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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 Womenhavelongbeenan- noyed that they do more house- work than men, as demon- strated by many studies, but now they are really steamed. Last Decem- ber, The New York Times re- ported on a re- grettable trend. The number of men between the ages of 25 and 54 who are unemployed is at all- time high: 16 of every 100 men in that age range have not been able to find jobs — compared to the 1960s, when only about five of every 100 men were without work. Why the increasing num- ber of unemployed men in this age range? More are still in school. Some have retired early, not necessarily by choice. Oth- ers are on disability. And, dis- couraged by our still-struggling economy, others have dropped out of the workforce. Rather than trying to under- stand and correct this growing trend, some are more interested in another finding about unem- ployed males: that even when men are out of work, they still do less housework than women. As it goes, a fellow named Josh Katz reviewed data from the American Time Use Sur- vey and compared how much housework and caregiving "non- employed" Americans do. "The survey compared 147 women with 147 men," says Salon. "Out of that group, 81 women spent most of their time on housework or caring for oth- ers, compared with 34 of the men." So, what do unemployed men do with their time? Many watch TV. The survey found 46 of the unemployed men reported sit- ting around and watching the tube, compared with only 19 of the unemployed women. Slate says this makes sense because other time-use surveys find that "men spend an aver- age of three more hours a week than women on leisure time, whereas women spend three more hours a week than men on housework." The Slate article concludes that the reason women handle more housework than men — even unemployed men — is "be- cause it's understood as their duty to get this work done in a way that is not true for men." But I think the answer is much simpler than that: Men and women are different. The fact is, men and women are wired differently — our DNA is different, and the rea- son why goes back thousands of years. But don't ask me, ask therapist and social philosopher Michael Gurian. In his book, "What Could He Be Thinking? How a Man's Mind Really Works," he cites decades of neurobiological re- search and brain scans that show the male and female brains are very different. Take listening. One brain- imaging study shows that men listen with only one side of the brain, whereas women use both. Women wouldn't be- lieve how many other things we men use only half a brain to do. Another brain study shows that the male brain doesn't pick up as many sensory cues as the female brain. When a man walks into his house, he is less likely to notice dust — which, apparently, consists of fine, dry particles that settle on furni- ture. I like a clean house, but it takes me forever to get it done and I loathe every moment of it. Yet I love cleaning my car and am happy to spend a couple hours making it just right That's not to say men should not understand their shortcom- ings and manually override their bad habits to pick up their housework game. I'm just say- ing that our DNA is what it is, and it may take many years be- fore men also are wired to do their fair share of the house- work. So, rather than focus on housework imperfections of un- employed males, wouldn't we all be better off if we focused on getting these fellows back to work? Work is good for the soul, for happy marriages and house- holds, and we certainly need more tax receipts to cover our country's bills. TomPurcell,authorof"Misad- ventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Hu- morist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune- Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@ caglecartoons.com. Tom Purcell Unemployed men don't do housework The survey found 46 of the unemployed men reported sitting around and watching the tube, compared with only 19 of the unemployed women. Cartoonist's take By Ron Paul Last September President Obama cited his drone program in Yemen as a successful model of US anti-terrorism strategy. He said that he would employ the Yemen model in his effort to "de- grade and ultimately destroy" ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But just a week ago, the gov- ernment in Yemen fell to a Shite militia movement thought to be friendly to Iran. The US em- bassy in Yemen's capitol was forced to evacuate personnel and shut down operations. If Yemen is any kind of model, it is a model of how badly US in- terventionism has failed. In 2011 the US turned against Yemen's long-time dictator, Saleh, and supported a coup that resulted in another, even more US-friendly leader taking over in a "color revolution." The new leader, Hadi, took over in 2012 and soon became a strong supporter of the US drone pro- gram in his country against al- Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula. But last week Hadi was forced to flee from office in the coup. The media reports that the US has lost some of its intelligence capability in Yemen, which is making it more difficult to con- tinue the drone strikes. Never- theless, the White House said last week that its drone program would continue as before, de- spite the disintegration of the Yemeni government. And the drone strikes have continued. Last Monday, in the first US strike after the coup, a 12 year old boy was killed in what is sickeningly called "col- lateral damage." Two alleged "al-Qaeda militants" were also killed. On Saturday yet another drone strike killed three more suspected militants. The US government has killed at least dozens of civilian non- combatants in Yemen, but even those it counts as "militants" may actually be civilians. That is because the Obama admin- istration counts any military- aged male in the area around a drone attack as a combatant. It was al-Qaeda in the Ara- bian Peninsula that claimed responsibility for the brutal shooting at an anti-religious magazine in Paris last month. At least one of the accused shooters cited his anger over US policy in the Middle East as a motivation for him to attack. Does anyone wonder why, after 14 years of drone strikes killing more than 800 al-Qa- eda militants, it seems there are still so many of them? As a Slate Magazine article this week asked, "what if the drones themselves are part of the problem?" That is an ex- cellent question and one that goes to the heart of US anti- terrorist strategy. What if it is US interventionism in gen- eral and drone strikes in par- ticular that are motivating so many people to join anti-US militant movements? What if it is interventionist and mili- tarist western foreign policy that is motivating people to shoot up magazines and seek to bring terrorism back to the countries they see as aggres- sors? That is the question that the interventionists fear most. If blowback is real, if they do not hate us because we are so rich and free but because of what our governments are doing to them, then US interventionism is making us less safe and less free. The disintegration of Ye- men is directly related to US drone policy. The disintegration of Libya is directly related to US military intervention. The chaos and killing in Syria is di- rectly related to US support for regime change. Is there not a pattern here? The lesson from Yemen is not to stay the course that has failed so miserably. It is to end a failed foreign policy that is killing civilians, creating radi- cals, and making us less safe. Ron Paul is a former Congress- man and Presidential can- didate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul The failed 'Yemen model' of counter terrorism Another view By Tina Dupuy Hollywood is rumored to be a liberal bastion. Why exactly? Be- cause a couple of actors raised some money for Obama? Holly- wood as a business is far from liberal. Its core value isn't pro- gress; its core value is profit. If "Fifty Shades of Grey" can make money, it's produced. If "The Passion of the Christ" can make money, it's produced. Hol- lywood's only bottom line is the bottom line. So if the most powerful man in town is a libertine predator, but he's making people money, he has immunity. Yes, I'm speak- ing of America's father figure, sit- com icon Bill Cosby. As of this writing, more than 30 women spanning four dec- ades have come out publicly to say that Cosby sexually assaulted them. But because we love Cosby, the knee-jerk reaction is to cast doubt on these women: "Who are they?" "Why'd they wait so long to come forward?" "What are their motives?" "I don't know why it's so hard to believe women," said Jay Leno during an interview at an indus- try conference last week. "You go to Saudi Arabia, you need two women to testify against a man. Here you need 25." Because in the world of televi- sion the formula is set: Bad guys lose, good guys win. Bad guys are bad. Good guys are those we iden- tify with—their struggles, their charm, their perseverance. To Americans, Cosby was the quin- tessential television good guy. I didn't have a father growing up. The father I created was an amalgam of advertising images and Dr. Huxtable. So it's understandable for fans to reflexively want to pro- tect Cosby by casting doubt on his accusers. We aren't used to seeing monsters who don't look like monsters. Cosby is a compli- cated villain who made an en- tire industry complicit in his sex crimes. It's now clear Bill Cosby, the man, is more fit for a Shake- speare drama than a half-hour situation comedy. If you talk to people in the Cosby-sphere (which I have), his assaulting women has been an open secret for a very long time. So forgive me for not calling him an alleged rapist. He's an enabled rapist. One victim is a crime—more than 30 is a criminal enterprise. And just like in the mob, if you're an earner, you're protected. The moment Cosby was no longer bankable, the allegations sud- denly stuck. I commend those responsible for canceling Cosby's new pro- jects after more than a dozen women came forward. A Cosby crony, former NBC employee Frank Scotti, told the Daily News he paid off women for the co- median in the 1980s. Besides Scotti, there are plenty of oth- ers who knew this was going on and did nothing. Those who at best looked the other way and at worst supplied the family friendly fraud with young girls. As a television viewing public, once we get past not believing three-dozen women and finally admit Cosby is a serial rapist, the next phase is even more uncom- fortable. It's realizing there's an industry we love and admire that fostered, promoted and profited off a Cosby. Who was going to stop the gravy train just because a couple of models got hurt? Ap- parently no one. In an industry that loves to na- vel gaze, it's time for some seri- ous self-reflection. Imagine being brutally as- saulted by a beloved enter- tainer who was free to con- tinue the practice as he wanted. These women were rape victims first and victims of a conspiracy against rape victims next. Whether Cosby will be charged with a crime or not is yet to be seen, but regardless of the legal system, it's the Holly- wood machine that should be held in contempt: An industry with no regard for young women, treating them as a disposable commodity to be fed to a star. That's the buried lead in the Cosby saga: As a predator, he thrived and blossomed in a busi- ness where the only crime, it ap- pears, is not being profitable. Tina Dupuy is a nationally syn- dicated op-ed columnist, inves- tigative journalist, award-win- ning writer, stand-up comic, on-air commentator and wedge issue fan. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com. Industry enabled Cosby Tom Purcell If Y em en i s a ny ki nd o f m od el , i t i s a mo del o f h ow b ad ly US i nt er ven ti on is m ha s f ai led . Whether Cosby will be charged with a crime or not is yet to be seen, but regardless of the legal system, it's the Hollywood machine that should be held in contempt ... OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, February 4, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6