Opinion
Gov. Brewer: Arrest This Woman!
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
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PIC of Brewer and Obama with
cutline: Arizona Gov. Jan
Brewer gets in President
Obama’s face. Whatever
happened to civility?
F ROM THE
P UBLISHER
Bernie Foster
P
olitics can be ugly. But
what happened on the
tarmac in Mesa last
Wednesday was simply a dis-
grace. Within minutes of Presi-
dent Obama exiting Air Force
One, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer
was pointing a wagging finger
at him, inches from his face.
Excuse me! This is the Presi-
dent of the United States of
America. Put the finger away,
lady.
Frankly, if I’d been in the pres-
ident’s shoes, I would have
been tempted to alert security
and have her arrested under
the Patriot Act if necessary.
President Obama was more
gracious. He ignored the insult
and moved on.
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wil-
son also should have known
better. In Sept. 2009, he dis-
rupted Obama’s health care
speech to Congress by yelling
out “You lie!” The leaders of his
own party made him apologize.
Wilson and Brewer are elect-
ed officials engaged in official
business. Their behavior should
set an example of respect for
the office of President of the
United States. That they failed
to do so is deeply disturbing.
lead us cannot or will not set a
tone of civility and respect for
one another, then who will?
Political
differences
don’t
excuse a bad attitude.
Like other presidents before
him, President Obama faces
real threats to his life every day.
Presidents Lincoln, Garfield,
McKinley and Kennedy all were
assassinated. Presidents Roo-
sevelt and Reagan narrowly
escaped. And these are just the
attempts that came closest to
succeeding.
The Secret Service reported
in 2009 that President Obama
Could Brewer have learned nothing
from the shooting in her own state that
killed six people?
An atmosphere of disrespect
feeds sickness and hatred. An
atmosphere of hatred encour-
ages violence. Could Brewer
have learned nothing from the
shooting in her own state that
killed six people and wounded
13 others, including Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords?
If those who are supposed to
faces 400 times more death
threats than President Bush.
He is threatened with death 30
times every day.
Just in the last few weeks we
note that:
Andrew Adler, owner and
publisher of the Atlanta Jewish
Times, suggested that Israel
should “order a hit” on Presi-
dent Obama. Now he says he
regrets it. But what was he
thinking in the first place.
Veteran police Sergeant Pat
Shearer of Peoria, Arizona,
posted a photo to his Facebook
page that showed six armed
teenagers holding an Obama
teeshirt riddled with bullets. He
called it a political statement.
Jules Manson, a 2011 city
council candidate in Carson
City Calif., made a death threat
toward the president and his
entire family – using the most
racist language imaginable. He
apologized – sort of.
Such behavior hurts all Amer-
icans. When our leaders disre-
spect the president, it sends a
message to our friends around
the world – and to our enemies.
Why should they respect the
President of the United States if
we don’t?
Was
Brewer’s
behavior
acceptable? Or should she
have been arrested? What do
you think?
You can post your comments
on www.theskanner.com
Letters to the Editor
Why are we
killing each other?
Dear Editor,
What message are we giving our
youth? Will we have any youth left
if we don’t stop it now? How
would you feel if it was your son?
Your brother? Your cousin?
Implement the
Air Toxics Rule
Dear Editor,
In my role and steward of the
civil and human rights agenda of
the NAACP in Oregon, I learned
something that scared me. There is
a threat to communities nation-
wide, particularly communities of
color and low income communi-
ties that we scarcely knew a thing
about. Arsenic, mercury, lead and
acid gases are spewing from the
nation’s coal fired power plants,
putting people at risk across the
country. Sixty-eight percent of
African Americans live within 30
miles of a coal fired power plants.
Coal power plants produce 74% of
all sulfur dioxide pollution, 18%
of all Nitrogen dioxide pollution
and 42% of mercury pollution
from industrial sources in the U.S.
A report on power plant pollu-
tion found that emissions from all
power plants in the U.S. are
responsible for 30,000 premature
deaths, 7,000 asthma-related
emergency room visits, and
18,000 cases of chronic bronchitis
each year. We know from friends
like the American Lung Associa-
tion, the American Cancer Society,
and others that African Americans
are twice as likely to die from
Page 4 The Portland Skanner February 1, 2012
How do you tell 3 little children
that their father is not coming how
again, ever?
How do we as a community
keep our mouths shut and allow
cold-blooded murderers to contin-
ue to walk the streets looking for
another victim? The next time it
could be your child.
We need your help getting jus-
tice for L.J.
If you know anything about my
son’s murder please help us. We
know that the community knows,
please come forward and stop this
vicious cycle of silence. We as a
people have always known the
“just us” means that we have to
stand up for ourselves. The vio-
lence has to end and we have to
end it. The greatest tool we have
is to stop the silence. L.J. did not
deserve to die and neither did the
countless others killed by gang
violence and black against black
crime. Help me and help yourself
and help our community so all of
our kids can be safe again. Our
people have come too far to end up
as victims of genocide.
If you know anything please
contact me. 503-515-6778
asthma attacks and are more likely
to have lung disease in spite of
lower rates of smoking. All of
these create a grim intersecting
pattern of exposure, impact, and
outcomes.
NAACP and our partners recent-
ly released a report, Coal Blooded:
Putting Profits Before People.
The report analyzes 378 coal fired
power plants across the country
and ranks them based on their
level of polluting emissions and
their proximity to people. In Ore-
gon, there is 1 coal fire power
plant that was studied. According
real cost on our lives.
In July of 2011, the NAACP
102nd Annual Convention dele-
gates unanimously passed a reso-
lution calling for affirmation of
strong regulations to safeguard
clean air for immediate action to
address pollution from coal fired
power plants.
One of our constituents
expressed concern at a recent
NAACP town hall meeting stat-
ing,
“Mercury emissions primarily
fall locally, so these plants are
major contributors to local con-
our communities”.
Our legislators should strongly
consider current and proposed
measures that reduce the pollution
caused by coal fired power plants,
like the Mercury and Air Toxics
Rule, the Greenhouse Gas Rule
and other related rules. Imple-
menting the Mercury and Air Tox-
ics Rule can result in major
pollution reduction which would
save a significant number of lives
in Oregon. Other proposed stan-
dards for the Mercury and Air
Toxics Rule and an upcoming util-
ity carbon rule would be instru-
mental in protecting our health and
economy. According to the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency,
Oregon could also see a possible
yield of $11-$28 million in health
benefits each year if these rules
were implemented. Supporting
such safeguards would serve as an
advantage for each and every Ore-
gonian.
We say yes to a healthier envi-
ronment and economy by support-
ing and implementing the Mercury
and Air Toxics Rule and other
upcoming safeguards. Let’s take
the lead Oregon!
Our communities are
disproportionately exposed
to our ranking, the Boardman
Plant in Boardman, OR earned a
grade of D- because of its level of
emissions and its close proximity
to people, particularly people of
color and people with low
incomes. Consequently, our com-
munities are disproportionately
exposed to the toxins, like mercu-
ry, arsenic, and lead, being
pumped into the air by the Board-
man Plant. The attack on Oregon’s
health by polluting facilities has a
tamination problems. Additional-
ly, some mercury emissions also
stay in the atmosphere and travel
longer distances resulting in mer-
cury contamination hundreds of
miles away. Unfortunately, that is
all too familiar. For me, I know
several people who suffer from
asthma, cardiovascular disease,
and other health problems associ-
ated with air toxics and poor air
quality. It is time to start aggres-
sively addressing air pollution in
Lucy Mashia
Devastated mother of
(Leonard James Irving Jr.)
L.J.
Sincerely,
Mr. Oscar Eason, President,
NAACP Oregon State Conference