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
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occupation leader Ammon Bundy,
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has been doing it for more than 10
years.
want ranchers to tear up their federal
The elder Bundy owes the
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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
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how ranchers
might be tempted
may effectively on 90,000 acres
federal land in
to go along with
end a rancher’s of
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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
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Endangered Species Act and other
consequences for the individual
federal regulations, wouldn’t you be a
producers, and hand opponents of
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they need to shut down contested
with the Western Resources Legal
allotments.
Center who has represented ranchers
The protesters made their pitch to
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shouldn’t use Bundy’s case as a
It’s based on their misinterpretation
precedent.
of the Constitution that holds that
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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
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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
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government, the state of Oregon,
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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
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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
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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
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Domestically, a close look at the
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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,
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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
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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
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sluggish investment. But that does not
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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Trump’s disgust for female bodily
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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
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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.
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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
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menstrual products as if they were not
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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
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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
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county taxpayers will be stuck with paying
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This may be a win-win proposition for the
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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
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stories of these residents is truly sad, if not
gut-wrenching.
Previously, these people were
thriving, industrious and proud to be
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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