Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/507591
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@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 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 Iwouldliketothankthoseof you who were kind enough this past week to send me happy birth- day wishes, pri- marily through the magic of Facebook. Because I am offi- cially old, I would prefer that comput- ers and all of the crap that came with them had never been invented. Un- fortunately, nobody asked me if technology was a good idea be- fore they started passing out com- puters, iPhones, myPhones, your- Phones, eight-tracks, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, iPads, iPods and even the highly sophisticated Atari game console and that damn Pong game that came with it. Facebook is actually an inter- esting phenomenon. As a par- ticularly masculine male, I am never sure I should admit that I am a Facebook participant. I en- joy Facebook because it allows me to keep up with the comings and goings of friends, family and for- mer co-workers who otherwise would likely fade from my cloud- ing memory with every passing day. On the other hand, folks on Facebook who would likely avoid making eye contact with me in a grocery store, somehow feel com- pelled to share information that I or any other person should never have to think about. Who cares if, "My little Johnny finally made a poo poo in the toilet today!" The kid is 13 years old for Pete's sake. Anyway, I received 62 birth- day wishes via Facebook. I was pretty impressed with my own popularity until I noticed that Mike Growney, who shares my birthdate, received 131 Facebook birthday wishes. I'm not bitter by nature, but we all know Mike can be a bit vain. So thank you, my Facebook friends. I really like most of you. Actually, I like some of you. OK, I only like a few of you; but thank you anyway. You made my birthday a special day. As you know I seldom brag about my many accomplishments, but the fact is I was and still am an exceptional athlete, with base- ball being my game of choice. I tell you this because in case you haven't been paying attention, the current Red Bluff High var- sity baseball team is compiling a win/loss record that is nearly un- matched in the rich baseball his- tory of this community. At 24-4 this talented group of players in- cludes young men who are the grandsons, sons or nephews of such talented baseball families as Dreier, Bonham, Button, Clawson and Pritchard. I know the sea- son is winding down, but before it is done, wander over to Spartan field and watch some baseball ac- tion. These kids are good. If you are looking for some- thing to do this weekend, head on out to the fairgrounds and lis- ten to my friend, the horse whis- perer Buck Brannaman, as he conducts his annual four-day horsemanship clinic at the Pau- line Davis Pavilion. I met Buck a few years back when we screened his award-winning movie "Buck" at the State Theatre. Buck fan- cies himself as a golfer, so when he comes to town I take him out to Wilcox Oaks and thoroughly humiliate him at every opportu- nity. The man is unquestionably a genius when sitting on the back of a horse but he is just another hacker when it comes to finding his way around a golf course. ComingtotheState Theatre: May 9: The Tehama Concert Series has been bringing quality enter- tainment to the State Theatre for over a decade, and this Saturday evening they will conclude their 2014-15season with the amaz- ing Anthony Kearns. Mr. Kearns is considered Ireland's foremost tenor, having worked with The Irish Tenors for over a decade. For those who are not a member of the Tehama Concert Series, tickets are available at the theater box office one hour before the event. May 10: Red Bluff's own Tom Hanks has been a significant supporter of the historic State Theatre. While I am not sure he knows it, Tom and I are very close friends. This Sunday, Mother's Day, the State Theatre will screen one of Tom's all time great chick flicks, "Sleepless in Seattle." Why not treat her right by first stopping by McDonald's for the "two sausage McMuffins for $3.50" deal, and then head on down to the State at 4p.m. to watch one of the best films ever made. May 30: Tickets are selling fast for the legendary country-folk-rock Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. With hits like "Fishin' In the Dark" and "Will the Circle be Unbroken," this Grammy- winning group is guaranteed to rock the house at the historic State Theatre. Call the theatre office at 529-2787for more information. BillCorneliusisalifelong resident of Red Bluff, a retired Chief Probation Officer, a champion of the State Theatre and an exceptional athlete. He can be reached at bill.cornelius@ sbcglobal.net. William Tells Birthdays in the age of Facebook Who cares if, "My little Johnny finally made a poo poo in the toilet today!" The kid is 13 years old for Pete's sake. Cartoonist's take Apologists for the National Security Agency (NSA) point to the arrest of David Cole- man Headley as an example of how warrantless mass surveil- lance is necessary to catch ter- rorists. Headley played a ma- jor role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 166 people. While few would argue that bringing someone like Headley to justice is not a good thing, Headley's case in no way jus- tifies mass surveillance. For one thing, there is no "terror- ist" exception in the Fourth Amendment. Saying a good end (capturing terrorists) justi- fies a bad means (mass surveil- lance) gives the government a blank check to violate our lib- erties. Even if the Headley case somehow justified overturning the Fourth Amendment, it still would not justify mass surveil- lance and bulk data collection. This is because, according to an investigation by ProPublica, NSA surveillance played an in- significant role in catching Headley. One former counter- terrorism official said when he heard that NSA surveillance was responsible for Headley's capture he "was trying to fig- ure out how NSA played a role." The Headley case is not the only evidence that the Patriot Act and other post-9/11 sacri- fices of our liberty have not in- creased our security. For ex- ample, the NSA's claim that its surveillance programs thwarted 54 terrorist at- tacks has been widely discred- ited. Even the president's Re- view Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies found that mass surveillance and bulk data collection was "not essential to preventing at- tacks." According to the congressio- nal Joint Inquiry into Intelli- gence Activities before and af- ter the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 and the 9/11 Commission, the powers granted the NSA by the Patriot Act would not have prevented the 9/11 attacks. Many intelli- gence experts have pointed out that, by increasing the size of the haystack government agen- cies must look through, mass surveillance makes it harder to find the needle of legitimate threats. Even though mass surveil- lance threatens our liberty, violates the Constitution, and does nothing to protect us from terrorism, many in Con- gress still cling to the fiction that the only way to ensure security is to give the govern- ment virtually unlimited spy- ing powers. These supporters of the surveillance state are desperate to extend the pro- visions of the Patriot Act that are set to expire at the end of the month. They are partic- ularly eager to preserve Sec- tion 215, which authorizes many of the most egregious violations of our liberties, in- cluding the NSA's "metadata" program. However, Edward Snowden's revelations have galvanized op- position to the NSA's ongoing violations of our liberties. This is why Congress will soon vote on the USA Freedom Act. This bill extends the expiring sur- veillance laws. It also contains some "reforms" that suppos- edly address all the legitimate concerns regarding mass sur- veillance. However, a look at the USA Freedom Act's details, as op- posed to the press releases of its supporters, shows that the act leaves the government's mass surveillance powers vir- tually untouched. The USA Freedom Act has about as much to do with free- dom as the Patriot Act had to do with patriotism. If Con- gress truly wanted to protect our liberties it would pass the Surveillance State Repeal Act, which repeals the Patriot Act. Congress should also reverse the interventionist foreign pol- icy that increases the risk of terrorism by fostering resent- ment and hatred of Americans. Fourteen years after the Pa- triot Act was rushed into law, it is clear that sacrificing lib- erty does little or nothing to preserve security. Instead of trying to fool the American people with phony reforms, Congress should repeal all laws that violate the Fourth Amend- ment, starting with the Patriot Act. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul Freedom Act is just another word for lost liberty Another view I didn't know it when I was young, but I was one of the luckiest young men on the planet. I had a father who loved me and imposed his will on me. Fathers were not considered buffoons when I was a young boy in the 1970s. They were not portrayed as they are now on every televi- sion sitcom — as a bumbling idiot. Fathers were respected, even feared. Any time I did something stupid — and there were a lot of those times — I'd hear these dreaded words: "Wait until your father gets home." My dad will be the first to tell you that he was not my best friend. No, that would be too easy for him. He was my champion and his mission in life was to pound sense into me so that I would grow up to be a good man — and avoid the mis- takes he made growing up without a father. I certainly didn't make it easy for him, as I wasn't exactly a fast learner. Over the years, I clogged a toilet with an apple core, shat- tered a picture window with a baseball and hit a golf ball through a neighbor's window (I fled, was later apprehended, and had to mow a lot of lawns to pay my father back for the cost of a new window). I lost most of his tools over the years. I was permitted to use them to build shacks and go-karts, so long as I put them back where they be- longed. But I often failed to put them back. He'd usually find them in the yard — after hitting them with the lawn- mower blade. Things got especially rocky in my teen years when testos- terone was introduced into the mix. Males have their highest levels of testoster- one during their teen years — and are prone to do some of the riskiest and dumbest things. "According (to) the National Institutes of Health, death rates from accidents increase dramatically during early and late adolescence," reports CBS News. "Death by injury is as much as six times higher among teens age 15 to 19 than kids between age 10 and 14. Overall crime rates are high- est among young males." And, boy, did I do some risky things — usually with my dad's car. He never for- gave himself for buying a sec- ondhand Ford Pinto with a powerful six-cylinder motor, which allowed me to smoke the right rear wheel — until I got caught. You see, the only creature on Earth who can tame a tes- tosterone-ravaged teen boy is his dad. And it is worrisome that fewer households than ever have dads living with them. The number of single- parent households has tripled since 1960, reports The At- lantic. When I see lots of young men participating in mob behavior in Baltimore, my thought is, "Where are their fathers?" — the cranky old creatures who would have tanned our hides as young men had we ever participated in such behavior. Out of the woodwork come all the experts explaining the nuances and multiple underlying causes of what we have seen in Baltimore as they skim over the biggest cause of them all: Where's Dad? How did we ever get to a point where fathers are so maligned? How did we get to a point where we think it is just dandy for moms to have children out of wedlock and raise them on their own? Ac- cording to Slate, giving birth out of wedlock is the norm for millennials. One of the best things to ever happen to me was to be blessed with a dad who im- posed his will on me. Robbing a young man of that blessing is a crime. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@ caglecartoons.com. Where are the Baltimore dads? Tom Purcell Fathers were respected, even feared. Any time I did something stupid — and there were a lot of those times — I'd hear these dreaded words: "Wait until your father gets home." Bill Cornelius OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 6, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6