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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, September 13, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JANNA HEIMGARTNER TIM TRAINOR Business Ofice Manager Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Let’s get ready to Round-Up It’s here — time for another go-round at the Pendleton Round-Up. For Umatilla County’s biggest week, the streets are already illing up, parking spaces are harder to come by, and the checkout line at Safeway is getting longer every hour. But the rodeo is getting closer, too. And the Pendleton pride, hospitality, Western culture and hollering good times are on ine display already. The Indian Village has begun rising into the cool September sky. And slack got underway Monday, the beginning of the long slog required to qualify for the main events on Saturday. There is a lot to see this year, for visitors and locals alike. And for an event that is 106 years old, there are quite a few new narratives this time around. The big news is that back-to- back-to-back-to-back title winner Trevor Brazile will be a no-show this year, after starting his own cowboy circuit competing with the PRCA. That means this year’s Round-Up is a wide open affair, and a new champion will surely be crowned. It’s sad to miss one of the all-time great cowboys, but Brazile’s absence means this year the East Oregonian trophy — given to the best all-around cowboy — could be claimed by anybody. That will bring an excitement to Saturday’s inals that hasn’t been there the last few years, as Brazile’s domination went unchallenged. But in addition to events on the grass, this is also the year to visit (or more likely, revisit) Happy Canyon. The venerable night show celebrates its centennial this year, with a renewed focus on its long legacy. It’s hard to believe the event has lasted for 100 years, through the era of silent ilms, color ilms, 3D ilms and IMAX ilms. It requires a massive amount of volunteer time and labor, and it has been able to keep both volunteers and audiences engaged for generations, even as tastes and politics changed. Surviving is remarkable enough, but as it inches over in the triple digits, Happy Canyon is thriving. Like the Round-Up went all out for their centennial, Happy Canyon is doing the same. Be sure to join the party and watch the show sometime during Pendleton’s busiest week. Surviving is remarkable enough, but as it inches over in the triple digits, Happy Canyon is thriving. 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. Culture Corner or the past 100 years, Happy Canyon has been telling the history of Umatilla County in a very non-textbook sort of way. Through song and dance, narration and mime, pyrotechnics and pratfalls, the Indian pageant and wild west show entertains the audience in town for the Round-Up. You could even argue that some come for the night show and then stick around for the rodeo. Rebeca Fletcher Waggoner, a fourth- generation participant in the show, celebrates the history with her irst book, “Happy Canyon: A History of the World’s Most Unique Indian Pageant & F Wild West Show.” The pages are full of inside stories and rare photographs of the pageant through the years, creating a well-organized archive of all the people and moments that deine Happy Canyon. The show is a throwback to be sure, and if someone set out to write and stage it today it would look far different. Understanding the show’s creators and innovators will give the performance some valuable perspective. As Doug Corey, a former Happy Canyon director, says in the book, “The show depicts history. It has nothing to do with the present day and age.” Be heard! Comment online at eastoregonian.com OTHER VIEWS Our Russia problem R to protect the devils that it knows. ussia’s place in American But at the same time Putin has politics used to be (relatively) become opportunistically revisionist simple. The further right you in his own right, sensing American stood, the more you feared Ivan and weakness and looking for ways to his Slavic wiles. The further left, destabilize the Western order — the more you likely thought the Red including through tacit support for Menace was mostly just a scare story. Donald Trump. Now things are more complicated. Unless you’re Trump himself, In just 15 years, the Republican Party Ross has had a president who famously Douthat Putin’s destabilizing moves — the Crimean anschluss, the Ukraine claimed a soul-to-soul relationship Comment invasion, the shadow war against his with Vladimir Putin … followed by neighbors and Western governments two consecutive nominees who took a starkly hawkish stance on Russia … and now writ large — have made it much harder to imagine Moscow as anything but an a presidential candidate in Donald Trump who has a palpable man-crush on Putin and adversary to be checked, contained, opposed. promises closer ties with his regime. But the trajectory of events in the Middle Over the same period, Democrats have East, where American grand strategy has gone from mocking George mostly come to grief and W. Bush’s naiveté about we face a shifting array of Our primary Putin … to mocking Mitt foes and rivals, suggests the Romney for describing of a “new Cold War” interest in Syria and limits Russia as America’s main lens. Our primary interest geopolitical foe … to elsewhere is not, in Syria and elsewhere spinning theories about as it was decades as it was decades is ago, not, containing Trump being an agent of Russian Russian inluence that seem expansion. It’s containing ago, containing ripped from a right-wing jihadi terrorism, ending periodical circa 1955. Russian expansion. the refugee crisis, restoring The ideologues, too, some kind of basic order It’s containing jihadi — and in all these tasks we have lost the plot. Sean Hannity is hosting the a way to work with terrorism, ending need Russian cat’s-paw Julian Moscow if we hope to see Assange because he might through to any kind of the refugee crisis, them have dirt on Hillary. The inish. Nation is defending Donald restoring some kind Which gets at the Trump against what it calls underlying question here, of basic order. the “neo-McCarthyism” one that both parties ought of mainstream liberalism. to be debating: Just how Team-player conservatives are tying right was Romney? Russia certainly looks themselves in knots explaining or defending more like a more dangerous geopolitical Trump’s Putin crush; liberal pundits are rival today than it did four years ago. But is trying to memory-hole everything they wrote Putin’s regime and its revanchist ambitions about Romney and Russia in 2012. the biggest potential danger that we face? This confusion relects various partisan Bigger than al-Qaida and ISIS and their derangements, plus the destabilizing epigones? Bigger than the far-richer, inluence of Trump’s strongman shtick. far-stronger, and equally authoritarian But to some extent confusion is entirely People’s Republic of China? justiied. We should be uncertain about how It is not enough to say that all of them are to think about our relationship with Russia, dangers; statesmen must prioritize, and our and our parties should be trying on different priorities are dangerously open-ended and perspectives, because it isn’t clear at all undeined. where our national interest vis-à-vis the If the last four years really are a Cold Russians really lies. War 2.0 overture, then our approach to At the root of this uncertainty is the fact the Middle East and Asia needs to be that neither the United States nor Russia refashioned with an eye toward winning a seems certain exactly what kind of power it new twilight war with Moscow. intends to be. During the Cold War, we were But if Beijing is, in the long run, a more (mostly) a status quo power — practicing important rival than Moscow — if China’s containment, building intricate alliance capacities and ambitions are more dangerous networks, propping up bad actors for fear than Putin’s bold play of a weak hand — of something worse — and the Russians then we may need a path to de-escalation were the revisionists, promoting socialist and wary cooperation with the Russian revolution from Havana to Hanoi. Then in regime. the early 2000s we seemed to have changed Donald Trump, with his grotesque places: Under George W. Bush, America embrace of Putin’s thuggishness, is not the was a revolutionary power, preaching the man for that task or any other. But as has messianic faith of liberalism and democracy, often been true in this election, in the midst while Moscow was a friend of strongmen, of his folly you can see the questions that the stability and the Saddam-era status quo. next generation of leaders needs to ask. But now it’s a muddle. In the Middle East, ■ throughout the Arab Spring and its aftermath, Ross Douthat joined The New York Times Washington has remained revisionist while as an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. Previ- Moscow has labored at realpolitik, seeking ously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic YOUR VIEWS Time to harvest puncture vine Go forth now and start harvesting, prior to a visitor picking up the seeds. Do be careful, though, as the main or big seed will split into ive when touched. Puncture vine is a very tricky plant. Already all those visitors, in the past, have packed off enough seed across the West. Besides, we could lose next year’s irst place winner at the county fair! Joe LaVerdure Pendleton Wolf explains calf misunderstanding The pack and I certainly agree about poor communication from Fish and Game people. They never tell us anything. We howl to anyone who will listen. It would be nice to know if the latest plan is lethal or non-lethal. That makes a big difference in where we hunt and what we eat. There was an incident recently where we were unjustly blamed for killing a calf in the Blue Mountains. The calf was swimming in a dugout and started to drown. Several of our pack swam out to rescue him, but were unsuccessful and somehow we were blamed for his death. A. Wolf, proud father of several new litters (as told to Mike Mehren, the wolf listener, Hermiston) This is not your father’s Republican Party candidate! The candidate running for the highest ofice in our land just last week at the National Forum on National Security said that Vladimer Putin is a great leader and that our President Barack Obama was weak, but not presenting any evidence to back up this claim. This is the same person that asked the Russians, in a rally, to ind/hack Hillary Clinton’s emails. There has been some assertions that they did just that and hacked the Democratic party email as well. The closeness of this candidate to Russian political igures through his aides and business dealings is quite troubling and then to disparage our sitting president is hateful/ irresponsible and beyond the pale! I have listened to the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle concerning this presidential campaign and concluded that Hillary Clinton is the best person for this high ofice because she has the knowledge of world affairs throughout her life as irst lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States and U. S. senator from New York. Then she had the great honor to be selected for Secretary of State for President Obama’s cabinet. This position is one of the most demanding jobs in the cabinet; she worked with world leaders in Europe and China as well as the Middle East — our allies and our adversaries. Numerous times she settled differences and explained situations to straighten out problems in her work as Secretary of State. She is a calm, serious, steadfast person that gets the job done and does it well. Her moral compass points straight and true! Hillary Clinton For President — We Are Stronger Together Jan Beitel Umatilla Restrooms needed for long Dress-Up Parade We had a great time at the Dress-Up Parade in Pendleton on Saturday. The only thing I was surprised about was the lack of any port-a-potties this year. Thank goodness Up With Donuts didn’t hassle us for using their restroom. They offered great service and even better donuts. Can’t wait for the Westward Ho! Parade coming up on Friday. Let ’er buck! Dan Trimble Weston 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.
