Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/586605
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 Recently there was a legislative attempt in Sacramento to add a whooping two dollars in taxes to each and every pack of cigarettes. I know this proposal would have been good for everyone's health. However, we all hate taxes don't we? Waybackin1956,whenI had just turned eighteen and was experiencing puberty, I was in the pro- cess of trying to make myself ap- pear a little more grown up. So, I taught myself how to smoke. I was in fact very stupid to do that. I was in the United States Army at the time and had just been stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. I actually thought if I learned to smoke people might like me better. I would be doing more of the things that almost every adult was doing. Remember that wonder- ful AMC television series "Mad Men?" One time I actually won- dered if all those cast members got extra pay for putting their lives in jeopardy because they had to expose themselves to all those cancer sticks constantly. The really stupid part is when I discovered it was ac- tually very hard to learn to smoke. It was very distasteful at first. Well, I am sorry to report that the efforts this year in your legislature to raise those new taxes on those cigarettes and also to regulate those new and silly e-cigarettes have both failed. Our golden state already has America's largest taxes even without taxing the sin of smoking. Please give me your candid thoughts and opinions. This was supposed to have been a bad year for the tobacco industry in the California Legis- lature. There was even another proposal to raise the legal age for smoking from 18 to 21. Un- fortunately, that proposal did not pass either on the very last day of the legislative session. Yes, it was extremely diffi- cult for me to suck in the resi- due of decayed and dead vege- tation. But, I did it and then I was hooked. Suddenly, I had to have a cigarette immediately upon awakening each morning, even before my first cup of cof- fee. I sometimes still miss my cig, as I used to call them. Today, I have not had a cig- arette for 14-15 years partly be- cause of my wife. A month or so after I met Roleeda, she told me in casual conversa- tion, she would not date any- one who smokes. Well candidly, I am not that stupid and was al- ready falling hopelessly in love with her and interested in a lot more than just smoking. I kept my mouth shut and managed to kick that lousy habit because of her. Then, over six years ago, I was diagnosed with heart dis- ease. When that was discovered, it was only a couple of days and I was under the surgeon's knife. A Doctor Sharma performed a six-way heart bypass in Sacra- mento to keep me going. Today, I love the scar go- ing down my chest. Of course, if I knew what I know now, I would never have used one of those lousy cancer sticks. Mytakeonthemovies If you like to laugh like I do, I think you will enjoy "A Walk in The Woods," starring the very dependable actors Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. It's an obvious plot of two old guys who want to take their lives back to the good times. An agonizing hike they take on the never ending Appalachian Trail is fun but may not have been a good idea either. Well, enjoy. StanStathamserved1976-1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965- 1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@gmail.com. My take Kicking myself and the habit of smoking Way back in 1956, when I had just turned eighteen and was experiencing puberty, I was in the process of trying to make myself appear a little more grown up. So, I taught myself how to smoke. State'swateruseprobably increasedinAugust Editor: Several North state newspa- pers report that the state's wa- ter savings hit 27% in August. Al- though city use of water likely hit 27% savings, driving through Te- hema rural areas clearly shows thousand of acres of new almond and walnut plantings in formerly barren range land. It is likely that rural ag newly drilled wells has increased wa- ter use by 27%. Hence, based on 20 percent city use and 80 per- cent ag use, it is likely that the to- tal State water use has increased about 16% from the base pre draught 2012 era. Until there is a moratorium on drilling new 8- to 16-inch ag wells to tap the aquifer, there will not be a net state water use com- bined savings from city and ag water users. The sinking of land and the in- vasion of salt water in the cen- tral valley, will be repeated in our North State, if unlimited drilling of large wells to tap the aquifer continues. Ag water use should face the same percent reduc- tion as mandated for cities .Israel has shown the ability to dramat- ically cut agricultural water use through selective irrigation tech- niques and the reuse of city wa- ter. — Joseph Neff, Corning Guncontrol'ssuperstitious Editor: The public outcry for tighter gun control laws that always fol- lows rare but highly-publicized shootings is superstitious. After all, such would only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to get guns; criminals steal their guns or buy them on the black market. Further, tighter restrictions would have little ef- fect on the more than one gun per person already circulating in America. Even if every gun could be seized and destroyed, disgruntled citizens would then likely switch from mass shootings to mass burnings, bombings, gassings and poisonings, which could be even deadlier. It's been said again and again: Guns don't kill people, people kill people. The way to end gun vio- lence isn't to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to get guns. Rather, it's to eradicate the ten- sions and injustices that drive all forms of violence. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Thedistraction ofBlackSwan Editor: Lately I wrote about distrac- tion in the political sphere. Rel- ative to debt, immigration, and the successful move to cause a loss of trust in government. A more subtle form of distraction, used in economics, is called the "Black Swan." The Black Swan, faced with the few economists who pre- dicted the 2007-2008 crash, ig- nored them and went on to speak of how these events come from no where, that no one can predict or envision them. It's helpless to try so don't try. Ig- nore the fact that there are those few economists who have spent their lives and energies in the vocations and careers of making their living studying economies and how they work. Ignore them. American — or Australian in Steve Keen's case — hard work means nothing anymore. What a coincidence that my missive has been quickly fol- lowed by what appears to be a subtle form of Black Swan cour- tesy of Diana Thompson. She writes of what appear to be frightful little men, afraid of women, and everything else in the big, adult world of politics and economics. Do I perceive a sexist turn about wherein men are told "not to worry their pretty little heads about these things?" Although, all in all, that would probably be a vast improvement on everything. Fright or helplessness was not shown by these people when they raised FICA and multiple other taxes on the populace while di- minishing capital gains and in- terest tax that the wealthy bene- fit from. They demonstrated no tremulousness as they as they limited bankruptcy relief for the populace while providing out- right bailouts for the wealthy. Nor when they pushed Prop. 13, which is of much greater benefit to the corporate which overides the benefit to homeowners in the long run. There is no delay in lending the $8 trillion dollars in small times savings to more people to gain more interest to further move money upwards to the ar- istocracy. At the beginning of our country, indentured servants served a 7 year contract before they were free. How things have advanced to the point where a student becomes debt indentured for most, if not all of their life- time. All this, and worlds more, en- gineered by these frightened — therefore helpless and non threatening — people. I'm not buying it anymore. There is no class war. There is simply an eco- nomic slaughter of the common by the aristocracy. We are the helpless. Not they. In economics, Nouriel Rou- bini is probably next to God. Jef- frey Sachs is God. Contributing angels being Michael Hudson, Steve Keen, Elltiot Spitzer believe it or not. You will not find them on CNN or any other television. Noam Chomsky will not be seen on PBS. You have to go to the In- ternet. Or "Killing the Host" by Michael Hudson, which is a defi- nite leg up. — James Bryant, Red Bluff Whatarethefacts Editor: Think daylight saving time. Cut the end off a rug and sew it on the other end to make it lon- ger. Maybe it's time to be fasci- nated by opinions and under- standing facts. No water shortage or distri- bution problem, yes. Bullet train is a want, water distribution is a need. Want to increase the mini- mum wage, you need increased education, skill and productivity. Want gun control, you need improved mental health care. All medicine has side effects. We tend to treat symptoms before the cause. What are the facts? How and when are they used? For what? — Steve Kelsey, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take True, my son Gideon is tech- nically a Pre-teen, but he is such a voracious reader with such a large vocabulary that I feel I have a personal stake in pro- moting Teen Read Week Octo- ber 18-24. Teen Read Week is an an- nual celebration of reading coor- dinated by the Young Adult Li- brary Association. It spotlights the myriad resources and activi- ties available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun of it. Projects such as Dolly Par- ton's Imagination Library put books in the hands of young children, but it behooves the en- tire community to keep the mo- mentum going through the tu- multuous teen years. Teens, don't obsess over being labeled "egghead," "bookworm," "nerd," "geek" or "weirdo." Keep enriching your brain and some- day your taunters will be more likely to call you "sir," "ma'am," "boss," "your honor" or "Mr./Ms. President." Tone down your preoccupa- tion with texting and social me- dia just long enough to make new friends in books. According to the latest research, Tom Saw- yer practically never shared a friend's nude selfie with the en- tire world. If you think of reading as a chore, just consider some of the menial tasks you'll be stuck with if you don't seize the opportu- nity to improve yourself. Avid readers can always take a break to enjoy fishing, shopping or a day at the spa — but non-readers can rarely fake their way into more cerebral social settings. Squirming as literary/current events references fly over your head — that's a real chore. Don't complain about adults ignoring you or placing a low value on your opinions, if you've done nothing to improve your grasp of facts and logic. A re- sume filled with "hanging out" and a debate style sprinkled with "whatever" or "you're not my real mother" do not build confidence. Parents, when you shoo your teens outdoors to "get some fresh air," remember that read- ing is one activity that can be enjoyed outdoors. Keep books high on the list of possible gifts. If your teens really, re- ally hate reading, investigate to see if the cause is the aforemen- tioned peer pressure, or perhaps a problem such as dyslexia or blurred vision. Civic and business leaders, keep our libraries and liter- acy programs strong. Our work- force and electorate need young adults who can read directions, follow a task to completion, communicate clearly with su- pervisors and customers and ex- hibit imaginative problem-solv- ing. Friends, teachers and neigh- bors, if you know a teen who is taking on an adult load of re- sponsibility around the house (because the parents are ill or perpetually stoned), don't let them become discouraged. Help them find ways to squeeze in reading time. Librarians, keep helping teens learn that reading and their cur- rent passions are not mutually exclusive. Teens who are avid fans of four-wheeling, crafts, team sports or tattooing should be guided toward books and magazines that will help them enjoy those endeavors even more. Publishers and booksellers, don't try to treat the nation's 42 million teens like a mono- lithic demographic that appreci- ates only a handful of bestsell- ing genres. Offer new and classic books in every category. Help the leaders of tomorrow enjoy a robust Teen Read Week. Open up New Worlds for teens. But watch out if — in order to obtain a library card — they must pledge not to corrupt, ex- ploit or name sports teams after the indigenous peoples in those new worlds. *Sigh* Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Everyone should help with Teen Read Week Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, October 15, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6