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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2017)
A4 Opinion Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Election interference not a partisan issue R eports of Russian interference in a United States election should be concerning to all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. A foreign government meddling in the very process that allows citizens to chose their representatives is not a partisan issue. And multiple nonpartisan U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as intelligence agencies of some foreign allies, have reported that Russia attempted to influence our democratic process. It doesn’t matter who won the election. Outside interference is an affront to our way of life. Almost as scary as the fact that our country has come under cyberattack is the fact our population has become so polarized some are more willing to see their neighbors as enemies than a foreign power actively trying to manipulate our country for their benefit. This is something that should bring us together. In the face of a real enemy, we should remember we’re all Americans. We’re all on the same side in this fight. We should all want to know exactly what happened during the run up to the 2016 election. We should all demand the truth, so we are better protected from interference in future elections. Questioning and condemning a foreign country’s involvement should not be conflated as an attack on our president. Unless an investigation determines a member of President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded in the interference or that the president obstructed justice regarding the investigation into the matter, he should be presumed innocent. No evidence has been presented that either occurred. There is ample evidence, however, that Russia attempted to influence our election and undermine our democracy. That should be concerning to everyone, including the president, both political parties and every elected official. Election interference is not a party-line issue. It is a threat to all Americans. T HE B ACKROADS What’s in a family? By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle With the Rainbow Family con- verging on Grant County, some comments got me thinking about the bonds that tie a family together — blood relation or otherwise. I’m sure we all have some rela- tives we wish we could disown. In that, we may all have at least some- thing in common with the Rainbow Family, which is quick to make the distinction between actual Rainbow Family members and those who just show up at the big family reunion to party. After the stabbing at the Spring Council meeting, where the location for the larger gathering was deter- mined earlier this month, the victim reported on social media the attacker — high on LSD and alcohol — had never been to a Rainbow Family event and was not a true member of the family. The event, after all, aims to promote peace. It makes some sense. If you’re out camping and someone comes into your camp and stabs someone, the blame generally lies with the person who did the stabbing. The problem with the Rainbow Family is that they essentially put out an open invitation to join the family for a massive gathering each year. And by turning no one away and having no leaders and no rules, the family basically adopts anyone who shows up and then allows them to do whatever they want. In this way, the people are no longer outsiders. They’re members of the family, following the family code, which just happens not to have any rules. The distinction between the ac- tual peace-loving Rainbow Family members and the drug-addled mis- creants who show up fades away because the group welcomes any- one. So whether or not they want to claim them, everyone who shows up truly is a member of this odd family reunion. And a family is responsible for its children. Every negative action that oc- curs, regardless of how many gath- erings the person has attended, is directly attributable to this Rainbow Family as a whole. Every person who participates in the gathering, whether or not they do anything wrong, shares in the responsibility for everything that occurs. Any and all damage to the for- est. Every item stolen in towns on the way there. Every person treated poorly by those who lack respect for the locale and locals upon which this gathering descends. While we all may wish we could disown a family member or two, we often fi nd we’re stuck with them. The same goes for the Rainbow Family. Sean Hart is the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle. G UEST C OMMENT Let us welcome the Rainbow By Rev. David Seacord To the Blue Mountain Eagle Please join with me in wel- coming the Rainbow Gathering to Grant County. Yes, it wasn’t on the official calendar, and it’s not in the county budget either, and it reputedly gives numerous officials nightmares because it challenges the norms and status quo and causes them “problems.” But truth be told, I bet that even those most vocally opposed to it fully enjoy the soapbox it gives them, just as I suspect the police reinforcements and Forest Service special teams would all be mighty disappointed if it just folded up and blew away and left them with their boredom. I mean, it’s the most exciting real life drama to come our way in a good while — certainly much more stimulating than it’s going to be getting a crook in your neck watching an eclipse. Nobody has a for-or-against opinion about the eclipse, right? It’s not controversial at all, and it’s just a lucky break of astron- omy that it’s happening here at all. But the Rainbow Gathering? Oh my God, those out-of-the- box, creative-thinker, tree-hug- ger, love-everybody loonies? Ten or 20 or 30 thousand of them here? Now that’s a reason to have an opinion. It’s something to talk about. It’s something that’s, well, so dif- ferent that it’s almost wonderful. Correction: is wonderful. As a love-everybody loony that has become old enough to be a respected artist around here, and who’s from a local family to boot, I’d like to say, “Hey, slow down, give it a chance.” I’ve been to a few of these gatherings. I know I didn’t like everything I saw happening, but that didn’t stop me from having a great time either. Truth is, all over the world people are different. In fact, they develop cohesive cultures — and foods and languages too. Then we pay a lot of good money to trav- el a long ways to go visit them, see them and eat their special foods. Well, for this, we don’t have to travel so far. Just a few miles, and you will be welcomed to en- ter a utopian social experiment event that you will remember for the rest of your life. I can’t, of course, say what you’ll expe- rience, but I do know it won’t be your normal cup of morning tea. It will give you something to both talk and think about. So what I have to say about it is: Let’s be great about it. Let’s show them our most human, most tolerant side. It will be good for us to get stretched like this — just like a good morn- ing stretch does good for our bodies. And remember, it’s tempo- rary. It will pass. Long term, what will help us here out the most is if everybody that comes ends up with great memories of Grant County, Oregon. We can give them that, and when we look back on this summer, we’ll be glad we did. The Rev. David Seacord is a fine art painter who lives in Prai- rie City. He has attended Rain- bow Gatherings in the past. Guest comments do not reflect the views of the Blue Mountain Eagle. Editor’s note: Seacord sub- mitted two longer opinion pieces about the Rainbow Gathering, which are available to view at myeaglenews.com. L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR School board recognizes service To the Editor: The Eagle missed the mark. I am extremely disappointed that the re- cent coverage of the June 7 Grant School District board meeting con- sisted solely of a single agenda item. What should have been reported is that fi ve outstanding individuals were honored for their exemplary service to our students and to our district. We celebrated the extraor- dinary educational careers of Peggy Murphy, 34+ years, and Marilyn Berry, 18+ years, as teachers at Humbolt Elementary School. Hun- dreds of students, including many in the audience and two of my own children, had the benefi t of their outstanding guidance and instruc- tion. In addition, Julie Reynolds was recognized as our wonderful long-time drama advisor, and Tom Haney was thanked for his 27 years of as our highly skilled custodian. Finally, Gordon Larson concluded 12 years of dedicated and selfl ess service on the school board. Several were presented with a beautiful framed print from a paint- ing by Kim Robertson Randleas, local artist and graduate of Grant Union High School. The original art is the artist’s homage to the schools and students of District No. 3. I want to express my deepest respect and appreciation to these highly professional and effective members of our community. Our students are truly fortunate to have had the benefi t of your service. Chris Cronin Grant School District board chair Media inadvertently aided in Trump election To the Editor: I found an interesting concept in an article by Michael Goodwin, po- litical columnist and co-author, re- garding how the media inadvertently aided in the election of Trump. The media portrayed Trump as the can- didate nobody took seriously, and through that their ostentatious goal was to elect the next Democratic president. Because of the mockery of ego-laden journalists and late-night comics, Trump was unconsciously given close to a billion dollars in free media coverage. That belayed reali- zation made many media executives, producers and journalists furious. They decided that the standards of fairness and nonpartisanship could be abandoned without consequence and opened the door for the reporter opinions, which refl ected a clear bias against Trump and continues unabat- ed today. The behavior of the media is a disgrace and an insult to those capable of common sense and moral decency. It does not stop there because the media hates those who elected Trump for using media’s bad judg- ment against them and electing the person they characterized as incom- petent. The media basks in the false ideology displayed in the movie “All the President’s Men,” and they want to stand glorifi ed as being the ones to bring down a Republican president. Media standards and conscience are dead, and it is refl ected in the ma- jority of news media today. There is no nonpartisan reporting at any level. I would wager most reporting is bought and paid for by local, re- gional, state and national infl uences. It stares us in the face every day in newspapers, radio, TV, public media such as Facebook, Twitter, et al. I strongly recommend everyone be a bit skeptical about any political news coverage. No one should have their intelligence served to them by biased reporters and journalists. Judy Kerr Canyon City L etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. 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