Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/46001
4A Daily News – Saturday, October 29, 2011 Opinion Bowling thanks 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 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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Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Occupied with tea Commentary A local writer has recently expended a considerable num- ber of words poking fun at the Occupy Wall Street movement and attempting to compare it in an unfavorable light to the Tea Party Patriots. His words are most likely a little premature, and hint at press coverage envy. We really do not know what the Occupy Wall Street move- ment will evolve into, or what impact, if any, that movement will have on American politics. No one could have foreseen the impact of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a Mont- gomery, Alabama bus in December of 1955, but, as the saying goes, the rest is history. We do not know if either movement will last, or if they are merely the momentary embodiment of our pervasive discontent, unease, and irritabil- ity about the current state of our nation. Nevertheless, I thought it might be interesting to do some comparisons based on state- ments posted on the Internet by the Tea Party Patriots. I found this posted on the Tea Party Patriots (Tea) website: "We are everyday Americans from all walks of life, diverse of origin, religious or party persua- sion, concerned about the direc- tion that our country has been headed for the last few years." Recent opinion polls suggest that many of us feel the country has been headed in the wrong direction. Most likely the "99 percenters" who claim to be the Occupy Wall Street (Occupy) movement could claim that the Tea statement represents a cross section of who they are as well. No matter, neither group can represent 99 percent of us. The Tea spokespersons have pictured the Occupy folks as uneducated, unmotivated, and unemployed. If the following example of poor English usage, posted on the Tea website is any indication, the prize for lesser educated may be up for grabs: "Man's life, liberty and property are held sacred and protected by this constitutional framework [sic] and the government is sim- ply an extension of mans [sic] basic rights. Any attempt to engage in the confiscation or conscription of the fruit of one mans [sic] labor, by either man or government, in order to pro- vide goods or service to another is an act of illegal plunder and as such should be protested and resisted by all." In terms of the content of the statement above, I guess some of what is being protested by the Occupy group is the confisca- tion of jobs by shipping them overseas, the proliferation of high paying salaries by CEO's at the expense of "ordinary work- ers", the need to keep wall street from failing, the plunder of the middle class, the unreality of the minimum wage, and the arbi- trary home foreclosures by fore- closure mills, among other things. These kinds of protests would seem to be consistent with the Tea concern about plun- der and confiscation. The Occu- py people most likely would modify the statement about gov- ernment to read: "proper gov- ernment simply protects, extends, and assures mankind's basic rights to all." However, it is unclear that the Tea people would see government as an agent to extend those rights to all; it is also difficult to under- stand what the Tea means by the "extension" of basic rights. Nor- mally when a government is cre- ated the citizens relinquish some of their rights or freedoms for the greater good; that is the pur- pose of law. Occupy statements could lead one to believe that a class con- flict has been generated by the robber barons of Wall Street have who in one way of thinking have replaced the robber barons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, holding us hostage to their way of doing business, confiscating jobs and property. The "99 percenters" who pro- claim they are "us" in the Occu- py group would have us believe that the other one percent have deprived them of opportunity, reaped excessive prof- its, sent untold jobs overseas, and have cor- rupted our politics. This could be viewed as "the confiscation or conscription of the fruit of" people's labor as expressed by the Tea people; we are not sure. The Tea website divides us into three groups: the achievers, the non-achievers, and leeches on society (my term.) This makes for three classes. The Occupy folks talk about the one percent and the 99 per- cent, two classes. Both groups believe the wrong class has too much influence, but they may not agree about what constitutes "the wrong class." The Tea site also states some- thing the Occupy group would clearly agree with: "We are fed up with: Politi- cians who don't read the bills they sign; Excessive govern- ment growth; Reckless govern- ment spending. We stand united against the inevitable taxes to pay for it all because we do not want our children and our grandchildren to pay the bills for what our 'non-representing representatives' are doing today…. We believe that if we don't take action now, through patriotic rallies and public awareness, that future genera- tions will not enjoy the prosper- ity and the freedoms that we hold dear. We are taking action through [sic] to express our ongoing concerns and to listen to ideas about possible solu- tions. We are taking action by calling, writing, emailing, and faxing our representatives so that they know the overwhelm- ing will of the people for whom they work." An educational video from Joe Harrop the Tea website emphasizes that we are not a democracy, but a republic ruled by law. That video states that democracy is only a transitional phase that leads to anarchy. I not sure about that claim, but our country is very large and diverse, much larger and more diverse than it was in 1789 when our Con- stitution was adopted. Except for legendary town meetings, we have not really had a direct democracy, nor do we now. Neverthe- less, the history of our country has seen a progression toward democracy on many levels, with the inclusion of more and more people in the political process, the assurance of equal rights for all, the direct election of officeholders (except the President and Vice President), and equal protection under the law. I am not sure if this pro- gression is seen as a portent to anarchy by the Tea group or not. The Tea website also touts the uninhibited free market sys- tem, seeming to say that we would be better off without food safety regulations, the FDA, sanctions on insider trading, banking regulation, zoning laws, and such; this emphasis seems to have been written by the one percent the Occupy people are complaining about. Our history has showed that the "cure" of free markets is often worse than the "disease" of a little regula- tion. Most of us understand that the word "government" includes the word "govern" which is a necessity for a more perfect union. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Editor: The first annual Tehama County Shrine Club Ladies Bowling Tournament was a big success. We would like to thank Bev and Jerry Martini, Kendall Mathisen, and everyone else at Java Lanes in Corning for having the event at their beautiful facili- ty. Also, a special thanks to Terry Barbo and Andrea White of Rabobank in Corning, Cindy Brown of Rabobank in Red Bluff and to Bell Carter in Corning. We would like to thank all of the wonderful businesses and indi- viduals who made donations for our drawings. Proceeds go to the Tehama County Shrine club Ladies, who support the Shriner's Children's Hospitals. We are looking forward to next year being even bigger and better. Thank you to everyone for your support. Joanie Conatser, Corning Red Ribbon Week Editor: Red Ribbon Week occurs dur- ing the last week of October each year. It is a grassroots, outreach program that not only educates our youth about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and bullies it also celebrates the life of a very special man, murdered DEA Special Agent Kiki Camerena. Kiki gave his life for the defense of the youth in our com- munities across America. He left behind a wife and two young boys. Drugs are the number one problem in our communities. Education about drugs, alcohol, tobacco and bullies should be part of the main stream education in our schools. Time should be allowed for edu- cating our youth about these very serious problems. A few schools believe that hav- ing the youth make presentations to their peers - yes, during school hours - takes away from their core subjects. But too many times these core subjects are interrupted (later eventually) anyway by the problems associated with drugs. One way or another it is going to interrupt the education process. Why not head it off at the pass before it gets out of hand? When schools decide not to allow this type of community ser- vice education into their class- rooms they may be sending a mes- sage that they are not a part of mainstream society. I wouldn't send my child there. Our youth are our future, right? PAL says, "The future is now." The Young Marines are "Strength- ening the lives of America's Your Turn youth." Other non-profit youth organizations are involved in simi- lar programs. These organizations are a very large part of American life. They receive grants from gov- ernment and businesses and phil- anthropic ("the love of humanity") organiza- tions like the McConnell Foundation just so our youth may have the chance to grow up living healthy drug- free lifestyles. So when schools choose not to allow these organizations to edu- cate their peers in the community, especially in the classrooms, it separates them instead of bringing them closer together. That's where many of our outcasts come from because they weren't encouraged to have a sense of community. That's not what Kiki's legacy should be about. What's the bigger picture? John Minton, Red Bluff Your officials