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The
The INDEPENDENT, September 19, 2012
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month
by The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St.,
Vernonia, OR 97064. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410.
Deadline is noon the Friday before each issue.
Publisher Clark McGaugh, clark@the-independent.net
Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net
Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes
Opinion
Changes at your paper
Starting in October, The Independent will print once
a month. We are not currently generating enough in-
come to print twice a month due to the rising costs of
just about everything and our desire to keep advertis-
ing affordable for local businesses.
The Independent will print once a month through the
rest of this year, with the exception of our traditional
Christmas Greetings issue on the third Wednesday in
December. The monthly issue will be on the first
Wednesday of the month. The deadline will be at noon
the Friday before the print date.
Our goal is to improve The Independent and return
to twice a month. We will continue to print the columns
you read: Out of My Mind by Noni Andersen, Ike Says
by Dale Webb, Can You Dig It? by Schann Nelson,
Food for Thought, Senior News, To Your Health by
Judy Hargis, P.A., Bits & Bites by Jacqueline Ramsay,
Between the Bookends by Nancy Burch (Vernonia)
and Susan Cackler (Banks), Chalk Talk by Dr. Ken
Cox, and Power of the People by Marc Farmer. We will
continue to list the churches and their services, and
the Community Calendar with meetings ranging from
Alcoholics Anonymous to WOEC directors and more.
We will always keep government accountable to you.
Continue to tell us what you want us to write about,
what we do that you like, and what we do that you
don’t like. Keep those press releases coming about the
events in the community that you are involved with so
others can join in those activities. Send in your Letters
to the Editor and tell the community your opinion on
matters of importance to you and others.
Since 1986 we have been, and will continue to be
“The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” and will
provide the independent news and information you
need. For those who remember the TV series Dragnet
– the stories here are true, unlike Dragnet the names
and places have not been changed to protect anybody.
As Sgt. Joe Friday said, “Just the facts.” Don’t accept
copycat imitations that disguise fluff and propaganda
as news
If you think The Independent is important to the
community, tell our advertisers “thank you” for helping
The Independent be your newspaper and encourage
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We’re still here, over 27 years strong and we aren’t
planning to leave you.
Out of My Mind…
by Noni Andersen
I’m cynical about can-
didates’ belief in their own
public statements. It is
what they say in private
gatherings, with no media
around, that reveals who
they really are. And now
we know that Mitt Rom-
ney thinks that 47%-49%
of us have a victim men-
tality and feel like we are entitled to government
handouts.
Veterans, if you use Veterans Administration
medical services you have a “victim” personality
because you feel “entitled” to that service. I
know that because Romney explained it to some
of his friends at a $50,000/plate dinner in Boca
Raton, Florida, last May.
Military wives are probably much worse be-
cause, in addition to their husbands being paid
to protect Romney’s way of life, the wives often
use food stamps and government health care!
Retirees, you don’t get a pass just because
you paid into Social Security most of your life,
you think you’re “entitled” to a government hand-
out!
And Medicare recipients – just forget the
years you paid into that, also forget that a
Medicare premium is deducted from your Social
Security every month.
Parents, it’s downright shameful that you’re
teaching your children to be victims by sending
them to public school or, heaven forbid, by en-
couraging them to use public libraries!
Remember, too, if you lost your job – or your
pension or your home – when the banksters
gambled away your money, you didn’t become a
victim until you accepted unemployment insur-
ance!
At the same time, we “victims” who feel we’re
“entitled” to have our government meet the obli-
gations we pay for with taxes (that Mitt Romney
says we don’t pay), are supposed to develop to-
tal amnesia about the public roads, air traffic
control, NOAA weather, railroad land grant sub-
sidies, Corps of Engineers navigation projects,
universal telephone service, national postal
service, water systems, sewage systems, power
grids and countless other things that subsidize
commerce.
Forget that agribusiness gets price supports
and often subsidized water. Mining and energy
extraction get subsidized access to resources
on public lands. Timber and paper products get
subsidies with every tree they cut on public land
as the fees they pay are far below the costs.
Big business benefits from many types of en-
titlements that small business owners never see,
especially a highly favorable tax code and nu-
merous types of manufacturing subsidies.
Everyone in this great country of ours re-
ceives entitlements in one way or another. Some
are direct and some are indirect, but they are en-
titlements all the same.
Romney derides all of the hard-working peo-
ple who have contributed to the success of those
who can pay $50,000/plate for dinner. But they
did not do it without our government’s help.
His attitude is despicable.