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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 13, 2004 Kudos for '9/11' review My commendations to Chris Honore for his review of "Fahrenheit 9/11." While recognizing that the film it is not a great work of art he does give it due credit as an impelling documentary, which drives its message home with clarity, compassion, wit, and justifiable anger, letting the images do most of the talking. Of course, it is an "Op-Ed" film, as Michael Moore admits. The questions his detractors must answer are, does he do injustice to the facts he presents and is his presentation an unreasonable conclusion to draw from those facts? I think the answer to both questions is "no," but a public debate on the answers is a healthy sign in our troubled democracy. Honore's is a fine review. Also, congratulations and commendations to you for your courageous Independence Day editorial. You are absolutely correct about this illegitimate president, his illegal wars, his destructive domestic agenda, and his habitual lying to the American public. Your words made this a July 4th to remember. Gerald Cavanaugh Ashland BLM broke the law Vickie Aldous incorrectly reported on July 1 that the Medford District of the federal Bureau of Land Management "might have violated environmental regulations" when it planned the Pickett Snake old-growth timber sale on the south bank of the Rogue River. Aldous wrote, "U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan recently prohibited the Pickett Snake timber sale after reviewing the lower court findings of U.S. Magistrate Judge John Cooney. Hogan agreed with some portions of Cooney's findings and disagreed with others and sent the case back to Cooney for further consideration. The combination of decisions yielded mixed results as to whether the BLM had complied with all environmental regulations at issue." In fact, Judge Hogan left no doubt that the BLM violated two environmental laws. First, the agency unreasonably disregarded an alternative that would cut only small-diameter trees and leave big old-growth trees alone. That violated the National Environmental Policy Act. Second, the BLM authorized clear-cut logging visible from the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River, an economic lifeline for the recreation communities of Merlin and Galice. That violated the agency's own management plan, which emphasizes the Rogue canyon's aesthetic qualities. Thanks to an environmental lawsuit, the BLM cannot cut Pickett Snake, which would have destroyed 1,116 acres of rare low-elevation mature forest in an area of incredible botanical diversity. Federal judges don't block projects like that unless the government clearly breaks the law. Jay Lininger Ashland Tougher than rocket science As a frequent visitor to Ashland, I read Eugene Robbins' letter attempting to explain the Middle East conflict in which he states, "This isn't rocket science." As an engineer who worked on the Galileo mission to Jupiter, I have to agree with Mr. Robbins' statement. The Middle East conflict isn't rocket science ... it's actually about a hundred times more complicated. Mr. Robbins' naive explanation of Middle East politics in response to Larry Buchanan's insightful and educated letter would be foolish enough. But adding "this isn't rocket science" simply exposes his lack of knowledge and appreciation of what is really happening there. I would encourage everyone to read Mr. Buchanan's letter of June 16 if they haven't already. http://www.dailytidings.com/2004/0616/061604letters.shtml. Jonathan Schwartz Sacramento Eds. note: For the last couple of months we have allowed both sides of the ongoing Israel/Palestinian conflict to submit their respective ideas, relatively unfettered. However, much of the recent correspondence has shifted from issue-based discussion to attacking statements between a small slice of our readers. We do not wish to limit the sharing of views and opinions, but we also do not want to be forced to establish policy after policy to enforce fairness and respect for the views of others. We would encourage our readers to remain focused on issues related to current events, to keep rebuttals centered on matters of dissenting opinion or clarification of facts and to refrain from personal attacks on any given letter writer. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams