Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/515346
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 Last week I addressed the topic of transgen- der people. As a result someone asked if I might give my take on our two genders this week, so here goes. However, this is prob- ably a Mission Impossible. Iamgoingtostartbyspill- ing my guts. I feel I can do that because I have paid for a good deal of profes- sional therapy over the past 30+ years because of my failed first marriage. I don't know exactly what happened, but I probably had some "skin in that game." In the process, I also hope to assist you with any relationship challenges you might be facing. Do you remember the first time you felt what you thought was a complete love? That was a great feeling, wasn't it? Well, I believe you can get that level of emotion back any time you desire it. Here's the deal: On earth there are 6.6 bil- lion human beings. Thus 3.3 billion men are trying to con- nect with 3.3 billion women. By the way, I think those women are trying to do the same thing by connecting with those men. I have be- lieved for the last 3-4 decades that the solutions to most of the challenges confronting men and women can be found in the middle somewhere. The analogy of marriage is always one I like to use. It's a good place to start. Husband and wife hopefully love each other, yet they do quibble from time to time. They mar- ried in the first place because they desired the perfect life. I believe they each must have thought they could get that from one another. That's why I think our genders should be civilized and acknowl- edge that a good marriage is hopefully a fortunate hap- penstance, which eventually becomes a negotiating ses- sion. I think all those sessions should be done with genuine sincerity and love. My beautiful wife, Roleeda, and I have discussed the two genders, male and female, many times. I have jokingly referred to our two sexes as "bitches and bastards." She was not pleased when I did that. She prefers to see things on a higher plain. However, I think there is some truth and even humor to what I said. My wife does not. Long ago I discovered a lot greater distance between women and men than just their genitalia. It is not end- less fun to get therapy and neither is marriage. The best I can come up with in my first column on men and women is that women can nurture bet- ter than men, but men seem to be able to get to the words "yes" and "no" more quickly. I feel I know that we men don't have to breast feed and when it comes to a project we men also generally want to "git 'er done." On the other hand, women ask for things, but don't really want their men to fix their problems, though they keep asking. Maybe in the television show "The Honeymooners" in the early 1950s Ralph Kramden's character was right — proba- bly not — and that is why he kept threatening to send Al- ice's character "straight to the moon." Please tell me what you think about relationships. I will respond. Let's have some fun. Mytakeonthemovies Now this week's movie re- view. I saw what I thought was going to be a chick flick, "The Age of Adeline." It's about the value of age and aging. I even went with my brother-in-law, Hiawatha Bradley (Brad), and we agreed. See this and give me your review. I think you will like it. StanStathamserved1976-1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. My take Our two genders and relationships I think our genders should be civilized and acknowledge that a good marriage is hopefully a fortunate happenstance, which eventually becomes a negotiating session. No comparison in public salaries Editor: In her letter published Thurs- day, May 14, Barbara McIver asks "Fellow citizens, what's wrong with this picture?" re- garding the Red Bluff Chief of Police making a higher annual salary than the Governor. This is a retread of fire fight- ers' versus teachers' salaries, etc. and I feel compelled to re- spond. I ask how many Christmases, Thanksgivings, Hanukahs, Easters, Passovers, anniversa- ries, important family gather- ings, children's school sports and arts performances, fam- ily reunions, birthdays, friend and family weddings, funer- als, Fourth of July parties, Me- morial Day camp outs and La- bor Day picnics has the Gov- ernor had to miss because he was scheduled to work that day or forced on overtime due to lack of personnel or heightened staffing needs? How many times has the Governor managed the scene of dead and mangled bodies after an accident? How many times has the Gov- ernor pulled over a driver who may or may not shoot? Or re- spond to a domestic quarrel that may or may not turn vio- lent? Must I go on? We all make our career and life choices. There is no crime in getting compensated for your commit- ment to doing these jobs — fire fighting and law enforcement — that come with high risk and demand so much taken from your personal life. And note, Governor Brown has amassed a paltry net worth of about $4 million over the years working as a politician. Poor servant of the people. — Sandra Hayes, Red Bluff Degree no proof of intelligence Editor: I feel compelled to respond to a letter to the editor pub- lished Saturday, May 16, writ- ten by Pat Johnston. She be- gan by articulating a pusillan- imous statement inferring that if someone hasn't attained a college degree of an AA or BA, their opinions aren't viable, and expertise can only be obtained through having college degrees. Thus, it's only through having obtained a degree that one is able to have merit and cogency? We've all known and heard of geniuses that have been dropouts in school, and on the other end of the spectrum, we've known the intellectually astute that have been miserable specimens of humanity. The Daily News is generous in publishing diverse schools of thought, allowing citizens to pontificate and digress. I was born seemingly on another planet and had difficulty ac- climating to life in the United States. Thus, I have been a recip- ient of many third degrees from the prestigious University of Hard Knocks. It's a non-accred- ited university that has meritori- ously graduated many outstand- ing individuals that have made positive changes in our world. Thank you for making it pos- sible for our songs to be heard. — Marji Wheeler Raymond, Red Bluff 'Death tax' for wealthy, nothing new Editor: A recent letter by Jean Clay- ton warns of "the government's thievery of Americans' assets when they die," and goes on to explain that "the death tax un- der our current President is 40 percent of everything we have at death." Further, she informs us that if "there is not enough money to pay this tax. . .any- thing you own will be seized and sold at auction to pay for ille- gal aliens' living costs, housing, food, medical expenses. . ." etc. Ms. Clayton should not de- spair. The thieving agents of Mr. Obama she fears will only make off with her assets if they are in excess of $5.43 million if she is single, and if she is mar- ried, she and her spouse may exempt up to $10.9 million. Also, a total of 5,400 estates are expected to pay an estate tax this year — out of about 2.6 million deaths; in other words 0.2 percent of all deaths in the U.S. If Ms. Clayton does fall into that relatively small group, and if her wealth is sufficient to qualify her for the tax, she might wish to give part of it to charity to bring it below the threshold figure and thereby prevent Mr. Obama and his henchmen from gaining at her expense. By the way, from the three or four times in her letter she refers to President Obama, it would appear that she blames him for the "death" tax. Please be advised that the es- tate tax in its modern version was enacted in 1917. Since then it has been repeatedly modi- fied by various Republican and Democratic congresses and signed into law by presidents from both parties. — Thomas Hilligan, Red Bluff Thank Democrats for gas price Editor: It is naive to believe that the 50 cent gas price premium over Midwest prices is due to price gouging. California's leftist leg- islators, with the approval of the two-thirds Democrat ma- jority, have brought you the gas price gouging. The gouging by legislators includes denying gasoline refin- ers approval to build needed re- finery expansion, allowing only a more costly gas grade that is not used in any other state, adding a carbon tax to the sell- ing price of gas, a higher state gas tax than other states, and your federal Democrat Senators and Congressional representa- tives voted for the mandate to add inefficient 10 percent etha- nol to gas. California does not grow the corn needed to distill ethanol, so it must be imported from the Midwest. Don't complain about the legislative gas price gouging since you elected the gougers. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take If not for my son Gideon (age 11), I might have missed my deadline this week. Over the past few months, Gideon has become an avid reader of the venerable "Read- er's Digest," following in the footsteps of me and my late fa- ther (and probably my grand- mother Tyree). I had scoured the Internet news sites in vain for a late- breaking topic that appealed to me, but that issue lying on the back seat of the Nissan Rogue triggered a brainstorm. A few years ago, RD be- gan carrying a feature called "Things Your (Fill-in-the-blank) Won't Tell You," spilling the in- sider beans on the lives of doc- tors, grocers, bankers and oth- ers who deeply affect our lives. Well, turnabout is fair play, as someone probably said in one of those RD "Quotable Quotes" features. I've tracked down an anonymous RD staffer who wishes to reveal 13 Things Reader's Digest Won't Tell You: 1. The items in our "That's Outrageous!" feature don't sound so outrageous after we go back on our meds. 2. "Laughter Is The Best Medicine?" Yeah, sure, that's why so many states are rushing to open medical laughter dis- pensaries. 3. Santa Claus reads "Read- er's Digest," so all the smart-al- eck kids who get quoted in our magazine should be aware that there will come a reckoning. 4. When we think that the hectic, stress-filled lifestyle of 1922 necessitated the creation of "Reader's Digest" and its ab- breviated articles, we inevitably laugh so hard we wet our pants. 5. Union rules won't let our "Everyday Heroes" be on duty every day. 6. We seriously considered whacking JFK ourselves when he turned down helping with our "Ich bin ein subscriber" marketing campaign. We did manage to squash FDR's "Fifth Freedom." You know, "Freedom From &%$# Magazine Insert Cards Littering Your Floor." 7. We have now sneaked a microchip into each issue, so when "It Pays To Enrich Your Word Power" pays you, the IRS will come around for its share. 8. The U.S. edition empha- sizes uplifting celebrations of traditional American values; but some of our foreign edi- tions lean more toward "Death To Those United States," "Great Satan In Uniform" and "Do you have an amusing beheading an- ecdote?" 9. Our Braille edition and Large Print Edition have not been nearly the money pits that our "free service dog with each purchase" gimmick turned out to be. 10. Yes, we've killed a lot of trees over the years; but the timber mills assure us they've been planting new trees, where the deer and rabbits and uni- corns can play. Say what? Oh, sugar. 11. We take pride in keeping up with the times and staying hep. Page us on our beeper and we'll send our society editor out to cover your civil union. 12. Our toughest condensing job involved whether to drop "Jesus" or "wept." We're still trying to clean up from that plague of frogs. 13. Our editorial board is still debating whether to update "All In A Day's Work" to "All In A Day's Faking Disability" and "You Be The Judge" to "You Be The Activist Judge." I'm glad I could give a tip of the hat to "Reader's Digest." It certainly inspires me to write "an article a week of enduring value — for housebreaking pup- pies." Hmph! Perhaps whoever ed- ited that last paragraph would like "Personal Glimpses" of my size 14 boot headed his way... Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree A list of thirteen things Reader's Digest won't tell you Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, May 21, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6