OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Founded in 1873
HEIDI WRIGHT, Interim Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Broken promise
saw the scar to the Doughboy. I
dare say I’m glad of it; though
“glad” is a failing of language.
There’s a symbolic truth, a sardonic
poetry, a purpose from the nether-
worlds, if one is tempted toward
such twilight hopes and thinking.
Being a biped (reluctant in win-
ter, eager in summer), commonly
on two wheels, and frequent-
ing Three Cups Coffee House, I
pass the Doughboy regularly, what
pained visions come to me when I
do.
I see young men, from the farm-
lands, hamlets, villages, and from
robust industrial cities too — these
lungs accustomed to smoke and
sooted air, but still the poison gas
will choke the life out of them. I see
so many boys, who merely wear
the bodies of young men — per-
haps that’s why they weren’t called
Doughmen — taught to butcher one
another, and for no great principle.
This was World War I; its cause,
just the blundering avarice of men
and empires; the callousness of
kings and power, who would gam-
ble millions of lives for more;
always more. It’s a war of good
people being turned against good
people and setting the world on fire.
I pass by the Doughboy, and
wince at the screams of mothers and
fathers, but mostly of young men in
the trenches, all the hope and prom-
ise of their lives vanishing. It hurts
to pass by it; what hurts more, is I
can only think of one fitting trib-
ute to the Doughboy, and that’s an
end of war, an end of golden clowns
saber-rattling; but how far away that
tribute seems now.
We live in an era of perpetual
warfare, where the machine of war,
seems to have no master. The honor
we should give the fallen isn’t
another statue; it’s peace. It should
be at least long deliberate thought,
a national consensus before we
decide to, or continue to, butcher
another people.
So the Doughboy, I think, should
be broken, for we’ve forgotten
them, and broken something far
more precious — our promise.
MICHAEL ALEXANDER
MILLER
Astoria
I
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Soldiers from Camp Rilea witness a groundbreaking ceremony for
a new armed forces monument that will stand in Warrenton near
the post office.
Honoring veterans
one thing we can
always agree on
I
n the deeply polarized society of America 2017, there is one
thing every resident of the North Coast can agree on.
We owe a debt of gratitude to our nation’s veterans.
The community gatherings and activities this week and this
weekend honoring Veterans Day on Saturday give us pause to
thank the men and women who donned the uniform and served
the United States with honor.
The roots of the commemoration date
We must
back to 1918 when The Great War, later
care for
renamed World War I, ended with an
armistice at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of
veterans
the 11th month. It is ironic that author
when
H.G. Wells and President Woodrow
Wilson both labeled it “The War to End
they
All Wars.” Both did so correctly suspect-
return
ing even more carnage was to come.
There are 18.8 million U.S. military
broken,
veterans, including 1.6 million women,
either in
according to the most recent statistics
body or
from the Census Bureau. More than 9
million of those are 65 or older. There are
spirit.
less than 800,000 still alive from World
It is a
War II, 1.6 million from the Korean War
and 6.7 million from the Vietnam War
debt we
era. More recently, we have added vets
should
from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
and other strategic missions around the
never
globe, including Africa and Syria.
shirk.
Today is not the time to examine the
reasons that number is growing. We can
argue with why politicians — most of whom have not served in
uniform themselves — send our soldiers, Marines, airmen and
sailors off to wars. But we cannot argue with the commitment of
these men and women fulfilling their duty with every breath they
take. We must support them in every way possible.
Serving in the military is a selfless act. For all those who
serve, it is an acknowledgment that they are part of a larger
whole. They adopt the regulations of their branch of the ser-
vice, embrace its traditions, and put their personal lives on hold.
In doing so they make a pact with the nation that they and their
families will not be abandoned if they come to harm. We must
care for them when they return broken, either in body or spirit. It
is a debt we should never shirk.
Looking for a definition of a veteran some while ago, we
came across one that seems appropriate about why we should
say “thank you” — not just once a year on Veterans Day, but on
every day of the year.
“A veteran is a fellow citizen who at one significant point
in his or her life made out a blank check payable to the United
States of America for any amount up to and including their life.”
Political scandals
agree with E. Robert Nassikas
about Harvey Weinstien; he’s
(Weinstein) a low-life (“Another
Democrat falls,” The Daily Asto-
rian, Oct. 20).
I just wish Nassikas would get
on his computer. He should check
political sex scandals in the U.S.
in the last 27 years (1990-2017):
From Wikipedia, 28 Republicans
and 12 Democrats. Now who has
hot pants?
In my opinion they are all
low-lifes.
JOYCE HOFFMAN
Warrenton
I
Time to impeach
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or by mail to Letters to the Editor,
P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103.
ellow Democrats, I have a bit of
information that might interest
you, and possibly get you excited
and motivated. I surely hope so.
I watch CNN quite often. One
day recently as I was watching,
an ad came on, and I perked right
up. It’s about a grassroots effort to
oust our so-called president, started
by an average, everyday Ameri-
can citizen. I thought, wow, finally
a possible way to get rid of our
big-mouthed Twitter-abusing com-
mander in chief. I am totally behind
this person, this American citizen,
who has the guts to go on TV and
promote his movement.
Let’s face it. President Don-
ald Trump is on a path to a lot of
the world hating us. He’s going to
F
throw the U.S. in a war (I wonder
with whom — could be anybody)
and his ideas for health care and tax
reform are a big joke. It’s time all of
us sane and responsible citizens do
something about it.
This new “reality show” of
Trump’s is going to kill us, one way
or another: medically, financially or
even bodily. Now is the time to act.
Not tomorrow, but today. It’s the
right thing to do, if not the decent
thing, to save us and our country.
Please join the rest of us Amer-
ican citizens who care about our
future and our country’s future, and
go online and sign the petition. The
website is www.needtoimpeach.
com
GARY KOLASINSKI
Seaside
Kneeling for equity
y kids and I stand with hands
on hearts when the anthem
plays in my house. I understand the
anger over the “take a knee” pro-
tests in the NFL, because I used to
feel the same way. But in all the
news about this, I haven’t once
heard a player say that they are
intending to disrespect our soldiers.
These are well-paid athletes with
little to gain and lots to lose. They
keep trying to tell us what their
intention is.
Think intent doesn’t matter?
That they’re disrespecting the flag
and that’s all there is to it? Many
people don’t know that in Germany,
the Nazi salute is punishable by up
to three years in jail. If you were to
visit Germany and wave in a man-
ner too similar, you could well find
yourself in front of a judge, and as
a rational adult, you would make
the case: “I wasn’t trying to glo-
rify Nazis for Pete’s sake, I was just
waving …” You should expect this
defense to hold water because intent
matters.
Search online for “gestures in
other languages,” and read the dif-
ferences in body language between
our country and others. The mid-
dle finger isn’t what you think it is
in China. Then come back and try
to understand the protests. The knee
during the anthem isn’t what you
think it is here, either.
The issue we discuss shouldn’t
be whether or not to allow protests
in the NFL, and the outrage we feel
shouldn’t be over some athletes
kneeling during the anthem. The
real issue is that there is verifiable
evidence of widespread racial injus-
tice in our country, and the real out-
rage is that so many of us have cho-
sen to focus on the gesture, not on
this evidence.
It’s easier to feel patriotic anger
than it is to have a tough talk
about race relations, but these ath-
letes are also fellow Americans,
and they are risking everything to
say, in an uncomfortably powerful
way, “Something isn’t right in our
country.”
BRIAN ROBINSON
Oregon City
M
Autumn in Astoria
can’t let it go. All seasons have
their beauty, but to me autumn in
Astoria and along the coast is spe-
cial. I feel this is a time when many
people have a new awakening, and
perhaps a new hope.
These months, as the climate
changes, seem to be that of renewed
energy where people are moving
faster, and anticipating the rush and
excitement of the approaching fall
holiday season. Good or not, by
September Christmas is already in
the stores.
Autumn is on time in Astoria. I
remember in the south, although the
will to begin autumn was there, the
climate didn’t fully cooperate until
I
December. In my old days, people
would wear their new, and old, fall
clothes in September, no matter the
temperature outside.
I’ve always felt it was extraor-
dinary to live here. This is a town
of unique history and character. A
place often so beautiful that I can
get lost in time. The sunsets are
always great, but in autumn, with
the shorter days, the vivid changing
colors of trees and other vegetation,
the extra chill, the days and sunsets
are magical. The magic of colors,
climate and change.
I feel even the foggy, rainy,
glum-looking days, of which there
can be many, are part of the magic.
Most of the people on the coast do
not let the weather bother them. We
work, run and play as usual. It is
our existence, and even our pride. It
is autumn in Astoria.
NORM HOOGE
Astoria
Let customers park
arth to businesses and employ-
ees and landlords operating
in the Astoria downtown business
district: We have a large competi-
tor opening soon to the south of us.
Typically, when they open, more
than 100 small businesses fold in a
matter of months.
Weekly, I have noticed that own-
ers of some businesses downtown,
and sometimes employees and rent-
ers, park nearby most of the day.
We are not perfect, and we forget,
etc. But going forward, can we all
at least abide by the two-hour park-
ing rule that currently exists?
Somewhere around 1990, the
Astoria downtown association pro-
duced a study showing that each
parking space in downtown Astoria
was worth $500 in local commerce.
What would that amount be with
inflation?
Let us band together within our
small business community, and at
least not shoot ourselves in the foot,
and enforce the current parking
requirements.
JOHN D. SAMP
Astoria
E
Keep HIT suspended
he editorial, “Responsible steps
needed to restore health care
predictability” (The Daily Astorian,
Oct. 24), was on point. For small
business owners like my members,
health care can be a huge part of
costs, and it’s vital that Congress
acts to maintain market stability.
The first step Washington state
Sen. Patty Murray and Congress
should take to keep premiums low
and markets stable: Continue the
suspension of the Health Insurance
Tax (HIT), which is set to return in
2018 unless Congress acts.
If the HIT were to return, it’s
estimated that more than 100 mil-
lion Americans would face $22 bil-
lion in premium increases, includ-
ing small businesses and seniors.
In fact, in Washington state, small
business owners and their employ-
ees would pay an additional $449
annually for family coverage.
That’s why the bipartisan National
Association of Insurance Commis-
sioners has urged Congress to delay
the HIT, along with some of the
other steps you mentioned in the
editorial.
Small businesses already face
enough pressure — we simply
couldn’t afford the additional costs
that would come from HIT. As Con-
gress moves to stabilize the insur-
ance market, it should also continue
the suspension of the harmful tax.
LARRY STEWART
Executive director,
Washington Association
of Neighborhood Stores
Vancouver, Washington
T