PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Up. Down. Tied.
Media’s fascination with
presidential election polls
has gotten out of control.
Every large media outlet,
including big daily news-
papers and all the broad-
casters—cable and regular
television.
Sometimes when results
of the latest poll are an-
nounced with ‘breaking news’ imme-
diacy, a caveat will be added: that the
poll is just a snapshot of the campaign
right now.
Hillary Clinton was leading Re-
publican Donald Trump handily
for the weeks after the Democratic
convention. She was leading in most
battleground states and even in some
red states that very rarely vote for the
Democratic nominee. Trump’s new
campaign team seemed to have per-
suaded the Republican to be a more
traditonal candidate—using a Tele-
prompter (that he derided President
Obama for overusing), reaching out
to demographic groups he needs to
win the presidency.
At the same time Clinton spent her
time going from one high dollar fund
raiser to the next. She had not held a
press conference in months until she
spoke with the members of the press
who were allowed to fl y on her plane
(fi nally)—hardly a setting for a good
old give-and-take with reporters.
The result, according to current
polls is that Trump has narrowed
Clinton’s lead. For now.
Turning today’s poll results into
news does nothing good for the pro-
cess; it’s an inside the beltway game
consultants and reports
love to play. Reporting
on today’s poll of an elec-
tion that is still nine weeks
away takes away from any
serious reporting on what
should matter in presiden-
tial elections; where a can-
didate stands on important
issues and what they want
to do if they get into the Oval Offi ce.
National polls mean nothing at all.
The presidential election is really 51
separate elections—the 50 states plus
the District of Columbia. Five hun-
dred thirty eight Electors will be se-
lected on Nov. 8; they vote for presi-
dent. That’s a fact. It is also a fact that
some states are intractably red and
some are intractly blue. Some of the
reddest states may turn a little purple
this year as certain demographics in-
crease their numbers, especially His-
panics.
The only true poll taken during a
presidential campaign would be the
poll that is taken in all 50 states and
D.C.
When polls are conducted by com-
puter people without a land line are
excluded. Only manually conducted
polls dial cellphones—this tends to
skew the poll results. Who has land
lines? Older voters who tend, as a
whole, to be more conservative than
the population at large (and also vote
more reliably that other age groups).
Reading presidential election polls
can be fun and a topic of discussion
but it does not truly refl ect what will
happen on election night.
—LAZ
editorial
In memory of Sept. 11, 2001
By ART BOBROWITZ
On September 11,
2001 I watched the world
change in real time with no
editing or special effects. I
was getting ready for work
and talking to my wife. It
was one of those surrealistic
moments when the world
seemed to slow to a crawl. The news
media was frantic with speculation as
smoke came off the top of the fi rst
World Trade Center building. I still re-
member how austere it looked against
the cloudless New York sky.
And then the second plane hit.
It was at that moment that I knew
America, and our workplace, would
be different. There was no need for
further speculation or the possibility
of an accident. I knew that those tow-
ers represented in other parts of the
world was hated with such passion
and depth, that evil had taken control
of the digital age. That day something
in America began to die. It was some-
thing we had taken for granted far too
long. We were losing a way of leading,
thinking, learning and working. It was
a message to the rest of the world.
Media interviews created some
very interesting conversations. People
started to say how they had found new
meaning in their lives. Voices stated
how they wanted to strengthen rela-
tionships, and that quality of life was
important. People wanted to have
say-so and speak their mind. They
had a deep need to estab-
lish a quality of life after
the event. Relationships
became a priority. They
wanted to know that if
anything happened to them
that their life was not in
vain, nor the lives of those
who were victims of Sep-
tember 11th. We had experienced the
ugliness of radical anger thrust into
our lives and social conscience. How
we respond or choose not to respond
would defi ne who we were and what
we could have been. I am not seeing
that from our leaders.
The United States of America
needs to be a beacon for the world to
guide the workplace and the human
spirit. We are facing the challenges of
global hatred and arrogance coupled
with cultural and academic insecurity.
Whether we want to or not, America
and the workplace are on a very steep
learning curve. Our focus needs to be
on re-defi ning what is education and
what we want our children, citizens
and employees to know. Authentic
leadership needs to be the product
that makes the difference. The chal-
lenge facing 21st century communi-
ties and businesses will not be renew-
able products or the fi eld of renewable
energy. It will be defi ning and creating
a model for moral, ethical and renew-
able leadership.
Uniform display
missing at fair
I strongly believe the
uniforms should be dis-
played at the Fair to hon-
or veterans and current
military. What better way
to offer some education
to the coming genera-
tions. I would like to see
the uniforms return to
the Fair. I don’t think the veteran’s
organization that manages the uni-
forms should have to pay for their
space. They have proudly served our
country and many have already paid
the ultimate sacrifi ce.
Kari Williams
Keizer
guest
column
(Art Bobrowitz lives in Keizer. He is
an author and public speaker.)
letters
To the Editor:
I was very disappointed
to learn that U.S. military
uniforms were not on dis-
play this year at the Or-
egon State Fair.
I heard that they were expected to
pay for space if they wanted to be
there. From what I understand they
did not have to pay in the previous
years to share their wonderful display
of veteran’s uniforms. Many veterans
volunteered at the display booth over
the years to talk to fair patrons about
the uniforms and their history.
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High medicine prices due to greed
If you live in a congressional dis-
trict anywhere in America, then you
are part of the problem. Scotta Cal-
lister spoke of the Mylan/EpiPen
thievery (EpiPen is mighty—but only
for those who afford it, Keizertimes,
Sept. 2). I was struck because I am a
large part of the problem. There will
be no “market fi x” for astronomical
drug pricing in America. If there are
to be any boundaries on the pharma-
ceutical industry or any other facet
of the health care industry they must
be set by Congress. Until you and I
demand action they will continue on
with the important business of call-
ing each other names.
Even when modest efforts to
bring costs down are made, Congress
resists them. Congress created Medi-
care Part D drug coverage while in-
cluding language that stripped them
of the power to negotiate drug prices.
There are some legitimate con-
cerns about simply asking Medicare
to bargain hard with drug companies.
When you see that other countries
charge prices much less than ours for
identical medicines you should rec-
ognize that those countries are not
asked to share in the research and
development costs of new medicines,
most of which is done in the United
States. Many times those countries
may actually harm their citizens by
waiting for price drops before sup-
plying new
medicines
proven effec-
tive from the
outset.
In
many
countries, and
even with our own Veterans Admin-
istration (VA), there is the option of
simply saying no to a drug company
that refuses to negotiate costs. Medi-
care doesn’t really have that option.
If that drug company has a drug not
available elsewhere then Medicare
must provide it to covered patients
and has no recourse if the provider
simply refuses to lower its price.
The EpiPen pricing is the perfect
crystallized result of our decision to
ignore the needs of patients in fa-
vor of corporate/shareholder profi ts.
With all the confl icting informa-
tion and arguments it is still easy to
see that Mylan is making the phrase
“business ethics” into an oxymoron.
Epinephrine is a generic drug with
all development costs long since re-
covered. Mylan’s patent stranglehold
is on the injection pen, not a ter-
rifi cally complex device. Mylan had
nothing to do with EpiPen until it
purchased the rights in 2007. Since
then the price has gone from $57 to
over $600. The only number grow-
ing faster at Mylan is the CEO’s pay,
now surpassing $20 million.
a box
of
soap
Claiming the need to maximize
shareholder returns Mylan bought a
pharmaceutical company with oper-
ations in the Netherlands and nomi-
nally moved corporate headquarters
there. Relieved of much of their U.S.
tax burden they nonetheless asked
for U.S. protection from a hostile
takeover by an Israeli pharmaceuti-
cal company. Even in Keizer you can
smell the stench from this deal.
I am taking a newish drug called
Esbriet priced at about $94,000
a year. Take that, EpiPen. I have
Medicare, private supplemental, and
a non-profi t organization that have
teamed up to make my cost zero.
Esbriet/Perfenidone is available for
$2,000 per year in other countries
where it was already in use.
Because I am selfi sh I am glad I
don’t have to pay $94,000 a year but
I understand that because it was paid,
everybody in the country must then
share the burden. If health care costs
are already affecting all of us then we
already have “socialized medicine.” If
we ever tire of paying twice as much
as every other industrialized nation
for health care maybe we could learn
something from them, even insist
that Congress join in.
(Don Vowell gets on his soapbox
regularly in the Keizertimes.)
Will Turkey become USA’s next Iran?
A reason our government gets it-
self into so many diffi culties overseas
is due to the way it so often conducts
business with other nations. A case
in point is our most recent problem
with Turkey.
After surviving the recent coup
there, President Recep Tayyip Er-
dogan demanded the U.S. hand
over the man the Turkish president
says was responsible for that putsch.
The demand could result in a cri-
sis in U.S.-Turkey relations as the
United States is unlikely to honor
the request without “hard evidence,”
whatever constitutes it by the fl exi-
ble ethical standards of anything goes
in Washington. However this turns
out, it could affect Turkey’s role as
a long-time key ally, including the
fi ght against ISIS and the handling
of refugees fl eeing the civil war in
Syria.
Erdogen has said, “I call on the
United States and President Barack
Obama: Dear Mr. President, I told
you this before, either arrest Mu-
hammed Fethullah Gulen or return
him to Turkey. You didn’t listen.”
Who is Gulen? He’s a reclusive
cleric who leads a popular move-
ment called Hizmet. The 75-year
old imam went into self-imposed
exile when he moved from Turkey to
the U.S. in 1999, settling in Saylors-
burg, PA. American media informs
us that he maintains a loyal following
in Turkey, known as Gulenists who
subscribe to the Hizmet movement.
Hizmet is a global movement in-
spired by Gulen who espouses what
has been described in the U.S. as
“a moderate, pro-western brand of
Sunni Islam that appeals to many
well-educated and professional
Turks.” Non-governmental orga-
nizations founded by the Hizmet
movement include secular co-ed
schools, free tutoring centers, hospi-
tals and relief agencies which address
many of Turkey’s social problems.
In Turkey volunteers in the Gulen
movement own television stations,
the largest-circulation newspaper,
gold mines and at least one Turkish
bank. In a statement directly after the
coup, Gulen denied any connection
with the coup attempt and further
suggested the
whole
thing
could had been
staged
(even
though
161
Turks
were
dead in the
end). Yet, an-
other coup was
attempted in 2014 and Gulen’s sup-
porters were blamed for it. Again
then, Gulen denied any involvement
in it. It may not be too great a stretch
to surmise that this guy Gulen wants
to be the next president of Turkey
So, the beat in this matter goes on.
Secretary of State John Kerry has re-
ported no formal request for extradi-
tion from Turkey. Kerry said, “Give
us evidence, show us the evidence,
we need a solid, legal foundation that
meets the standards of extradition in
order for our courts to approve such
a request.” In reply, Turkey’s duly
elected President Erdogan has said,
“I call on you again, after there was
a coup attempt, extradite this man in
Pennsylvania to Turkey.”
History reminds us of a similar
overseas episode that took place in
1979 when the U.S. refused to extra-
dite the Shah of Iran after the revo-
lution against his rule. The U.S. said
he was undergoing medical treat-
ment in the U.S. The refusal set off
outrage in Iran, culminating in the
taking over of the U.S Embassy in
Tehran and the taking of 52 Ameri-
can hostages for 444 days. The fallout
gene h.
mcintyre
from that affair has continued to im-
pact U.S-Iran relations to today. The
situation in Turkey risks developing
into a major crisis in relations should
the U.S. continue to ignore Turkey’s
entreaties to act on its behalf.
Our capital is notoriously nowa-
days run and controlled by money.
So, it would come as no surprise to
learn that the Obama administration
and members of Congress have re-
ceived huge and persuasive contri-
butions from Gulen to prevent ex-
tradition.
This modern day story is an-
other example of strongly suspected
corruption that that takes place ev-
ery day in our nation’s capital.
What’s predicted will happen in this
case is that Turkey will ultimately be
refused its request, we’ll lose another
ally as we’ve lost so many since our
leaders jettisoned traditional Ameri-
can values, and it will ultimately
cost the lives of American service
men and women who will be sent to
their deaths because, through revo-
lution, the Turkey of Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, he who sought to establish
and maintain a secular country, will
ultimately fall to Islamic overthrow
and the U.S. will, by NATO treaty,
be forced to protect Bulgaria, Ro-
mania, Greece and others from inva-
sion by fanatical Muslims.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column appears
weekly in the Keizertimes.)