Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/598320
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 It'slikeatrainwreck.Fascinating,repel- lant, and loud, all at the same time. Talking about the American presidential sweep- stakes. And, as ratings for the last few debates seem to indicate, very hard to look away. ItwasWinstonChurchill who called our election pro- cess, "a circus wrapped in a game show cov- ered in poison- ous weasel glit- ter." And if he didn't, he should have. Look at how we treat these poor people. Gang debates. Smug interrogators. Parti- san witch hunts. Hostile ex- aminations. Substandard lec- terns. Marathon fund-raisers with cold congealed Swedish meatballs in a watery mus- tard sauce. What we end up with is scarred, dehydrated, emo- tional wrecks confused by simple math and their shoes. And that's another question: Who would want this job? What kind of crazy masochis- tic flippo-unit voluntarily un- dertakes this mission of bar- barous self- flagellation? Not just jumping into the flaming crucible of brutish internecine combat, but dragging their families along with them? You would not be far off conclud- ing that anybody who can be elected president, shouldn't be. Even the serious candi- dates quickly turn into be- wildered patsies sentenced to months of trudging through Iowa and New Hampshire mud. Constantly dodging teams of opposition research- ers looking for anything re- sembling dirt. And forced to eat gas station sushi. There has got to be a bet- ter way to pick the leader of the free world. The system we have now is much too long, totally fractious, unseemly, indecorous, vicious and un- becoming. Put those all to- gether and what do you get: Television. If we're going to run this like a reality show, let's run it like a reality show. We al- ready got them jumping through hoops, all we need are enough cameras to cap- ture the action. It's an award- winning, mini-series waiting for the right producer. Auction off the rights to the highest bidding network and let them fold it into one of their signature franchises. "America's Next Top Politi- cian." "Dancing With the Of- fice- Seekers." "Keeping up with the Roosevelts." "So You Think You Can Negoti- ate with Putin?" "Hell's Cam- paign Trail." "America's Got BS." The Real Hypocrites of Washington D.C." "Project In- auguration." Just insert some loophole that keeps CNBC out of the running. "Apprentice" morphed into "Celebrity Apprentice," why not "Presidential Appren- tice?" Let Donald Trump ex- perience the joy of being fired from both ends. CBS could transform their hour each week to "The Amazing Race: Oval Office." Only a few dis- gruntled campaign managers would quibble with calling it "The Biggest Loser." Many shows wouldn't need any alteration. "Big Brother" sort of already tangentially fits. As does "The Real World," in a vague ironic sense. "Shark Tank," definitely. "American Idol," yeah, right, dream on. "The Voice," or more aptly, "The Lack of Voice." With the show's emphasis on backstabbing and blind- siding, "Survivor: Foggy Bot- tom" is almost a perfect fit. We could even mimic the for- mat and offer clues to help contestants find hidden im- munity idols. "Congratula- tions. You may skip Nevada and South Carolina and go straight to Super Tuesday." A number of reality show conventions could be ad- opted and/ or adapted. The weekly weigh in when they strip down to their undies would immediately trigger Must See TV. And finally, for- get the hand on the Bible, on January 21, 2017, Chief Justice Roberts offers up to the in- coming president... one single red rose. WillDurstisanaward- winning, nationally acclaimed columnist and comedian. Go to willdurst. com for info about his new one-man show "BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG," and the documentary "3 Still Standing." Will Durst Who wouldn't want this job? What kind of crazy masochistic flippo-unit voluntarily undertakes this mission of barbarous self- flagellation? Speakupon conditions at Vista Editor: I am writing to raise awareness ofthestateoffacilitiesatVistaPre- paratory Academy. I have been on the campus a number of times al- ready this year as my son attends sixth grade. I was shocked at some of the things I saw: a field of dead grass turned to dirt on the south side of campus (with students actu- ally playing on it); cramped and overcrowded classrooms; desks so small, students hardly have enough space to work; a regularly used gym with no locker rooms; a somewhat usable track with no available water source for stu- dents. Thesearejustafewexamplesof an outdated facility that's in des- perate need of some upgrades and repair. I know the staff on site is doingtheirbestunderthecircum- stances, but the issue of facilities needs to be addressed now. I urge invested community members to speak to the school board at their monthly meeting as soon as possible. I know I will be there Tuesday night. — Pat Gleason, Red Bluff Supervisors ignore the law Editor: The article in the paper dated Oct. 23, Restrictions put on RV, trailer residency, really bothers me. But first I want to applaud Candy Carlson once again for standing up to the rest of the su- pervisors who continually disre- gard laws and the needs of oth- ers to get what personally feeds their egos. I remember one of the now su- pervisors lived in a fifth wheel for reasons I won't disclose be- cause it doesn't matter. The point is most everyone goes through rough times for whatever reason and we shouldn't judge them. If the supervisors believe this will decrease the housing used for marijuana cultivators they should know better. Now for the law part; these same supervisors using this new ordinance, which states in order to have a travel trailer or recre- ational vehicle in an R-1 residen- tial zone would require a stick- built home or mobile home and a use permit with a limited 90 day per calendar year, which in some cases I would have to agree with, however it's how their doing it that I feel is illegal. How can they legally uphold this ordinance when in fact they themselves disregard zoning and CCR laws and do as they please in residential areas? These Supervisors bought two residential lots in the West Gate subdivision at the end of Plymire and rezoned them so they could build a 300,000 sq. foot, $1 mil- lion office building for three em- ployees. In the rezoning of these lots they had their public meet- ings as required but anyone who spoke against the rezoning were ignored or treated very rudely. The public's opposition was from the association as they did not want the landfill to span out that close to property fences. In the CCRs it states, in order to rezone it would take a three- fourths vote from the residents to pass, which the vote took place and the people voted it down and the supervisors disregarded the vote and have started the proj- ect. If one of the other residents would have tried to do this the association president would have to take the votes to the Board of Supervisors to decide if this proj- ect was legal for this area. The Supervisors can't disre- gard a three-fourths vote against their own projects on their own subdivision lots, which goes against the CCRs which has been in effect since 1972. When I brought this up at a board meeting the Chairman Dennis Garton said to me, well I guess I'll build three houses on each lot and bring out the special needs people. I asked if that was a threat and received no reply. Now if I still had my RV and lived in the county I would be de- fiant and challenge the supervi- sors legally. I would start with the way I was treated at board meetings and the continuance of the rudeness some supervisors bestow on the public if they don't agree with them. Then I would challenge the legalities of them ignoring land laws while they en- force new ones on the public. Ac- tually I am working on this any- way. — Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff CouldwewinWWIItoday? Editor: If World War II happened to- day, we would lose it. Countries are not defeated by military action. They can be de- stroyed, not defeated. There is a difference. Germany was dev- astated in WWI which led to WWII. The military defeat of Iraq was not a victory. After and during WWII we used an army of scientists to learn how to convert the van- quished enemies to peaceful al- lies while we helped rebuild our enemies and repair the damage. We used scientists, huge amounts of financial aid, and military occupation during that process. Similarly, our short pe- riod of peace in Iraq was accom- plished by hiring and bribing our opponents. One pundit suggested instead of spending about $30,000 per Vietnamese on military action during that war, we just bomb them with the same amount of money so if it hit anyone it would kill an enemy and if it missed we would make a capitalist. The Iraq war cost over a trillion dol- lars, surely we could have accom- plished more with that amount? Like Rome, we are begin- ning to see force and violence as the only source of power. Guns, school cops, prisons, unlimited military coercion didn't work too well in Rome, either. If Roman force and brutality were so effectivethere would be no Christians. It is hard to kill ideas with guns. We should fight using superior ideas and values to build not destroy. — Diana Thompson, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take President Obama still hasn't learned the hard lesson taught to him by Russia's President Vladi- mir Putin. In a yet another display of hu- bris built upon failure, Obama chastised Republican presiden- tial candidates who say "Obama's weak" on Putin. "[I]t turns out they can't han- dle a bunch of CNBC modera- tors," Obama joked. "If you can't handle those guys, then I don't think the Chinese and the Rus- sians are going to be too worried about you." He laughed, his supporters laughed and the informed shook their heads in disbelief. On Putin, it was Sarah Palin who said way back in 2008, "Af- ter the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of in- decision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next." Liberals mocked the Republi- can candidate for vice-president, calling her crazy and her notion "strange." Russia invaded. Obama allowed Putin to draw him into his long game, begin- ning with Ukraine, and is now in a position where Russia slaugh- ters American allies in Syria with impunity. All the President seems to be able to do is watch. We all remember Obama's ar- rogant ignorance while debat- ing Mitt Romney during the 2012 campaign, when Romney accu- rately described Russia as Ameri- ca's biggest "geopolitical foe." Obama claimed it was al Qa- eda, laughing that the 1980s wanted their foreign policy back. Conservative analysts dis- cussed warning Putin he'd face potential economic sanctions if he made any military moves against Ukraine. Obama preached "no precon- ditions" and Hillary presented the Russians with a big, red plastic button that read, "Over- charged." When Putin invaded (as Repub- licans predicted), Obama secured the Republican-suggested sanc- tions from the G-7 countries and the International Monetary Fund. Another example of those silly Republicans who Obama believes don't know how to face Putin. Obama was also wrong about CNBC, where the liberal modera- tors were spinning so out of con- trol that the Republican candi- dates DID handle them. The debate was billed as being economy-centered, titled, "Your Money, Your Vote." John Kasich did the best job answering the first of many va- pid questions that had nothing to do with the economy, "What's your greatest weakness?" "Good question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job," Kasich said. "We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance bud- gets, cut taxes..." As the CNBC moderators con- tinued, Ted Cruz launched into his now-historic take-down of the Three Biased Amigos. "The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illus- trate why the American people don't trust the media," Cruz said to rousing applause from the au- dience. "How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about?" Now, NBC is negotiating with campaigns to bring some hon- esty and, perhaps, journalism to debates. President Obama doesn't rec- ognize this is how one "handles" negotiable problems, not by trad- ing five Taliban leaders for a de- serter. In future debates, Republicans need to ignore the banal, par- tisan "attack" narratives from left-wing moderators and confi- dently state their goals, policies and plans. When disgruntled partisan moderators complain the candi- dates haven't answered their ri- diculous questions, Republicans should simply smile and say, "You are correct." Rick Jensen is Delaware's award-winning conservative talk show host on WDEL, streaming live on WDEL.com from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time. Contact Rick at rick@wdel. com, or follow him on Twitter @ Jensen1150WDEL. Rick Jensen Sorry Obama, Republicans did handle CNBC Will Durst OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, November 7, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4