OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 6, 2015
The sunny side of big greed
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
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
A 14-letter word
that spells security
I
The US must make safe bridges
a national priority
nfrastructure. It’s not as divisive as the death penalty. It’s not
as emotional as abortion. It’s not as worrisome as gun violence.
But of all the topics facing na-
tional politicians today, it surely is
one of the most important.
Without solid infrastructure
— bridges and highways — the
United States will literally come
to a halt.
But over the past six decades
or more, the nation’s leaders
from both parties have chosen to
put their spending priorities else-
where. It is even more regrettable
that the biggest share of feder-
al spending has been for foreign
wars that have cost the lives of
our military personnel and bil-
lions of dollars of taxpayers’
money.
That is money that could have
been better spent elsewhere: on
our vital infrastructure.
Now the lack of priority giv-
en to the ongoing maintenance
and improvement of our bridges
is becoming evident. Some have
not had a decent ¿x for six to nine
decades.
The latest warning bell has
been sounded by the infrastructure
advocacy group Transportation
for America, which has produced
a report called “The Fix We’re
in For: The State of Oregon’s
Bridges.”
The group used details from the
Federal Highway Administration
to paint a grim picture of infra-
structure in Clatsop County.
They discovered that 17 of
Clatsop County’s 147 bridges
were structurally de¿cient. That
makes us the second-worst coun-
ty in the state. Let’s be clear. That
doesn’t necessarily imply all are
unsafe. But it does mean our old
bridges need some serious TLC —
and soon.
The structurally de¿cient
bridges in Clatsop County include
the:
• Irving Avenue Bridge over
19th Street in Astoria;
• Old Youngs Bay Bridge on
U.S. Highway 101 Business;
• West Broadway Bridge
over the Necanicum River in
Seaside;
• U.S. Highway 101 crossing
over Ecola Creek.
The latter two are 91 and 63
years old respectively — well
due for an overhaul, considering
the hundreds of cars passing over
them daily.
These bridges are crucial in
getting commercial trucks, visit-
ing tourists and local traffic from
A to B efficiently and quickly. In
all cases, if these bridges were to
fail, detours would be costly and
more than inconvenient, likely
for a prolonged period. The dis-
ruption would be unacceptable.
Fortunately, work has been
underway on the 69-year-old
Irving Avenue Bridge for the past
three years. The long-overdue
$5.8 million repair is expected to
be completed by this fall, when
crews will shift their attention
to start on the Old Youngs Bay
Bridge.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation is to be commend-
ed for pressing ahead on these
projects while pursuing more fed-
eral dollars to alleviate the bur-
dens on local authorities.
What’s needed, though, is
a consensus among leaders at
local, state and federal levels
that repairing and maintaining
our bridges must be a priority
to ensure the long-term secu-
rity and efficiency of our vital
highways.
Don’t do drugs
J
The drug is helpful to some,
uly 1, marijuana became legal
harmless
to most and a real drag
to possess without a prescrip-
to
a
few.
But so are Big Macs,
tion.
whiskey,
tobacco and video
For years now, personal-use
games,
which
can be just as
amounts were nearly decrim-
addicting
and
debilitating.
Yet
inalized in this state, a poorly
we
all
realize
those
are
issues
regulated medical program was
put in place and an omnipresent of personal choice and personal
black market allowed recreation- acceptance of danger, don’t we?
And just because it’s legal
al users avenues to access the
doesn’t
mean a Big-Mac-a-day
drug.
habit
is
a
good one. It’s the same
But this is real deal-legaliza-
with
marijuana.
Just because
tion. No more fake medical con-
pot
is
legal
now
doesn’t
mean
ditions. No more hiding grow
you
should
become
a
habitual,
rooms in moldy basements, or
grow sites on out-of-the-way or even a casual user.
In countries where marijua-
land. No more buying from a
na
has long been legal, the drug
shady dealer down the street.
isn’t for addicts or college party
If you are 21 years of age and
animals. A majority of users are
on private property, you can
middle aged and middle class,
possess four marijuana plants
and use it to relax on Sundays
or 8 ounces of the ready-to-use while they read a book and
portion. And you can toke up in drink coffee. It’s hardly reefer
front of your mother, the mayor madness.
and the chief of police.
Where and if marijuana
Hooray?
shops can open in our area re-
We’re in favor of reducing mains up for debate. State leg-
the black market, increasing islators, who dragged their feet
state tax dollars and ending the on making important decisions
wasteful, hypocritical and often on this matter until well past the
racist drug war. We also think eleventh hour, are still trying to
this is a good chance for free- decide.
dom fighters and personal liber-
But that doesn’t mean we
ty supporters to put their money have to put off those decisions
where their mouth is, and may- about our own habits. Spend
be open the eyes to the benefits your money elsewhere. Pick
of such freedom to people on up a book, go outside, bake an
the other side of the political old-fashioned brownie. Don’t
spectrum.
use marijuana, but it’s nice
That means we’re in favor to know we will no longer be
of legalization. But that doesn’t wasting public money and ener-
mean we’re in favor of using gy cracking the skulls of those
marijuana.
who do.
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
I
n the dire prophecies of
science-¿ction writers and
the fevered
warnings
of left-wing
activists, big
corporations
will soon rule
the earth — or
already do.
AP Photo/David Goldman
A Confederate flag flies at the base of Stone Mountain June 30 in Stone
Mountain, Ga. At Georgia’s iconic Stone Mountain — where the Con-
federacy is enshrined in a giant bas-relief sculpture, the Ku Klux Klan
once held notorious cross-burnings and rebel battle flags still wave
prominently, officials are considering what to do about those flags.
Frank
Fine with
Bruni
me.
They’ve been great on the issue of
the Confederate battle Àag. Almost
immediately after the fatal shooting of cal customs don’t prevent them from
nine black churchgoers in Charleston, attracting and retaining the best work-
S.C., several prominent corporate lead- force. They’re burnishing their brands
ers, including the heads of Wal-Mart in a manner that they hope will endear
and Sears, took steps to retire the ban- them to customers.
ner as a public symbol of the South;
But those efforts, coupled with
others made impassioned calls for that. whatever genuine altruism and civic
And when Nikki Haley, the South obligation some corporate leaders feel,
Carolina governor, said that the Con- have produced compelling recent ex-
federate Àag at the State House should amples of companies showing greater
come down, she did so knowing that sensitivity to diversity, social justice
Boeing and BMW,
and the changing
two of the state’s
tides of public senti-
If it were
major employers,
ment than lawmak-
had her back. In fact
ers often manage to.
up to
the state’s chamber
Corporations ar-
of commerce had corporations,
en’t paralyzed by
urged her and other
partisan bickering.
we’d
politicians to see the
They’re not hostage
light.
to a few big donors,
have the
Eli Lilly, Amer-
a few loud interest
ican Airlines, In-
groups or some un-
immigration
tel and other cor-
yielding ideology.
porations
were
“They’re
ul-
reform we
crucial to the defeat
timately
more
sorely need. responsive to a
or amendment of
proposed “religious
broader group of
freedom” laws in
voters — customers
Indiana, Arkansas and Arizona over — than politicians are,” said Bradley
the last year and a half. Their leaders Tusk, whose ¿rm, Tusk Strategies,
weighed in against the measures, which does consulting for both private cor-
licensed anti-gay discrimination, and porations and public of¿cials.
put a special kind of pressure on poli-
“If you’re a politician and all you
ticians, who had to worry about losing care about is staying in of¿ce, you’re
investment and jobs if companies with worried about a small group of voters
operations in their states didn’t like in your district who vote in the prima-
what the government was doing.
ry,” he told me, referring to members
And if it were up to corporations, of the House of Representatives. “If
we’d have the immigration reform we you’re a corporation, you need to be
sorely need. Early last year, the U.S. much more in sync with public opin-
Chamber of Commerce publicized ion, because you’re appealing to peo-
a letter that urged Congress to act on ple across the spectrum.”
“modernizing our immigration sys-
And so, he added, “Ironically, a lot
tem.” It was signed by 246 enterpris- of corporations have to be far more
es large and small, including Apple, democratic than democratically elect-
AT&T, Caterpillar, Facebook, Gold- ed of¿cials.”
man Sachs, Google, McDonald’s, Mar-
Newsweek observed as much in
riott and Microsoft.
a story published this week, noting
Are these companies acting in their that inclusiveness “may not be good
own interests? Absolutely. They’re politics in this day of polarization and
trying to make sure that laws and lo- micro-targeting, but it seems to be
good business. And that is making the
business community the sort of ‘big
tent’ political force that neither major
political party can claim to be.”
Major ¿nancial institutions were
well ahead of Barack Obama, Hil-
lary Clinton and other Democratic
politicians when it came to same-sex
marriage. The leaders of these banks
and hedge funds lent their voices and
considerable sums of money to its le-
galization in New York in 2011.
And Amazon, Starbucks, Nord-
strom and other companies in
Washington state worked to ensure
passage of a marriage-equality ref-
erendum there back in November
2012.
Under the stewardship of How-
ard Schultz, Starbucks alone has
been a paragon of corporate munif-
icence and social consciousness in
areas ranging from higher educa-
tion to race relations. Back in 2011,
Schultz used his corporate pulpit to
bemoan congressional sclerosis and
try to exert more cooperation among
Democrats and Republicans on debt
reduction; he succeeded in getting
more than 100 other chief executives
to pledge to withhold political dona-
tions until Congress made bipartisan
progress.
Between 2010 and 2014, Unile-
ver increased the fraction of materi-
als it got from farms with sustainable
practices to roughly one-half from
less than one-¿fth. And the software
company Infor participated in a mul-
timillion-dollar program to provide
free tickets to Selma for American
schoolchildren.
The list goes on. And while it
doesn’t erase the damage that corpo-
rations wreak on the environment or
their exploitation of workers paid too
little, it does force you to admit that cor-
porations aren’t always the bad guys.
Sometimes the bottom line matches the
common good, and they’re the agents
of what’s practical, wise and even right.
The worst deal in U.S. diplomatic history
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
W
ASHINGTON — The
devil is not in the details.
capitulation, the
administration
played Iran’s
lawyer on this
one, explain-
ing that, after
all, “the United
States of Amer-
ica
wouldn’t
allow anybody
to get into every
Charles
military site, so
Krauthammer
that’s not ap-
propriate.” Apart from the absurdity
of morally equating America with the
world’s foremost state sponsor of ter-
rorism, if we were going to parrot the
Iranian position, why wait 19 months
to do so — after repeatedly insisting on
free access as essential to any inspec-
tion regime?
It’s in the entire conception of
the Iran deal, animated by President
Obama’s fantastical belief that he,
uniquely, could achieve detente with
a fanatical Islamist regime whose
foundational purpose is to cleanse
the Middle East of the poisonous
corruption of American power and
inÀuence.
In pursuit of his desire to make the
Islamic Republic into an accepted, nor-
malized “successful regional power,”
Obama decided to take over the nuclear
negotiations. At the time, Tehran was
Coming clean on past
reeling — the rial plunging, inÀation
nuclear activity
skyrocketing, the economy contracting
The current interim agreement that
— under a regime of international sanc-
tions painstakingly constructed over a governed the last 19 months of negoti-
ation required Iran to
decade.
do exactly that. Tehran
Then, instead of
Unfettered
has offered nothing.
welcoming Congress’
administration
attempt to tighten
access has The
had insisted that this
sanctions to increase
accounting was essen-
the pressure on the
become
tial because how can
mullahs, Obama be-
‘managed
you verify future ille-
gan the negotiations
gal advances in Iran’s
by loosening sanc-
access.’
nuclear program if you
tions, injecting bil-
have no baseline?
lions into the Iranian
After continually
economy (which be-
gan growing again in 2014) and con- demanding access to their scientists,
ceding in advance an Iranian right to plans and weaponization facilities, Sec-
retary of State John Kerry two weeks
enrich uranium.
It’s been downhill ever since. Des- ago airily dismissed the need, saying he
perate for a legacy deal, Obama has is focused on the future, “not ¿xated”
played the supplicant, abandoning ev- on the past. And that we have “absolute
ery red line his administration had de- knowledge” of the Iranian program
clared essential to any acceptable deal. anyway — a whopper that his staffers
had to spend days walking back.
Inspections
Not to worry, we are told. The ac-
They were to be anywhere, anytime, counting will be done after the ¿nal
unimpeded. Now? Total cave. Unfet- deal is signed. Which is ridiculous. If
tered access has become “managed the Iranians haven’t budged on disclos-
access.” Nuclear inspectors will have to ing previous work under the current
negotiate and receive Iranian approval sanctions regime, by what logic will
for inspections. Which allows them de- they comply after sanctions are lifted?
nial and/or crucial delay for concealing
Sanctions relief
any clandestine activities.
These were to be gradual and staged
To give a Àavor of the degree of our
as the International Atomic Energy
Agency certi¿ed Iranian compliance
over time. Now we’re going to be re-
leasing up to $150 billion as an upfront
signing bonus. That’s 25 times the an-
nual budget of the Iranian Revolution-
ary Guard. Enough to fuel a generation
of intensi¿ed Iranian aggression from
Yemen to Lebanon to Bahrain.
Yet three months ago, Obama ex-
pressed nonchalance about immediate
sanctions relief. It’s not the issue, he
said. The real issue is “snap-back” sanc-
tions to be reimposed if Iran is found in
violation.
Good grief. Iran won’t be found
in violation. The inspection regime is
laughable and the bureaucratic proce-
dures endless. Moreover, does anyone
imagine that Russia and China will re-
impose sanctions? Or that the myriad
European businesses preparing to join
the Iranian gold rush the day the deal is
signed will simply turn around and go
home?
Non-nuclear-related sanctions
The administration insisted that the
nuclear talks would not affect sepa-
rate sanctions imposed because of
Iranian aggression and terrorism.
That was then. The administration is
now leaking that everything will be
lifted.
Taken together, the catalog of
capitulations is breathtaking: spot
inspections, disclosure of previous
nuclear activity, gradual sanctions
relief, retention of non-nuclear sanc-
tions.
What’s left? A surrender docu-
ment of the kind offered by defeated
nations suing for peace. Consider:
The strongest military and economic
power on earth, backed by the ¿ve
other major powers, armed with what
had been a crushing sanctions regime,
is about to sign the worst internation-
al agreement in American diplomatic
history.
How did it come to this? With
every concession, Obama and Kerry
made clear they were desperate for a
deal.
And they will get it. Obama will
get his “legacy.” Kerry will get his
Nobel. And Iran will get the bomb.