News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 12 of 12
A Sisters contractor just completed some work for my house and we were talking about the benefits of electric cars and the real cost of gasoline. I was shocked when he told me that his workforce used 25 percent of the companies fuel up just idling the work trucks unnecessarily. He hopes to eliminate this behavior because it’s an avoidable expense. He had devices installed in his trucks to monitor fuel usage. Idling is not as inexpensive as you think because the cost of gasoline is not what you see on the pump. There are a l... Full story
Jonah Goldberg’s column September 11 claims that we don’t have a crisis, yet. Humans have inherent problems with slow-moving disasters. They respond better to disasters that are imminent or occur over a short period of time. Make no mistake, however, that climate change is a slow-moving man-made disaster and a true existential threat to mankind and most animals on the earth. It is not natural or political. Unless bold actions as proposed by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren are taken, millions of lives will be impacted and... Full story
Idling a vehicle unnecessarily adds CO2 to the atmosphere, increasing global warming. Even though I don't travel much and don't live where hurricanes, floods and tornadoes are a threat, the impacts of global warming on me are still significant. I breathed toxic smoke from the California fires last year for two months, not to mention smoke from other local Oregon fires. Scuba trips to dive on reefs are disappointing because 50 percent of the reef is dead. Salmon and steelhead fishing in Oregon is getting harder because of... Full story
How did we end up with millions of unregistered immigrants living in the U.S., some that have been here for 20 or 30 years? Why do we need immigrants, even legal? Immigration seems to be a hot button for most Republican candidates, even though illegal southern border crossings are at decades-lows. It is also a convenient enemy for President Donald Trump because they supposedly take all of the good jobs. Lets explore what caused our immigration situation and what the impacts are. Who is to blame: I put most of the blame on... Full story
A Washington Post/ABC poll taken during the 2016 presidential election showed that the priority for voters was to "cleanup" the corruption in Washington. Many that voted for Trump admitted he was not qualified for the job, but because he assured the voters that he would "pick the very best and brightest" people to advise him and run the agencies, they overlooked this. He campaigned to "drain the swamp." In fact, Trump has selected more inexperienced and corrupt criminals for his cabinet and agencies than any president in... Full story
The average citizen has no idea what is causing the climate to change, how fast it is changing or how this is impacting them. Many people believe that CO2 emissions from power plants are the primary contributor causing the atmosphere to act like the glass on a greenhouse. The reality is that the CO2 emissions from cars are essentially equal to that of power plants in the U. S. This makes every driver of an internal combustion engine vehicle a contributor to the problem. Car CO2 emissions do not just dissipate on the ground,... Full story
Jeff Mackey's letter last week supported Greg Walden for trying to repeal Obamacare and replace it with Walden's bare-bones plan that would have resulted in 1/3 of Central Oregonians losing their health insurance. This plan was unanimously rejected by all heath-care organizations. Even Republicans realized that it was garbage and voted it down. You cannot convince me that Walden is looking after Central Oregonians' best interests. I participated in protests to get Walden to hold a Town Hall in Bend on his health plan. He neve... Full story
Since the Florida high school shooting, there have been many gun-control proposals and even state legislation passed, at least in Florida. I am truly encouraged by the actions of so many high school students across this country and their growing influence. The thing that concerns me about proposals to ban or restrict so called "assault weapons" and "high-capacity magazines" is that these terms are not explicitly defined. I am concerned that gun legislation, by using these terms, is risking the exclusion of many equally... Full story
After reading the well-written electric car article by Ethan Ferwalt, I realized that the article was actually about lithium-ion battery toxicity, hazards, and lack of recycling and should not be interpreted as: "electric vehicles are bad." I also found it ironic that directly under the article was an ad for a LI battery chainsaw. LI battery-powered devices, including laptops, tablets, cell phones, power tools, drones, toothbrushes and shavers have been in use for well over a decade, and these are generally not recycled.... Full story
Eric Wattenburg was evidently disappointed in the reaction of the Ron Wyden Town Hall crowd at Sisters High School, when an audience member asked whether Mr. Wyden accepted the outcome of the election. Wyden replied "yes." The crowd, which was primarily comprised of Democrats, was reportedly silent and did not signal that they agreed or disagreed. To understand this reaction, it's instructive to understand what Trump represents to Democrats and what the position of president means to them. I believe I speak for most... Full story
No Democrat that I am aware of feels that people are violent just because they own guns. Hillary and the democrat lawmakers have no intention of taking away your guns. No one has the right to search your house or ask you to give up your guns. We have laws and a Constitution that protect us from this. She has only proposed, with the approval of congress, to ban sales of new guns to suspected terrorists and assault weapons with large magazines, along with improving background checks for newly purchased handguns. Handgun... Full story
The proposed Black Butte Ranch-to-Sisters bike/pedestrian path provides for the safety of bicyclists and encouragement for more people to bicycle. However, like most developments, there are unintended consequences that should be brought up and addressed. Having lived at BBR for more than 12 years and walking the BBR bike paths daily, I have experienced some of these consequences. They include: • Maintenance of the paths to repair cracks and repave. The asphalt BBR paths, because of the extremes in temperature and... Full story
