Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Don’t do drugs
As of Wednesday, marijuana is
spectrum.
legal to possess in Oregon without a
But that doesn’t mean we’re in
favor of using marijuana.
prescription.
The drug is helpful to some,
For years now, personal use
amounts were nearly decriminalized harmless to most, and a real drag
to a few. But so are Big Macs,
in this state, a poorly regulated
whiskey, tobacco, video games
medical program was put in place,
and motorcycles,
and an omnipresent
black market
which can be just
allowed recreational
Just because it’s as addicting and
users avenues to
debilitating. Those
legal doesn’t
access the drug.
too raise issues of
But this is real-
personal choice and
mean a Big
deal legalization. No
acceptance
Mac-a-day habit personal
more fake medical
of danger.
conditions. No more
Just because it’s
is a good one. legal
hiding grow rooms
doesn’t mean
in moldy basements,
a Big Mac-a-day
or grow sites on out-of-the-way land. habit is a good one. It’s the same
No more buying from a shady dealer with marijuana. Just because pot is
down the street. If you are 21 years
legal now doesn’t mean you should
of age and on private property, you
become a habitual, or even a casual
can possess four marijuana plants
user.
or eight ounces of the ready-to-use
Where and if marijuana shops
portion. And you can toke up in front can open in our area remains up for
of your mother, the mayor and the
debate. The state legislature, which
chief of police – just not in public.
dragged its feet on making important
Hooray?
decisions on this matter until well
We’re in favor of reducing the
past the eleventh hour, is still trying
black market, increasing state tax
to decide.
dollars and ending the wasteful,
But that doesn’t mean we have
hypocritical and often racist drug
to put off those decisions about
war. We also think this is a good
our own habits. Spend your money
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elsewhere. Pick up a book, go
outside, bake an old-fashioned
personal liberty supporters to put
brownie. Don’t use marijuana. But
their money where their mouth is,
it’s nice to know we will no longer
and maybe open their eyes to the
EHQH¿WVWKDWVXFKIUHHGRPFDQEULQJ be wasting public money and energy
to people on all sides of the political cracking the skulls of those who do.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Supreme Court is doing
what it’s suppoed to
Recently I’ve begun to feel sad for
our East Oregonian editors. I know that
they like letters from readers, but there
have been precious few since the last
election. Almost the only letters that I’ve
seen in months have been from people
out of our area about some pet issue. So
I decided that, since it’s too hot to get out
and garden, I’d write something so that
our editors would know that one of their
readers, in any case, is trying to help them.
So let’s think about the Supreme Court.
This last week the Supreme Court
upheld the Affordable Care Act — for the
second time — and also gay marriage.
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justices! Oh my! And Republican
candidates for president are talking about
making the coming election campaign
about the role of the court in government.
Boy, that’s going to be fun. I can just see it
now. So the Congress passes a law that the
Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over
Congressional law; the President vetoes
this law; the Congress overrides the veto;
and the law lands before the Supreme
Court. How is the court likely to decide
such a case? I would say that it’s a simple
9–0 (spells no).
Recall the Citizens United decision
some months back that allowed unlimited
sums of money to be used to support
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was the Democrats who were all upset.
“This is a re-writing of basic constitutional
rights.”
So then the court was on the side of the
right wing; now it is on the side of the left.
How can we live with a court like that?
Then I had a moment of enlightenment.
You know what? The Supreme Court is
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evaluate legal issues brought before it and
decide what is the best determination.
We call this our system of checks and
balances. It represents the most brilliant
part of this wonderful constitution that
we have that John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson created. So, I don’t like one of
those three decisions, and you don’t like
two. So, What the hell? That’s what’s
called democracy, and praise God! It’s still
alive and well in this country.
So, let’s all go to the Fourth of July
parade this Saturday and applaud that self-
effacing WWII hero, Bob Stangier, and
then retire to a local watering hole, order
a glass of American whiskey, and raise a
toast to the United States of America, the
greatest country in the world, where there
is still hope for the hopeless, help for the
helpless, and freedom and justice for all.
Jack T. Sanders
Pendleton
A wonderful advance in
culture and the world
While it may not be right or traditional,
we must all accept that change is a part of
our lives and our culture. The last 100 years
has seen some of the greatest advancements
in our world’s history. But my focus today
is to refute the Debbie Downers.
With the Supreme Court’s recent
decisions and our own state’s actions we
must admit a few things. Firstly, love is
intangible, immaterial, evolving and most
important has no bounds. The court’s
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valid between consenting adults.
Second, the passage of the voter-
approved legalization of marijuana for
recreational use is telling both the citizens
and themselves that as adults we have the
right to consume whatever substance we
want, as long as it is not causing undue
harm to others.
On my bigger issues, there has to be
a polar shift in our lifestyles if we want
to survive. I say this not as a pessimist
or a cynical person but as a logical
thinking person. Please hear my argument
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consumerism and money-items lifestyles.
Second, we have to learn to better use our
water or we will face a time when water
is rationed like pills. We are in the 21st
century; we know how the world works,
we know we cause climate change, but we
still drive cars everywhere, waste beyond
comprehension — it must all stop.
My only viable option to save the
world from ourselves is to shut the
Internet and power completely off and
start over from the 17th century. For the
biggest problem we have today — and I
promise many won’t like this, but freedom
of speech and all — we must move on
from the notion that this life is a test and
the next will be paradise. How about we
live to make tomorrow better than today,
not just how do I get more things or more
self importance?
I would like to take my last few words
to thank many people that approached
me on my last letter to the editor about
yielding to pedestrians — thank you. I
welcome any response, or if you know me
let me know. Thank you for the ink and
may logic guide our lives.
LETTERS POLICY
Zac Wiseman
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 that address concerns
about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of
private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not
be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing
Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
A refuge for racists
I
drug lords and leeches in our fair land.
n one of the little acts of
Ha-ha. That Trump — what a straight-
subversion that creeps into “The
shooter.
Simpsons” every now and then, a
For his “insulting remarks about
helicopter from Fox News was shown
Mexican immigrants,” Univision, the
in 2010 with a logo, “Not Racist, But
Spanish-language broadcaster, just
#1 With Racists.”
dumped its relationship with Trump’s
So it can be said of the Republican
Miss Universe pageant. (He’s a
Party, a shelter for the kind of dead-
Great. Now where are the
enders who used to be Democrats,
Timothy part-owner.)
Republican leaders — supposedly intent
then Dixiecrats, but have found a
Egan
on trying to make the party something
home of sorts in the attic of the Party
Comment
more than a collection of grievance-
of Lincoln. It’s encouraging to see
gorged old white
some party leaders
guys — giving
trying to sweep
Trump a similar
these dark-hearted
message?
elements out, but
Trump also
they have work to
has consistently
do yet — starting
challenged President
with Donald
Barack Obama’s
Trump.
legitimacy as an
The accused
American citizen,
killer of nine
making a clearly
black churchgoers
racist play in his
in Charleston,
questioning of the
South Carolina,
president’s place of
Dylann Roof,
birth, even after the
appears to have
release of a long-
been moved to
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mass murder by incendiary tracts turned out
Money insulates Trump. But the same
by a white supremacist group, the Council of
Conservative Citizens. The leader of that same cannot be said of Mike Huckabee, who
also questioned the president’s American
group, Earl Holt III, has donated more than
authenticity, concocting a lie about how “his
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childhood” in Kenya shaped his worldview.
and candidates, including the presidential
Huckabee sent a well-received video, in 1993,
aspirants Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Rand
to the supremacist Citizens Council, though he
Paul.
later condemned the group.
The candidates, of course, are shocked
Let’s yield to a British-born comedian,
— shocked! — that an extremist hate group
John Oliver, to set Lost Cause apologists
would contribute to their cause, and most of
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them have now returned the money or given
symbols that should really only be seen on
it to a fund for victims’ families. But it raises
T-shirts, belt buckles and bumper stickers to
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help the rest of us identify the worst people in
whose ideas belong in the graveyard of
history contribute, across the board, to leading the world.”
The party label is meaningless. The white
Republican conservatives?
South was solidly Democratic after the Civil
Guilt by association can be unfair, or at
War, vowing never to vote for the party that
least calls out for nuance. So let’s move on to
liberated the slaves. A hundred years later,
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the white South changed allegiances with the
Trump, who is polling second — just behind
advent of the civil rights movement. Richard
Jeb Bush — in one recent survey of New
Nixon then sealed the transformation
Hampshire Republicans.
with his Southern Strategy, which parked
Trump does not use dog whistles or code
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words. He’s blunt. And his wealth affords
Party.
him a halo of respect in some circles that a
For the many Republicans who believe
low-rent racist would not get. In the spasm
in free markets, less government and the
of surreal narcissism that was his presidential
racial legacy of Lincoln, the question has to
announcement earlier this month, Trump said
some things you would expect to hear at a
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Klan rally — 20 years ago.
elements see in their party? It’s the coded
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re
language, yes, the hard voices of its broadcast
not sending their best. They’re not sending
wing, but also actions. Of late, this is the
you,” he said. “They’re bringing drugs.
party that has been behind restrictive voting
They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And
measures aimed squarely at blacks. Don’t give
some, I assume, are good people.”
racists anything to root for, and they’ll crawl
Because Trump is a buffoon, a punchline
back under their rocks.
and a fact-checker’s full-time project, he gets
Ŷ
away with things that more serious candidates
Timothy Egan, a New York Times
cannot. So Mexicans — and by extension,
Contributing Op-Ed Writer, covers the
all immigrants — are not “you,” but rapists,
environment, the American West and politics.
Police camera bill misses the mark
The (Albany) Democrat-Herald, June 29
T
he Legislature has passed, and Gov. Kate
Brown has signed, a bill that spells out
standards for police agencies that choose
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For example, it offers guidance to police about
when they should turn on their cameras and
how long recordings should be retained. And
the bill does not require police agencies to buy
video systems, which could have been another
substantial unfunded mandate from the state.
But in terms of one of the primary reasons
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— the bill misses its mark. The recordings will
not be publicly disclosed, unless such release is
deemed necessary to the public interest. It seems
unlikely that prosecutors and judges will be
racing to release these recordings to the public.
And even if they do, the bill mandates
that before anything is released, “all persons
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which would seem to limit the usefulness of
the recording for members of the public trying
to make sense of a noteworthy encounter
between citizens and police.
There was a time, not so long ago, when
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body cameras seemed like a natural prescrip-
tion for helping to improve the transparency
of police agencies across the nation. Unfortu-
nately, it’s not too hard to think of any number
of recent incidents in which having access to
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would have been helpful — and, in some
cases, might have helped avert tragedy.
But the version of the bill that now is law
in Oregon has little to do with rebuilding trust
between police agencies and the public and even
less to do with increasing transparency. Instead,
its primary focus is about protecting the police.
Testimony to the Legislature on the bill
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who serves as the president of the Oregon
Coalition of Police and Sheriffs, noted in
his written comments the importance of
protecting the recordings from “wanton
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wouldn’t want to burden a public agency with
requests to access public records. Those crazy
citizens! What will they ask for next?
At least the Legislature managed to pass a
related bill that does offer some protection to
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for members of the public to make their own
videos of public encounters between police
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That’s important, because one of the clear
messages sent by the passage of House Bill
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your smartphones handy, just in case.