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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, January 22, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW OTHER VIEWS Can’t dance around Building a better topic of radical Islam State of the Union The State of the Union was answer a few questions about the another hour-long snoozer, replete budget and their R&D programs. with 87 applause breaks and the There would be civil, sober obligatory declaration that “the state back-and-forth discussion about of the union is strong.” dollars and cents, no stories about We’re still waiting for the one-legged single moms working president who has the guts and the their way through Harvard Business vocabulary to describe the state School. of the union as something else — This would require respecting the “lumpy” for instance. The sole interesting moment who sits there, a virtue that has been of the night was noticeably lacking the one and only in the opposition line that wasn’t Less clapping, to at least our past written down. heads of state. more discussion. three After Republicans Obviously this mockingly cheered would require our Not another the president when campaign he said “I have no act like grownups, more campaigns which seems speech, but to run,” Obama to be asking a a line-by-line snapped back: “I little too much know because I from the current investigation won both of them.” Congressional crop. That was followed into the health of In essence, by what was the the State of the the nation. only truly deserved Union would be applause of the a conversation, evening. a discussion, a The State of the Union has boardroom budget meeting where become a made-for-TV political good things are praised and bad rally. There was so much pomp things get attention and an attempt that even circumstance agreed the at a cure. It would be more boring whole night was overkill. It’s a lot of (And you thought that wasn’t airy, grandiose mush punctuated by possible!) but it would also be more micro-stories summing up real-life plucky Americans in a few words. We don’t need another campaign But what if the annual speech event — that’s just about all to Congress and the nation was American politics is these days. something else entirely? What We do need the president to be if it wasn’t a place for political informed, to keep us informed, and grandstanding, but an opportunity we need at least two of our three to go around the country and truly branches of government to be able investigate the state of our union, to sit in the same building together then report back? and talk. Republicans always talk about Though its importance is waning, running government like a business the State of the Union still matters. — tightening budgets in times of It remains the widest audience the trouble and not spending more president will get all year; more than you bring in. So what if the than 30 million people watched Constitutionally-mandated State of the speech live and many more the Union address included the CEO watched a replay online or a recap president, peeking over bifocals and on television. Yet it’s a missed opportunity. The calling out to the honorable man or address could make our democracy woman from Missouri? That senator better and our union stronger, instead of being just another bipartisan microphone to deliver a short report, clapping contest. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. I ’ve never been a fan of global the extent that Muslim immigrants in conferences to solve problems, European countries feel marginalized, but when I read that the Obama they and their hosts should worker administration is organizing a Summit harder on absorption. But both efforts on Countering Violent Extremism will only take you so far. for Feb. 18, in response to the Paris Something else is also at work, killings, I had a visceral reaction: Is and it needs to be discussed. It is the there a box on my tax returns that I struggle within Arab and Pakistani can check so my tax dollars won’t go Sunni Islam over whether and how Thomas to pay for this? Friedman to embrace modernity, pluralism and When you don’t call things by their women’s rights. That struggle drives, Comment real name, you always get in trouble. and is driven by, the dysfunctionality And this administration, so fearful of of so many Arab states and Pakistan. being accused of Islamophobia, is refusing to It has left these societies with too many make any link to radical Islam from the recent young men who have never held a job or a explosions of violence against civilians (most girl’s hand, who then seek to overcome their of them Muslims) by Boko Haram in Nigeria, by the Taliban in Pakistan, by al-Qaida in identity, by “purifying” their worlds of other Paris and by jihadists in Yemen and Iraq. We’ve entered the theater of the absurd. Westerners whom they perceive to be putting Last week the conservative columnist Rich Muslims down. But you don’t see this in the Lowry wrote an essay in Politico Magazine two giant Muslim communities in Indonesia that contained quotes from White House or India. spokesman Josh Earnest that I could not Only Sunni Arabs and Pakistanis can get believe. I was sure they were made up. But I inside their narrative and remediate it. But checked the transcript: 100 percent correct. I reformers can only do that if they have a free, can’t say it better than Lowry did: secure political space. If we’re not going to “The administration has lapsed into help create space for that internal dialogue, unselfconscious ridiculousness. Asked let’s just be quiet. Don’t say stupid stuff. And why the administration won’t say [after the don’t hold airy fairy conferences that dodge Paris attacks] we are at war with radical the real issues, which many mainstream Islam, Earnest on Tuesday explained the Muslims know and are actually starved to discuss, especially women. We want to describe exactly what happened. The Arab journalist Diana Moukalled, These are individuals who carried out an act of writing in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat terrorism, and they later tried to justify that act last week, asked: “Don’t all these events now of terrorism by invoking the religion of Islam going on around us and committed in our and their own deviant view of it.’ name require us to break the fear barrier and “This makes it sound as if the Charlie begin to question our region and our societies, Hebdo terrorists set out to commit a random act of violent extremism and only have led us to this awful stage where we are subsequently, when they realized that they tearing at one another’s throats — to mention nothing of what as a result also happens Islam. beyond our region?” “The day before, Earnest had conceded And a remarkable piece in The Washington Post Sunday by Asra Q. Nomani, an American Muslim born in India, called out the “honor individuals who have cited Islam as they’ve corps” — a loose, well-funded coalition of carried out acts of violence.’ Cited Islam? According to the Earnest theory ... purposeless governments and private individuals “that tries to silence debate on extremist ideology violent extremists rummage through the in order to protect the image of Islam.” scriptures of great faiths, looking for some verses to cite to support their mayhem and pundits, journalists and others who dare to often happen to settle on the holy texts of talk about extremist ideology in the religion. Islam.” President Barack Obama knows better. I in tandem, harassing, threatening and battling am all for restraint on the issue, and would introspective Muslims and non-Muslims never hold every Muslim accountable for the everywhere. ... The bullying often works to acts of a few. But it is not good for us or the silence critics of Islamic extremism. ... They Muslim world to pretend that this spreading cause governments, writers and experts to jihadist violence isn’t coming out of their walk on eggshells.” faith community. It is coming mostly, but I know one in particular. not exclusively, from angry young men and preachers on the fringe of the Sunni Arab and Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer Pakistani communities in the Middle East and Europe. Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for If Western interventions help foster violent The New York Times. He became the paper’s Islamic reactions, we should reduce them. To foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995. YOUR VIEWS Too late to change plan and location for Requa statue I have great respect for Mike Forrester and his family that has a long involvement with the East Oregonian. We are fortunate to have a local newspaper that allows us to express our opinions publicly in accordance with our First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, Mr. Forrester should have read the minutes of the city council meeting held on October 7. The Arts Commission requested a grant for $5,000 for the Pendleton Linebackers Club to fund a statue of Don In order for the Linebackers Club to contract with the sculptor of the statue, it had to have $60,000 in the bank. The $5,000 grant would help meet that requirement. Mayor Houk stated that money from the transient room taxes could be used for community art. Local merchant Dean Fouquette mentioned the organization’s commitment to giving scholarships and that the Linebackers Club is an avid supporter of the Pendleton High School athletic program. Local Pendleton historian and city council member at the time, Keith May, stated that he felt that city art LETTERS POLICY should express a variety of styles and interests and he supported the Requa statue. Jane Hill was also in support of the statue and its The motion was passed 5-2. As a consequence of the city council’s support for the Requa bronze being located in an aggressive fundraising campaign. Donors responded enthusiastically because they were aware that the city council was supportive of and that there would be no problems. Renowned sculptor Rick Caswell now has the clay model completed and has assured the Linebackers Club that he will have the statue ready by its deadline. Therefore, letters to the editor calling for major changes in the project at this point in time are inappropriate and a change would violate the contract that was made in good faith with Caswell. I suggest that the detractors read the city council minutes for October 7. They are available for your convenience on the Internet or at City Hall. Jerry Cronin Pendleton The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
