Live From... Where?

For the last couple of years I've actually been surprised to see national news reporters broadcasting from small towns near my childhood home — towns like Applegate, Ruch, or Selma. But I never thought I'd see CNN report "live" from Central Point, Oregon — especially not to carry a speech of the President. Presidents rarely (if ever) visit that part of the country. Central Point is about 5 miles northwest of Medford, where I grew up, and is home to both the county faigrounds and the airport (making it an ideal speaking location for the President, instead of Medford proper). Proximity to the airport also gives him easy exit so he can still make the big fund-raiser dinner in wealthier Portland tonight.

Of course, while he's in Central Point, he's preaching about how we need to allow logging in the National Forests to keep them healthy and reduce the risk of wildfires. Excuse me? How did the forests manage themselves for thousands of years before we got there to help and intervene, then? Maybe (just maybe) we need a little more buffer between "civilization" and National Forests, if we're so concerned about protecting private property. But, of course, he's preaching to the choir on this one, speaking in a community that (while I lived there, at least) depended on timber sales for its livelihood. Which makes for a very appreciative crowd, and makes him look oh-so-popular yet again.