A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Food chain
infrastructure
must be secured
L
ike many people, we
weren’t aware until re-
cently that the nation’s
meatpacking industry was so
technologically sophisticated
and dependent that it could be
hacked and shut down by bad
actors.
The apparent vulnera-
bility in these systems calls
into question the security of
the food supply chain in the
United States — a clear and
present danger if we’ve ever
heard one.
On May 31, JBS USA, a
subsidiary of JBS, the world’s
largest meat processing com-
pany, announced the company
had been hit by an “organized
cybersecurity attack” over the
previous weekend.
According to the company’s
statement, JBS determined it
was the target of a ransom-
ware attack aff ecting some
servers in its North American
and Australian IT systems.
In response to the attack,
JBS says it took immediate
action, suspending all aff ected
systems and calling on third-
party experts to help resolve
the problem. It also later
admitted that it paid $11 mil-
lion in bitcoin to its system’s
captors.
The damage, however brief,
was real. Ranchers with reg-
ularly scheduled deliveries to
JBS had to scramble to sell
their livestock to other proces-
sors, at lower prices, and dis-
tributors with active orders
had to buy from other vendors
at a premium. So, another case
where people selling live ani-
mals were short-changed and
people buying processed prod-
uct upstream had to pay higher
prices.
JBS isn’t the only large
meat processing company that
depends on computer technol-
ogy. They all do. The problem
is magnifi ed because just a
handful of companies control
most of the production.
The truth is that just about
everything in the food supply
chain is controlled in one way
or another by computers, won-
derfully useful technology that
very few of the people who
use it really understand.
The more complicated the
plumbing, the easier it is to
plug it up. The incident with
JBS demonstrates how vulner-
able vital infrastructure is to
hacking.
After the hack, Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack said
food chain security was one
of the things USDA would
address with its share of Pres-
ident Biden’s $1 trillion infra-
structure proposal. We would
hope so, but no specifi cs were
provided.
The federal government
and the companies that depend
on computer technology have
to take security seriously,
and must make the necessary
investment to secure the infra-
structure. If it is not safe, we
are not safe.
FARMER’S FATE
A symbol of national unity
W
e celebrated National
Flag Week last month! An
entire week devoted to fl y-
ing our beautiful Stars and Stripes.
Instead of thinking about the things
that divide us, it delights me that we
have an entire week set aside for us
to think about the things that unite us:
our national anthem, the Constitution,
our fl ag.
Ronald Reagan once said: “We’re
blessed with the opportunity to stand
for something — for liberty and free-
dom and fairness. And these are things
worth fi ghting for, worth devoting our
lives to.”
So to do our part to show our love
of country, we spent an afternoon fas-
tening American fl ags to our tractors
and equipment. When we were fi n-
ished, it looked as if we were ready
for a parade. The red and white stripes
billowing in the breeze reached deep
into my soul and ignited that spark of
pride for country, loyalty and patrio-
tism. Watching those fl ags evoked a
passionate emotion of being united to
something bigger than me, bigger than
my family, my town, my state. Being
connected to people across the ages
— people who have fought under her
stripes, loved under her stars and have
been buried under her linen. Adrian
Cronauer, a U.S. Air Force sergeant
and radio personality whose experi-
ences inspired the 1987 fi lm “Good
Morning, Vietnam,” once said, “Our
fl ag is not just one of many politi-
cal points of view. Rather, the fl ag is a
symbol of our national unity.”
A symbol of our national unity —
Americans united under Old Glory.
My reverie was broken as a sideways
glance revealed both of my sons star-
ing reverently up at the waving fl ags.
In that moment, they were not likely
thinking about the Constitution, our
Founding Fathers or the liberty that
they provided for us, but they still
stood in reverent awe as the Stars and
Strips waved jauntily over the tops
of the tractors. The federal fl ag code
says the fl ag is a living symbol. And
in that moment there seemed no doubt
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S.
Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820.
Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-
0515. Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825.
Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187.
Email: dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-575-
1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek
97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-
3075. Email: info@cityofl ongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon
97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-
4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City
97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566.
Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873.
Phone and fax: 541-542-2161. Email:
senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol,
Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax:
503-378-6827. Website: governor.state.or.us/
governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.
state.or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and
Oregon Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313,
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale — 900 Court St.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1730. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: sen.lynnfi ndley@oregonlegislature.
gov.
• Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane — 900 Court St.
NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1460. District address: 258 S. Oregon St.,
Ontario OR 97914. District phone: 541-889-
8866. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: rep.markowens@oregonlegislature.
gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-
comments: 202-456-1111; Switchboard:
202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate
Offi ce Building, Washington D.C. 20510.
Phone: 202-224-5244. Email: wayne_kinney@
wyden.senate.gov. Website: http://wyden.
senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Offi ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email: senator@
merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-228-3997.
Oregon offi ces include One World Trade
Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1250,
Portland, OR 97204; and 310 S.E. Second St.,
Suite 105, Pendleton, OR 97801. Phone: 503-
326-3386; 541-278-1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
• U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R — (Second District)
1239 Longworth Building, Washington D.C.
20515. Phone: 202-225-6730. No direct email
because of spam. Website: walden.house.
gov Fax: 202-225-5774. Ontario offi ce: 2430
SW Fourth Ave., Suite 2, Ontario, OR 97914.
Phone: 541-709-2040. Medford offi ce: 14 N.
Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501.
Phone: 541-776-4646. Fax: 541-779-0204.
• Pending Bills: For information on bills in
Congress. Phone: 202-225-1772.
it touched us on a
spiritual level. The
moment seemed to
call for something
more. Clergyman
Gerald Stanley Lee
(1862-1944) said,
Brianna
“America is a tune.
Walker
It must be sung
together.” With the
help of YouTube, we listened to Lee
Greenwood sing about those broad
strips and bright stars in the land of
the free, while we admired the patri-
otic machinery.
Later, in the swather, my 5-year-
old watched the fl ag whipping in the
wind. He especially enjoyed turning at
the end of the rows, because the fl ag
stood straight out. As young kids often
do, he began asking questions about
the fl ag. Why is it red, white and blue?
How is it special? What is Flag Day
for? Some questions I could answer;
others I didn’t know — but it pre-
sented a beautiful opportunity to learn
some history about our nation’s beau-
tiful fl ag with my children.
Flag Day is a celebration of the
American fl ag that occurs each year
on the anniversary of the fl ag’s offi cial
adoption — June 14, 1777. During the
Revolutionary War, colonial troops
fought under many diff erent fl ags with
various symbols — rattlesnakes, pine
trees and eagles — using slogans such
as “Don’t Tread on Me,” “Liberty or
Death” and “Conquer or Die.”
When the Second Continental
Congress met to create a unifi ed colo-
nial army, they also adopted a unit-
ing fl ag with the following resolution:
“The fl ag of the United States shall
be thirteen stripes, alternate red and
white, with a union of thirteen stars
of white on a blue fi eld representing a
new Constellation”
George Washington is reported
to have said about the new fl ag: “We
take the stars from heaven, the red
from our mother country, separating it
by white stripes, thus showing that we
have separated from her and the white
stripes shall go down in posterity, rep-
—Ronald Reagan
resenting our liberty.”
One of the fi rst designs had the
stars arranged in a circle based on the
idea that all the colonies were equal.
In 1818, after a few design changes,
the U.S. Congress decided to retain
the fl ag’s original 13 stripes and add
new stars to refl ect each new state
that entered the union. The Continen-
tal Congress left no record as to why
it chose red, white and blue. However,
in 1782, when the Congress of the
Articles of Confederation chose the
colors for the Great Seal of the United
States they stated: white for purity and
innocence; red for valor and hardi-
ness; and blue for vigilance, persever-
ance and justice.
While its adoption happened in
1777, Flag Day wasn’t offi cially
established until 1916 by Wood-
row Wilson. In 1949, Harry Truman
signed legislation that made it into
a national day set aside to honor the
powerful symbol of freedom, hope
and opportunity that we call Old
Glory.
So as I head back to the tractor
to proudly fl y my Stars and Stripes,
let me leave you with one of my
favorite Mark Twain quotes on
patriotism:
“Patriotism is supporting your
country all the time — and your
government when it deserves it.” —
Mark Twain
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
‘Shared threats
demand shared
solutions’
To the Editor:
In his opening remarks to the
security panel at the April 22 Lead-
ers Summit on Climate, U.S. Secre-
tary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated:
“Today, no nation can fi nd last-
ing security without addressing the
climate crisis. ... (R)ising tempera-
tures and more frequent and intense
extreme weather events in Africa
and Central America threaten mil-
lions with drought, hunger and dis-
placement. As families risk their
lives in search of safety and secu-
rity, mass migration leaves them
vulnerable to exploitation and rad-
icalization, all of which undermine
stability.”
In the Northern Triangle coun-
tries of El Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras, warming oceans are dam-
aging coral reefs and fi sheries, while
severe drought is causing families
to abandon their farms. To quote cli-
mate scientist Edwin Castellanos of
the Universidad del Valle de Guate-
mala: “Extreme poverty may be the
primary reason people leave. But cli-
mate change is intensifying all the
existing factors.”
Many of the consequences of
our carbon dioxide emissions were
foreseen. In a 1977 presentation to
Exxon management on the green-
house eff ect, company science advi-
sor J.F. Black warned that warming
the planet would be likely to aff ect
the distribution of the world’s rain-
fall. According to Black, “Some
countries would benefi t, but others
could have their agricultural output
reduced or destroyed.”
Remarkably, in a 2012 inter-
view, then Exxon CEO Rex Tiller-
son claimed: “Changes to weather
patterns that move crop production
areas around — we’ll adapt to that.”
However, when people leave a place
that global warming is rendering
uninhabitable, moving is their adap-
tation. And desperate migrants are
often demonized for this.
In light of partisan diff erences
on including climate provisions
in the infrastructure bill, and with
high profi le visits taking place at the
southern border, the United States
stands at a crossroads. As the great-
est cumulative emitter, what role
will our nation play in helping to
heal our increasingly hotter and
inhospitable world?
Let’s heed the closing words of
Defense Secretary Austin: “None of
us can tackle this problem alone. We
share this planet, and shared threats
demand shared solutions.”
Terry Hansen
Hales Corners, Wisconsin
L
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“WHEN WE HONOR
OUR FLAG, WE
HONOR WHAT
WE STAND FOR
AS A NATION
— FREEDOM,
EQUALITY, JUSTICE
AND HOPE.”
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