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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2015)
OPINION 6A 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 <HVWKH1:)RUHVW3ODQ can stand improvement T he Northwest Forest Plan, the Clinton administration’s effort to get beyond the divisive era of “forest management by lawsuit and injunction,” isn’t popular in rural areas but has achieved some notable gains for the environment. Now, a major revision is in the works and it’s time to consider whether it’s possible to give timber communities more harvest while still avoiding excesses of the past. In an analysis for Pamplin Media Group last week (tinyurl.com/kh4rhna), environmental writer Paul Koberstein does a good job laying out the issues. EO Media Group fully explored many of the same topics in an award-winning series in 2011. Clatsop County forests are predominantly owned by the state, ZKLOH WKRVH LQ 3DFL¿F &RXQW\:DVK are overwhelmingly in private KDQGV %XW HOVHZKHUH LQ WKH 3DFL¿F Northwest, communities that rely on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forests have experienced a deep economic recession in logging and wood processing, with related impacts on all other small-town businesses. This, in turn, is directly responsible for the “two Oregons” problem — a robust HFRQRP\ LQ DQG QHDU WKH :LOODPHWWH Valley and Portland, versus entrenched poverty and social ills elsewhere in the state. It has been argued, with considerable validity, that logging was long carried out at an unsustainable pace due to political pressures from Republican presidential administrations and the Northwest congressional delegation. In the 1980s remaining stands of old- growth forests were fast disappearing and watersheds were being degraded by logging in riparian zones near streams. It became obvious that responsible forest management can’t co-exist with the whipsaw character of national partisan politics. The Northwest Forest Plan represented a start toward consistent, science-based management. Itself a product of political deals, the plan certainly has never been perfect. But Koberstein reports that environmental groups are in an uproar after the Forest 6HUYLFHODVW1RYHPEHUÀRDWHGWKHQHZV that it intends to begin revising the plan by again devolving some management decisions to the managers of 17 national IRUHVWVRQWKHPDLQODQG:HVW&RDVWDQG QLQHDGGLWLRQDODUHDVLQ:HVWHUQ2UHJRQ managed by the BLM. This dismay stems not only from fears that reopening this debate might diminish overall protections, but also because individual forest managers used to be notorious for operating forests as SULYDWH¿HIGRPVPDNLQJGHFLVLRQVWKDW overtly favored industry. Inappropriate timber sales were made in marginal areas that cost taxpayers money after expenses for things like road building were deducted from proceeds. There is growing political and economic pressure to ensure the forest plan delivers something closer to the 1.2 billion board feet of timber per year once promised. Harvests are actually around half that total. This broken commitment to industry and rural communities places the entire current regulatory regime at risk. ,QDQ$PHULFDQ:HVWWKDWLVDOUHDG\ experiencing species migration and droughts that many see as precursors WRIXOOÀHGJHGFOLPDWHFKDQJHLW¶VYLWDO we continue to protect large forests. But doing so will require that environmental interests negotiate in good faith to make certain rural economies are returned to something better approximating long- term viability. Climate change is real, Congress isn’t T Risky Business doesn’t care whether humans caused global warming he politicization of climate change is one of the stranger aspects of recent American history. The big hang-up of many climate deniers is whether mankind caused global warming. Greg Page says he doesn’t know or care whether human activity causes climate change. But as an RI¿FLDO ZLWK WKH 0LGZHVW JUDLQ company Cargill, Page does know that climate change is upon us and that it will cause enormous costs for food producers. Page is part of a business consortium called the Risky Business Project. It formed last June. Burt Helm of The New York Times SUR¿OHG WKH JURXS RQ )HE 7KH project’s report is “Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States.” The striking thing about the Risky Business coalition is that LW LQFOXGHV KLJK SUR¿OH PHPEHUV who do not agree politically. But they do agree that denying climate change would be irresponsible. Its members span a spectrum that includes former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former *HRUJH:%XVK7UHDVXU\6HFUHWDU\ Henry Paulson. The politicization of just about HYHU\WKLQJLVDEHQH¿WWRFDPSDLJQ fundraisers and ideological media, but it only yields stalemate. No business would tolerate that approach. In fact, many large corporations have long recognized the dimensions of climate change. 7KH :H\HUKDHXVHU &R KDV D climate change strategy. And despite Congress’ standoff, the CIA and the Department of Agriculture long ago admitted this was coming. In raising the alarm about climate FKDQJH WKLV KLJK SUR¿OH JURXS RI business people is at odds with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as the fossil fuel industry. Helm notes that the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce “parted ways with the national Chamber RI &RPPHUFH LQ VSHFL¿FDOO\ because the views of Seattle members on climate change differed so drastically with the sort of climate- denying statements the national group was making.” Congress is failing us on a broad range of pressing matters. None are TXLWHDVELJDVFOLPDWHFKDQJH:KLOH the rest of America goes to work and adapts to changing circumstances, Congress collects its salary and awaits its pension while doing nothing. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 Picture Freedom to support the First Amendment By KEN PAULSON The First Amendment Center Y ou can’t take freedom of speech for granted these days. 7KH KRUUL¿F PXUGHUV RI &KDUOLH Hebdo cartoonists and other staff members in Paris and the threat of bombings at movie theaters for booking The Interview are jolting reminders that freedom of speech is often vulnerable. The two global incidents also illus- trate that some of the most powerful and provocative free speech is con- YH\HGYLVXDOO\WKURXJKFDUWRRQV¿OPV photographs, art and graphics. In the United States, the First Amendment protects the expression of all ideas, regardless of medium, yet 2014 surveys by the Newseum Insti- tute’s First Amendment Center and the Knight Foundation indicated that more than a third of adult Americans believe that the First Amendment goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees, a view shared by almost a fourth of the high school students surveyed. Of course, those surveys took place before the Paris attacks and the threats to movie theaters, and we can only hope that Americans have a freshened per- spective on the values of these key lib- erties. Yet it’s undeniably chilling that WKH¿YHIUHHGRPVRIWKH)LUVW$PHQG- ment — speech, press, religion, petition and assembly — are seen by millions of Americans as excessive. A silver lining in the Knight Founda- tion survey: It found that students who spend some time on the First Amend- ment in a classroom are far more likely to embrace its freedoms. In that spirit, educators and jour- nalists are teaming up next month to encourage high school and college stu- dents to use their free speech to build awareness of the First Amendment. Picture Freedom, a nationwide To enter the campaign, all you have to do is post an original image — something you’ve photographed, drawn or designed — to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #PictureFreedom. Posts should be public, and if a post is shared on Facebook, the account also needs to allow “everybody” to follow it. The event will run this week, timed to coincide with the Jour- nalism Education Associationís Scholastic Journalism Week. Find details, and rules for the contest at†http://1forall.us/pic- ture-freedom-contest/ scholarship contest that launched Sun- day, invites students to post photos and images illustrating freedom of expres- sion on Instagram, Facebook and Twit- ter. By sharing original images with the hashtag #picturefreedom, students are automatically eligible to win. A team of educators and First Amendment ex- perts will review the posts for original- ity, creativity and clarity in conveying the theme of freedom and will award 25 $1,000 scholarships. Picture Freedom has the support of the American Society of News Editors, the Journalism Education Association, the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excel- lence in First Amendment Studies at Middle Tennessee State University, the John S. and James L. Knight Foun- dation, the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center, and hundreds of teachers and journalists. The event will run until Saturday, timed to coincide with the Journalism Education Association’s Scholastic Jour- QDOLVP:HHN)LQGGHWDLOVDQGUXOHVIRU the contest at http://bit.ly/1E58pEF At a time when free speech is so of- ten in the headlines, 1 For All wants to HQFRXUDJH\RXQJ$PHULFDQVWRUHÀHFW on how freedom of expression enriches their lives and strengthens their nation. It’s unlikely that a 221-year-old amendment to the Constitution will go viral, but it’s our hope that young Americans will help us celebrate what makes America special. :KDW PDNHV $PHULFD WKH PRVW powerful, creative, dynamic and ambi- tious nation on the planet? Just picture freedom. Ken Paulson is the dean of the Col- lege of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University and pres- ident of the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center. He can be reached at ken.paulson@mtsu.edu Jeb Bush’s brainless trust By MAUREEN DOWD New York Times News Service W ASHINGTON — I had been keeping an open mind on Jeb Bush. I mean, sure, as Florida governor, he helped his brother snatch the 2000 election. And that led to two decade-long botched wars that cost tens of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. The nation will be dealing for a long time with struggling veterans and the loss of American prestige. Not to PHQWLRQ WKDW : OHW :DOO 6WUHHW gamble away the economy, which LV RQO\ QRZ ¿- nally creeping back. Maureen But, all that Dowd aside, shouldn’t John Ellis Bush have the right to make the case that he is his own man? In his foreign policy speech in Chi- FDJR :HGQHVGD\ -HE ZDV GLVPLVVLYH toward those who want to know where he stands in relation to his father and brother. “In fact,” he said, mockingly, “this is a great, fascinating thing in the political world for some reason.” For some reason? Like the Clintons, the Bushes drag the country through national traumas that spring from their convoluted fam- ily dynamic and then disingenuously wonder why we concern ourselves with their family dynamic. :LWKRXW WKHLU ODVW QDPHV +LOODU\ and Jeb would not be front-runners, buoyed by networks of donors grateful for appointments or favors bestowed E\ WKH IDPLO\ :KHQ -HE DQG: UDQ gubernatorial races in 1994, they both mined their mother’s Christmas card list for donors.) Yet Jeb is bristling with Jane Aus- ten-style condescension, acting as though he would still be where he is if his last name were Tree. The last two presidents in his party were his father and brother, and his brother crashed the family station wagon into the globe, and Jeb is going to have to address that more thoroughly than saying “there were mistakes made in Iraq for sure.” He says he doesn’t want to focus on “the past,” and who can blame him? But how can he talk about lead- ing America into the future if he can’t honestly assess the past, or his family’s controversial imprint? In his speech, he blamed Presi- dent Barack Obama for the void that hatched ISIS, which he also noted didn’t exist in 2003 at the dawn of “the liberation of Iraq.” Actually, his broth- AP Photo/M. Spencer Green Former Florida Gov. Jeb. Bush speaks to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Feb. 18 in Chicago. er’s invasion of Iraq is what spawned ble James Baker. But then it shockingly al-Qaida in Iraq, which drew from an veers into warmongers. insurgency of Sunni soldiers angry It’s mind-boggling, but there’s about being thrown out of work by the 3DXO:ROIRZLW]WKHXQDSRORJHWLFGH- amateurish and vainglorious viceroy, signer of the doctrine of unilateralism Paul Bremer. and pre-emption, the naïve cheerlead- Although Jeb likes to act as though er for the Iraq invasion and the man his family is irrelevant to his ambitions, who assured Congress that Iraqi oil Bushworld stalwarts recite the Bush would pay for the country’s recon- dynasty narrative like a favorite fairy struction and that it was ridiculous to tale: think we would need as many troops 7KHZRQN\-HEQRWWKHFRFN\: to control the country as Gen. Eric ZDV DOZD\V ¶V KRSH +: DQG %DU Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff, QHYHU WKRXJKW : XQSUH- suggested. pared, unruly and with a There’s John Hannah, chip on his shoulder, would For Cheney’s national security be president. His parents’ Bushworld, adviser (cultivated by the assumption that he was The scheming Ahmed Cha- One got in Jeb’s head and Jeb is the labi), who tried to stuff hyped-up junk on Saddam now the 62-year-old feels he into Powell’s U.N. speech needs “to try to correct and redeemer. and who harbored belli- PDNH XS IRU VRPH RI :¶V mistakes,” as one family friend put it. cose ambitions about Iran; Stephen 7KHROGHU%XVKFLUFOHVHHPVFRQ¿GHQW Hadley, who let the false 16-word that Jeb sided with his father and Brent assertion about Saddam trying to buy Scowcroft on the folly of letting the \HOORZFDNH LQ 1LJHU LQWR :¶V neocons push America into diverting State of the Union; Porter Goss, the former CIA director who defended from Osama to Saddam. So for Bushworld, Jeb is the re- waterboarding. There’s Michael Hayden, who pub- deemer, the one who listens and talks in full sentences that make sense, the one licly misled Congress about warrantless who will restore the luster of the Bush wiretapping and torture, and Michael name. But if you want to be your own Chertoff, the Homeland Security secre- person, you have to come up with your tary who fumbled Katrina. Jeb is also getting advice from Con- own people. :ZDVDER\NLQJSURSSHGXSE\ di Rice, queen of the apocalyptic mush- regents supplied by his father. Since room cloud. And in his speech he twice he knew nothing about foreign affairs, praised a supporter, Henry Kissinger, his father surrounded him with his own who advised prolonging the Vietnam advisers: Colin Powell, Condi Rice and :DU ZKLFK WKH 1L[RQ :KLWH +RXVH Dick Cheney, who joined up with his thought might help with the 1972 elec- pal Donald Rumsfeld and absconded tion. :K\QRWEULQJEDFN6FRRWHU/LEE\" ZLWK:¶VSUHVLGHQF\ If he wants to reclaim the Bush Jeb, too, wanted to bolster his neg- ligible foreign policy cred, so the day honor, Jeb should be holding account- of his speech, his aide released a list of DEOHWKRVHZKRLQÀLFWHGGHHSVFDUVRQ 21 advisers, 19 of whom had worked in America, not holding court with them. :KHUH¶VWKHVKDPH" the administrations of his father and his For some reason, Jeb doesn’t see it. brother. The list starts with the estima-