Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/5933
4A – Daily News – Wednesday, January 13, 2010 A MediaNews Group newspaper 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. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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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 Opinion I doubt a middle-aged, Irish- looking fellow would try such a thing. I refer to the Christmas Day bombing attempt. Authorities allege that a Nigerian fellow with ties to al-Qaida nearly brought down a plane by set- ting off explosives in his bloomers. I know it's unpleasant to acknowledge, but the al-Qaida fellows are at war with us. Since they don't have battle- ships, fighter jets or tanks, they board our commercial planes and try to blow them up. Since we know that's what they're trying to do, our gov- ernment, since 9/11, has writ- ten new laws and spent billions to upgrade our systems. Most importantly, it's stepped up efforts to carefully screen middle-aged, Irish-look- ing fellows who attempt to board commercial flights. Thankfully, I don't fly as much as I used to, but I went through a stretch in which I was pulled aside for secondary screening three flights in a row. Secondary screening, for those of you lucky enough to never fly, involves a thorough scanning and pat-down by Transportation Security Administration guards. Now I have sympathy for the people who screen thousands of passengers every day. It isn't TSA's fault that some people are trying to blow other people out of the sky. But why do so many airports have big, burly guards doing the secondary screening? Guard Bubba directed me to sit in a chair and lift each leg as he waved an electronic wand all about me. He told me to stand as he waved the wand over the rest of me. Then things got personal. Bubba told me to hold my arms out to my side, then, standing behind me, patted me down so thoroughly there is only one word that approxi- mates what transpired: dating. I didn't know if I should slug the fellow or send him roses. The process is even more intrusive for women. Because they have more places to con- ceal explosives, they get patted down in a manner that other- wise would require dinner and a show. I can't prove it, but I suspect the guards are profiling passen- gers -- the more attractive the lady, the more likely Bubba will direct her to the special screening area. That's what I'd do if I had Bubba's job. I'd single-handedly secure the skies from the threat of hot- looking female ter- rorists. I know it makes some folks feel safe that all passengers -- even 92-year-old grandmothers -- are being rigorously screened at our air- ports. But then again, it's frightening how easy it was for the alleged Christmas bomber to board a U.S.-bound flight. He reportedly had been training with al-Qaida in Yemen -- he was supposed to be on a watch list but wasn't. His father warned the U.S. embassy in Nigeria that his son was boarding a U.S.-bound plane with no luggage -- he told them his son espoused a radicalized faith and might do something bad. The son reportedly paid cash for his ticket and had no lug- gage -- yet he waltzed right onto the plane. Despite all the dough we've spent since 9/11 -- despite all the changes -- it was only through the grace of God that the undie bomb failed to detonate. Everyone is scared again, so our government is promising to make the system work bet- ter again. I know what that means: middle-aged, Irish-looking fellows can expect even more patting down. I just hope Bubba is more considerate next time. We were once so close, yet he never writes, he never calls. Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. Risks & Frisks Commentary N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY 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 Tom Purcell STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 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 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Your officials With each new year comes a new State of the Union Address. Doubtless this year's address will focus on the econ- omy. But as the president's speechwriters hunch over their keyboards to pound out drafts of this year's oration, they would do well to include some language about the state of our family unions. In good times and bad, the family is the basic building block of society. No matter how the U.S. economy per- forms in 2010, there is much work to be done to improve the state of the American fam- ily. First, there is work to be done on the propagation of family. Over the last half cen- tury, out-of-wedlock child- birth has grown by fits and starts, but it has not once had a recession. In 1950 one in 20 American children was born to an unwed mother. Today that number is nearly four of every 10. Even more worrisome, the rate of childbearing outside of wedlock has risen sharply in recent years, climbing by 26 percent between 2002 and 2007. And that occurred dur- ing a period of economic growth. This trend seems counter- intuitive. Rising gross domes- tic product and per-capita income should decrease stress- es on family life. In flush financial times, one would think key family indicators such as divorce and out-of- wedlock pregnancy would decline. But family dynamics are far more complicated than that. Marriage and family relations react in unpre- dictable ways to both econom- ic and political conditions. Last month the University of Virginia's National Mar- riage Project released a report called "The State of Our Unions 2009." Summarizing a number of studies from lead- ing family researchers across the country, the report pro- vides interesting information, and some cautionary tales, on questions of money and mar- riage. For starters, Project Direc- tor Dr. Brad Wilcox notes that in 2008, the first year of one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history, the divorce rate actually declined by seven-tenths of a percent. "Since the downturn began in December of 2007," the report says, "millions of Americans have adopted a home-grown bailout strategy. They are relying more upon their own marriages and families to weather this economic storm." As times toughen, family members turn to one another for short-term economic help, or even a place to live. As Robert Frost memorably wrote, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." In this deep recession, it is reasonable that families are rediscovering both their inher- ent practical and morale-nour- ishing benefits. However, the cau- tionary tales are just as real. Last spring the news was full of references to the "mancession," the fact that the current economic downturn has disproportionate- ly impacted males, especially working-class men lacking more than a high school edu- cation. The gap between the male and female unemploy- ment rates was 2.5 percentage points last May. Even when the unemployment rate dipped to 10 percent last November, this gap did not narrow. The National Marriage Project report documents the fact that men are 61 percent less likely to rate themselves happy in marriage if they work fewer hours than their wives. The concern is that the eco- nomic mancession could become an economic recovery marriage-cession. If renewed prosperity releases pent-up desire to separate, and more couples believe they can make it on their own, then the recent decline in divorce may be reversed. And because mar- riage is influenced by cultural forces above all, a resurgence of family breakdown could reinforce today's trends regarding the failure to form families, through delayed mar- riage and births outside its bonds. All of these issues would be ripe topics for Presi- dent Obama as he discusses the state of our nation at the onset of 2010. They are also a sober reminder that a false sense of prosperity breeds disaster. (Witness the housing bubble that touched off our current economic woes when it burst in 2008.) Real prosperity — past and future — is built on a free economy combined with per- sonal virtues of hard work and fidelity to those closest to us. It is encouraging that these tough economic times have coincided with a decline in divorce as families relearn the value, both temporal and spiri- tual, of the bonds of love. It would be a shame if the return of economic growth leaves those lessons in the dust. Families are always worth a second effort. Chuck Donovan is a senior research fellow in The Heritage Foundation's DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society. Readers may write to the author in care of The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, D.C. 20002; Web site: www.heritage.org. Guest View Chuck Donovan The home truth about marriage and family