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PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 22, 2019 Opinion How does one make billions of dollars? By LYNDON ZAITZ A neighbor asked me the other day how he could become independently wealthy. Heck, if I knew that I would become independently weathly my- self. Independent- ly wealthy means one earns it on their own from the very fi rst dol- lar. An old phrase said that if you built a better mousetrap, the world would beat a path to your door. That is still true, just substitute a product for a mousetrap. That brings to mind the just real- ized HBO documentary, The Inventor. This riveting fi lm is about the start, growth and, fi nally, the fall of Thera- nos, a blood testing company. Eliza- beth Holmes founded the company in Silicon Valley when she was 19 years old. The idea behind the company was inspiring: using one drop of blood to test for any number of diseases. Holmes and her engineers invented the machine that would give results in a matter of minutes. Theranos and its machine would revolutionize health care and allow people to take control of their own care. As they say, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It was too good to be true and now Holmes and her business partner are under indictment for fraud and the company, once valued at $9 billion, is no longer. That is how Elizabeth Holmes made more than a billion dollars. It is still uncertain if Holmes started out to perpetrate a fraud. Aside from skirting the law and physics (watch the fi lm), there are still ways for people to make billions of dollars besides inheriting it. It takes hard work to become a billionaire but it also takes passion. Steve Jobs be- lieved the iPhone would work, many dismissed the idea until they all came around when the phone became real- ity and changed the world. Success is 1 percent in- spiration and 99 percent perspiration. Jobs, Gates, Dell and many others worked night and day, day and night to achieve the level of success they even- tually attained. All success- ful people are passionate about what they are work- ing on; they believe with every fi ber in being that they are right and their idea will change the world. Some people dream of winning the lottery. A recent, anonymous, win- ner walked away with a $800 million check. There was no perspiration that came with that money, there was no work invovled in it rather than hand- ing over a few bucks for lottery ticket. That person’s wealth is no less viable than an inventor who strived for years. The odds of winning $800 million in a lottery are quite astronomical, as are the odds of inventing a better mousetrap. Regardless of the odds, someone with an idea they are sure will sell millions of units or change the world for the better should shoulder on, bear the sruggle, bear the sweat, the naysayers and listen to the inner voice that says “You can do it.” How can my neighbor become in- dependently wealthy? Unless he has a million dollar idea or invents some- thing that will change the world, he will have to do what we all do: do the best we can now for ourselves and our families and accept the fact that we will never have a billion dollars or two. zaitz writes (Lyndon Zaitz is publisher of the Keizertimes.) Learning to fi ght a wild fi re By HUNTER BOMAR “At the end of the day, if you ar- en’t covered in black dust and dirt, then you didn’t work hard enough. You gotta get that fi re blood all over you to know you did a good job.” We all heard this as we stood in a line. Each soldier held a different tool. Some had shovels, a few had axes, and others had rakes. Each man stood side by side while they hacked at the dirt in front of them. In March, my fellow soldiers in the Oregon Army National Guard and I were sent to Camp Rilea in War- rington to get our wildland fi re- fi ghter certifi cations to get prepared to fi ght fi res in the summer. The majority of our training was in the classroom, and we covered important topics like fi re behavior, fi re shelters and weather patterns. The most important information I learned in the classroom was what to be aware of in the forest when en- gaging a forest fi re. “Widow makers,” which are trees that can fall and crush someone due to the fi re weakening them, were heavily covered. Under- standing the critical need for good communication was also discussed, and how pointing out something un- safe was everyone’s job, not just the leaders. That day though, we left the class- room and were digging dirt side-by- side. We were being taught how to dig a fi re line to prevent a wildfi re from continuing on its destructive path. I enjoyed this part of the train- ing because I like being active. We worked hard to practice get- ting a little of that fi re blood. We joked, laughed and cursed as sol- diers do, and listened to each other’s stories while we worked. Our instruc- tors pointed out potential “widow makers” as we worked. They also told us about their experiences fi ghting forest fi res. After two hours of dig- ging dirt that resulted in half a mile of fi re line, the instructors decided we were fi nished. My back was tight, my legs were numb and my hands were stuck as if I was still holding onto my shovel. But it felt good. Once we packed up our gear, we marched back the two miles we needed to cover to get back to our barracks. It wasn’t raining and the now emerging sun had burned off the icy coastal air. We arrived back to a well-made dinner and hot showers to wash off the sweat and dirt. I was fi lled with new knowledge and skills, and when our training ended, I looked forward to fi ghting those fi res and getting a real taste of that fi re blood. my take (Hunter Bomar is a community reporter with the Keizertimes.) Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com Lyndon A. Zaitz, Editor & Publisher SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon Demo praised, Trump condemned By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS President Donald Trump, meet California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic rising star who tracks mud across the legal system the same way you do, but his dirty footprints win accolades from the mainstream media. Last week Newsom signed an executive order granting execution re- prieves for all 737 inmates on California’s death row. The night before the sign- ing, a New York Times head- line announced, “After Soul Searching, Gov. Gavin Newsom Will Halt Executions in California.” Soul searching. Those are two words one rarely sees pinned on the Trump brand. Soul searching is a grand term for a politician who said one thing when it served him, and then the opposite when it did not. Newsom ran for offi ce on the as- sertion that while he personally op- posed the death penalty, he would carry out the ultimate sentence up- held by California voters at the ballot box. In 2016, California voters re- jected a ballot proposition to end the death penalty, but passed another one to speed up the process. During the 2018 campaign, his spokesman Dan Newman told the San Francisco Chronicle that Newsom “recognizes that California voters have spoken on the issue and, if elect- ed governor, he’d respect the will of the electorate by following and im- plementing the law.” Last week, surrounded by Demo- cratic lawmakers the way Trump fre- quently has GOP lawmakers surround him, Newsom actually told reporters, “I don’t think this comes as a huge surprise to anybody.” He always had made it clear that he personally opposed the death penalty. Newsom also claimed he was being “forthright and honest” in announcing his actions Wednesday. The Sacramento Bee duly editorialized that “Newsom’s unprec- edented move also distinguishes him as a leader willing to be honest and forthright about one of society’s most challenging moral issues.” In an editorial, The New York Times supported Newsom’s fl ip-fl op. Critics “argue that the governor is subvert- ing the will of voters, but electing a governor who has a consistent record on society’s harshest penalty is also an expression of voters’ wishes.” The same editorial page slammed Trump for “taking executive over- reach to dizzying heights” in pushing his national emergency at the border. More from the Grey Lady’s edi- torial: “The poison cherry atop this sundae is that Mr. Trump is subvert- ing American democracy for a cause opposed by a majority of the public.” Note: When polls suggest a voter op- position to border security, that clear- ly carries more weight at the Times other voices than when California voters repeat- edly and consistently pass pro-death penalty measures on the ballot. Trump declared a national emer- gency to carve out $5.7 billion to fund another 100 miles of wall along the Southwest border. While Demo- crats scoff at the notion that the bor- der is at a crisis point, The New York Times has reported on a border at the “breaking point” with 76,000 unau- thorized migrants passing in a month. Personally, I think Trump should have worked with Congress early on to pass a measure with more funding for border security. While Democrats want to deny him funding for his sig- nature wall, he has found ways to use past allocations to strengthen struc- tures along the border. To me, this is a fi ght that could have been avoided. But I don’t understand how so many journalists can bash Trump as a tin-pot dictator for not respecting the process, as they cravenly praise a politician who misled his way into the governor’s offi ce so that he could trample on the will of California vot- ers. In Sacramento Wednesday, New- som proclaimed, “The people of Cali- fornia have entrusted me by their will and constitutional right to do exactly what I’m doing.” Trump can say the same thing, but with more authority, because he ac- tually campaigned for a border wall. (Creators Syndicate) Measles panic or Pharma marketing? By BRITTANY RUIZ In May of last year Oregon Health Authority’s Immunization Depart- ment sent out a good news report to the Governor’s offi ce showing a won- derful graph that our immunization rates were very high with MMR being the highest at 96.1 percent but state- wide vaccine uptake for all school required vac- cines at 94 percent. In June, OHA then sent out a press release trying to shift attention from the high immu- nization rates to the “sudden sharp rise” in exemptions for kinder- garten students. Like wild fi re all major papers pushed this narrative that we have the highest ex- emptions in the nation and the lowest vaccination rates. I then learned that OHA’s Immu- nization Manager is a Board member of a non-profi t fully funded by vac- cine manufacturers, Association for Immunization Managers. I inquired with OHA on how they arrived at their statistics and why they are not telling the true data about how exemptions are counted. OHA’s Sta- cy Matthews responded and told me that more than 50 percent of the ex- emptions are people that are actually mostly fully vaccinated and only 2.6 percent of Oregon’s school children are fully unvaccinated, which per that same report only saw a .3 percent increase from 2017 to 2018 (student body in- creased by 3 percent). Between, private and charter OHA reports 604,000 students. Out of those 604,000 students there are 31,500 exemp- tions to 1 or more of the 22 required vaccines. Out of those 31,500 exemptions roughly 15,705 children are fully unvaccinated for all vaccines in school. Per the Center for Disease Control (CDC) statistics, measles have never been eradicated. Oregon has seen over 56 cases in 20 years. CDC reports 68 percent of outbreaks have occurred due to importation of wild measles from people traveling from European counties to the U.S. and both vacci- guest opinion nated and unvaccinated populations got the wild measles. CDC reports two deaths in 27 years due to the mea- sles in the United States. The VAERS database reports over 450 deaths since 1990 from the MMR vaccine, which per a Harvard study says the VAERS database captures less than 1 percent of all adverse events and deaths. Last week OHA’s Dr. Peter Cieslak told the House Healthcare Commit- tee that we have above 96 percent vaccination rates for MMR with our school children. We’ve surpassed herd immunity threshold by 10 percent. So what’s the real reason for a pan- ic? Are there safety concerns over the MMR? Is the MMR one of the most profi table vaccines for Merck and is there a monopoly over it? Did Mer- ck see a 500 percent increase in their MMR uptake? “I think it’s time to fi nd out if the co-sponsors are have been paid by pharmaceutical vested interests to push HB3036.” (Brittany Ruiz is an administrator with Oregonians for Medical Free- doms.) Admission scandal hurts national morals When a nation’s highest govern- ment leader is repeatedly reported to behave badly, unethically, immorally and illegally, his conduct is likely to inspire his country’s men and wom- en to follow the principal’s examples with duplicitous accuracy. Such is the case right here at home as more and more Americans in all walks of life, whether in private or public roles, choose to copy their leader and end up practicing unlawful conduct, di- minishing integrity and trust. There is no better ex- ample than the college ad- missions bribery scandal. It happens nowadays that all of us are daily barraged by stories of corruption, greed and amoral behavior. These revelations have led to thousands, per- haps millions, of Americans, fi gura- tively throwing their hands skyward and committing themselves to new set of anything-goes rules. Yes, outside of the latest crook- ery to gain elite college admission, the citizens of our country have not always been free of circumventing laws and ethical standards, swindling customers and pocketing elicit gains. However, more of it is happening by way of constant high-profi le scandals involving bankers, drug companies, sports organizations and government offi cials. Bottom line appears to be a dark place where the U.S. has fallen into inappropriate opportunities and benefi ts, whereby a former society of social and professional restraints are no longer viable. The buy-your-college-of-choice scandal has been identifi ed as the biggest such scam ever prosecuted in U.S. Justice Department history. Fifty Americans to date have been charged in the scheme with many more sus- pected. A scheme where those al- ready arrested and charged paid more than $25 million in bribes to coaches and other college-associated people to gain entry of offspring into elite schools of higher education. Possibly no one who is familiar with elite universities and their admis- sion practices has found this matter a surprise. The milieu with the children of wealthy families is that they noto- riously have had things arranged to their advantage. What’s argued as new is that those considerable advantages are not enough for some who now buy elite-university entry. Worse yet, it’s alleged that many esteemed institutions in the U.S. are participants in this extraordinary shamefulness. Hence, public cyn- icism abounds. It can be seen here and there by the annual Gallup poll on Values and Morals showing a record 49 percent of Americans view values and morals as poor with a mere 14 percent rating them excellent or good. It is believed that the fewer viewing the U.S. as moral has been contributed to by President Donald J. Trump’s and his administration’s departure from longstanding ethi- gene h. mcintyre cal norms and specifi cs like failure to reveal tax returns, refusal to divest business holdings or place them in a blind trust. Citizen conclusion: hid- ing skullduggery. We the people should be demand- ing of Congress that our representa- tives tighten ethical standards for the executive branch and themselves by strengthening reforms brought after the Watergate era. Then, too, colleges and universities should act immedi- ately to reform admissions in their own bailiwicks, using audits and use of independent accreditation agen- cies. All of us who want a constitutional democracy to survive have a responsi- bility to yell “foul” and demand “cor- rection” when we witness impro- prieties. When we allow everything formerly valued to be now measured solely by their worth in dollar bills, then crime, corruption and ill-begot- ten gains can ultimately take all that we hold dear and trash them, ulti- mately to place America into history’s sink hole of once-great civilizations. (Gene H. McIntyre shares his opin- ion regularly in the Keizertimes.)