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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2017)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Managing Editor JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2007 Once again, the Clatsop County staff is recommending denial of the application from liquefied natural gas developer NorthernStar Natural Gas Co. for land use at Bradwood Landing Astorians will have another chance to consider adding an interpretive center at the Astoria Column. The idea has been controversial since it was first proposed, with many fearing it would spoil the view, increase traffic at the Column and otherwise change the peaceful ambiance at the site. Although many favored an architect’s concept for an inter- pretive center presented in 2004, many others did not, and the project was put on indefinite hold. The rain continues to come down — with the prospect of more on the way. Wednesday night, the National Weather Service in Portland issued a high surf advisory to be in effect from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. today for the south Washington and north and central Oregon coasts as the impending storm moves in. Crew members aboard the educational historic tall ship Hawaiian Chieftain tested out their sea legs Tuesday when heavy winds forced them to lower the sails and 14-foot seas threatened to sink the 65-foot-long topsail ketch. 50 years ago — 1967 The biggest, least known and potentially one of the finest of Oregon state parks in the coastal area is Saddle Mountain park, deep in the hills of central Clatsop County and accessible to motorists only by one road. It is only slightly developed and little known, despite the fact that it has great natural beauty and is capable of much greater recreational use than it now has. Saddle Mountain park contains approximately four and a quarter sec- tions — some of them oversize sections — or about 2,900 to 3,000 acres. Only facilities that have been developed in the park are a small picnic and campground at the base of the 3,000-foot high mountain, and a trail to the summit from which there is a magnificent view of the coastal mountains and the distant ocean. It happened again this year … the Astoria High School homecoming bonfire pile was burned down Wednesday night about 8:15. A lot of guessing is going on, but no one, at least not school officials, knows who destroyed the hours of effort put into gath- ering material. High school vice principal Doug Clark said it was too bad the fire occurred, but students were asked not to begin the bon- fire pile until Thursday afternoon at 3. “There hasn’t been a bonfire built early that hasn’t been burned down,” Clark said. Oregon Highway Commission has no plans for any change in routing Highway 30 through Astoria, Gov. Tom McCall informed Mayor Harry Steinbock in a letter received Monday. The governor wrote in answer to requests made at a town meeting ses- sion he held here several weeks ago. Cursory attention was given some years ago to a bypass from John Day River to Youngs Bay, the governor wrote, but this was before the decision to build the Youngs Bay Bridge in the present locality and before the Astoria Bridge across the Columbia was built. 75 years ago — 1942 Vice Admiral C.S. Freeman, commander of the north- west sea frontier and commandant of the 13th naval district in Seattle, today sent a special message to Astoria, following the Navy’s disclosure of the loss of the 10,000-ton heavy cruiser Astoria, named for this city. Admiral Freeman said: “I should like to join the people of Astoria in their pride at the part the USS Astoria played in the battle of the Solomons. I know that those men from Astoria now on the high seas are waiting anxiously to avenge her loss.” The big ship was launched at the Bremerton navy yard Dec. 16, 1933 and christened by Leila C. McKay, lineal descendant of the founders of Astoria. The $8 million ship carried to her grave last August a silver plaque formally presented by John C. Ten Brook, then Astoria mayor and purchased from funds raised locally during the depression. Republicans, spare us the phony Weinstein outrage By MICHELLE GOLDBERG New York Times News Service S ay this for Donald Trump: When it comes to sex, he’s less of a hypocrite than Harvey Weinstein. Until Weinstein’s abrupt downfall amid proliferating accusations of sexual assault and harassment, he posed as a backer of women’s rights. He made films with substantive female leads (82-year-old Judi Dench joked that she’d tattooed his name on her butt in gratitude), donated money to politicians supporting feminist policies and contributed to endow a chair at Rutgers University honoring Gloria Steinem. He even attended the Women’s March at Sundance. Yet privately, he appears to have been a sexist ogre, using his power to exploit and humiliate women. After the truth about his conduct was widely revealed, he was cast out of his professional community and rendered a pariah. Trump is more consistent. He is a pig in public as well as behind closed doors. In 1992, New York Magazine reported that he said the best way to deal with women is to treat them like excrement, though he used a more vulgar term. He has fol- lowed his own advice. His first wife, Ivana Trump, accused him of raping her in a fit of rage. (She later denied that the events she’d recounted were rape “in a literal or criminal sense,” but stuck to the underlying story.) Trump reportedly pressured his sec- ond wife, Marla Maples, to pose for Playboy. He owned beauty pageants and, by his own admission, would barge into changing rooms to ogle the naked contestants. The makeup artist Jill Harth said he tried to rape her. Multiple women have accused him of groping and sexual harass- ment. Those charges appear credi- ble in light of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump boasted of grabbing women by their genitals. After the truth about his conduct was widely revealed, he was elected president of the United States. Somehow, in the wake of the Weinstein revelations, the president’s supporters appear to believe they hold the moral high ground. Donald Trump Jr. — a man who once said that women who can’t handle work- place sexual harassment “should go maybe teach kindergarten” — has been tweeting about Weinstein incessantly. Appearing on CNN, the Republican National Commit- tee chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, attacked Democrats for taking Weinstein’s money, insisting that there’s no comparison between Weinstein and Trump because the Vince Bucci/Invision Film producer Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexual harass- ment and rape by several women. president “didn’t have eight settle- ments.” (According to an exhaustive investigation by USA Today, at least 20 lawsuits have accused Trump and managers at his companies of “dis- criminating against women, ignoring sexual harassment complaints and even participating in the harassment themselves.”) Trump supporters acting shocked by sexual harassment are in no position to complain about hypocrisy. On Fox News, a network that Roger Ailes ran like his personal sadomasochistic brothel, Tucker Carlson feigned outrage at the Wein- stein news. “Many powerful peo- ple knew what Harvey Weinstein was doing, and not only ignored his crimes, but actively took his side against his many victims,” Carl- son said. (Fox News is under fed- eral investigation, in part for payoffs made to Ailes’ victims.) Bad faith on the right does not mitigate the deep, perverse cruelty of Weinstein’s alleged crimes. If anything, it makes the fallout more painful. For the past 11 months, many feminists have been reeling from the defeat of the first female major-party presidential candi- date by a predatory misogynist. The confirmation that a hugely pow- erful man who is supposed to be on our side is just as bad as Trump is shattering. While many women are showing defiance — outing the Weinstein types in their indus- tries, using hashtags like #MeToo to demonstrate the ubiquity of abuse — it’s hard not to feel crushed won- dering how many men really see us as full human beings. Still, Weinstein’s disgrace is a sign that even if patriarchal sociop- athy is more pervasive than we like to imagine, it can be defeated when a culture adopts other values and is forced to live up to them. After decades in which Weinstein cava- lierly destroyed women’s lives, his impunity has come to an end. He has lost his job and been expelled from the Academy of Motion Pic- ture Arts and Sciences. France has taken steps to strip him of his Legion of Honor award, the coun- try’s highest civilian distinction. He is being repudiated for violating pro- gressive ideals about sexual consent, workers’ rights and the fundamental equality of men and women. The people now ruling this coun- try don’t share those ideals. Yes, Ailes had to leave Fox News after charges that he’d demanded sex- ual favors from women in exchange for professional opportunities. But in the aftermath, conservatives did not ostracize him. Instead, Trump defended Ailes and defamed his accusers, then brought him on as an adviser. Most Republican voters and officeholders, in turn, implicitly con- done Trump’s treatment of women. Now that Weinstein has been exposed, conservatives are jeering that Hollywood has lost the right to lecture anyone about sexism. “Lib- erals love to be so sanctimonious, holier than thou, but they’re really hypocrites,” said Fox’s Sean Hann- ity on Oct. 10. Perhaps, but Trump supporters acting shocked by sex- ual harassment are in no position to complain about hypocrisy. The movie business is corrupt, depraved and iniquitous — and still morally superior to the Republican Party under Trump. Betraying the princi- ple of gender equality is bad. Reject- ing it is worse. LETTERS WELCOME The Daily Astorian/File Cruiser Astoria, shown here alongside the dock at Puget Sound Navy Yard, following impressive launching in December 1933. Then 85 percent completed, she was having interior fittings in- stalled. The vessel was commissioned April 28, 1934. Letters should be exclusive to The Daily Astorian. We do not publish open letters or third-party letters. Letters should be fewer than 350 words and must include the writer’s name, address and phone numbers. You will be contacted to confirm authorship. All letters are subject to editing for space, grammar and, on occa- sion, factual accuracy and verbal verification of authorship. Only two letters per writer are printed each month. Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand and, rather than mentioning the writer by name, should refer to the headline and date the letter was published. Dis- course should be civil and people should be referred to in a respectful manner. Letters referring to news stories should also mention the headline and date of publication. The Daily Astorian welcomes short “in gratitude” notes from readers for publication. They should keep to a 200-word maxi- mum and writers are asked to avoid simply listing event sponsors. They must be signed, include the writ- er’s address, phone number and are subject to condensation and editing for style, grammar, etc. Submissions may be sent in any of these ways: E-mail to editor@dailyastorian. com; Online form at www.dailyasto- rian.com; Delivered to the Astorian offices at 949 Exchange St. and 1555 N. Roosevelt in Seaside. Or by mail to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103
