Posted: Sunday, June 29, 2008 12:00 am
Thoughts on the coming Fourth
I'm so thankful for our community. The life we live here is blessed. Friendly faces, beautiful places, fine schools for the young ones, as well as for adults.
Stop by the parks and enjoy the weekend with friends. But in the midst of it all, let's not forget to honor the birthday of our great land. The freedoms we cherish were bought at a price. Freedom has never been free. It's paid for with courage, with "blood, sweat and tears" - and is maintained by commitment to all we hold dear.
The Fourth of July is a precious remembrance, rightly celebrated with music, picnics and brilliant firework displays. Come to the river and I'll see you there.
God bless America and God bless you all on this fourth of July.
Joseph Novak, Albany
Don't believe the slippery slope
Sen. Gordon Smith is right that a law against same-sex marriages or Mormon plural marriages is religious persecution.
Hasso Hering guessed (June 18) Smith is actually concerned that any change to the definition of marriage sends us down a slippery slope to incestuous, polygamous, bigamous or underage marriages.
The "slippery slope" argument is fallacious. For example, this argument incorrectly predicted that legally recognizing Mormonism would allow anything to be called a religion.
Smith may recall how the traditional definition of religion excluded Mormonism, even after plural marriages stopped.
Hering also linked marriage with child-bearing. This procreation argument
offends infertile heterosexual couples because fecundity has never been a requirement for marriage.
Oregon voters have legally defined gay "domestic partnerships" as being nearly equal to "marriage." Americans could have similarly defined Mormon "cults" as being nearly equal to a "religion." However, nobody wants their religion called a "cult." Likewise, no married couple wants to be called a "domestic partnership."
Sen. Smith is conflicted because he knows that denying gays the equal status of marriage is un-American.
Thomas Kraemer, Corvallis
Take power from the oil companies
I guess we can't blame the oil companies for controlling supplies to maximize profits. It is what they are and what they do. What we ought to blame is the idiotic situation where we are at their mercy instead of making them serve the national interest since they have a monopoly on a vital resource.
When oil companies do their fiduciary duty to their investors, a lot of damage is done to people and to businesses. We cannot stop going anywhere or heating our homes in the winter. People already choosing between food and medicine now get to add fuel as everything they need becomes more expensive.
The Enron Loophole allowing investment bank speculation in commodities and the vertical integration of the oil cartel means that supply is controlled to meet demand at a high price point. We have no effective consumer leverage against the cartel.
There is an old blues song about a woman who rescues a frozen snake. When she warms him up and gives him a hug, the snake bites her. As she's dying, the snake points out that she knew he was a snake before she took him in. Blame the oil companies for being snakes? But why give them such power over our national security?
Don Caughey, Corvallis
Waiting for a tow on Highway 34
Last Sunday, while returning from a car show in Waldport, our 1965 Chevelle died on Highway 34 on Marys Peak. Of course, no cell service. I just wanted to thank the nice young couple who stopped and called for a tow truck on their way to Philomath.
While we waited three hours for the tow, I couldn't believe not one sheriff or OSP officer came by to help. I think it's time to beef up our law enforcement in Oregon.
Tom Aldrich, Lebanon
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