Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/463276
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 Ah,themiddleofFebruary. We all know what that means: Sports Illustrated's swimsuit is- sue has arrived. That means that some folks, such as those in the American Decency Association (ADA), will voice concerns about ex- ploitation of women. "Sports Il- lustrated disre- spects women by displaying de- meaning stereo- types of female sexuality," says the ADA's web- site. "The swimsuit issue fea- tures women models posed not as athletes of strength, skill, and endurance but as play- things ..." That may be true, but here's what is also true: We men are also being exploited here. Look, it's winter. We men have suffered a few weeks with- out football. With free time on our hands, we find ourselves lost in self-examination. We fret over our winter flab. We wish we'd chosen differ- ent career paths. We fear we'll never amount to anything wor- thy. The Sports Illustrated peo- ple understand our woes all too well. They know we're down in the dumps. They know we're vulnerable. They know we'll cough up our hard-earned dough for a momentary es- cape to exotic beaches, where we can pretend to prance about with bikini-clad babes. Every year, the swimsuit is- sue uses the same simple for- mula to exploit us: stunning babes who roll around in the sand, dance on the beach and cling to their skimpy duds and curvy parts as they are hit by waves. Sure, in our overly sexual- ized culture, these female mod- els may be suffering exploita- tion. But aren't they exploiting us men, too? Many of the women who pose for the magazine are thrust into supermodel sta- tus. The ones who make it onto the cover earn a fortune in en- dorsements. And many of them go on to date and marry some of the world's richest men. But what do we average fel- lows get out of the deal? We get the satisfaction of knowing that we'll never marry, let alone talk to, such world-class knock- out beauties. That makes us even more de- pressed. So we go to cheesy restau- rant chains where waitresses wear short shorts and low-cut shirts and exploit us all the more. The coy lasses touch our arms delicately. They give us flirtatious glances. They talk softly and sensuously, the way women do when they know men are about to hand them gobs of money. One of my poor, bald-headed friends falls for this ruse at least four times a month. Despite being coated in hot- wing sauce and stale beer, he is convinced his waitress digs him. His waitress encourages this fiction and is rewarded with a 50 percent tip. I think I speak for average fellows everywhere when I say I resent that. I resent that some women deliberately target us for our money and are so good at part- ing us from it. I resent that some waitresses can so easily take advantage of hapless, simple-minded men by plying us with a few beers. I resent that Sports Illus- trated packs its swimsuit is- sue with photos of some of the most physically beautiful women in the world, knowing that's all the magazine has to do to get us to buy it. Yeah, our culture places way too much emphasis on physi- cal beauty and sexiness. Young girls are taught by the me- dia that the chief way to win a male's attention is through pro- vocative clothing. None of this is good. And neither is it good for my middle-aged, hair-challenged friends to be taken advantage of by big media outlets and big restaurant chains. It's no wonder I feel so dis- gusted every year when I go to the store to purchase the Sports Illustrated swimsuit is- sue. TomPurcell,authorof"Mis- adventures of a 1970s Child- hood," is a Pittsburgh Tribune- Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated. This column is an excerpt from his new book, "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!," avail- able at amazon.com. Send com- ments to Tom at Purcell@cagle- cartoons.com. Tom Purcell Theswimsuit issue has arrived again Despite being coated in hot- wing sauce and stale beer, he is convinced his waitress digs him. His waitress encourages this fiction and is rewarded with a 50 percent tip. Thoughtson formationofnewstate Editor: Like many citizens in North- ern California and Southern Or- egon, I'm in complete agreement that we need to form our own state. For many years now, the cit- izenry have been neglected by Sacramento and Oregon, respec- tively. Are we not law-abiding tax payers who should want our is- sues addressed? Yes is my reply. However, I do have a couple of concerns regarding this new state. Can we support the economy of this new state? What kind of Industries do we have? With ev- eryone screaming "conserve wa- ter" would the farmers and crop growers be able to survive an- other drought? The name of Jefferson. Our Af- rican-American citizenry have not forgotten that Mr. Jefferson was a slave owner. I do realize that Mr. Jefferson was also a conservationist. Mr. Luther Burbank, too, was a con- servationist as well as Mr. John Muir. So why not have a state of "Burbank" or a state called "Muir." My favorite name would be" USAnia." Since we are patriotic toward the USA, this would be most appropriate. Think inside, outside, over and under the box. — Kody Kovachny, Corning Delayson ThomesCreekbridge Editor: The old saying if you don't suc- ceed try again, or practice makes perfect doesn't apply to the con- tract at Thomes Creek bridge. It seems they are now attempt- ing the third tear up of the abut- ments. Guess the contractor has found a home and stalls comple- tion. Caltrans evidently justifies this botched episode. As a tax- payer I have decidedly different thoughts. Reminds me about the city of Red Bluff, the county and Cal- trans unable to dig up enough lousy black top to fix the south approach on Main Street. They always seem to find money for some damn survey that nothing comes from. This Dove Avenue makes me feel like putting the ripper to it. But we can't get a lousy load of gravel to rebuild the shoulders to save what's there. This is efficiency? Not in my book. — Thad Blanchard Sr., Geber Wrongchoicefor AttorneyGeneral Editor: In your newspaper of Sat- urday, Feb. 7, Mr. Rick Jensen has done the readers a big favor about telling us of Loretta Lynch, President Obama's choice for At- torney General. Loretta Lynch believes it is all right to record American tele- phone conversations, cell phone and Internet communication without a court order. Every American's life is being snooped into by the government. These recordings are being stored in a federal building in Utah. This is a constitutional viola- tion of the fourth amendment. However Madame Lynch de- clares that it is not unconstitu- tional. Apparently here interpre- tation of our constitution mirrors that of President Obama. Our president claims she was instrumental in handling two very serious cases of fraud involv- ing billions of dollars. One was fi- nancial fraud with seven billion in mortgage backed securities, share holders paid the fines, the perpetrators faced no jail time and victims received no com- pensation. The public never got the whole story on this one. The other one was about facilitating money laundering of terrorists and Mexican drug cartels. How- ever no one in these cases that committed these crimes went to jail or pain any fines. Your kids can be sold drugs by these fiends and they are free to do as they please. She also believes anyone in the country should be allowed to work here no matter how they managed to get here. Illegals are OK with her. She seems to forget that this huge influx of illegals came along with the children who were used as a cover up to the crime of these people being invited here by advertisements or word of mouth that if they got here they could stay. Our president has en- sured this with his self-given ex- ecutive privilege. Our people are out of work and the jobs will be given to these il- legals. Undoubtedly with the cor- rupt arrogance of the administra- tion, employers will be told to give preference to these people. Any member of our legislative elected people that goes along with this appointment is com- mitting an act of treachery and should be removed from office by American voters. — Jean Clayton, Red Bluff Justsaynoto highergastax Editor: Currently one-quarter of ve- hicle gas taxes are diverted from the intended road and bridge re- pair fund, to public transit, park- ing lots, walking and bike paths and a long list of diversions. End the practice of diverting gas tax funds and locally tax us- ers of these funds. In most cities with transit services, the users pay only 15 percent of their ride while taxpayers fund 85 percent. That ratio should be reversed so road and bridge gas taxes are used for their intended purpose. Diesel fuel tax should be dra- matically increased to pay for the major cause of road dam- age, 80,000 pound truck impact damage. Currently there is only a 5 cent a gallon federal fuel tax difference between the 3,000 pound car driven 10,000 miles yearly, versus an 80,000 pound truck driven 150,000 miles yearly. There should be a 50 cent per gallon increase in the diesel fuel tax to fully pay for road damage. Trucking is necessary but not at taxpayer expense. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take ByDickPolman I'll tell you a little story about Bob Simon, the veteran CBS News correspondent who was killed Wednesday night in a car crash af- ter having survived innumerable wars over five decades. At age 49 in early 1991, Simon was dispatched to cover the Per- sian Gulf War, but he disliked the Pentagon's ground rules. Report- ers had to travel with military es- corts to pre-approved locations, and all their reports had to be "re- viewed" by officers in the field. As I wrote at the time — I was assigned full-time to cover the censorship issue — these were "the most re- strictive rules of any modern U.S. war." In one instance, when a re- porter wanted to describe the U.S. Air Force pilots as "giddy," and the censors insisted that the word be changed to "proud." Bob Simon refused to abide by these rules, which success- fully sanitized most of the cover- age. He thought the public had the right to know what was really go- ing on. And so, accompanied by a producer, a cameraman, and a soundman, he took off on his own, breaching a border between Saudi Arabia and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. But Saddam Hussein's soldiers ar- rested and shipped them to an in- famous Baghdad jail. Simon was starved by his cap- tors, and beaten with canes and truncheons. His mouth was pried open so his captors could spit in it. He later recalled, "We got beaten up a lot, and badly, but in my mind, I found I reached a certain accommodation with the beatings. Your instinct immediately after- ward is to check, 'Can I see? Can I hear? Am I OK in the vital parts?'" He had no idea how the war was going. He was convinced that he would be executed, that his cap- tors saw him not as an Ameri- can hostile or even as a suspected spy, but as a Jew. "It was not out of anti-Semitism per se, but once they knew I was Jewish, it was just beyond the range of their imagi- nation that a Jew who would cross the line into Iraqi-held territory could be a bona fide journalist working for an American news or- ganization," Simon acknowledged in an interview. Simon was freed after 40 days — whereupon he went back into the field. He had been covering wars since the late 1960s, when he was beaten by Northern Ireland extremists, and he wasn't about to change. He covered wars in Cy- prus, the Falkland Islands, Yugo- slavia, and the U.S. actions in Gre- nada, Somalia and Haiti. He cov- ered the latter stage of America's losing effort in Vietnam — at one point, reporting on the deaths of child refugees in Quang Tri Prov- ince, he finished with, "There's nothing left to say about this war. There's just nothing left to say" — and he hitched a ride on one of the last U.S. helicopters leaving Saigon in 1975. As a foreign bureau chief, he chose to live in Tel Aviv, and joked that "I'm probably the only journalist who goes there to relax." He won 25 Emmys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and he had corporate courage as well. In 1988, at a time when CBS Sports had a lucrative deal with the Olympic Committee to cover the winter games in Nagano, Ja- pan, Simon did a CBS News report about how chicanery and bribes had inspired the awarding of the winter games to Nagano, Japan. Jeff Fagler, his executive pro- ducer at 60 Minutes, summed it up Wednesday night: "Bob was a reporter's reporter. He was driven by a natural curiosity. It is such a tragedy made worse because we lost him in a car accident, a man who has escaped more difficult sit- uations than almost any journalist in modern times." A reporter's reporter...That's the key descriptive. Because for ev- ery Brian Williams, for every fab- ulist like Stephen Glass and Jay- son Blair, there are unsung scads of journalists who play the game right. Let Bob Simon's extraordi- nary life and career serve as a re- minder. Dick Polman is the national political columnist at News- Works/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks.org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the Uni- versity of Philadelphia. Dick Polman Remembering Bob Simon, 'a reporter's reporter' Tom Purcell OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, February 14, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4