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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, December 8, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW 3HDUO+DUERU'D\KDV meaning in 2015 There are a handful of snippets ²WRVHH3HDUO+DUERULQWKHODUJHU from presidential speeches that every context of American resourcefulness American knows. There’s “fourscore and industrial might that defeated the and seven years ago,” “ask not what Axis powers of Japan, Germany and your country can do for you,” and, of Italy. At the time, of course, it took a course, “I am not a crook.” great communicator like Roosevelt %XW)UDQNOLQ to buoy his nation’s Roosevelt may be the optimism and sell the Basing life most quoted president, belief that it eventually of the last century, at triumph. on fear is not would least. And for good There is a lesson healthy for a in that for America in UHDVRQ+HQRWRQO\KDG WKHEHQH¿WRIVSHDNLQJ The threat of person or for 2015. at a time when all of terrorism in the Middle America was listening East, Europe and the a nation. closely, but he knew U.S. easily strikes fear how to deliver a in the heart of many message that would stick. $PHULFDQV%XWDV)'5UHPLQGHG Today marks the anniversary the nation on another occasion, of his speech following the Dec. nearly two presidential terms before 3HDUO+DUERUDWWDFNWKDW 3HDUO+DUERU³7KHRQO\WKLQJZH touched off U.S. involvement in have to fear is fear itself.” World War II. Presidential candidates who ,QWKHGUDIWRI)'5¶VVSHHFKWRD DUHVHOOLQJIHDUEDVHGVWUDWHJLHV MRLQWVHVVLRQRI&RQJUHVVWKHSKUDVH do this nation no good. They also is “A day that will live in history.” sell America and the courage of Roosevelt crossed out “history” and Americans short. inserted “infamy.” The urge right now to demonize ,I\RXWUDYHOWR3HDUO+DUERU all Americans who are Muslims you will see tangible evidence of is the worst sort of demagoguery. that awful moment when waves of Pandering to fear is not leadership. Japanese war planes sprayed bullets %DVLQJOLIHRQIHDULVQRWKHDOWK\ and dropped bombs on America’s for a person or for a nation. The 3DFL¿F)OHHW persistence of courage was the best ,WLVHDV\IRUXV²\HDUVODWHU UHVSRQVHWR3HDUO+DUERU 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 Not all statue candidates ¿t Pendleton¶s tKePe I truly agree with the editorial in the December 5 East Oregonian: “Statues are built to appeal to tourists, not locals.” Since the city wishes to maintain a western motif, the choice of the next two bronze statues would best illustrate that editorial position if Poker Jim and Aura Goodwin Raley were selected. I wish the community could have had some input in this selection of bronze statues. There are a number of other KLVWRULFDO3HQGOHWRQ¿JXUHVDQGDQLPDOV the public might have suggested. It would be good to have another woman and man to equal the total of four of each. $XUD*RRGZLQ5DOH\¶V¿UVWKXVEDQG was a founder of Pendleton with his hotel near the Umatilla River. After his death she remarried and, in those frontier days, became known as “The Mother of Pendleton.” Poker Jim was a respected Indian chief and brought his people to celebrate the ¿UVW5RXQG8SLQ6LQFHWKDWWLPH the local tribes have been an important SDUWRIWKH5RXQG8SDQG+DSS\&DQ\RQ 7KHRWKHU¿JXUHVOLVWHGDUHLPSRUWDQW EXWGRQRW¿WDVQLFHO\LQWRWKHKLVWRU\RI Pendleton and the western theme. Let’s have some letters and opinions from the public about the selection of bronze statues. Still, in the back of my mind are the unpaved streets. They seem more important to the public than more statues. /HW¶VJHWWKHP¿[HGIRU&KULVWPDV Dr. Dorys C. Grover Pendleton The only way we will be able to make a difference in this uphill climate change battle is if we come together as a planet and develop a global policy. This year’s meeting is imperative in order for something to be accomplished internationally. A few weeks ago, on November 13, a group of Western Washington University students heard Ross Macfarlane of &OLPDWH&KDQJH6ROXWLRQVVSHDNDERXW his proposal on the necessity of enacting a global climate carbon tax. Ross’ SODQZRXOGKDYHRYHUFRXQWULHVLQ DWWHQGDQFHEHWD[HGEDVHGRQWKHLU&2 emissions. A carbon tax reduces emissions by raising the price producers and consumers have to pay for appurtenances that cause carbon emissions such as concrete production, burning of fossil fuels, and deforestation. Therefore, if a carbon tax were to be implemented, it will cause consumers and producers to purchase less of these goods, which in turn will lower the planet’s overall output of greenhouse gases. A policy such as this will be needed if we expect to come together and DFWXDOO\VWDELOL]HFRQFHQWUDWLRQVRI&2 Whether or not a policy is decided upon, the conclusion of this conference will affect everyone in the world. It is imperative that people view this event as if it is more important than a presidential election due to the fact that it is a critical global issue rather than just domestic. Dane Lennon %ellingKaP :asK. :ay to go 7:olves I’m writing this letter to give a VSHFLDOVKRXWRXWWRWKH%OXH0RXQWDLQ &RPPXQLW\&ROOHJHYROOH\EDOOWHDP² FRQJUDWXODWLRQV ,¶YHEHHQDIDQRI%0&&VSRUWVIRU This week is the beginning of an years: volleyball, rodeo, basketball, H[WUHPHO\LPSRUWDQWHYHQW&23 baseball and softball. During times EHWWHUNQRZQDVWKH3DULV&OLPDWH ZKHQWKHUHZHUHQRQZLQQLQJJDPHV &RQIHUHQFH7KHSXUSRVHEHKLQG and losing season, support for games &23LVWRDJUHHRQDSODQWRVWDELOL]H DWPRVSKHULFFRQFHQWUDWLRQVRI&27KLV was minimal. Now with volleyball and URGHRLQWKHIRUHIURQW%0&&VHHPVWR year’s conference is crucial because this ODVW1RYHPEHUKLJKOLJKWVWKH¿UVWWLPHWKH be attracting more interest for all athletic total atmospheric concentration of carbon SURJUDPVJRRGUHFUXLWLQJ)RXUVWUDLJKW FKDPSLRQVKLSVDQG¿YHLQWKHODVWVL[ has been above 400ppm. years is amazing for the volleyball The overall take from this is that SURJUDPIRU%0&&DQGWKHFRPPXQLW\ our planet is changing. Our world is becoming warmer, which leads to climate +RZVSHFLDOLVWKDW" &RQJUDWXODWLRQVJRHVRXWWRWKH change. Some side effects to climate FRDFKHV'DYHDQG-HVVLFDRQWKHLU change include the rise of sea levels, special season and continued success. species extinction, drought, and many )LQDOO\WRWKHSOD\HUVRIWKH other catastrophic weather disturbances. Timberwolves, congratulations on your People are being forced to leave their special season homes because there is no more food, Larry 0intKorn clean drinking water, or arable land to Pendleton grow their crops. COP sKould Ee on everyone¶s agenda LETTERS POLICY 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 LiEeralisP¶s gun SroEleP I do not own guns, and the last time the Australian experience, where a ,GLVFKDUJHGD¿UHDUPZDVRQ sweeping and mandatory gun buyback “Second Amendment Day” at a IROORZHGDPDVVVKRRWLQJ conservative journalism program many The clearest evidence shows that \HDUVDJR<HVGHDUUHDGHUWKDW¶VKRZ Australia’s reform mostly reduced FRQVHUYDWLYHMRXUQDOLVPSURJUDPVUROO VXLFLGHV²DVWKH%UDG\ODZPD\ My political commitments are more KDYHGRQH²ZKLOHWKHHYLGHQFHRQ communitarian than libertarian, I don’t KRPLFLGHVLVPXUNLHU,QJHQHUDOWKH WKLQNWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQJXDUDQWHHVDULJKW evidence linking gun ownership rates Ross to bear every kind of gun or magazine, Douthat WRPXUGHUUDWHVLVUHODWLYHO\ZHDN%XW and I think of myself as modestly a lower suicide rate would be a real Comment persuadable in the gun control debate. public health achievement, even if it Of course that doesn’t mean I really isn’t immediately relevant to the mass am, since we’re all tribal creatures and gun shooting debate. rights advocates are part of my strange and Does that make “getting to Australia” a PRWOH\ULJKWZLQJWULEH%XWDWWKHYHU\OHDVW, FRPSHOOLQJORQJWHUPJRDOIRUOLEHUDOLVP" understand why the idea of strict gun control Maybe, but liberals need to count the cost. has such a following, why Absent a total cultural With 300 million revolution in America, a it seems to many people like the obvious response to gun collection guns in private hands massive PDVVVKRRWLQJV²ZKHWKHU HIIRUWZRXOGIDFHVLJQL¿FDQW the perpetrators are ISIS in the United States, resistance even once V\PSDWKL]HUVPDGULJKW legislative and judicial battles it’s very difficult to had been won. The best wingers, or simply mad ²DQGZK\WKHVRUURZIXO is Prohibition, which devise a nonintrusive, analogue public piety of Republican did have major public health “common-sense” ap- EHQH¿WVEXWZKLFKFDPHDW politicians after a gun massacre drives liberals into steep cost in terms of police proach to regulating a powers, a fury. black markets and That fury, though, needs their exchange by trampled liberties. a little more cool reasoning I suspect liberals individuals. EHKLQGLW,W¶V¿QHWRGHPDQG imagine, at some level, that actions, not just prayers, in D3URKLELWLRQVW\OHFDPSDLJQ UHVSRQVHWRJXQYLROHQFH%XWWRGD\¶VOLEHUDOLVP against guns would mostly involve busting up often lacks a clear sense of which actions might JXQVKRZVDQGGLVDUPLQJ5REHUW'HDUOLNH DFWXDOO\DGGUHVVWKHSUREOHP²DQGMXVWDV WUDLOHUSDUNORQHUV%XWLQSUDFWLFHLWZRXOG important, a clear appreciation of what those SUREDEO\ORRNPRUHOLNH0LFKDHO%ORRPEHUJ¶V actions might cost. FRQWURYHUVLDOVWRSDQGIULVNSROLF\ZLWKD Sometimes, it’s suggested that all we need counterterrorism component that ended up DUHPRGHVW³FRPPRQVHQVH´FKDQJHVWRJXQ heavily targeting Muslim Americans. In areas laws: Tighter background checks, new ways to where gun ownership is high but crime rates WUDFH¿UHDUPVEDQVRQWKHGHDGOLHVWZHDSRQV ORZOLNH%HUQLH6DQGHUV¶9HUPRQWDXWKRULWLHV 7KLVLGHDZDVWKHEDVLVIRUWKH0DQFKLQ would mostly turn a blind eye to illegal guns, Toomey bill that failed in 2013 in the Senate. It while poor and minority communities bore the was also, though, the basis for two major pieces EUXQWRIUDLGVDQG¿QHVDQGMDLOWHUPV RIJXQOHJLVODWLRQWKDWSDVVHGLQWKHV7KH +HUHWKHUHOHYDQWFDVHVWXG\LVSUREDEO\ %UDG\/DZUHTXLULQJEDFNJURXQGFKHFNVIRU QRW$XVWUDOLDEXW)UDQFH7KH)UHQFKKDYHWKH handguns and the assault weapons ban. kind of strict gun laws that American liberals %RWKPHDVXUHVZHUHSURPRWHGDVFRPPRQ favor, and they have fewer gun deaths than we VHQVHUHIRUPV²LQWKHFDVHRIWKH%UDG\ GR%XWWKHLUVWULFWJXQODZVDUHSDUWRIDODUJHU /DZE\QRQHRWKHUWKDQ5RQDOG5HDJDQ%XW PDWUL[RILOOLEHUDOLVP²DPL[RI%ORRPEHUJLVW both failed to have an appreciable impact on SROLFHWDFWLFV7UXPSOLNHGLVGDLQIRUUHOLJLRXV KRPLFLGHV²HYHQDVRWKHUSROLFLHVOLNHKLULQJ OLEHUW\DQGFDPSXVOHIWVW\OHUHVWULFWLRQVRQIUHH PRUHSROLFHRI¿FHUVSUREDEO\GLG7KDWGRXEOH VSHHFK$QGWKHQ)UDQFHDOVRKDVDOLYHO\EODFN failure, some gun control supporters will tell market in weaponry, which determined terrorists you, has to do with the loopholes those two laws XQIRUWXQDWHO\VHHPWRKDYHOLWWOHGLI¿FXOW\ OHIWRSHQ²SDUWLFXODUO\WKHIDFWWKDWLQGLYLGXDOV DFTXLULQJ selling guns aren’t required to run background Despite their occasional sympathies for checks when they sell within their home state. Gallic socialism, I don’t think American liberals %XWWKDWFODLP¶VYHU\SODXVLELOLW\SRLQWVWR QHFHVVDULO\ZDQWWR³JHWWR)UDQFH´LQWKLV the problem: With 300 million guns in private illiberal sense. KDQGVLQWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVLW¶VYHU\GLI¿FXOW %XWWREHSHUVXDVLYHUDWKHUWKDQMXVW WRGHYLVHDQRQLQWUXVLYH³FRPPRQVHQVH´ VHOIULJKWHRXVDFDVHIRUJXQFRQWUROQHHGVWR approach to regulating their exchange by explain why that isn’t where we would end up. individuals. Ultimately, you need more than Ŷ background checks; you need many fewer Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as guns in circulation, period. To their credit, an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. His column many gun control supporters acknowledge this appears every Sunday. Previously, he was a point, which is why there is a vogue for citing senior editor at The Atlantic. Revenue forecast is only silver lining on dark clouds The (Medford) Mail Tribune, Dec. 6 Lawmakers are upbeat about last week’s revenue forecast, which predicts the state’s income will increase slightly, because the Legislature won’t have to back away from spending increases approved during this \HDU¶VVHVVLRQ%XWZKLOHWKHFXUUHQWWZR\HDU budget is sound, the state is facing a massive hole when legislators start work on the next budget in 2017. That’s because the Oregon Supreme &RXUWVWUXFNGRZQVLJQL¿FDQWSRUWLRQVRI Public Employee Retirement System reforms enacted in 2013. The result of that ruling, as The Oregonian reported last week, is that the pension system’s unfunded liability has nearly doubled, and is likely to exceed $20 billion by the end of this year. The bills don’t start coming due until 2017, but they are coming, and the result will not be pretty. The state’s public employers combined will need to come up with $800 million in pension contributions in the next biennium starting in PLOOLRQLQDQGPLOOLRQ in 2021, The Oregonian reported. That means, among other things, that school districts won’t have as much to spend on teachers, school days and reducing class sizes, cities and counties will have less for SROLFHRI¿FHUVDQG¿UH¿JKWHUVDQGVWDWH agencies will have to lay off staff or leave SRVLWLRQVXQ¿OOHG %XWZH¶UHQRWKHDULQJPXFKGLVFXVVLRQ RIDGGUHVVLQJWKLVUHDOLW\VWDUWLQJLQWKH legislative session, because the PERS bill won’t come due until the following year. Lawmakers are not fond of facing budget shortfalls until they absolutely have to, which is one reason the state tends to lurch from crisis to crisis with periods of calm in between. Local governments and school districts are being warned to prepare themselves for the hit to their budgets starting in 2017. Lawmakers, too, should prepare, by resisting the urge to VSHQGWKDWLQFUHDVHGVWDWHUHYHQXHLQDQG instead bank it for the following year, when there will be less to work with. An initiative petition backed by unions and RWKHUVLQWHQGHGIRUWKH1RYHPEHUEDOORW would increase taxes on large corporations, UDLVLQJDQHVWLPDWHGELOOLRQD\HDU² enough to cover the increase in PERS costs and still provide more money for schools and other public services. Whether that is a good idea is a topic for another day; signatures are still being collected. %XWUHJDUGOHVVRIZKHWKHUQHZUHYHQXH is raised, Oregon’s pension system still has years of increasing costs ahead of it, and state leaders should prepare for that now rather than later.
