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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2015)
OPINION 4A T HE D AILY A STORIAN Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager Our neighbors yearn to breathe free Immigrants enrich our national fabric P Guest column Free help available when signing up for health care W e at The Insurance Store people in Clatsop County do not understand the requirements, deadlines, and penalties of the Affordable Care Act. And of those who do understand, there are many who are unsure of what to do or where to turn for help. Help with enrollment can come from an assister or agent. The advan- tages of going through an agent are: Working with a licensed agent is free … no cost to you They are licensed by the State of Oregon They are able to discuss deduct- ibles, co-pays, and prescription ben- resident Obama’s simple eloquence as a speechmaker is nowhere more evident than when he speaks on They are experienced and knowl- immigration. In November he could not have been clearer: edgeable about insurance “We are and always will be a nation of immigrants.” The deadline to enroll in a major As he gears up for his State of the Union speech, it’s likely that topic will be one of many challenges he addresses. Obama is not suggesting a full amnesty for everyone who has entered the United States illegally. Instead, his plan is that people who can years, or have children born here, be encouraged to come out of “the shadows” and be provided a smooth path to citizenship. This would involve criminal background checks and eventually have them paying the same taxes as their neighbors. Fairness is at the heart of Obama’s efforts. “Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law? “Or are we a nation that gives them a chance to make amends, take responsibility, and give their kids a better future? Regrettably, his comments come against a background of voices being raised against his very reasonable efforts to reform what he and many others have labeled our “broken” system of immigration. It is sickening to see Republican extremists in Congress bristle in opposition when they have demanded action for so long without getting anything accomplished. More than 10 million people live in America illegally. Obama suggests a way to embrace them. “Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary it to our character.” At the heart of the debate is the work world. Undocumented workers help keep America’s economy going. Obama noted the unfairness that business owners who offer good wages and their competitors exploit undocumented immigrants by paying them far less. “All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America,” he said. “And undocumented immigrants, who desperately want to embrace those responsibilities, see little option but to remain in the shadows, or risk their families being torn apart.” The president believes reform efforts must combine compassion. “Tracking down, rounding up and deporting millions of people isn’t realistic. Anyone who suggests otherwise isn’t being straight with you. It’s also not who we are as Americans.” His multiple-part strategy involves: • Accepting the reality that the U.S. has more than 10 million undocumented residents who are contributing to several sectors of the economy and should not be persecuted; • Reshaping an easier path for immigrants who entered illegally to seek legal status and helping them adjust to living in the United States; • Acknowledging that our southern border with Mexico is a dangerous zone that needs A key element woven into these latest reforms is compassion for families. Birthright citizenship is more than a tradition in the United States — it is the law. All children born in the United States are American citizens. Separating them from their parents, who may be undocumented, is unjust and inhumane. It is time for the moderates in Congress to speak up. We are tired of the shrill voices playing the race card or the fear card. Immigrants enrich our melting pot society. Of course if we need historical guidance on the topic there’s a certain beautiful statue in New York Harbor. A plaque underneath the lady with the torch reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, “The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, “I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Poet Emma Lazarus sure had a way with words. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 medical health plan is Feb. 15. After that date you will have to wait until November to enroll and you will ac- crue penalties. There are a few excep- The deadline to enroll in a major medical health plan is Feb. 15. tions which would enable you to en- roll after February. To do so you will have to have a qualifying life event. A few examples of a qualifying event are marriage/divorce, birth of a child or adoption, move, release from incar- ceration, change of income, and loss of coverage, loss of job or a new job. The penalties for having no cov- erage in 2015 are $325 per person ($162.50 per child under 18) or 2 percent of your yearly income, whichever is greater, up to a maxi- mum of $975 per family. The penalty increases every year. In 2016, it will be 2.5 percent of income or $695 per person. After that it will be adjusted for the year you don’t have coverage. There are many factors that help determine your eligibility for assis- tance in paying for your insurance premium including household size, make less than $16,105 per year for a household of one you may quali- fy for the Oregon Health Plan. A family of four with an income of $32,913 or less may qualify for the Oregon Health Plan. With higher in- come you may still qualify to receive monthly tax credits to help pay for your monthly insurance premiums. Some may also qualify for additional plan, will reduce the deductibles and Local insurance agents are: • Jamay Larson, 503-861-2672, Warrenton/Astoria • Phil Morrill, 503-861-2672, Warrenton/Astoria • Steve Putman, 503-738-7181, Seaside • Karen Halverson, 360-244- 3561, Washington Does Obama even see threat of terror? By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER Washington Post Writers Group W ASHINGTON — On Sunday, at the great Paris rally, the whole world was Charlie. By Tuesday, the veneer of solidarity was exposed as tissue thin. It began dissolving as soon as the real, remaining Charlie Hebdo Charles put out its post- Krauthammer massacre issue featuring a Mu- hammad cover that, as The New York Times put it, “reignited the debate pitting free speech against religious sensitivities.” Again? Already? Had not 4 mil- lion marchers and 44 foreign lead- ers just turned out on the streets of France to declare “No” to intimida- tion, and pledging solidarity, indeed lie”), a satirical weekly specializing in the most outrageous and often tasteless portrayals of Muhammad? And yet, within 48 hours, the new Charlie Hebdo issue featuring the image of Muhammad — albeit a sorrowful, indeed sympathetic Mu- hammad — sparked new protests, denunciations and threats of vio- lence, which in turn evinced another AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi Iranian demonstrators chant slogans during a rally against the satir- ical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s latest publication of a cartoon depict- ing the Prophet Muhammad, which some Muslims deem an insult to Islam, in front of the French Embassy, Tehran, Iran, Monday. campaign, with bin Laden dead and al-Qaeda “on the run.” Hence his call in a major address at the National Defense Universi- Congress’ 2001 Authorization of the Use of Military Force, the very legal basis for the war on terror. Hence his accelerating release of Gitmo in- mates, fully knowing that about 30 go zones where Sharia reigns and legitimate state authorities dare not tread. To call them lone wolves, as did our hapless attorney general, is to ington. He has ever since shuttled between saying that (a) the war must end because of the damage “keep- ing America on a perpetual wartime footing” was doing to us, or (b) the war has already ended, as he sug- gested repeatedly during the 2012 the equivalent of the pitiable, men- tally unstable Sydney hostage taker. The Paris killers were well- trained, thoroughly radicalized, clear-eyed jihadist warriors. They (Five more releases were announced cannot be dismissed as lone loons. Wednesday.) Which is why, since, Worse, they represent a growing oh, the Neolithic era, POWs tend to generation of alienated European Muslims whose sheer number is ap- be released after a war is over. Paris shows that this war is not. proaching critical mass. The war on ter- On the contrary. ror 2015 is at a new As it rages, it is en- phase with a new tering an ominous The Paris geography. At the third phase. killers were core are parallel would-be caliph- ca 9/11, involved well-trained, ates: in Syria and sending Middle Iraq, the Islamic Eastern terrorists thoroughly State; in central abroad to attack the Africa, now spill- radicalized, ing out of Nigeria Then came the clear-eyed into Cameroon, lone wolf — lo- a near-sovereign cal individuals in- jihadist warriors. Boko Haram; in spired by foreign the badlands of jihadists launching Yemen, AQAP, one-off attacks, as seen most recently in Québec, Otta- the most dangerous of all al-Qaeda wa and Sydney. Paris marks Phase 3: coordinated cast of minicaliphates embedded in commando strikes by homegrown the most ungovernable parts of the native-speaking Islamists activat- Third World from Libya to Somalia ed and instructed from abroad. to the borderlands of Pakistan, but an (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula archipelago of no-go Islamist islands has claimed responsibility for the embedded in the heart of Europe. This is serious. In both size and Charlie Hebdo killings, while the kosher-grocery shooter proclaimed reach it is growing. Our president allegiance to the Islamic State.) They will not say it. Fine. But does he even see it? state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-375, Sa- lem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986- 1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@ • State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john- son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy- 637, Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503-986-1432. Web: www. leg.state.or.us/ boone/ R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone: 503- 543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296. Astoria in the West about the propriety and limits of free expression. Hopeless. As for President Obama, he never was Charlie, not even for those 48 hours. From the day of the massacre, he has been practically invisible. At the interstices of various political ral- lies, he issued bits of muted, mealy- mouthed boilerplate. Followed by the now-famous absence of any U.S. representative of any stature at the Paris rally, an abdication of moral and political leadership for which the White House has already admit- ted error. But this was no mere error of judgment or optics or, most absurd- ly, of communications in which we are supposed to believe that the president was not informed by staff about the magnitude, both actual and symbolic, of the demonstration he ignored. (He needed to be told?) On the contrary, the no-show, following the near silence, precise- ambivalence about the very idea of the war on terror. Obama began his administration by purging the phrase Where to write • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing- ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225- 0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-326-2901. Fax 503-326- 5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Web: www.merkley. senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Web: www.leg.state. or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@ • Port of Astoria: Executive Di- rector, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300. Email: admin@portofastoria.com • Clatsop County Board of Commissioners: c/o County Man- ager, 800 Exchange St., Suite 300, P.O. Box 179, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.
