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The right-wingers in both Republican caucuses seem to be lining up to fight their own leadership over the budget. In the Senate, Gene Derfler has about seven or eight Republicans who will align with him and seven or eight who are criticizing him for even talking to us Democrats. In the House, Speaker Mark Simmons has about the same split. But the right wing has nowhere to go. If the Republican moderates work with the Democrats, they'll be able to fashion a budget that might be acceptable to us and to the governor & the $64,000 question is: what is "acceptable." The revenue picture is ugly. Ways and Means co-chairs Len Hannon and Ben Westlund have maintained open contact with Democratic leaders in both chambers. This led recently to the appointment of Senate Dem leader Kate Brown to the full Ways and Means Committee. It sends a powerful message to the right-wing that the moderate Republicans are more interested in getting a budget that most can agree on, rather than pitching an ideological battle over the kicker. Bully for them. Labor Update. It appears the assault on the public employees' retirement system, at least Tier 3, won't move ahead. The construction trades unions are trying to hold new contractors accountable to pay prevailing wages for the generation plants and co-generation plants needed to offset the supply side of the energy crisis. There are still a few bills out there to limit collective bargaining rights -- namely grievance and due process rights -- and it appears that Derfler wants to hold the state workers' salary increase (if there is one after the health insurance increases) hostage. Robo-phone attacks. Sen. Rick Metzger and I have been the target of two weeks of telephone harassment in our districts regarding the kicker. No other Senate Republicans or Democrats have been receiving the robo-phone recordings ... they're pretty nasty: "Senator Corcoran wants to steal your kicker. Call Senator Corcoran and tell him not to steal your kicker." This group, Citizens for a Sound Economy, is a wacko right-wing tax revolt offshoot of the "wise use" group who attacks land use -- Oregonians in Action -- and has even targeted seniors in nursing homes. School Funding. After 14 weeks, our Senate Revenue Committee passed out a compromise on the school funding formula. We asked the school boards and administrators for advice on which area of the funding continuum needed the most help. Their answer: small high schools with enrollments of less than 350 students. So we moved $3 million a year to those high schools at a loss of $7 per student to each school district without a small high school. I voted against the measure, even though 11 of my 17 rural school districts would have benefited. The other school districts shouldn't take a hit because we're using the federal money the way Congress intended. We really need to boost school funding to $5.229 billion and move the entire $29 million in additional federal forest receipts outside the formula. Cedric vacations at North Pole: Santa Claus moves to Veneta. A local reporter called me last Sunday and asked how unusual it was for a legislator to go on holiday during session. I told him it was very unusual unless it was tied to legislative business. He heard that Cedric Hayden from House District 43 was going to the North Pole. This raises several questions: * Do you think Cedric anticipates he'll have to move again to run for office because of redistricting? I thought Boise would be sufficient in my redistricting plan. * If he pleads with Santa, will Santa change the outcome of last November's election and replace Bill Bradbury with Lynn Snodgrass as secretary of state? Don't laugh -- it worked in Florida ... * Is it a one-way ticket? Anyway, like I told the reporter, we certainly won't miss his vote ... on anything. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove is minority whip in the Senate and represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 22. He can be reached in Salem at (503) 986-1722 or e-mail corcoran.sen@state.or.us Back to Top  Who's the Man? So what's wrong with a little gender ambiguity? I have a video clip of Pat Robertson on a tirade. He'd heard a parody of "God Save the Queen" and was outraged at the refrain, "God is a Dyke." America's top televangelist was livid. "Do you know what a dyke is?" the tape shows him asking the studio congregation and devoted listeners at home. His angry face contorts in the camera's eye. "A dyke," he sputters, "is the male partner in a lesbian relationship." Hello, Pat? Get a clue. There is no male partner in a lesbian relationship.
Butch-femme identity used to drive me nuts. I had dumped heterosexuality to transcend gender role stereotypes, not reenact them. And here were all these lesbians preoccupied with who was what. They considered me femme because I picked butchy girlfriends, had pierced ears and cried at movies. But being butch was my goal. I needed to rebel against years of social admonition to be more lady-like. I figured being a big butch dyke was about the most unlady-like thing I could do. I didn't wear make up, dresses or heels, like the high femmes sometimes did. I bought my clothes in the men's department. Even underwear. I tried everything. I took up martial arts, worked in a warehouse and changed flat tires. I firmed up my handshake and learned to speak in a lower register. I shouldered 50-pound dog food bags at the grocery store, just to show I could do it. I even rehearsed tough, non-girlish, body language and mannerisms until they became second nature. And I developed a distinct swagger. But I never did attain butch status.
At our Jewish wedding, both brides wore pants and we both smashed the glass. Around our house we divvy up the butch chores. I am the bug butch, called into action whenever a bee or spider needs to be escorted outside. My wife is the power tool butch. I'm the driving butch on road trips, mostly because I'm too nervous as a passenger and she can actually sleep while I drive. She's the electronic butch in charge of the computer, stereo and VCR -- I glaze over in the digital world. On the dance floor, I lead slow dancing and she leads a mean cha cha. We've both been called "sir," which we hate only slightly more than being called "ma'am." And we're OK about sharing the femme stuff. I'm the household social secretary and gift wrapper, she's the kitchen organizer and scrapbook keeper. We take turns cooking and we each do our own laundry. We both swoon over k.d. lang. So what's the big deal? Gender ambiguity doesn't hurt anyone. Can't we dump the pink/blue dichotomy and start everyone out with lavender blankets? Or rainbow ones? Then we wouldn't be stuck with the limited choice of either defying or complying with our gender assignment. We could all just grow up being who we are. Sally Sheklow has been a part of the Eugene community since 1972 and is a member of the WYMPROV! comedy troupe. Her column, which began at EW, also runs in several other newspapers around the country. Back to Top The decision to move core medical services was not based on what health care or Eugene is like today, but rather, it was based on what health care and Eugene may look like 50 years from now. Moreover, the decision was based on the rules of land use planning for the area that effectively mitigate the potential for the downtown site to meet the future division. I'm concerned that if PeaceHealth doesn't move quickly to get the construction under way, the future will be here quicker than we think. Recently, hospitals up and down the I-5 corridor, including Sacred Heart and McKenzie-Willamette, have been at capacity, not open for elective admissions. While I share some of the concerns mentioned in the article, I endorse PeaceHealth's decision. A new facility that is easy to access and has room to grow is strongly preferable to a cramped, condensed facility with a construction schedule that will disrupt the downtown core for up to 20 years. The city staff and leadership should do everything it can to help PeaceHealth be successful. Lee Michels, M.D.
Time to Rally The R-G has hired a union-busting Tennessee lawyer to direct the current round of negotiations with the Newspaper Guild, which has represented newsroom, circulation and advertising employees at the paper for more than 55 years (and has contributed greatly to past stature achieved by the R-G). The company not only is demanding wage rollbacks for many employees and minimal raises for others, but is insisting on contract language that would weaken the union's ability to stand up for workers' rights. R-G owners were recently found guilty of several unfair labor practices and ordered by an administrative law judge to begin negotiating with the Teamsters Union on behalf of distribution department employees. Rather than comply with the judge's order and accept the will of employees who petitioned for union representation, R-G owners have indicated they will appeal the ruling and delay a just resolution. Please join us on May Day. Tell R-G owners what it is to be a citizen of this community. Joe Mosley
Carpetbagger The problem seems to lie with the current generation of the Baker family, as the previous generations enjoyed fine relations with the workers and their unions. Why the change? It seems the problem is two-fold. Earlier generations of Bakers were industrious folk -- if they wanted more money, they worked harder. The current crop seems prone to taking the easy way out, raking in profits at the expense of honest workers. Combine that with the growth of the Baker population, and we have more mouths wallowing at the same trough -- a trough they have not made. Now, if Bakers were poor folk or sweatshop owners, we could be assured the R-G's editorial page would wax poetic, demanding this new crop of Bakers go about seeking gainful and honest employment, and treat others honestly. Since I might also expect pigs to take flight, I am using this forum to make the suggestion myself, and to encourage all EW readers to contact the R-G suggesting the same. After all, treating people decently and working hard never hurt anyone -- not even a Baker. Dennis Soper
Energy Leadership The whole world looks to the U.S. for leadership and will follow our example. If we go with the coal and nuclear solution, the rest of the world will follow and the rate of climate change will accelerate drastically and every country in the world will want their own nuclear power plant. Do we want a world poisoning itself with carbon dioxide in which every dictator can build nuclear weapons or do we want an environmentally safe world? If we want the environmentally safe world, a sizeable amount of money spent on new generation should go to renewable energy technologies to help these technologies mature in time to be the answer to the real energy crisis. Solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal are technologies that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. With proper nurturing they will become the energy sources of choice in the 21st century. This will take leadership as the status quo is strongly entrenched. We must act as the leaders ourselves and demand that our government, industries, and utilities move to a sustainable energy future. Dr. Frank Vignola
Response to
Inspiration I need to tell Jerry Ross how much I admire him for his performance as the artist/painter at John Crider's Free Jazz Project 4/13. He was superb, as also were the three jazz musicians, John Crider at piano, Hamilton Mays at bass and Rich Platz at drums and percussion. The event was the best jazz concert I have had the privilege of witnessing at Theo's Jazz Club. My heart was with him all the way. I was sitting there watching him paint, imagining that I were in his place, doing his dance with brush in hand, because his spontaneous painting showed just how I feel about the value of inspired improvisation. The paintings he produced that night are not to be viewed for what great masterpieces they may also be, but instead for how magnificently they demonstrate the virtue of trust in one's heart for the proper response to inspiration received from outside sources. It is a lesson that we, who are living in the grip of rampaging technology, desperately need to learn. The feeling of freedom released through any form of art is the co-responding answer to the mounting pressure for mechanizing our lives. There's talk today of implanting microchips in our bodies. We need to know that all living systems operate in the same pattern: Input to process to output. Process must not be turned over solely to the micro-processor. It must include the input of the human processor, the artist whose more sensitive contribution opens up the genie in each person's life. My many thanks to Jerry and to his wife, Angela, for her support. I look forward to viewing his next show. Jake Felsenstein
Be a Real Wheel The Meals on Wheels has a bare-bones budget that only provides for a skeleton staff. We would not be able to deliver these meals without the help of hundreds of volunteers who donate both their time and vehicle once a week to deliver Meals on Wheels to older neighbors. Others assist in our dispatch kitchens with the packaging of food for delivery. In Eugene/Springfield, more than 18,400 hours were contributed to the program last year by our good-hearted volunteers. Many, many thanks to you all. Our volunteers are paid every day in smiles of gratitude from the people they help. People who would like to "light up their life" with smiles of appreciation can join our volunteer ranks at any time. Please contact the United Way Volunteer Connection at 741-6000 for information about opportunities at the dispatch location nearest you! Sandy Karsten & Linn Crooks
As I write, thousands of indigenous peasant people in Colombia are being fumigated from U.S. helicopters in the name of the war on drugs. Not only are their coca crops destroyed, but also their produce, their animals, and their own health. They are gravitating to already bulging squatter communities around the cities. The coca crops will be moved elsewhere; the U.S. rapacious consumer demand for drugs will continue. As I write, bombs with depleted uranium tips are being dropped on Iraq, and thousands of Iraqi children are dying from starvation and polluted water. Desperate poverty is increasing throughout the world. Programs to meet human needs are being defunded and even forgotten. Homeless people fill our streets and shelters, and 11 million children in the U.S. have no health insurance coverage. Among industrialized countries, the U.S. rates 18th in infant mortality. U.S. military spending accounts for 41 percent of the world's military expenditures; the U.S. has only 5 percent of the world's population. I, and many others, do not voluntarily pay federal income taxes, nor the federal excise taxes on our phone bills. We redirect our taxes to groups that meet human needs and seek a world of compassion, justice, and peace. We invite you to join us. We do have a choice. Peg Morton
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