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2 Wednesday, December 20, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Editorial… ‘What can I do?’ The smoke from the Milli Fire has cleared away, and the scars from the blaze are ban- daged with a light covering of snow. The impacts, however, linger on. Sisters Country residents report ongoing upper respi- ratory problems linked to living in weeks of unhealthy air conditions, and businesses are still feeling the economic body blow of los- ing the last third of the summer season. The environmental damage will linger through our lifetimes. Something needs to change. Sisters can’t afford to endure one terrible fire season after another. Changing forest policy — how we manage our forests, how we fight fires — is a big chore. And therein lies an opportunity. In recent weeks, I’ve heard many in the community — who are frustrated to the point of despair by the course of the American Republic — ask one question: “What can I do?” They suspect — rightly — that their Facebook posts and emails to their congress- men are tiny, inconsequential noises in the roaring tempest of the hyper-partisan, money- fueled noise machine of national politics, unheard or ignored. Yet they can’t countenance simply giving up and retreating into isolated silence. Forest restoration is an issue of prime importance to the people of our community and region. It’s critical to our economic, phys- ical and spiritual health. Virtually everybody in Sisters Country — regardless of ideology — loves the Sisters landscape. It’s a primary reason why we’re all here. Working together to find practical solutions to on-the-ground problems can cut across par- tisan lines and build bridges between people who have become alienated from each other by a toxic national discourse that creates divi- sion for sport and profit. The Deschutes Forest Collaborative Project (http://deschutescollaborativeforest.org) offers one way of connecting with a practical move- ment toward forest restoration — and an opportunity to bridges in the community. Those who want to do something to better their world outside of the ugly hurly-burly of “politics” might find working for the land they call home a worthy trail to walk down. Jim Cornelius Editor 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: In the latest installment of what has been aptly called the “Bunkum Chronicle,” the writer takes on the topic of the status of wolves in wildlife “management.” True to form, he throws up a cloud of words which rain down in no coherent fashion. He has no thesis. Or, apologies to Gertrude Stein, “There is no there there.” Here are two points he should have addressed: 1. Who “owns” the wildlife in Oregon? and 2. Should the state subsidize ranchers and farmers by killing predators? With respect to the first point, it seems to me that the wildlife in Oregon, like its water and air, belong to all the citizenry, not to a select few who can determine an animal’s fate based on their pocketbook. Yet, the citizenry See LETTERS on page 14 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny Slt. Chance Snow Mostly Sunny Sunny Mostly Sunny 33/11 35/14 31/5 23/4 25/7 31/24 The Nugget will be closed on Monday, December 25. See our complete holiday hours and deadlines on page 10. 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. Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Karen Kassy Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro Owner: J. Louis Mullen 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. Jonah Goldberg The most important poll number to come out last week had nothing to do with defeated Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. It had to do with Fox News and Donald Trump. First: some disclosure. I’m a Fox contributor and a Trump skeptic (aka a for- mer “Never Trumper”). That makes this an awkward col- umn to write, for reasons that should be fairly obvious. Regardless, I don’t think I am revealing any state or corporate secrets that Fox is the president’s favorite news network. He says as much all the time. According to CBS’ Mark Knoller, as of last October, President Trump gave more than three times as many interviews (18) to Fox and Fox Business as he has to NBC, ABC and CBS combined (5). He’s given two to religious networks and zero to CNN. Some Fox defenders would say this is understand- able because the other net- works are so hostile toward the president. They certainly have a point. Fox critics would say that Trump favors Fox because the network is exceedingly friendly to the president. Some even call it Trump’s “state TV.” The critics have a point, too, though an important dis- tinction needs to be made. Most of the president’s interviews haven’t been with the news side — which I think usually does a very good job of covering the news honestly and fairly — but with the opinion side. Sean Hannity, prob- ably Trump’s favorite host and, reportedly, an informal Trump adviser, explained in April 2016, “If I’m inter- viewing Hillary Clinton, it’s gonna be a hundred times harder than any Republican, because I believe the Republicans ... have a far better vision, one that I agree with ... I’m not a journal- ist, I’m a talk-show host.” (Hannity recently revised this, telling the New York Times he’s an “advocacy journalist”). Many other cable hosts pretend that they are dispas- sionate journalists when any reasonable viewer can see that they are ideological and political partisans. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow touts her show as covering the news “without fear or favor.” I don’t know about the fear part, but any remotely objective viewer would see an awful lot of favor — to Democrats, liberals, Trump critics, etc. Still, the same objective viewer simply must concede that Fox, particularly “Fox and Friends” (which Trump watches to the point where many in Washington now call the program the “president’s daily briefing”) and the pri- metime line-up is objectively and intensely pro-Trump. The news side is a differ- ent animal. But even here it’s fair to say Fox doesn’t fol- low the path forged by other news organizations, which often appear so determined to hurt Trump that they fall for bogus stories which my National Review colleague Rich Lowry calls, “too anti- Trump to check.” Much of the opinion stuff essentially involves mirror- ing Trump’s Twitter feed, attacking Trump critics and railing about the “rigged sys- tem,” “fake news” and the “deep state.” It’s so much muchness, as the British say. Which brings me to those poll numbers. Suffolk University and USA Today released a poll this week which found that among people who trust Fox News the most, the president’s approval rating has been sinking. His favorability among Fox devotees in June was 90 percent. In October, it was 74 percent. This week? Fifty-eight percent. If that trend continues, he will be underwater with the Fox audience long before the 2018 midterms. You can cry “fake polls,” as Trump often does. But was the same poll fake in June? Or are the same trends that led to Trump’s histori- cally abysmal approval rat- ings now reaching even the Fox faithful? F r o m Vi r g i n i a t o Oklahoma to Alabama, establishment and anti- establishment GOP candi- dates alike have lost in large part because Democrats, Independents and a signifi- cant number of Republicans disapprove of Trump more than they approve of him. His pander-to-the-base approach still does wonders for Hannity & Co.’s ratings, but ratings aren’t votes. © 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.
