Klamath lets kick a fisherman pat ratliff 060206

As I See It -

Wanna have some fun? Let's kick a fisherman when he's down

By Pat Ratliff, Klamath Courier May 31, 2006

I want to apologize in advance for this column. I am so angry and so disgusted that I can't see straight.

I am also again, very ashamed of people in the media. I am ashamed of being in the same profession as that vilest of rags, The Oregonian, which is unfit for dog waste, unfit for a bird cage and unfit to wrap the garbage with.

The Oregonian, Sunday, May 21, 2006 ran an article titled 'Fishermen aid requests inflated'. The article was written by some agenda driven hack named Peter Sleeth (503-294-4119, petersleeth @news.oregonian.com) and attempts to make the point that coastal fishermen are asking for too much money in relief.

The way this article was written is so pathetic, and the reporters (sic) agenda is so clear, it casts doubt, if there was any room left for doubt, about the whole editorial staff of The Oregonian.

First of all, Pete (503-294-4119, petersleeth @news.oregonian.com), let me give a couple of quotes from your so called "article", although I hate to even give crap like this ink space.

"Sen. Gordon Smith introduced one of three bills April 25, co sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, asking for the $81 million."

"A spokesman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski said his office gave a figure of $20 million for the loss to Oregon, while a spokesman for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said his office estimated $60 million for losses to California."

The above quotes are from the Oregonian hit piece which this dingbat himself included in the article.. Pete (503-294-4119, petersleeth @news.oregonian.com), the figures and "aid requests" came from Governors, Senators and Congressmen, not fishermen, what were you thinking?

I ask the readers to ask themselves why the Oregonian, and their hack writers and editors did not title the article "Governors, Senators and Congressmen's aid requests inflated."

I'm going to venture a guess that the reason the article was titled the way it was is just because of human nature. It appears it's just downright fun for the Oregonian and their writer Pete (503-294-4119, petersleeth @news.oregonian.com) to take a shot at a bunch of people who are down on their luck and trying to stay in business because of a lack of 6000 fish in a river, which they did not cause.

Go ahead boys; put the boots to 'em. Yeee-Haw, we're gonna have a good old fashioned Oregonian butt-kicking; let's put those damned fishermen in their place.

Referring to the above quote about Senator Gordon Smith introducing an $81 million dollar relief bill, there was a little more to it than that, although the whole story wasn't told by our good friends at the Oregonian.

It's true that Sen. Smith introduced the bill, and also true that the article mentioned at the end of the sentence that a democratic congressman co-sponsored it. Read it again and notice how it's written. The main thrust of the sentence is about a republican senator.

What the Oregonian didn't have the time or space to mention is that a lot of other senators and congressmen also either supported that bill or introduced their own bills, among them California Democratic Representative Mike Thompson and Representative and Democratic Leader of the House Nancy Pelosi.

I wonder why Pete Sleeth (503-294-4110, petersleeth@news.oregonian.com) and the Oregonian staff didn't title the article "Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi's aid requests inflated".

Was it classism, because it's easy to pick on a bunch of mostly poor, hardworking fishermen, or was it just plain cowardice? It may be a little of both. I guess cowardice might be the wrong word. Perhaps the Oregonian feels that if you use the name of a very powerful, influential Democrat in a hit piece it will get you in a world of hurt and not using it is not cowardice, but actually good journalism.

Whatever!

The article is as much a piece of work as the headline was. I won't bother the reader by quoting from it any more. It's a trashy hit piece from a trashy newspaper from a trashy hack reporter (503-294-4110, petersleeth @news.oregonian.com) and as such deserves to be placed where it belongs, in the trash.