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4A Daily News – Saturday, August 11, 2012 Opinion Doing right 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. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. 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 very much Bobbie and Sherry on David Avenue for taking time to do the right thing. They witnessed the theft of my Editor: I would like to publicly thank bicycle and within one hour found it and brough it back. I'm very proud to know there are still good people in the world with all the bad we see and read about it. Chivalary is not dead. It was the nicest, most wonder- ful thing. Thank you very much. Janette Stark, Red Bluff The Aug. 13 column, "Those were the days" by our local Daily News weekly glibber, R.M., jogged my memory of yesteryear. Just for laughs, here is a statement that was made by a college profes- sor of economics to his class that I attended in 1955. Back then, atomic power plants only existed Memories Editor: on the drawing board and people were still freshly in awe of the bombs dropped ten years prior. "When atomic power plants come on line, electricity will be so inexpensive to produce, electric power companies will not put an electric meter on your home. They will conduct an electric appliance survey of your home, and base your monthly power usage charge on a flat rate. If you use more elec- tricity than what they have fore- cast, they will not care. If you use less electricity than what they have charged you for, you will not care." ic energy functioned to produce energy was top secret and the uninformed general public were optimistically wildly speculating on its potential future uses. For example, some people wondered if perhaps "bread box" size atomic power units might someday power electric automobiles and trucks, and maybe homes could have their own small atomic- powered elec- Back then, details of how atom- tric generating unit. makes that dream impractical to come true for anyone in the world. To paraphrase Paul Harvey, "And now you know a little more about the rest of the story." Clyde Muir, Red Bluff But modern day terrorism There is an old saying , never look a gift horse in the mouth, meaning you shouldn't care what the condition the gift is in because it didn't cost anything. Well that is not always the case. As Vandana Shiva, an environmentalist in India found out. Gift horse Editor: prevented by patents as well as by the engineering of seeds with non-renewable traits, seed has to be bought for every planting season by poor peasants. A free resource available on farms She wrote, "As seed saving is became a commodity (thanks in part to Monsanto) which farm- ers were forced to buy every year." Your Turn Monsanto the company that brought us DDT and agent orange, which have been linked to cancer and kidney, liver and reproductive will regret down the road. Monsanto has a business pol- I bet there is a catch that we lems, is now giving garden boxes away to poor families. prob- icy bully those you can into buying your product and brib- ing politicians so government regulators don't interfere. This is the dark side of capitalism. The Monsanto Corporation is one of the corporations I had in mind when I said, "Just because an individual or corpo- ration makes a buck from you doesn't necessarily mean he gives a damn about you." Orval Strong, Gerber 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. Fraud fantasies Commentary Our minister had a great idea (not her only one) recently. She suggested we read one of the Gospels in full in just one sit- ting, and then she drafted eight of us to read the Gospel of Luke out loud so it could be recorded on a compact disk for any to hear. Those who did the reading ranged in age from twelve to septuagenarians. It took us two evenings to finish the task. (The disc is available for a small fee from the Presbyterian Church.) Luke lends itself to such a reading; although it is neither the shortest nor the earliest of the three synoptic gospels, it is written with flow and focus. Those who have studied ancient Greek comment that it is the most well written of the three synoptics (Mark, Matthew, and Luke.) For most of us who par- ticipated in the reading, hearing the gospel in its entirety was a new experience. We have got- ten used to a preacher picking out a short scriptural passage and expanding on it in a ser- mon. A goodly part of the ser- mon is spent putting the short scriptural passage into the con- text of both the entire work from which it was selected and also the context of the era of its composition before its applica- tion to our lives is explored. This winter when we focus on Luke we will have had the opportunity to be prepared for that focus. significant evidence to support many points of view. We are all familiar with the old saying that the "Devil can quote Scripture." Most recently at the hearing on the rezoning of the Breckin- ridge property for a homeless shelter, for example, the Bible was referred to by those advo- cating for the rezone as well as by those against it. Reading the entire Gospel can help prevent that kind of Bible use. The Bible can be a source of I gave some thought to that last week as I was reading the Daily News and various on line articles about the alleged con- troversy over climate change. On Tuesday a local commenta- tor who has been a little loose on his fact checking in the past called climate change a fraud. In criminal law, a fraud is "an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual". While I am not sure about what might be the motivation behind the alleged deception or fraud, and while I tried really hard to con- jure up some large scale con- spiracy against the American people, I was mostly struck by what was happening in the real world at the same time as the commentary. mentary. He was just trying to do the science. On that same day of the local commentary an eminent scien- tist from the University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley, who had been a climate change doubter con- fessed his review of the research and the data on climate change have convinced him "that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were cor- rect. I am now going a step fur- ther: Humans are almost entire- ly the cause." Richard A. Muller's opinion of the evi- dence is based on "careful and objective analysis by the Berke- ley Earth Surface Temperature Project. The project revealed that the average temperature on our land has risen by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, and that it has risen 1.5 Fahrenheit in just the last 50 years. The five papers which led him to this conclu- sion are available on line; four have already gone through peer review. There was no mention of uncovering fraud as motiva- tion for his investigation. Apparently he did not check out the blogs referred to in the com- As if to emphasize the importance of doing the science, Muller said, "…transparency is the heart of the sci- entific method; if you find our conclusions implausible; tell us of any errors of data or analysis." No name calling, no rancor just let us know if we are wrong. Muller further states "Science is that narrow realm of knowledge that, in principle, is universal- ly accepted. I embarked on this analysis to answer questions that, to my mind, had not been answered. I hope that the Berkeley Earth analysis will help settle the scientific debate regarding global warming and its human causes. Then comes the difficult part: agreeing across the political and diplo- matic spectrum about what can and should be done." [My emphasis] The very next day in the real would accrue from a deception. I am pretty sure the 120 scien- tists who contributed to the report were not in col- lusion. There were no citations of any sug- gested blogs. Joe Harrop world and on the front page of the Daily News there was an article (not a commentary) about a report composed by contributions from 120 scien- tists. The report, which was released by the California Nat- ural Resources Agency and the California Energy Commission, focused on the consequences of a hotter and drier California for the creation and transmission of electricity and crop production. It delved into the impact of such temperature increases on the San Joaquin Valley as well as the rest of the state. There is no indication the report is part of a larger fraud inasmuch as there is no benefit to either the Energy Commission or the Nat- ural Resources Agency that that. Nevertheless, in the long run science does prevail. Complaints against big gov- ernment may cloud the view of some of those who do not want to be open minded about cli- mate change; if climate change is a fact, however, we most like- ly will not be able to rely solely on voluntary individual efforts to cope with it, and some gov- ernment regulation will be needed, just as it is with stop lights and speed limits every day and water rationing when there are severe drought condi- tions. This does not mean the end of freedom or liberty as some cry. We must be prepared for some inconvenient conse- quences as we continually learn to live with the more and more of us who live here and as our impact on each other and our environment grows. Humankind has proven its adaptability, and after the rants and raves are over, we will sur- vive. While the media jump on seasonal anomalies and unique weather events to frame them in the con- text of climate change, scientists are carrying out research and col- lecting data to deter- mine if we are in for a change. We may not like what the scientists tell us. Ask Coperni- cus and Galileo about 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.