Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, October 20, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW OTHER VIEWS TPP has positives This column is gluten-free L for ag, but questions remain 7KH7UDQV3DFL¿F3DUWQHUVKLSD big multi-nation trade pact, has been negotiated and within the month will EHJLQDORQJSURFHVVRIUDWL¿FDWLRQ by member countries. The agreement — known by its initials TPP — is designed to improve trade relations between the 12 participating countries, including the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Vietnam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam. We are for trade. It’s the lifeblood of American farmers and ranchers, particularly those in the Northwest. Anything that facilitates the opening of markets abroad is probably good. In a teleconference with reporters, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack touted these among the EHQH¿WVRIWKHSDFW • TPP eliminates or reduces tariffs or taxes assessed by other countries on U.S. agricultural products, including beef, pork, poultry, dairy, horticulture, rice, grains, soybeans, wheat, cotton and processed products. • The agreement includes safeguards to protect U.S. markets from other countries essentially dumping product into the country. • TPP gives the United States an additional opportunity to contest sanitary and phytosanitary standards that are not based on risk or science. • Beef and pork producers will see reductions in taxes levied by Japan on their products. The deal expands the market for dairy products such as cheese and yogurt in Japan and Canada. So, painted with a broad brush the deal sounds good for American agriculture. That said, this is a complex treaty with a lot of moving parts. The devil may well be hiding in the details that have yet to be made public. Critics are concerned with portions of the pact that deal with intellectual property, the Internet and dispute resolution. Opponents worry that one common component of recent trade agreements, known as “investor- state dispute settlement,” will allow big, multi-national corporations at odds with American laws to bypass U.S. courts in favor of an expert panel of arbitrators. Where once such a provision made sense when companies didn’t want to risk the third-world judicial system, opponents point out that most if not all participants of the TPP have stable, established legal systems. Critics say the deal includes provisions that could severely restrict the Internet and remove “fair use” protections for use of copyrighted material. Labor unions oppose the deal because they say it will move more American jobs overseas. Although alleged drafts of the deal have been posted to Wikileaks, ZHSUREDEO\ZRQ¶WJHWRI¿FLDO copies for another 30 days, after Congress has reviewed the pact. The public will then get 60 days to pore over the terms. Congress gave President Obama “fast track” authority in negotiating WKH7UDQV3DFL¿F3DUWQHUVKLS$V such, it can only give the deal an up or down vote, and it can’t amend it. 6RZHLJKLQJWKHUHODWLYHEHQH¿WV and potential harms of those details is all the more important. :LWKRXWEHQH¿WRIDFRPSOHWH text, the deal appears to us to be positive for U.S. farmers and ranchers. We are for trade, but not for a deal for a deal’s sake. We await a vigorous debate. 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. shrewd dietary choices; and they are ONDON — I was in Venice surely not wrong to blame processed a few weeks ago and friends food and manipulated food and reported seeing a restaurant greater pollution and stress for certain menu with the following important allergies. message emblazoned it: “We do NOT The political, it often seems, has serve gluten-free food.” become personal. Where people It was easy to imagine an wanted to change the world, now exasperated Italian proprietor, driven they want to change their bodies. to frenzy by repeated requests from Roger Wellness is a political pursuit because $PHULFDQVIRUJOXWHQIUHHSDVWD¿QDOO\ Cohen it involves choices about food that deciding to cut short such exchanges Comment will impact the planet. Eating local with this blunt pre-emptive blow. or eating organic or both are lifestyle Rough translation: My way or the statements that have become engaged political highway. If you don’t like my pasta the way acts. The pursuit of wellness, increasingly tied la Mamma has always made it, try someplace to the pursuit of beauty and else. agelessness, stands at the heart Gluten is the main protein of the current zeitgeist. I eat component of wheat, rye well therefore I am. DQGEDUOH\:KHDWZDV¿UVW People, if they have a cultivated about 12,000 years choice (and it’s worth recalling ago and it’s safe to say gluten that much of humanity still has never had as hard a time does not), are eating better. as in recent years. The hunter- That’s good. But there is also gatherer turned cultivator would a downside that has to do with be appalled at what he has self-indulgence, commercial wrought. Free associate from manipulation, the rampant the word “gluten” these days anxiety associated with and you’ll probably come up ³DIÀXHQ]D´DQGQDUFLVVLVWLF with poison. fussiness. This column, by the way, is gluten-free. Some years ago I was told about the Please feel at liberty to read on. experience of a London caterer who had There has been a huge and mysterious rise in celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that provided the food for a birthday party for Lord Carrington, who is now 96. The caterer asked results in damage to the small intestine when if any of the aged crowd had special dietary gluten is ingested. According to the Mayo requirements. There were none among the Clinic web site, four times as many people suffer from celiac disease as 60 years ago, and many octogenarian and nonagenarian guests. They were happy to eat anything. roughly one in 100 people are now affected. More recently, another friend told me of Why is unclear. Perhaps it’s the way gluten her sister’s experience with a large house products are prepared today, or even, some party in Scotland last summer. When the sister have suggested, the result of a bored immune inquired about any special dietary needs, system looking for new targets. many requests came in, particularly from the But of course the gluten-free trend is not younger crowd. Hardly anyone aged between just about multiplying celiac sufferers. People 18 and 25 was up for eating anything. One decide gluten must be bad for them because \RXQJZRPDQZURWH³,FDQ¶WHDWVKHOO¿VKEXW they see shelves full of gluten-free food at I do eat lobster.” supermarkets. Forms of food intolerance, Right. whether to wheat or dairy products or If people over 80 will eat anything, yet something else, have reached near epidemic levels among the global middle class. people under 25 are riddled with allergies, Special dietary needs are all the rage. something unhealthy is going on — and Allergies, real or imagined, multiply. One it’s going on most conspicuously in the LQ¿YH%ULWRQVQRZFODLPVRPHIRUPRI most aggressive, competitive, unequal, intolerance, yet a 2010 Portsmouth University individualistic, anxiety-ridden and narcissistic study found the claims were often unfounded. societies, where enlightenment about food 7KHQDUFLVVLVPRIPLQRUGLIIHUHQFHV¿QGV has been offset by the sort of compulsive expression in the food-intolerance explosion: anxiety about it that can give rise to imagined Having a special dietary requirement is one intolerances and allergies. way to feel special in the prevailing “me” Overall, I’m with the Venetian restaurant culture. owner making his stand for tradition, la But I don’t want to show the intolerance of Mamma and eating the food that’s put on your the omnivore for faddish food particularism, plate. Gluten has done O.K. by humanity for however overblown it may be. There’s a lot upward of 10 millennia. It’s bad for some that’s good in food fetishes. people, but the epidemic of food intolerance People are more aware of what they eat and has gone way over the top. how they want to feel as a result of what they Ŷ eat. They are more demanding, with instant Roger Cohen joined The New York Times access to the information they need to make in 1990. This column, by the way, is gluten-free. Please feel at liberty to read on. YOUR VIEWS Rising tourist numbers can help pay for streets Tourism numbers are increasing in Pendleton. Our visitor industry helps to support our many unique shops, restaurants and tourism attractions. I don’t know of any other town of 17,000 people WKDWKDVWKHQXPEHURI¿UVWFODVV tourism attractions that Pendleton has. That is why our visitor numbers are up. The local hotel/motel industry provides the city of Pendleton with the Transient Room Tax and the Travel Promotion Assessment Charge so that Pendleton can continue to promote, market and sell Pendleton. Ask any of our local retailers what tourism means to WKHDUHDDQG\RXZLOO¿QGWKDWWKH impact is huge. How do the tourist get here? They drive. They need to drive home so they buy gas. The tourists that don’t spend nights here but are driving to Boise, Portland, Spokane or Seattle need to buy gas. That is good for Pendleton. That is good for the economy. It is a no-brainer. Let these visitors help us pay for our street maintenance. We help pay for maintenance in Portland, Eugene or Bend when we gas up in those WRZQV$UHZHVRVHOIVXI¿FLHQW that we will walk away from visitor’s assistance? Let them help. Vote yes for a nickel a gallon gas increase. Time to let others invest in our future. Jill Thorne Pendleton Spend coffee, beer money on city streets +RZVLPSOHLVLWWR¿[RXU streets? If a cup of coffee or a glass of beer costs $2 or more, what does it cost to save a street? About $2 a month of city fuel tax. Let’s skip that drink. John Brenne Pendleton city councilor Excessive taxes will put Pendleton at risk I just wanted to make a few remarks about the infrastructure tax hikes and fees. First, you should know that more taxes means a slowed economy. Second, these fees are so high it’s ridiculous. Our seniors and disabled don’t make enough money to keep up. Isn’t Al Plute’s solution for the poor to put a lien on their homes outrageous? Businesses and residents thinking of moving to Pendleton will think twice, while Pendleton residents will move out. 2YHUWLPHWKLVSODQZLOOEDFN¿UH because of loss of residents and lack of business means less taxes to collect. If a household makes over $50,000 a year these taxes don’t seem so dramatic. If you make under $15,000 it seems impossible. How do you justify making people that make under $15,000 pay the same taxes and fees as someone that has a median income? Putting a lien on the poor because they can’t afford their bills is criminal. 7D[HVVKRXOGQHYHUEHWKH¿UVW VROXWLRQWR¿[DQ\SUREOHP Where are Pendleton’s problem solvers? Where are our compassionate leaders in Pendleton who wouldn’t dream of potentially putting our most vulnerable at risk? How do you really expect this to work? I pay all my taxes. Where is that money going? Why all of a sudden do we need all this money right now when the problems have been manifesting for the last 25 years? You never thought of saving back or cutting out some pet projects? I know some city councilors are nice people, but I don’t believe any of you are in touch with the reality of this for many citizens. I believe true leaders understand all of their citizens’ needs and limitations and are farsighted in their thinking. Going through with all these taxes without considering the consequences seems so narrow- minded. I could be a city council member, mayor, or commissioner LIDOO,KDGWRGRLVVD\³:HZLOO¿[ all problems by taxing the citizens with unrealistic taxes to pay for everything.” Wow, that sounds easy — where do I sign up? I am in communications with several governors, senators, representatives of Oregon, secretary of the state, attorneys and others because I think this is beyond your capabilities. I guess we will see. Chris Hallos Pendleton Scary part of gas tax is if it doesn’t pass “Enough is enough!” screams the headline. Two dollars a month is going to hurt small businesses and families. This horrendous LQFUHDVHLVWRRPXFKWREHDUWR¿[ our streets. This brouhaha is really the boondoggle that should concern any citizen of Pendleton. What really should concern us LVWKH5H[0RUHKRXVH¿[,QRUGHU WR¿[WKHVWUHHWVKHZRXOGKDYHXV shut down all nonessential services. You would then be just funding ¿UHSROLFHDQGVWUHHWVDFFRUGLQJ to his plan. All other services that are unfunded but paid out of the general fund would cease to exist. I guess he will never need an ambulance. If you don’t want the non-resident visitor to help pay for the streets then vote no. If you think the non-essential services are not important then vote no. If you would rather help your neighbor and keep what is FODVVL¿HGDVQRQHVVHQWLDOLWZLOO cost you approximately $2 a month and you will be on the road to KDYLQJ\RXUFLW\VWUHHWV¿[HGYRWH yes on November 3 Ron Gavette Pendleton LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication. Submit- ted letters must be signed by the author. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian. com.