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6A Daily News – Thursday, October 13, 2011 Opinion D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Protesters should target spending and unions Editor: Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 The current loss of jobs is primarily caused by government deficit spending, low govern- ment interest rates for housing causing overbuilding of homes and foreclosures, excess union pay and benefits forcing compa- nies to move globally to remain competitive, and finally mort- gage companies selling homes to financially illiterate buyers with the myth that home owner- ship is a cash cow. Stocks and bonds that have taken a 25 percent loss since the October 2007 start of the cur- rent recession, are owned by millions of retirees, public employees, and unions and not by the Wall Street bankers being protested by financially illiter- ate gangs. These protesters would be better served protest- ing unions that have forced the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler and almost bankrupted Ford, and the unions that have forced the exit of entire industries including textiles, appliances, hardware, steel, aluminum, electronic products, and furni- ture. The mobs should be protesting Government for wasting our tax dollars on loans to solar and wind manufactur- ers, subprime home borrowers, fuel guzzling vehicle buyers, ethanol and biofuel producers, and subsidies to electric and hybrid vehicle builders. Added deficits require either higher taxes, inflation, or declining value of the US dollar, all of which result in fewer jobs. Too many protesters are clueless about the damage done to our nation by the current Washington administration and their funding by union lobby- ists. Joseph Neff, Corning Nielson Editor: I've a couple nagging ques- tions. First if Assemblyman Nielsen actually does live in Gerber why has he squashed all attempts to investigate the matter and why does he pros- ecute Mr. Bird for perusing the subject? I guess crime does pay when you have the right friends. One citizen I know of was told by the sheriff's depart- ment that there was an arrest warrant out for him. For some strange reason he hasn't been taken under arrest. And the warrant is well over seven months old now. It's not like they can't find him, they know were he lives. Besides all that, he has tried many times unsuccessfully to have them send him a copy of that war- rant. Occupy Editor: Is our law enforcement person- nel incompetent or do they know a bogus warrant when they see one. I believe it's the latter. If the warrant is bogus what incompetent judge issued it? In the Sept. 7, Today in History section of this paper is this little tidbit, "Five years ago; A Senate report faulted intelligence gathering in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and said Saddam Hus- sein regarded al-Qaida as a threat rather than a possible ally, contradicting assertions President George W. Bush had used to build support for the war." Finally I would like a quick comment on Mr.Southern's Sept. 7 letter. It is true that the red man scalped many poor settlers but it was the white man that taught him how. Our government has broken every single treaty made with the indigenous peoples of this land. Orval Strong, Gerber Your Turn Don Polson's column Oct. 10 has certainly brought the radicals out of the woodwork with their usual rants. I find it most inter- esting that most, if not all, are from out of area. The rants bash Polson for not having the facts to back up his column. His facts laying out the differ- ence between the Tea Party and the movement to Occupy Wall Street and America is on target. One responder to the column writes he attended the Occupy Sacramento protest and 70 per- cent of the messages were the same as the early Tea Party. I believe it's far less. At any rate there is a huge dif- ference in how the message is presented. The Tea Party was orderly — no arrests — and cleaned up after their demonstra- tions. The occupiers not only have speakers that promote vio- lence, they eat, sleep and defe- cate in the same place and then leave the mess for someone else to clean up. In the first six days of Occupy Sacramento there were 35 arrests for violating a city camping ordi- nance, who's cleaning up the mess. Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Willful deafness on Occupy Wall Street Commentary I'm told the best thing about having a hearing aid is being able to turn it off around boring or annoying people. When someone wants to ask you for money. When you'd just like some quiet. There's a switch. You have the power to tune voic- es out. Which is exactly what the media have been doing to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. The demonstrators have said they want economic justice. And inevitably a talking head will wonder: "What do they want?" The demonstrators will say they want economic justice. Then an anchor will say, "There's not really a cohesive theme with these protesters." The demonstrators will march with signs that plainly read they want economic justice. Then a reporter will offer: "There's not really a central message permeating in the crowd." Yes, the media have gone "Grampa with a telemarketer" on Occupy Wall Street. That hasn't hindered the Occupiers from resonating with Americans. The protests have been growing. The movement has been growing. Occupy LA is down the street from my home. Their numbers have nearly quadrupled from the first week. They now count 253 tents at City Hall and have the blessings of the City Council to stay as long as they need. It's hard to confirm reports of all the other Occupations, it's rumored to be in the hundreds. I can verify 24 demonstrations across the U.S. where they are "occupying." There could be dozens more by the time you read this. People from all walks of life are taking to the streets to cry out for "eco- nomic justice." Now the local news will report: "The demonstrators don't have any specific unifying points so far." Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill coined the phrase, "All politics is local." Also, all politics is personal. The housing crisis took peoples' homes. Families have been uprooted and kicked around by giant soulless corporations. There's nothing more personal than putting a family's furniture on the lawn. There's nothing more personal than seeing "bank foreclosure" signs all in a row in your neighborhood. There's nothing more personal than wit- nessing your community, already struggling in the last decade, thrown further by inde- cipherable market-speak terms like "derivatives" and "bundled securitized mortgages." And then there are the stu- dents: the victims of direct-to- consumer student loans. And, yes, it's personal. Education prices have gone up but the fed- eral loan programs' maximum amount have not. So kids with no means to pay for college other than borrowing, are being forced into paying credit card- like interest on their education with loans that are non-dis- chargeable in bankrupt- cy, with no statutes of limitations, and can't be refinanced. These stu- dents carry signs read- ing, "Debt is slavery." It's more like sharecrop- ping, which is slavery while being told you're free. And there's the unemployed. They're the nation's statistics now donning Guy Fawkes masks. They are the "lagging indicators" who are tired of being called lazy. They want to work and can't. Those who can't find work don't care about the circu- lar firing squad in Washington of everyone blaming everything on whatever side they oppose. For the unemployed, it's also personal. Tina Dupuy sevelt in 1933 and made much of what the banks did to tank the economy then (and now) illegal. The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act also called Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 basically repealed Glass-Stea- gall. It was passed by a bi-partisan vote in the Republican-con- trolled Congress and was signed by Demo- cratic President Bill Clinton. The Republican George W. Bush then "destroyed capitalism in order to save it." And President Obama, with his mandate for change, and an entire nation hoping for accountability — hasn't brought any banksters to justice or re- regulated them in any meaning- ful way. Any call for "economic jus- tice" that is also hyper-partisan is disingenuous. Politicians won't take person- al responsibility for the crisis — and so Occupy Wall Street has no choice but to be nonpartisan. Or just bipartisan in their frus- tration. It's the least partisan political movement I've witnessed. The phrase Glass–Steagall gets thrown around at Occupy Wall Street like the Volstead Act did at speakeasies. Glass–Steagall, was signed by Franklin Roo- And still someone with over- ly bleached teeth on television will remark, "Personally, I just don't understand what these people are trying to say." Turn your hearing aid back on, Gramps. Tina Dupuy is an award- winning writer and the managing editor of Crooks and Liars. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com.