Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/698718
MysecondtakeonDonaldJ.Trumpisthat he is totally unpredictable. I feel he loves politics, but where does The Donald come up with all that erratic stuff that spews out of his mouth? Asjusttwoexamples,Amer- icans now know that Don- ald will probably never "bed" Rosie O'Donnell or invite a Mus- lim to his home. The guy is un- predictable. I did not vote for The Don- ald in Califor- nia's primary and I am now struggling to figure our just how I should vote in our gen- eral election on Nov. 8. Hill- ary Clinton is not on the top of my list either. I never paid any attention to Trump's realty show "The Apprentice." It is probably quite tacky for me to even sug- gest to you that The Donald's hair is also unpredictable, but what good American can deny that is not true? If I were Mr. Trump I would have my peo- ple get me a wind advisory be- fore going outside. Mr. Trump reminds me of that other billionaire from Texas who appeared so many times in 1996 on "Larry King Live" at CNN. Who can for- get Ross Perot? That little guy got 19% of the vote that year. I think The Donald has already done better than that. Nonetheless, I still do not think he can win. I do believe that Mr. Trump has effectively tapped into a political anger that has developed throughout our country. I know government has its challenges. However, some- times I think we are actu- ally getting a better govern- ment than we deserve. People always complain that unem- ployment is way too high and that the economy is doomed. I know from watching both for decades myself, employ- ment figures go up and down normally and the economy does the same. The Donald says it's time to "Make America Great Again." My take is that the United States of America has always been great. Trag- ically, I don't believe Donald or Hillary can actually make that big a difference. As I reflect on this year's race between Mr. Trump and the former Secretary of State, I sometimes believe it is an am- ateur facing a professional. So far, The Donald's fund raising has been abysmal, while Hill- ary sometimes raises millions in just a day. Tragically, money will make a significant differ- ence in what finally happens. The former First Lady is al- ready running campaign com- mercials in almost two dozen states. I also reflect on Mr. Trump's body language ev- ery time I see him. Remem- ber what he looks like when he disagrees with someone. He purses his lips and looks dis- gusted. Whenever we see him come on stage he has at least one or two thumbs up. My take so far is that Mr. Trump has benefitted from immense media coverage. As an example, when Don- ald Trump got into that ver- bal war with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (i.e. The Billionaire vs the Millionaire). Don't expect a new person- ality from Mr. Trump anytime soon. And, in case you haven't heard yet, even famous conser- vative columnist George Will is no longer a Republican. Will announced he is now regis- tered unaffiliated. Additionally, Politico re- ported today that 70% of all of us find Mr. Trump quite un- popular, contrary to The Don- ald's own frequent opinions. Mytakeonthemovies Onward to this week's movie: I highly recommend "Finding Dory." It's a sequel to "Finding Nemo." Dory is voiced by Ellen Dege- neres. Whether you chose 2D or 3D, you will have a good time. StanStathamserved1976- 1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@gmail.com. StanStatham Anothertake on The Donald The Donald says it's time to "Make America Great Again." My take is that the United States of America has always been great. Tragically, I don't believe Donald or Hillary can actually make that big a difference. Supernatural does not explain drought Editor: I was amazed and amused to read in Jim Wilson's article "Drought relief is the fruit of re- pentance" — God Talk, June 25 — that the reason for California's 5-year-long drought is because God is punishing us for our ab- horrent behavior, and that Mr. Wilson and a group of Christians helped bring about this year's El Niño through prayer. He claims that the "drought could not be explained in natu- ral terms — the high pressure air ridge of physical causation does not linger in nature as it did over California." Further, paraphras- ing from 2 Chronicles 7, he says, "God says when He shuts the rain off it is because of human sin; the solution He provides is repentant prayer." He explains that "Cali- fornia led the nation in shedding innocent blood — abortions and suicides; idolatry and sexual sin." Actually high pressure sys- tems can and have lingered over California many times in the past. I recall the drought of 1976 very clearly. I was in high school and the lack of snowfall meant I could not ski a lot that year. Researchers have documented multiple droughts in Califor- nia that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years. There is evidence of some droughts lasting much longer. I also take issue with sin lead- ing to causing drought. Scien- tists know why droughts happen, and the reasons do not involve sin. Weather is largely controlled by fluctuations in ocean temper- atures, ocean water currents and winds. What evidence is there that God shuts the rain off because of human sin? None. That is al- ways the problem with trying to explain natural phenomenon through supernatural actions. Without verifiable proof, there is no truth. — Kirk Vail, Red Bluff City, state priorities are out of whack Editor: I see by today's paper sealed bids are being requested for 1,450 feet of runway at the local much used airport by the city of Red Bluff. Have any of the City Coun- cil members driven on any of the city streets lately, yet a bid for the airport that is used by less than 1 percent of the city taxpayers is akin to the taxpayer money to renovating the airport cafe. Then we have the study for the rail link to the coast. This project has been studied and granted money several times and always from Caltrans. I hope someday it will be explained where they get all this money. The recent fiasco with the wreck on the I-5 bridge in Red Bluff should be studied by some agency as the problems to the coast are much bigger. If it takes 7 hours of do noth- ing to clear a wreck off of the bridge on I-5, then heaven help us. — William Hendrix, Red Bluff Difficult questions on gun control Editor: Planes became lethal weapons when flown into ships by spe- cially selected operators during WWII. Operators make things into weapons. It is true a potential weapon does little until an opera- tor takes action. How can all weapons be re- moved? What needs to be done to have responsible operators? How can compliance to a law be achieved? — Steve Kelsey, Corning Immigration and reckless reproduction needs to stop Editor: If I ran the zoo, I'd stop immi- gration completely. The U.S. population's now 324 million — well over three times what it was when Theodore Roosevelt cried for control, as quoted in a letter by Les Wolfe on June 11. With food, water, clean air, land, housing, highways, en- ergy and wildlife habitat in fi- nite supply, we simply can't continue avoiding the issue. It's long past time we stop growing and learn to be happy with what we still have — in- cluding our language and cul- ture. That is, before immigra- tion and reckless reproduction causes us to lose even that. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Your opinions Cartoonist's take As we celebrate the 40th an- niversary of the U.S. Bicenten- nial, the memories come flood- ing back. I remember: helping my fam- ily reconstruct a log cabin as a multi-year "Bicentennial project"; seeing my mother buy a glass Liberty Bell jar at Kuhn's Vari- ety Store and start filling it with "drummer boy" commemorative quarters; smiling that Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby was reunited with his charac- ter in time to do a Bicentennial comic-book storyline; and watch- ing those "Bicentennial Minutes" on CBS. I remember corporations shamelessly jumping onto the Bicentennial bandwagon and cranking out red, white and blue products. Someone should have drawn the line: "We hold these truths to be self-evident... that a red, white and blue colo- noscopy is still a colonoscopy!" I remember writing an essay in freshman English class explain- ing that I wished I could have been born two years earlier so I would be old enough to vote in the presidential election during America's Bicentennial year. Now that I'm dealing with crow's feet and thinning hair, I smack my forehead and exclaim, "Dummy! It would've been a lot easier to hire whoever the cool kids hire to make a fake i.d.!" Only two years after the Nixon resignation and one year after our humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam, we used those disillu- sioning events as fuel for dou- bling down on the patriotism. If CIA documents had somehow proven that John Wayne was in fact a cross-dressing Soviet on stilts, the sky would have been the limit for patriotism!' Thank goodness for the pa- triots who stood up to Brit- ish oppression and gave us our own republic. And thank good- ness that we haven't developed time travel, or 21st-century meddlers would be going back and tampering with the Revo- lutionary War period. Here are some possibilities: 1. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere would've fizzled out if some entrepreneur had made the lanterns in Boston's Old North Church PAY-PER-VIEW. 2. 21st-century monetization strategies would have made Ben Franklin's "Poor Richard's Alma- nack" into "Suddenly Wealthy Richard's Kite-Flying Blog". 3. Most colonies would be more interested in Zig-Zag papers than the Federalist Papers. 4. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" would have been renamed "Oh, Heck, Let's Just Let An Algo- rithm Figure It Out." 5. The "shot heard 'round the world" would have brought out libertarian candidates trumpet- ing "what can be accomplished without those restrictive noise or- dinances." 6. Instead of meeting Great Britain's superior naval forces with their own ragtag navy, Americans would have met the British ships with polar bears on floating ice chunks. ("I have not yet begun to deliver climate change speeches!") 7. Patrick Henry would issue the challenge, "Give me liberty or give me $15 an hour —— prefera- bly the latter." 8. Instead of dumping tea into Boston Harbor, GOP contribu- tors would be dumping potential Trump contributions into it. 9. Profiling of "redcoats" would be outlawed. ("Just because they wear that uniform and fire at Minute Men doesn't mean...") 10. Yankee Doodle puts a feather in his cap and calls it "non-GMO macaroni". Yes, the past is safe, but much mischief can be wreaked in the future. Did you know that Congress started the plan- ning process for the Bicenten- nial on July 4, 1966? We now have a full decade to prepare for our 250th anniversary. And surely the ACLU will celebrate with a lawsuit begin- ning, "You don't call a nearly 40-year hounding an unreason- able search? We demand justice for Waldo!" Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree The United States' Bicentennial's 40th anniversary 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, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Stan Statham State and National • Assemblyman James Gal- lagher, 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, Sacra- mento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@gover- nor.ca.gov • U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice 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 Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local • Tehama County Supervi- sors, 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, Kris- tina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials By Danny Tyree OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, June 30, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4