Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/646059
Myallergiesstruckearlier than usual this year; when that happens my wife says I go through a per- sonality change, a not very pleas- ant one. I am wondering if the allergy sea- son has struck nationwide and early as well, with perhaps even more intensity in the po- litical fields which are strewn with the dusty remnants of lies, falsehoods, exaggerations, and accusations. Such dusty remains could exacerbate al- lergy symptoms and irritated behaviors. Some of the public conversa- tions we are subjected to would not make good fiction. They have to be the result of allergic reactions. For example, Mum- ble Jowls Mitch McConnell, al- legedly the "leader" of the au- gust body we call the Senate said that the President and the Senate should forego their Con- stitutional obligation to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court until after the new president is elected in November and in- stalled in January 2017. Apparently even our es- teemed Senate leader does not have enough confidence in ei- ther human nature or our Con- stitution to believe that a nomi- nation could be made and pos- sibly even approved. I guess the Constitution has become a document of convenience. Or maybe he wants to dodge one more difficult task we elected him to perform. Then there is the woman running for a school board in Texas. She has claimed pub- licly on several occasions that the President is a former drug addicted homosexual prosti- tute, and that is why he sup- ports gay marriage. Her aller- gies have not only produced a runny nose, but diarrhea of the mouth. Imagine her on a school board. Of course locally there are those who are blaming the wrong person for the turmoil at the County School Office. Rather than deal with obvious issues of dysfunction, verac- ity, and trust, they point fingers at someone whom they claim stirred up all this trouble. Their eyes are affected with the coating of short sighted al- lergens. It is like shooting the messenger when there is bad news. South of the Border the Pope accused Donald Trump of not having a Christian heart be- cause he wanted to build walls rather than bridges. Whether or not Trump is a Christian, or has a hard heart, may be immaterial, but the media had a big sneeze and sprayed out this item all over us for several news cycles. They didn't even bother to cover their mouths. It would be more interest- ing, and even more impor- tant for the media to analyze Trump's bizarre tax plan. It has been examined carefully by a wide of variety of economists and found lacking, mislead- ing, and full of terrible exag- gerations. Those things are po- tentially far more important to us that whether or not he has a hard heart. Maybe the tax issue is not as entertaining. The Big Five, Hillary, Ber- nie, Donald, Marco, and Ted keep exaggerating things both about themselves and about the state of our world. If things were as bad as all of them say they are, we would have had a major upheaval by now. Instead we have this election cycle, to which we are all becoming allergic. Although there seem to have been record turnouts for the primaries and cau- cuses so far, it may be that we will become immune to all the rhetoric and retreat away from its allergenic effect to our iPhones, and the Inter- net to avoid the seeming con- tamination of our airways, and give up on actually par- ticipating in our democratic process. In addition to the allergy season this is the season of Lent, a season for contempla- tion and preparation for Eas- ter, when Christians believe God's promise was fulfilled. Maybe if we could spend time contemplating the promise of our country and its call for all of us to participate in its life, we can ignore all the politi- cal allergens and get on with building the American Dream. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop Tis the season for allergies and politics Rather than deal with obvious issues of dysfunction, veracity, and trust, they point fingers at someone whom they claim stirred up all this trouble. Weighinginonnext superintendent Editor I read all of these various views about the Superintendent of Schools vacancy and it is very disturbing. Mr. (Charles) Allen is out of the picture, he didn't have all of the qualifications for the job. The real issue is who should be ap- pointed to the position of Super- intendent of Schools? The assistant superintendent was hired by Mr. Allen, which should disqualify him as tainted by this mess. If Mr. Allen had not been allowed to assume of- fice when his credentials were first challenged, we would not be in this mess. The Board of Ed- ucation did not do its job. Also when you put your name on the election papers you sign under threat of perjury that all of the information is true and I think the voters expect the truth. If Mr. Allen had not been ac- cepted, Harley North would have been the elected Superintendent. The qualifications for Su- perentandant of Schools is all codified in state law and no matter how many committees the Board forms to study and recommend the state law still must be followed. If you don't have all the qualifications you don't get the job. State law says you have to have a master's de- gree and be a county resident, as well as other things. I also see lots of county office employees giving wonderful tes- timony as to how good and won- derful the office is. I think that people should take most of that with a grain of salt. They are watching out for their jobs for the most part. I also see a county board that is detached from the people that elected them or they were ap- pointed without being elected. I myself spent 9 years on the Red Bluff High School Board and 12 years on the Tehama County Board of Education. In 21 years on those two boards I never at- tended a meeting with so many people in attendance and I never attended a board meeting where a lawyer was in attendance tell- ing board members they did not have to answer a question. — Gary Taylor, Red Bluff Evidence needed to be brought forth Editor: This is about the Bealer case. I want to apologize to Mr. (Gregg) Cohen for going for the jugular but I had no other choice. I knew there was doc- umental evidence being with- held that might be pertinent to this case and I couldn't hold back any longer as the trial was about to start. In doing this, people I know were turning their back to me and I'm sorry but I want to be able to hold my head up and be able to look people in the eye. So if I know something is wrong, I'm not going to let any- one withhold evidence or lie to win a case that might put a per- son in prison for life, whether they deserve it or not, or for any other reason. Isn't that why we have a justice system? I really respect Mr. Cohen for making the decision to find those reports and turn them over. I believe the job of a District Attorney should be held to the highest respect of the people of his or her community. There- fore he or she should not de- fraud their community by lies, concealing, cover ups, destroy- ing evidence, altering or any other means of falsifying any documentary material or oral testimony. — Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff Religion has no place in Supreme Court Editor: Whether President Obama or his successor chooses Justice Scalia's successor, the language and logic of the First Amend- ment should be respected. It states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- ment of religion." The Supreme Court isn't Con- gress, but it does effectively make laws. As such, it's argu- ably inappropriate that justices have religious beliefs at all. Yet, among today's Supreme Court justices, three are Jewish and five are Catholic. Scalia also was Catholic. Electing and appointing reli- gious government administra- tors needs to stop — not just in the Supreme Court, but at every level of government. Since gov- ernment decisions often deeply and profoundly affect constit- uents, they should be rooted in science and equity — not super- stition and corruption. To ensure this, no person who's practiced a religion or otherwise demonstrated belief in a supernatural deity in the last 10 years should be allowed to hold public office. How- ever, to prevent McCarthyesque abuses, objective methods for determining religiosity should be established. Finally, all candidates for public office should be required to demonstrate through writ- ten testing knowledge, intelli- gence and motivation sufficient to competently perform the re- quired duties. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Your opinions Cartoonist's take Q Has the issue of Justice An- tonin Scalia's replacement on the Supreme Court turned a mite political? A You could say that. You could also say that flight simulation wind-tunnels are tough on comb- overs. Q How long after the first Italian U.S. Supreme Court Justice's death did it take to get ugly? A Within minutes of the dis- covery of the body, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon- nell vowed to keep the seat va- cant until after the November presidential election. It probably took longer for a family of five to order dessert at Applebee's. Q Is he alone? A No, every Republican in North America echoed his sentiments, especially the six re- maining GOP presidential can- didates who see this as a big red flag to wave at supporters. And since unemployment is below 5% percent and gas around $2 a gallon, they can use all the is- sues they can get. Q What about the Democrats? A Same thing, only different. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton want President Obama to immediately nomi- nate someone they can use to rally the base, preferably a sin- gle-mother lesbian Hispanic with a limp and agoraphobia. Q So we're playing hardball here. A We sidled way past hard- ball in 2009. This is 9-inch steel ball-bearing ball. Q What is the make-up of the remaining court? A One justice appointed by Reagan, one by George H. Walker Bush, two by George W. Bush, two by Clinton and two by Obama. Four Republicans and four Democrats. Five are Roman Catholics and three are Jewish. Although most decisions will de- pend on which side of the bed Anthony Kennedy wakes up. Q What was McConnell's ra- tionale? A To let the people decide which way the court swings with their choice of president. Q Didn't the people already decide when they voted for Obama the last two elections? A When Democrats speak, Mitch McConnell doesn't hear well. Q Does this mean a presiden- tial term lasts only three years? A Not only that, once this precedent is set, the next Senate could embargo midterm years as well. Then the months of May through August could be off limits, since Congress is in recess. Eventually, a commander- in-chief might only allowed to nominate a Supreme Court re- placement on a Wednesday in the third week of September of odd numbered years. Q Can the court function with only eight members? A Yes. They've done it be- fore. In 1790 they started out with six and each decision required a two-thirds majority, which today would make agree- ing on a lunch schedule difficult. Q Isn't Scalia the guy who said, "The only good Consti- tution is a dead Constitution?" A You nailed it. The irony is this strict originalist would be appalled at his death being used for political purposes. Ain't life odd? Q I'll ask the questions. If Republicans stymie an- other Obama nominee, will it be viewed as more obstructionism? A Hasn't hurt them so far. Of course a series of 4-4 ties would focus attention on the va- cancy like blood on snow. Q Could Obama nominate himself? A Yeah. That's what Repub- licans want. HIM shaping law in a lifetime appointment. That and scorpions duct-taped to their underwear. Q Might this lead to a further breakdown in bipartisan relations? A As my daddy used to say, "Can't kill what's already dead." Will Durst is an award- 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 Frequently asked questions: Antonin Scalia's replacement 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 Joe Harrop Will Durst OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, February 27, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6