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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, December 9, 2017 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 EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com OUR VIEW Having a heart for the homeless In today’s paper, you hear from never having a steady address or space to call their own. Some are people without a warm, safe place moving from town to town with to sleep at night, and from people itinerant parents so often that they anxiously teetering on the edge can’t get a consistent education. of homelessness. And you are introduced to distressing statistics that And some are living on the street or the back seat of a car, freezing show that these kinds of dangers are beneath blankets despite nonprofit more common than you might think and government help available to — even here in Eastern Oregon. their families. Homelessness The difficulty of might feel like a The holiday their struggle must big city concern, and it sure is more season is about not be dismissed. are many visible when you remembering the There factors — systemic, travel to Portland, economic and Seattle or Eugene. less fortunate, personal — at play, But you don’t have and remedying but withholding to walk far along the and levee in Pendleton when possible. compassion searching for blame or along the river as a child suffers is a farther downstream sure way prolong the suffering. to see evidence of people living their But as an antidote to this trouble lives without the benefit of shelter. And as the temperature dips below and mistreatment, hopefully you read the Limey Pastor’s column in Friday’s freezing and the weather turns nasty, a lack of housing becomes a matter of paper. He wrote about rescuing a man and a dog living on the street, taking life and death. the dog to a veterinarian and putting Earlier in the week we reported on the warming stations in Pendleton the duo up a few nights in a motel to catch up on sleep and stay warm. and Hermiston, powered completely It was a beautiful story about a man by volunteers, that offer a safe place who puts his faith into real action. for people with nowhere else to turn. These newspapers are a reminder There’s no doubt that’s a life-saving that during the holiday season, there effort. are people out there who are less Those efforts all the more fortunate than us. We must care for important when we think of children them when we can, and sometimes facing those same obstacles. when we believe we cannot. Administrators, teachers and That must be especially true about classmates in all area schools know our young people, especially those children who are doing just that. who need from the community what Some are being bounced around they are not given by their family. between couches and apartments, 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 More wilderness permits a necessary evil By Salem Statesman Journal f it’s accessible, they will come. And they will leave their trash and cause environmental damage. We wish it wasn’t true, but it is. And now because too many are turning to the outdoors for its free recreational opportunities, the rest of us will have to pay to preserve these spots for future generations. The U.S. Forest Service proposed new regulations in June that would require hikers and backpackers to purchase a permit before heading into five wilderness areas between Mount Jefferson and Diamond Peak. Oregon’s outcry was fast and furious. More than 500 members of the public responded. But it’s really just a case of federal land managers in Oregon catching up with their peers in Washington, California, Arizona and elsewhere across the country. The permitting system is the most equitable way to make increased use, and overuse, pay for itself. The areas being considered for an advance-purchase I permit ranging from $6 to $12 are the Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington, Three Sisters, Waldo Lake and Diamond Lake wilderness areas. The proposal includes limits for the number of day hikers and backpackers. Unlike state or national parks, wilderness areas don’t have a lot of options for handling the hordes of people using the areas and the unfortunate damage that accompanies them. Only two areas in Oregon currently require a permit to hike or backpack: the Obsidian Trail in the Three Sisters Wilderness and Pamelia Lake in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The success of those permit programs instituted in the past, and their ability to stem overuse, influenced the proposal. Fewer people have used these areas, and our thoughts are that the folks getting the permits are more mindful of their impact on the environment. As is often the case, a few abusers force the majority of users to pay for the consequences for their actions. A permit system works in others states; it will work in more spots in Oregon, too. OTHER VIEWS Trump, Israel and the art of the giveaway I ’m contemplating writing a book on ignorant and thinks the world started the first year of President Donald the day he was elected, and so he is Trump’s foreign policy, and I easily gamed. already know the name: “The Art of the Just ask the Chinese. Basically, his Giveaway.” first day in office, Trump tore up the In nearly 30 years of covering United 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership States foreign policy, I’ve never seen a (TPP) free-trade deal — clearly president give up so much to so many without having read it or asked China for so little, starting with China and Thomas for any trade concession in return. Israel. In both the Middle Kingdom and Friedman Trump simply threw out the window in the Land of Israel, Christmas came the single most valuable tool the Comment early this year. The Chinese and the United States had for shaping the Jews are both whispering to their kids: geoeconomic future of the region “There really is a Santa Claus.” our way and for pressuring China to open its And his name is Donald Trump. markets to more U.S. goods. Who can blame them? Let’s start with Israel, Trump is now trying to negotiate trade every Israeli government since its founding openings with China alone — bilaterally — and has craved U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as getting basically nowhere. And yet he could its capital. And every U.S. government has have been negotiating with China as the head refrained from doing of a 12-nation TPP trading that, arguing that such a bloc that was based on U.S. recognition should come values and interests and that only in the wake of an controlled 40 percent of the agreed final status peace global economy. Think of accord between Israelis and the leverage we lost. Palestinians — until now. In a column from Hong On Wednesday, Trump Kong in June, a senior just gave it away — for Hong Kong official told free. Such a deal! Why in the world would me: “When Trump did away with TPP, all you just give this away for free and not even your allies’ confidence in the U.S. collapsed.” use it as a lever to advance the prospect of an After the U.S. stopped TPP, “everyone is now Israeli-Palestinian deal? looking to China,” added Jonathan Koon-shum Trump could have said two things to Israeli Choi, chairman of the Chinese General Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. First, he Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong. “But could have said: “Bibi, you keep asking me China is very smart — just keeping its mouth to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. OK, I shut.” will do that. But I want a deal. Here’s what I Just to remind: TPP was a free-trade want from you in return: You will declare an agreement that the Obama team forged with end to all Israeli settlement building in the West Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Bank, outside of the existing settlement bloc Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, that everyone expects to be part of Israel in any Singapore and Vietnam. It was not only the two-state solution.” largest free-trade agreement in history, it Such a trade-off is needed. It would produce was the best ever for U.S. workers, closing a real advance for United States interests and loopholes NAFTA had left open. Some 80 for the peace process. As Dennis Ross, the percent of the goods from our 11 TPP partners veteran American Middle East peace negotiator were coming into the United States duty-free and author of “Doomed to Succeed: The already, while our goods and services were U.S.-Israeli Relationship From Truman to still being hit with thousands of tariffs in their Obama,” explained: “When you stop building countries — which TPP eliminated. outside the settlement blocs, you preserve, As I also noted last June, the other people at a maximum, the possibility of a two-state we disappointed by scrapping TPP, explained outcome and, at a minimum, the ability for James McGregor, author of “One Billion Israelis to separate from Palestinians. Keep up Customers: Lessons From the Front Lines the building in densely populated Palestinian of Doing Business in China,” were China’s areas and separation becomes impossible.” economic reformers: They were hoping that Trump also could have said, as the the emergence of TPP “would force China to former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin reform its trade practices more along American Indyk suggested, that he’d decided “to lines and to open its markets. ... We failed the begin the process of moving the embassy to reformers in China.” western Jerusalem, but at the same time was Trump is susceptible to such giveaways, declaring his willingness to make a parallel not only because he is ignorant, but because announcement that he would establish an he does not see himself as the president of the embassy to the state of Palestine in East United States. He sees himself as the president Jerusalem” — as part of any final status of his base. And because that’s the only support agreement. That would at least have insulated he has left, he feels the need to keep feeding us from looking like we made a one-sided his base by fulfilling crude, ill-conceived gesture that will only complicate peacemaking promises he threw out to them during the and kept the door open to Palestinians. campaign. Today, again, he put another one of In either case, Trump could then have those promises ahead of United States’ national boasted to Israelis and Palestinians that he interest. got them each something that Barack Obama ■ never did — something that advanced the Thomas Friedman, a New York Times peace process and U.S. credibility and did columnist, was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for not embarrass our Arab allies. But Trump is international reporting in Beirut and Israel and a chump. And he is a chump because he is one for commentary. Trump just gave it away — for free. Such a deal! YOUR VIEWS President Trump’s racism runs deep President Trump’s racism is deeply ingrained and embedded in his personality and he chooses to flaunt his racism at any time. For example, at a recent White House ceremony recognizing the famed World War II code talkers of the Navajo Nation, The Donald could not resist using the occasion to make a racial slur. Elizabeth Warren, the democratic senator from Massachusetts, had absolutely nothing to do with the event, yet Trump found the need to twist and undermine the occasion into what he perceived to be his political benefit. During this solemn ceremony, Trump referred to Sen. Warren as “Pocahontas.” Then he stood waiting for everyone to chuckle at his punch line. However, no one did. In my opinion, Trump used his guests, the code talkers, to mock and slur a sitting United States senator. Thus, he mocked and slurred the code talkers as well. The reason President Trump can get away with racist stunts like this is no one will criticize or question him when he does these things. In fact, his so-called “base” will cheer him on for things like this. All the leadership of the Navajo Nation had to say in response was that Trump is “insensitive.” They need to call it for what is — blatant racism. The Navajo Nation leadership also said they appreciate the “honor” President Trump provided to the code talkers. Honor? Trump used the code talkers for his own racist purposes, of taking a cheap shot at a duly elected official because she refuses to bow down to him. Sen. Warren knows her own heritage better than anyone else, and why would anyone else feel the need to question it? The Donald has a racist and twisted need to question the ancestry of people of color, such as the ancestry of President Barack Obama. Although this situation has been put to rest long ago, President Trump has recently been trying to revive it again. Bob Shippentower Pendleton Echo and hate crime A crime does not have to be an illegal activity. A crime can be a senseless or shameful act, or a serious violation of a moral code. The FBI report on hate crimes tells a sobering story according to a recent Washington Post article. In 2016, the FBI counted 6,121 reported incidents nationwide, an increase of 4.6 percent from 2015. In 2015 there was a 6.8 percent increase in hate crimes over 2014. The incident involving Echo city councilman Lou Nakapalau may not rise high enough to be included in an FBI hate crime report but it is certainly of local note. His digital hate speech toward the LGBTQ was picked up by the Miami Herald, the Washington Times, the Chicago Tribune and U.S. News and Word Report, among others. Pam Reese tells us in her Dec. 2 op-ed that when she tried to address this issue at a Echo City Council meeting she was told that councilman Nalapalau’s remarks “were aimed at someone half a world away didn’t really do any harm.” How’s that again? We are increasingly becoming a nation of intolerance with this being an in-your-face local example. As an individual insensitivity, it may not be so bad. But it appears from Pam Reese’s letter this hate crime has the Echo City Council and administration support. To be fair, the city of Echo has issued an apology for the statements made by Councilman Nakapalau. In offering the apology, though, they still appear to lack a nobility of purpose. They still appear not able to see Nakapalau’s remark “I’ll spit on your grave,” in speaking of a gay man, as fostering prejudicial hate. We live in community and the world is our community. Ronald Gavette Pendleton