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JULY 19, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 Opinion We went to the moon By LYNDON ZAITZ Human beings once trod the moon. The fi rst time man stepped foot on the lunar surface was 50 years tomorrow (July 20, 1969). Apollo 11, a marvel of mankind’s scientifi c reach, was followed by six successful moon landings. Man last walked on the moon in 1972. Our gaze turned elsewhere after that. Once we proved to ourselves that we could send astronauts to the moon and return them safely to earth, NASA started thinking of oth- er missions that would benefi t the people of Earth. The moon mis- sions led directly to the development of the space shuttle. There were 135 shuttle launches— two ended in tragic failure. The launching of satellites have become ho-hum years ago. The pub- lic lost its awe about shuttle launches. Manned missions to the moon have become something that happened a long time ago and it doesn’t have much to do with the lives of con- temporary Americans. The 50th an- niversary of the fi rst moon mission has spawned a number of documen- taries about the extraordinary efforts lift man from his terrestial landscape into the cosmos. Have the hundreds of sci-fi mov- ies in the past half century about gal- axies far, far away made us immune to the wonders of space exploration? Perhaps. But it shouldn’t. When we turn our gaze to the stars, shouldn’t we tingle with the possibilities? Man’s natural inclination to ex- plore went from astronomically big to infi ntiesimally small with explo- ration into smaller and smaller tech- nology for domestic use: small mov- ie screens, small phones. We turned inward. In the late 1950s, as the world entered the Sputnik era (the fi rst man-made satellite sent into or- bit around the earth), the ‘when I grow up’ dreams of kids shifted from fi reman to astronaut; the collective imagination was stoked. Astronauts, for a time, became our national he- roes: Alan Shepard (fi rst American in space) and John Glenn (fi rst Ameri- can to orbit earth). They were heroes for a good reason: they were coura- geous, tooks risks and tempted death to achieve their dreams. Naysayers will op- pose further space travel spending because there are plenty of problems here at home. Limit- ed budgets caused more harm to space explora- tion than anything else. Mankind has gained much more from our space programs that we could ever lose. Here are some inventions we use everyday that come directly from our space travel research: camera phones, CAT scans, LEDs, athlet- ic shoes, wirelesss headsets, portable computer and computer mouse. Of course there are many more. Would these inventions have come about without space travel? Maybe, but they all were answers to problems that needed to be solved when trav- eling into outer space. To many people, the fi rst manned mission to the moon is ancient histo- ry. It is unfortunate that we have let this amazing giant step for mankind fade into the past. Neil Armstrong’s fi rst step off the landing module into the dust of the lunar surface should not be reduced to a question in a trivia game. Let us be thrilled by man’s ability to burst out of his sur- roundings, reach for the unknown. Just as much as we like to cele- brate anniversities of events, we like to turn and face the future and move forward without trepidation but with passion and excitement. Who knows how far we can go when we foster the dreams of little astronauts and scientists. Mars? zaitz writes Will Demos fi ght Trump or each other? By E.J. DIONNE JR. The media love confl ict, and the current fi ghts among Democrats —in the House of Representatives and on the presidential campaign trail—are irresistible for us journalists. And so many of Trump’s outrages are treated not as the moral disgraces they are but as campaign strategy. As in: Boy, all that cruelty at the border and his threat to ignore the law and add that citizenship-status question to the census plays great with his base, and isn’t he a genius? Trump has so debased the stan- dards of our politics that we stop noticing how low we have sunk. But the Democrats’ primary mission right (Lyndon Zaitz is publisher of the now is precisely to force Keizertimes.) attention to what those wielding authority—meaning, es- pecially, Trump, but also his enablers in the Republican-led Senate—are doing to our country. They can’t just blame the press for seeing that there Those unwanted gawkers are at is a lot of, well, tension in the House your home because they followed Democratic caucus. Reporters aren’t your bright yellow sign at the corner making up the fact that progressives of River and Chemawa, leading them and moderates often dump on each to your home. other. Progressives say moderates ar- They’re simply bargain en’t being militant enough against hunting, garage salers— Trump. Moderates say progressives two weeks too late. are not attentive enough to the mid- This would’ve never dle-of-the-road voters and districts happened if you would that gave them their House majority have removed the sign in the fi rst place. following your sale. Whatever their disagreements, Instead you were lazy, or Democrats are united on many you forgot. things. Perhaps a vile Trump tweet So pretty please, with on Sunday will remind Democrats sugar on top — after your sale, make why they should be battling him, not it a priority to collect your signs and each other. Without naming them, he properly dispose of them. Perhaps, attacked four fi rst-term Democratic even recycle it in your blue bin. congresswomen—Reps. Alexandria If you follow through, you’re less Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayan- likely to receive any unwanted guests. na Pressley and Rashida Tlaib—for Plus, you’ll less likely be contributing standing up against his cruel border to Keizer’s litter issue. policies. Trump told the four progres- No one says “I wanna be a junkie sives they should “go back and help when I grow up.” And nobody likes a fi x the totally broken and crime in- litterbug. fested places from which they came.” other voices Here’s your sign By ANDREW J. JACKSON 9 a.m., Saturday. You’re inside your living room when a black pickup cruises past your home slowly. The couple inside the truck is eyeballing your home, scoping out the scene. Good thing you’ve installed a surveillance cam on the front porch. Are they porch pirates? Too bad you don’t have one of those exploding glitter boxes that you saw in that viral video. They could be cat burglars casing the joint. Do they want to give you a landscaping or roofi ng quote? Are they those dastardly security system scammers? Maybe you could put them on blast on social media. Maybe they’re religious recruiters or long-lost cousins on a road trip across the country? Maybe they used to live here? They speed off down the street, out of sight. “That was weird. What’s up with that?” you ask yourself. the more I know (Andrew Jackson is the Keizertimes production manager, graphic designer and resident smart aleck.) It was despicable thing to say, not to mention typically ill-informed, since all but Omar were born in the Unit- ed States. The four have been quarreling with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but she quickly rose to their defense, assailing Trump’s “xenophobic com- ments” and declaring that his signa- ture slogan about American great- ness “has always been about making America white again.” Here’s hoping Trump’s malice en- courages Democrats to face up to the stakes of the fi ght they’re in. It’s already hard enough to be in the oppo- sition. In the presidential campaign, the Democratic candidates must necessarily challenge each other over the best way forward. There are genuine policy and philosophical differences among them, and because the Republican Party has moved so far to the right, the Democratic Party is now home to everyone from for- mer Republican moderates to dem- ocratic socialists. So, yes, there’s a lot to argue about. It’s necessary for Democrats run- ning for president to challenge each other over the best way forward in view of the genuine policy and phil- osophical differences among them. Because the Republican Party has moved so far to the right, Democrats are now home to everyone from for- mer Republican moderates to dem- ocratic socialists. So, yes, there’s a lot to argue about. Democratic presidential candi- dates should join in an informal union (they are pro-union, aren’t they?) and agree to stop answering “raise your hands” questions in de- bates. Inevitably, they are forced later to say that this or that issue is com- plicated, that the question they were asked was not exactly the right ques- tion—and the more they explain themselves, the more slippery they look. Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $35 in Marion County, $43 outside Marion County, $55 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 POSTMASTER Send address changes to: EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon (Washington Post Writers Group) When do we start seeing the ‘best people’? “We have to get the best people,” said Donald Trump when asked be- fore he got to the Oval Offi ce how he’d go about staffi ng his adminis- tration. “We need to get the best and the fi nest, and, if we don’t, we’ll be in trouble for a long period of time and maybe never come out of it.” Oh, what a prophet! Yes, Trump, in the presidency, has chosen the staff to join him in the White House. Un- fortunately, they have been and are mainly a remarkably scandal- ous, corrupt collection of boondoggle cham- pions, composing a dreadfully in- competent staff and arguably the worst-managed administration in U.S. history. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta resigned a week ago amid intense scrutiny from his role as a U.S. at- torney. Therein, a decade ago, he made a deal with hedge fund fi - nancier Jeffrey Epstein that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a lesser offense in a horrifi c sex-crime/sex traffi cking case. Trump told reporters a week ago that Acosta had decided to step aside. He called Acosta a “great la- bor secretary, not just a good one and a tremendous talent.” “This was him, not me,” Trump remarked in regard to the resignation decision as Acosta stood by his side. “I said to Alex, you don’t have to do this.” But we know why Acosta re- signed. He had become an embar- rassment to Trump. I doubt that Trump had any idea whether he was doing a good job or not be- cause he proven no interest in such matters. Of late, we’re aware that Acosta had been under pressure by White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney who viewed him as not aggressive enough in eliminating the rights of working people, ending work- place safety regulations, or supporting corporate interests. Not a betting man, yet, what’s known about Trump leads me to believe he cared minimally whether Acosta gave the that monster, Epstein, a sweetheart deal. Nevertheless, Trump has prov- en he will work hard to provide special privileges to the wealthy and break laws to do it. He himself has bragged openly about abusing women and has been accused of rape. So, why would he care if one of his current or former rich pals molested young women. Fact is, Trump is known for bursting into the dressing rooms of beauty contests to watch teen- age girls dress and undress. He has been recorded on such occasions to comment that, “in a few years, I’ll be dating her” and has lustfully commented about his own daugh- ter, Ivanka. Regarding Jeff Epstein, he said, gene h. mcintyre Keizertimes Democratic primary voters should add a new criterion to their list of must-haves: Who among these candidates is best suited to create the diverse alliance that must come to- gether to beat Trump? This is not an argument for automatically picking the most “moderate” candidate. The nominee will certainly need middle- of-the-roaders who recognize what a disaster Trump’s presidency is. But she or he must also mobilize young- er progressives into the electorate. Rarely has a party been more in need of raw political talent. House Democrats have suffi cient power to get a few things done, but not enough to enact their core agen- da, because of the Senate and White House blockades. It’s a recipe for frustration, which breeds the kind of public bloodletting we’ve been wit- nessing. House Democrats need to get their act together. They could take heart from seeing that Trump’s ad- ministration is vulnerable. It was a grim triumph, but it’s good that La- bor Secretary Alexander Acosta had to resign because of his inexcusable prosecutorial handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. And Trump did have to retreat on his politically motivated census question. Pelosi’s colleagues should then ponder a variation on a query from baseball lore: Can anyone here play a long game? This requires assess- ing how much clout you have now (it’s limited) and what your job is (improving the chances of defeat- ing Trump and thereby earning the ability to get much more done after 2020). It will be unforgivable if the op- ponents of a genuinely dangerous and immoral regime indulge them- selves with inward-looking feuds when history’s demands upon them could not be clearer. “I’ve known Jeff for fi fteen years. Terrifi c guy who’s a lot of fun to be with. He likes beautiful women as I do, on the younger side.” In the White House, what’s im- portant to Trump is always looking good and staying in the limelight without negative distractions. After all, as with all the surviving White House staff, their job is not to re- fl ect badly on Trump and that’s how Acosta failed him. Acosta is just another turnover to Trump who will soon replace him. He apparently pays little attention to vetting these people who too often come from disgustingly blem- ished backgrounds. This condition, characterized by undesirability, is a chronic outcome throughout the Trump administration. Three-quar- ters of the original top White House position holders are gone for one reason or another, argued the worst record of that kind among the other 44 presidents. In the White House, pandemonium prevails with the only interest there being re-elec- tion. Meanwhile, we Americans are the big losers. (Gene H. McIntyre shares his opinion regularly in the Keizer- times.) Share your opinion Submit a letter to the editor, or a guest column by noon Tuesday. Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com
