes trials, "natu- rally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in Amer- ica, nor for that matter in Ger- many." But, as he added, "the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." This is where our efforts must be focused. To oppose all war propaganda perpetrated by gov- ernments against the will of the people. RonPaulisaformerCongress- man and Presidential can- didate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul The real meaning of the 1914 Christmas Truce Another view The Sony hacking story is the gift that keeps on giving. It's got it all: cyber crime, inter- national intrigue, polit- ical posturing — plus a tantalizing trove of cor- porate and celebrity gos- sip. But most remarkable is how all of the above combine to make "The Interview," a silly little film once destined for mediocre reviews and tepid grosses, a hit. Not even the best and brightest in Holly- wood's PR industry could have mounted a campaign to rival the work of the North Koreans. "Local theater to show 'The Interview,'" screamed the page- one headline in one California daily, the Monterey Herald. Im- agine that: page one. Several websites such as Gizmodo pub- lished a complete list of theat- ers, nationwide, showing the film. A complete list. Every theater from the Kew Gardens Cinema in Queens, N.Y., to the Magic Valley Cinema 13 in Twin Falls, Idaho. It gets better. Congress- man Brad Sherman, a Califor- nia Democrat, has invited Sony to participate in a screening of "The Interview" in the Capitol. The U.S. Capitol! When was the last time a movie got special treatment like that? "Everyone is talking about 'The Interview,'" stated Sher- man, as he joined those talking about "The In- terview." "I think it's im- portant for Congress to know, and see, what we are talking about." Booya! As the Christmas gifts were being unwrapped at Sony, one of the film's stars, Seth Rogen, tweeted: "The people have spoken! Freedom has pre- vailed!" A headline in the San Fran- cisco Chronicle proclaimed, "'Patriotic duty' pulls masses to movie." How special. So- ny's near-fiasco has become more than entertainment, it's a "cause." Nothing will stop the public relations juggernaut now that Sony is cleverly marketing the movie concurrently in theaters and via in-home, pay-per-view streaming. In just the first four days sales totaled $3 million at the box office and an astound- ing $15 million online. Yet, buried in an NPR report on the complex Sony tale is this nugget about the cyber hack job that started it all: "Some experts also doubt whether [North Korea] has the capabil- ity to carry out such an attack." But if not Kim Jong-un and his band of Commie movie critics, then who? Who would have access to private docu- ments at Sony and would profit most from publicity that would transform an easily-forgettable film into one of the year's big- gest stories? Amy Pascal, chief of Sony's movie division, might not get invited to future White House Christmas parties, but she's now in the running for Holly- wood's Executive of the Year. Imagine that! When the hacking hit, Gawker.com analyzed her position, saying: "Pascal's de- partment has taken something north of $50 million of Sony's money and lit it on fire in the most spectacular and embar- rassing way possible." The ar- ticle was one of many that pre- dicted she would be fired. How big will the bonuses be for Pascal and her colleagues after "The Interview" turns a tidy profit? The only thing that could trump the Sony story as we already know it would be a leak showing that Pascal and Co. left the digital doors un- locked, hoping that North Ko- rea would take the bait. What's next? Perhaps: North Korea warns Americans not to eat at McDonalds. Pyongyang issues threat to anyone shop- ping at Sears. It's all totally, as the showbiz paper Variety would say, boffo. Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic," is available at Am- azon.com and CandidCamera. com. Sony gets the last laugh PeterFunt Assemblyman Dan Logue 150Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95928, 530895- 4217 Senator Jim Nielsen 2634Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530879-7424, 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 Look, the world is a competitive place and there are nasty people out there who wish to do America harm. It's long been time to quit squabbling over the perceived violation of our many perceived rights and put our big boy pants on. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, December 31, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6