Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/606231
Now that congressional Republicans and roughly 50 cowered Democratic colleagues have passed a panicky bill to impede the entry of Syrian refugees, I think it's time to pause for a reality check. Howpredictableitisthat the Republican Congress seeks to ratchet up the background checks on Syrian refugees, but will never consider expanding background checks on the gun purchasers already in America? Borrowing Chris Christie's cal- culus, a five-year-old Syrian or- phan is apparently deemed to be more dangerous than an all- American schoolyard doofus with a home-grown arsenal. But the willful blindness is actually worse than that. While the Republican Con- gress is fixated on the refugees, thousands of officially sus- pected terrorists already living in America are free to buy as much weaponry as they want. I bet you didn't know that. It's totally true. As the fed- eral Government Accountabil- ity Office explains it, "Mem- bership in a terrorist organiza- tion does not prohibit a person from possessing firearms or ex- plosives under current federal law." The GAO says in a report that roughly 2,040 individu- als on the FBI's Terrorist Watch List bought weapons from American dealers between 2004 to 2014. Go figure. Ter- rorist Watch List denizens can be stopped from boarding air- planes, but if they want to buy AK-47s or dynamite — hey, no problem, this is America. So why is Congress pan- icking about Syrian refugees while it allows the suspected terrorists to lock and load? Simple — because the NRA wants it that way. Even though Congress is scared of the refu- gees, it's downright terrified of crossing the NRA. Back in 2007, the Bush ad- ministration endorsed a Sen- ate Democratic bill to bar the Watch List people from buying weapons. Gun-reform groups applauded the administration's move; as Paul Helmke, pres- ident of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said at the time, "When I tell people that you can be on a terrorist watch list and still be allowed to buy as many guns as you want, they are shocked." But the NRA shot it down as an in- fringement on Second Amend- ment absolutism. A few years later, Congress launched its own bipartisan at- tempt to change the law. After all, the Watch List is comprised of roughly 700,000 people — suspected members of al Qa- eda and other terrorist groups, plus terrorist financiers and re- cruiters, and people who have spent time in training camps. But this reform effort died too, thanks to pressure from the NRA. The suspected ter- rorists should be grateful that they have such skilled de facto defense lawyers working on their behalf. The NRA extolled its clients as "law-abiding peo- ple" who deserved their "Sec- ond Amendment rights," but the NRA revealed its true mo- tives when it warned in an 2009 editorial that if the Watch Listers were barred from buy- ing weapons, "whole segments of lawful firearms commerce could be wiped out." So today, Congress beats up on Syrian refugees as it passes a bill without any expert testi- mony, without any committee hearings and without any in- put from the vetters. And while empty suits like Ben Carson compare the refugees to rabid dogs, the suspected terrorists who are already here, already listed by the feds, are free to conduct gun-buying sprees. And nobody is happier about this than the bad guys. In a 2011 video, American-born al Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn offered some advice to those in America — Watch List suspects and others — who might wish to wreak havoc. "And in the West you've got a lot at your disposal. Let's take America, for example. Amer- ica is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully auto- matic assault rifle without a background check and, most likely, without having to show an identification card," Gadahn said. "So what are you wait- ing for?" The man knows his native land. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. DickPolman Terror suspects free to buy guns Cartoonist's take I've written numerous col- umns on the real Thanksgiving feast, a feast that showered the colonists and their guests with har- vested abundance. The harvests fol- lowed the near- starvation of those same colonists un- der a utopian com- munal, collectivist system. I wrote, at the end of one column, that we needed to beware the attempt to implement "single payer," collec- tivist health care. They mostly got what they wanted—now, failing Obamacare coops, mas- sively subsidized premiums, bal- looning deductibles and broken promises litter the health care landscape. This column rarely digni- fies critics just to prove that I'm right or my critics are wrong. Readers should consider various viewpoints, facts, and sources and arrive at what they believe to be the truth. I'm A-ok with that; other writers sometimes engage in back-and-forth dis- putes, which generally end up tiring and boring readers. If I err on some point of verifi- able fact, however rarely that oc- curs, I'm big enough to own up. The bulk of attacks boil down to one opinion vs. another, however sincerely or passionately held. It does strike me that—when crit- ics can't simply let a disagree- ment stand on the merits and re- sort to character insults and ad hominem low balls—they usually reveal the inherent weaknesses of their positions. I was chagrined to see that I committed a mental math error: "1 percent of Obama's intended 10,000 Syrians equals 10 poten- tial jihadis." Brain gas alone suf- fices to explain incorrect deci- mal point placement. However, I was no less chagrined to be mis- quoted, which readers also de- serve to know. Critic: "Don Pol- son writes that 1 percent of 100,000 equals 10…The answer is 100." You can see we both were off by factors of 10: my erroneous division and the critic's inabil- ity to properly quote me while also goofing on the math. Prov- ing my prior point, the writer couldn't resist a disingenuous cheap shot, "This is only the most obvious example of misin- formation that we regularly re- ceive from this source." Hmmm. Shouldn't readers also draw similar conclusions about my critics: They can't quote me ac- curately and can't do simple math. Finally, I will respectfully push back against the criticism, lodged on this page, that having not served in uniform and hav- ing protested against the Viet- nam War, I should be disgraced, ashamed of and intimidated over criticizing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on veter- ans issues. Well, I'm neither dis- graced nor ashamed and I'm not intimidated; I'll take any stand, on any issue, with truthful, nec- essary critiques of any politician or officeholder I feel deserves it. I could cite Hillary Clinton's shrieking about not shutting up, about speaking up, against then- President Bush when Democrats had endless phony arguments on Iraq. Using the critic's standard, unless someone has been in law enforcement they have no right to criticize anyone on that issue; unless someone has a medical background they have no right to criticize health care positions; unless they own a gun or know someone who's been a victim of gun violence they can't opine about firearms policies; unless they own a home or property they shouldn't weigh in on, nor should they even vote on, rais- ing property taxes. The reflexive response of the left is to shut critics up and I have seen every permutation of that response over the last 10+ years of writing columns. When someone only objects to my criticism of Democrats like Obama and Clinton, I sense a possible partisan hack in dis- guise. I've reread my Novem- ber 3 column, "Vets deserve bet- ter from Hillary," and found not one single statement to be in- accurate or unfair. I cited the New York Daily News column by S.E. Cupp, "Clinton shrugs off the deaths of 300,000 veterans," which anyone can enter in a search window and find numer- ous citations; her figures came from VA Inspector General re- ports, I believe, and have not been refuted. I recall polling of active and retired military going back de- cades, and I believe I'm right to say that Presidents Ronald Rea- gan, George Bush and candidate John McCain all garnered very favorable approval numbers; Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton have not. Someone who only attacks me when I criti- cize Democrats and, moreover, uses their military service as a cudgel against me, is not a fair- minded critic. They may be sur- prised to find that Hillary is not popular among 80 percent of ac- tive and retired military. I also find that the generally favorable experiences of veter- ans using the VA system dis- proves none of the widely re- ported failures, including over 60,000 veterans on waiting lists that were kept hidden for bet- ter public reports. Consider the hypocrisy of citing 80+ per- cent satisfaction by veterans in VA health care; when Obam- acare was being debated and proposed, polling consistently found between 80 and 90 per- cent of people satisfied with their health insurance. Back then, we were told to just shut up and accept that the whole system needing fixing; now, de- fenders and apologists say just shut up and accept that prob- lems with VA health care are overblown. Frankly, I'm a little tired of the left using whatever current iteration of "government knows best" to silence critics of that same government. I'm also more-than-a-little ticked off that we can't have honest debates with verifiable data about the decidedly proven better results when problems are solved in the private sector with free will, free market ideas. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Let's be grateful for freedom GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD 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 StateandNational AssemblymanJamesGallagher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03. asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 For- est Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424,senator.nielsen@senate. ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558- 3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Fran- cisco 94104, 415 393-0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District5,BurtBundy,Ext.3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 Your officials Frankly, I'm a little tired of the left using whatever current iteration of "government knows best" to silence critics of that same government. I'm also more-than-a- little ticked off that we can't have honest debates with verifiable data about the decidedly proven better results when problems are solved in the private sector with free will, free market ideas. Don Polson Last week Congress dealt a blow to President Obama's plan to resettle 10,000 Syr- ians fleeing their war-torn homeland. On a vote of 289- 137, including 47 Democrats, the House voted to require the FBI to closely vet any ap- plicant from Syria and to guarantee that none of them pose a threat to the US. Effec- tively this will shut down the program. The House legislation was brought to the Floor after last week's attacks in Paris that left more than 120 peo- ple dead, and for which ISIS claimed responsibility. With the year-long U.S. bomb- ing campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, there is a good deal of concern that among those 10,000 to be set- tled here there might be some who wish to do us harm. Even though it looks as though the Paris attackers were all EU citizens, polling in the U.S. shows record opposition to al- lowing Syrian refugees entry. I agree that we must be very careful about who is per- mitted to enter the United States, but I object to the president's plan for a very dif- ferent reason. I think it is a sign of Washington's moral and intellectual bankruptcy that U.S. citizens are being forced to pay for those fleeing Washington's foreign policy. For the past ten years the U.S. government has been planning and executing a regime change operation against the Syrian govern- ment. It is this policy that has produced the chaos in Syria, including the rise of ISIS and al-Qaeda in the country. Af- ter a decade of U.S. destabili- zation efforts, we are now told that Syria is totally destabi- lized and we therefore must take in thousands of Syri- ans fleeing the destabilization that Washington caused. Has there ever been a more fool- ish and wrong-headed foreign policy than this? Who should pay for the millions fleeing the chaos that Washington helped create? Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul Who should pay for the refugees? OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, November 24, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6