Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/445640
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 Since 9/11, 34 people have been killed in America by Islamic jihadist terrorists. Wait, did I say Muslim terrorists? I meant right- wing extremists. Forsomereason,we'rebet- ter at recognizing threats from outside the castle walls than from within. I'm not saying that radical Islamic terror- ists are not a threat to Amer- ican lives and western civili- zation. After 9/11, only a fool would not recognize Al Qaeda as a clear and present dan- ger to our national security. Since then, the Southern Pov- erty Law Center says right- wing extremists have killed more people in this country than have Islamic terrorists. Why then do we habitually consider those terrorists as ab- errations? Why do we not see that our country is being attacked from within by right-wing extrem- ists? Case in point: Paris. With all the attention focused for good reason on the terrorist attack in Paris, we forgot to worry about attack in our own backyard when a presumably homegrown terrorist bombed an NAACP office in Colorado. What happened to those folks at Charlie Hebdo was an atroc- ity, but paying heed to that terrorist attack is not a reason to ignore the terrorist attack within our own borders. It's not just the NAACP bombing. It's also three mi- litia members who were ar- rested in January for plotting to bomb the Atlanta police station, the murder at a Kan- sas City mosque in December, and the right-wing extrem- ist who shot more than 100 rounds at government build- ings the same month in Aus- tin, which is where the soft- ware engineer flew his Piper Dakota into an IRS building not too long ago. It's the couple from the Bundy Ranch who killed three people, including two police officers, before shooting each other in Las Vegas last June. It's the neo-Nazi who shot and killed three people at a Kansas City-area Jewish com- munity center last April. It's the white power musi- cian who murdered six people in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012. It's Dr. George Tiller be- ing murdered while sitting in a church pew in Wichita in 2009. It's more attacks than any- one could be expected to re- member unless they were no longer described as isolated incidents committed by lone gunmen, deranged individuals and loners. It's terrorism. Like Islamic terrorism, right-wing domestic terror- ists use violence to stop people from doing things they find morally objectionable. They want people to be too scared to perform legal medical pro- cedures, to observe a religion they don't like, or to perform basic government functions such as collecting taxes. A major impediment to Americans understanding that they are under attack from Americans is that a wing of the political party control- ling our legislative branch agrees with some of the views of these right-wing extrem- ists. Until we wrap our minds around the fact that the Re- publican Party is home to rad- ical views, we can't see that this extremism has metas- tasized in some cases as vio- lence. There is nothing inher- ently un-American about hold- ing these views. Our coun- try started as a tax protest, after all. But just as the Mus- lim community condemns vio- lence by Islamic radicals, we— all of us—must recognize and condemn violence done in the name of politics. Instead, some conserva- tive pundits criticized the De- partment of Homeland Secu- rity in 2009 when it warned of the dangers posed by domestic terrorists motivated by right- wing extremism. And when the FBI issued a threat assess- ment for 2013 saying domes- tic terrorists posed a greater danger to the country than Is- lamic terrorists did, some crit- icized it as political correct- ness run amok. We won't stop bombings by confiscating guns. And we won't stop them by outlawing right-wing extremism as Ger- many banned the Nazi party. This is America. We have the freedom to think what- ever foolishness comes into our heads. A little less hyper- bole about the tyrannical fed- eral government might be nice on the part of our elected offi- cials, but expecting politicians to speak responsibly is another foolish thought. The first step is admitting we have a problem. It would be idiotic to say that Islamic terrorists pose Americans no threat. Maybe it's time to not act like idiots by ignoring a similar if not greater threat from domestic terrorists. JasonStanfordisaregular contributor to the Austin American-Statesman, a Democratic consultant and a Truman National Security Project partner. You can email him at stanford@oppresearch. com and follow him on Twitter @JasStanford. Jason Stanford Jihad,right's extremism not so different Cartoonist's take Let's take a moment to con- sider how a conservative Repub- lican might make a difference, show support and be part of the so- lution locally. Calls and emails from national or- ganizations want- ing, admittedly, money, all have commendable causes in the pur- suit of a United States of Amer- ica that enshrines freedom and opportunity. We face a seem- ingly relentless onslaught by the political left intent on limiting economic, religious, educational and 2nd Amendment rights. Tehama County is a bea- con (together with many "red" or Republican-dominated Cal- ifornia counties) of sensibility, traditional values and politi- cal common sense. Whether by demographic patterns, self-se- lection or something in the air or water, Tehama County vot- ers wisely choose viable con- servative candidates, as well as "right" choices on ballot mea- sures, admittedly often out- voted by the massive, low-infor- mation, urban Democrat vote. Your local Republican Cen- tral Committee has labored un- ceremoniously for decades to make the Republican Party's presence known at fairs and our springtime Red, White and Blue dinners; I've been proud to serve on the Central Committee for several years representing District 2. There happen to be vacancies in every one of the 5 districts, due to normal events in life: relocation, aging, hec- tic family schedules, extended travel or illnesses. Any Repub- lican voter can seek to join the Central Committee, offering their talents either as a helping hand, an insightful planner, an officer or for shifts at fair or fes- tival booths signing up new vot- ers. Monthly meetings, last- ing less than a couple of hours on the first Thursday of each month bring all members to- gether over routine business as well as planning and prepara- tion. Top of our current agenda is the aforementioned din- ner, held this year at the end of March, which brings out rank and file Republicans, as well as elected officials, to break bread, enjoy camaraderie and help fill the Committee's coffers for other upcoming events and commendable purposes like scholarships for worthy, college- bound, high school seniors. I urge Republicans of any age—young workers or stu- dents, family members wanting to fit political service into their busy schedules, and empty-nest- ers or retirees with a little time on their hands—to call either Ken, at 529-1226, or Mike, at 586-2800 to see how to lend a helping hand. You may already know someone on the Central Committee; you'll meet great folks and it's a warm and happy little band of warriors striving to grow our numbers. Readers well know my sup- port for the Tehama County Tea Party Patriots; their Tues- day meetings bring elected of- ficials and other speakers to keep us informed and apprised of governmental activities, as well as local, regional and state- wide movements. Tonight's meeting will bring Terry and Sally Rapoza, of the Redding Tea Party Patriots, to the West- side Grange to update us on California Air Resources Board (CARB), the direction of our Tea Parties in 2015 and the cur- rent state of the State of Jeffer- son. That's at 6 p.m. with guest speakers taking the microphone at about 6:30. Did you know that the New Year ushers in about 930 new laws in California, taking ef- fect from January 1 up to July for some controversial laws. I bet you couldn't, if your life de- pended on it, come up with even 100 things that are so im- portant and crucial to need changing that you'd pass a law over it. And even if you had such a list, most of them wouldn't be the ones that got passed—your priorities simply don't jibe with those of Sacra- mento pols and lobbyists. You are, however, responsible to abide by them, know them or not. Just enter "California read- ies for 900 new laws" and open the www.sfgate.com-linked ar- ticle. As you read this, the first na- tional college football cham- pionship game will have been played, resulting in (my hope) the crowning of the Oregon Ducks as winners. It took place in the Texas home stadium of the Dallas Cowboys, which seats about 100,000 for special events. Ryan Scott Welch, an American Thinker writer, used that seating fact, together with multiple scientific sources, to il- lustrate the amount of human- caused CO2 entering the atmo- sphere yearly. "Nitrogen is 78%, Oxygen is 21% and Argon is 0.9% giv- ing you a total of 99.9% of the atmosphere. So, where is the CO2? CO2 is a trace gas that is only 0.04% of the atmosphere which in this sample=40 seats. But of the 40 seats, or parts per 100,000 of CO2 in the atmo- sphere, 25 were already in the atmosphere before humans re- lied on the hydrocarbon fu- els (coal, gas and oil) leaving 15 seats. And since humans only contribute 3% of all CO2 emit- ted into the atmosphere each year (97% is from nature), the human contribution is 3% of the 15 remaining seats in our sample (or 0.45 seat). "So in our stadium sample of 100,000 seats the human con- tribution of CO2 is less than half of one seat. That is, less than one half of one seat from 100,000 seats in a Dallas Sta- dium-sized sample of our atmo- sphere, is human caused CO2." I've used a calculator my- self to analyze the hysterically- presented (supposedly) dra- matic rise in CO2 from 300 to 400 parts per million over the last century in our atmosphere. That rise is comparable to an investment of $100,030 growing over 100 years to $100,040—yes, a massive $10 growth in 100 years in a $100,000+ savings in- vestment. As Mr. Welch pointed out (sources at "Dallas Cowboys Stadium Seating and Atmo- spheric CO2," wattsupwiththat. com) most of that $10 growth would have come from natu- ral sources, not human-created greenhouse gases. 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 Step up, show up, meet up and make a difference A little less hyperbole about the tyrannical federal government might be nice on the part of our elected officials, but expecting politicians to speak responsibly is another foolish thought. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Thank you for breaking it down and do- ing your part to bring more awareness. We need to take back our town. As someone who grew up here and came back almost 30years later it is nowhere near the same crime wise.... A lot of the "love and be loved" people won't like this but it's time to yank out the proverbial welcome mat.... Jeri Sayer: Analysis of statistics showing Red Bluff has high instance of violent crime Yes. I would not go out at night judging by what is seen during the day. The more good citizens get out in numbers and start tak- ing back their community the more it will lessen. I see some walkers and joggers and that's good because the potential thieves will see them too and think twice as they may be seen. Spring Severson: Analysis of statistics show- ing Red Bluff has high instance of violent crime Don Polson AssemblymanDan 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 Build- ing, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S.SenatorDianne Feinstein One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415393-0707, fax 415393-0710 Contact your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, January 13, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6