Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, January 20, 2017 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Tip of the hat; kick in the pants A tip of the hat to all the road crews and emergency personnel who worked through a perfect winter storm Tuesday night and Wednesday. The ice that covered roadways was a nightmare for those who make their living behind the wheel of a big rig, or even a little rig. Even with advanced warning of a storm on the horizon, there were hundreds of motorists stranded on the side of the road. The emergency scanner chirped all day with requests for help, frustration growing in the voices of police and road crews as trucks without chains slid off the side of the road or drivers ignored closure signs. When the weather deals a hand like that, all we can do is cross our fingers and try to get home. But the people whose job it is to keep the roads safe and clear deserve a little praise for the hours of grueling work in the freezing cold. The sidewalks were just as bad, too, so kudos to those who looked out for neighbors and customers by making their property passable. A tip of the hat to everyone taking part in the Women’s March in Pendleton on Saturday. The hate mail we received after running a preview story about the march, and the nastiness with which it was derided online, only goes to show how important such events are. The people who will march Saturday — in Pendleton, Washington, D.C., Enterprise, Paris and hundreds of other cities across the world — undoubtedly have their own personal reasons for doing so. But at the core, they are doing it because they can and they want to, and because a power believes they should shut up and accept the way things are. That alone should encourage people to show up and speak up and demand a better world. A tip of the hat to Marlina Avila Serratos, Irrigon’s newest city councilor. And at age 18, she’s also — by many decades — the youngest. We profiled Avila Serratos back in November when she won the election. Still a high school student and teenager, she’s already the owner of an incredible life story: When Marlina was just 12 years old her mother was deported to Mexico, leaving Marlina to taking care of the house and younger sister. Six years of responsibility and hard work prepared Avila Serratos for the new roll she stepped into on Wednesday. She’s likely the first Latina to ever sit on Irrigon city council, and she’s most likely the youngest councilor in the city’s history. We wish her luck. 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 Freeing Chelsea Manning The Wall Street Journal P resident Obama’s decision Tuesday to commute the 35-year prison sentence of Pfc. Chelsea, née Bradley, Manning will be celebrated on the left as a vindication of a well-intentioned whistleblower whose imprisonment at Ft. Leavenworth as a transgender woman was a travesty of justice. The real travesty is the show of leniency for a progressive cause célèbre whose actions put hundreds of lives at risk. For those who need reminding, Manning was stationed in Iraq as a low-level intelligence analyst when he gained access to troves of classified material. Starting in 2010 he leaked nearly 750,000 documents to Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks. Included in the material were thousands of secret State Department cables and masses of military information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange worked with reporters from several news organizations to publish the material. U.S. diplomats and military officers took a less charitable view, with good reason. While many of the State Department cables contained little more than diplomatic party gossip, others disclosed sensitive conversations between U.S. diplomats and opposition leaders in repressive regimes. After the disclosure, Zimbabwe’s Morgan Tsvangirai was investigated by the regime of Robert Mugabe for “treasonous collusion between local Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world,” as the country’s attorney general put it. Even more dangerous were leaks of operational secrets, including the names of Afghan informants working with U.S. coalition forces against the Taliban. A Navy SEAL who participated in the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan testified that Manning’s leaks were found on the terrorist’s computer. Little wonder that at the time Obama criticized “the deplorable action by WikiLeaks.” Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the document dump “puts people’s lives in danger” and was “an attack on America’s foreign policy,” its partnerships and alliances. Prosecutors initially sought a life sentence against Manning, who was eventually convicted of 17 of 22 charges, including espionage and theft. Within 24 hours of sentencing in 2013, Manning said he wanted to begin hormone therapy and be known as Chelsea. Last year the Army agreed to finance her medical treatment for gender dysphoria. In December the ACLU and numerous LGBT groups wrote to Obama urging that he grant clemency to Manning, in part on grounds that she has been held in solitary confinement after suicide attempts. The commutation sends a dreadful message to others in the military who might have grievances or other problems but haven’t stolen national secrets. The lesson is that if you can claim gender dysphoria or some other politically correct condition, you can betray your country and get off lightly. Obama also commuted the sentence of Puerto Rican terrorist Oscar López Rivera, who was convicted of “seditious conspiracy” against the U.S. government. He belonged to the FALN, which was responsible for more than 70 bombings in the U.S. between 1974 and 1983, killing five and injuring dozens. Rivera, who has been in prison since 1981, had become the political project of “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is a pal of President Obama. No word from the White House on whether the President alerted the families of the FALN’s victims. Retweeting Donald Trump hen Donald Trump was improve people’s lives there. Obama elected president, it felt to me was all talk. I’m all action. Call me like the most reckless thing Friday after 1 p.m. 202-456-1414. I’ll our country had done in my lifetime. show you how legit I am.” But like many Americans, I hoped for What if on New Year’s Trump the best: He’ll grow into the job. He’ll — instead of tweeting “Happy New surround himself with good people. Year to all, including to my many The country could use a jolt of fresh enemies” who “lost so badly they thinking. He’ll back off some of his just don’t know what to do” — had Thomas most extreme views. Friedman tweeted: “Happy New Year to every But now that Trump is about to put American — especially to Hillary Comment his hand on the Bible and be sworn in, Clinton and her supporters who fought I’ve never been more worried for my a tough campaign — very tough. Let’s country. It’s for many reasons, but most of all together make 2017 amazing (!!!!!!) for every because of the impulsive, petty and juvenile American. Love!” tweeting the president-elect has engaged in What if, after a cast member of the musical during his transition. “Hamilton” appealed to Vice President-elect It suggests an immaturity, a lack of respect Mike Pence to “uphold our American values” for the office he’s about to hold, a person and “work on behalf of all of us,” Trump easily distracted by shiny — instead of denouncing objects, and a lack of basic the actor as being “very decency that could roil his rude and insulting” and government and divide the claiming he “couldn’t even country. I fear that we’re memorize lines” — had about to stress our unity and instead tweeted: “To the cast institutions in ways not seen of Hamilton: Appreciate since the Vietnam War. your sincere concern for As a leader, you only our country. When I am in have one chance to make the room where it happens, a second impression. And good stuff will happen. I it is troubling how badly will not throw away my shot Trump wasted his. A recent to work on behalf of all of Gallup poll found that only us!!!” 44 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s What if Trump — instead of calling Senate handling of his transition — compared with 83 Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “head percent for President Barack Obama’s and 61 clown” — had tweeted: “Chuck, you are THE percent for George W. Bush’s. MAN!!! Top Democrat now that Obama’s Yes, I know, in his Inaugural Address gone!!! You love to deal. Send me your best Trump will again summon us to “bind health care experts and we’ll fix this thing the wounds of division.” But given all his together in 24 hours, so every American gets impulsive digital ax wielding, those words better, cheaper care. We’ll both be heroes will ring hollow. He’s already emptied them of (well, me just a little bit more). Call me!!!” all emotional force with his venomous tweets That is the sound of magnanimity. It would and refusal to bring even one Democrat into have generated a flood of good will that would his Cabinet. make solving every big problem easier. And it Trump is hardly the first person elected would have cost Trump nothing. president to have his legitimacy attacked. I’ve noted before that one of my favorite Indeed, he led the onslaught on Obama’s movies is “Invictus,” which tells how legitimacy. But more than any president since Nelson Mandela, when he became South Richard Nixon, Trump has shown himself Africa’s president, built trust with the white incapable of turning the other cheek and community. Shortly after Mandela took power, converting doubters into allies. In an age that his sports advisers wanted to change the name demands giant leadership, he’s behaved utterly and colors of the country’s famed rugby team small. — the almost all-white “Springboks” — to What if, after Meryl Streep used her something more reflective of black African acceptance speech at the Golden Globes identity. to decry Trump’s cruel impersonation of a Mandela refused. He told his black aides handicapped reporter, Trump — instead of that the key to making whites feel at home in ridiculously calling her “one of the most a black-led South Africa was not uprooting overrated actresses in Hollywood” — had all of their cherished symbols. “We have to tweeted: “Meryl Streep, greatest actress ever, surprise them with restraint and generosity,” ever, ever. Stuff happens in campaigns, Meryl. said Mandela. Even I have regrets. But watch, I’ll make you Most Americans are good-hearted people proud of my presidency!!!!” who are actually starved to feel united again. What if, after John Lewis, the congressman Many who voted against Trump would have and civil rights hero, questioned the given him a second look had he surprised legitimacy of Trump’s election, Trump hadn’t them with generosity and grace. He did just sneered that Lewis was “all talk, talk, talk” the opposite. Sad. and “should spend more time on fixing and ■ helping his district, which is in horrible Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer shape.” What if Trump instead tweeted: “John Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for Lewis, a great American, let’s walk together The New York Times. He became the paper’s through your district and develop a plan to foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist. W Most Americans are good- hearted people who are actually starved to feel united again. YOUR VIEWS Anti-Trump rhetoric should focus on help and support Those congressional Democrats planning to boycott Trump’s inauguration remind me of spoiled children pouting because they didn’t get picked first for playground teams. Then there are those high-profile Hollywood left-wing snowflakes loudly bad-mouthing Trump or anything conservative that makes common sense. It seems the East Oregonian also plans to continue with anti-Trump rants. The Jan. 17 edition’s editorial page is filled with liberal negatives including Timothy Egan’s drivel, an editorial so biased it should upset even some of the liberal readers. Ron Linn, in his letter to editor on Jan.10, stated it best by saying, “We don’t need a checkout-line tabloid, we need a newspaper with fair and balanced content.” People subscribe to this paper, with no other options, for local northeast Oregon news. We get double doses of worldwide liberal news just by watching television. Trump is our president for the next four years. All of this nasty rhetoric is sad because that same energy should be focused on helping, not hindering, the new administration. Our United States is capable of amazing things that can benefit all citizens. Constructive criticism is always acceptable, especially if it helps solve a problem. As a child I was told, “If you can’t say something good, then its better to not say anything!” How about saying and doing things that are positive for a change? Merlyn Robinson Heppner 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. Be heard! Comment online at www.eastoregonian.com
