Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/661087
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 Howlowcanapresiden- tial campaign go? In 2016, the answer to that question is find a snake belly and dig. Lower than the vertical zinc mines of Atlan- tis. This par- ticular crew of candidates dived so deep in their race to the bottom, the plastic iPhone cases of staffers are melting due to the heat em- anating from the core of the earth. Obviously MSNBC and Fox News are doing the Stephen Curry shimmy, luxuriating in ratings heaven, but this is a primary that even TMZ and the National Enquirer could love. Not to mention the Syfy Network, Hustler Magazine and various porn websites. So far, this election cycle has witnessed vulgar per- sonal insults, obscene epi- thets, dirty tricks, the ques- tioning of the size of a candi- date's... hands, Chris Christie and now disparaging re- marks about each other's wives. It won't be long until we progress to booger eating and ugly children. The recent bout of taw- driness was jump-started by an Anti-Trump super PAC ad that featured a na- ked Melania Trump and asked if that's what Utah voters wanted to see in a First Lady. Presumably this question was not aimed at 13-year-old boys or the an- swer would have been a re- sounding "Yeah!" How far we've come. El- eanor Roosevelt had her pic- ture hung on library walls all over America. Melania Trump would be the first First Lady to have her pic- ture viewed under a blanket with a flashlight. She won't be much a daytime First Lady; more of a First Lady of the evening. Donald Trump blamed Ted Cruz for the ad and warned Lying Ted he'd bet- ter be careful or the beans on Cruz's wife would be spilled. And no, he never mentioned the exact nature of the legumes to be poured out, but presumably we're not talking garbanzos, here. Trump subsequently shared an image on Twit- ter that compared an unflat- tering photo of Cruz's wife, Heidi to one of an angelic Melania. Not really fair to that small segment of society that doesn't happen to be su- per models. Although Heidi Cruz is an attractive woman, she joins most of us in the category of not regularly asked to do naked photo shoots for GQ. You'd think that would be Smear City enough, but then all hell broke loose. The Na- tional Enquirer printed an article alleging Ted Cruz had five separate extra-marital affairs since coming to D.C. They're probably saving the bondage and STD accusa- tions for a future issue. What makes the story sus- pect is it means five different people were willing to be in a room alone with Ted Cruz. Which, as any colleague in the Senate could tell you, is highly unlikely. Cruz responded by calling Trump a "sniveling coward" and referring to him as Sleazy Donald. So now ev- erybody's got a nickname. The seamy mess prom- ises to escalate unless par- ticipants call an immediate truce. That or the next de- bate might include a 10 min- ute segment devoted to Yo Mama jokes. "Your mama is so fat, when she wears a Polo shirt, it has a real horse on it." "Oh yeah, well, your mama is so fat, when she lies on the beach, Green- peace tries to push her back into the ocean." And then, dressed as a ninja, Mitch McConnell does the only de- cent thing and shoots every- one. Including himself. 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 Trump's mama is so fat... What makes the story suspect is it means five different people were willing to be in a room alone with Ted Cruz. Which, as any colleague in the Senate could tell you, is highly unlikely. Regardingneedingalicense todrive Editor: Donald Bird has been saying for a while now that it is unfair to require a license to drive an automobile. He also said he was going to court because he didn't have a license while driving. I wish to refute his arguments. Bird said he shouldn't have to pay to get the license, or have to take a test. There is a good rea- son why he should have to pay to get licensed to drive. They are both shows of responsibility. Driving a vehicle is danger- ous, and requires focus and con- centration. You are basically in a metal container moving at speeds in excess of 50 mph, and the slightest mistake can cause injury, even death. When you pay money at the DMV, you show that you are responsible enough that somebody will give you some of their hard earned money. Basically, this means you have an income, and an income means that you can be responsi- ble enough to drive a vehicle. Second, they make you take a test to prove you know what the rules of the road are. If you suc- ceed, they give you a license as proof that they trust you enough to drive a giant piece of metal around on asphalt. Last, when you show that you are no longer responsible enough to drive, such as drinking alco- hol while driving or getting in multiple accidents, they remove your license. This means that they no longer trust you to drive a motor vehicle. Although Bird may say he is able to drive just fine, they have no way of knowing this unless he proves it to them, hence the need for a license. In my opinion, the judge was quite right in denying Bird a trial by jury. — Wesley James, Los Molinos MoneyclasshasturnedUS intoaparody Editor: The people that want to do away with, or at least privatize SSI, are the people that run our financial institutions. You know them. They run our banking system. That's the place where you used to save your money and they would pay you for the use of it so they could invest in our communities. The people that stole all of the money in scandalous investment schemes that went broke, so the taxpayers had to bail them out with our tax dollars because they were too big to fail. The government claims to have fixed the problem but they didn't even send one of the thieves to prison for it. Why would they? Not only they didn't have to do any jail time, they don't even have to pay us for using our money anymore. It's not just the presidential race that needs our attention. We have a lot of politicians and judges that have been in office way too long. When you pass laws that ab- solve the culprit because he is too big to punish, you need to get into another line of work. When you make a decision that businesses are people, your senil- ity is showing. I probably won't be around to see the bloody end to this fi- asco we are condoning, but this should be the year we start to take our country back from these people that have gotten too big for their britches. The money class is growing slowly larger, but the middle class is shrinking rapidly, and the poor people are becoming more visible every day. This used to be the greatest nation the world had ever seen and now it's becoming a parody of itself. We ought to be ashamed. I know I am. — Fred Boest, Red Bluff Taxpayersburdened withdebtstudentloan defaulters Editor: It is shocking to learn that seven million deadbeat students have totally defaulted on billions of student loans. An equal num- ber are sufficiently behind in payments to soon be deadbeat borrowers. These students made poor choices in selecting degrees that have low income, since high school graduates can often per- form the same job function. The result is $8 hourly jobs and an average $26,000 in defaulted debt placed on taxpayers who bore no responsibility for the de- gree choices. Before pursuing a college loan for a degree, do your search- ing to determine if that degree choice provides sufficient income to repay the loan in a timely manner, and provide at least a minimal standard of living. Too many Americans are bur- dening their fellow taxpayers with the costs of welfare sub- sidies exceeding the taxes that they have paid during their work career. That is called socialism. It costs $26,671 to provide health insurance for a family of four. Will the degree provide sufficient income to afford these costs? Cit- izens can all help prevent bank- ruptcy of our nation by demand- ing less in welfare subsidies than they have paid in taxes during and after their retirement. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take The new baseball season has its usual quotient of obnox- ious on-field innovations, such as the time clock that will now gov- ern visits by man- agers and coaches to the pitcher's mound. Like most fiddling with our Great American Pastime, the moti- vating force is the television audience, specifically younger viewers who are not embracing the sport. Over the last decade the me- dian age of viewers watching baseball on ESPN's national tele- casts has climbed from 46 to 53. But can that trend be reversed with digital timers? Or more TV cameras? How many fancy graphics can be squeezed onto the screen? When does baseball's sponsor clutter reach a tipping point? During spring training I watched several of the San Francisco Giants webcasts: free, no-frills feeds accessible online. What I learned is that TV cover- age, like baseball itself, is more enjoyable without many of the hi-tech artifices that now weigh down regular-season telecasts. The spring webcasts are pro- duced on a shoestring with one or two small cameras. The first thing viewers notice is that the basic shot is from behind home plate, rather than from above the center field fence. This is a throwback to TV's early days, before zoom lenses made pos- sible the shot we're now used to, looking in at the batter from over 400 feet away. For me, baseball is easier to digest when viewed from be- hind the plate, from a posi- tion slightly toward the first base side. If money were no ob- ject, wouldn't you rather sit in a prime box seat than out in the bleachers? Broadcasters favor the cen- ter field shot, popularized in the mid-sixties, because it offers a better view of pitches. This goes hand-in-hand with much of to- day's color commentary that tends to obsess over pitch selec- tion, speed and placement. The old view allows your eye to follow the action logically when the ball is put in play. With modern coverage, on the other hand, each hit requires a camera cut of as much as 180 degrees — something directors call "cross- ing the axis." Such moves are generally avoided in filmmaking because they force your brain to reestablish perspective, yet in baseball telecasts this type of cutting is a staple. Today's center field shot also has too much clutter: half the screen is filled with faces of fans behind the plate along with advertising on the railing. Speaking of clutter, the spring webcasts are mercifully graph- ics-free. Yes, it would be nice to see players' names and batting stats, but a totally uncompro- mised picture — no ads, logos or other intrusions — makes it eas- ier to watch games without to- day's dizzying distractions. Since cameras are limited, the webcasts are also devoid of annoying crowd shots. No need to see fans' funny hats, spilled popcorn and lame attempts to catch foul balls. And no home- made signs! Unlike basketball, football and other sports in which the action moves mostly left and right within a uniformly shaped rectangle, baseball's irregular playing fields have always chal- lenged TV producers. The slow pace of play — which Major League Baseball is desperately trying to address by timing vis- its to the mound and tightening breaks between innings — pro- motes additional TV fluff. TV directors have tried blimp shots, mini-cams buried in the ground, super slow-motion re- plays, K-zone graphics, laser tracking of the ball's flight, and countless other tricks. My take: younger viewers don't really care, and older fans are usually annoyed. After watching spring web- casts I'm convinced that when it comes to televised baseball, less is more. Less commentary, less camera cutting, less on-screen clutter and less off-field distrac- tion. A version of this spartan ap- proach can be seen during the regular season in coverage of minor-league games online, via Milb.com. These webcasts vary widely from team to team, but some come close to captur- ing what the Giants achieve in spring training. Baseball has a lot at stake in its lucrative TV deals. I'm not literally suggesting a return to single-camera telecasts any- more than I'd advocate going back to black-and-white. But TV overkill is hurting. As I see it from the couch, baseball is a marvelously com- plex game, best viewed in a rela- tively uncomplicated form. Peter Funt can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com. Peter Funt Baseball's new gimmicks won't win younger viewers PeterFunt Will Durst OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, April 2, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4