Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/730845
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, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Formonthswe'vebeenhearingcomplaints from the pundits that Donald Trump has not given us a clear idea about how he plans to defeat ISIS. The TV pundits — le and right —are frustrated because Trump won't say whether he'd use American ground troops. He won't even automati- cally take the use of nukes off the table. Their complaints remind me of what Ronald Reagan did during the 1980 election against Jimmy Carter. The pundits did the same thing to my father that they're doing to Trump. They never stopped asking him during the campaign what he was going to do to solve the Iran hostage crisis. But he did the right thing. He never said anything. The liberals spent the whole 1980 campaign say- ing Ronald Reagan was a war monger and he was going to turn Iran into a glass park- ing lot with nuclear weapons. You never saw a speech when he denied any of their most idiotic concerns be- cause he didn't given one. My father was smarter than the pundits were. He knew you should never forewarn your adversaries what your plans were. So he never said anything. He just let the liberals scare the Iranians and the world with all the things he might or might not do as president. Everyone gives my father credit for the hostages going free on the day he was sworn in, and they should. But one reason they went free was because he kept the Iranians guessing. They never did know whether he'd nuke them until he didn't. I find it interesting this elec- tion year that the right and the left keep asking the same ques- tions of Trump. What will he do to defeat ISIS? But the real story shouldn't be what Trump might do. It should be what Hillary Clin- ton won't do. To appease her voters and liberal friends in the media, she's already said she won't use ground troops. I'm sure the monsters who run ISIS were relieved to hear that. In the debates on Monday night I hope Trump doesn't make the mistake of coming up with his plan to take care of ISIS. I want him to come out with that plan after he becomes president. I want it to be a surprise for MSNBC and ISIS. I want Trump to tell us noth- ing. It's a no-brainer. When you go out to play an NFL game Sunday, you don't give your game plan to the other team beforehand and then wonder why you keep losing. The left spends too much time wanting to give the game plan to the other team and then they're surprised when we lose. Another thing I don't want to hear from Trump in the de- bate on Monday is a whole lot of specific talk about policy. The 100 million peo- ple who are going to watch the most watched debate in world history are going to be looking to see who is the most presidential. They won't be looking for the best policy wonk. If Trump starts talking about policy, you'll hear millions of TVs turning off. In my father's first debate with Mondale in 1984 he was absolutely terrible because his advisers filled him with too much policy information. In the second debate, they didn't do that. They let Rea- gan be Reagan. And he won the second debate with ease. On Monday, Trump needs to show some self-control but most of all he just needs to be Trump. If he does that he should win the debate because Hillary can never stop being Hillary. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @ reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan Trump needs to be Trump during debate Cartoonist's take "Pretty Foot is back," I shouted. All That Jazz was not im- pressed. The big dog replied, "As your Pretty Foot is a cat, you know it's not my nature to tolerate cats." Whereas we have only one large dog at a time, and our Jazz was raised indoors while a pup, our cats, our feral cats, are outdoor critters. Hopefully never the twain shall meet. Because the cats are feral — meaning wild, untamed, un- domesticated — they have ar- rived over the years uninvited but clever enough to know that the proprietors of the ranch will, if prompted, put out Meow Mix for their welfare. But be- cause they are cautious in seek- ing food while keeping an eye out for predators, we only feed them in an enclosed mainte- nance area which is safe from encounters of the dog kind. Anyway, of all the recent cats, only one, which we chris- tened Pretty Foot, arrived domesticated and demon- strated appropriate cat behav- ior by rubbing against my leg at feeding time. The others, varying in number from time to time, keep their crafty dis- tance, which is their solution to survival. "These cats weren't invited here, you know," muttered the disgruntled bull mastiff. "They just showed up one day ex- pecting to be fed." "That may be," I agreed, "but it is the humanitarian way to take care of those who are displaced. Animal shelters are full of cats and dogs that nobody wants." "Dogs?" "Dogs and cats. You better believe it." This caused Jazz to rethink his opposition to the feline world. "Well, in that case, we should build a wall, a tall beau- tiful wall around the ranch to keep these aliens out." "I believe the majority of peo- ple do not accept such drastic remedies," I told Jazz. "These aliens, as you put it, perform a vital service at the ranch. They eat field mice and rats." "Ick. I wouldn't want that job." "Exactly. Whereas it may not be your nature to embrace them, it is the proper and prac- tical thing to do. Live with it." Jazz, and others, may not ac- cept immigration, per se, but they should get used to it. It is here to stay. ••• As Donald Trump must not prevail in his quest for the pres- idency, I shall take aim at the naive author of "God Talk," Jim Wilson, and his recent mis- guided pronouncement stating "It is time for skeptics…begin- ning with me…to give the Lord Jesus and his new servant, Don- ald, a fighting chance. That is my conviction." Such naivety might put Trump in the White House, for- getting that the guy is, in the words of Colin Powell, "…a na- tional disgrace" and in the words of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, "… a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator." ••• Writing of exercise last week, I failed to advise advocates to refrain from lifting excessively heavy weights. I can attest that by doing so, your joints will eventually fail, and whereas re- placement of them can be ac- quired, it is best to spare your joints and rely on lifting mod- erate weights with high rep- etitions. Budding weight lift- ers will not heed this advice, of course, but they should listen to trainers who know the wisdom of moderate exercise. ••• A flyer reads, "Roller Derby Recruitment Night at the fair- grounds October 4." In my day, roller skating was a big deal. The site was the side- walk encircling the Tehama County Courthouse and every summer evening hordes of skat- ers would be doing their thing there. The boys would try to im- press the girls with their speed and daring. The girls would join in and it became a social event. Our pal, David Sale, had not learned to skate because one of his brothers had bro- ken an arm doing so and Dave's mother would not allow him to own skates. However, as Dave wanted to impress his girlfriend of the moment, Norma Hovey, we put him on a pair and tried to convince Norma that his awkwardness was merely a comic routine. This idea seems absurd today, but that's the way it happened a longtime ago. ••• Despite my grumbling about the cost to renovate the build- ing on Diamond Avenue for the new county library, it is in- deed going to be a fine enter- prise and a great asset to our fair city. In addition to books, a library can be a great reposi- tory for archives relating to our county's history. There is an area in the southwest corner of the library set aside for said ar- chives. This is good news. How- ever, archives, particularly those of paper, can suffer the ravages of time and Librarian Sally Ain- sworth reports that climate con- trol, essential to archival preser- vation, is a costly item and not provided in the current renova- tion costs. A call to County Ad- ministrator Bill Goodwin has not produced a response as yet to determine said cost. I wonder if some group might consider heading up such a fund to preserve our archives. ••• The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers. Suzie Smith stood and said, "Two months ago, my hus- band, Phil, had a terrible bicy- cle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating." You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congrega- tion as they imagined that pain. "We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Phil's scrotum, and wrap wire around it to hold it in place." Again, the men in congrega- tion cringed and squirmed un- comfortably. "Now," she announced in a quivering voice, "thank the Lord, Phil is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should re- cover completely." All the men sighed with uni- fied relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say. A man stood up, walked to the podium and said, "Hi, I'm Phil…and I just want to tell my wife, the word is 'sternum.'" Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Pretty Foot and other feline companions In the debates on Monday night I hope Trump doesn't make the mistake of coming up with his plan to take care of ISIS. I want him to come out with that plan after he becomes president. I want it to be a surprise for MSNBC and ISIS. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. A lot of times people forget dads have rights too. Nichole Regnier: On a Corning man being stabbed while holding his newborn baby Very conflicted story. Lots of people defending the mom when sources are saying the mom was unstable and the dad was trying to protect the child. Alyssa Tenter: On a Corning man being stabbed while holding his newborn baby 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 La- Malfa, 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 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, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials By Michael Reagan Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, September 23, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A5