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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 With the release of the new Star Wars mov- ie the "dark side" entered our pop culture vocabulary again. Two other "darks" have also been in the news lately. Inpoliticalnews"dark money" has been revealed to be an even more influen- tial phenome- non than just a while ago, par- ticularly since the Supreme Court deci- sion of Citizens United, the re- cent publica- tion of Dark Money by Jane Mayer, and re- cent concerns by such com- mentators as Joe McGin- nis who wrote The Selling of the President. Even local ar- ticles in the Redding Record Searchlight about lobbying, dark money, and the lack of full transparency about the activities of our own state legislators have sparked out attention. In science the phenomenon of "dark matter" has drawn more attention since scien- tists have developed more so- phisticate methods of explor- ing the mysteries of our uni- verse. A recent book by Lisa Randall, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astound- ing Interconnectedness of the Universe, offers a fascinat- ing description about the role dark matter plays in our lives. It has been a slow process, but much progress has been made in the last 100 years to- ward understanding dark matter According to astronomers and astrophysicists, our uni- verse is heavily populated with dark matter, "invisi- ble entities surrounding and permeating the space we oc- cupy." For example, "every cubic centimeter of space is teaming with 300 micro- wave photons left over from the Big Bang explosion." These were only discovered in 1964. Another example of the in- visible forces around us, "ev- ery second over 600 billion particles called neutrinos penetrate every square cen- timeter of our bodies"; these neutrinos were only discov- ered in the 1990's. The latest calculations are that dark matter, or more precisely invisible matter, composes about 84 percent of the universe! Scientists are using sophisticated instru- ments and experiments to find out more about this in- visible part of creation. Stay tuned for more; their discov- eries are fascinating, and we are discovering new expla- nations for the expansion of the universe at unimaginable speeds, the existence of enor- mous galactic clusters, and the space time relationship. Much of these things were only hinted at when Einstein published his Theory of Rela- tivity over one hundred years ago. These are exciting times for science. Although it may seem like an esoteric branch of study, we seem to be making more progress in understanding dark matter than being able to document the influence of dark money. As citizens of an ideally open democracy, we are often frustrated by the dark side of politics, so to speak. The New York Times has identi- fied 158 families and compa- nies they own or control that have contributed $176 mil- lion to candidates of both po- litical parties. We saw Marco Rubio rush to court the hand of a billionaire gambling mo- gul Sheldon Adelson who is against state lotteries; Rubio's efforts were a bad gamble. We hear about the Koch Brothers and their allies who have pledged at least $889 million for the 2016 elections; this is more than twice what they spent in 2012 and almost as much as the combined spending of both the Republi- can and Democratic parties. We listen to Bernie Sand- ers rant against Wall Street's influence. We hear that Con- gressmen will not vote on dealing with climate change although they privately sup- port the scientific evidence in their own committee meet- ings. We learn that our own state government's data base is 20 years out of date, mak- ing it impossible for us, their electorate, to keep track of their machinations. We begin to think that dark money, like dark matter in the cosmos, is responsible for much of what the man on the street does not under- stand about the political uni- verse, and we become cyni- cal. This mounting trend is supported by the 86 percent disapproval rating Amer- icans give their own Con- gress! Politics has become very expensive, in part because of high rates media charge for political ads. The media has become fat and sassy with all the new revenue our political climate generates, and it has successfully lobbied against rate breaks for political ad- vertising. It is projected that media will garner $4.4 billion from political advertisements during the current election cycle. We know that spin is ev- erything; there are now more than four times the number of public relations specialists than professional journalists. No wonder so many are angry. No wonder so many doubt our own representa- tives. No wonder we have this adolescent-like turmoil dur- ing this presidential elec- tion season. Until there can be a real citizens united or- ganization strong enough to put an end to all of this, cyni- cism will grow in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court case which acceler- ated dark money into poli- tics, much as dark matter has accelerated the expansion of the universe. That will not be healthy. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Joe Harrop Dark matter, dark money, dark prospects? Cartoonist's take Michael Shannon I wonder what Ted Cruz hoped to gain from blaming Donald Trump for the leftist mob that forcibly shut down his rally in Chicago? You would expect this confused moral inversion from squishes like Marco Amnesty and John "The Apostle" Kasich, but not Cruz. Formerly, he was a staunch de- fender of the 1st Amendment, go- ing all Voltaire on anyone try- ing to censor speech. Turning on a dime to gain a news cycle on Trump doesn't do anything to dis- pel Cruz' unfortunate image as an opportunistic professional politi- cian. Why does Cruz choose to do the work of the mainstream me- dia and the left who want to sub- vert everything for which he claims to stand? There are events in contempo- rary America that go hand—in— hand with violence. Take hip— hop "music." Here in the D.C. area, many venues won't host hip—hop concerts because of re- current violence associated with the fan base. Trump's fan base has impressed even the New York Times with its good manners: "The Trump supporters I inter- view are almost unfailingly cour- teous. In the snaking lines of traf- fic that precede his events, they smile and wave and allow me to cut in front of them. And they po- litely answer my questions..." So how is it Trump's fault when the hip—hop base invades his rally and causes violence? And why is Trump's base al- ways described as "angry" and Bernie's as "idealistic?" If Trump people are so "angry" and violent, why aren't they breaking up Ber- nie's events? Where are the shout- ers and stage rushers at Hillary's wakes? This unprovoked anger and vi- olence is a product of the leftist mob, not Republicans. The same people that smashed car windows with Trump stickers in Chicago. The same creeps who vandalized a Trump supporter's home in Gainesville, Va. by spray painting her house. The same pa- jama fascists caught spray paint- ing penises in a university chapel along with the word "Trump." This is the group Ted Cruz is temporarily abetting? Let's reverse the situation. Pic- ture a group of pro—life demon- strators who get to reeling with the feeling and invade a Planned Parenthood abortion mill. They block the inner door in the wait- ing room and force Bible tracts on waiting customers. There is push- ing and shoving and an employee is accidentally hit in the head with an illustrated, hardback copy of the New King James Bible, a surefire concussion inducer. Would the media criticize Planned Parenthood for inflam- ing Christians by demanding tax- payer funds for its abortion mills? Would the media cite provocative, veiled language, particularly the word "choice" in connection with the death of the unborn? Would the media ask why Planned Par- enthood insists killing the un- born much longer than is allowed in Europe? Would the New York Times condemn abortion support- ers for calling Christians fanatics, theocrats and misogynists? Don't make me laugh. The only time the victim is blamed is when the victim is a Republican or white. Cruz is a smart fellow; I wonder if he really thinks leftist violence is only associated with Trump. He hasn't had protest problems be- cause his crowds have been too small. Leftist narcissists follow the media and the media follows Trump. That situation changes this fall if Cruz is the nominee. Then Cruz gets the crowds and he gets the leftist mob that will say he's now the bigot, the racist, the xenophobe and the chief war- rior against women. Ted will find himself in a real Martin Niemoller situation. The statement Cruz should have made after the planned attack on the Trump rally is easy enough to write: "Anyone that has watched even one of the Republican Presi- dential debates knows that I have disagreed with Donald Trump on both his choice of language and his policies. But I stand shoulder— to—shoulder with Mr. Trump in defense of the 1st Amendment, which protects free speech and most particularly speech with which we disagree. These left- ist protesters have every right to stand outside and lawfully voice their disagreement with Don- ald, or myself for that matter. But when they invade a Trump rally with no other goal than to gain attention and prevent the audi- ence from hearing what Donald has to say, I draw the line and they should suffer the consequences for breaking the law." There, that wasn't so hard was it? Michael Shannon is a commentator and public relations consultant, and is the author of "A Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times." He can be reached at mandate.mmpr@ gmail.com. Michael Shannon Republicans advocating mob censorship Until there can be a real citizens united organization strong enough to put an end to all of this, cynicism will grow in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court case which accelerated dark money into politics, much as dark matter has accelerated the expansion of the universe. Joe Harrop It's become painfully obvious that the term "Super Tuesday" was coined for the quantity of elections contested, not the quality of participants in- volved. Otherwise, we'd be forced to change the name to Kind of Okay Tues- day. Or Is It Re- ally Necessary to be This Loud Tuesday. The Not Overtly Horrible But Don't Be Surprised if You Get Some Pushback on That Tuesday. It was definitely a fine night for frontrunners Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton, thrusting them further out in front of the pack. But listening to the speeches of the also-rans, the evening also was a huge success for anyone who suited up and played the game. The overriding theme was: "It's all going according to plan." No matter where a candidate finished, supporters were reas- sured the campaign was right on schedule. Ben Carson finished last and was totally fine with that. Seeing "no political path for- ward" he picked the perfect time to ditch Dodge and skip the De- troit debate two days later, which should have been rated PG- 13 and might have given the honor- able man a heart attack. Or two. Or more. Marco Rubio was so excited about coming in third every- where, it is a blessing he was fast asleep when it was announced he'd won the Minnesota caucus or he would have piddled on the po- dium like a Shih Tzu at the sound of the front-door-key turning. Ted Cruz couldn't be happier because now he's won more than one state and is convinced that he would be anointed the logical nominee if everyone else would just get out of the way. So much easier to score once you eliminate that pesky defense. Bernie Sanders has a plan to win the rest of the primaries. Which sounds suspiciously like a plan he should have embarked upon earlier. And Hillary finds herself almost precisely where Barack Obama was 8 years ago. The irony must be killing her. Deja vu all over again. Donald Trump was so content with his placement, he waved his tiny little hands at a pretend pres- idential press conference in front of about 100 American flags and a wall of pastel Miami Vice cur- tains. And Chris Christie looks thrilled to be working as Trump's security. All he needs is a jaunty chauffer's cap. The only adult left in the room, Ohio governor John Kasich pro- claimed himself ecstatic he's fin- ished with the preliminaries and that much closer to winning the primary of his home state of Ohio. Too bad he only has one home state or he could run the table. Because the GOP, now renamed the ABT, Anybody But Trump, needs more favorite sons before the Winner Take All primaries kick in and The Donald shoots past the 1237 delegate count needed to win the nomination on the first ballot, signaling the end of civilization as we know it. Even Mitt Romney is posi- tioned to reluctantly accept a draft should Trump show up at the Cleveland convention with less than a majority. Although probably won't be on his knees. It seems as if every single con- tender is echoing Hannibal Smith's refrain: "I love it when a plan comes together." Although you'd be hard pressed to convince anybody on either side of the aisle that this is the A Team. Will Durst is an award- winning, nationally acclaimed columnist, comedian and margarine smuggler. For sample videos and a calendar of personal appearances including the upcoming one-man show "Elect to Laugh: 2016," go to willdurst.com. Will Durst Super Tuesday coming back to bite the GOP Will Durst OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, March 19, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4