Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/618981
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 I would've preferred to watch "Fargo," a pitch-black comedy about bloodlusting knuckleheads, but instead I dutifully tuned in the Republicans, and I got the same kind of characters. TherewasTedCruz,touting the awesomeness of carpet- bombing ISIS, apparently clue- less about the fact that ISIS troops are embedded in the cities, amongst civilian adults and children. There was Chris Christie, jo- nesing to shoot down Russian planes in a Syrian no-fly zone, a burst of bellicosity so egre- gious that two-percent can- didate Rand Paul had to slap him silly: "We don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war." There was Donald Trump, vowing to launch "very, very firm" assaults on terrorists' families, because, in his mind, the families are all part of the conspiracy. In reality, official 9/11 investigators discovered that the hijackers had severed contact with their families long before the attack — and none of them had families in America. Heck, even one of the mod- erators — conservative radio commentator Hugh Hewitt, tapped by CNN to make the candidates feel comfy — got into the spirit when he asked Ben Carson whether he was tough enough to kill lots of kids. Yes, folks, it was another Re- publican fright night — we're all gonna die unless we elect their toughness. If you listened only to them, you'd never know that San Bernardino's hideous death toll was only a fraction of the 10,000 Amer- icans killed each year by the Second Amendment arsenal. Or that, for every Farook and Malik, there are hundreds of white-guy domestic terrorists toting easily acquired weap- ons of war. Early on, Carson called for a moment of silence for the San Bernardino victims. How fit- ting that he and his comrades offered no such silence for the people recently shot dead at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. Or for the 10 people shot dead this fall at Umpqua Community College in October. Or for the nine people shot dead last June at the historic black church in Charleston. But worst of all was Chris- tie. In his ongoing bid to mask his failed gubernatorial record with macho bluster, Christie implied that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are some- how responsible for a hoax that led to the evacuation of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Perhaps, if Christie cares so much about little kids be- ing "safe and sound," he could've mentioned that Mon- day was the third anniversary of Sandy Hook, where 20 little kids were gunned down by a white all-American loser from a gun-loving family. But that would've breached the total Republican fixation on ISIS. On the broader issue of American strategy in the Mid- dle East, these candidates are deeply divided. Woe to the viewer-voter who tuned in hoping for clarity. At least four of them — Trump, Cruz, Paul, Carson — appear to re- ject the neoconservative belief in American-led nation build- ing and regime change. Trump thinks we can thwart ISIS by closing down part of the Internet (whatever that means), Christie thinks we should keep Americans safe from five-year-old Syr- ian orphans, and boasted that he would partner successfully with King Hussein of Jordan, who died in 1999. All the while, for two and a half hours, not a single candi- date (and not a single terror- ist-fixated CNN moderator) saw fit to mention the most consequential foreign pol- icy event of the past week: the historic Paris climate change pact, championed by the American president, and en- dorsed by 188 countries from the developed and developing worlds. But these "Fargo" characters don't do good news. They pre- fer to traffic in fear. The only good news is that they're done debating for the year. 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. Dick Polman Fright-wingers compete to freak us out Cartoonist's take This week leads up to the Christmas Day commemora- tion of the birth of the Sav- ior, Jesus Christ. For those that re- vere the event, the season of Ad- vent precedes, and prepares us for, the arrival of Christmas. Hope is perhaps the fin- est, certainly the most appropriate, of emotions that rise in the heart. It could be well said that, setting aside the religious rituals and ser- vices, hope is of nearly limit- less supply and equally needed for individual souls and also for many groups of people by belief, race, nationality or cir- cumstance. Where there is a downtrod- den, beset upon person, family, community, culture or coun- try—there is the reason for hope of deliverance from mis- fortune and persecution. I'm not proselytizing for my faith; I'm only suggesting that any- one can identify with the hope that springs from the heart's desire for freedom from im- posed limits, and freedom for fulfillment of one's desired des- tiny. In that spirit, I say Merry Christmas to you. There is another kind of hope, a more secular, mundane desire for one's preferred out- come or direction. This can be an expression of personal, community or national better- ment. Upon reflection, as we move toward an election year, this kind of hope often finds its expression in candidates, campaigns, issue advocacy and such. It's in this commonality of purpose, no matter one's po- sitions or preferred outcomes, in which I would like to ac- knowledge the good intentions among all of us for this com- ing cycle. I'll have no harsh- ness this week towards anyone at any level of our political dis- putes. Being magnanimous to- wards one's adversaries can be refreshing and might be re- turned in kind—or not. I'll always have a place in my heart for the tale of the WWI battlefield where sol- diers on both sides began singing carols, on Christmas Eve, and ended up engaging in some sort of athletic game and revelry together in "no man's land." Of course, after that harmonious respite, the trench warfare resumed, to the detriment of many, dash- ing the hopes of most, and leaving few with the satisfac- tion they expected when hos- tilities began. Before me are numerous Daily News articles on the sub- jects of energy, climate change and global warming, with pre- dictions, warnings, goals and expectations. There is a real and deep divergence among the voters and their leaders. There is consternation and ac- cusations on both sides—one convinced of certain catastro- phe to follow inaction, or even insufficient action, to reduce so-called "greenhouse gasses"; the other just as adamant that the threat is overblown and that the cost, to implement the desired measures, is a catastro- phe of its own. Consider from "Gov. Brown: Millions are suffering because of climate change" (July 22), to "UC leader: Fighting cli- mate change is crucial" (Octo- ber 28), to "Pope says it will be 'catastrophic' if interests de- rail climate talks" (November 27). One would expect that the Pope's pronouncement would give it a rather transcendent imprimatur, perhaps a final word on the matter. But I also saw "Minority of US Catholics know pope's climate views" on August 20; perhaps the Pope's own flock is less than con- cerned or attentive to his seri- ousness on the issue. In the August 18 issue, we were informed, "Califor- nia measure fails to generate green jobs" with some rather sobering analysis of an obvi- ously well intended ballot mea- sure from 2012. The Clean En- ergy Jobs Act received strong majority support for "closing a tax loophole for multistate corporations…(raising) taxes on corporations (to) generate clean jobs by funding energy- efficiency projects in schools." However, "barely one-tenth of the promised jobs have been created, and the state has no comprehensive list to show how much work has been done or how much energy has been saved. "Money is trickling in at a slower-than-anticipated rate, and more than half of the $297 million given to schools so far has gone to consultants and energy auditors. The board, created to oversee this project and submit annual progress re- ports to the Legislature, has never met." There are probably some "I told you so's" among those congenitally suspicious of well-intended ballot mea- sures that authorize the gov- ernment to collect the money first, with promises of great things to come. However, to- day's column avoids blame and finger pointing. I read, on October 8, that the "State wants renewable energy for half of its power by 2030. I'll be 80 that year; I've just turned 65 and have seen energy prices and costs dra- matically rise over the years of analyzing PG&E bills. Just 4 short years ago, a similar usage, between 600 and 700 kilowatt hours for the month, was charged at about 12 cents per kwh for a total bill of less than $80. It's now 17 cents per kwh for a bill well over $100 (higher without my medical device allowance). The only thing changed: the mandated building and use of renew- able wind and solar that costs closer to 30 cents per kwh, compared to 5 cents for coal power. Is the absolute prohibition on using any energy derived from coal a fanatical overre- action? It certainly is a struc- tural inflation of energy costs that impact the poorest, and fixed-income seniors, the most. Many have rightly pointed to the artificially inflated cost of energy in California as a pri- mary motivation for businesses to relocate, reduce operations in our state, or not even con- sider starting up here. Electric- ity is 7 cents per kwh in Bend, Oregon. Hmm. Finally, an August 4 Daily News AP article, "Obama power plant rules spark 2016 fight over climate change," gave readers a "heads up" on an issue about which those on every side will be vesting their hopes, dare I say fears, lead- ing up to next years elections. Would that we all could win but that might be hoping for too much. 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 Hope for the season and year Trump thinks we can thwart ISIS by closing down part of the Internet (whatever that means), Christie thinks we should keep Americans safe from five-year- old Syrian orphans, and boasted that he would partner successfully with King Hussein of Jordan, who died in 1999. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Freaking jerk, I hope he pays. Glad no lives were taken, thank god, and no one else involved. Dena Cortez: On a suspected DUI collision that knocked out power to Red Bluff Wow. I heard he was driving a truck it spilt into two and caught on fire. Thank God he was alone. Why is it that the ones that are drinking and driving always walk away. Ronda Dougherty: On a suspected DUI collision that knocked out power to Red Bluff Don Polson StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest 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 LaMalfa, 507 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Francisco 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 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, December 22, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4