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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 11, 2018)
MAY 11, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Fostering hope Six hundred people out of a total of 333,000 doesn’t seem like a lot— actually, it seems like a puny amount, until you realize it is the number of foster kids in all of Marion County. That relatively small number takes on major importance when we un- derstand that those 600 or so foster children re- side in less than 75 foster homes. Total. That means some homes have up to fi ve foster children, a number that most experts agree is too high and does not serve the children well. May is National Foster Care Month, which brings the foster sys- tem to mind. Foster care isn’t just one month, it is every month, sometimes for years. It is unfortunate that the only in- formation some get about foster care are the tragic stories of abusive fos- ter parents or horrifi cally unsanitary living conditions. The reality is that for every terrible story there are doz- ens of untold positive, hopeful, good stories about caring and committed foster parents. These are the people that become foster providers out of a sense of duty and need. Another reality is that the system is in need of foster homes. Many more. It is a big ask, but foster homes are needed to serve the many chil- dren who enter the system each year. By most measures being a foster parent is not easy, especially if more than one child is placed at one home. Becoming a foster parent is certain- ly the epitome of unselfi shness. In a world that constantly heralds the well-being of our children, it would seem that those who talk should also do some of the walk. What are the reasons one wouldn’t become a foster parent? Choose one: too busy, too many children already, disrupts lifestyle and on and on. There are some who should not be foster par- ents and there are those who see dollar signs when they think of foster kids. The foster care system should not be an entrepre- neurial enterprise. There are many reasons to become a foster par- ent. Primarily, the need. It is unfathomable that up to fi ve kids are in a single foster home. The daily quality of life for kids who have been through too much will be greatly enhanced when they share a home with a nuclear family and perhaps only one other foster child. How does one become a foster parent? First, contact the state De- partment of Human Services, which oversees foster care in Oregon. The agency will fully inform any inter- ested people on the hows and whys of becoming a foster. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is another avenue to help children in Marion County. CASA of Marion County advocates for abused and neglected children who need safe and permanent homes. Vol- unteers are trained to give them the skills and knowledge necessary to ad- vocate for an abused child. Children are our greatest natural resource and they all need to be nur- tured, kept safe and allowed to live a life free from want and pain. — LAZ our opinion Restore BOLI with Ogden letters To the Editor: I think we all agree that we need to restore to the Bureau of Labor and In- dustries (BOLI) the sense of balance between law enforcement and promotion of a healthy business climate. That is why I urge voters of all stripes to vote for Lou Ogden. Mr. Ogden, unlike his principal op- ponent, has owned a business subject to the jurisdiction of BOLI. He knows fi rst-hand the type of impact regula- tions passed by the legislature and en- hanced through administrative rules promulgated by the Bureau exert on businesses both small and large. Busi- nesses forced to focus on compliance have little time to innovate and grow to become all they want to be. Mr. Ogden has also been on the front line of the effort to make at least a portion of Oregon a great place to work and do business. The City of Tualatin has fl ourished during the 17 years he has been its mayor to become one of the most desirable communities in which to live. The city exemplifi es the great balance between residential and industrial interests that lure both to settle there and prosper. Mr. Ogden is also the only candi- date who has learned how to think as a non-partisan. Despite his oppo- nent’s efforts to show otherwise, she cannot escape the bonds that tie her to the partisan leadership roles she has relished in the legislature. It’s time to restore balance to BOLI. It’s time for Lou Ogden. Davis I. Dyer Keizer Iris Festival 2018 To the Editor: A couple of thoughts about the Iris Festival: First, the new signs are huge improvement over the confusing “Check it Out” ban- ners of the past few years. And, the parade—gaps and all—is a very good thing. But, the carnival. Must there be one? And, if there must be one, there must be a better place for it than the Cherry Avenue location. I shed no tears for the pot shops that are inconvenienced by the carni- val, but Gonzalo Cervantes has fi nally reopened Pronto Signs after years of hard work and does not deserve an- other giant hassle, even a temporary one. Without being privy to the de- tails of his lease, it seems to me that Jerry Walker should demonstrate his civic pride and volunteer the parking lot at Volcano Stadium for the carni- val. Baseball season has yet to begin and surely one less Spa Sale or Motor Home Liquidation would not break the bank. Failing the Walker offer, it seems to me the best solution would be nixing the carnival and putting up the beer and entertainment tent somewhere “downtown” with ad- equate parking and access to food. Of course, my opinion counts for very little and I would welcome push back from a cotton candy smeared 12-year- old with a hankering for a dizzy spell. Martin Doerfl er Keizer Spooking the next top spook By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS The U.S. Senate faces a clear choice as it prepares to confi rm—or reject—acting CIA Director Gina Haspel as the permanent head spook. Confi rm Haspel and get a chief who will en- courage staff to do their utmost to uncover what they need to know to protect this country. Or, reject her and prepare to settle for a cover-your- behind and keep-your- head-down bureaucrat whose chief selling point is not sticking out. Of course, Haspel—President Donald Trump’s pick to replace for- mer director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—is in for a lonely slog in her bid to become the rare career CIA offi cer to take the helm and the fi rst female CIA chief. Trump critics smell blood. The left has begun to organize an opposition campaign likely to keep Democratic senators from support- ing Haspel. Meanwhile, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of 51 GOP sen- ators, has said he opposes Haspel, and other GOP senators are on the fence. And it’s because Haspel put na- tional security fi rst. Under President George W. Bush, Haspel authorized the use of en- hanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which was used on three al-Qaida detainees. She was acting in accordance with Department of Justice memos that found harsh interrogation methods to be legal. What critics call “the torture memos,” the CIA refers to “as the not-torture memos,” noted former agency spokesman Bill Harlow. In 2018, the memos are a distant memory and critics breezily can dis- miss CIA staffers who were desperate to prevent another 9/11 as torturers. Did the same hu- man rights activists who found the harsh meth- ods inhumane protest when President Barack Obama, one of their own, stepped up the use of drones? Some did. Others remained more indignant about methods autho- rized under a Republican president that were painful for detainees than methods authorized by his Demo- cratic successor that outright killed terror suspects. Haspel’s other big sin is her role in the destruction of videotapes that showed the waterboarding of two de- tainees. In 2005, she drafted a memo that advocated destroying the tapes. Her boss, then director of clandestine services, Jose Rodriguez, issued the memo and the tapes were destroyed. Investigators under Bush and Obama found no laws had been broken. To the American Civil Liberties Union, this destruction of tapes that likely would have become a handy propaganda tool for al-Qaida is a bad thing, a denial of “transparency on torture.” On an ACLU conference call, na- tional political director Faiz Shakir told reporters, “This is an opportu- nity to demonstrate what the resis- tance looks like.” The resistance is the term Democrats use for obstructing Trump’s agenda. the opinions of others Wheatland Publishing porp. • 142 phemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com Lyndon A. Zaitz, Editor & Publisher POSTMASTER Send address changes to: SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $25 in Marion pounty, $33 outside Marion pounty, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 Keizertimes pirculation 142 phemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon (preators Syndicate) With its fl aws, democracy is best system Some Americans don’t like our government, its foundational Consti- tution, its rule of law, its institutions nor its norms. They want change no matter the cost or consequence. When change has come in other countries it has often been greeted later with mis- givings after the new order of things has settled in, too often by use of violence and subju- gation. The founders of the United States were well- educated, knowledgeable men who realized they had an opportunity to or- ganize into a nation the underpinnings of a de- mocracy. They knew de- mocracy meant people would choose leaders through free and fair elections, providing for the participation of its citizens in its politics and civic life, protecting the human rights of all citi- zens, and governing by a rule of law as applied equally to all citizens and the Constitution was designed according- ly and been fl exible enough to adjust to “bumps” along the way down to the present day. Indisputably, the U.S. has had its ups and downs as a nation: the pro- tests of the 1960s, mainly over the war in Vietnam, that led to a proverbial corner-turning by many an American from that decade down to the present time. Dissatisfactions, by a whole lot of Americans, has taken this nation’s people from a time when Americans in general—save for the Civil War, civil rights legislation, and intermit- tent episodes of fear-mongering— accepted their plight and somehow muddled through adversity to arrive now at a split, fractured society where hardly anyone is willing to accept his circumstances. A nation so broken that the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin, a man determined to terminate democratic nations and their institutions, is not only infl uenc- ing U.S. elections but who might also have a fi rm grip on our president. What is important to recognize these days is the drift of the nation to- wards an autocracy with leaders and their supportive followers trying to reshape the gov- ernment to enable them full control without the rule of law. Hallmarks of a new order without democracy are characterized by citi- zens not allowed to choose their leaders or hold them accountable. Protests are forbidden while the citizens lose their sovereignty and political authority. Criticism of the ruling class results in imprisonment and, depending on their severity or threat, death. It is where the citizens do not know or take part in the formulation of public issues. Voting is the exclusive reserve of the leaders. There’s no such entity as a political party and thereby no campaigning by candidates for po- litical offi ce or consideration by the citizenry-at-large in favor or against those persons in charge of all the oth- ers. No debating of public issues is allowed any more than attending community meetings, petitioning the government or, most severely prohib- ited among the unacceptable behav- iors, open or even clandestine protests. No citizen has basic rights such as those in the Bill of Rights. There are no private beliefs and citizens may not write or say what they think. Freedom of religion is abolished while private and public gatherings to worship and practice religion are forbidden. All news is censored and then organized and delivered from one approved gene h. mcintyre Keizertimes The Haspel resistance is all about scoring points—and it ignores the input of a long list of national-securi- ty luminaries from both parties who urged the Senate to confi rm Haspel. The list includes former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., and Obama CIA Director Leon Panetta. To be sure, there are senators who object to the use of waterboarding and drones and whose fi rst impulse will be to reject Haspel for those rea- sons. But it is the fence sitters who will decide, and not necessarily out of conscience. Former CIA spokesman Bill Har- low warned that if Haspel “goes down, Lord knows who else they would nominate for the job. It won’t be someone as qualifi ed.” A reporter had an unauthorized question for Daniel Jones, billed as the “former chief investigator and lead author of the torture report” released by the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2014. Recently Jones’ name has been linked to Fusion GPS, the opposition research fi rm that commissioned the so-called “dossier” on Trump’s al- leged ties with Russia. On Tuesday, former Trump aide Michael Caputo accused Jones of hiring Fusion GPS to continue its opposition research against Trump after the election. When a reporter asked Jones, now president of the Penn Quarter Group, about those allegations, the ACLU said the call would address only questions about Haspel. When this journalist reached out to the Penn Quarter Group, no answer ap- peared. Transparency is a tool they have no problem discarding. source established by the ensconced leadership. Truth and facts vanish while mendacity and fake news reign uncontested. Citizens cannot freely move about the land and, unless spe- cial permission is approved by the au- thority, citizens must remain located where born while kept under con- tinuous surveillance. The establishment of laws are not permitted as regime-supporting rules of conduct and behavior are identifi ed and enforced and are constantly tested for obedience from cradle to grave. Any citizen can be arrested, impris- oned and/or executed arbitrarily and without cause, torture and cruel in- humane treatment are willed by the leadership and dependent upon abso- lute compliance with the rules. The rulers have total authority and judge in rule-breaking and punishment. There is established and maintained a ruling class that enjoys the wealth and riches of the state while those citizens not among the ruling class must ac- cept their plight and express joy and happiness at their servile state. The citizens of the Weimar Repub- lic of Germany (1919-1933) did not prevent what became Nazi Germany until it was far too late. There are na- tions in the world today that are get- ting close to or have arrived at a place very much like or are identical to the descriptions provided here. The Peo- ple’s Republic of China is one of them while others include Cuba, Egypt, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, The Philippines, Turkey, and a growing list of others, with their strongmen in unlimited terms of of- fi ce. Only we Americans can defeat ourselves and our way of life; only we can make certain our future as a de- mocracy is secured. (Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)
