Enough with the personal attacks
To the editor:
I am getting really tired of the personal attacks by Mark LaBare and Don Hearn on Gene Balfour that are being published every week. Gentlemen (if you are gentlemen), please cease and desist these uncalled-for and spiteful name-calling diatribes! Gene has more sense than any 100 of you, and your attacks on him make that very clear! And Mr. Balfour, please don’t respond in kind to these attacks — it only perpetuates the problem and disgusts those of us who are generally in agreement with you.
Joseph H. Strubhar
Hubbard
">ARRA funds are helping Oregon
To the editor:
I was taken aback by Saturday’s column about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), “A year after the stimulus bill, are we better off?” (Feb. 20, 2010). The assertion was that this federal program had no impact on local lives. I would beg to differ.
As a member of the Woodburn School Board of Directors, I was told that there were a number of positions saved in the school district. This not only saved family-wage jobs, but it also prevented our children from being in classrooms with far more students per teacher. Not only did this act provide local jobs, but it also purchased technology and other educational tools for the local district and equipment and supplies purchased from private industry.
Yes, teachers are public employees. However, I would submit that these public employees shop in our stores, purchase gas at our fuel stations and yes, purchase the Woodburn Independent. Overall, the ARRA legislation provided nearly one billion dollars to the Oregon Economy. Amongst the impact was the covering of the cost of youth correctional programs. Once again, over 400 family-wage jobs are provided by the Oregon Youth Authority. Between the tax equalization acts passed by the people of the State of Oregon last month and the ARRA dollars, we were able to keep those jobs.
While many of us have been lucky enough to weather these economically turbulent times, for those that have been unemployed for a long period of time, their unemployment insurance has been extended and many have had help paying the COBRA premiums for their health insurance. So yes, the ARRA has had an impact on our local community and I thank Congress and President Obama for helping the American people in these turbulent times.
David Vancil
Woodburn
Reader doesn’t like Horton, Balfour opinions
To the editor:
Just from reading the rhetoric it is hard to ascertain whether it is Jason Horton or Gene Balfour writing the letters and columns on the Opinion page in the Woodburn Independent (Feb. 20, “A year after the stimulus bill, are we better off?”). I am considering cancelling my subscription to the paper because week after week the Woodburn paper is filled with the same hateful wild-eyed rants and half-truths from those two.
It may surprise you to find out that the current financial debacle in the U.S. was caused by the conservative Republican agenda that consisted of deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy without cutting spending, and waging an unfunded war.
Now that we are in this mess and the whole country is suffering, you would like to shift the blame onto President Obama for not immediately pulling us out.
The stimulus package was an attempt to stop, or at least slow down, the tremendous loss of jobs that was spiraling out of control and heading the country to a possible depression. It is impossible to say whether the stimulus was a success or a failure because no one knows how bad it might have been if we had not had the stimulus package. Of course, I can tell by reading this column that you know more about it than all the financial experts that were predicting big trouble for America if we didn’t do something quickly.
It is interesting to note that there weren’t any doom and gloom predictions or asking the government to tighten its belt when the Bush Administration was running up tremendous deficits to fund the tax cuts for the wealthy and drop the capital gains tax rate.
The citizens of Oregon passed measures 66 and 67 because they are tired of picking up the lion’s share of the tax bill while corporations and rich people like you and Gene Balfour skate. That’s the way it is in a democracy, sometimes you don’t win, so quit whining and cough up your share.
Someone reading the paper from out of town would assume that Woodburn is made up of mean-spirited people like you two peas-in-a-pod.
This would probably not occur to you, but perhaps a more balanced view of the facts might serve the people of this community better.
John Rector
Woodburn
Horton misrepresenting facts
To the editor:
Jason Horton, in his editorial column “A year after the stimulus bill, are we better? (Feb. 20, 2010), says he is going to “get political” about whether or not we are better off a year after the stimulus bill became the law of the land.
He has every right to take political positions, and there is no doubt that unemployment in Oregon and elsewhere is far too high, and causing great pain for almost every family. But that does not mean Horton is freed from having to stick to the facts. It has always been my understanding that journalists have a special responsibility to not distort facts in order to advance their political positions.
So, let’s check a few of Horton’s facts.
He attacks Rep. Kurt Schrader for remarking on the signing of the bill that it was expected to create and or save a significant number of jobs by “reporting” that the Oregon unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in December 2008 and is now at 11 percent.
Those two numbers are accurate but seem to be deliberately misleading. What he conveniently neglects to point out is that the stimulus did not even pass until Feb. 13, 2009, over a year after that 8.3 percent rate was in effect. The rate of unemployment in December 2008 cannot be used to judge the effectiveness of a bill passed over a year later.
As Rep. Schrader accurately pointed out, the bill was intended to deal with what had happened in the year before it was passed. And as we know only too well, all hell broke loose in that year.
The Oregon unemployment rate for February 2009, the month that the stimulus passed, was 10.7 percent, up from 9.9 percent in January and the 8.3 percent December rate. And it was still going up like a rocket when the stimulus was passed.
In March 2009, less than one month after the stimulus bill passed, it hit 12.1 percent, with most economists predicting it would go much higher. So the current rate of 10.8 percent is a considerable drop over the year that the stimulus has actually been in effect.
It would seem that the facts would lead a reasonable person, regardless of their political persuasion, to at least consider that impact of the stimulus may have been positive. But not Horton. He is “getting political” and that seems to mean not letting facts interfere with his oratory.
There is virtually no dispute among independent economists that the stimulus prevented a bad recession from becoming much worse. Those who have produced studies agree that the stimulus has already saved or created upwards of one million jobs, and that the bill will likely create another million or so jobs in 2010.
To be specific, Moody’s economy.com estimates that 1.9 million jobs will have been created or saved by the end of the current quarter, with at least another million to follow in the year ahead of us.
But undeterred by these facts, Horton goes on to build on his foundation of distortion and rant about not only what he considers the “failure” of the stimulus but also everything both the federal and state governments have done to bring us out of the deep hole we were in at the end of 2008.
Most of his other attacks also are based on serious “spinning” or outright distortion of the facts. There are so many of these that it would literally require an entire article to set the record straight on them all.
I urge readers to join me in ignoring Horton’s opinions unless or until he decides that “getting political” has to include sticking to the facts and he lives up to his special responsibility as one that has an editorial page at his disposal to be thorough in his research and scrupulously honest in his reporting .
Rex Hagans
Carus
Editor’s note: December of 2008 is just two months, not over a year, from the February 2009 stimulus bill.
Bat Boy play not family-friendly
To the editor:
I’m writing out of concern regarding the high school play “Bat Boy: The Musical.” The first clue that something is wrong with showing this play in our community is the fact that the actors’ grandparents and younger siblings are being advised not to view the play because the morals offend people in the older generation, and the content is too mature for children.
How sad is that? Our community funds are paying for a production that excludes a good segment of the population. If people want to watch immoral stuff, they can go to a theater or turn on their television sets. They have plenty of choices.
In my opinion, community funds (taxpayer money) shouldn’t be used to fund immoral entertainment. While this makes me sad, I have a much deeper concern than even that.
I was raised in a Christian home and have lived my entire life trying to please God and obey His commands. I love life and I love people. I believe the Bible is true. It is absolutely filled with true life stories and parables that Jesus told which make clear the message that God blesses those who love Him and obey His commands. I am filled with love for the community I live in. We are blessed to have such a beautiful city full of awesome people.
God’s words to the Israelites in Jeremiah 18:7-10 were, “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.”
I want to see God’s blessings on the community of Canby. I hope and pray that somehow this problem we have brought upon ourselves will work out for God’s glory and for the good of our community. God can easily destroy communities today (even countries) through natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Why would anyone dare to make God angry by producing or attending a play that offends Him?
Linda Schuknecht
Canby
Bat Boy on par with ‘R’-rated films
To the editor:
I read with concern about the controversy surrounding “Bat Boy: The Musical” at Canby High School. Wow, times sure have changed since when I was there. We weren’t allowed to put on anything even the least bit objectionable. I guess that’s because our advisers were aware of the standards of the entire community and all the various stakeholders therein. It’s ironic that as punishment for getting this play cleared, the department has to put on a family-friendly play too — that sounds more like a reward.
There are a few other things I don’t understand: If, as Wikipedia states, the original script contains all of the inappropriate subjects that are listed (which will not be reprinted here), and the current show’s defenders say that now it doesn’t contain any of that, then what’s the point of putting it on at all? If you have indeed edited the show to the point of sanitization, why not start with a clean show (compared to this one, they’re all clean.) that won’t need any editing?
With Bat Boy, even if you remove all the dialogue and cut or curtail the worst scenes, you still have a plotline that is as bad (in moral terms) as those in today’s worst ‘R’-rated movies. Why are Principal Johnson and Superintendent Rose taking all the heat for this decision, when they weren’t even part of the selection committee that originally approved it? There seems to be no accountability for the committee or drama teacher Sonja Brown, who got us into this mess by bringing Bat Boy to the committee in the first place.
I recall that the community got burned with a racy version of “Chicago” last year too.
This community is so ready to support programs that they can be proud of – and I don’t believe that this is one of them.
Steve Urke
Canby
Thatcher’s bill didn’t even get out of committee
To the editor:
Wednesday, Feb. 10, found me at the state capital in Hearing Room D. Rep. Kim Thatcher’s (R-Newberg) House Bill 3614 was being discussed at 5 p.m. This bill, entitled Core Functions of Government, seemed like an excellent way to help make our state government responsible for the citizens. This bill would set up a task force to determine core functions of our government and would be used as a tool to create future budgets.
Each agency would have a mission statement and their spending could only reflect that mission.
It would appear that this plan has been successfully used to gain fiscal responsibility in other states such as Washington. It was an opportunity for the legislature to respond in a positive way to the current political climate in Oregon and all across the country for a back to basic, lean, accountable government.
I was not unexpected, but certainly disappointed, to once again hear from out of touch, elitist, business-as-usual members of the committee who prevented this bill from coming to the floor of the House. The chairman’s excuses for not passing this bill out of committee were weak and his explanations of past actions of his body were fragmented at best.
It is understandable that some politicians will not relinquish any budgetary power they have for the good of the state because it would thereby diminish their power, personal agenda and their ability to manipulate the voters.
It would be wise for such politicians to note that the power they cling to so tenaciously can be taken away vote by vote by vote.
Martha Miller
Woodburn
