Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/755496
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 It'sthattimeoftheyearagain,thetimewhen the aroma of turkey wa s its way throughout the house, football is king, pumpkin pies and squash soup are on the table, and we rake colorful leaves most days. The nights come earlier and are colder. Fireplacessparkintoac- tion, and we begin to medi- tate on the passing year as well as the future. We are at the threshold of win- ter, the waning days of autumn. We are also in the middle of the Thanksgiv- ing season. At a time when our economy is sick, our politics are Manichean, our state is fac- ing untold deficits, the national debt is skyrocketing, our young men and women are in the mid- dle of terrible conflicts, water is in short supply, energy costs are high, houses are in foreclosure, unemployment is growing, and retail sales are not, we can still take time to be thankful. A cyn- ical view might be to be thank- ful because things couldn't be worse, but that is like saying we have a no hitter in the ninth in- ning. We do have much to be thankful for. We can be thankful that we live in a country where transitions in power are de- cided by elections, a rowdy but agreed upon process that does not exist in many places. We can be thankful that we have civilian control of our military, not military control of our civilians. Although we may not all agree on the re- sults, we do agree that each of us needs to participate in the process of decision-mak- ing, an option not available to many around the world. We can be thankful that we embrace a wide spec- trum of people each day; we live in a country that has pro- vided a portal of opportunity for many people from diverse backgrounds. We do not re- quire a set of religious or polit- ical beliefs to live here; we can say what we think and believe, but we cannot impose it upon those with whom we disagree, except as prescribed by law. We can be thankful for our state with its many resources and the challenges it presents us to govern our future. Despite a failed Congress, we still live in one of the most beautiful settings in our country. We have a bright future even if the immedi- ate year or two will be diffi- cult. We can be thankful it is worth the struggle. We can be thankful we live in a community where each one of us can make a differ- ence, where we can look oth- ers in the eye and greet them as we walk down the side- walk, where "small" issues are on the front page of our newspaper, where the schools are still central in the lives of our neighborhoods, and where we know our elected officials. We can be thank- ful for the beauty of our com- munity, whether or not Lake Red Bluff will be with us. We can be thankful for the wide vistas, the seasons, the wild life, the agriculture, and the variety of nature from can- yons to mountaintops. We can be thankful for the friendly service we receive when we shop, go to the bank, visit the DMV — believe it or not people come from Shasta county to our DMV because of the service — utilize the Post Office, talk to City Hall, or ask someone for directions. We can be thankful for a local newspaper when many communities are losing their own; we can be thankful for our local radio station. We can be thankful for parades, art events, the farmers' markets, the service clubs, our many congregations, and the local lodges. These all contribute to a sense of pride and duty for our community. They help us remember we are in this place together and that it is only by working together that we can continue to make it an even better place for all of us. We face challenges in the next year; some are familiar: creating new jobs and a wider tax base; fighting gang influ- ence and crime; preparing our kids for the real world; moni- toring our leaders; shoring up our infrastructure; and work- ing together. If we approach these tasks with an attitude of thanksgiving, we will take a positive approach to our chal- lenges, avoid name-calling, la- beling, and pointing fingers. We will succeed. For that we can be truly thankful. Editor'snote:Thiscolumn was originally published in November 2014. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Joe Harrop Wearethankful for many things Hillarylosersaresissies Have you ever heard such wail- ing, crying, blubbering, slobber- ing and slinging snot in all your life as the Hillary losers? What a bunch of sissies this country has produced in the last couple of generations or so. One of the most corrupt, lying, low down, high smelling person to ever run for president loses and people are given play dough, counseling and students excused from class and mid- term exams. Give me a break. All their name calling — rac- ist, bigot, homophobe, xeno- phobe, to list a few — was all they had to offer during the cam- paign, just didn't work. Hillary couldn't run on her accomplish- ments because all of her accom- plishment, such as Benghazi, sacrificing our national security with her private e-mail server and a pay-for-play foundation, that made the Clinton's among the richest people in America, were nothing to brag about. Maybe when liberals dry their tears and wipe their noses they will learn calling Don Polson and me a racist, bigot among other names, just doesn't work, much like most of Hillary's sup- porters. No matter how loud they get or how many names they throw around, it doesn't make them right. — Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Change — don't abolish — the electoral college In his letter of Nov. 19, Orval Strong argued we should abolish the electoral college. That is, for its enabling candidates like Don- ald Trump to win presidential elections without winning the popular vote. In so doing he mir- rored a sentiment felt throughout the country. While I agree that the elec- toral college should be changed, I believe it would be catastrophic to discard it completely. The rea- son our forefathers created it is similar to why they created a sep- arate House of Representatives and Senate: to ensure that vot- ers from even sparsely-populated states have a voice. Unfortu- nately, because the electoral col- lege simply combines an effective senate and house instead of mak- ing them separate and adversar- ial (as they are in Congress), that voice is very weak. In Congress, the smaller and more-carefully-chosen Senate gives voters from sparsely-pop- ulated states a more-substan- tial voice. That is, against the fre- quently uninformed, impractical, bleeding-heart and self-serving agendas of urban citizens that House members more-strongly represent. For example, since ru- ral citizens tend to value guns for recreation and sport while ur- ban citizens view them as instru- ments of violence, gun-control legislation tends to be unpopular in the Senate v. the House. In the 100-member Senate, each state gets two Senators, re- gardless of population. In the 435-member House, each state gets representatives in propor- tion to its population. Since legis- lation must be approved in both houses before it becomes law, this allocation of power gives both highly and sparsely-popu- lated states a significant say in the drafting of legislation. The electoral college is similar in that it allots two delegates per state plus 435 according to popu- lation plus three for Washington, DC. However, it differs signifi- cantly in that there's no effective Senate to veto the uninformed, impractical, bleeding-heart and corrupt decisions often produced in the effective House. The dan- ger of this was clearly illustrated in the near-miss election of Hill- ary Clinton in the recent presi- dential election. To avoid future close calls, in- stead of awarding states one elec- toral college vote for each of its Senators and House Reps, we should assign just one per state. In this election, since Trump won the electoral college votes in 29- 30 of 50 states, he'd have won the election with 58-60% of the votes instead of the projected 54-57% under the current system. Critics of this proposal might argue it's unfair that a sparsely- populated state like Wyoming would have the same voting power in presidential elections as a state like California with 66 times the population. Why does that entitle California to a greater voice in policy that af- fects the entire nation? If any- thing, our enormous popula- tion demonstrates we've grossly mismanaged our state and we should accordingly be prohibited from having any say in the man- agement of others. An even better idea would be for the nation to implement com- prehensive election reform. For a citizen to be eligible to vote or hold public office, he must first prove through testing that he possesses sufficient intelligence and knowledge of both the can- didates and issues to make re- sponsible decisions. Then the House, Senate and electoral col- lege could finally start function- ing to truly serve the best inter- ests of the country. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Deportations should be prioritized With the rule of law on pro- tecting the US from illegal bor- der crossing once again being en- forced, priority should first be for those who committed three criminal actions. This includes, the criminal act of illegal bor- der crossing, of using fraudu- lent identification, including a US driver's license that does not have special identification of being a non citizen, and finally a third serious misdemeanor or felony such as drug growing or distribu- tion, auto theft, home or property theft, spousal abuse, and a long list of criminal action. This deportation priority should be concurrent with hir- ing the border guards and judges needed to quickly deport any newly arrived border crossers. The third deportation priority should be for those who choose not to receive a temporary agri- culture work permit. Citizenship should never be an option unless that person returns willingly to their home country and then en- ters the long line of global citi- zens who have waited years for a US residency visa. This is not racism, but obey- ing the immigration laws of our country. The deportation should apply to anyone who il- legal crossed the border and used false identity including a driver's license not clearly identified as issued to a non US citizen. The US should expand the program to welcome educated immigrants who will immedi- ately pay sufficient taxes to cover government services for them- selves and their dependents, in- cluding the $12,000 per year public school costs per child and $8,000 per year Medicaid cost. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take Before year's end, let's have one sort of Kumbaya moment as we turn the page on words and ex- pressions that have sort of worn out their welcomes in 2016. We can start with Kumbaya, the 1920s folk song kept alive by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and dozens of other musi- cians through the decades until politicians and pundits appro- priated the term (loosely, "come by you") to mock fake, usually progressive, group merriment. Speaking of progressives — and we mean you, MSNBC pundits — find a linguistic crutch to replace "sort of." If you had to drink a shot every time a cable guest said "sort of" you'd be blasted by the first commercial. And speaking of cable folks, Bill O'Reilly should please stop re- ferring to "the folks." Rachel Mad- dow ought to refrain from adding the words "The great state of" be- fore naming any of the 50 states. Megyn Kelly, who has her own "great" fixation, needs a new send off for guests instead of "great to see you." Chuck Todd, rescued by the end of the presidential cam- paign, will presumably stop end- ing every political interview by saying "Good luck on the trail." Brian Williams should no lon- ger go to breaks by saying he must "fit in" a commercial. Erin Burnett ought to cease using the name of her show to begin ev- ery new thought: "John King is 'Out Front' tonight..." And, Wolf Blitzer, we get it, you're "In the 'Situation Room.'" Funny thing, no one did more talking in '16 than Trump and Clinton, and yet neither candi- date invoked any particularly sharp or memorable words. Hill- ary's big gambit was to say "de- plorable," and she paid dearly for that. The President-Elect oper- ated mainly on the grade school level, with terms such as "huge," "beautiful," "really beautiful" and "really huge." Donald Trump and rene- gade progressive Bernie Sanders shared one overwhelmingly an- noying linguistic trait. Each in- sisted on telling us things by first saying, "I will tell you." Turning to sports, it was a year in which basketball announcers decided it was necessary to re- peatedly say, "score the basket- ball," rather than just "score." Baseball announcers concluded that a well executed hit could only be described as "a good piece of hitting." Football an- nouncers stopped using 2015's fa- vorite term, "happy feet," in favor of "pocket presence." Midway in 2016 news media made a collective decision that it was OK to use the word "lie," and overnight almost anything a politician said became one. This went hand-in-hand with Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year: Post-truth. Indeed, we seem to be in a post-language era in which many things are deemed less important by preceding them with the word "post" — as in post-racial, post-national and post-good-choice-of-words. In pop culture, it seems any- thing good is now "snatched," as in your new outfit. And "boots," is a new term of emphasis when you are, for instance, "Hungry boots." Go figure. At the end of the day there will be a raft of new terms and annoying expressions in the coming year and, regrettably, a few that we'll never be rid of, such as "at the end of the day." Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic," is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com. Peter Funt Here are some words and expressions to avoid in 2017 PeterFunt Joe Harrop A cynical view might be to be thankful because things couldn't be worse, but that is like saying we have a no hitter in the ninth inning. We do have much to be thankful for. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, November 26, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4