OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
That Coke can is back on display
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
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Larry Kaplan, from Essex, Conn., plays a song on guitar during Fish-
erPoets at the Astoria Event Center on Friday.
7HOOLQJµ¿VKWDOHV¶
grounded in truth
FisherPoets is a cultural icon
A
pproaching its 20th anniversary, FisherPoets Gathering has
netted more fans and momentum with each passing year.
Strongly woven from coastal experiences and emotions, it is a
³¿VKWDOH´JURXQGHGLQWUXWK
Though it has been com- ened congressional awareness
pared with cowboy poetry of harvest and habitat issues.
events that enjoy popularity in
“I love that the coastal
the interior West, FisherPoets DQG ¿VKLQJ KHULWDJH LV VR
has a liveliness associated with HPEUDFHG´RQHDWWHQGHHVDLG
FRPPHUFLDO ¿VKLQJ¶V SUHVHQW At least when it comes to
and future, not just its past. Astoria and surrounding com-
Certainly, there is an element munities, she was right — we
of nostalgia in celebrating the ORYLQJ ¿VKLQJ +RZHYHU ZH
JORU\ GD\V RI 1RUWK 3DFL¿F all know that actual support
¿VKLQJEXW)LVKHU3RHWVLVDOVR IRU¿VKLQJLVVSRWW\LQWKHVWDWH
YHU\PXFKDERXWNHHSLQJ¿VK- capitals of the West Coast —
ing alive.
the Columbia mainstem gill-
7KH ¿VKLQJ FRPPXQLW\ net ban is a prime example of
owes gratitude to the organiz- DIRUPHUJRYHUQRUDQG¿VKHU\
ers and supporters of this valu- managers claiming to support
able Lower Columbia event. ¿VKLQJZKLOHDFWLYHO\VDERWDJ-
Fishermen and women are too LQJDFWXDO¿VKHUPHQ
In incremental and sub-
proud and tough to admit it,
EXWLW¶VJRWWRIHHOJRRGEHLQJ tle ways, FisherPoets may be
singled out as cultural icons one of the most effective tools
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feeling of appreciation trans- VWDQGLQJ RI WKH JUDWL¿FDWLRQV
lates into everything from DQGGDQJHUVRIWKH¿VKLQJOLIH
better prices for American- and of the very real threats the
produced seafood to height- industry faces.
Thank you,
Dirk Rohne
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retire as a Clatsop County
commissioner is a reminder
of how much has changed in
eight years.
Rohne joined the commis-
sion in 2008, just as the Richard
Lee era was fading. Lee and his
colleagues had tried to make
OLTXH¿HG QDWXUDO JDV ZHOFRPH
in Clatsop County. Rohne ran as
an anti-LNG candidate, and he
defeated a pro-LNG candidate
in the Knappa-Brownsmead
district.
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three ballot-box outcomes that
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is disposed against the concept
of an LNG terminal on the
Columbia River. Once seated
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colleagues treated him very
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But he would soon be joined
by allies such as Scott Lee.
In addition to two terms as a
county commissioner, Rohne
has served six years on the
Clatsop Community College
Board of Directors. Carrying
D
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women still have a long way
Neither show definitively
to go. Things have changed
paints the accused as guilty
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Courtney Vance, who
OLLYWOOD, Calif. — or provides new answers. “It
skillfully plays the late John-
They were dramas that drilled ZDVQ¶W DERXW WU\LQJ WR OLWL-
gate who was telling the truth,
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into the most sensitive parts of the because at the time it was
recalled how he was in
national psyche, searing and divid- clearly unknowable and peo-
Toronto making a TV movie
with Tony Goldwyn when
ing us with lurid sexual images ple have strong opinions about
LWWRWKLVGD\´5LFN)DPX\LZD
O.J. was acquitted.
and racial grievances as old as the the director, told me.
“When the verdict came
Maureen
nation.
Yet reliving those hor-
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Dowd
They both started out as narratives rible, maddening events
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about the mistreatment of women reveals how resonant our race and gen- ZHORRNHGDWHDFKRWKHULQKRUURU´9DQFH
but were swiftly twisted into parables der problems are, despite a black presi- WROG7KH+ROO\ZRRG5HSRUWHU³$QGZH
dent and a Democratic woman running began the dialogue — the entire country
about the mistreatment of black men.
to succeed him. Things have changed began the dialogue. Everybody went to
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to testify about creepy sexual overtures still roils with gender and racial tensions. the same issue. Ferguson, what went
by her former boss, Clarence Thomas, Black Lives Matter and #OscarsSoW- GRZQLQ&KLFDJRVKRRWLQJWKDWWHHQ
but Thomas made it to the Supreme KLWHUHÀHFWWKHMDUULQJGLVVRQDQFHLQKRZ WLPHV,W¶VFUD]\$EVROXWHO\FUD]\´
Court by cowing the Democratic sena- blacks and whites see society.
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victim. The senators were stunned and legal team played the race card, wrote ocratic senators look bad, so does “Con-
silenced when Thomas accused them of Thursday in Vox that the recent police ¿UPDWLRQ´,WZDVDWLPHZKHQWKHPHQ¶V
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shootings caught on cam- club of Congress viewed sexual harass-
Four years later, O.J.
era had “given me a deeper ment as droit du senateur, just a perk that
Things understanding of why the came along with having ice delivered to
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acquitted on charges of mur-
African-American jurors \RXURI¿FH
have
dering the ex-wife he bat-
viewed the Simpson case so
Treat Williams plays Teddy Ken-
tered, Nicole, by turning it changed GLIIHUHQWO\WKDQ,GLG´
nedy, as Dave Barry once wrote, with a
into what The New Yorker’s
You need only look at bag over his head, shackled by his own
Jeffrey Toobin called “a civil but they the presidential campaign transgressions and unwilling to roar on
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to see the same emotional +LOO¶VEHKDOI
haven’t EDWWOH OLQHV GUDZQ +LOODU\ In an uncanny impersonation of
yers argued the football and
movie star was framed by a
appeared at a Baptist church Biden, who led the committee, Greg
racist LA detective, which changed. in Columbia, South Car- .LQQHDU FDSWXUHV %LGHQ¶V LUUHVROXWLRQ
made O.J., not Nicole, the
ROLQD 7XHVGD\ ZLWK ¿YH in dealing with Republicans who were
victim — another high-tech lynching.
black mothers who lost children to vio- determined to win at all costs — even if it
I wrote about both these explosive lence and the next night had to defend PHDQWGHVWUR\LQJ+LOO¶VUHSXWDWLRQ-HQ-
cases and, like the rest of the country, herself when a black activist confronted QLIHU+XGVRQVWHDOVWKHVKRZDV$QJHOD
was disturbed and mesmerized. Still, I her about her use of the word “super- :ULJKW7KRPDV¶IRUPHUHPSOR\HHDWWKH
ZDVVXUSULVHGWRVHHWKHWZR¶VVFDQ- SUHGDWRU´EDFNLQ%HUQLH6DQGHUV Equal Employment Opportunity Com-
dals turned into TV dramas over two IHDWXUHG*DUQHU¶VGDXJKWHULQDQDGDV mission, which, ironically, was charged
GHFDGHV ODWHU 5\DQ 0XUSK\¶V ³$PHU- well as Spike Lee, who proclaimed that with investigating sexual harassment
LFDQ &ULPH 6WRU\´ VHULHV RQ ); ZLWK ³WKHV\VWHPLVULJJHG´DQGSHRSOHKDYH claims. She went to D.C. to testify to
Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J., kicked off this EHHQ³VROGWKHRNLHGRNH´0HDQZKLOH 7KRPDV¶SUHGDWRU\ZD\VEXWZDVQHYHU
PRQWKZLWKDSDUWHURQKLVWULDOIRU Donald Trump at his rallies rails about called by Biden, who seemed more wor-
the murder of Nicole and Ronald Gold- KRZ³RXUSROLFHDUHEHLQJDEXVHG´
ried for the dignity of the Senate and his
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Older feminists scolded young own reputation than putting a liar on the
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RIWKH+LOO7KRPDVKHDULQJVVWDUULQJWKH WDNLQJ IRU JUDQWHG WKH SRVW$QLWD +LOO
Simpson and Thomas have both
appealing actors Kerry Washington and VWUXJJOHIRUJHQGHUHTXDOLW\+LOOFDQWDNH been silenced. O.J. is in prison in Nevada
Wendell Pierce, mining old news clips some credit for the fact that colleges and for armed robbery and kidnapping, and
as it debuts in the midst of a new slam- ZRUNSODFHV²LQFOXGLQJWKH¿OPVHWDWWKH Thomas is locked in his own muteness.
down over the Supreme Court — this VWDUWRIPDNLQJ³&RQ¿UPDWLRQ´²QRZ But the rest of us are still arguing, stuck
time with no nominee but still with Joe offer sexual harassment orientations. But in a din of mistrust and discord.
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times News Service
the county and college board
jobs concurrently was an enor-
mous commitment for any-
one, but especially for a dairy
farmer with a young family.
Announcing his retirement,
Rohne told Kyle Spurr that
with a balanced budget and
a new manager hired, he felt
good about the county. There
is something to that. Certainly
the county is a more stable gov-
ernment than it was when suc-
cessful recalls occurred during
5RKQH¶V¿UVWWHUP7KHVXEVH-
quent Scott Somers adminis-
tration was no less contentious.
In a county of our popula-
WLRQ VL]H ¿QGLQJ JRRG FDQ-
didates to serve on our coun-
W\¶VPDQ\FLW\FRXQFLOVVFKRRO
boards, special districts, Port
and community college can be
GLI¿FXOW
County government always
will face new challenges. So
will Clatsop College. Through
that, honest leadership is essen-
tial. We are fortunate to have a
leader as knowledgeable and
experienced as Dirk Rohne.
H
If Donald Trump changed genders
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
I
magine, for a moment, the presi-
dential candidacy of a rich, brash
real estate magnate and reality TV
star named Donna Trump.
Quizzically coifed and stubbornly
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and among her children is one con-
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ried to the other parent.
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digious, at least according to her fre-
quent claims and vulgar cant. And she
has a tendency — disturbing on its own,
even more so in someone who aspires to
civic leadership — to talk about men as
sirloins and rump roasts of disparate suc-
culence. She denigrates those who dis-
please her on cosmetic grounds:
6RDQGVR XVHG WR EH D EXW ZLWK
that male-pattern baldness and desper-
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baggy suits, but we all know better.
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race would she survive?
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has included ample exegeses on gen-
der and plenty of talk about double
standards, but most if not all of those
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raised, emphatic voice heard as some-
thing more grating when it emanates
from a woman? Is toughness perceived
as something more pernicious when the
hide and stride are female?
But for an even more obvious, indis-
putable example of unequal treatment,
look to Donald Trump. A woman with
his personal life, public comportment
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second in a political campaign — or, for
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RQDOLQHRIVFDUYHVZRXOGQ¶WEHWKHVHOO-
ing point that his on a line of ties is.
The moral judgments — in particular
the sexual ones — that we make about
men and women are utterly and unjustly
dissimilar. This primary season, and the
back stories swirling around it, have
illustrated that anew.
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and during his presidency surged back
into the conversation, and I was struck
again by the fact that a woman dogged
by as many accusations of philander-
ing as he was would never have won the
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And a woman who behaved as he
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seen as someone who could lend a posi-
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paign with frequent appearances on the
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ration, after he purchased the
an attic somewhere, damaged
Miss USA pageant, that he
goods forevermore.
wanted the “bathing suits to
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be smaller and the heels to be
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for a fairer and more forgiv-
More somber examina-
ing attitude toward women.
tions of Trump and sexism,
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however, have been crowded
before, what the journalist
RXWE\UHÀHFWLRQVRQKLVGLD-
Peggy Orenstein explores so
tribes against, say, Mexicans
forthrightly and explains so
and Muslims. Commentators
Frank
well in her timely new book,
have wrung their hands to
Bruni
Girls & Sex, to be published
rawness over how a Trump
next month.
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³$ VH[XDOO\ DFWLYH JLUO LV D µVOXW¶ racial and religious fronts and what an
ZKLOHDVLPLODUER\LVDµSOD\HU¶´2UHQ- intolerant portrait of America it would
stein writes, acknowledging this as a project to the world.
timeless dichotomy. “Now, though, girls
But what about the way a Trump
who abstain from sex, once thought of presidency would make the women of
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ODEHOHG µYLUJLQV¶ ZKLFK LV QRW D JRRG ual braggadocio would diminish the dig-
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in the same percentages as male voters,
according to exit polls from the caucuses
A woman
and primaries thus far. And national sur-
with Trump’s
veys suggest that the Republican Party
could be looking at an especially ruinous
personal
gender gap if Trump is its nominee.
In a hypothetical matchup of Clin-
life, public
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comportment
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going elsewhere or sitting on the fence,
and potty
according to a Fox News poll from
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mouth
advantage for the Democrat would be
greater than the one that Barack Obama
wouldn’t last
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a nanosecond QH\ SRLQWV RU KLV FRQWHVW
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in a political
And we can presume that the gap
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campaign.
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A young woman is supposed to
To be fair to Trump, there are moments
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³MXVWULJKW´EHWZHHQIULVN\DQGIULJLG$ than just a drooling interest in the opposite
young man simply has fun.
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progress toward gender equality, not tion of it by noting that “millions and mil-
merely because he gets away with things lions of women — cervical cancer, breast
that a woman never would but because cancer — are helped by Planned Parent-
he thrives in spite of overtly sexist lan- KRRG´+HQRQHWKHOHVVVDLGKH¶GFXWRII
guage and remarks that routinely objec- any federal funds to it.)
tify women.
But such bright spots of sensitiv-
These have been duly noted in many ity are eclipsed by the creepy stuff, like
compendiums, including an especially his repeated references to his daughter
clever one by Andrew Kaczynski and Ivanka as someone who, in a different
Nathan McDermott in BuzzFeed last situation, he might well date.
week. They listened to hours of audio
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they unearthed such gems as his boast ULHGDQG\DNQRZKHUIDWKHU´
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Now put those words in The Don-
death — that he probably could have QD¶VPRXWKLQVWHDG³:KDWDKXQNWKDW
slept with her; his ratings of the attrac- RQH´VKHVD\VRIRQHRIKHUVRQV³,I,
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WLRQWKDWKHSUREDEO\FRXOGQ¶WZRUNXS
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an erection for Madonna; and his decla- \HWZHKDYHQ¶WVHHQWKHHQGRI7UXPS