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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2017)
JULY 14, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Meet the neighbors This year’s National Night Out is Tuesday, August 1. The country-wide event offers neighbors to connect, so- cialize and discuss neighborhood is- sues. An off-shoot of such programs as Neighborhood Watch, Night Out was designed to encourage residents to get to know each other in a com- mon desire to assure safe neighborhoods. Keizer residents have embraced National Night Out over the years. Some neighborhoods hold elaborate block par- ties with bounce houses, music, games and more. Other neighborhoods are more low-key—a potluck, a few lawn chairs and good conversation. Families move in and out of Keizer all the time. Chances are high that every neighborhood has had at least one new household move in since last year’s event. That is why holding a National Night Out function is im- portant. Keizer is generous with its wel- coming attitude; new residents will be greeted and given the 4-1-1 on the community. National Night Out is another vehicle to introduce new residents to their new neighbors. Familiarity and communication between neighbors has been found to be key in establishing safe communi- ties in which people take ownership of their neighborhood and watch over it. If Family A knows that Family B is out of town yet they see a person lurking about Family B’s home, they know to be suspicious and contact the police. Better to be safe than sorry. National Night Out has generally been an event for homeowners. We think that apartment complexes and their management should become more involved. Though apartment dwellers tend to be more transient than homeowners, they have a big need to know their neighbors. Apart- ment building managers and owners have a huge stake in pro- moting an event that can only benefi t their complex. Keizer’s leaders, includ- ing the police department and the Keizer Fire District is very much invested in National Night Out. The mayor, city councilors, the police chief and offi cers spread out in Keizer; just about every neighborhood gathering is visited. The lucky ones get a visit by a fi re district truck, turning kids into junior fi refi ghters for a few moments. National Night Out, aside from promoting good communication among neighbors, is a opportunity for residents to speak one-on-one with their elected representatives. The gatherings are also a good platform for positive conversations with members of the police depart- ment. This is good, especially where there is a suspicion and fear of au- thority fi gures. National Night Out should be viewed for what it is: just folks getting together, grilling a hot dog or two and discussing issues of the neighborhood. The city council, police and fi re personnel visit as many gatherings as they can, but they need to know about them. Keizer residents can register their National Night Out gathering at keizer.org/nno-2017. For informa- tion call Community Service Offi cer Dorothy Diehl at 503-856-3472 or via email at diehld@keizer.org. —LAZ Newberg Dr. issues remain why) so they have di- rected student traffi c and parking to the Newberg Drive neighborhood putting this neighbor- hood in harm’s way with many damages to our property and disrup- tion of our lives. That is just wrong. St. Edward Catholic Church has said that they will sell an adjacent property to the school that would solve the traffi c and parking problems that McNary has created in the last two school years. Could it be that investing in a parking lot that would solve traf- fi c and parking issues for the school is not profi table for the developers? Do I smell a rat? Follow the money. Time will tell, along with some re- search which is underway. Charles Anderson Keizer our opinion To the Editor: It is very obvious that the City of Keizer is more into developing new property then performing badly needed upgrades to Keizer’s established streets that are being inappropriately used beyond their intended purpose. Case in point: if you look on Chemawa Road near that new round-about heading toward Keizer Station you will see a long stretch of new sidewalks going in right now. Then, during the school year if you go to Newberg Drive you will often see students walking three abreast in the middle of the busy road. Plus, many other dangers with the mix of excess school traf- fi c, pedestrians, and parking with no sidewalks, curbs, marked crosswalks, or any sort of traffi c control. It is obvious that McNary High School and the city have joined ef- forts (the city will not admit it, so they are hiding the fact—I wonder letters Share your opinion Email a letter to the editor (300 words) by noon Tuesday. Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com Trump takes us to unexplored territory By MICHAEL GERSON It is sometimes argued that the me- dia should spend less time on Presi- dent Trump’s transgressive tweets in order to devote more attention to real issues such as North Korea. In fact, it is necessary to focus on Trump’s tweets precisely because they shed light on the mind that is doing the decid- ing on North Korea. It is a distasteful exercise. But we cannot look away. We need to know the state of mind we’re dealing with. Trump’s tweets reveal a leader who is compulsive, abusive and eas- ily triggered. Trump describes all this as “modern day presidential.” Lincoln had his Gettysburg Address. Franklin Roosevelt had his Four Freedoms. But modern schoolchildren will learn the Mika bloody facelift tweet. What we are witnessing is not a new age in presidential communications. It is an ongoing, public breakdown. And the question naturally arises: Is this the result of mental dysfunction? Most psychiatrists are (understand- ably) uncomfortable with diagnosis from a distance. And the particular diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder requires signifi cant impair- ment—which is a hard case to make of a fi gure at the pinnacle of American politics. And yet. There are judgments that must be made about the fi tness of the leaders. Citizens are under no ethi- cal obligation to be silent when they see serious dysfunction. The challenge here is not merely the trashing of po- litical norms. The main problem is the possibility that America has an unbal- anced president during a period of high-stakes global testing. This is not a clinical diagnosis. It is a civic and polit- ical judgment, made necessary by the president’s own words and acts. Trump holds a job that requires, above all else, the ability to unite and steady the nation in a time of crisis. There is no reason to believe he can play that role. Much of the prudence and courage required to confront this problem will need to come from Republicans and conservatives. Where to start? How about refusing to downplay revolting lunacy? It is not merely an “occasional ad hominem” for a president to employ the tremendous power of his offi ce to target individual American citi- zens who oppose him. It is an abuse of power. It is not merely “uncouth” for a president to tolerate, even to hint support for, violence against political opponents (“I’d like to punch him in the face”). It creates an atmosphere of intimidation. It is not merely “exaggeration” for a president to issue a series of eye- stretching lies, including that his pre- decessor spied on him and that a pop- ular vote victory was denied to him by widespread electoral fraud. It indicates either a deep cynicism or a tenuous connection to reality. It is not being “coarse” for a presi- dent to engage in consistent misogyny. It is a sign of a disturbing and deep- seated dehumanization of women. Many conservatives would respond to this critique by saying, “At least he fi ghts!” The question is: For what? Trump evinces no strong or consistent policy views. He fi ghts for himself— other views Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGING EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Derek Wiley news@keizertimes.com One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY ADVERTISING Publication No: USPS 679-430 Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrew Jackson Keizertimes Circulation graphics@keizertimes.com 142 Chemawa Road N. LEGAL NOTICES Keizer, OR 97303 legals@keizertimes.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER Laurie Painter billing@keizertimes.com Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon RECEPTION Lori Beyeler facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes (Washington Post Writers Group) U.S. relations with Russia and Putin By GENE H. McINTYRE Russia has been on the map of the world for hundreds of years. For 300 of those years it was led by a totalitarian monarchy whose des- potic Romanov family kept the Russian people totally repressed and servile. In comparing histories, no two nations, Russia and the US, have different founding principles Shortly before World War II, un- der megalomaniac Stalin, the USSR signed a non-ag- gression pact with Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany that lasted long enough for those two nations to in- vade and carve up Poland. Two years later, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and they went at killing each other until WW II ended in 1945. There- after, the Cold War emerged in 1947 as the Eastern Bloc (mainly the USSR) confronted the Western states (mainly the USA) under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO, formed in 1949. Thereafter for decades, Russians and Americans nail-bitingly feared nuclear war until, with considerable wait-and-see, USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev, in the 1960s, liberal- ized things a bit, and later, in the 1980s, when the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to re- form and liberalize the economy through his policies called “glasnost” and “perestroika.” The Cold War ended during Gorbachev’s tenure wherein the Eastern Bloc totally fell apart with its satellite nations going their separate ways and the Russian people embracing a few freedoms, along with a new economy outside of building war machines. After the USSR disappeared, Russia has mostly stood alone in eastern Europe with, more recent- ly, Vladimir Putin as its leader, he having moved through the ranks in the former USSR secret police, the brutal and murderous KGB, to be- come President of Russia. He was also Russia’s prime minister and held the offi ce of president of Russia once before his present tenure, 2000 to 2008. It’s a well-known fact that Presi- dent Putin was totally opposed to the USSR breaking up and has been might- ily chafi ng under its emasculated conse- quences ever since: The loss of its world stand- ing and empire-sized power juxtapositioned it against the USA, making them equal in the minds of many people. Whatever the case, one could argue that the USSR lost the Cold War and the USA won it while not only Putin, but his former com- rades, “burn” with a score to settle. So, Putin, a man who grew up and became a highly successful Commu- nist Party apparatchik in an authori- tarian USSR, and one who notori- ously, then and now, disposed and disposes of anyone in his way, has set out, putting his power and authority to making Russia great again while dedicating himself to the demise of the USA. He has already achieved a huge victory as he and his hench- men had a hand in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election while are dedicated to repeat their mischief in the immediate future, attempting to delegitimize our political institu- tions through cyberspace attacks by taking advantage of our political and social divisions. Why are he and President Trump believed buddies, with Trump sup- porting him? Because he knows that Trump is a self-centered, ego- guest column Keizertimes for admiration and adulation—which is the only cause his extreme narcis- sism allows. Many conservatives would also respond by saying, “At least he does conservative things!” But if health care is any indication, Trump lacks con- viction, knowledge and the ability to persuade. Other than that, he is Ron- ald Reagan incarnate. Trump’s conservative defenders are attempting something extraordinary: to politically normalize abnormal psy- chology. Their sycophancy enables a sickness. What next? Applying the 25th Amendment (containing the proce- dure to remove an unfi t president from offi ce) is a practical impossibility, since it involves the Cabinet turning against the president. But House and Senate Republicans should be prepared to aggressively challenge unbalanced or unhinged presidential language and decisions, rather than trying to dismiss them as simply a “distraction.” And responsible offi cials in the ex- ecutive branch—particularly at the State Department, Department of Defense, Justice Department and in the various intelligence services—may also need to provide an internal check on foolish, precipitous orders. The op- tion here is to refuse, to defy, to resign (or be fi red) and then to publicly pro- vide the reasons. No one really knows how to deal with this situation, which still feels more like an unnerving political novel than our political reality. Trump has led our country into unexplored territory. If this is “modern day presidential,” all progress moves toward the past. tistical American who cares main- ly about himself and his family and scoffs at America’s freedoms, fo- cusing now on the fi rst amend- ment’s freedom of the press. Putin grew up in a totalitarian world as did Trump who was led to believe he must win what he undertakes by any means possible, even if those means will bring an end to a Constitution- ally-established society that has af- forded him the freedom to practice his creed of self-aggrandizement, lawful or not. President Trump has fought every step of the way to stop the investi- gative efforts intended to fi nd out how the Russian interventions took place and what the USA must do to prevent more destruction by the Russians. Trump in his private deal- ings with Putin and Russian oli- garchs has a sword of Damocles hanging over his head due to his suspected actions in Russia, possibly criminal in nature, but would bring considerable damage if revealed. The future of every American alive today has a stake in this mat- ter. Many Americans have indicated indifference. Getting behind the federal agency investigations, but threatened by Trump, should be in every American’s interest because they threaten us. Then, too, keep in mind a couple of interesting facts: Putin hates the press and Trump proves daily he does, too; Putin’s big deal for the Russian economy is oil, its profi table sale and ubiquitous uses and therefore is against the Paris Accord which promotes clean en- ergy while Trump has offi cially end- ed the US role in it; and, both Putin and Trump seek greatness, Putin for his country and Trump for himself and his family. (Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)
