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The INDEPENDENT, April 17, 2003
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Thursdays of each month, by
Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Vernonia,
OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni An
dersen. Editor, Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410,
e-mail: noni@vernonia.com Display Advertising, Clark Mc-
Gaugh, 503-429-9410, e-mail: clark@vernonia.com
................ ................. ............. —..................... ........................................
War keeps attention
away from economy
While America has been distracted, sitting in front of
the television and watching the war against Iraq as
though it were a sporting contest, the economy has
continued to fall into a deeper hole.
Some 2.4 million jobs have been lost since George
Bush took office, 600,000 of them since November.
Factory orders dropped 1.5 percent in February, the
steepest drop in five months.
MWA. 7 7 <ç>
Unemployment rose in March as 108,000 jobs dis
appeared, 1,200 of them in Oregon. The increase in
unemployment wasn’t large because of the number of
people have been out of work so long that their bene
fits are long gone and they no longer count - even as
Letters
statistics.
Is this all the fault of the president? No, but it is his Logging practices do water. We, members of the Up
per Nehalem Watershed Coun
responsibility to use his position to help the people of affect water quality
cil, would welcome a represen
this country.
tative from the city at our meet
To The Editor:
Here is how he proposes to help.
ings.
It is true that logging is not
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Prior
Respectfully,
new
to
the
Rock
Creek
Basin.
Dennis A. Nelson
ities, the Bush administration and his lackeys in the
The entire watershed has been
Vernonia
House have proposed a budget that offers the wealthy
logged once. Some of it is be
another $1.4 trillion in tax cuts while demanding that
ing logged for the third time.
cuts be made elsewhere (must be fiscally responsible,
Propaganda justifies
What is NOT true is any
right?).
suggestion that logging never and promotes war
Those cuts would come from programs that provide has, and never will have, nega
food stamps, school lunches, health care for the poor tive effects on water quality. To the Editor:
Primarily, I want to thank you
and the disabled, temporary assistance to needy fami This denial of reality is refuted
lies, student loans and, unbelievably, even veterans’ by common sense and exten for your informative and accu
rate accounting of our current
sive scientific research.
benefits.
It is also true that forest administration’s policy, product
Under the House plan, $265 billion would have to be
and resulting harm to the Amer
cut from entitlement programs over ten years, about practices have been changing.
Riparian zones and wetlands ican people in your March 20
$165 billion from programs that assist low-income
are receiving more protection. editorial. How shocking to see
Americans.
Logging roads are being engi the compared similarity of the
To quote another Republican president:
neered with water quality and Nazi Reichsmarshal Herman
“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in
concert to fleece the people."
—Abraham Lincoln, January, 1837
So, when your job is gone and you can’t pay the rent
or the utilities, just wrap yourself in the flag. The current
crop of Republicans thinks that’s enough to keep you
warm.
Who profits? Who pays for it?
fish passage a priority. Loggers
are being educated.
Collaborative groups like our
watershed council are actively
involved in assessment, moni
toring and enhancement proj
ects. These efforts have been
rewarded with cleaner water
and more fish in our streams.
It is appropriate that the city
of Vernonia become more inter
ested in it’s source of drinking
Goering’s ideology to our own
propaganda promoted by U.S.
mass media today.
As a grandmother, I remem
ber World War II. I know that
many Americans do not. But
that war was gruesome, as are
all wars. Old military persons
try to glorify it continually in or
der to justify their participation.
It is indeed sad.
They really are heroes for
putting their lives on the line.
The sad part is that they don’t
understand how they were, and
are, manipulated to do that.
They don’t understand the
primary reasons their govern
ment had and why they were
convinced to make such choices.
I wrote a poem. It is with an
guish that I feel the need to
share it at this time.
War is for killing and dying.
Its proponents are simply lying;
Through games
More wealth
More cheers
More fame!
And their couch-potato quarter
back
wearing chaps and a cowboy hat
calls for escalated absurdity
with gutless stupidity
and Immoral exploitive implying,
for brainwashing rhetoric,
Thrusting those IN THE THICK
OF IT,
the INNOCENT, BRAVE and
DENYING!
WAR IS FOR KILLING AND DY
ING!
It’s proponents are simply lying!
Nancy Phillips
Vernonia