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
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