Guest Commentary

Patience is a virtue, or so the saying goes. In fact, there are many quotes and clichés which talk about patience. American theologian Lyman Abbott claimed, “Patience is passion tamed.” Journalist Ambrose Bierce was more cynical in his view, declaring patience a “minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.” Whether your view of patience is something to admire and strive for in a complex and busy world or something akin to delay and procrastination, it's clear that patience and perseverance have key roles in the world of land conservation. The Deschutes Land Trust can only work at the pace of landowners – and conversations with landowners (whether private or public) take time.
“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow. That is patience.” – Anonymous.
Fifteen years ago the notion of salmon and steelhead returning to the upper Deschutes and its tributaries was merely a dream, and the skeptics outweighed the believers. In 1997, the Deschutes Land Trust began an ambitious conservation program with partners such as Portland General Electric and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to protect land for returning salmon and steelhead. Many believed in restoring crucial habitat, yet were unsure if these magnificent sea-run fish would ever return to the rivers and creeks of Central Oregon to reestablish one of the Northwest's most unique and notable fisheries. And yet, back in May, a four-year-old male Chinook that was spawned at the Round Butte Hatchery in 2007 calmly navigated his way back up the Deschutes and became the first upper basin fish to do so since dams blocked migration in the mid 1960's. With patience, hard work and community support, the “steelhead stronghold” the Deschutes Land Trust is creating along Whychus Creek will soon tell similar success stories.

Three months ago, Georgia Republicans proudly passed House Bill 87, an Arizona-style anti-immigrant bill that, among other things, requires employers to use E-Verify to confirm the legal status of their employees.
Today, Georgia farmers (most of whom voted for those Republicans) are leaving hundreds of millions of dollars of crops rotting in the fields, unable to find the manpower to do the grueling work of harvesting in 100-plus-degree weather. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal has even pushed unemployed criminal probationers out into the fields to little effect: The work is just too difficult.
“Those guys out here weren’t out there 30 minutes and they got the bucket and just threw them in the air and say, ‘Bonk this, I ain’t with this, I can’t do this,” one probationer told The Washington Post. Early reports suggest that just half of probationers even bothered showing up a second day. Farmers aren’t happy either. “The plan to put probationers on farms ain’t gonna work,” a farmer told the Gainesville Times. “I want to be a farmer; I don’t want to be a warden.” Even under the best-case scenario, the 2,000 unemployed probationers in south Georgia are just a fraction of the (at least) 11,000 farmhands who have disappeared from Georgia fields, according to the state’s agriculture commissioner.

I first met Jose Antonio Vargas in the fall of 2008, in the midst of the historic Obama campaign for the presidency. At the time, I was a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where I was researching the impact of the then-emerging social media on older legacy forms of journalism, such as newspapers.
A woman named Maralee Schwartz was also at the Kennedy School when I was there. Beginning in 1979, Maralee had spent her entire professional career at The Washington Post, largely as a political reporter and political editor. As national political editor, she led the Post’s award-winning teams of reporters in coverage including three presidential elections, the last term of the Clinton White House, and the first term of the Bush White House.

In an unprecedented showing of Republican solidarity spearheaded by dynamic leadership, the House GOP has voted unanimously to repeal the recent killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. If the Senate fails to pass this measure by midnight on May 13th it will automatically become law. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia explains:

Over the past several years our city has made its share of mistakes, and failed to properly prioritize spending programs. This has proven very costly to essential services. For example, now, after talking for several years of the underfunding for police and fire, they are asking the public to go in debt for $30 million for Reed Market Road and more traffic circles, instead of addressing public safety and street maintenance needs first.
As you think about how to vote on the proposed bond issue, ask yourself, if you are to give the city additional money now, are new streets the greatest need? Some relevant points:

There's a joke circulating around the Internet that goes something like this:
A corporate CEO, a union member and a tea partier are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies. The CEO takes 11 cookies and wolfs them down. Then he turns to the tea partier and says, “Watch out for that union guy. He wants part of your cookie.”
It's a joke that has billionaires like the Koch Brothers – who fund tea party groups through Americans for Prosperity – and their errand boys Dick Armey of Freedom Works and Karl Rove of American Crossroads laughing all the way to the bank.

A cross country skier without a dog can spend half an hour skiing the two-mile beginner loop at Swampy Sno-Park and then spend days skiing the other 98 or so miles of trails along Cascade Lakes Highway. A skier with a dog can ski the two-mile Wanoga Trail and then.

What have you done for your local parks, rivers and wildlife recently? Not much opportunity to help? Here's a perfect chance for you to do something truly meaningful for these things we all cherish. In November, you can vote “yes” on Measure 76.

This October, Human Dignity Coalition of Bend will present their 9th annual Drag Show fundraiser. Shortly after last year's fundraiser, I wrote Jenni Peskin, Director of HDC, arguing that the “drag” theme was inappropriate, and asked that her organization discontinue that theme. Clearly my argument had no effect. What follows is the text of my letter to Ms. Peskin:

Last week, the Source Weekly published an article, “Green Machine,” that asked if Central Oregon had the capacity to support two land use advocacy organizations. As Executive Director of one of those organizations – Central Oregon LandWatch – I'm writing to express confidence that it does.
As I told the article's author, Anne Aurand, and as LandWatch and 1000 Friends of Oregon have discussed with each other, our real challenge is how to articulate our unique but overlapping messages and missions to the larger community and help people understand the benefits of each.