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6A – Daily News – Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Opinion D NEWSAILY 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 Dam $230 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 My family and I are taking the new tax personally. One of the many items tucked into the government overhaul of America's health care system is a 10 percent sales tax on tanning salons. According to The Wall Street Journal, the tan tax was added so that the Botox tax could be removed. As it went, our politicians, looking for ways to make it appear their massive bill would be "paid for," had to come up with all kinds of gimmicks — such as a 5 percent sales tax on Botox. Botox, however, is adminis- tered by plastic surgeons. Plastic surgeons have the dough to hire expensive lobbyists. The expen- sive lobbyists were able to get the "Botax" removed from the bill. Politicians found it much eas- ier to tax tanning salons instead. For starters, tanning lamps, much like the sun, generate ultraviolet rays. Overexposure to ultraviolet rays can cause skin cancer. Since politicians haven't fig- ured out how to tax the sun, a sin tax on tanning beds was the next best thing. million Editor: Keep the dam — I'll hire and pay 25 locals $50k per year with benefits to hand net and place the fish over the dam, will provide this service for $115 million for 46 years and will split the remaining $115 million with the feds, the state, and the City of Red Bluff. I won't charge you for the water behind the damn so irri- gate all you want. John Swaim, Red Bluff Gerber residence Editor: We are proud to have Assem- blyman Jim Nielsen as a neigh- bor. He lives on our street in Gerber. Jack and Bonnie Love, Gerber Sheriff only cares about pot Editor: A woman is nearly beaten to death by her ex boyfriend after he’s released from cus- tody of Sheriff Parker’s office for violating a court order to stay away from her following a domestic violence claim. This is the sheriff that had time to write 18 daily cita- tions to a medical marijuana collective. He apparently was too busy writing the citations to supervise his employees. Parker says no disciplinary action is contemplated. What? If it ain’t weed it isn’t important? What hap- pened to protect and serve? Where is the DA and the grand jury on this? I hope that come election time the citizenry will send Sheriff Parker back to civilian life. Fred Boest, Red Bluff Goodbye to our freedom, hello to reform Editor: I am just writing this letter in view of the newly passed Healthcare Reform Bill. There is no question that some kind of reform was needed. We know the cost for insur- ance is too high. We know that people can’t always get covered with pre-existing ill- nesses. We know many people don’t get medical treatment because they can’t afford it. We know that even though some of us are covered through our jobs, we are always on the phone fighting insurance claims. We know our medical bills put us in debt and we make payments we may never be able to pay off. We also know that anyone including illegal immigrants can walk into the emergency room and get care without being turned away. You may need to fight to get a test or procedure done, but at least you have the option to fight for it. Isn’t fighting insurance companies better than fighting the government? At least this law will create more jobs — for the IRS. off from England and other oppressive countries to come to America. I am by no means suggest- Your Turn I actually tried to read some of this bill. I was dis- couraged after I saw how many pages it was and how confusing the content was. I am by no means a genius or even a college graduate but even a rocket scientist would be left baffled by most of it. Can’t they make one of those books like the Guide to Healthcare reform for dum- mies? I just want to know what is happening to, we the people? I want to know why the so called progressives are trying to progress us right of a cliff into the land of socialism. I want to know why as a Christian and a taxpayer I have to pay for fed- erally funded abortion. The pro abortion people are always saying it’s their choice. Where is my choice? Why in this country that stands for freedom do I have to accept health insurance or pay a fine? That’s why people broke ing anyone should break the law. I am merely stating my opinion as a citizen that I do not agree with Obama care. I believe in democracy, it has worked for a long time. I believe change is needed to improve people’s lives, but change is one thing, making a law that the people don't fully understand is another. No one really knows how this will affect our future. Did anyone read the fine print before signing? I guess it doesn’t really matter now. A law is a law and what’s done is done. It’s in Gods hands now. I know the intent of this law is supposed to make America healthier and ensure the future of our children. Does it matter how healthy you are when your freedom is being compromised? Is your children’s future secure when morals are all gone. What price are we paying for this bill that was pushed and passed without a thought to the long term conse- quences? I love this country and always will. I don’t love it when a government does not listen to the voice of its people. We need patriots run- ning the country not political thugs and liars. Poppy Bennett, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), 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), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 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; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Tan & tax Commentary Besides, tanning salons are easy targets. If the Web site The Medical News (news-medical.net) is to be believed, most tanning salons are owned by women — includ- ing women who drive 1998 Camaros with the T-tops off, as they chain-smoke Marlboro Lights and yell at their boyfriends. Such business owners aren't as organized as plastic surgeons. They have fewer funds to pay for expensive lobbyists, which made it easy for politicians to slap a 10 percent sales tax on them — one that goes into effect this July. And my family and I are tak- ing the whole thing personally — because we are cursed with fair, freckly skin that burns easi- ly in the sun. One year, in the 1970s, our parents took us to the ocean for the first time. The temperature was in the upper 90s that week. My father begged us to be wary of the hot sun. Nonetheless, we raced to the beach as soon as we arrived. We got scorched so badly the first day, we spent the rest of the week inside our condo, soaking in Epsom salts, the blinds drawn, my father grumbling to our mother, "For godsakes, Betty, I told them to be wary of the sun." If only the tanning bed had been available then. When I was in my early 20s, in the 1980s, it was avail- able. I used one every summer to tan just enough so that when I went to the pool or the beach, I never got burned. But that was long ago — before the gov- ernment overhauled our healthcare system. Our government doesn't want us to use tanning beds — though it does want the tax dough. The 10 per- cent sales tax is intended to dis- suade us from doing so. As the economy is being Tom Purcell more expensive. We can't afford the cost. Thus, as the summer nears, my family and I have one less weapon in our arsenal to fend off a nasty burn. My mother, desper- ate to try something to achieve a tan look, pur- chased a can of spray- on tan. It didn't work out so well. "For godsakes, Betty," my father said to her. "You look like they plucked you out of a Florida orange grove!" The law of unin- tended government consequences strikes again. Now you know why my fam- ily and I are taking it personal- ly. made ever more uncertain by unprecedented government meddling, that doesn't bode well for my fair-skinned family. Tanning at a salon was an unneeded expense in a good economy. In this economy, it is a costly extravagance — and that was before it got 10 percent 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. ———