FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Politics
— Editorial —
Why Trump
is getting
noticed
We’re opening this editorial with a
disclaimer that it isn’t an endorsement
of Donald Trump for President. We’re
many months and a long, introspective
path away for choosing our favorite
presidential candidate.
But we do find it interesting that
Donald Trump has climbed to the top
of the dogpile of 18,659 or so GOP
contenders. Will he remain there?
Who knows.
However, immediately the political
opinion pieces came out stating that
Trump, by way of his very candidacy,
is destroying the Republican Party.
We think the old-establishment
RINOs (Republicans in Name Only,
a.k.a. Democrats Lite) are doing a
darn fine job of that all on their own.
Voters put them into office to combat
the spread of progressive socialism,
but find all too often that they cave
whenever an issue isn’t politically safe
or expedient to handle. Meanwhile,
the base of the party has shifted right
of center like never before, and that
majority base is sick to death of politi-
cal correctness.
Donald Trump is anything but politi-
cally correct. In fact, he addresses
interview questions with all the tact of
a rabid gorilla.
We kind of enjoy that about him.
We desperately need candidates who
don’t let contemporaries or media tell
them how to speak and how to think.
We need brutally refreshing honesty,
whether we agree with the view being
expressed or not.
Political correctness is simply an in-
direct way to strip Americans of their
first amendment rights while allow-
ing most citizens to remain blissfully
unaware those rights are even being
erased.
Progressives censure which subjects
are okay to discuss and which aren’t.
They curtail the use of nouns or verbs
that might contain “micro-aggres-
sions” and offend. They limit which
opinions can be spoken aloud by
attacking the speaker with words like
“bigot” or “racist” or “homophobe”
until one becomes afraid to speak at
all.
The cultural shift this created was
subtle at first. Now—not so much.
Weakness and victimhood are re-
warded more and more often, whereas
strength of thought and independence
are ridiculed. In a nation filled with
red-blooded patriots, this shift has
worn thin.
Instead of panicking and attempting
to control Trump, Republicans need to
take a look at what’s making him so
appealing and take a page out of his
playbook.
This week Kid Rock, also not a
pillar of polish and politeness, gave
a succinct “kiss my ass” (his direct
quote) response when labeled a bigot
and told to perform a less offensive
concert tour by race-baiting sleaze Al
Sharpton.
Fans cheered. New fans came on
board. Music sales went up.
We think American voters are hun-
gry for in-your-face truth and honesty.
We’re looking to elect the alpha dog in
that pile to the point that even a self-
absorbed billionaire is looking mighty
tempting in comparison to the politi-
cians as usual who populate D.C.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Letters to the Editor —
Warm climate called “optimum”
for a reason
To the Editor:
Some of our local pundits continue to
quote St. Al Gore as if his words were
Gospel. But they’re not. Consider:
The ultimate test for a scientific theory
is how well it matches the real world. If
it does, then fine. If not, then it’s time to
toss that theory and try something differ-
ent. The Theory of Catastrophic Climate
Change utterly fails that test with reality.
The theory says that unless global
warming is reversed, there will be horren-
dous consequences. Among other things,
the Statue of Liberty will have to learn
how to dog paddle. Since there have been
times in human history when the world’s
climate was significantly warmer than it is
now, let’s see how much the theory match-
es what actually happened back then.
One of these warm periods, the Medieval
Climactic Optimum, is well documented
in European history. It lasted from around
AD 700 to 1200. Its most significant effect
was to enlarge the Northern Temperate
Zone, pushing it several hundred miles
to the north. Norwegian farmers success-
fully settled Greenland; England had a
thriving wine industry; Leif Erikson found
wild grapes growing on the northern tip
of Newfoundland. Noticeably missing
are all of the cataclysms foretold by St.
Gore. Rather than being a threat to human
existence, the 500-year-long warm period
was quite beneficial to mankind.
Climate change apologists like to say
that the science is settled; their theory is
real. The climate of the Earth has warmed
in the past century, that’s true. But its con-
tinued warming will not be harmful. Stud-
ies of the Medieval Climactic Optimum
and other warm periods in human history
have established this. But St. Gore and his
crew won’t admit that their theory doesn’t
hold water; many of them are getting rich
off of the climate change issue and they
don’t want to derail the gravy train.
I’ve posted this question to our local
pundits before; if the results of climate
change are so disastrous, then why are the
warmest periods in human history called
climactic optimums? The question has
never been answered.
Pete Sundin
Baker City
Ferrioli says $300 million set for schools
Salem, OR - Senate
Republicans are praising
the inclusion of $300 mil-
lion in bonding for schools
in Oregon following their
request earlier in the ses-
sion for school bonding in
the same amount.
“After Democrats woe-
fully underfunded K-12
education earlier this
session, we’re encour-
aged that they agreed
with our call to allocate
$300 million in bonds
for Oregon schools,” said
Senate Republican Leader
Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day).
“Senate Republicans have
long advocated for funding
our schools first, and today
we were able to give them
a boost in funding that
gives Oregon safer schools
and additional resources in
the classroom.”
$300 million in bonds for
schools will be divided be-
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
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Advertising and Opinion Page Dis-
claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
tween seismic retrofitting
($175 million) and bond-
ing for school districts’
capital projects ($125
million).
The bonding projects
will be considered Friday
afternoon when the Joint
Ways & Means Subcom-
mittee on Capital
Construction meets to
consider bonding projects
for the next biennium.
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
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services advertised.
Walden optimistic as
Resilient Federal Forest
Act moves to Senate
• CONGRESSMAN
HOLDS MEDIA CALL
TO ADDRESS ACT
BY BRIAN ADDISON
Brian@TheBakerCountyPress.com
In a media conference
call this week, U.S. Rep-
resentative Greg Walden
(R-Oregon) called his
proposed House Bill 2647
Resilient Federal Forests
Act of 2015 a “game
changer” for Oregon’s
rural communities.
HB 2647 calls for chang-
es to wildfire management
by opening up disaster
relief funding and puts in
place measures to expedite
timber harvest projects.
The proposed legislation
also favors the formation
of collaborative groups
bringing interested parties
together to make decisions
on public land projects.
The bill has passed the
U.S. House with strong
support and now moves to
consideration by the U.S.
Senate.
“Among the strong
provisions in this bill are
streamlining planning, re-
ducing frivolous lawsuits,
and speeding up the pace
of forest management,”
said Walden addressing his
fellow legislators.
The cost of fighting wild-
fire last year in Oregon and
Washington tallied about
$461 million. The cost
for fire-season this year
already exceeds $17 mil-
lion as the Corner Creek
Fire near Dayville reached
about 29,000 acres.
“As we speak here today
on the House floor, brave
firefighters are still try-
ing to contain the Corner
Creek fire, which has al-
ready burned 29,000 acres
of forestland near Dayville,
Oregon, in my dis-
trict-29,000 acres already
burned. And unfortunately,
this fire season in the west
has only just begun,” con-
tinued Walden.
Wildfire suppression
costs exceeding budgeted
funds during intense fire
seasons require “fire-
borrowing” by the Forest
Service and Bureau of
Land Management shifting
funds from other programs.
The shifting of funds de-
pletes the coffers of other
budgeted management
accounts.
Under the Resilient
Federal Forests Act the
practice of fire-borrowing
would end with the cre-
ation of an account within
the Disaster Relief Fund
specifically for wildfires.
Walden estimates that
northeastern Oregon has
lost about 4,700 jobs and
witnessed the closure of 19
mills.
The bill calls for expedit-
ed timber harvest projects
by simplifying the federal
agency process for approv-
ing projects. Projects de-
veloped through the collab-
orative process would be
expedited through the envi-
ronmental review process
only requiring an Action or
No Action alternative from
federal land managers.
“For national forests in
eastern Oregon, this legis-
lation repeals the prohibi-
tion on harvesting trees
over 21 inches in diam-
eter,” Walden said. “This
flawed one-size-fits-all rule
illustrates, I think, just how
broken the Federal forest
management has become.
So it greatly limit’s the
flexibility forest managers
have to do what is right for
the health and ecosystem
of the forests to make them
more resilient, more fire
tolerant.”
HR 2647 builds upon the
2003 Healthy Forest Resto-
ration Act, builds upon the
collaborative process, deals
with the lodge pole pine
die-offs, and allows forest
restoration efforts, Walden
explained during a recent
conference call just before
taking the bill forward in
the U.S. House of Repre-
sentatives.
“We have to get back to
active forest management,”
he said. “We should be
able to get this done.”
Walden responds to
Obama Administration’s
new Iran deal
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden
issued the following state-
ment after the Obama
Administration announced
it had reached a nuclear
deal with Iran:
“The regime in Iran
exports terror around the
globe, threatens the secu-
rity of the United States
and our ally Israel, and
continues to relentlessly
pursue the world’s worst
weapons. It seems that the
Obama Administration has
decided to reward that bad
behavior with permanent
benefits in exchange for a
temporary delay in their
nuclear program. This is
unacceptable for our safety
and security.
“The deal would give
Iran billions in sanctions
relief—money that could
be used to finance more
terror and weapons devel-
opment that threatens our
safety.
“And it would remove
restrictions on Iran’s mis-
sile and weapons pro-
grams, allowing them to
continue work on intercon-
tinental ballistic missiles
that could hit the United
States.
“While Congress must
carefully review the details
of this agreement, I will do
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Submitted Photo.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden.
all I can to stop a bad deal
that threatens the safety of
our troops, our allies, and
the American people.”
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
President Barack Obama
202.456.1414
202.456.2461 fax
Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
503.326.3386
503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
US Sen. Ron Wyden
541.962.7691
Wyden.Senate.gov
US Rep. Greg Walden
541.624.2400
541.624.2402 fax
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
541.523.8201