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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
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MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
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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