Letters to the Editor for the week of 11/20/19
Guidelines for letters
All letters must contain an address and phone number. Only one letter per week per person will be published; only one letter per person per month regarding the same topic will be published. Feather Publishing does not print third-party, anonymous or open letters. Letters must not exceed 300 words. Writers responding to previously published letters may not mention the author by name. The deadline is Friday at noon; deadlines may change due to holidays. Letters may be submitted at any of Feather Publishing’s offices, sent via fax to 283-3952 or emailed to [email protected]
Maxi-Morons are here to help you.
At times, it is difficult to find an appropriate subject and pen a story or tale. One night, while watching the news, it hit! A great subject. Politicians. Looking at the slate of candidates for President the word Maxi-Morons popped up. It is a derivative of the often-used Oxymoron. Oxymoron is a figure of speech which uses contradictory terms. For example, reliable liberals, truthful presidential candidates and, in more general terms, politicians who are well-versed in speaking with “forked tongue.” A regular phrase is “The American People want to know and have a right to know.” Mr. Schiff, we really don’t have time to listen to all your “Bi-partisan Suggestions.”
The politician in Congress, called the “Honorable” Mr. Schiff, is a Maxi-Moron. He believes that the average voter is incapable of understanding what’s happening in Washington. He is not alone! The group which has been after Trump since he ran for the Presidency will not stop until he is out. That bunch swore to defend and uphold the Constitution but lied. Those oaths must be Oxymorons of some kind, expressed by Maxi-Morons. It is sickening to see how a disgruntled group of power-hungry people is able to create so much controversy, which only damages our country. The voters should not let that happen and continue. The most damaging problem is that the leadership of the Democratic party, DNC, has deserted the membership of the party. The members, or regular supporters, have essentially been forced to surrender their voice, or the lack thereof, to the power-hungry mob that opposes everything accomplished by President Trump. This is no longer a disagreement over political ideas which are good or bad for the country. The mob will do anything, take any action, make any accusation, to gain back the swamp which they lost. It is hard to believe that the people who normally support the elected democrats cannot see the damage done. The age-old adage that the Government is here to help us is obviously an overly used Oxymoron expressed by Maxi-morons. There is a happy ending and that is that we will be paying for all the costs of the charade.
Jan Klement
Quincy
On Courage
There is a tendency today to redefine the word ‘hero.’ I’ve seen heroes on the battlefield, and occasionally in civilian life, but they are few in number, and are generally self-effacing. They say they were just doing their job. Simply being a member of a military organization does not qualify one as a hero. Even during WWII, it was said that barely 10 percent of those in the military actually engaged in combat. This use of the term tends to diminish our respect for those who have exhibited exceptional courage. Rock ‘stars’ and movie ‘stars’ are not heroes in any sense of the word. Nor are our overpaid and over publicized sports figures. Of course, when needed, courage can arise from any quarter. Merely surviving a deadly wartime experience does not make anyone a hero — just a survivor, like the rest of us. Today’s ‘survivalists’ are far removed from any definition of courage.
Although courage is required by some just to go on living, and by others to address difficult issues and dangerous situations, it is not an outstanding attribute of our present society. This might be why the extreme ultra-conformity exhibited by our ‘follow the leader’ politicians is so depressing. Either the members of our national congress fail to possess sufficient knowledge and understanding of the value of our democratic republic and its principles and ideals, or they are willing to sacrifice their personal integrity simply to retain their jobs. Our nation was predicated on the value of each individual, as an individual. It would be a shame to lose that unique ideal, but fear-mongering, greed and the current press for conformity and belonging are placing both the individual and the republic in increasing jeopardy.
Wallace B. Eshleman
Quincy
Too Thin or Not To Thin
As the old Hollywood saying goes: “You can never be too thin, nor too rich.”Granted, the dangers of anorexia and bulimia call into question the first part.Some of the eccentricities of Howard Hughes, never cutting nails, might draw scrutiny about the second, but hey, nobody I’ve known, myself included, was ever worried about the dangers inherent in becoming too rich.
Plumas County’s greatest asset — the forests, do face the danger of growing too thick.There are many benefits to a multi-pronged attack on excessively thick understory growth.Defensible space is a must around residences, businesses and communities.Shaded fuel breaks need to be constructed and maintained alongside roads, near drainages and along ridge tops.Prescribed burns are necessary to clear ladder fuels at the right time of year, so they don’t end up burning at the wrong time of year.
One of the best reasons for thinning is drought resilience.One prominent tree in a 10’ x 10’ area, roots sunk deeply into the soil, has a much better chance of survival, than a dozen or a hundred, competing against each other for those precious few drops of rain that might fall.
Large trees with separation have a better chance against beetle damage, mistletoe or any other natural hazards.Since dominant trees tend to grow much taller, they will sequester more carbon over their lifespan.Large trees, when(ever) selectively harvested, provide building material for hospitals, schools and homes, or they provide firewood to survive the winter, the smaller branches can even be chipped to provide heat in the county annex.
Oak leaves and pine needles, and even the ash left behind from a burn pile, can be used to enrich the soil for next years’ vegetable garden.Considering the myriad advantages; “to thin or not to thin,” isn’t even a question.
Gene Nielsen
Crescent Mills
They don’t know
This letter is in response to a letter from Nov. 6, 2019, titled “Climate” written by a member of the Board of Trustees, Feather River College. The context of the letter is climate change, PG&E and the recent power outages, renewable energy, and the “opinions” of amateur-meteorologists. In it, the author cites one study done at MIT from 2016 about the impact that the Paris Agreement might have on a future global temperature increase (MIT News, 4-22-2016). The cited article concludes that though the Paris Climate Agreement is a step in the right direction, there is still a 95 percent probability that the world will warm by more than 2 C by 2100. A global temperature increase of 1.5 C is “the crisis point where irreparable damage will be incurred” (Nasa).
This one (1!) scientific study was then used by the Trump Administration as a justification to leave the Paris Climate Agreement, because they interpreted the research to mean that the Paris Climate Agreement will do little for the climate and is therefore not worthwhile to even attempt. This interpretation of the original research so alarmed the relevant scientists from MIT that they felt compelled to issue a statement that they “believe that the Paris Agreement is an unprecedented and vital effort by nearly 200 countries to respond to the urgent threat of global climate change.” (MIT News, 6-2-2017).
We find it disheartening that a member of the Board of Trustees of a publicly funded college would a) try to convince readers against climate change based on one (1!) cherry-picked scientific study when there are now over 194,000 scientific studies that support climate change science (vs. about 6,000 studies written by climate contrarians, many of which cannot be replicated or contain errors (Nature, 2019; Skeptical Science; The Consensus Project) and b) would not know that the relevant scientists (not amateur meteorologists) of the cherry-picked paper he cites in his letter strongly disagree that their research supports a climate-change-skeptic agenda. We should do better in higher education — the future of humanity depends on us!
We will leave you with this quote from Greta Thunberg: “The numbers don’t lie and the science is clear. If anyone tells you ‘This is part of a normal cycle’ or ‘We have had fires like this before,’ smile politely and walk away, because they don’t know what they are talking about.”
Anna Thompson
Biology Faculty,
Feather River College
Christopher Clements
Class of 2016, Biology,
Feather River College
Calm down
“Reality” doesn’t care that your parents thought the world of you, because the world doesn’t think of you at all. Today the “Left” would have you believe that men menstruate, and Bruce Jenner is a woman. In reality, none of that is true.
Science myth: “97 percent of the scientists agree? How funny. If we review the original Cook et al. (2013) paper that kicked off that talking point, what they actually found was that of the “sampled” papers on climate change, only one-third of them expressed a similar view. Then of that one-third subset, 97 percent agreed that humans were at least one cause of climate change. There’s truth-in-advertising, but it’s foreign to “warmers.”
Examine Climate “Warmers.” If you differ “scientifically” from the “consensus” mob, they’ll attack you personally. In reality, they’ve forgotten that “science” is a discovery process, a testing ground for diverse ideas, or is it always exact? Lesson: Aren’t “Warmers” using consensus theories and climate models as so-called “facts” to fit their climate agendas?
A self-taught farmer discovered the planet Pluto in 1930. In 2006, Pluto was declassified to a dwarf planet. How many planets are in our galaxy? Physics has changed too. There is no principle of physics that says physical laws or constants have to be the same everywhere and always. Lesson: Don’t buy Mob theory.
Let me reiterate to those that are PHD-impaired and unable to handle reality. It’s amazing how the more “woke” someone is, the more they seem to sleep through the obvious. Lesson: Global warming is cyclical.
“Warmers” dire predictions of the past are many, 1971: ‘New Ice Age Coming’ and 2008: Al Gore warns of ice-free Arctic by 2013, etc. etc. They also said coffee was poison. Oh, “normal” humans are either XX or XY, but you can be a bunny if you wish. Calm down, reality bears little resemblance to your insulated drum circles and college “safe rooms.”
Trent Saxton
Lake Davis
Homeless
Anyone still think that we don’t need to see how many of our elderly are living in the street? Low income senior housing complexes have wait lists that are often three years or more in wait time; other than that, there’s no way these folks can comply with the open rental market because the average rental costs have finally reached $1000/per month, more or less, usually more; plus large security deposits. The average Social Security income is $1,400 a month; so, go figure, the people in this category and all in a lower category usually worked all or most of their lives and depended on a reasonable retirement via their Social Security income, but it hasn’t turned out that way; the ever-rising cost of living being the problem.
My first hint came when I helped to serve lunch at a homeless shelter in Chico four years ago, I learned that many of those folks were unable to get enough money together to pay a normal security deposit and first month’s rent, even if something were available, which is often, doubtful. Have we come to this as a nation? In the midst of plenty, with billions of dollars consistently going for ridiculous schemes, while our seniors, veterans, disabled, etc., are slowly being forced to the street, and yet, few who are responsible for this atrocity, are even paying attention.
As for me, I’ve found that the majority of Social Security seniors I’ve talked with just want affordable convenience and comfort in their later lives, within a receptive community area.
Nansi Wattenburg Bohne
Quincy