Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/517056
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 By Tina Dupuy RecentlyinNevada,Jeb Bush accidentally declared he's running for president to reporters. He was supposed to say, "if I run" and instead said, "I'm running for president!" So now that it's official, I feel it's my duty to explain the Bush years to younger/am- nesiac Americans who may not remember what life was like before Obama. For ex- ample, Fox News used to co- sign and coo over everything that came out of the Oval Of- fice. True story. The party line at Fox News was that "libruls" were an evil plague and if George W. Bush could just get his way—the country would be better for it. So we invaded Iraq preemp- tively. Because, we were told, we'd be greeted as liberators. And Saddam was behind 9/11. Also, we were told, it'd pay for itself, because, you see, there was oil and stuff there. And Iraq had weapons of mass de- struction. And Fox News was totally on board with this. And Judith Miller was on board. And anyone who wasn't, was a treasonous, flag-burning, queer, vegetarian environmen- talist. On March 28, 2003—a week after the invasion of Iraq by US forces, the Fox News Ticker on Sixth Avenue in Manhat- tan read, "How do you keep a war protester in suspense? Ig- nore them." "While young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Af- ghanistan," said pseudo-Dem- ocratic Senator Zell Miller at the 2004 Republican Na- tional Convention. "Our na- tion is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obses- sion to bring down our com- mander in chief." Basically, we preemptively put troops in harm's way and since they're now dying, anyone who op- poses it hates America. And let's not forget Dixie Chick Natalie Maines saying in London just before the inva- sion, "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this vio- lence, and we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." They were boycotted, vilified, and their careers were ruined, be- coming the personification of liberal traitors everywhere. In short: They were Dixie Chicked. President Bush commented on this phenomenon and said, "They shouldn't have their feelings hurt just because some people don't want to buy their records when they speak out." Chilling? Yes. Other era peacenik villains were diplo- mat Joe Wilson, who had the audacity to challenge faulty in- telligence on the pages of The New York Times. His wife, CIA covert operative Valerie Plame, was outed by Scooter Libby (read: Dick Cheney). Cindy Sheehan, a mother of a soldier who died in Iraq, was widely mocked for opposing the war. Even 9/11 widows were "fair game" on Fox during the Bush years. See, Bush was not a compro- miser. "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," he told the country in 2001. He was not one to reach across the aisle. He was right and never apologized. All because god was in the White House. God talked to George W. Bush and told him to cut taxes for the wealthy and put two wars on credit cards. (During the Bush years, god's alternative spelling was "The Heritage Foundation.") Like his brother, Dubya was also a flubber. "Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to prac- tice their love with women all across this country." Pro-Bush pundits' full-time gig was in- terpreting for the rest of us what the hell the president was saying. And how he was really just a shoot-from-the- hip guy and not just a puppet for war profiteers (read: Dick Cheney). Jeb has repeatedly said George W. will be the person he listens to on Mideast issues. Jeb is going to get advice from the guy who destabilized the region, creating fertile ground for ISIS and yet has never re- gretted anything he's ever "de- cided?" What could go wrong? Jeb did a fawningly friendly interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly where he was asked if he would, know- ing what we know now, in- vade Iraq. (A question, you'd think, he'd prepared for since the first day of the invasion.) He said he would. He'd do ex- actly as his brother did. Imme- diately, his pocket pundit Ana Navarro took to the airwaves to explain Jeb misheard the question. So he wouldn't invade Iraq? Before completely walking back his comments, Jeb re- fused to answer the question because it was a hypothetical and "such hypotheticals were insensitive to the families of fallen soldiers in the war." Sound familiar? It's a re- run. A three-peat. As recent nonagenarian Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again." If George were a great presi- dent, it would bring up nostal- gia for a storied time in Amer- ican history. But he wasn't. He was a brutish, dim-witted, anti-science, disastrous, short- sighted zealot who perverted patriotism to mean legal im- munity. He tanked our econ- omy and we're still reeling from his foreign policy fiascos. We need him and anyone who refuses to learn from his mistakes to be in the country's rear view, not on a ballot. TinaDupuyisanationally syndicated op-ed columnist, investigative journalist, award-winning writer, stand-up comic, on-air commentator and wedge issue fan. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com. Commentary The Bush years — an explainer Cartoonist's take We all give some reflection and well-deserved recogni- tion to the fallen who served in America's mil- itary—the Coast Guard, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Army (the order in the medley of service songs performed at the Capitol Me- morial Day commemoration). I doubt that there was a dry eye during this year's PBS broad- cast or among those in atten- dance. The anecdotes that de- scribed the losses to spouses, families and their comrades- in-arms, and the struggles of those who survived while en- during physical, emotional or mental injuries and trauma, were at times incomprehensi- ble for those of us never in uni- form. All of us have lost loved ones in the natural course of ag- ing and decline. However, the sacrifices and endurance dis- played by those who remain af- ter the untimely loss of par- ents or beloved spouses who've given their last full measure serving America in wartime— is both overwhelming and in- spirational to us all. Rest in peace; carry on in faithfulness. I'll turn now to an issue that's becoming the go-to rhe- torical cudgel wielded by those for whom all of America's ills cry out for more govern- ment spending: infrastructure. It makes shameless political sense when the prior rally- ing cry, "for the children," only covers the myriad of situations that affect, well, children. It's a bit of a stretch to try to roll the legitimate need to repair (and even build new) roads, bridges, water systems, trains and air- ports into another arm of the children's crusade by big-gov- ernment liberals. Hence, big- government Democrats must adapt. The knee-jerk call for more "infrastructure spending," and the castigation of supposedly stingy Republicans (the same ones mythically depriving the nation's children of their food and health care), gets blurted out to awaiting cameras and microphones. Yet another bro- ken pipe, poorly maintained train track, an endless sup- ply of cracked, pot-holed roads or worn airport runways helps the cause if a budget bill is working its way through Con- gress. Who cares if the money devoted to infrastructure in past budgets has been wisely and efficiently spent? Who cares, or dares, to point out that, under Democrat rule in all branches of Washing- ton, a trillion dollar "stimu- lus" bill (including interest on the debt) sailed through Con- gress with feigned emphasis on "shovel ready" projects? Who needs to remember that no ac- tual budgets have been written for years as spending goes for- ward (and always up), on base- line autopilot lacking genuine Republican resistance? Who has the temerity to point out that, aside from actual federal highways and bridges, most of such "infrastructure spending" is the responsibility of each state? Will anyone remind voters that, due to the Davis-Bacon Act (passed in 1931 as part of President Roosevelt's futile ef- fort to keep Americans' wages up by keeping the cost of labor high) the "prevailing wage" is based on bloated union com- pensation in each state, man- dated by the government? The taxes paid and used for infra- structure projects could, if bid- ding were opened up to non- union contractors, build much more for the same competi- tive bid. Finally, does anyone notice that, after finding out that the Amtrak train wreck in Phila- delphia was due solely to ex- cessive speed by the engineer, Amtrak has had all the money its advocates have wanted for years? Its own internal incom- petence is to blame for not wisely spending money to im- plement the speed control tech- nology that would have pre- vented that same crash. Will any impertinent reporters re- mind Democrat hacks the next time the issue comes up that they shamelessly used the deaths and injuries from a pre- ventable train wreck to shill for more government spend- ing? Train wrecks or not, it's always more spending. Anyone doubting the hyp- ocritical charade of Demo- crats pandering for more in- frastructure spending, while pointing accusing fingers at Republicans, has only to look at how Democrats manage a bloated budget and infrastruc- ture spending when they have complete control and no effec- tive Republican opposition— that would be the case in Cal- ifornia, folks. I refer readers to (searchable by title) "Blue State Blues: California Dems skimp on infrastructure to pay unions, illegals," by Joel B. Pol- lak (May 20, Breitbart Big Gov- ernment). You can find ex- cerpts and additional thoughts at Powerlineblog.com, in "Blue- State Infrastructure" by John Hinderaker. California has some of the highest per-pupil spending on schools, the nation's highest taxes, the most onerous regu- lations, highest energy costs and, by coincidence, I'm sure, the nation's worst business cli- mate. Also, anyone who has driven around the more pop- ulated areas to the south soon learns, as did Mr. Hinderaker upon visiting Southern Cali- fornia, that "we were appalled by the third-world condition of California's roads and high- ways…not just decrepit and pocked with potholes, they are dangerous…(needing billions to bring) related infrastructure up to South Dakota's level." Brown and Democrats claim their budget is short on money for roads, and yet "There is money for a high-speed rail system that no one will ride. There is money for tuition for illegal aliens at state univer- sities. There is money for the public sector unions that con- trol state politics." It's easy to cast it in Democrat terms and ask how many people will die needlessly while money is spent elsewhere than mak- ing roads and infrastructure safe and ready for businesses to thrive. California's poverty, unem- ployment, illegal immigration and business problems will only be solved by economic growth—impossible to stimu- late under current Democrat tax and regulatory conditions. It's called a self-imposed vi- cious cycle. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com. The way I see it Tribute to fallen; spending charades Jeb has repeatedly said George W. will be the person he listens to on Mideast issues. Jeb is going to get advice from the guy who destabilized the region, creating fertile ground for ISIS and yet has never regretted anything he's ever "decided?" What could go wrong? Don Polson Will any impertinent reporters remind Democrat hacks the next time the issue comes up that they shamelessly used the deaths and injuries from a preventable train wreck to shill for more government spending? Train wrecks or not, it's always more spending. StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95973, 530 895- 4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@ senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558- 3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393-0707, fax 415 393-0710 YOUR OFFICIALS OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, May 26, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6