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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate NEWS NOW SOU will pay most of a $2.5 million settlement ... Flood watch issued for area streams ... Pay deal is done, but president still needed ... SOU will pay most of a $2.5 million settlement ... Flood watch issued for area streams ... Pay deal is done, but president still needed ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: Misguided gang of gunslingers Comment By Alden Moffatt DailyTidings.com By Alden Moffatt Posted Jan. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Alden Moffatt Posted Jan. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News I’ve lived in Ashland for 27 years now, a town that takes pride in the public forest behind us that provides clean water and some great recreational opportunities. The forest behind Ashland is special. Part of it was proclaimed the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument for its extreme biodiversity. Imagine what this area would be like if that public forest was turned over to the timber industry. I think it would have a drastic effect on the livability of Ashland. Rather than a beautiful view, there would be clearcuts. Biodiversity would be scalped. There are a bunch of thugs who are armed to the teeth vandalizing the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon. They are domestic terrorists and are part of a misguided gang of gunslingers who act like the Constitution was written just for their purposes. They act like it’s 1815 and they are the only people who matter in the world. They don’t have any respect for me or you. They are basically cry-babies, people who could not get what they wanted because they are in the vast minority, and the USA is a country where the vast majority has always ruled the roost. They don’t want to play by the rules of the United States because the country just doesn’t want to live the 1815 lifestyle that they want to live. We’ve been there and done that and it wasn’t all that great! But these thugs would like the range to be open to their cows, just like “Bonanza” or “Little House on the Prairie,” a couple of TV shows that are that are out of style, out of vogue. They’d like the forest to be filled with chainsaws, too. The forest has been gutted out already. Play it again, Sam. I guess these guys can’t count. They definitely don’t know what 350 million Americans look like. That’s how many people own a piece of the public land they’d like to claim for themselves. And I guess they never learned how to use a cellphone or a computer, let alone wonder how one works. They certainly didn’t look up the U.S. Constitution on one of those devices. The Constitution says they are treasonous criminals, but they call themselves constitutionalists. They’ll probably tell you that they’ve never been to a national park or gone fishing on a public river. Yeah, right! Maybe they are just misguided. Maybe they are just manipulated by industries that would like total control over your public land. Maybe I should feel sorry for them. It must be tough trying to pretend the last 200 years never happened. It would be almost laughable thinking about their hypocrisy were it not for the fact that they have some mighty big guns and they want to take over all of our precious public land. They are terrorists and they don’t care about your point of view. They’re preparing to jam their depraved view of the world down your throat, just like the Taliban. So let’s take a moment to appreciate all the great things that have been invented in the last couple of hundred years, like the cars and trucks those militia folks have been driving, the guns they are toting, the laser sights, the explosives, the microcircuits, almost all of it made in China, shipped here on massive ships with engines the size of a coal-fired power plant. If you’re thinking about joining a militia, and you think turning public land belonging to 350 million people over to big industries is going to save you somehow from the onslaught of time, you haven’t thought much about the world. Alden Moffatt lives in Ashland. By Alden Moffatt DailyTidings.com By Alden Moffatt Posted Jan. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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