THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
Local news is key
Whose quality of life is main-
tained by not requiring rental own-
ers to provide for the trash created
by their guests over a weekend to
be safely stored until trash pickup
day?
It seems that the only people
whose quality of life will be main-
tained are the out-of-town invest-
ment property owners behind this
initiative. The don’t seem to real-
ize that degrading the overall qual-
ity of life in Gearhart will eventu-
ally degrade their own properties,
as well as the rest of the town’s.
I urge the council to reject the
initiative, place it on the ballot and
allow the voters of Gearhart to vote
it down in November.
DIANNE WIDDOP
Gearhart
I
just sent off another one of those
checks, the ones for my local
newspaper. Why do I do this?
Why with all those other sources
of news, why do I indulge in my
local newspaper? Simply put, there
is no other source of local news.
How else would I keep up on “As
The Dam Turns,” who said what in
“Port Pontifications” or how many
times a sequel to The Goonies has
been proposed?
Seriously, this may sound triv-
ial, but I live here. I do not live in
Portland. Local Portland news does
not inform me of local coast issues,
local political races, local car
crashes or local elk herds’ move-
ments. I need to know these things.
Local issues affect my daily life and
daily decisions. Having local infor-
mation is important to me.
If I (and my neighbors) do not
buy the local paper, it will at some
time discontinue circulation. We
all benefit from having access to
a local newspaper. Thus on behalf
of my neighbors, and myself, I
have sent off another one of those
checks.
KATHLEEN ADAMS
Hammond
Volunteers needed
W
e are looking for a few good
volunteers. Volunteers who
like to interact with people from
all over the world. From countries
like Austria, South Africa, Can-
ada, Iceland and many more. States
like Colorado, Florida, Maine, New
Mexico and New York. Volunteers
who like to talk about our glorious
history, i.e. Lewis and Clark, Peter
Iredale, The Astoria Column (in
case someone asks, it is 164 steps to
the top and, of course, back down)
or where to find the local laundro-
mat, car wash or liquor store.
Where is such a place you ask
… the Astoria-Warrenton Area
Chamber of Commerce and the
Warrenton Museum, located in the
parking lot across from Ross Dress
for Less. Currently, the “tourist cen-
ter’ is open seven days a week from
11 a.m. until 4 p.m. We need volun-
teers for Fridays and Saturdays.
Come and visit Diane Collier at
143 S. Highway 101 in Warrenton,
or you can call her at 503-861-1031
on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
DIANE COLLIER
Warrenton
Off the streets
A
troubled man tells others that
he’d like to cut your head off.
This is the kind of thing that tends
to be disconcerting; save when
the degenerative arthritis in your
neck is piercing in its pain, then
it doesn’t seem such a bad idea. I
won’t mention his name, here, but
he’s homeless and a Trump sup-
porter, and at times loathes me and
my “Stop Trump,” sign.
I don’t really blame him. Trump
is offering a lovely siren song to
many devalued and dejected peo-
ple, and the left tends to bury peo-
ple in shame and guilt. We forget
that sometimes what we hunger for
most is a narrative in which we’re
the good guy, the hero, not some
5A
Climate control
am just trying to figure out what
global warming is all about. I
did my own investigating, and dis-
covered the culprits are two main
greenhouse gases called natural and
man-made sources. For example, if
dinosaurs (natural) didn’t die, cave-
men didn’t build fires (man-made),
and the industrial revolution (man-
made) didn’t happen, we might still
be living in the ice age. Natural
sources, we can’t do much about.
The real question is, hasn’t the
world always been warming since
the ice age to this present age?
However, man-made sources we
can do something about. Americans
are making every effort to reduce
global warming, such as reforest-
ing, wind and solar power solutions,
complying with federal and state
regulations, just to mention a few.
The No. 1 solution comes with a
very huge resistance, so you better
sit down for this one. Stop driving
your automobiles. Every gallon of
gasoline used emits 20 pounds of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
An average car emits 6 tons of
CO2 per year. Add up all the CO2
emissions from automobiles in
America, and that number becomes
astronomical. That would make a
difference in so many ways.
The real problem with global
warming, I believe, are those who
are politicizing this issue. They
seem more interested in getting
rich than solving the problem.
Whenever I listen to them or read
their stories, it all boils down to
three things: your vote, advancing
their political careers and money.
So, you’d better be very sensible
about how you support these
politicians and this issue, or you
could wind up unemployed, with no
money, or even worse, walking.
Let us use our own knowledge
regarding climate control, and let us
start doing things in our own lives,
and around our homes, to address
this issue and get it under control.
It really does boil down to you and
me.
If you should see those who con-
stantly promote global warming
selling their beachfront properties,
cars, boats, airplanes and moving to
Antarctica, then worry. Until then,
live wisely and be happy.
God bless America.
RAYMOND GARDNER
Warrenton
I
youth telling us everything we
believe is wrong, and we’re killing
the planet.
“Make America Great Again,”
what it means to so many, is be part
of something great again, have a
chance to think of yourself as great
again; the myth we try to teach every
kid, which life beats out of so many.
Now it seems to me that if I
was a Trump supporter I’d want
to help this fellow whose life has
been ruined by liberals. Or if I was
a bleeding heart liberal — oh, that’s
right I am — I’d want to help this
man off the streets; see to it that he
at least can get a good night’s sleep.
It seems to me that’s how you
make America great again, regard-
less of whether you’re in the blue
tribe or red tribe.
There are plenty who know
whom I’m talking about. It’s not
hard to discover if you don’t, and if
you can’t, you can always choose to
help another. If only it were as easy
to trip over one’s own conscience as
it is the homeless in America.
M. ALEX “SASHA” MILLER
Astoria
Kudos to Orwell
I
n 1946, English novelist George
Orwell warned Americans that
the poor old English language
was “in a bad way.” Today his
5,000-word essay “Politics and
the English Language” remains
prophetic.
Orwell bluntly claimed that the
English language had become stale,
pretentious, confusing and vague,
anesthetizing part of the reader’s
brain, making coherent thought and
debate difficult or impossible.
Orwell grappled with the polit-
ical consequences of imprecise
language, such as that currently
unleashed by Donald Trump’s
adviser KellyAnne Conway, who
characterized Press Secretary Sean
Spicer’s lies as “alternative facts.”
Subsequently, many Americans
have searched for ways to deal with
the Trump administration’s prideful
ignorance and continued willing-
ness to deceive us.
Orwell advises us that when
people in power are reluctant to
own up to uncomfortable truths,
both large and small, they lean
heavily on euphemism, ques-
tion-begging and sheer cloudy
vagueness. That, I submit, describes
Trump to a “T.”
His public statements are riddled
with clichés, ostentatious wordi-
ness, and just about every other lin-
guistic foible I can imagine.
Trump uses a select group of
vague words to explain what he
thinks is wrong with America,
diminishing our trust in govern-
ment, the media, politicians, num-
bers and facts.
Right now, someone is learn-
ing from Trump and Orwell. “All
issues are political issues,” Orwell
wrote, “and politics itself is a mass
of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and
schizophrenia.”
Trump knows that and his fol-
lowers do, too.
The frightening manipulation
of language by Trump’s alterna-
tive-facts people is likely to con-
tinue, and it will likely get worse as
Trump’s many scandals and inves-
tigations into his possible obstruc-
tion of justice and conflicts of inter-
est continue.
The dirty secret about “Poli-
tics and the English Language” is
that, despite Orwell’s claim that
his main concern is clarity, what he
really cared about was the beauty of
language.
It’s vital that those of us who
value clarity and beauty of language
remain on guard.
Pick up a copy of Orwell’s pock-
et-size book, “Why I Write,” and
read the last 19 pages, still scarily
relevant.
ROBERT BRAKE
Ocean Park, Washington
No need to reinvent
S
omeone needs to put the Repub-
licans on a bus north. It’s all
quite simple. There’s no need to
reinvent health care. Everyone in
Canada has excellent health care.
The hospitals and clinics and doc-
tors and nurses are very good.
Just ask them how they are
doing it and they will gladly share.
How wonderful it would be to
live in a country that cares for the
poor and the middle class instead of
worshiping and subsidizing the rich
on the backs of our citizens.
MARY TANGUAY WEBB
Astoria
Whose quality of life?
T
he supporters of David
Townsend’s initiative to repeal
Gearhart’s existing short-term rental
ordinance and replace it with their
own version claim in their recent
mailer it is necessary “to maintain
the quality of life for our city.”
Whose quality of life is main-
tained by allowing an unlimited
number of vacation rentals in resi-
dential neighborhoods throughout
the city?
Whose quality of life is main-
tained by allowing nine people over
12, plus an unlimited number of
children under 12 in a three-bed-
room house?
Whose quality of life is main-
tained by not requiring rental own-
ers to provide on-site parking to
help alleviate parking congestion on
narrow city streets?
Whose quality of life is main-
tained by not requiring rental own-
ers to demonstrate that they have
a functional septic system capable
of handling sporadic use by large
numbers of occupants?
Whose quality of life is main-
tained if overworked septic systems
fail at an ever-increasing number of
rental units lead the Department of
Environmental Quality to mandate
a citywide sewage system that, over
time, will be paid for by all prop-
erty owners?
Whose quality of life is main-
tained by not requiring rentals to
be inspected by the local building
official, the only inspector permit-
ted by law to evaluate life safety
conditions?
Women move, world improves
By GAIL COLLINS
New York Times News Service
G
ood news has been in such
very short supply lately.
Beyoncé did have twins.
Joey Chestnut set
a new record at the
Coney Island hot-
dog eating contest.
Kentucky sold a
billion dollars in
lottery tickets for
the first time …
OK, here’s a real one: Women’s
involvement in politics seems to be
skyrocketing — they’re doing every-
thing from petitioning Congress
to planning their own campaigns.
Groups that help prepare women
to run for office are reporting an
unprecedented number of website
visits, training-school sign-ups and
meeting attendance.
Everything is going to get better!
There’ll be more bipartisanship in
Congress, more rationality in foreign
affairs and better government on the
state and local levels. Corruption
will drop, voter satisfaction will
soar, and never again will the gover-
nor of a major state spend a holiday
sunbathing on a public beach that’s
closed to the rest of the public due to
a budget crisis.
All right, we’re only totally posi-
tive about the last one.
Still, more gender equality in pol-
itics is a great goal. While there have
been some really terrible, truly awful
women elected to public office over
the years, as a group women seem to
be better at working with others. For
instance, female senators have regu-
lar bipartisan dinners in Washington.
There was a time when this would
not have been a big deal, but in the
current climate it’s akin to Nixon in
China.
Women also tend to bring a mood
of reform, since they’re often com-
ing from the outside.
“It’s the women who in many
ways feel — if you’re not at the
table, you’re probably on the menu,”
said Debbie Walsh at the Center for
American Women and Politics at
Rutgers University.
The center runs training programs
for female candidates in perpetually
scandal-prone New Jersey, and their
success is proof of the theory that
voters will turn to women when
they feel the political status quo is
horrible.
“When we started, New Jersey
was in the bottom 10 for women in
the legislature,” said Walsh. “Now,
it’s 14th from the top. Indictments
have been very, very good to us.”
Progress on this front is not
necessarily guaranteed to last. The
center’s ranking of state legislatures
puts Wyoming last in the percentage
of women, which is extremely sad
for a place that calls itself “the
Equality State” because it was the
first to give women the right to vote.
Wyoming does have Dick Cheney’s
daughter Liz in the U.S. House of
Representatives, and you will have
to decide for yourself whether you
think that is a good plan.
Cathy Connolly, who’s a state
representative and professor of
women’s studies at the University
of Wyoming, says the legislative
schedule was set up to accommodate
ranchers: “We work around the
clock for 40 days one year and 20
the other in the dead of the winter.
… It’s disproportionately retired
men.”
But even Wyoming is looking for
a leap forward. Connolly is co-chair
of a women’s caucus that is — of
course — bipartisan. (“Its only goal
is to recruit more women and be
supportive of each other when we
serve.”) She feels that same surge of
interest, “and it is wonderful.”
Women have been setting
record-breaking web traffic at
Emily’s List, which supports
pro-choice Democratic women’s
campaigns. Stephanie Schriock, the
president, thinks the motives run
from “fear of slipping backward”
after Hillary Clinton’s loss to a sense
of solidarity engendered by the
marches after Donald Trump’s inau-
guration. Now the visitors are stoked
and looking for information on how
to run for anything “from school
board to the U.S. Senate.”
(If you’re reading this piece and
thinking at this very moment that
you might want to jump in, I should
warn you that running for the U.S.
Senate is not really the place to
begin. But if you’re wealthy, famous
and want to find a male incumbent
who’s truly worthy of being chased
out of town, Ted Cruz is up for
re-election in 2018. Just saying.)
Right now, Democrats seem to
Wikimedia Commons
More women are showing interest in running for office.
be having much more success in
recruiting women than Republicans
are. Some experts think it’s because
when female Democrats donate
money they tend to target female
candidates, while, on the Republican
side, gender doesn’t seem to matter
all that much.
Think about this, Republican
women. If Senate leaders hadn’t
appointed just 13 men to that special
health care bill-writing group, the
bill would have been better. This is
a fact based on the evidence that it
could not possibly have been worse.
If this sudden interest in putting
more women into office translates
into action, it’ll be about time.
Women still hold just under 25 per-
cent of the seats in the nation’s state
legislatures, and just under 20 per-
cent of the seats in Congress. There
are only six women governors,
which is incredibly depressing.
And of course we have never
had a female president. The way to
get one, two or 10 is to have tons of
women on every level of govern-
ment, pouring talent from the towns
to the states to Washington.
Time to get moving. Wyoming,
we’re looking at you.