Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, September 9, 2017

B3

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, September 9, 2017 


TOM PURCELL

Mountain Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

BUSINESS EDITOR

LaQuetta Shamblee

PRODUCTION

Richard Garcia

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

Kevin Barry

CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Rev. James Snyder

Dr. Tina Paul

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Renee Quenell

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

HUMBLED BY HARVEY, 

AMERICANS HELP

“It makes me feel guilty for complaining about any little 
problems that I am facing.”

 “Ah, yes, I’m certain you are talking about the massive impact 
of Hurricane Harvey and the tremendous suffering it is causing 
for untold numbers of Americans.”

 “That’s right. At least dozens of people have died from that awful storm, a number 
that is sure to grow. A family of six met its end when its van got washed away by a wall 
of water. A shivering toddler clung to his dead mother, who drowned trying to protect 
her children. I can’t begin to imagine the pain and suffering that people affected by the 
storm are enduring.”

 “As awful as Harvey has been, many people have shown incredible selflessness and 
heroism. When things are at their worst, and Harvey has certainly been that, many 
people are at their best.”

 “There is no question about that. I get goose bumps when I think of the first 
responders risking their lives to rescue thousands. The police, the Coast Guard, 
the search-and-rescue teams have been nothing short of amazing. One policeman 
drowned while working to save others.”

 “Other individuals also displayed tremendous heroism. Did you see the story about 
people at an apartment complex who formed a human chain to rescue an expectant 
mother? The woman went into labor in the thick of the storm and they protected her 
until emergency responders could arrive.”

 ”But then again, some of the worst people among us are at their worst during tragedy. 
Some retailers jacked up the cost of bottled water, for instance, to take advantage of the 
situation. One was charging nearly $100 for a package of bottled water!”

 “It is tragic that anyone would look to increase their profits this way.”

 “What’s worse is that fake charities form in such situations to steal money that good-
hearted citizens think they are donating to Harvey’s victims. These dirty rotten crooks 
use email and social media to solicit funds.”

 “That is regrettably true, too. According to CNN Money, more than 4,600 websites 
advertising relief efforts popped up after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Law 
enforcement suspected most were frauds. Before you give, carefully research charity 
organizations.”

 “Who can we trust anymore?”

 “Well, Fortune assembled a list of legitimate charities that will help Harvey’s victims. 
The Red Cross is always a good place to start. You can donate money online, by calling 
1-800-RED-CROSS or, reports Fortune, you can text ‘HARVEY’ to 90999 to make a 
$10 donation. You can also donate blood at Red Cross blood drives.”

 “What about the Salvation Army?”

 “That, too, is a legitimate organization. The Salvation Army is requesting donations 
of $25 or above, but any amount is welcome.”

 “What about Houston-area charities?”

 “Fortune reports that the City of Houston Relief Fund is also a good one. It was 
established by Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner. It accepts online credit-card 
donations, checks and wired money, and all of the donated funds are tax-deductible.”

 “I’d love to donate money to a reputable charity that will help the children who are 
suffering from Harvey.”

 “Fortune recommends an organization called Save the Children. It provides ‘cribs 
and shelter to displaced children, along with other items to help care for them.’ Food is 
also needed and we are all encouraged to donate it, too.”

 “How do we donate food?”

 “An organization called Feeding Texas is leading the food-donation effort. Fortune 
reports that it is ‘looking for ready-to-eat staples like pop-top meat/fish, powdered 
milk, cereal, canned fruit, fruit cups, peanut butter and jelly as well as cleaning 
supplies.’”

 “Well, the least we can do is donate money and food to help out our fellow citizens. 
That’s what I’m going to do right now.”

 ——-

Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood” and “Wicked Is the 
Whiskey,” a Sean McClanahan mystery novel, both available at Amazon.com, is a 
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist.For info on using this column in your 
publication or website, contact Sales@cagle.com or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments 
to Tom at Tom@TomPurcell.com.


Mountain Views News 
has been adjudicated as 
a newspaper of General 
Circulation for the County 
of Los Angeles in Court 
Case number GS004724: 
for the City of Sierra 
Madre; in Court Case 
GS005940 and for the 
City of Monrovia in Court 
Case No. GS006989 and 
is published every Saturday 
at 80 W. Sierra Madre 
Blvd., No. 327, Sierra 
Madre, California, 91024. 
All contents are copyrighted 
and may not be 
reproduced without the 
express written consent of 
the publisher. All rights 
reserved. All submissions 
to this newspaper become 
the property of the Mountain 
Views News and may 
be published in part or 
whole. 

Opinions and views 
expressed by the writers 
printed in this paper do 
not necessarily express 
the views and opinions 
of the publisher or staff 
of the Mountain Views 
News. 

Mountain Views News is 
wholly owned by Grace 
Lorraine Publications, 
and reserves the right to 
refuse publication of advertisements 
and other 
materials submitted for 
publication. 

Letters to the editor and 
correspondence should 
be sent to: 

Mountain Views News

80 W. Sierra Madre Bl. 
#327

Sierra Madre, Ca. 
91024

Phone: 626-355-2737

Fax: 626-609-3285

email: 

mtnviewsnews@aol.com

 

LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN/CENTER

MAKING SENSE by 

MICHAEL REAGAN

JOHN L. MICEK


A COWARDLY WHITE HOUSE 
USING DREAMERS AS HUMAN 
SHIELDS

Quite beyond being morally repugnant and an offense to human 
decency, the Trump White House’s announcement Tuesday that it’s 
rescinding the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” or DACA, is 
the ultimate exercise in political cynicism.

 By punting the fate of 800,000 young people who entered the country illegally as children into 
the hands of a Republican-controlled Congress that can’t even reach agreement on the things it 
agrees upon, President Donald Trump is using the so-called “Dreamers” as human shields in his 
ongoing push for a border wall with Mexico.

 During a briefing with reporters, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said 
Trump is looking for “overall immigration reform that is responsible and lawful.”

 That includes the wall that remains the White Whale of Trump’s presidency.

“I don’t think the president has been shy about the fact that he wants a wall,” Huckabee Sanders 
said, “and thinks it is an important part of a responsible immigration package.”

 Trump had to have known the impossibility of the challenge he posed to Congress when 
he trotted out Attorney General Jeff Sessions to make the announcement that most of official 
Washington had known was coming for days.

 Sessions, who was one of the Senate’s most avid immigration hawks, let loose with a barrage of 
factually dubious claims and downright libels, as he announced that Congress had six months to 
come up with a legal alternative to the Obama-era program.

 That Trump hid behind Sessions, only hours after announcing that he has “a love for these 
people [the Dreamers],” was a cowardly abdication of leadership that was compounded by his 
decision to leave it to Congress to come up with a legislative fix to the mess his own White House 
had made.

 Keep in mind, this is a president who campaigned on the claim that “he alone” could fix what 
ails the country.

 But in every major legislative test, from the Obamacare repeal to tax reform, Trump has been 
content to skate along the surface of the issues, leaving the intellectual heavy lifting to the legislative 
branch.

 The buck does not stop with Trump, it merely flies by him. 

 So it’s now up to Republican members of Congress, including U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., 
and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who each Tweeted their indignation with Trump, to move beyond mere 
rhetoric and pass legislation in the coming months that will protect the Dreamers -- who are from 
all over the world, and who, in the vast majority of cases, have known no other home than the 
United States. 

 Rubio turned to a Bible verse to make his argument against the White House’s action:

 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and 
you welcomed me,” Rubio wrote, quoting from the Gospel of Saint Matthew. 

 While acknowledging that the federal government has a responsibility to guarantee border 
security, McCain also noted that the U.S. has to do it in a way that “upholds all that is decent and 
exceptional about our nation.”

 And most voters agree with McCain -- and on the need for a comprehensive immigration 
reform package that has dodged a solution for at least seven years.

 Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72 percent) to a Pew poll last year said it was either “very” 
or “somewhat” important to allow illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. as children to remain 
in the United States.

 Conversely, nearly six in 10 respondents (59 percent) said Trump’s much vaunted border wall 
was not a priority for them. 

 To borrow from McCain, Trump’s push for the wall is neither decent nor exceptional.

 Rather it’s a direct appeal to his ever-dwindling base as he moves into the ninth month of an 
administration that has done everything except make America great again.

 Trump’s claim that the DACA program is unconstitutional isn’t even supported by his own 
actions. If it’s unconstitutional, the White House should have rescinded it immediately.

 That it didn’t speaks volumes not only about its true motives, but about the moral cowardice 
behind its action.

 We’ve been told more than once not to judge Trump by what he says, but by what he does.

There is no clearer evidence than now of his lack of fitness to lead. 

——

 An award-winning political journalist, Micek is the Opinion Editor and Political Columnist for 
PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. Readers may follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek 
and email him at jmicek@pennlive.com.


HELPING HOUSTON THE 
AMERICAN WAY 

Houston is trying to dry itself out and recover from the historic floods 
of Hurricane Harvey. It will take years and unknown billions of dollars.

Unlike New Orleans in 2005 after Katrina, the country’s fourth largest 
city was as prepared as any metropolis can be for a thousand-year flood.

But unlike New Orleans, Houston’s city government was not horribly 
corrupt and incompetent.

In Houston, no poorly built or badly maintained federal government levies broke open, instantly 
flooding whole neighborhoods with sea water up to their rooftops and killing nearly 2,000 people.

In Houston, where so far about 40 have died, nearly 1.7 million residents left voluntarily or were 
ordered to be evacuated by local officials before the flood waters crested.

On a federal level, President Trump is doing and saying the right things, though his critics in the 
media will never admit it.

They’re busy looking for any way to blame him for every thing that goes wrong in Houston while 
complaining he’s been too upbeat and hasn’t shown the proper degree of empathy. They’re no 
doubt already trying to link his personal contribution of $1 million to a kickback from Putin.

It’s still early, but so far the federal government’s response has not caused more trouble for Houston’s 
people or created any political firestorms. The Federal Emergency Management Administration 
is on the scene, throwing its money around and promising much much more. 

FEMA clearly has learned some lessons since its failures dealing with Katrina. It was much better 
prepared for a major disaster and it’s not trying to hog the relief and rebuild process. FEMA 
now knows its proper place and its most important role - providing federal relief money and 
supporting state and local governments.

Earlier this week FEMA’s administrator, Brock Long, encouraged “all citizens to get involved. 
Donate your money, figure out how you can get involved as we help Texas find a new normal 
going forward after this devastating disaster.” It was nice to see FEMA encouraging private 
organizations and individuals to help, but millions of Americans around the country were a step 
ahead of Long’s call.

The bearded bass fishermen and flat-bottomed boat owners of the informal “The Cajun Navy” 
and thousands of other individual boaters drove straight to Houston to help people evacuate or 
pluck them from rooftops. Like thousands of individuals, charities, churches and community 
groups, they answered Houston’s call for help spontaneously out of the goodness of their 
American hearts.

Americans have a history of helping out in disasters at home and abroad and it’s been going on 
long before Jimmy Carter’s administration created FEMA in 1978. After a third of the city of 
Chicago was destroyed by the fire of 1871, it was private individuals, companies and charities that 
rebuilt it, not government. Before the fire was even put out, the people of Cincinnati held a rally, 
raised $160,000 and sent it to Chicago. Other cities did the same, raising the equivalent of nearly 
$100 million in today’s money and donating much more in food and clothing.

The same thing happened in 1889 when 2,209 people of Johnstown, Pa., were swept to their deaths 
by a wall of water from a broken dam. Americans from coast-to-coast contributed millions of 
dollars and sent so many relief supplies by rail to Johnstown that they were asked to stop.

As the city of Houston and its people already are learning, that kind of spontaneous private 
generosity is not just a tradition, it’s part of America’s DNA.

Today it’s easier than ever to help victims of natural disasters. Thanks to web sites like PayPal you 
can send a $25 donation to the reputable charity of your choice with a click or two. 

That’s what I did, and when I get back home to Los Angeles, I’m going to go around the corner to 
the Red Cross office and give to Houston the old-fashioned way - with a check.

——-

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of 
“The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). He is the founder of the email service reagan.
com and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and 
www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld 
on Twitter. 

Mountain Views News

Mission Statement

The traditions of 
community news-
papers and the 
concerns of our readers 
are this newspaper’s 
top priorities. We 
support a prosperous 
community of well-
informed citizens. We 
hold in high regard the 
values of the exceptional 
quality of life in our 
community, including 
the magnificence of 
our natural resources. 
Integrity will be our guide. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com