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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, March 8, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Supreme Court needs UHDOZRUOGH[SHULHQFH We learned last week that “Former prosecutors, government President Obama is vetting an lawyers and scholars make up most Iowa federal appellate judge for the of the bench today. Kelly stands vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. out as a federal public defender There is a political who represented angle in this, of several of the most Justices mainly recognizable names course. Judge Jane L. to face criminal come from a Kelly was praised prosecution in Iowa heavily by Iowa’s courtrooms.” narrow and Republican Sen. The malady that rareied slice of DIÀLFWVWKH6XSUHPH Charles Grassley, during her prior Court is that justices academia. FRQ¿UPDWLRQ mainly come from a hearing. Grassley QDUURZDQGUDUH¿HG is chairman of the Senate Judiciary slice of academia, think tanks and Committee. Kelly won eventual JRYHUQPHQWODZ7KH\ODFN¿UVW KDQGH[SHULHQFHZLWKFRXUWURRP 6HQDWHFRQ¿UPDWLRQE\DZLGH advocacy in criminal trials or even margin. Grassley and Kelly are with handling non-criminal clients. Iowans. Thus a Kelly nomination Judge Kelly has said that in the to the Supreme Court would be course of her criminal defense work GLI¿FXOWIRU*UDVVOH\WRLJQRUH she has spent so much time inside Beyond the political calculus, prisons that she’s probably served there is an appealing aspect to the prospect of Judge Kelly’s being the equivalent of a sentence for a nominated. She would bring misdemeanor. real-world perspective to the court. It is anybody’s guess how this She has worked as a criminal will turn out. President Obama is smart to seek a nominee such as defense lawyer. The Des Moines Judge Kelly. Register noted last week that, 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 Delay of Clean Power Plan shows need for carbon price J ust how disastrous is market-based approach favored the Supreme Court’s by policy makers on both the left recent ruling delaying and the right. implementation of the Clean Citizens’ Climate Lobby recommends a policy known Power Plan, the centerpiece of as Carbon Fee and Dividend, President Obama’s efforts to whereby a steadily rising fee reduce greenhouse gas pollution? Worse than most people is placed on fuels based on the realize. amount of CO2 they will emit Mark Late last year in Paris, 196 Reynolds when burned. All revenue from nations agreed to limit global that substantial and transparent Comment warming to 2 degrees Celsius fee is then returned equally above pre-industrial to all households, levels, and to strive shielding families to limit warming to from the economic 1.5 C. Both goals burden of higher were based on the energy costs. Border broad recognition tariffs, placed on WKDWH[FHHGLQJ imports from nations the 2 C threshold that do not have would result in equivalent carbon consequences such pricing, would protect as sea level rise, food American businesses shortages, worsening and motivate other VWRUPVDQGH[WUHPH governments to follow heat waves likely our lead. to outpace our A study from civilization’s adaptive capability. Regional Economic Models, Inc., Meeting either marker, the Paris found that this policy would achieve signatories believed, would require the a 52 percent reduction in CO2 world to remain under a “carbon budget” emissions within 20 years. It would RIJLJDWRQVRIFDUERQGLR[LGH also strengthen the American economy, emitted from 2015 onward. The EPA’s adding 2.8 million jobs from the Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon stimulus effect of recycling carbon fee emissions from electrical facilities was revenue into the pockets of people likely viewed an essential part of America’s to spend the money. strategy for staying within its portion of Sounds great, you may be thinking, the carbon budget. but what are the chances Congress will 8SRQFORVHUH[DPLQDWLRQKRZHYHU take bipartisan action? scientists have concluded that the true They’re much better than you might carbon budget is only 1,240 gigatons, think. about half. In light of this new estimate, In September, Rep. Chris Gibson the court’s stay on the Clean Power (R-NY) introduced a resolution (H. Plan — delaying implementation for at Res 424), now cosponsored by 12 other least a year — could not have come at a Republicans, stating that climate change worse time. could have an adverse impact on our :KDWDUHWKHUDPL¿FDWLRQVRIWKHQHZ nation and that Congress should start carbon budget? working on solutions. It was previously thought that we This unprecedented resolution was have — at best — 60 years to transition followed by another breakthrough last to a carbon-neutral society. The new month: the formation of the bipartisan report cuts that number in half. House Climate Solutions Caucus, “At current rates, the carbon budget co-chaired by Rep. Carlos Curbelo ZRXOG«EHH[KDXVWHGLQDERXWWR (R-FL) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL). years,” said Joeri Rogelj, lead author “There shouldn’t be this false of the study that was published in the RUWKRGR[\ZKHUHLI\RX¶UHD'HPRFUDW journal Nature Climate Change. “These you want to solve this problem and if QXPEHUVGH¿QLWHO\LQGLFDWHWKDWZH you’re a Republican you want to ignore should not just sit and wait, because it,” Curbelo told Bloomberg Business. then the window for staying within the “That just makes no sense.” budget would become vanishingly small The Supreme Court’s decision to within decades.” GHOD\WKH&OHDQ3RZHU3ODQH[SRVHV But just “sitting and waiting” while WKHIROO\RIUHO\LQJVROHO\RQH[HFXWLYH RXUZLQGRZIRUDFWLRQFORVHVLVH[DFWO\ action to solve the most critical what the Supreme Court is telling us to problem our civilization has ever do. All of which raises a critical question: faced. As more and more Republicans 6KRXOGZHUHO\RQH[HFXWLYHRUGHUV H[SUHVVDZLOOLQJQHVVWRFRPHWRWKH which are subject to court challenges table, Congress can and must work in and the whims of whoever occupies the earnest to enact a market-based climate White House, to preserve a livable world solution. Carbon Fee and Dividend is for our grandchildren? the solution that can bridge the partisan With so much at stake, we need divide. a resilient and permanent solution. Ŷ Congress must enact legislation that Mark Reynolds is executive director places an effective price on carbon, the of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Just sitting and waiting while our window for action closes is exactly what the Supreme Court is telling us to do. OTHER VIEWS The end of American idealism S ometimes it’s hard to shake instead of a democracy. the uneasy feeling that we are And yet, that is an idea that most witnessing the dissolution of an Americans are pathologically incapable idea that was once America. of processing. We suffer from a blithe The country is still a military glacialism, occasionally cursing the superpower and an economic and winds that carry our demise, but mostly innovation powerhouse, but so many hoping against hope and pretending that of our institutions are proving to be evidence of things seen and felt is either HLWKHUIXQGDPHQWDOO\ÀDZHGRUGHHSO\ Charles IDXOW\RUÀHHWLQJ,WLVQRW broken. We have millions of undocumented Blow This thought kept creeping into immigrants in this country, but Comment my mind as I watched Thursday’s comprehensive immigration reform Republican presidential debate in remains a thing we bicker about but Detroit. It seemed to me the zenith of a carnival never move on. of absurdity, as the candidates descended into Our infrastructure is in shambles, but in what appeared to be a penis measuring contest. a country where the bridges are crumbling, I kept thinking with dread, “One of these Republican candidates are obsessed about PHQPLJKWDFWXDOO\EHWKHQH[WSUHVLGHQW´² building a border wall. The city of Flint was either the demagogue from New York, the SRLVRQHGDVRI¿FLDOVVRXJKWWRSLQFKSHQQLHV SROLWLFDODUVRQLVWIURP7H[DVRUWKHHPSW\VXLW Global warming continues unabated, most from Florida. (I see no path for the governor OLNHO\LQWHQVLI\LQJWKHVHYHULW\RIH[WUHPH from Ohio.) weather — from droughts to hurricanes to In another political season, liberals might blizzards — and yet last month the Supreme greet such a prospect with glee. But this is not Court temporarily blocked the Obama that season. administration’s rules to limit greenhouse gas On the Democratic side, the leading emissions from power plants. candidate is a hawkish political shape shifter, Our educational system, from pre-K to too cozy with big money, whose use of a private college, serves the wealthy relatively well, email server has led to an FBI investigation, and but leaves far too many without access, who most Americans don’t trust. underprepared or drowning in debt. (Around two-thirds of Americans don’t trust We are plagued by gun violence and mass either party’s front-runner.) shootings and yet no one is moving forward on Her lone opponent is a self-described meaningful solutions. democratic socialist who seeks to cram America’s middle class is shrinking. sweeping generational changes — hinged on According to a December Pew Research Center PDVVLYHV\VWHPLFGLVUXSWLRQVDQGVLJQL¿FDQW report: “Fully 49 percent of U.S. aggregate WD[KLNHV²LQWRDSUHVLGHQWLDOWHUP$QGKH income went to upper-income households in says he will be able to do this with the help 2014, up from 29 percent in 1970. The share of a political revolution, one that has yet to accruing to middle-income households was 43 materialize at the polls. percent in 2014, down substantially from 62 2QHRIWKHVHSHRSOHZLOOEHWKHQH[W percent in 1970.” president of the United States. Our criminal justice system has made a And this is the country of which they will mockery of the concept of equal justice with its take the helm: racially skewed pattern of mass incarceration. We are a country stuck in perpetual warfare Not only is the United States “the world’s that is now confronting the threat of the leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people Islamic State terrorist group. The Republican currently in the nation’s prisons or jails — a candidates have proposed the most outlandish 500 percent increase over the past thirty years,” approaches to that threat, including everything according to the Sentencing Project, but the from war crimes such as torture and killing group also points out: terror suspects’ families to carpet bombing in “More than 60 percent of the people in the Middle East until we can see whether “sand prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For can glow in the dark.” black males in their thirties, 1 in every 10 is in Our government is broken. We have a prison or jail on any given day. These trends legislative branch that increasingly sees its role KDYHEHHQLQWHQVL¿HGE\WKHGLVSURSRUWLRQDWH as resistance rather than action. There is an impact of the ‘war on drugs,’ in which opening on the Supreme Court that Republican two-thirds of all persons in prison for drug leaders in the Senate, in a breathtaking and offenses are people of color.” unprecedented move, are saying they won’t let The list of woe is a mile long. WKLVGXO\HOHFWHGSUHVLGHQW¿OO There is palpable discontent in this country 7KHDSSRLQWPHQWPD\IDOOWRWKHQH[W among those who feel left out and left behind in president. the bounty of America’s prosperity. But that same Supreme Court has ruled How long can the center hold? How long can that money is speech, swinging the door wide the illusion be sustained? How long before we open to allow the ultrawealthy to have nearly start to call this the post-American idealism era? XQOLPLWHGLQÀXHQFHRQWKHHOHFWRUDOSURFHVV Ŷ No wonder a 2014 study found that America Charles M. Blow is The New York Times’s has effectively transformed into an oligarchy visual Op-Ed columnist. YOUR VIEWS Immigration reform should address only immigration This is in response to the letter from David Olen Cross on March 2, 2016. Before tackling substantive issues, let me wish Mr. Cross a speedy recovery. He jumps to so many conclusions during the course of his letter that KHKDGWRLQÀLFWVHULRXVGDPDJHRQRQHRUERWK of his legs. The basic thrust of Mr. Cross’s complaint is that Marco Rubio is not tough on the criminals who are here illegally. While I’m no great fan of the young senator from Florida, I feel compelled to defend him in this instance. Sen. Rubio’s bill had the purpose of dealing with the over 11 million persons here illegally. It was not designed to address issues that are better handled through the criminal justice system. When I was a prosecutor in Colorado I dealt frequently with criminal acts committed by illegal aliens (not the E.T. variety). It was obvious that the immigration system was not equipped to deal with the problem. Some people I worked with and myself came up ZLWKDZD\WR¿[ZKDWKDGEHFRPHDUHYROYLQJ door out of and back into this country. 7KHFULPLQDOMXVWLFHV\VWHPGRHVQRWH[LVW WRVROYHDOORIVRFLHW\¶VSUREOHPV,WH[LVWV to address one problem only — crime. When people like Mr. Cross try to get it to multi-task, the efforts fail. Immigration reform needs to address immigration only. Any considerations about criminal conduct can be handled the old-fashioned way. I know, I’ve done it. Patrick Delaney Hermiston Fire bond extends crucial service Over the years, each time I have moved in the Hermiston area I have moved farther out of town. Each move has brought with it FRQFHUQVRYHU¿UHDQGHPHUJHQF\VHUYLFHVDQG time of response. Essentially, “time is of the essence” in these matters. +DYLQJEHHQWKURXJKWZRPDMRU¿UHVLQWKH Hat Rock area and watching ambulance calls go by on Diagonal, it makes my support for the formation of Umatilla Co. Fire District 1 a JLYHQ)RUWKH¿UVWWLPHVLQFHLWVFRQVWUXFWLRQ in 1986, there would be permanent staff at WKH$+&DEOHVWDWLRQRQ'LDJRQDOWKDWLV¿YH PLOHVRXWRIWRZQ)LYHPLOHV¿YHPLQXWHV in an emergency situation could make all the difference. Floyd Turnbull Hermiston 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.
