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Wednesday, January 21, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I N I O
N
Rachel
Marsden
American Voices
letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone
number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces-
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To the Editor:
With the latest controversy from City Hall
it appears that Mr. Transparency, A.K.A.
Ex-Mayor Brad Boyd, has once again slid in
under the radar.
It certainly appears to me that he took
advantage of his relationship with Eric Porter,
the City of Sisters senior planner, by having
Mr. Porter not submit the request to the plan-
ning commission.
Mr. Porter was quoted in the December
23 issue of the Nugget Newspaper in an arti-
cle by Jim Cornelius: “We collectively (the
community development department staff)
didn’t feel it would be controversial.” Really?
Has Mr. Porter and the staff been oblivious
to the outcry over the proposal that went on
for many months on Cascade regarding food
carts? It certainly appears that the good old
boy interests and connections are still alive
and well in Sisters.
Grady Brown
Editor’s note: According to City records,
Brad Boyd’s application was not the only one
that was not referred to the planning commis-
sion. There were 12 Type II decisions made in
2014. Of these, only two were forwarded on to
the planning commission; one was called up
for review by the planning commission. See
story, page 1.
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As a member of the
French media, and as a
French resident and immi-
grant, the terrorist attack in
Paris targeting the French
satirical publication Charlie
Hebdo hit home literally and
figuratively. Hopefully the
political climate in the after-
math of the deadly attack
can be leveraged to enact
change on several fronts —
change that, up until now,
has been resisted.
France has a cultural
problem: one of entitlement.
In some cases, it simply
leads to whining; in others,
to jihad. The prevalence of
various ethnic subsets within
the French population is a
matter of ongoing debate,
with increasingly extremist
voices perceiving this multi-
culturalism as a problem spi-
raling out of control. What’s
being viewed as an ethnic
problem is really, at its core,
an entitlement problem.
Should the makeup of
France be controlled by
more selective immigration?
Yes, and by basing immigra-
tion on merit, regardless of
ethnicity.
France has long fostered
a policy of disproportion-
ate mass immigration from
terrorism-plagued, French-
speaking African countries
(called the “Francafrique”
sphere) in exchange for eco-
nomic and diplomatic coop-
eration. France is also able
to use the militaries of these
African nations as proxies,
as we’re currently seeing
with the French counterter-
rorism initiative Operation
Barkhane in Mali and four
other African nations, for
example. Enough foreign
aid is flowing into these
countries from France that
their citizens shouldn’t be
exempt from demonstrat-
ing a basic level of actual
achievement before being
considered for integration
into French society. Right
now, it’s enough to just be
related to someone.
Islamic terrorists living in
Europe tend to fall into two
categories: rich entitled trust
funders, or hoodlums with a
sense of entitlement. Merit-
based immigration would
exclude both. I say this as
someone who was mugged
four years ago in the Paris
subway by two punks who
felt entitled to relieve me of
my iPhone.
Many of these kids from
well-to-do families (like
some of the 9/11 hijackers,
for example, and the com-
munist guerrillas from a pre-
vious era) and these thugs
without jobs are essentially
bored, and so they often
seek trouble. They’re bored
enough, in some cases, to
start fantasizing about ways
in which they could com-
mit spectacular suicide-
by-SWAT in a shortcut to
infamy. To some of them,
going out in a blaze of self-
perceived glory is a more
attractive option than putting
in the time, effort and hard
work to make their lives
meaningful.
It’s worth noting that the
brothers who perpetrated the
Charlie Hebdo attack were
not immigrants. Their enti-
tlement was homegrown.
They were bored, entitled
hoodlums who happened to
identify with a French sub-
culture that co-opts elements
of radical Islam, rap music
and the bastardization of the
French language to foster
an identity. Many end up in
prison, where they’re further
fueled by like-minded radi-
cal Islamists. Their vacation
plans take them to jihadist
tourism destinations.
Meanwhile, French left-
ists are quick to shout down,
marginalize, fire or pros-
ecute anyone who might
infringe on the self-esteem
of these thugs. At least
French intelligence services
aren’t handicapped by the
“civil liberties vs. secu-
rity” debate that exists in
America. Otherwise, the sit-
uation would be far worse.
How to remedy the prob-
lem? Start with the relentless
official denunciation of any
kind of thuggish or jihadist
behavior, and the full pub-
lic support of anyone who
speaks out against it, how-
ever awkwardly. There can
be no equivalence between
denouncing jihadism and
speaking out in support of
it. The idea that any democ-
racy must entertain calls for
jihad under the guise of free
speech is absurd. Don’t like
it? Then move to a coun-
try more aligned with your
jihadist values.
I am Charlie. And hope-
fully the Charlie Hebdo
attack inspires the French
leftists currently in power to
enact some real reforms.
© 2015 Tribune Content
Agency, LLC.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.