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November 26, 2009 Opinions |
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—Editorial—
On Being Thankful
We have come a long ways, both as a nation and as people since that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, in the autumn of 1621.
The early Pilgrims endured death, disease and numerous other hardships in their quest for freedom. The boat ride over would have been enough to dissuade most from continuing on to the New World. And once they arrived they knew little about how to grow crops. Many died of starvation that first winter.
Fortunately the Native Americans came to their aid, teaching them to plant and harvest crops. And in gratitude, the Pilgrims shared their first bounty with the Native Americans in what historians marked as the first Thanksgiving Day feast.
In spite of the economic downturn, unemployment and the nationwide health care crisis, we still have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
We have many things to be thankful for as a society. For the most part we have learned to live with our religious and cultural differences. We can express our opinions without being thrown in jail. We still maintain our right to own guns. We have heroes to look up to — our troops and veterans.
Locally, we can be thankful that we have an abundance of clean air and water. We still have access to wilderness areas. We have some of the best hunting opportunities around. We have great schools, fire and police protection, and many volunteers willing to tackle community projects. The recall is finally over and our City Council can get back to business....
This is a short list, and there are many, many more things to be thankful for if you take the time to ponder them. Whether you are thankful for food on the table, God for providing it and the other blessings we enjoy, good health, family, friends, love in your life or even a beloved pet, Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to express your gratitude.
We count you, our readers, as a blessing, not just on the fourth Thursday in November, but every day. For without you, there would be no Record-Courier.
Happy Thanksgiving and may your day be filled with the happiness and contentment you seek.
—Guest Opinion—
Will the USDA and USFS Be A Part Of The Solution?
By Roy Barnes, retired OSP
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, states that:
This guide provides an overview of Federal civil rights laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities.
To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability or have a relationship or association with an individual with a disability.
It States in The ADA Title 42 - Chapter 126 - Equal Opportunity for Individuals With Disabilities that:
Sec. 12101. Findings and purpose
(a) Findings
The Congress finds that:
(1) physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination; others who have a record of a disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;
(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;
(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;
(4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;
(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;
(6) census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally;
(7) the Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and
(8) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity
b) Purpose
It is the purpose of this chapter
(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
(2) to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
(3) to ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities; and
(4) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.
In numbers 1 thru 4, can the intent of the Congress that passed these amendments in 2008 to the ADA be more clear? When they use such words as, “national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disability” clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role in enforcing the standards invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate commerce. What do they mean?
Now we would ask if the USDA & USFS understands that people with Disabilities come in all shapes and sizes. A lot of the time you can’t even tell a person is disabled. Many of our Veterans, Miners, many people who recreate, hunters ect., do not wear signs that they are disabled nor do they speak of it. They need the protection of their Government.
Will the USDA and USFS be a part of the solution? Will they quit using “outright intentional exclusion?” “Overprotective rules and policies?” People with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, will the USDA and USFS stop the policies and regulations they have in place?
The ADA of 1990 with the 2008 Amendments was signed into law by the President Sept.25, 2008. It is now 2009, the USDA and USFS continue to use the old practices. Should we not ask when the disabled can expect the new and explicate laws, to trickle down to them as American Citizens?
Are USFS rules and regulations the dominate law? Does signing on or claiming “lead agency” supersede, the U.S. Constitution, the ADA Act, the Civil Rights Act?
Are these compelling reasons enough to keep our forest open to the disabled?
Next article to cover: ADA Findings and purpose, Definition of Disabled, Acquisition or modification of equipment, and devices.
—Letters To The Editor—
Throw The Bums Out!
To The Record-Courier:
As we had feared, the socialistic and ethically challenged Democrats, held together by greed, fascist leaders and special interests (which they constantly accuse us conservatives of bowing to) passed the senate health care bill.
There is little we can do now to stop this disaster, but remember, in 2010 and 2012 we can "throw every Democrat incumbent bum out on their butt" and then undo what they are about to do.
We must redouble our efforts to stop this insanity. I will not turn over a nation of socialistic incompetence to my grandchildren for them to suffer under.
Senator Wyden has hurt Oregon for hopefully the last time and he has to go. Senator Merkley has no clue and he has to go. All their ilk have to go!
Tim K. Smith
Harney County, Ore.
Sunnyside School Reunion?
To The Record-Courier:
I would like to meet all school kids who went to Sunnyside School in Eagle Valley. Could we have a school reunion?
Joe Wilson
221 Slippy Creek Rd.
White Bird, Idaho 83554
Cap And Trade Saves Money
To The Record-Courier:
While many Republicans are predicting an increase in costs if we pass the cap and trade legislation, they are missing the big picture. In fact, the legislation will save exponentially more money than it will cost, as was seen with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
Predicted to cost $5.7 billion, the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, which used a cap and trade market system, turned out to cost just $1.6 billion to cut more than 4 million tons of sulfur dioxide. But savings in health care costs were found to be as much as $70 billion dollars according to a 2003 EPA study. That is a savings of 43 dollars for every dollar spent.
With many scientists warning that climate change threatens the lives of billions of people this century, and could accelerate out of control unless we cap and reduce emissions very fast, the savings will likely be vastly greater with investments in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Many larger cities in the United States have unsafe air pollution that is increasing with the temperatures that are a precursor to smog. By switching from dirty coal to clean solar and wind energy, air pollution will be reduced significantly.
Burning coal kills an estimated 24,000 people each year in the United States from particulate air pollution according to the American Lung Association. This is equivalent to eight Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack deaths every year. But these people are separated around the country, dying in hospital wards along with an estimated 38,200 non-fatal heart attack victims and 554,000 asthma sufferers whose illness was caused by burning coal, according to the American Lung Association.
People do not see the deaths in one dramatic events, and are not mobilized to action as happened with the Sept. 11 attacks. But they are real, as is the threat of climate change to our national security that prompted the U.S. Pentagon to call global warming a greater risk to national security than terrorism in a 2004 report.
And that is just burning coal. The cap and trade legislation will also reduce the burning of oil, and cut down on the 700 billion dollars that we spend every year to buy petroleum from other countries. Electric cars and trains charged with solar and wind generated energy will be pollution-free.
Having seen the impacts of climate change in the Arctic, and studied the horrific predictions if we continue on our current path, I implore citizens to get behind the cap and trade legislation. The science proving climate change is the most documented of any issue in history. We must take action, before it is too late.
Chad Kister
Nelsonville, Ohio
US Constitution Is Still The Law Of The Land
To The Record-Courier:
The “change” of president Obama’s campaign appears to relate to the rate of change rather than its direction. The direction of change is without doubt away from the controls of the U.S. Constitution, as with our recent presidents, but at a much faster pace. What, other than ego, could be driving the man? Could it be that he has the talent, but is not the “boss?” And what could be the objective?
That objective, it seems clear, is one world government. The organizations of implementation are the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group and their members and sympathizers occupy the top positions of the Executive Branch and much of Congress. They also occupy top positions in the military, media, financial institutions, higher education, secretary of defense, CIA and many others. Their hold on this country appears to have begun with President Hoover and includes Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, G.H. W. Bush, Clinton and now Obama. (Information from F.R.E.E. – Fund to Restore an Educated Electorate P.O. Box 293339, Kerrville, Texas 79029, which would welcome your inquiries.)
Control of our schools and teachers is rapidly shifting to Washington. It will not take but one more gee ration to convince the majority of Americans that the Constitution is merely a historical relic and that the future rests with those in power and the benefits of a one world government.
But the U.S. Constitution is still the Law of the Land! We, as citizens of this once great country, have become preoccupied with personal interests and are taking no active interest in “politics.” But the politicians, with Obama as their new leader, have increased their efforts to ignore our Constitution and implement their goal of establishing a one world government. We are now well into the eleventh hour. If we (you) don’t demand a return to Constitutional government now, it will very soon be too late.
Jasper H. Coombes
Richland, Ore.
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