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6A Daily News– Wednesday, August 8, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 I just read about the $8,000 a plate dinner Doug LaMalfa is holding and his slogan con- tinues to be — he is "One of Us." Not one of us Editor: It always strikes a sour note with me when a right wing candidate, eager to cut all safety nets, beginning with Social Security, tells us he is "One of Us." Why give a veteran a It also made me wonder what these rich attendees expect to get for their money? If he is selling his influence a lot of us are going to be left behind. Doug LaMalfa receives hundreds of thousands of dol- lars a year in welfare. Excuse me, subsidies. The wealthy call their free money subsi- dies. am waiting for my $200,000 check. If he is "One of Us," then I There is a choice. There is a moderate candidate running for congress, Jim Reed. He plans to help us keep Social Security and other safety nets. He isn't holding an $8,000 a plate dinner, because is a working man and is actually "One of Us." Mr. LaMalfa, having a burger in Shasta County while on the campaign trail does not make you part of the working class — i.e., "One of Us." It is fine to run for Con- gress, but please don't patron- ize the voters. Sharon Young, Red Bluff What is the difference between an honorably dis- charged veteran, a disabled vet- eran or military personnel cur- rently serving on active duty? Nothing. Each has served at least a day or two - served their country, including the states, counties, cities and towns they now call home. This includes all the private business- es and public government sec- tors within each. They volun- teered for the most part. Mostly, they didn't do it for the glory or for receiving any discounts at their local home stores after they left active duty. Many non-veterans — including a few corporate busi- ness owners — may believe that once a military person leaves the service that they are no longer serving on active duty. But what is in a veteran's mind? What has he or she seen and experienced? Like cops feel - "Once a cop, always a cop." They never retire. It's in their blood forever. What many, if not most, veterans do experi- ence now is how they are treat- ed, disrespectfully, just like cops. "Once a veteran, always a veteran." discount? Editor: treated fairly for the most part. Ask a veteran or their family members and friends. Again, they didn't enlist for any special In the north state are they are recognition but now so many veterans seem to be singled out in a way that is so disrespectful that it can be overwhelming for many. They're not treated fairly in the private sector and even by a few veterans serving in public office. Yes, there are veterans employed in govern- ment that just don't care enough about other veterans. They got their jobs and benefits and that's that. Gimme mine and go get your own. Entering Tehama County the sign reads, "Where We Honor Veterans." Does this imply hon- orably discharged veterans, a disabled veteran or a veteran still serving on active duty?Will all veterans be treated as equals from the public and private sec- tors? Feelings have changed. Why? Is it a corporate decision with the dollar the bottom line? The military served and fought for the same bottom line and now it seems they don't get to share in it. It's a business' right to not award a discount to any class of people it chooses. It's also all veterans, their fami- lies and friends' right to choose to shop elsewhere. Maybe drive to another city or county. It may be worth their while to take their tax dollars elsewhere. They may feel a certain sense of freedom and victory away from people they see almost daily just to feel anonymous or appreciated. What's not appreciated is how veterans — those who have no disability rating, and ID card Your Turn to go with it, not being recog- nized for their service, fortunate to have survived a lot of rounds coming down range at them, IEDs and other mishaps related to military service — from ene- miesof the united businesses at home. More business- es are becoming unit- ed, in an effort to save money, due to the bot- tom line, and eventual- ly this will cause a few to be forced to truly cut back and lay off more employees because veterans will begin to band together and boycott those busi- nesses who do not believe in taking a risk and honoring all veterans, past, present and future. Didn't veterans take risks? Now, the employees of these businesses may feel the bottom line and many of those employees try very hard to honor all veterans. But it may be out of their control. They have families to support, too, and the corporate decision makers use that. Will businesses who do not currently support all veterans change their policies to help veterans by honoring discounts and start receiving the business from those who are now taking away discounts? Isn't this how America works and isn't that the bottom line? This just may be how all veterans associa- tions band together one more time. No more getting spit on or a slap in the face as many did during and just after Viet- nam. John Minton, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. The right to go topless Commentary I, for one, support what Moira Johnson is doing. According to The Huffington Post, Johnson, an exotic dancer by night, has by day been walk- ing around New York City top- less to advocate a woman's right to go shirtless. This is an equal rights issue, you see. Johnson and other top- less lasses want to know why men are free to trot around shirt- less anytime, anywhere, but women are not. After all, men have breasts, too. point. But maybe Johnson has a Where upper-torso nudity is concerned, maybe there is a double standard, and maybe we need to shed it like some old T- shirt, as we have so many out- moded standards of the past. It wasn't long ago that women expected to be soft and femi- nine, much like actresses in the old movies, but that's no longer true. Women's professional basket- ball is as exciting and competi- tive as any male sport. Women now have their own professional football league. And on ESPN, professional female boxers do things to each other that make Mike Tyson look like a Quaker. It used to be that women needed husbands to have kids, but that's no longer true, either. Famous women who have dough are not only shunning husbands, they think they're bet- ter off without them. We men are stinky and hairy. It used to be that women were were expected to stay at home and attend to the needs of men. But nobody thinks this way any- more. In fact, many men these days prefer that their wives work and make a boatload of money. They see no shame in staying home with the kids and clapping the first time Junior uses the toilet to do No. 2. women may think they're better off without us, we don't fare so well without them. We find our- selves waking up in a pile of dirty laundry and newspapers, still clenching the tequila bottle we began drinking from three days earlier. We mess up the bathroom. We make loud noises when we eat. We snore when we sleep. Regrettably, though some In these modern times, then, is it right that American society tolerates men walking around shirtless without extending this same basic freedom to women? After all, many attractive European women are allowed to go topless. Sure, they don't fre- quently bathe or shave their armpits, but you can't have everything. Perhaps this topless thing is just another example of our rigid thinking, in which we hold an opinion on how women should act without really thinking it through. So let's think it through. What if more American women con- ducted their daily busi- ness topless? I assure you that would prompt me to get out of the house more often. I'd spend every waking moment, to quote the great Dean Martin, "standing on the corner watching all the girls go by." Besides, many towns, includ- had to let her go. In any event, as many Amer- icans sit idly by while their government strips away all kinds of freedoms — such as a religious organization's free- dom to not have the government tell it what health insurance plan it must buy — I suppose someone standing up for any kind of freedom is a good thing. Tom Purcell dom to go topless may soon be one of the few freedoms we have left. ing New York City, have no laws on the books that say it is illegal for women to walk around top- less. Johnson was arrested for her topless protests, but the cops Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e- mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. ——— So I support all lass- es who go topless on International Go Top- less Day — I'm not making that up — which is on Aug. 26. Because the free-