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Wednesday, April 19, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Editorial…
A total community effort
The many volunteers who came together to
build Sisters High School’s new, state-of-the
art greenhouse should be proud of themselves.
They certainly earned the opportunity to bask
in its warmth on a blustery early spring day,
while enjoying some treats crafted by the SHS
Culinary Arts program.
Uncounted volunteer hours went into the
resurrection of the greenhouse program after
the original greenhouse — then located at
Sisters Middle School — collapsed under the
weight of a heavy snowfall. That won’t hap-
pen to this one; it’s solidly built enough to
withstand a hurricane.
Local businesses and contractors donated
time, materials and expertise to make the proj-
ect happen.
This is the kind of thing that Sisters does
best. The gathering to cut the ribbon on the
facility last week featured people of all ages, a
variety of walks of life, and doubtless a wide
range of social and political views on the
world. There were retirees and young students,
teachers and excavators and a stray photogra-
pher or two.
Whatever their differences in background,
life experience, and outlook, they gathered on
common ground: a belief that hands-on educa-
tion matters; that a connection between farm
and table matters; that overcoming obstacles
to realize a vision matters.
It’s easy to focus too much on the things
that we don’t like, the things that go wrong,
and the things that divide us. Last Friday, a
fine cross-section of the Sisters community
gathered to celebrate the things that bring us
together, in what lead volunteer David Hiller
described as “a total community effort.”
Hats off to ’em.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thtrsday
Friday
Sattrday
Stnday
Monday
Chance Showers
Chance Showers
Mostly Sunny
Partly Sunny
Mostly Sunny
Chance Showers
56/35
50/31
63/35
63/36
60/36
60/na
The Nugget Newspaper, Inc.
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Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson
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N
Questioning the
constitutionality
of Syria bombing
By Dick Sandvik
Guest Columnist
I was troubled by The
Nugget’s editorial regard-
ing President Trump’s
executive decision to bomb
Syria. Obviously, any
humane person is funda-
mentally opposed to the use
of chemical (or biological)
weapons, whether against
troops or civilians. (Such a
person should, IMHO, feel
the same way about the use
of barrel bombs, starvation
or exile as means of war.)
However, I am con-
cerned about the constitu-
tionality of Trump’s action
— as well as executive
actions of like nature by
former presidents, includ-
ing Obama. I’m not a con-
stitutional law expert, so
I did a bit of research into
Article I, Section 8. I found
this interesting article by
Yale law professor Stephen
Carter:
http://www.startribune.
com/declaration-of-war-
is-the-relic-from-a-distant-
past/418696513/
The professor didn’t say
either way whether it is
constitutional for presidents
to launch a war without
a Congressional declara-
tion. Carter did say that the
clause has fallen into disuse
ever since the early days of
the Republic.
However, calling the
War Powers Clause “a
relic of the past” does not
contribute to resolving the
issue. Perhaps in the fore-
seeable future the Supreme
Court will be required to
provide a definitive ruling.
I don’t believe that a
Constitutional “originalist”
or “strict constructionist”
should be pleased with the
idea that Article I, Section
8 is a “relic of the past.”
That term could be applied
to many clauses in the
Constitution! One can rea-
sonably conclude from the
plain language of Article 1,
Section 8 that a president
cannot take military action
against a foreign coun-
try without a Declaration
of War from Congress.
And note that Trump, well
before he became a can-
didate for the presidency,
said that President Obama
should not undertake an act
of war against Syria with-
out Congressional approval.
Of course, over the past
many decades, Congress
has been quite cowardly
vis a vis the War Powers
clause. They certainly did
not give serious consider-
ation to Obama’s request
for a declaration or at least a
new “Authorization for Use
of Military Force (AUMF)”
with regard to Syria.
That’s why I cannot
agree with your conclu-
sion that Trump “did the
right thing” in bombing
the Syrian air base. Absent
Congressional consent,
Trump or any future presi-
dent could decide that any
reason provided justifica-
tion for him or her to “do
the right thing.” What if
Trump decides to make a
preemptive strike against
North Korea? Or to take
further aggressive military
action against the Syrian
regime? Either decision is
fraught with potential mas-
sive negative consequences
for our country. Decisions
of such magnitude should
be made only with the
consent of the peoples’
representatives.
And that takes me to my
second quarrel with your
editorial. You say that it is
“pointless to address the
rank hypocrisy...” of the
Republicans on the issue of
bombing Syria. I believe it
is never pointless to address
hypocrisy on the part of our
elected officials. There is
entirely too much hypoc-
risy in our government, at
all levels, and that degrades
the credibility of those
officials.
As I stated at the outset,
the use of chemical weap-
ons — or biologics, bar-
rel bombs, starvation, and
exile — as tools of war is
inhumane and should be
sanctioned strongly and
swiftly. But if our country
is to do the sanctioning, it
should be through a consen-
sus between the Executive
Branch and Congress.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.