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4A Daily News – Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Opinion I'm baaack - are we better off? 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. 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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 elect, voters are often asked: "Are you better off than 4 years ago?" This in spite of the fact that policy changes may take years to enact, much less come to fruition, and may or may not be opposed by legislatures or administrations. Such is the temperament of impa- tient and often irrational voters that lack an appreciation for the com- plexities and timelines of democ- ratic governance. Despite these realities all but the added 3% of American working families with- out jobs due to the missteps of the prior administration are hard pressed to honestly say they are not better off. If you will, let me count the ways things have improved since Obama took office. When deciding upon whom to American troops victoriously returned from Iraq and troop levels in Afghanistan are now below pre- surge levels. Osama bin-Laden, the leader of al-qaeda and princi- pal architect of the September 11 massacre, is now dead and further terrorist attacks have been blunted during President Obama's term. Furthermore the removal of troops from Afghanistan is on target to meet the President's promise to extract all our forces by the sum- mer of 2014. As a nation, by killing terrorist leaders to reduce the potency of threats and reducing the expense of exposing our troops to death and injury we are certain- ly better off than we were four years ago. recovered from the depth of the near depression the nation faced at the end of the Bush administration. Those that invested in mutual funds that mirror the Dow Jones Industrial Average when President Obama took office have seen their funds more than double – quite a tidy return in four years that should put a smile on anyone having a siz- able stock portfolio. In addition housing prices and construction have stabilized since that time and in many areas are now on the rise with mortgage rates at historically low levels – all this with inflation rates below three percent – great news for homeowners, home buy- ers, and home builders. Over a billion dollars of med- ical insurance premiums have been refunded to Americans due to the requirements of Obama's Affordable Care Act that that limit the amount that insurance compa- nies can use for administration and marketing. In addition, insurers can no longer discriminate against children with pre-existing condi- tions nor can they place lifetime limits on the dollar value of cover- age or rescind policies except in cases of fraud. More than 3.1 mil- lion more young people are insured now that children up to age The stock market has now fully 26 remain on their parents' plans. Seniors and those with disabilities have already saved $3.5 billion on prescription drug costs since the Affordable Care Act took effect. All of these Americans are better off than they were four years ago and others will benefit as they reach retirement age or face health challenges. Electricity produc- tion from solar panels in California now exceed one billion watts (enough to power over 500,000 homes) when power is most critically needed in the heat of summer. contribution of renew- able electrical sources to the Cali- fornia power grid now exceed 20% and will continue to silently, cleanly, and economically provide critically needed power for decades to come. The installation of such systems has doubled in the past four years under state and fed- eral policies that promote techno- logical and manufacturing advances. Everyone using renew- able resources is clearly better off, as are the rest of us that purchase electrical power from the Califor- nia grid or appreciate the environ- mental and climate change bene- Overall the fits of reduced fossil fuel con- sumption. Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point gy security than four years ago, and that it will be even better off as the energy policies of the Obama administration more fully take hold. Speaking of fossil fuels, America now pro- duces over a million more barrels of oil per day than we did four years ago to cut our dependence on foreign sources of energy sup- ply to their lowest levels in twenty years. Add to this that natural gas pro- duction is at record lev- els and the fact that this administration has dou- bled the fuel efficiency standards for domestic automobiles to cut future transportation fuel use by an average of 50%. It is clear that America has more ener- So I ask the voters of the North State – aren't we better off than we were four years ago? Next week – the positive point of electing new representatives to local office so you can vote accordingly. Richard Mazzucchi is a retired research engineer and now makes his home in Los Molinos.He can be reached at living-green@att.net. 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: governor@gover- nor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Ceanothus 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 Mont- gomery St., Suite 240, San Fran- cisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Musical chairs and political games Commentary will have hopefully given some time and thought to commemorat- ing the September 11, 2001, terror- ist attacks that have so defined America's life, military, security and politics since that date. I know the Tea Party Patriots are planning to show some flags for passers-by today, and plan to have a program at their meeting tonight at the Westside Grange at 6 p.m. Your attendance is welcome. I will have already returned to our home- away-from-home RV next to the Deschutes River in Oregon. See you at the fair. My first obligation is to put my cards, so to speak, on the table and remind readers that I endorse, sup- port and attend events for both State Senator Doug LaMalfa and Assemblyman Jim Nielsen; I serve, when in town, on the Repub- lican Central Committee. I think my fellow committee members wish I was in town more often, but that's not the issue here. I found the editor's commen- By the time you read this, you tary, "North State's political shell game explained," quite entertain- ing reading and struck just the right tone, with a bit of tongue firmly planted in cheek. It is not particu- larly unusual for those serving at one level of elective office to both hone their skills, as well as broad- en their appeal through constituent service, and aspire to higher office. Call it the elective party farm team system. I mean, isn't it true all the way up to contests for the highest offices in the land that voters want to judge someone based on how they have performed at lesser offi- cial levels? The distinction between gen- uine servants of the citizens, labor- ing selflessly while fairly compen- sated for their time, possessed of the best of motivations, ethics and values, and, on the other hand, mere poseurs possessed of avari- cious ladder-climbing and shame- less opportunism – that distinction presents itself often. The way I have come to see it, LaMalfa and Nielsen are among the former group and Assemblyman Dan Logue, unfortunately, is among the latter. I will welcome an admission and apology from Logue whenev- er he chooses to offer it, over the despicable mud-slinging, disingen- uous mischaracterizations and flat- out lies his campaign engaged in against Supervisor Bob Williams when they vied for the Republican primary contest for the 3rd District Assembly seat. Had the best man, Mr. Williams in my opinion, won, it would have been to Mr. Logue's benefit, rather than embarrass himself politically by stating repeatedly, to another local paper's reporter in particular, that he had no intentions to run for the State Senate seat vacated by LaMalfa simultaneously with his, Logue's, run for the Assembly. That deceptive maneuver could be fairly characterized using the edi- tor's words: "political theater," "wacky realm" and "the best show in town." You can add to that, as events fit, two items from my email inbox on Friday the 7th: "The Road Not Taken" by Jack Lee, Chair of the Butte County Chapter of the Con- servative Republicans of Califor- nia, and "LaMalfa pays visit to Glenn GOP, irks local manage- ment" (by Larry Mitchell, Chico Enterprise-Record, 9/07/12, http://www.chicoer.com/fromthe- newspaper/ci_21488624/lamalfa- pays-visit-glenn-gop-irks-local- management). When Doug LaMalfa paid his reported visit to the Orland office of the Glenn County Republi- cans, who are certainly free to endorse in races but should also provide campaign material in an evenhanded manner, some "theater" did tran- spire. He has taken issue with the editorializing of the Chico E-R against him and found that the Glenn GOP had an edito- rial on display. The offending section, while acknowledging that LaMalfa's campaign touted the money saved by taxpayers resulting from his resignation, then had this to say: "In reality, he was doing it in (an) attempt to give his had-picked successor and political ally, Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, an inside track on his Senate seat – and to spite Assemblyman Dan Logue …" LaMalfa took the piece down and wrote, next to that statement, "this is not factu- al." Don Polson The way I see it arm of the Dan Logue campaign. Moreover, I just don't get the uproar over Herger's endorsement of LaMalfa or LaMalfa's of Nielsen; endorse- ments, along with money, are certainly part of the famous "mother's milk of pol- itics." Whether from newspaper editorial boards, businesses, unions or, in this case, other elected officials, they don't carry any more weight than what voters give them. They certainly don't constitute imposing someone's choices on others. Jack Lee's "The Now, I'm hardly a journalistic or editorial expert, but that sen- tence sure reeks of casting unwarranted aspersions on the motives of an honorable public servant. It displays a complete absence of doubt that the editors might not actually know the heart or motives of LaMalfa. It strikes me as a bit of editorial arrogance; a borderline cheap shot. One online commenter opined that the Glenn GOP is little more than an Road Not Taken" offers a far more principled and truthful take on the honorable and taxpayer- friendly decisions of LaMalfa and Nielsen to resign and avoid costly special elections. Go to "Polecat News and Views" in the blog section (donpolson.blogspot.com) where I will post his fine, complete statement as well as the Chico E- R's article. Small correction: I mistakenly suggested that PG&E's baseline amount of electricity had no charge, when I clearly intended to describe it as having the lowest applicable rate, which remains nearly double the rate we pay in Bend, Oregon. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.