Applegater Spring 2016
21
MY OPINION FROM BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR
Picking a fight with Uncle Sam
BY CHRIS BRATT
The recent lawless seizure and
occupation of the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon,
by approximately two dozen cowboy
commandos has led to a national airing
of some serious questions regarding
public land management, use, and
ownership.
While I and many other citizens
also have some serious issues over how
our public lands are managed, we don’t
conspire to take them over by force.
These self-styled militiamen came to
Oregon to do just that. Brandishing
guns and with complete disregard for
our existing state and federal laws, they
insisted that the refuge and all other
public lands in the west belonged to them
(ranchers, loggers, and miners).
This emboldened armed
militia group contended that our
federal government unconstitutionally
seized the refuge land from the state of
Oregon years ago. The group argued that
rural public land management problems
could be resolved only by returning these
federal lands to state and local private
control. Specifically, it called for Oregon’s
treasured Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge to be “shut down forever” and
that the 188,000-acre preserve and
breeding grounds for migrating birds be
given to ranchers and miners to exploit.
The media has characterized these
would-be ranchers as “occupiers.” But
I think of them as invaders, saboteurs,
outlaws or domestic terrorists. Like
outlaw gunslingers in an old western
movie drama, this armed group is
taking the law into its own hands by
taking over and terrorizing a rural
community sanctuary. Using its twisted
interpretation of our Constitution and
sometimes acting in the name of “the
Lord,” the group calls this seditious
action a “moral and righteous stand for
the future of this country.”
The beliefs of these outlaws
seem to be a throwback to a long-
gone frontier culture that glorified land
usurpers and gunfighters who used
unjustified violence to get their way.
(Where are sheriff Gary Cooper, John
Wayne, and their posses when we need
them to run these outlaw cowboys off
the range?)
These outlaws don’t seem to be
aware of the fact that the bird refuge is
more beneficial to the ecosystem than
raising cattle or that an economy based
on public land preservation, restoration,
and recreation offers a lot more chances
Climate propaganda
BY ALAN VOETSCH
I’m tired of climate change
propaganda. I’m tired of the news media
and some politicians and local activists
making claims no one can prove. Ever.
I’m tired of every storm, every drought,
every fire, every wet year and every dry
year being the fault of man. Of course
they don’t always say that—usually it’s
just called “climate change.” But what
they want you to believe is that it’s all
“man-made” climate change. Baloney! If
so, prove it! They cannot, and because
they cannot they should not be making
the claim. The Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) has lied,
colluded, cheated, and manipulated
data to try to prove its point. It uses
algorithms in its computer “models” that
guarantee a warming result. What kind
of science is that? It isn’t science—it’s
big government propaganda. This is the
alarmist religion, their belief system. This
is an agenda in action, an agenda that will
shut down the global economy.
Let’s look at the history of
IPCC’s movement. In the 1960s and
early 70s, it was “beware of the cooling.”
Then it was “we’re all going to cook.”
Because the Earth’s climate in general
is either slightly warming or slightly
cooling, it finally figured out it would
cover all the bases if it just used the term
“climate change.” Confusing and not
specific, it covers all possible scenarios.
Any event that happens can be blamed
on man. The IPCC wants us confused.
It wants to sell the concept of climate
change (which is always happening to
a greater or lesser extent), but hopes
that we will believe that every weather
event on Earth is the fault of Man and
we will elect progressive politicians to
save the planet. If you’re unsure what a
“progressive” is, it’s what far-lefties were
called early last century before they had
to change to the term “liberal” because
their politics became so unpopular. These
are the folks who believe that government
is best suited to make all the decisions for
the common folk.
Now let’s look at the accuracy
of those predictions: wrong on
freezing and wrong on cooking to death.
Looking back at IPCC predictions from
years past shows it has been wrong about
pretty much everything. Its models
have been and are wrong. It is currently
adjusting past temperature records to
hide the fact that temperatures have
been stable for so long. This is a fact
■ CLIMATE SCIENCE
Continued from page 20
from 2011 through 2015 is advised. This
short period reveals a rising trend steeper
even than before 1998 with a return to
temperatures exactly on the previous
warming trajectory. In other words,
there has absolutely been no slowdown
in atmospheric warming.
The message should be clear to
anyone concerned about the planet their
children and grandchildren will inherit:
The earth is warming and we are the
primary cause. However inconvenient
it may be, the time has come to accept
the science and respond accordingly by
changing our behavior.
Alan Journet
Co-facilitator, Southern Oregon
Climate Action Now
alanjournet@gmail.com
541-301-4107
for maintaining our rural Oregon
communities. If the outlaws could
understand and accept these changed
range conditions as reasonable, they
wouldn’t have to challenge them in such
a violent fashion. At the very least they
should have considered nonviolent civil
disobedience, a more peaceful American
tradition, to defy what they thought were
unjust laws.
By using civil disobedience and
a nonviolent sit-in or stand-in, they
could have strengthened their position
on the issues they were concerned
about. Instead, they relied on bullying,
hostile dialogue, and firearm displays
everywhere they went.
At the time of this writing,
most of these insurgents were in jail,
and one of their leaders was killed at a
police roadblock. They had taken over
the refuge for more than a month and
had rejected all calls to leave the occupied
buildings and area. Despite pleas—
from the county sheriff, many local
residents, Oregon’s governor, politicians,
conservationists, other law enforcement
agencies, tribal leaders, and many other
people—to leave the refuge peacefully
early on, their uncompromising actions
led to jail and death.
They are
now “accused of
using threats,
Chris Bratt
intimidation, or
force to stop federal officers from doing
their duty.” These misguided lawbreakers
also have tried to instigate a revolt
against the federal government and have
terrorized a rural community. Now they
will be judged by some of the federal laws
they have tried to overthrow.
There are better options than
ignoring our laws and using guns
to frighten our fellow citizens. There is
little popular support for turning our
public lands over to the states, private
corporations, or individuals. And the
conservative politicians who advocate
for handing over federal public lands
to the states should stop encouraging
lawbreakers to defy federal authority and
incite armed insurrection. Nineteenth-
century frontier cultural myths won’t
work in the twenty-first century.
So leave your guns at the
door. Or better yet, leave all your
weapons at home.
If you think I should be left at the
door, let me know.
Chris Bratt
541-846-6988
that all recent records and all parties
involved have agreed on, but now they
are adjusting older measurements lower
to make it appear that temps have been
rising all along. This is just sad and
desperate.
Most stories have two sides, right?
When one side says “Here’s the truth so
believe us because the debate is over,” and
“climate ‘deniers’ should be prosecuted
and thrown in jail,” then you have proven
to me and others that you have no leg
to stand on. If there’s a debate about the
facts of someone’s theory, it is resolved
when a preponderance of the evidence
says so and not before. In this particular
debate, the IPCC’s refusal to listen to
opposing viewpoints and the way it
responds to people who have differing
opinions says all there is to say. It
believes if it keeps repeating the mantra,
sooner or later everyone will believe it.
Suggested reading: The Greatest
Hoax by US Senator Jim Inhofe—
there are several reasons to read this
book, not only for the political battles
regarding climate change, but also how
our government works. Unstoppable
Global Warming Every 1500 Years by S.
Fred Singer—excellent history of Earth’s
climate patterns. The Satanic Gases by
Patrick J. Michaels—our atmosphere,
weather, and how the whole system
works. The Real Global Warming Disaster
by Christopher Booker. Scared to Death
by Christopher Booker and Richard
North has a chapter titled “Saving the
Planet: Global Warming—The New
Secular Religion.” Also, blogs by Judith
Curry and Climate Depot.
My goal is to urge you to read
original sources. Do your own research.
Once you’ve been educated, it is much
harder to be brainwashed. I am willing
to loan most of the books mentioned,
but they are also usually available on
places like eBay for just a few dollars if
you buy used. Feel free to contact me if
you’re interested.
Alan Voetsch • 541-899-1090
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