NOVEMBER 2, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
Opinion
Statement of our principles
Journalism you can trust
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Yes for Keizer
Fire levy
ing. That means we don’t divert time
and money into making our stories
glitzy or stunning in design. We are
certain you would prefer accurate
news over fl ashy presentations.
PROFESSIONALISM: We can
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sider ourselves distant observers. We
take pride in the community - its
people, institutions, and traditions. We
engage in issues that matter. We iden-
tify problems, but we will always seek
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our community to improve, to be
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cally vibrant.
WITHOUT FEAR: Our report-
ing can and will put us at odds with
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—LZ, LAZ
ing at your emergency
in six minutes or less 93
percent of the time. I ap-
preciated the effeciency,
care and teamwork of the
crew (paid and volunteer)
when they responded to
our emergencies and I
know that will still hap-
pen, even though the number of calls
has risen through the years.
I have chosen to continue to sup-
port the Keizer Fire Distrcit and I ask
you to join me in supporting them
also with a yes vote on Measure 24-
432 on Nov. 6, keeping the current
cost for this excellent fi re and emer-
gency medical service. Thank and
encourage our fi refi ghters for all they
do for us.
Colleen Busch
Keizer
lottors
To the Editor:
As the wife of retired
Keizer volunteer fi re-
fi ghter, Bob Busch, who
served for 25 years, I have
had a front row seat as to how im-
portant the Keizer Fire District is to
our community. Our family gave up
our fi refi gher every sixth day for his
shift and got used to him leaving at
the sound of the pager on other days.
We made many life-long friends
through the years and participated
in events put on by the Volunteer
Firefi ghters Association, designed to
thank and encourage them in their
work. We witnessed the beginning of
the ambulance service, watched the
ground breaking ceremony for the
new station, knocked on doors for
levies, helped put on holiday par-
ties for fi refi ghter families and ar-
ranged tours of the station for our
home school groups. All the while
the number of calls for service kept
rising.
Spraying the hose at the open
houses,crawling low in smoke and
checking our smoke alarm regular-
ly are a few lessons we never tired
of practicing, because we knew our
Keizer fi refi ghters were always prac-
ticing, too.
We know that the people of Keiz-
er enjoyed Mother’s Day and Christ-
mas pancake breakfasts with Santa;
red, white and blue water at Home-
coming, Engine 1 at the KeizerFEST
Parades and Santa’s arrival at Keizer’s
Tree Lighting.
The faces you saw at these events
were always ready to be at your
emergency at a moments’ notice.
Although most of these items began
with the volunteers, Keizer now has
many paid fi refi ghter EMTs and they
all work together to serve you.
The levy, when passed, will keep
the ambulances staffed and arriv-
Chamber supports
KFD levy
To the Editor:
On behalf of the Keizer Chamber
of Commerce Board of Directors I
ask that you vote yes on the renewal
of the Keizer Fire District levy.
It is important to note this is a
renewal of the levy, not an increase.
Your property taxes will not go up.
Since the last time the levy was re-
newed call volume for the district has
increased by 45 percent. Even with
the increased call volume, the depart-
ment is arriving at calls in less than
six minutes 93 percent of the time.
The levy represents 25 percent of the
fi re district’s budget.
Based on the excellent perfor-
mance of the fi re district, that they
have proven to be good stewards
of taxpayer money and the fact the
public safety is an important part of
a vibrant business community, we ask
that you vote yes for Keizer Fire.
Shawn Lapof, Director
Keizer Chamber of Commerce
Board
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Rile the media, entertain supporters
By DEBRA SAUNDERS
Critics often accuse President
Donald Trump of using dog-whistles
to gin up his conservative base. But
really, Trump’s most effective trick is
to get TV journalists to attack on de-
mand—as you can see in cable news
coverage on the caravan of Central
Americans headed toward the U.S.
border.
Perhaps the biggest sucker for
Trump’s caravan play is Joe Scarbor-
ough, the former GOP congress-
man who hosts MSNBC’s
Morning Joe. Scarborough
led last Friday’s show with
a lecture to Americans
concerned about the car-
avan.
Voters should be con-
cerned about the GOP
tax cut that benefi ted the
rich, and the prospect of Republicans
fi ddling with Social Security and
health care, not the caravan, Scarbor-
ough schooled his viewers. “That’s
what’s happening in your life. And
they don’t want you to know that.”
Scarborough pooh-poohed the
notion that some voters might have
concerns about criminal elements
sneaking in among refugees look-
ing for a better life—as happened
during the Mariel boatlift from Cuba
in 1980—by dismissing such fears as
simple racism against “brown peo-
ple.”
As for those politicians who see
the caravan as an issue, the MSNBC
don concluded, “They think that you
are stupid”—showing that Scarbor-
ough thinks you are stupid.
Another Trump trick is to make
claims he must know are false, which
means fact-checkers are sure to is-
sue banal refutations of his dubious
claims.
Turn on your TV and you can
learn Democrats really aren’t giv-
ing Rolls Royces to asy-
lum-seekers as they cross
the border with Mexico,
as Trump said in Arizo-
na this month. Oh, and
Democrats aren’t bank-
rolling the immigrant car-
avan and aren’t passing out
voter registration forms
to new arrivals—two other Trump
claims.
“I don’t agree with him that
Democrats are paying for it,” former
Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg
told the Review-Journal. At the same
time, Nunberg added, “You know
where they (Democrats) stand. They
want to abolish ICE. They want
sanctuary cities. They are out of the
mainstream.”
In short, Nunberg argued, Trump
may be wrong on the details, but he’s
right on the spirit. Trump doesn’t
othor
voicos
spout “complicated, esoteric le-
galistic” rhetoric on immigration
law, Nunberg added; his bluster is
“straight talk.”
Is it lying? Sure, Anthony Scara-
mucci, Trump’s White House com-
munications director for 11 days, told
CNN Tuesday. “I think he likes it
actually.”
Scaramucci described Trump’s un-
truths as entertainment for base vot-
ers who like Trump’s act and think,
“We fi nally have a president who is
my advocate.”
Is that right? No, it is not right, but
it is the way the country works right
now. To the Trump base, Trump’s lies
equalize “fake news,” so the smart
play is to understand where news
outlets can improve.
Trump’s decision to call himself
a “nationalist” in Houston Monday
was instructive.
To the Trump base, nationalism
and “America First” are born out of
patriotism. Why does the base love it
when Trump uses words that make
New York anchors cringe? GOP
strategist and CNN contributor Al-
ice Stewart believes, “Donald Trump
makes these voters feel like they’re
10 feet tall and bulletproof and no
one’s ever made them feel that way
before.”
(Croators Syndicato
We’re a better country that it seems
This opinion writer has found
it impossible to know everything.
Therefore, asking questions while
seeking answers has greatly helped in a
continuous quest for insights and un-
derstandings.
It is reported that Trump party fol-
lowers fi nd horror in the prospect of
any move toward socializing medicine
as well as its companion, Medicare-for-
all. Why do we not want
our fellow Americans to
have insurance coverage
like other American cit-
izens, citizen Trump and
all members of his family
being just one poignant
example? Wouldn’t health
insurance enable those
having it to get the med-
ical attention they need so whatever’s
wrong can be addressed before every-
one gets it? Then, too, wouldn’t any-
one who’s really needed an emergency
room know that if the one hundred
folks in line ahead of him had medical
insurance they would more likely have
gone to a primary care doctor for their
bad cold?
Then there’s the matter of new
Associate Supreme Court Justice
Brett Kavanaugh about whom my
concerns include a record overfl ow-
ing with hostility towards affordable
health care, women’s health rights,
individual liberties, and the environ-
ment. He’s also shown again and again
that he will side with Big Brother and
Big Business over the rights of indi-
vidual Americans. Plus there are the
withheld Kavanaugh records while he
worked in the George W. Bush White
House preventing full disclosure, while
his alleged sexual assaults against wom-
en were not fully investigated. Should
Kavanaugh, a man apparently absent of
character and judgment, be sitting on
the highest court in the land?
Is there any truth to Trump’s wild
and crazy charges that those persons in
the so-called “caravan” from Central
America, now alleged headed to the
U.S. border, include huge numbers of
gang members, violent criminals and
“unknown Middle Easterners” bent
on taking jobs and otherwise destroy-
ing us? To the contrary, these people
are smaller in number than Trump
administration exaggerations (about
300,000 were stopped at our border
last year) and, aside from misleading
exaggerations to garner votes from
his base, are actually persons escaping
certain death in Guatemala, Honduras,
and Nicaragua. Aren’t they actually le-
gitimate asylum seekers at our border
to save themselves and their children?
One of the chief con-
cerns on this writer’s list is
whether Trump wants to
convert our democratic
republic into a dictator-
ship with exclusive au-
thoritarian controls un-
der his supervision. How
does an American like me
reach this conclusion?
Well, the facts add up: Trump prais-
es dictators, including the Crown
Prince of Saudi Arabia, Vladimir Pu-
tin of Russia, Bashar al-Assad of Syria,
Recep Erdogan of Turkey, and Ro-
drigo Duterte of the Philippines. He
says he loves Kim Jung-un of North
Korea. He also emulates them by ap-
pointing family members to our gov-
ernment’s highest positions, glorifi es
violence at his rallies, views a free press
gono
h.
mcintyro
as an enemy of the people, makes per-
sonal fi nancial gain his highest objec-
tive, and desires missile parades. Then,
too, there the divisive tactics of fear
and loathing used daily by him. How
is it that any American can support
what he wants to make of us?
A number of Americans nowadays
see things for them as a raw deal and
believe they can get back at those
responsible by blowing up the U.S.
Constitution and terminating our way
of life...but where does that view get
us? We know Trump now; so, do we
want leadership in this country such as
Trump’s, sending us deeper and deeper
into dark places where laws are aban-
doned and violence encouraged? Is
that what we want for ourselves, our
children, our grandchildren, and fu-
ture generations?
(Gono H. McIntyro sharos his opin-
ion froquontly in tho Koizortimos.)
Share your opinion
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to 550 words) by noon Tuesday.
Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com
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