Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/773127
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: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS TheObamashavesaidtheirgoodbyesto America. The president and first lady have made their rounds on the late-night shows. President Obama delivered his farewell speech the other night on national TV. Itwasoneofhisbest.The man knows how to write and deliver a speech. No one can ever deny that he's good with words. Unfortu- nately, what President Obama actu- ally accom- plished as president is another story. For the past few weeks his liberal friends in the media have been desperately trying to come up with a list of his lasting accomplishments. Obamacare, "saving" the economy from the Great Re- cession by spending trillions of federal dollars and issuing executive orders to please lib- eral voting blocs top the list of his domestic legacy. But if Donald Trump and the Republicans keep their word, Obama's domestic "tri- umphs" won't last more than a few months. Obamacare will soon go the way of HillaryCare, President Trump will trump Obama's executive orders and a sem- blance of fiscal sanity will re- turn to Washington. President Obama's real leg- acy is the bloody mess his for- eign policy left us in the Mid- dle East. His teary-eyed friends don't like to bring up the civil wars, the Syrian bloodbath, the rise of ISIS, the global threat of radical Islamic terrorism or the shabby treatment of Israel when they review his record. No wonder. The Middle East — a mess Obama inherited but made much worse — will cause the United States and future presidents trouble for decades. No one can deny that Pres- ident Obama and the First Family have been tremen- dous role models for the entire country. The president has shown what it means to be a good fa- ther and husband. First Lady Michelle Obama has charmed the pants off ev- eryone with her grace and strength and she and her hus- band have raised their two daughters into fine young women. But during the last eight years, one of the things that has been most disappoint- ing to me was that President Obama didn't use his own life and his family as examples to be emulated by blacks in the inner cities. For more than half a cen- tury the federal government's harmful social welfare poli- cies have done serious dam- age to the black family, al- lowing fatherless "families" to exist and making drug gangs places where many black boys find their male role models. As the president, as a re- spected hero to every black person in America, as a good father and family man, Pres- ident Obama was in a unique position. He should have constantly sent the message of the impor- tance of strong families to the inner cities. He should have worked tire- lessly and publicly to end the deadly black-on-black gang vi- olence in Chicago and other cities. But our first black presi- dent said and did virtually nothing to address the serious social, economic and law en- forcement troubles of the in- ner cities. It's a shame he didn't spend more of his spare time work- ing to solve the problems of the cities and less time screw- ing up the Middle East and playing golf. I remember the night he was elected in 2008. I was watching the celebration on TV when a reporter asked a young black teenager what he had learned from Obama's vic- tory. The kid — who was dressed almost like a gang member —— said, "what I learned tonight is that if I put on a suit and tie and get an education I can grow up to be anything I want to be." That kid got the message. But eight years later thou- sands of black kids are still shooting each other in Chi- cago, St. Louis and Baltimore and elsewhere. If President Obama had paid more attention to the inner cit- ies, things might be better to- day —— and he'd have a lasting legacy to be proud of. 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 Obama's lost legacy Cartoonist's take The announcement of the clos- ing of the Staples store was a staggering blow to this little commu- nity. The landlord of the built-to-suit building on south Main ,who lives in the bay area, had negotiated in vain for a new lease since last fall. The sticking point was that the tenant demanded the current lease be altered from a "triple net lease" as found in shopping center leases, in which all costs of operating the cen- ter are prorated to the tenants via their square footage leased, known as common area main- tenance charges, versus a "gross lease" in which much cost of maintaining the center is borne by the landlord. In this case Sta- ples wanted the landlord to pay county taxes instead of the ten- ant. In the case of Staples, that would cause the landlord to shell out $30,000 a year. He responded he could not afford to do so, and the lease was not renewed. City Councilman Clay Parker called me and asked for the phone number of the landlord. It occurred to him that whereas the City Council was in the busi- ness of finding new business for our fair city, here was an exam- ple of where the city might have offered the landlord tax incen- tives to keep the doors open for his tenant. The response from the landlord was "I'm sorry...but it is too late and they have made the decision to close in the first week of March." As an example of what can happen to a business regarding costs of operation in a friendly city, Blue Shield of Califor- nia asked the late Ted Dress to build them a new 40,000 square foot building on St. Mary's, but then they terminated the lease 10 years later under the guise that they needed the labor pool of Redding to fill their person- nel needs. We later learned that Redding had provided tax in- centives if Blue Shield were to move to their fair city. The landlord thought it was too late for Staples to change their mind, but what if Donald Trump had come barnstorming into town and promised them, no, that would just have been one more unfulfilled campaign promise, so never mind. ••• Speaking of Staples closing, would this not be a great time, for example, for Raley's to ex- pand their stationary supply de- partment? ••• Great one panel cartoon. In background is Batman standing impatiently and some- what dejected awaiting a re- sponse from a fat, slovenly Robin sitting at a computer desk strewn with half eaten piz- zas, pizza boxes and coke bot- tles. Robin is saying to his men- tor, "That was before I found this amazing new way to earn $$$ working from home." ••• We know that television net- works need viewers to pros- per and with a plethora of news from many sources — some right in the palm of your hand — it is understandable they have resorted to tabloid maga- zine methods to keep viewers entertained. The more graphic the images on the screen, and the more emphasis their "an- chors" or news readers put on "upcoming" or "breaking" news, the more the voyeuristic audience gets hooked, and the channel does not get changed or the set turned off. Is there anyone out there that does not grasp these truths? Alternate schooling parents do not own television sets, or se- verely restrict viewing by their children. I once thought these parents too restrictive and their children deprived of conventional entertainment. Nowadays I think they have a point. However, how the kids turn out as adults and fit into society is another matter. If they own guns, but witness no television stations showing peo- ple wandering through airport terminals shooting at random, will they be inclined not to use their weapons promiscuously? Well, of this I am certain: The police, TV stations and newspa- pers should not identify killer nut cases. There is no need for the public to know, and therefore no need to show the same footage night after night to benefit sa- dists and copy cat psychopaths. There is that expression "We hold these truths to be self-evi- dent…" from you know where. And yet, there is media that maintains readers have " a right to know." Boy, is this a slippery slope or what? How about a DN editorial simplifying the subject? Per- haps something like, "If we just publish good news we are not doing our job." ••• Not much local news you say? Well, it has been raining cats and dogs. The feral cats are in a sour mood and complain they do not get individually tow- elled off before they are fed, like some ugly dog they know who gets his big butt dried off every time he goes into the house af- ter a run in the rain. But that's typical self-centered comments you get from all cats. ••• Item in this week's police logs, "William Frederick Stras- sburger, 21, was arrested on the charge of robbery, petty theft and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia." The report continued that the fellow was dressed as a woman and apparently wearing flowered leggings at Walmart. As it was a very cold day, it was understandable that he dressed in leggings, but as he exited Walmart he was con- tacted by their loss prevention staff, refused to stop and hit an employee with his purse. This conjured up memories of Ruth Buzzi slapping Henry Gibson in the old comedy show Laugh In. Life imitates art? ••• A woman went with her cranky husband to his doctor for his routine check up. But af- terwards the doctor took her aside and said, "Unless you ad- here to a strict routine, your husband will die. You must cook him a healthy breakfast and nutritious evening meals. Furthermore, you must not bur- den him with household chores. And you must keep your house spotless and germ free." On their way home the hus- band asked his wife what the doctor said. She replied, "Oh, he said you were going to die." 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 Details of the decision to close Staples For more than half a century the federal government's harmful social welfare policies have done serious damage to the black family, allowing fatherless "families" to exist and making drug gangs places where many black boys find their male role models. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. You young men are all winners for earning the right to be there. Congratulations. Larry Cowan: On Red Bluff boys basketball team's second place finish in Oroville tourney And just think, there will be nothing done. All because this is no longer labeled a felony. Cathy Burnham: A suspect booked for felony assault, rape, lewd acts with a child under 14 Robert Minch 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, Sac- ramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@ governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507 Cannon House Office 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 Kamala Har- ris, 501 I St., Ste. 7-600, Sac- ramento 95814, 916 448-2787, fax 202 228-3865 Your officials Michael Reagan OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, January 13, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6