Opinion

Thank you for the "Wild Things" issue. I'd like to put in a word for another much-maligned predator: Me.
Like the coyote, I hunt too, and I'm fighting a bad public image. People accuse me of being unethical. They say I kill for sport. They embrace nature and try to prevent me from having a place in it. But I'm every bit as necessary to a healthy ecosystem as the coyote and the eagle, and not even in a very different way.
I am, by virtue of what I do, a conservationist. My activity helps to keep in balance that crucial relationship between predator and prey. Skeptics should note that in places where hunting is not allowed (National parks being a prime example) wildlife populations are out of balance. Coyotes, wolves, bears, and cats are doing their part, but it's not enough. Something is missing. There's an unfilled niche.
Society wants to believe that four legged predators can fill that gap, but there's a problem. Animals are unreliable. They tend to wander. They hunt where they want, not where they're needed. They kill what they can catch, not always what's most expendable. They never have nor ever will be able to fill the wildlife management role that man has occupied for eons.

What a great presidential race we're witnessing. Here we are, deciding between the most untraditional set of candidates our country's ever seen.

I was relieved, and even excited when I heard that Congress had voted, "No" on the Wall Street Bailout yesterday. Hyper-inflation will not help Main Street. If the Wall Streeters are so selfish that they are willing to save their collective asses while pretending that this does not hurt you and your family, then why should we care about them? (unless you do business with them)
No government bailout will help our economy when what they are pouring into it has no value. This fiat money is created from nothing, has no value, and will only cause the money that you already have to lose value.
They are stealing your prosperity and doing it intentionally. Listening this morning to some of the congressmen explain why they voted no, and why they are looking at other possible legislation, it is clear to me that they intend to say "Yes" soon.

I went to the Tower Theatre for the first time thinking it was going to be a great event. I was going to see Taj Mahal!
I've never been more embarrassed in my community.

Shame on the Bend Downtowners. They completely misled us into paying $5 to get into NOTHING! My friends and I stood in a long line and handed over our $5 each for the privilege to walk through a filthy, sweltering hot tent ONLY to pay more if we wanted a beer or food, AND we couldn't get anywhere near to watch the wienie dog races.

Stop the presses; the Bend Bulletin just endorsed Chris Telfer. Wow, I never saw that coming.
But seriously, I know a lot of locals consider The Bulletin's editorial board to be a bunch of ill-informed, predictable, and intellectually dishonest knuckleheads who do little more than carry water for the local builders, developers and the Republican Party. But I'm not sure I buy it. In fact, I think all The Bulletin's editorial positions and endorsements are the result of a long, hotly debated, deliberative process. Because if they weren't, then some clown like me could sit down several weeks before the election and, with great certainty, make a list of who will eventually receive that paper's backing. But because The Bulletin has no bias, and my name isn't Nostradamus, I could never do such a thing.
But maybe I should try, ya know, just to prove my point. Maybe I should make a list of all the candidates the Bulletin would simply have to endorse if they were in fact surrogates for the development community and the Republican Party. I think I will.

Come on…let's face it: the Controlled Burning in Oregon is outta control.
Hmmm, Let's see…It's a No Brainer that early this past Wednesday winds were extra strong from the get go…Not talking a little breezy here, we're talking strong, forceful, steady, blustery winds. Could it be a dangerous type of person with a mindset to "Get on with outta controlled burning" that allowed the now Wizard Fire to spread uncontrollably on Thursday, Mr. Forest Service Man? No question about it, there's your mysterious answer; search no further Mr. Ranger Man. So forget your heroic pledge, how you, "Vow a complete review to see what went wrong, and work to prevent any repeats of this problem." The only "Sequence of Events that took place that need corrective measures" is you and the mindless decision to forge forward to burn Thursday.
Let’s take another perspective of burning, a different view from another angle of LIFE. Let's say there are plenty of forest fires from spring to fall, none of them landed remotely near or around where controlled burning has left all life dead and trees charred from past years. So now what? What on Earth cajoles the human mind into believing that these controlled burns are in fact saving more LIFE than they KILL? Now that's the Real Mystery for sure!