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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, January 26, 2016 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Much at risk in protests over grazing contracts The armed protesters occupying Cliven Bundy, the father of refuge WKH0DOKHXU1DWLRQDO:LOGOLIH occupation leader Ammon Bundy, 5HIXJHLQ2UHJRQ¶V+DUQH\&RXQW\ has been doing it for more than 10 years. want ranchers to tear up their federal The elder Bundy owes the JUD]LQJFRQWUDFWVDQGWXUQWKHLU government more cattle out on their than $1 million in allotments without Breaches of fees and penalties paying their fees. continuing We understand grazing contracts while WRJUD]HKLVFDWWOH how ranchers might be tempted may effectively on 90,000 acres federal land in to go along with end a rancher’s of 1HYDGD the plan, if for no That is probably other reason than to ability to ever the most persuasive protest the way the again release argument Finicum federal government could make. If manages public livestock onto Bundy can get away lands. But that public lands. with it for more than would be a mistake a decade, all the that could result while ignoring the LQKDUVK¿QDQFLDO Endangered Species Act and other consequences for the individual federal regulations, wouldn’t you be a producers, and hand opponents of SXEOLFODQGVJUD]LQJWKHDPPXQLWLRQ chump to pay and follow the rules? 6FRWW+RUQJUHQDQDWWRUQH\ they need to shut down contested with the Western Resources Legal allotments. Center who has represented ranchers The protesters made their pitch to LQJUD]LQJODZVXLWVVD\VUDQFKHUV +DUQH\&RXQW\UDQFKHUVODVWZHHN shouldn’t use Bundy’s case as a It’s based on their misinterpretation precedent. of the Constitution that holds that +HVD\VEUHDFKHVRIJUD]LQJ the United States government can’t contracts may effectively end a own property within any state not rancher’s ability to ever again purchased or otherwise deeded to it by that state. Public lands in the West release livestock onto public lands. Government agencies have a number belong to the states and the counties. of legal avenues available to collect Because the federal government past-due accounts. can’t own the land, it can’t charge Any of these consequences could UDQFKHUVJUD]LQJIHHVRURWKHUZLVH all but end a rancher’s business. regulate the use of the range. Easy- Waiting in the wings are the peasy. environmentalists who want to end That this arrangement isn’t JUD]LQJRQSXEOLFODQG5DQFKHUV UHFRJQL]HGE\WKHIHGHUDO WHDULQJXSWKHLUJUD]LQJFRQWUDFWVDQG government, the state of Oregon, ÀRXWLQJWKHODZZRXOGEHDERRQIRU RUWKHHOHFWHGRI¿FLDOVRI+DUQH\ their agenda. County — let alone the surviving Ranchers, farmers and loggers members of the Burns Paiute Tribe, have legitimate disputes with the way whose ancestors were on the land federal lands are managed. The key to prior to white settlement — is of no settling these disputes is constructive concern. engagement with the government and According to our colleagues the public at-large. at Oregon Public Broadcasting, While protest can also be an /D9R\)LQLFXPDQ$UL]RQDUDQFKHU effective tool, ranchers must always who has served as the protesters’ be mindful how their actions will be de facto spokesman, told ranchers judged in the court of public opinion. that he’s done it. More importantly, 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. OTHER VIEWS China’s steady growth a world asset The China Daily, Jan. 20 S ince China has been a long-term engine for the global economy, its economic slowdown has understandably sparked worries among investors and policymakers. But while the slowest pace in a quarter of a century may be an H\HFDWFKLQJVXPPDUL]DWLRQRI&KLQD¶V 6.9-percent GDP growth in 2015, it fails to underscore China’s contribution of about one-fourth of global growth in a tumultuous year. More importantly, it shed light on the progress of its strategic shift away from a dependence on investment and exports toward more sustainable growth driven by consump- tion and innovation. While increasing volatility in ¿QDQFLDOPDUNHWVDQGSOXPPHWLQJ commodities’ prices have made vigilance against a global slowdown necessary, pessimism about the $10-tril- lion Chinese economy, which expanded twice as fast as the world economy last year, is unwarranted. Instead, the international community can expect the country to serve as a much-needed source of not-so-fast but steady growth for the world economy, as China has made clear its pursuit of average annual growth of 6.5 percent in WKHFRPLQJ¿YH\HDUV Domestically, a close look at the ODWHVWVWDWLVWLFVPD\¿QGSUREOHPV with traditional growth engines such as industrial overcapacity and realty overstock. Yet there are positive signs that point to China’s rise as a consumers’ society; a course that will be further accelerated by the sweeping supply-side reform in coming years. Growth in investment in factories, KRXVLQJDQGRWKHU¿[HGDVVHWVZHDNHQHG to 12 percent in 2015, down 2.9 percentage points from the previous year, and the surge in housing prices in a few large cities cannot brighten the overall picture of the domestic property market. But they are not the whole story, or the major theme of the Chinese economy, which saw its service sector contribute more than half the GDP for WKH¿UVWWLPHLQ Attention should also be paid to the fact that end-user consumption accounted for 66.4 percent of China’s full-year GDP of 67.7 trillion yuan ($10.28 trillion), while the country’s online retail surged by one-third to 3.9 trillion yuan last year. It is hard to tell when China’s consumption growth will be fast HQRXJKWR¿OOWKHYRLGLQGHPDQGOHIWE\ sluggish investment. But that does not DPRXQWWRDUHDVRQWRORVHFRQ¿GHQFH in China’s self-sustaining growth in the long run. 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. Clinton, Trump and sexism RUPRVWRIKHUFDUHHU+LOODU\ When a woman is grilling Clinton suffered for being a the president about his policy on feminist. tampons, that’s a sign that women Retaining her last name helped are increasingly a part of the cost her husband the governorship conversation. I hope that women will of Arkansas in 1980 (after that, she push for a more robust discussion of became a Clinton). She was mocked in GRPHVWLFYLROHQFHKXPDQWUDI¿FNLQJ 1992 for saying she wouldn’t be “some reproductive health care, equal pay little woman standing by my man,” and women’s rights worldwide, issues Nicholas that never received the attention they and for asserting, “I suppose I could Kristof GHVHUYHGZKHQZHPHQPRQRSROL]HG have stayed home and baked cookies Comment and had teas, but what I decided to do the stage. ZDVWRIXO¿OOP\SURIHVVLRQ´ Female leaders are often less (Outrage at her “bitchiness” — a standard focused on women’s rights than one might put-down of a strong woman — was such that think, but that’s not true of Clinton. When Clinton tried to mollify critics by participating she was traveling as secretary of state, in a bake-off sponsored by Family Circle she highlighted these issues by visiting PDJD]LQH7KDWPXVWKDYHVWXQJ%XWKROGRQ VH[WUDI¿FNLQJVXUYLYRUVLQ,QGLDDQGPHHWLQJ Clinton’s recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip an activist against child marriage in Yemen. cookies then triumphed over Barbara Bush’s Clinton argued tirelessly that empowering cookie recipe, upholding women undermined the honor of career moms extremist groups. everywhere.) We may also be seeing (YHQZKHQ+LOODU\ a backlash against the Clinton ran for president in backlash against strong 2008, there were put-downs, women. like the two men from a When Donald Trump radio show heckling her, seemed to suggest that “Iron my shirt!” Megyn Kelly of Fox So it’s a measure of 1HZVDVNHGWRXJK how much the country has questions because she was changed that these days menstruating, or that Carly Clinton is running as a Fiorina was unsuitable for feminist, after decades of president because of her skirting the issue. In 2008 looks (“Look at that face! she barely mentioned her Would anyone vote for gender; now it’s a refrain. that?”), the public laughed at “This really comes down to whether I can him more than with him. HQFRXUDJHDQGPRELOL]HZRPHQWRYRWHIRU Trump’s disgust for female bodily WKH¿UVWZRPDQSUHVLGHQW´7LPHTXRWHGKHU functions — he has also referred to as saying. She even said she’d be open to women urinating or pumping their milk as choosing a woman as her running mate (go, “disgusting” — also seems very 1970s, and Amy Klobuchar!). these days what’s yucky is no longer bodily :KHQD*DOOXSVXUYH\¿UVWDVNHG functions but rather Trump’s discomfort with Americans if they were willing to vote for a them. woman for president, in 1937, only one-third When Republican “mad men” make sexist said they were. By last year, 92 percent were comments — Trump using a vulgarism about willing to do so. &OLQWRQ¶VORVVWR2EDPDRU7HG&UX] Another Gallup survey found that what saying Clinton needed a spanking — the people liked most about a Clinton candidacy Clinton campaign barely conceals its delight ZDVKHUJHQGHU+HUFKURPRVRPHVDUHDWOHDVW as it sounds the trumpets. for Democrats, her biggest selling point. “We are not responding to Trump,” an aide, Conversely, maybe it’s also a sign of Jennifer Palmieri, tweeted triumphantly, “but progress that young women aren’t particularly everyone who understands the humiliation inclined to support Clinton: They’re less likely WKLVGHJUDGLQJODQJXDJHLQÀLFWVRQDOOZRPHQ WRVHHWKHLUVSDFHGH¿QHGE\JODVVFHLOLQJV should.” Already women are reshaping the public One way in which attitudes have changed debate in healthy ways. To me, one sign came has to do with sexual predation. Shaming when President Barack Obama suggested women who make accusations — in short, the recently that there should not be a tax on Bill Clinton campaign approach of 1992 — is tampons. much less tolerated today. Some 40 states tax tampons and other 6RWRGD\+LOODU\&OLQWRQLVVFROGHG menstrual products as if they were not IRUWXUQLQJRQDQGKHOSLQJWRVWLJPDWL]H necessities. In the last couple of years, women the women who accused her husband of have led a campaign to change that, and a misconduct, which oddly means that she may (female, of course) interviewer asked Obama pay more of a price for his misbehavior than about this. he ever did. “I confess I was not aware of it until That irony would encapsulate the truism you brought it to my attention,” Obama that whatever the progress, women are often acknowledged. “I have to tell you, I have no still held to a higher standard than men. idea why states would tax these as luxury Ŷ items. I suspect it’s because men were making Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and the laws when those taxes were passed.” cherry farm in Yamhill, Oregon. F Conversely, maybe it’s a sign of progress that young women aren’t particularly inclined to support Clinton. YOUR VIEWS County taxpayers will be stuck with bill for EOTEC EOTEC news: Looks like the county commissioners have decided to back the $1.5 million loan to EOTEC. Strangely, Commissioner George Murdock was absent for the vote, making an appearance once the issue was decided. Apparently, commissioners Larry Givens and Bill Elfering have no qualms about putting the entire county at risk for a project WKDWIRUWKHPRVWSDUWEHQH¿WVRQO\+HUPLVWRQ whose monetary contributions minus grants and donations are more than likely less than the county’s, although this business venture is supposed to be a 50/50 partnership. It’s pretty clear that anytime a government agency tries to run a business the results are less than stellar, which means that until (27(&EHJLQVWRWXUQDSUR¿WLIHYHUWKH county taxpayers will be stuck with paying WKHELOOVZKLOHWKHFLW\RI+HUPLVWRQUHDSVWKH EHQH¿WV This may be a win-win proposition for the FLW\RI+HUPLVWRQEXWLW¶VDORVHUIRUWKHUHVWRI the county. Remember, EOTEC is the county, which means they appear to be the borrower of that $1.5 million in addition to the $600,000 they recently pledged to the project. Greg Walden said on his visit to Eastern Oregon, “We need to get back to the point where people feel like the government listens to them, and they’re getting a fair shake.” I think the Umatilla County commissioners should forget about personal agendas and represent the entire county. Rick Rohde Pendleton Wildlife supporters should move on from Malheur Refuge I’ve read the recent East Oregonian articles and even the New York Times concerning the HFRQRPLFVLWXDWLRQLQ+DUQH\&RXQW\7KH stories of these residents is truly sad, if not gut-wrenching. Previously, these people were thriving, industrious and proud to be VHOIVXI¿FLHQWFLWL]HQV1RZDIWHUELJ money conservationists plowed through Salem and Washington, D.C., these same prideful residents are reduced to government “handout” jobs just to survive. And then, sage grouse. I’ve been through this country and it is not prime sage grouse country to start with. They are most likely transplants. If you want to view sage grouse, go a little more eastward and step out of your hybrid SUV between Rock Springs and Rawlins, Wyoming, and please stay and enjoy. Oh no! I would not wish that on the Wyomingites. Rod Triplett Hermiston
