Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 2017)
2 Wednesday, May 24, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Jonah Goldberg Honoring those who died defending our FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let- ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: Marijuana production might not seem an issue to you until it comes into your neigh- borhood. We found that out when an appli- cation notice was posted on Goodrich. Many neighbors are concerned with the safety and traffic that the marijuana industry attracts. Furthermore, the water usage is also signifi- cant not only with watering the thirsty plants, but showering them off. Most importantly, the State of Oregon rec- ognizes that Deschutes County already has over ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED unregulated marijuana grows. This spring, a bill in Salem was proposed to let these grows double their plant numbers. We don’t have a marijuana shortage per a very recent feature on KTVZ; our Deschutes County marijuana products are being sold black market and shipped out of state. This is a federal offense. Deschutes County rural residents in Tumalo and other locations were instrumen- tal in implementing Deschutes County rules for the marijuana operations. Unfortunately, Salem is calling our Deschutes County rules “draconian.” We do not want to lose these rules. Central Oregon is known for it’s outstand- ing beauty. Thousands of unregulated mari- juana grows will certainly impact that beauty and the lifestyle that we value so much. The well-funded marijuana industry desires little or no regulation. Patti Adair s s s To the Editor: I was recently bitten by a leashed dog in See LETTERS on page 24 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Sunny Mostly Sunny Mostly Sunny Sunny Sunny Mostly Sunny 66/34 67/37 73/39 79/40 81/42 81/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Karen Kassy Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. “We just got back from the Middle East,” President Trump said to the president of Israel after his flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Tel Aviv, which is also in the Middle East. As Trumpisms go, this one is easy to forgive. But it does speak to a larger truth. The president was a stranger in a strange land, a region of ancient conflicts and com- plex political intrigues. The king of Saudi Arabia greeted Trump at the air- port, a gesture ostentatiously denied President Obama. On the drive from the airport the streets were lined with American flags and Trump’s face was beamed onto the side of a building. At the Riyadh summit, Abdel Sisi, the authoritarian leader of Egypt, invited the president to visit his country, adding, “You are a unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible.” Trump replied, “I agree,” to diversely interpretable laughter. He also returned the compliment. “Love your shoes. Boy, those shoes. Man!” In short, the Arab lead- ers, hardly inexperienced in lavishing praise on men who crave it, have the president’s number. Of course, they were given some guidance in this regard. According to New York Times reporter Peter Baker, Washington officials offered some tips on how to deal with the American president. “Keep it short — no 30-minute monologue for a 30-second attention span,” Baker summarized. “Do not assume he knows the history of the country or its major points of conten- tion. Compliment him on his Electoral College vic- tory. Contrast him favor- ably with President Barack Obama. Do not get hung up on whatever was said during the campaign.” The success — so far — of the president’s Middle East trip stands on the ashes of Obama’s failures. In his 2009 Cairo speech, he unspooled clichés as wis- dom, thinking that his name alone would put points on the board. He bought into the idea that the road to stability and peace in the Middle East went through Jerusalem. As Obama learned on the job, he came to believe that the road to peace went through Tehran, crafting an Iranian deal that alien- ated both our democratic ally Israel and our strategic Sunni allies, chief among them Saudi Arabia. In pur- suit of his fantasy, he turned a blind eye to Iran’s crush- ing of the Green Revolution and dithered to the point of complicity in the Syrian abattoir. Meanwhile, Iran remains as implacably hos- tile and as determined to be a regional hegemon as ever. That is the context of Trump’s fawning reception. “Welcome, President Not Obama!” Equally relevant, the Saudis welcomed Not Candidate Trump. During the campaign, Tr u m p r a i l e d a g a i n s t Muslims, indicted the Saudis as the architects of the 9/11 attacks and said (with more than a little accu- racy) that the Saudis want to keep “women as slaves and to kill gays.” In his speech on Sunday, Trump flip-flopped to a somewhat more elevated realism. He said America wants “partners, not per- fection” and that he didn’t come to “lecture” anybody, hence the refusal to mention anything that rhymed with human rights or democracy. Which brings me back to Trump’s naiveté when it comes to the Middle East. He manfully called for the destruction of terrorists, but he talked of them as if they were foreign invad- ers to be driven out of the swamp, not products of it. Like the man who only has a hammer and therefore thinks every problem is a nail, Trump believes that the Middle East’s problems can be solved with terrific “deals.” The Saudis, eager to buy weapons and coun- ter Iran, are all too eager to encourage this view. What alligator doesn’t want sharper teeth? © 2017 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.