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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, February 3, 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 the distinguished citizens from Hermiston and Pendleton, and dozens of other smaller cities in the region, who were celebrated recently at awards banquets in their respective towns. Firefighters and librarians, mothers and fathers, business owners and lifelong volunteers were all feted, and deservedly so. They help make all our little communities work. Without them, each would be less prosperous and personable. As our reporter Jade McDowell noticed, compassion was the thread that went through this week’s festivities in Hermiston. If you want to make a mark in your community and engender admiration and appreciation, being compassionate to as many people as possible is the best way to do it. And it’s heartening to know compassion is something everyone is capable of, no matter how much money or time or smarts or strength they have. It’s about being conscious and sympathetic to the problems of others, and desiring to alleviate it. You distinguished citizens provide a great example. A tip of a hat to the death of the House Bill 621, a disastrous provision that would have sold 3.3 million acres of public land in the American West. The outcry against it was fierce, and it came from all sides. Conservationists, hunters and anglers, hikers and ATVers were up in arms over the bill sponsored by Sen. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. The pushback was so strong and so one-sided that Chaffetz decided to quickly withdraw the bill. “I’m a proud gun owner, hunter and love our public lands,” he said when doing so. “The bill would have disposed of small parcels of lands President Clinton identified as serving no public purpose but groups I support and care about fear it sends the wrong message. The bill was originally introduced several years ago. I look forward to working with you. I hear you and HR 621 dies tomorrow.” It’s a good reminder that the American people can pull the strings of power when they show up and speak up. Thousands of people did just that in capitols from Utah to Montana to Nevada. And calling your legislator works, too — Chaffetz said he heard from numerous organizations and many more constituents and Americans from all corners of the country. The West is better off because of it. 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 Clean Fuels Program will affect transportation deal The (Albany) Democrat-Herald W ill Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program throw a wrench yet again into the Legislature’s ability to approve a transportation package? That’s how it played out during the 2015 session, when attempts to approve a transportation deal to pay for badly needed improvements to the state’s roads and bridges foundered on Republican objections regarding the fuels program. The program itself is a well-meaning attempt to reduce the carbon intensity of Oregon’s transportation fuels by 10 percent over the next decade. It’s not clear whether the program will do much to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but it’s been estimated that it will increase the price of fuel: Previous estimates say it could cost consumers anywhere from 4 cents to $1 a gallon, although Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday that, thus far, the program has added less than a penny (0.25 cents) to the cost of a gallon of fuel in Oregon. (Remember that the Oregon Environmental Commission has voted to delay enforcement of the mandates until 2018 to allow time to develop cost-containment strategies and to work on other tweaks to the program.) Democrats went ahead and renewed the fuel program during the 2015 session, despite warnings from Republicans that they would be unable to support any later transportation package that relied on an increase in the gas tax. Republicans said they didn’t want to saddle their constituents with what amounted to two separate price increases at the pump. GOP legislators stayed true to that promise, and since the increase in the gas tax required at least some Republican support, the transportation package died. The 2017 session is scheduled to begin in earnest next week, and the transportation package is at or near the top on just about everyone’s “to do” list. And, in fact, a joint committee of legislators has been traveling the state to gather information for the package, including ways to pay for it. But if the package requires tax increases, it still will require some votes from Republicans. And it became clear on Thursday, during a legislative preview session sponsored by The Associated Press, that Republican leaders still consider the Clean Fuels Program to be an obstacle to a transportation package. In fact, “obstacle” was the exact word used by Ted Ferrioli, the GOP’s minority leader in the Senate. What was not clear on Thursday — and likely will not be clear until later in the session — was whether Democrats are willing to consider changes to the fuels program. Sen. Ginny Burdick, the Democratic Senate leader, urged flexibility from both sides but noted that she was gratified that the focus was on finding the best ways to reach the state’s overall goal of carbon reduction and not on a debate over whether the state should be reducing emissions in the first place. Gov. Brown said Thursday that she was open to options, but has said in the past that she’s not in favor of wholesale changes to the program — and the fact that she was ready with that new estimate of increased fuel costs suggests that she still feels that way. But she, and other Democrats, might need to set those feelings aside and prepare to do some bargaining. The logjam over the transportation package was likely the signature failure of the 2015 session. In fact, you might recall, Brown vowed early in the session that she wouldn’t let legislators leave Salem until that particular deal was done. Then they left, with no deal in hand. This session will be considerably more difficult than its 2015 counterpart, especially with a $1.8 billion budget shortfall looming. Still, the Legislature can’t afford to leave Salem this year without a finished transportation deal. Prepare to do some bargaining. The extremist in our midst W henever an extremist in Japanese-Americans in 1942. When the Muslim world does we’re fearful, we’re vulnerable to something crazy, people politicians who play on our fears demand that moderate Muslims step and scapegoat immigrants; in the forward to condemn the extremism. fullness of time, we come to regret our So let’s take our own advice: We xenophobic behavior and to appreciate Americans should now condemn our the immigrants. own extremist. So I apologize to Muslims. I have In that spirit, I hereby apologize Nicholas seen the worst of Islam, but also the to Muslims. The mindlessness and Kristof best. heartlessness of the travel ban should The newly chosen Rhodes scholars Comment humiliate us, not you. Understand include a Somali refugee, Ahmed this: President Donald Trump is not Ahmed, who was born in a Kenya America! refugee camp and was admitted to the U.S. I apologize to Nadia Murad, the brave as a 1-year-old. Raised by a struggling single young Yazidi woman from Iraq who was mom, sometimes showing up at high school made a sex slave — but since escaping, has at 5:30 a.m. to study, he attended Cornell campaigned around the world against ISIS and and won the university’s outstanding student sexual slavery. She has been nominated for award. Such people don’t threaten us, but a Nobel Peace Prize yet is enrich us. now barred from the United If we need an inspiring States. example of how moderates I apologize to Edna can successfully challenge Adan, a heroic Somali extremists, consider an woman who has battled extraordinary Somali for decades for women’s gynecologist, Dr. Hawa health and led the fight Abdi, who ran a displaced against female genital persons camp in Somalia, mutilation. Edna speaks at including a 400-bed hospital U.S, universities, champions girls’ education (and a jail for men who beat their wives). and defies extremists — and she’s one of those Islamic militants, enraged that a woman inspiring me to do the same. was running such an important enterprise, I don’t want to take Trump-as-an-extremist ordered her to hand it over. When she refused, too far: He’s not beheading anyone, and 750 armed militants from the Party of Islam the security challenge is real. Nobody has a attacked the camp and ordered Abdi to run it problem with improving safety, and Presidents under their direction. She refused. George W. Bush and Barack Obama both Yet Abdi’s camp, serving 90,000 people, oversaw improvements in vetting. Yet Trump was just about the only thing working properly tackled the issue in a way that bolsters the in Somalia, and Somalis at home and around ISIS narrative and thus makes us less safe. the world united to denounce the militants and In effect, Trump took a real problem, speak up for her. The pressure on the gunmen inflated it with hysteria, handled it with grew. Finally, they slunk off. incompetence and created an unjust policy that If Somalis can stand up to extremists, we targets seven mostly impoverished Muslim can, too. countries that haven’t produced a single Indeed, that is happening. When Japanese- person involved in a lethal terrorist attack Americans were rounded up, other Americans in America since before 9/11. Islamophobia were silent. Today, it is heartwarming to see swirls through the order, and Rudy Giuliani Americans of all creeds standing up against has helpfully explained that Trump asked him similar bigotry. In Victoria, Texas, after a to devise a way to create a Muslim ban and mysterious fire destroyed the only mosque just “do it legally.” hours after Trump announced his travel ban, There’s a certain symmetry here. local Jewish leaders gave Muslims a key to I’ve sat down in mosques in Pakistan, their synagogue. Four churches also offered Afghanistan and Yemen and heard jihadis their space for as long as needed, and in just justify intolerance. Those men (always men!) a few days, people of all faiths contributed $1 “otherize” infidels as fundamentally different, million to build a new mosque. as threats who must be confronted; Trump At an airport protest, one much-shared “otherizes” Muslims in a similar way. photo showed a Jewish man and a Muslim Trump’s national security adviser, Mike man protesting side by side, each with a child Flynn, has referred to Islam as a “cancer” on his shoulders. and has shared a video asserting that Islam My dream is of the day when Jews “wants 80 percent of humanity enslaved or protest Islamophobia, Muslims denounce exterminated.” That’s the mirror image of the the persecution of Christians and Christians bigotry I hear from jihadis who tell me that stand against anti-Semitism. That’s why I Jews were behind the 9/11 attacks. apologize to Muslims, and it’s why ALL of us, The real chasm is not between Muslims not just Muslims, should stand up to condemn and others, but between the moderates and the extremism in our midst. extremists of whatever religion. ■ A Reuters poll found that many Americans Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and approve of Trump’s travel ban, but that’s cherry farm in Yamhill. Kristoff, a columnist not surprising. The same was true of barring for The New York Times since 2001, twice won Jewish refugees in the 1930s, and of interning the Pulitzer Prize. If Somalis can stand up to extremists, then we can, too. YOUR VIEWS Trump’s immigration policy void of moral leadership President Trump’s immigration travel ban violates the spirit and principles of our Constitution on at least two fronts: It discriminates against people of color (racial discrimination) and it discriminates against Muslims (religious discrimination). Many would-be travelers are already green card holders with certain rights. Does anyone really think any white Anglo-Saxon Protestants will be applying for travel from any of the seven countries the ban applies to? No, and this clearly makes the ban both racial and religious discrimination. All but one of the Twin Towers attackers on September 11, 2001, in New York City were from Saudi Arabia. So why is Saudi Arabia not included in Trump’s ban? The reason is the Trump Organization has many current business deals and interests in Saudi Arabia. If the ban applied to Saudi Arabians, it might upset their political and business leaders, and they could retaliate with leverage of their own against the Trump Organization and this could threaten The Donald’s business profits. And that is the last thing Trump wants. So this is what we get when the country elects a television showman and celebrity to our presidency. Trump is also a con man, but a not-so-slick con man who got caught by the courts at least twice. Trump University had to settle with students who sued him for fraud, and one of his exclusive golf courses in Florida had to recently reimburse former members millions of dollars for some bad deal or another that went sour. The President of the United States is supposed to provide moral leadership for the entire nation and country, but where is the moral leadership of the president in these situations? Bob Shippentower Pendleton 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.
