Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/53399
4A Daily News – Tuesday, January 24, 2012 Opinion Beware of carefully crafted rhetorical attacks D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Without fail each time the Republican Party comes up with a new talking point, I receive an email from party parrot Wally Herger. It never fails to impress me how skilled his staff is at putting our president and his supporters in a nefarious light irrespective of whether facts support such con- demnation or not. Here's what Wally stated in his email to me regarding the president's decision on the controversial Keystone pipeline proposal: "With my sup- port, the House of Representatives led the effort to compel the Administration to promptly render a decision after it initially indicat- ed that a decision wouldn't be made until after the 2012 elec- tions. Unfortunately, the Adminis- tration has made the wrong deci- sion, which is inexplicable consid- ering that the project would help put Americans back to work at a time of unacceptably high unem- ployment and help bolster our nation's energy supplies." In reality the Keystone XL pipeline would bring filthy tar sands oil from Canada for refining on the Gulf Coast of Texas so that oil companies can profit by selling the oil overseas. The number of jobs associated with pipeline con- struction is modest at best – approximately 2,000 directly involved for two years, and per- haps 3000 more indirect jobs as a consequence of the multiplier effect of downstream services. While any jobs help recovery from the recession, these particular jobs are small in number and might come at significant cost to Ameri- ca with little direct benefit. The Republicans would have us proceed with construction with- out fully assessing potential envi- ronmental risks of a pipeline leak, thoroughly examining alternative routes, nor considering the air and water pollution consequences of refining the tar oil sludge and exporting fuel for others. Much cleaner and more efficient to extract fuel is available in our country that can be used to offset our oil imports and generate rev- enue right here in America. This fuel is our natural gas reserve, that through the fracking process can be extracted with considerable ease, particularly compared to the extensive environmental damage and pollution associated with tar sands removal and shale oil pro- cessing. Wally's staff goes on to pontifi- cate: "The Obama Administration should listen to its own job council and allow for the expedited approval of this project. Its denial will keep thousands of unem- ployed Americans out of work, undermine our nation's energy security as gas prices are escalat- ing, and needlessly force an ally in Canada to send their energy to China and elsewhere." Wow that sounds downright dire if one takes them at their word, but this would not be wise since the truth of the matter is much less damming. First of all it is the Republicans that supported this election year blackmail threat by the American Petroleum Institute to force the president's hand by putting an arbi- trary time limit on "expedited approval." Second, the cost-effec- tiveness of shipping filthy tar sands thou- sands of miles across America to be refined on our Gulf coast (with attendant risks and waste disposal costs) for subsequent export is tenuous at best. Finally the Canadian oil will now simply find its way to the world markets using alternate routes resulting in no net "undermining of our nation's energy security." Indeed, to the contrary our energy securi- ty is improved by focusing our efforts on cleaner and safer alter- natives like natural gas, renew- ably generated electricity, and more efficient end-use technolo- gies. Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point represents. It was pressure from activists like me that overcame the propaganda of oil industry giants and their Republican lack- eys, and their threats of "huge political consequences" if he didn't approve it. And it was this pres- sure, combined with the Republicans' overzeal- ous and irresponsible demand of a 60-day deadline that provided the rationale to reject the pipeline permit. Now is the time for our leaders to lead us away from dirty fuels and help prevent esca- lating global catastro- phes. President Obama should stick to the clear and compelling case for reducing dependence on fossil fuels and accelerating the pace of The president's decision was a victory for activists, but because the pipeline was rejected on a nar- row technicality, this does not end the battle against such pipelines or the carbon bomb that burning Canadian tar sands oil in China a transition to alternative fuels and efficient technologies that stem the onrushing danger of cli- mate pollution. Until we refute the false choice presented by Big Oil and Republicans -- that we choose between a clean energy future and a stable economy – it is vital that our President and people beware of carefully crafted rhetorical attacks. Richard Mazzucchi makes his home in Los Molinos and can be reached at living-green@att.net. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004;Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814;(916) 445-2841;Fax (916) 558- 3160; E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Ceanothus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S. SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393- 0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Mont- gomery St., Suite 240, San Francis- co, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Whiskey's for drinkin'; water's for fightin' Commentary The actual quote, attributed to Mark Twain, is "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over," credited to his short time "in Nevada Territory writing for the Virginia City Daily Territorial Enterprise" (Sierra Sun). I don't know if whiskey is the reason some Tea Party Patriots made a spectacle of themselves by their angry, rude, verbal assaults on the folks running the water plan meet- ing. However, if they were to see themselves as they came across at last Wednesday's meeting, they might wish they could dismiss it as "the whiskey talking (or yelling, as the case may be)." Some identifying specifics are in order. The two loud men were from the Redding Tea Party Patri- ots; the loud woman, I am told, was from the Corning Tea Party Patriots. A Red Bluff Tea Party Patriot was trying to get one of the Redding men to pipe down and let the folks running the meeting speak, and some heated words were exchanged. One of our more excitable local members blurted out something about guns, but he really is harmlessly devoid of vio- lent tendencies. The Red Bluff Patriots had dis- cussed the water plan meeting Tuesday at the Westside Grange and had emphasized the impor- tance of speaking in a polite, mea- sured but persistent manner if questions were not being directly and candidly answered (Rule 1 for dealing with the Delphi Technique – more later). That was the tone of the Red Bluff Patriots, many of whom, including me, were appalled at the displays by our ide- ological brothers, and sister, from other towns. Leadership of the Tehama County Tea Party Patriots is on record, through an email to reporter Andrea Wagner, empha- sizing that they attended as citizens and property owners, not as a group, and expressed embarrass- ment over the behavior of the above-mentioned attendees. Regarding the merits of the meeting, described as a "Public Outreach Workshop" to inform attendees about the Northern Sacramento Valley (NSV) Inte- grated Regional Water Manage- ment Plan (IRWMP): If you think that's a mouthful, enter "nsvwater- plan.org/events/view/32" in an Internet search window when you have a lot of time to spare, and edu- cate yourself on the issue. If you have only a few minutes and care about 1) economic heath and vital- ity, 2) water supply reliability, 3) flood, stormwater and floodplain management, 4) water quality improvement, and 5) ecosystem protection and enhancement (web- site "map themes"), go to the web address and bookmark it. Some good people are involved locally and regionally because we all stand to lose something if the process steamrolls over us without pushback from those who deeply care about protecting our collective interests. Do you use public water supplies and sewers? Do you have a well and septic, or rely on quan- tities of water for your orchard, pasture or livelihood? Do you want to pay more for all of the above and be forced to use less, even to have regulatory mandates over your per- sonal well water, or over your sep- tic system? Do you like the idea of your tax money being siphoned off to entice property owners with water use rights to sign over those rights and reduce the economic strength of our region? All of that is just the tip of the Water Manage- ment Plan (WMP for short) iceberg. All of that and more are conceivable within the wordage of Prop 50 (2002), Prop 84 and the WMP itself. Do you think "sustainability" as applied to water means you use what you need and, if our population and economy grow, more water storage and sup- plies should obviously be developed? No, no, no – "sustainability" to these WMP architects and administrators means that, since water is finite, we should all use less, grow less and develop in ways that the water/climate change gurus tell us we should. Since everything we eat or do involves water, the tender regulatory touch of our WMP overlords will extend far into our lives. Nothing I've written is incon- Don Polson The way I see it may have to pay for treatment of their water or pay for bottled water as a substitute"? Under the "eco- nomic health and vitali- ty" tab: "individually owned wells, or septic tanks affect the pocket- books of all Northern Sacramento Valley resi- dents." Your systems and actions will not escape scrutiny. We are informed, under "water supply reliability" that "the Northern Sacra- mento Valley appears to be one of the most water-rich areas of the state. However …." Get it? Oh, and "Climate change" is guideline 16 for "Preparation of an IRWM Plan." You may now understand why some ceivable, or you don't know what "inconceivable" means. How do you construe the following, which comes from the "water quality improvement" tab: "communities may need to pay for improvements to their wastewater treatment plant to improve the quality of their wastewater discharge due to regu- latory requirements, or individuals with inadequate well water quality people would be resentful, angry and in a fightin' mood. And the Delphi Technique? Enter it in a search window and read the first six links, starting with Wikipedia's entry, to find out that it can refer to an innocuous, professional method to improve products, or to manipulation of a group to accept forgone conclusions by experts. Remember, most conspiracy theo- ries are bunk, but sometimes there really are people trying to put something over on you by sub- terfuge, to their benefit and to your detriment. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.