Chavez-DeRemer's Reckless Voting Record
Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer voted to install Mike Johnson as speaker of the house to replace Kevin McCarthy. So what did her reckless vote give us?
Johnson, who is two heartbeats away from the presidency, played a leading role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. Now he is releasing video footage of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol in an obstruction of justice move by blurring their faces so the Justice Department can't identify them and bring more charges. In addition, he is on full display for his support of a White Christian Nationalist State which is violation of the First Amendment stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Chavez-DeRemer has been defeated twice by Oregon Representative, Janelle Bynum, who is running in the primary to take back the seat lost by Kurt Schrader. With this threat, is she trying to appear less reckless with her TV ads? I'm not fooled.
— Dianne Crampton
Alternative Facts
When I first heard Kelly Anne Conway, Trump spokesperson, utter the phrase "Alternative facts" I sniggered. Alternative facts are lies, obviously. Unfortunately, what was crystal clear to me was murky to others. So murky, in fact, that State GOP leaders from Georgia to Nevada and beyond prepared official documents in 2020 purporting those state's electors were pledged to Trump.
Whether these individuals bought into the crazy notion that Trump actually won the state's 2020 contest or merely chose to believe in a set of "alternative facts" I can't say. But these people BROKE THE LAW. Alternative facts aren't facts at all, as they will learn when their sentences are handed down. The sooner Americans ditch the information bubbles they inhabit and recognize the difference between journalism and infotainment, the better. Democracy depends on it.
—Mary Krakow
RE: The Cycle of Violence in Palestine. Guest Opinion, 11/30
Gary Leiser's "The Cycle of Violence in Palestine" features 17 lies. Ignorance fuels hatred among conservatives and liberals, but since Leiser has a Ph.D., he's not ignorant; he's malevolent.
There should be no oxygen for antisemetism or Islamophobia! Palestine and Israel should be free!
Leiser's first lie, "Israel attacked Syria and Egypt in June 1967," is a lie of omission. The provocation for 1967's Six Day War occurred when armies from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, UAE, and Lebanon accumulated on Israel's borders. The 19 years since the UN formed Israel (and Jordan) in 1948 were spent hellbent on destroying Israel. If six heavily armed bullies surrounded an undersized kid and the kid lands the first punch, no one would say he started the fight. Today, when people malign Israel as "occupiers," they're ignorantly referring to Egypt's Gaza Strip, Syria's Golan Heights and Jordan's West Bank including East Jerusalem, all lost during that war. Israel also captured Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, but handed it all back in exchange for a peace treaty.
Israel comprises 1.6% of the Middle East's 5 million square mile land mass while Jews comprise 1.4% of the region's 483 million people. Israel isn't Jewish imperialism, it's a microscopic safe-space. Consider that the next time you hear someone call Israelis genocidal occupiers.
Leiser says the "purpose" of "Zionism" is "to create an exclusive Jewish state in Palestine" that's "against the wishes of the native people" via "ethnic cleansing." But 1.7 million Muslim Arabs live in Israel. Arabs aren't just "allowed" to live in Israel; they're elected to the Knesset (Israel's Congress) and serve in its Supreme Court. Oh, and the fact that it's 5784 on the Jewish calendar and 1445 on the Islamic calendar tells us who the natives are.
In 1948, Israel's first prime minister, Golda Meir—Arab nations have never elected a woman leader and four of them didn't grant women suffrage until the 21st century—said, Israel "can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill theirs. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."
—Brian Yaeger
RE: 12/7/23 response to: Environmental Groups Fight Approval of Northwest Pipeline Project. News, 11/30
Let's expand on Geoff's 12/7/23 comments on gas pipeline safety. The 10-year (2013-22) average number of serious incidents on the 305,000 miles of U.S. gas transmission pipelines was 2.8 per year. (The associated fatalities were 2.2 per year and injuries were 4.8 per year). On the GTN Xpress gas pipeline that runs 1377 miles from the BC-Idaho border through Deschutes County into California, that would be a 0.0126 chance of a serious incident per year.
In 2019, in the USA there were 36,500 fatalities and 4.5 million injuries in motor vehicle accidents. Costing $340 billion or approximately $1035 per person.
Looks like there is more risk to driving than there is to transport natural gas to heat our homes.
—David White
Letter of the Week:
Thanks for bringing up those statistics, David. The ones about driving fatalities are unacceptable, and one very good reason we Central Oregonians should continue to support a safer, more robust transportation and transit system that helps us all get out of our cars and around the region in less-dangerous and less-polluting ways. Me, I like riding bikes for transport and fun – but I've also lost two dear people to automobile fatalities in the last several years. One is too many.
—Nicole Vulcan
