Red Bluff Daily News

July 02, 2015

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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@ 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 Idecidedtodivulgemytakeonprofanity this week. You probably won't believe me, but I have not always led a perfect life in this regard. I must admit that I have even used profanity on occasion over my 71/2 decades of life. I may not have been really familiar with that kind of vocabulary in my first decade. Ithinkmywife,Roleeda, must be a higher quality hu- man being. She only resorts to such lan- guage when she goes over the edge as some id- iot bullies by her at 90 miles an hour on I-5. Is LMFAO profanity? In case you are not familiar with this cyber lingo, it stands for "Laughing My F-ing Ass Off." My beauti- ful stepdaughter, named Jes- sica, will sometimes text that to me when I have shared a joke with her. However, that phrase is not really classy enough for her. None the less, I am certain she will con- tinue to use it. In research for this column I also discovered that "143" means "I love you." All you have to do is count the number of letters in each word. I am promising you readers with this column that I will clean up my act, at least a lit- tle. I remember in the 1980s when I really wanted to give some lady a big piece of my mind. She was in a group of about 200 teachers I was speaking to in Chico. As a relatively new California Assemblyman, it was my first appearance be- fore a large group of educa- tors. As I made the transition to the questions and answers near the end of my speech, one of the last questions was actually rather mean and ag- gressive. A lady said some- thing like "before I ask you a question I want to tell you that I have never voted for a Republican and I certainly did not vote for you. I will never vote for you, etc., etc., etc." By the time at least five minutes had passed and she had verbally taken me to the cleaners, I was getting over the perspiration brought on by her attack and had already moved to anger. I was telling myself to let her have both barrels, but I did not feel I could use profanity being an elected official. Instead I said something like; "Thank you for your question. I am quite sure you know more about your pro- fession than I ever will. How- ever, I want to tell you two things. The second is more important than the first. I want you to do your best to remember that part. First, I feel your adrenalin and I think you have very few faults. And two, this is the part for you to remember. You absolutely make the most of the faults you have." I must tell you, 30 years later, that I still remem- ber it felt really good to let her have it. I immediately heard the crowd murmur ap- proval. This exchange proved to me that you do not have to use profanity to win a bat- tle. I learned that clever beats crude any day. Let me know what you think. I am going to attempt to evolve some more. Mytakeonthemovies My movie review this week highly recommends "Love & Mercy." It's a superb docu- drama based on the life and career of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. It will make you enjoy the music of the Beach Boys all over again. I think you will enjoy this film. 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 Profanity and changing language This exchange proved to me that you do not have to use profanity to win a battle. I learned that clever beats crude any day. Biggest impact on our planet Editor: Thomas Midgley Jr., 1889- 1944, an American chemist had the most impact on the atmo- sphere in the Earth's history. One of his many innovations included tetra-ethyl lead, the toxic fuel additive that poisoned millions of humans, and chloro- fluorocarbons — CFCs — which have put the existence of life on Earth in peril. In 1928 he invented refrig- eration. He discovered the first chemicals known as the chloro- fluorocarbons, which he called Freon, which bonds three chlo- rine atoms and one fluorine atom to a carbon atom. This new compound was non-toxic, non-reactive, and non-explo- sive, not like the toxic ammonia and sulfur dioxide and the ex- plosive chloromethane, which previously was used as coolants in refrigerators and air-condi- tioning units. In the postwar aria, CFCs and their extended related com- pounds had a wide range of consumer and industrial uses, flame-retarding and fire-extin- guishing agents, plastic foam expanders, refrigerants, propel- lants for aerosol sprays, clean- ing agents for electronics, and solvents. All the CFCs released into the environment have been manufactured by humans, the bulk being produced in the late 1960s. In the 1970s scientists study- ing the upper atmosphere no- ticed a problem in the strato- sphere, which is the Earths pro- tective ozone layer. But the CFCs don't burn, explode or break down into their constit- uent atoms at ground level. They're like a brick. But CFCs have life spans that last de- cades. Once they travel to the stratosphere, CFCs are subject to the full force of the sun's ul- traviolet radiation which is strong enough to break the bond holding the chlorine at- oms. Chlorine is a free radical. A single rogue atom of chlorine can destroy as many as 100,000 ozone molecules. Of course when ozone breaks down it creates oxygen. However the role of the ozone in the atmo- sphere is to absorb UVB radia- tion produced by the sun. The less ozone the more UVB gets through to the earth's surface. Certain times of the year, the Antarctic ozone hole extends over parts of New Zealand, Australia, and South Amer- ica, which raises fears of major health problems. Plant and animal king- doms are also very susceptible to UVB. Important crops like rice depend on a type of bacte- ria to fix nitrogen in its roots. If surface UVB increased signifi- cantly, these bacteria would be destroyed then that would de- stroy the crops that depend on the bacteria. In 1990 the London Con- ference voted to strengthen the protocol and called for the complete elimination of CFCs by 2000 in the devel- oped world, and by 2010 from the rest of the planet. The con- centration of the most dam- aging chemicals has been de- clining. By 2015, the Antarctic ozone hole is slated to shrink to 386,000 sq. miles. Researchers estimate that a detectable increase in strato- spheric ozone will not occur un- til around 2025, with ozone lev- els recovering to 1980 levels by around 2070-75. We are being scammed by our politicians who claim global warming is caused by car emis- sions — 87% comes from our landfills — methane gas — and industrial. — Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff On Israel Editor: Jonathan Bernis, president and CEO of Jewish Voice Minis- tries International, mistakenly sent me a solicitation aimed at fighting the Boycott, Divest- ment and Sanctions movement, This movement he added, "rep- resents a new and destructive tactic in the war on Israel's le- gitimacy as a nation state." Well there are good reasons to question their legitimacy. First of all their claim rests squarely on the historical accu- racy of the bible, which real bi- ble scholars highly doubt. Many have discovered that quite a few biblical passages were not part of the oldest manuscripts and there is no such animal as an original copy. Even if every- thing in that holy book were true there is no way of proving a relationship between modern Israelis and their biblical coun- terparts. Israel was established through force of arms period and maintains that status the same way, with a lot of help from their lap dogs in London and Washington. From 1915 to 1916 the British High Commissioner in Egypt promised the Sharif of Mecca, Hasayn bin Ali that if the Ar- abs revolted against the Ot- tomans, the United Kingdom would agree to honor their in- dependence. Later the UK's for- eign Secretary Arthur Belfour told Walter Rothschild in a let- ter that, "His Majesty's gov- ernment view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jew- ish People." Why was the later agreement honored and not the former? Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that the Rothschilds had lots of money but the Arabs didn't? If the British were so sup- portive of a Jewish State why did the Zionist feel they had to terrorize British troops by bombing the King David hotel where they were staying? So Is- rael started out as a terrorist state killing 91 people and after 67 years they are still at it. One more little detail for those who like to accuse people of being anti-Semitic, the Pales- tinians are a Semitic race too. — Orval Strong, Gerber Your opinions Cartoonist's take Remember when gray hair made one appear distinguished and sage? When every facial line told a proud story? In 2015 the story the lines tell is, "Once upon a time, a boss hired a sweet young thing, but now she's so haggard she's scar- ing customers and pit bulls." In April of 2012, I wrote about the Naked Face Project. Appar- ently those anti-makeup activ- ists haven't made much headway, because the June 29 Time mag- azine cover story ("Nip. Tuck. Or Else.") reveals a reality in which "everyone" (including males) is getting some sort of cosmetic procedure, putting intense pres- sure on the few holdouts. Where once we snickered at hicks who bathed only on Sat- urday night, it's now okay to as- sume those who haven't had some combination of breast aug- mentation, buttocks augmenta- tion, nose alteration, Botox in- jections or fat-melting proce- dures just fell off the turnip truck. Yes, cherish those brief years between "Act your age" and "Look someone else's age." The phenomenon has been buoyed by more sophisticated techniques (with less scar- ring), payment plans ("Does she or doesn't she? Only her loan shark knows for sure"), informa- tive programs such as "Extreme Makeover" and that harsh light- ing you find in some restaurant restrooms. ("The waiter said the dessert was to die for. But ap- parently I already did that three or four days ago.") Cosmetic procedures are no longer just an option. They're a civic duty, a moral imperative. Participants must be up for a crusade, proclaiming things like "I've been to the mountaintop (of credit card debt)" and "Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we're droopy-eyelid free at last." So complicated is today's minefield of cosmetic proce- dures that consultants charge up to $500 an hour to select the right mix of tweaks and the fits- like-a-glove physician, so you can keep your friends from gos- siping about your appearance behind your back. Of course that has led to consultants who will charge your friends $500 an hour to recommend new things for them to gossip about behind your back. We're facing a new Cold War, as patients escalate the compe- tition for the most cutting-edge technique, the most highly rated doctor and the most frequent treatment schedule. Soon, peo- ple will fight aging by tattoo- ing their first sonogram on their face. (Alas, some of the people who need help the most are the least likely to seek it. How about a more proactive, man- datory movement — a "catch and release program?" Forget butt lifts. Let's put some federal money into lowering butt cracks of the worst offenders.) I once considered getting hair implants, so I'm not going to sit in judgment of any individ- ual who genuinely thinks she/ he has a genuine need and fund- ing for some cosmetic proce- dure. It's like one person drop- ping a candy wrapper or pi- rating a song. But when herd mentality takes over, we could face a whole new divisive sys- tem of "haves" and "have nots." Beauty may be skin deep, but a caste system is ugly clean to the bone. Perhaps my friend Tyrone can put things into perspec- tive. ("Sorry to hear about the folks who were once mistaken for their children's grandparents by a busy, nearsighted 15-year- old clerk. I myself was once mis- taken for a serial rapist. By 15 racist cops. So I feel your pain... ouch. No, that's still my pain. But power to the trendy people.") Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Cosmetic procedures — are you the holdout? Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, July 2, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B3

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