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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 Did you know that a year or two ago the folks at Webster's Dic- tionary decided to add the modern day col- loquial "LOL" as an- other word in the Eng- lish language. When I discov- ered that happened I could not stop myself from ut- tering, "Whatever." That is how quickly things are mov- ing. Growing up my dad im- pressed upon me never to bastardize the English lan- guage. The first time I ran across LOL, I figured it must mean "Lack Of Language." Are we less articulate to- day than in the good old days? Let's think about that, Dude. I am actually sorry to now write AWHFY (Are we having fun yet?). In my occasional visits to restaurants a waitress will often say, "You got it." That always makes me think, "Ac- tually, I don't got it. All I did was just order it." What about that one word sen- tence people use so much; "Enjoy?" When I hear that I always want to ask; "Enjoy what specifically?" I really would like details on what people think I should en- joy. However, I am happy to tell you that I keep many of those thoughts and actions to myself, until now. Also, I just Googled so- cial media slang and found out that "143" is "I love you." However, I was never really that good at math, so I de- cided to just continue using the original version, just like I hope most of you do. My dad played a game with his three sons. If any of us could find a word he could not use properly in a sentence, he promised to give us a nickel. It is that game that taught me "perspicacious," which means mentally acute. Today, I love to use that word. Then, I Googled again and found out that "TMI" stands for "Too Much Information," which I fear I am giving you Daily News readers now. In the mid-1960s I strug- gled to improve my dic- tion because I had just been hired by KHSL-TV in Chico as the evening news an- chorman. My personal con- flict with myself then be- came whether to worry most about my hair or my diction. I think I choose dic- tion, most of the time any- way. LOL! Because my dad is gone he will never know about to- day's Googling. If he had known he could have found out that a missionary orga- nization called the Summer Institute of Linguistics in- dicated in one of its 2009 studies there were 6,909 distinct languages. I know that sounds far-fetched, but maybe you are forgetting about the highland of New Guinea or the forests of the Amazon — and I don't mean dot com. Each night at 5 I tune into BBC-America and listen to 30 minutes of the news it re- ports, with a greater empha- sis on our country. The news anchor is Katty Kay, a good looking woman who just co- wrote a book with ABC Cor- respondent Claire Ship- man titled "The Confidence Code." In it Katty wrote on page 7 that: "Her public pro- file in America is thanks to her accent." She speculates we might give her a few ex- tra IQ points every time she opens her mouth. I actually agree with her. I love her British accent, even though I know we here in the "colonies" are the ones with the accent. Please let me know what you think. Whether its Brit- ish actors Hugh Grant, Pat- rick Stewart or Maggie Smith, maybe I could have been perceived as a more in- telligent man if only I had no accent like they. Indeed. Stan Statham served 1976- 1994 in the California As- sembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is presi- dent of the California Broad- casters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. My take TheKing's English and modern usage What about that one word sentence people use so much; "Enjoy?" When I hear that I always want to ask; "Enjoy what specifically?" I really would like details on what people think I should enjoy. Questionsaboutthe Affordable Care Act Editor: Sunday was the last day to enroll in Covered California open enrollment, which means you have to get private insur- ance or on MediCal in order to avoid a tax penalty next year, which has been declared to be at least double of this year's penalty. This leads me to question; is Covered California, and the en- tirety of the Affordable Care Act for matter, actually meant to help those without insurance? I thought it over, checked out some facts and learned a few things. First off, many people lost policies and doctors with which they were satisfied and had gained positive tenure. This means that a policy designed to positively affect the uninsured had negative effects on the al- ready insured. Second, full time has been re- defined. The old 40-hour work week has now been changed to roughly 30 hours. This means that 30 hours per week qual- ifies employees for employer provided benefits. This in turn changes the dynamics of em- ployment, reducing 39-hour em- ployees to 29 hour employees; cutting the hours of all near full-time workers. This also re- quired businesses to hire more 19-29 hour employees, inflating those "new job" statistics. These stats were also in- flated by the requirement of cit- izens to find second and third jobs. This now has people work- ing 40-60 hours per week with more and higher taxes, higher prices, but still aren't insured resulting in a tax penalty come April. The only positive take away is that those with pre-exist- ing conditions are offered some protection; other than that, ev- erything creates more prob- lems. I ask you all, is this really about helping the working class, or about punishing them? If one looks at the draconian fi- nancial penalties on a class so deprived of basic needs that people see fit to reform insur- ance policy to assist them; one questions the real motives. Of course, I see this as just an effort to assist corporate America in cornering the labor market; but that is just me. Please, anyone who supports ACA come forth and answer my questions. Please explain the logic and reasoning behind such carelessly executed policy making. I would love to know the thoughts behind such de- bauchery. I understand the intentions, but I want to know how this was seen as the best product. I hope you all realize how much of a scam this law is. If you can't, then at least I hope you can see how irresponsible those you elected are when rushing half-assed policy through to be- come enforced law. — Mitch Drury, Red Bluff Don't turn a blind eye to violence in Red Bluff Editor: Please excuse me while I of- fend a few citizens. This may sound harsh but why does it go that with all the violence, espe- cially against women and girls, we even entertain the idea that violence or personal attack will never happen to me? Are we all just hiding our heads in the sand? Am I incorrect that personal attacks and violence are esca- lating? Do we not read about these attacks in our own Daily News? Hiding and ignoring this phenomenon doesn't make it go away. It's here, alive and well, in Red Bluff and Tehama County. Two years ago Alternatives to Violence (ATV) approached the Police Activities League (PAL) about putting a free program together specifically designed to address some of these issues. PAL agreed and made its Mar- tial Arts Program and facility available for training, free of charge for women and girls age 7 and up. We began this training about three weeks before the murder of a high school student. Enroll- ment was quick and immediate after that. We submitted arti- cles and photos about the train- ing. Damsels in Defense from Redding came down and of- fered legal self-defense items to carry. The most important aspect of this training revolved around situational awareness. For ex- ample, what would you do when walking to your car from the store, work or from home in low level lighted areas? What would you look for? How would you react if something or someone looks out of place? At PAL we have put some- thing together called WWE — Women's Wellness and Empow- erment. PAL put the first anti- bullying program together in 1998 in Tehama County. It's been successful in loading in- formation into the brains of hundreds of children and women. We are preparing to begin WWE again soon. It will be held 5:30-7:00 p.m. on Thurs- days. Included will be a be- ginning six-week course cov- ering specific areas to train in and learn more about. It will be adapted to your own abilities. The training is free. After the initial six weeks a three-week break will fol- low then another six weeks will continue both for beginners and those who have already been training. The elderly, in- cluding men, will be encour- aged to train. At the end of the six-week period a certificate of completion will be presented. A special gift will also be avail- able for those who complete the full course. Call PAL at 528-7950 or visit www.tehamaso.org. PAL is a 501 ( C ) (3) nonprofit. All of the coaches and instructors in PAL are volunteers and have been cleared by law enforcement. — John Minton, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take Are you an unsung hero? Do those you encounter not appreci- ate the "real" you? Must you al- ways having the last word? Then you might be interested in the new trend spotted by USA Today: self-penned obituaries, also known as "selfie obits" or "autobituaries." As someone who has been chronicling some semblance of his ups and downs and opinions over the past 16 years, I proba- bly shouldn't begrudge anyone else the opportunity to write their own final testament, but I feel obligated to point out the pitfalls. For one thing, the earlier in life you start the obituary, the more it's just one more nagging thing to keep updated. Other- wise an octogenarian will pass away with the remembrance "Just you wait until the second half of kindergarten, Maggie O'Day —- you'll be my girlfriend sure." Perhaps someone will start a public service campaign to re- mind people to update their obituaries on New Year's Eve, when they replace their smoke alarm batteries. Of course pri- orities might get messed up. ("My greatest accomplishment so far? Photocopying my bottom just now — without throwing up more than once.") Standard newspaper obitu- aries can be boring, but at least they're professional. Unless someone does some judicious editing of the selfie obits, we will be subjected to things such as "Those stoopid teacherz awl thawt eye needed there lessins, butt I kan xpress the S-ints of hu eye am juss fine." While selfie obits remain a novelty, you can get away with an "eat your heart out" or "don't you wish you had paid more at- tention to me while I was alive?" attitude. When everybody is try- ing to be creative and brutally frank, readers faced with a sea of purple prose may just think, "Hey, I wonder what Dilbert is up to today?" There is the danger of coming across as too whiney or needy. As Winston Churchill stated, "History is written by the vic- tors." People may get the impres- sion that it should be "History is written by the losers who have too much time on their hands." Get ready for hoary obituary cliches to get a "too much in- formation" rework, as in "He al- ways saw the best in people — especially the internal organs. Mmmmm." With no one to ensure the ac- curacy of the obits, fantasies, outright lies and self-serving appraisals (grassy knoll reve- lations, never-revealed ascen- dancy to the papacy, etc.) will abound. Legions of lawyers will be called in to determine whether a selfie obit is really the final word, or whether oth- ers mentioned in it have a right to add comments. For instance, the longsuffer- ing deceased might finally open up with, "Roscoe Noodleman busted his hump for that com- pany for 30 years without even a gold watch." And the former employers might want to add, "Our posthumous thanks to Mr. Noodleman for bringing a safety hazard to our attention. Our monthly safety courses now in- clude the warning that leaning on a broom for 30 years while discussing Lakers games can lead to busted humps." Those who fill their obituar- ies with raw emotion and con- fessions may suffer the conse- quences. ("I guess my biggest re- gret is having that secret affair with my son's wife. That, or tell- ing my daughter I needed that $10,000 for an operation in- stead of to pay off my gambling debts. I'll bet you're going to give me the cheap funeral now. Oh, man!") Danny Tyree welcomes email re- sponses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Are you dying to write your own obituary? Stan Statham Perhaps someone will start a public service campaign to remind people to update their obituaries on New Year's Eve, when they replace their smoke alarm batteries. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, February 19, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6