FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Politics
— Editorial —
The value
of life
If ever there was evidence of a part
of our society gone upside-down, it’s
the story of Cecil the Lion’s “murder”
this week.
In the face of a third video release
(and now a fourth just prior to print)
recording the atrocities at Planned
Parenthood, it’s difﬁ cult to understand
how viewing unborn babies being torn
apart and inventoried could possibly
strike less of an emotional chord with
any sane human than, say, a lion being
killed.
And yet somehow, with hundreds of
thousands of people, that’s exactly the
case.
We’ve also witnessed this phenom-
ena every time we post a story teaser
on Facebook regarding a dog attack,
which thus far happens to have in-
volved pitbulls.
We do see people who immediately
connect with the human victim, but
more often than not, our news feed is
also absolutely ﬂ ooded with pitbull
fans jumping to the defense of the
dog, the breed, the whatever ...
Now, we love our pets. They’re life-
long family members and we take care
of them as well as we can, as long as
they’re with us. All life has value, and
the very fact that the life of a person
or animal exists at all is a miracle to
be respected.
We’ve never seen a person who was
deliberately cruel to an animal, who
in some fashion wasn’t cruel in most
other aspects of life.
But seriously, if you had to choose
between the life of your son/daughter/
parent/spouse and the life of your cat
or dog, which would you choose?
For most, the answer is obvious,
a built-in testament to an internal
knowledge that all lives—plant,
animal or human—really aren’t cre-
ated at the same level or for the same
purposes.
Maybe it’s simpler for a person to
express emotion over the death of
Cecil because the Planned Parenthood
videos are too horriﬁ c for the human
brain to wrap itself around. Perhaps
the human mind literally goes numb in
face of such tragedy. We’re looking at
baby chop-shops, after all.
We’re trying to make sense of how
a celebrity lion generates such a level
sympathy with its demise, but a baby
being ripped into pieces on camera
while lab technicians talk about what
each piece is worth sinks into the
abyss of buried news.
Has our deﬁ nition of good and evil
become so warped that the murder of
a human is viewed as convenience, as
freedom of choice for the egg do-
nor, while the killing of a lion is the
outrage?
This week, the U.S. Senate will take
a vote to stop funding for Planned Par-
enthood, which would put an abrupt
end to the harvesting and trafﬁ cking of
human baby parts.
Will the vote pass? Probably not.
There are other organizations and
other health care options for women
who turn to Planned Parenthood for
reasons other than abortion, but pro-
gressives will hit that argument until it
sounds more important than prevent-
ing limb and organ trafﬁ cking.
Planned Parenthood receives $500
million in Federal taxpayer funds, as
well as funds from individual states.
Contact your elected representatives
and tell them to defund this evil.
We bet if Planned Parenthood was
harvesting and selling puppy legs
and kitty hearts, the vote would pass
unanimously and without argument.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Letters to the Editor —
A fond farewell—for now
Dear Students, Parents, and Members of
the Baker Community:
Thank you for 15 wonderful years as
band director here in Baker. This is a truly
unique town with some of the greatest
children a teacher could ever hope to
instruct.
I am leaving to teach 5th and 6th grade
students at three elementary schools in
Pasco, Washington.
I reached this decision for ﬁ nancial rea-
sons; I am almost, but not quite vested in
the Washington teacher’s retirement sys-
tem. I wish to especially thank the other
teachers, administrators, and support staff
at Baker High and Middle Schools, my
choir colleagues, Ms. DeeAnn Sands and
Mr. Thomas Isaacson, and the elementary
music teachers.
Thanks also to the band parents, Leo
Adler fund, Harold Kirklin fund, Music
Camps at Wallowa Lake, and all those
in the community who have donated so
much of your time and generous support
to help the band program be a success.
Gina and I love this town and commu-
nity, and are planning to retire here.
Please continue to support the arts in
the Baker schools, and my successor, Ms.
Hope Watts, who is inheriting “the best
job in town!”
Keep Rockin’ !
Jeff Sizer
Baker City
El Chapo
To the Editor:
On September 11th, 2001 some igno-
rant radicals ﬂ ew a couple of jets into
the World Trade Center and killed about
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
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lish letters containing factual falsehoods or
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es will not be published. Word limit is 375
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claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
3,000 Americans. George Bush toured the
rubble and promised retribution. He said
Osama Bin Laden was “wanted dead or
alive”. Through a lot of diligent work by
our intelligence people we found him. Our
military people did a good job of elimi-
nating him. We didn’t much give a damn
about Pakistan’s borders when we did it.
It’s true that Al-Qaida is a threat. ISIS
is a threat. Radical Islam is a threat. They
have killed thousands of people. Killing
them doesn’t seem to be much of a stretch.
Eliminate and enemy. What I can’t ﬁ gure
out though is why somebody like El
Chapo, the Mexican drug lord who just
escaped prison again isn’t on the radar.
Compared to Al-Qaida this guy is the real
devil.
His drugs have killed millions. Broken
up untold families and cost billions in
drug related enforcement, treatment, and
prisons.
Drugs export billions out of this country
to Mexico and the drug related gang war-
fare down there has resulted in well over
100,000 Mexican deaths. Our gun related
problems are tied directly to our gangs
that are really nothing but subcontractors
for the cartels.
With a presidential election coming
up I would like to hear one candidate say
that we are going to get El Chapo, dead or
alive and serve notice to Mexico that their
drug trade is going to end or we will end
it for you.
El Chapo your meth has touched me
personally and I am going to do all I can
to put a little backbone in my next presi-
dent.
Steve Culley
John Day
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
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Rubio says Obama’s
argument for Iran deal flawed
Washington, D.C. – U.S.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-
FL) issued the following
statement regarding Chair-
man of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff General Martin
Dempsey’s comments
today before the Senate
Armed Services Com-
mittee that the American
people do not face a choice
between a ﬂ awed Iran
deal and war with Iran,
as President Obama and
his administration have
insisted:
“President Obama’s
entire premise for his
deeply ﬂ awed deal with
Iran was destroyed today
by a simple question and
an honest response.
“President Obama has
been trying to scare the
American people into
believing that we must ac-
cept his terribly negotiated
deal with Iran, or resign
ourselves to war with Iran.
Under questioning by
Senator Joni Ernst today,
General Martin Dempsey
unequivocally dismissed
that argument, and with it
President Obama’s entire
justiﬁ cation for this terrible
compromise of America’s
national security.
“With each passing day,
President Obama’s case
for this agreement with
Iran crumbles bit by bit. In
just the past week alone,
Secretary John Kerry has
failed miserably in trying
to defend this deal before
members of Congress
and the American people
as each day brings new
disturbing details about
the scope and breadth
of this administration’s
concessions to the mul-
lahs in Iran. We’ve learned
about secret side deals
the Iranians entered into
with International Atomic
Energy Agency. We’ve
learned that Iran will be
allowed to submit its own
samples to prove it’s not
cheating, which deﬁ es all
common sense. We’ve
learned that the president
allowed Iran to continue
developing ballistic mis-
siles capable of reaching
our shores, and administra-
tion ofﬁ cials have even
indicated that they are not
certain whether President
Obama would abide by the
Iran Nuclear Agreement
Review Act and maintain
sanctions on Iran if Con-
gress rejects this deal.”
Earlier today, Rubio
participated in a Senate
Foreign Relations Com-
mittee hearing regarding
the nuclear deal with Iran
where he challenged the
president’s proposition that
the United States would be
isolated if Congress rejects
this ﬂ awed deal.
“Why I ﬁ nd this all
absurd is this idea that
somehow the U.S. must
now do this, because the
world would be really up-
set at us,” Rubio said dur-
ing the hearing. “The last
time I checked this country
saved the rest of the world
on at least two occasions
in the last century. I don’t
remember the last time the
world saved America.”
Cruz criticizes McConnell-Reid
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tonight issued the follow-
ing statement after a disappointing vote in the Senate to reauthorize the Export-Import
Bank, a Washington institution that has become synonymous with cronyism and corrup-
tion:
"Tonight, the McConnell-Reid leadership team pushed through another win for the
Washington Cartel, and they did so at the taxpayers' expense. By casting votes in favor
of cronyism and special interests, the Senate made clear what group matters most to
them... and the answer is not the American people.
"Worse still, the one person who had the ability to make sure the Ex-Im Bank re-
mained expired was the majority leader. Rather than keeping the promise he made to
every member of his party, he turned his back on the American people and allowed one
of the worst examples of corporate welfare our nation has ever known to be resurrected
from the dead.
"Instead of taking up issues that really matter to the American people, like defunding
Planned Parenthood, standing up against Iran, passing ‘Kate's Law' and ending sanctu-
ary cities, the Senate chose to satisfy the demands of big businesses with even bigger
pocketbooks.
"Fortunately, leaders in the House have indicated this bill is dead on arrival. I hope
that my colleagues in the House remain true to conservative principles and stand ﬁ rm in
refusing to surrender to the Washington Cartel."
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YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
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202.456.2461 fax
Whitehouse.gov/contact
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503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
US Sen. Ron Wyden
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Wyden.Senate.gov
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541.624.2402 fax
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
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541.490.6528
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Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
541.523.8201