Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 2-14-19 E-edition

Opinion
A4 | Thursday, February 14,, 2019
In My Opinion
LDies often travel faster than truth
uring World War II the Nazi control of politicians propaganda machine, under and bureaucrats
the direction and leadership in government,
Fred Hall
it provides cradle-to-grave support—including a government education-- for everyone even if they refuse to work atajobtocarefor themselves.
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
of one Joseph Goebbels, believed the bigger the lie and more often it was repeated increased its believability.
He bore the title of Reich Minister of propaganda. Hissuccesswithshaping the thinking of the German people was undeniable and his prowess at such is renown.
Since that awful period there has been a collection of jokes dealing with the subject of the world’s biggest lie. Whatever your answer might have been to that one, it has been supplanted
by the biggest whopper ever told in moderndayAmerica. “Diversitymakes us stronger and immigration makes usmoreprosperous.” Onewilloften hearthatlinebeingespousedbyour mainstream media without an iota
of data which would support such apronouncement. Ifanyoneisin possession of any information which would support that position, now would be a good time to speak up.
One need look no further than California for an example of what a swelling illegal immigrant population candotoaneconomy. Wehave become the number one state in the unionintermsofpoverty. Onehasno better example than our own Valley citiesforreference. Thatis,innoway, intended to denigrate these immigrants. One can’t blame them because they are unable to compete for, not fill, jobs that provide a path upward in the American economicsystem. Iblamethe politicians who use them for political advantage.
Roughly 40 percent of the entire country’s 11 to 20 million immigrants now call California home. This is a state where one in four were not born in The UnitedStates. Furtherexacerbatingthe problem is the fact that there is little or no attempt to assimilate or learn the Englishlanguage. Wearebecominga collectionoftribes. Thatisaposition which is tacitly being encouraged and supported by government regulations and directives.
One must have a greater grasp of facts in order to make a more realistic appraisal of whether or not diversity makes us stronger and immigration makesusmoreprosperous. Truthis that we are reaping the “benefits” of the uncontrolled migration wrought by about three generations of massive influxes of poor and impoverished.
If the people of this country truly believe that we need more under- educated, low income workers which would result in a permanent underclass, we would prefer they tell us so instead of proffering lies about how we benefit fromtheirpresence. Equallyimportant is a universal knowledge of the unintended consequences, which come with illegal immigration.
Another example, in our opinion of being spoon-fed large doses of a big
lie would be the recently released New GreenDeal. Anyonewhohasreadthis “vomiting of garbage” by Representative Ocascio-Cortez of New York realizes
it sounds more like a lecture or dissertation by a college professor than asensibledocument. Beyondassigning virtually every part of our lives to the
Guest Column
NAo shame in seeking mental health care
One doesn’t have to be an accounting or economics major to realize that it won’t take long to run out of other people’s money to support those who refuse to accept any responsibility forthemselves. Thisaddedformof socialism will certainly exacerbate an alreadyextremeproblemcreatedby openborders. Whatgreatermagnet can there be than when everything is free, including medical?
Wanttoknowsomethingthatmakes this even more scary? There are already at least 64 Democrats who have asked that they be allowed to sign on
to this as co-sponsors. Not frightening enough? At least four of those people who profess their belief and support
of this have already announced they intend to seek their party’s Presidential nomination for 2020!
How is it possible that anyone as naive,uninformedanduneducated
can win an election to such a high office and enjoy such a sycophantic, adoring audience? Somehow she has become the poster child for the future oftheDemocratparty. Theheadof
the Democrat National Committee
has already pronounced her as such! Obviously the young Congresswoman has tremendous support from the media partners of that political party. Although there were indications beginningonthehorizon,Ihadnoidea that this was where the Democrat party was headed back when I voted for John F. Kennedy.
If one didn’t know better, there would be a tendency to swear that the original lie was invented in California politicos— or maybe it’s just that our politicians, bureaucrats and political advisors have perfected prevarication to the point it is almost an art.
Let’s start with High Speed Rail. That was a lie which was so inventively sold to California voters that it was approved on a ballot. It’s been nothing short of a mess and a boondoggle
ever since. This big lie has caused us to throw money down a rat hole on a project which is neither feasible nor desirable.
Propositions 47 and 57 were both major lies which were foisted on the voters for approval by disguising their trueintent. Thesedidnothingbut release criminals back on the streets of California. Voters even turned down a repeal of an onerous gas tax in the last election because of a lie in Sacramento in the wording of the issue as it appeared on the ballot. A lie can be spread half way around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
Food for Thought
FDread of dealing with DMV is no joke
ortunately for mankind, we only have to deal with ‘customer service’, I did have to wait. At the Department of Motor Vehicles from time to first the prompt told me ‘expected wait time. That time, however, is often dreaded – and time is currently 21 minutes’.
few weeks ago, some friends It was a relief to and I planned to meet up for know my problems drinks. One person was cagey weren’t my fault. It
sometimes rightfully so.
There’s a scene in Disney’s animated film ‘Zootopia’ that
really resonated with adult viewers. In it, the two main characters are on the hunt for clues, trying to solve a case of a missing person. They have just 48 hours to solve the mystery and, fortunately for them, they have one great lead – a license plate number.
So they rush over to the local DMV, where one of the characters says he has a friend there who can help them. They burst through the doors, excited about their new lead, when the lead character (a rabbit police officer) freezes. Her eyes grow large and her mouth drops.
“They’re sloths?” she asks, with dread.
That’s right. Every person/character behind the DMV counter was an actual sloth.
For me, it was perhaps the funniest scene in animation film history. Though the young audience may not have fully understood the comedy behind the scene, parents alike could not help but laugh.
We’ve all been there. You hope for the best. You pull up and start counting cars. You open the doors with anxiety. You take a number and look up at the next one in que and think - this is the worst.
Last week I had the joy and privilege of dealing with the DMV. Though I have to admit that it wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past, I can see why there has been talk lately about revamping the system.
Case in point: I did what most adapt civilians do these days when they need answers, I went online. The DMV’s website is easy enough to use, but the end result left me no closer to resolving my problem. So after multiple attempts on the web, I did the next best thing, or so I thought.
I resorted to primitive measures. That’s right. I called the DMV.
I first called just after 8 a.m., thinking I should be able to get someone on the line first thing in the morning. Problem was the DMV (or the help line) didn’t open that day until 9 a.m. In lieu of a customer service representative, however, the recorded voice on the other end offered to assist me via the DMV’s phone prompt.
I gave it a shot.
But after three ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t understand your response’ prompts from the system, I decided to call back at 9 a.m.
I ended up calling around 9:20 a.m., thinking it was still early enough to not have to wait too long. I was wrong.
Though the phone system did recognize my request for
Rick Curiel
“Uhh!” I thought, out loud.
Ok 21 minutes, that’s not that bad. So I put the phone on speaker and carried on with some household chores and attending to the various requests of my three-year-old daughter.
After about twenty minutes of waiting, a voice came on the phone. I got excited, but only for a split-second. It was
another recorded voice, this time saying, ‘expected wait time is currently 37 minutes.’ (Insert angry emoji)
As if it somehow recognized my frustration, the prompt followed with, ‘If you like, a representative can call you back when your wait time is over.’
Naturally, I chose that option.
Sure enough, about 40 minutes later, I got a call from
the DMV. The guy on the phone, Freeman was his name, was actually quite helpful and courteous. I explained
my situation, which was simply the need to expedite my registration tags. Freeman did everything he could on his end and gave me two options. I could either pick up the tags at the nearest DMV or I could have them sent, something he said would take about two to three days, minimum.
The thought of actually going to the DMV, something I was trying to avoid in the first place, wasn’t as dreadful as I thought it would be. After all, all I have to do is pick up the tags. How long could that take? Besides, the Visalia DMV has a line that can handle things like that in a jiffy – perhaps a sign of a well-managed department.
Off I went, and soon enough I found myself in that line with only two people ahead of me. Score!
Excited to think this would be my quickest DMV visit ever, to my surprise, just as I became the next person in line a DMV attendant walked up to me and began writing a number on a small piece of paper.
“I’m sorry sir,” she said. “The attendant at this desk is going on lunch so you’ll have to take a seat and wait for your number to be called.”
Thirty minutes later, I got my tags.
Whether the problem is systematic or managerial, we have all experienced some part of the DMV that left us thinking, ‘there must me a better way to do this.’
I’m hoping there is, for the sake of all mankind. Hopefully the powers that be can find those answers soon. In the meantime, like the rest of the DMV patrons, I’ll wait.
Rick Curiel is editor of the Dinuba Sentinel.
about what time she was available to hang out that evening, and another said nothing at all — and then didn’t join.
Ultimately it turned out the former had an appointment for mental health counseling and she was embarrassed to admit it, and the latter was in recovery. She wanted to spend time with friends, but didn’t wish to risk her sobriety.
In my view, neither friend should have any need to feel embarrassed. People who take their mental health into their own hands like they have should be applauded, not stigmatized.
I respect each of these people more for taking care of themselves, not less. (Also, I would have been glad to switch to a non-alcoholic activity if it meant
I could have enjoyed my recovering friend’s company that evening. Friends are worth more than wine or beer.)
Mental health problems aren’t your fault. You’re no more to blame for your depression, anxiety, PTSD, or bipolar disorder than you are for coming down with pneumonia or appendicitis.
For me, finding out that so many issues in my life were due to mental health problems was a relief. I thought they were character flaws. I thought there was something fundamentally the matter with me, something that was my fault, something to be ashamed of. There wasn’t.
Jill Richardson
was an even bigger relief to know I could get help for them. I’d been struggling alone my entire life and heaping shame on myself for what
turned out to be symptoms of an illness I could seek help for. So I did.
I’m open about my mental health problems too, because I would rather people know I’m working my hardest to overcome a medical problem than to think I just happen to be weird, or lazy, or any other negative trait.
I’m proud of myself for my commitment to improving my mental health. I think it’s my biggest strength, in fact. If someone else sees that in a negative light, I don’t really want them in my life.
One in five adults in America experience a mental illness. It’s not
a rare problem. Stigmatizing mental illness makes the problem worse than it needs to be by adding shame and secrecy to an already difficult situation.
If you know people who struggle
with mental illness and seek help for it, support them. If you’re the one suffering and getting help, be proud of yourself.
Distributed by OtherWords.org.
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