|
Insider
Baseball: Simmons Summons: Which way did they
go?
Viewpoint:
The Silent Killer: Sprawlitis is an opportunistic infection.
Living
Out: Rx for IT: We have miracle drugs for every
other unmentionable ailment.
Letters:
EW readers sound off.
Simmons
Summons
Which
way did they go?
Reputations can be made or lost in one swell foop in
the mighty halls of the Capitol. Shurriff Mark
Simmons and his sidekicks, "Matchbook" Max Williams and Jim "Shemp"
Hill, gathered up the posse, mounted their steeds, and proceeded out
to round up them Demos. Hill headed west to McGoo's, a local watering
hole, but it was full of lobbyists. Nobody had seen nobody, anybody
else, or some other body. Williams proceeded west, over to the Justice
Department, and was whapped over the head with a weighty opinion.
Redistrict this, again!
Just so you're clear on why the House D's walked out rather than
allow the R's to prevail on a partisan redistricting plan, consider
the following: My old House District 44, now occupied by Al King,
was entirely situated in rural eastern and southern Lane County during
the 1990s. Under the R plan -- for the next 10 years --
the district would start in Yoncalla, move up through north Douglas,
all the way through Lane County and Linn County, up into Marion County
near Turner. After Colonel Hooper, the chair of Senate Rules and Redistricting
Committee, put this plan on the Senate floor, I pointed out that the
Senate R's had decommissioned their right wing, and asked to borrow
one of his unused black helicopters. The answer was: Negatory; but
I'll take your request to our Office of Strategery.
BFC Update. Senate
President Gene Derfler sent us home Friday and adjourned until Monday,
July 2, when the whole redistricting battle became moot -- too
late to get a resolution through both chambers. He sent a clear signal
to the House R's that the fight was over. The first three people I
saw when I got back to Eugene on Friday evening asked me if I was
still in hiding! I calmly informed them that, with the exception of
two ButtFace Caucuses, I worked diligently all week while those House
members duked it out.
The BFC was a little upset with the speaker; one of
our charter members, Rep. Randy Leonard, was forced to miss two meetings
while at his hideout. The speaker knows Randy is a deranged firefighter
with a concealed weapons permit, so what was he thinking? The BFC
is considering a subpoena to the speaker and his posse.
Meanwhile, another BFC charter guy, very old guy,
Tommy FarFlung, proposed a brutal toast to Wally and me for being
unable to get a majority 16 votes for either of our two floor fights.
Wally lost one 6-24 regarding a procedural vote on the kicker and
I got my butt handed to me 8-22 on my bill to repeal electric deregulation.
The cruel reality that we could only get a combined 14 votes, given
the prodigious -- almost ethereal -- level of power we exert
in the legislative process, led Wally and me to re-examine our plans
to open Affirmation Clinics in Salem, Sublimity and Boring.
Gut and stuff update.
Remember the example I gave last week of a taxation bill that started
out as the single-factor corporate tax break, and then a refundable
child care tax credit for the working poor was attached as an amendment?
You don't get the child care credit unless you give in on the corporate
tax break? A technical Senate rule was violated in conference committee,
so the amendment was removed and the bills were sent out separately.
But now each bill contains a new amendment that either bill is dead
if the other bill fails! Let's see: $49 million tax corporate break
for 17 companies versus a $16 million refundable child care credit
for the working poor, both to take effect in the next biennium, 2003-05.
What will we cut?
Another clever "stuff" by two of the masters in the
process, John Minnis and Lee Beyer, adds a 10-cent increase in the
cigarette tax to fund prescription drug rebates for Medicare recipients.
They attached this amendment to a "temporary" 10-cent surcharge on
cigarettes that started in 1993 and has moved forward every two years
since. This bill, HB3433, also contains the infamous Don McIntire
cigar tax break. He'll get a $350,000 tax cut for cigar smokers in
this bill.
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
The
Silent Killer
Sprawlitis
is an opportunistic infection.
Remember "Martinizing," that amazing process where you could get your
white shirt cleaned and pressed in one hour,
so it would look just like every other white shirt? In Eugene-Springfield
the urban-scale equivalent is now available. It's called Wal-Martinizing.
An epidemic of sprawlitis has broken out in the metro
area. Symantec announces it will move hundreds of office jobs from
downtown Eugene to a tax-break enterprise zone in the Gateway area.
Levis builds an office building in The Register-Guard's suburban
Chad Drive enclave instead of downtown. Developers want the $80 million
West Eugene Parkway, even though it would exhaust most local road-building
funds.
Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target are looking to build
yet more big-box centers on the periphery. Like shrewd colonialists,
they understand the value of "location, location, location." Cheap
undeveloped land, zoning and land-use codes that encourage vast surface
parking lots, publicly subsidized infrastructure costs -- all
add up to a big-box shareholder's dream.
Poised on the major arterials and beltlines around
the metro area, these edge-city mega strip malls suck the retail trade
out of the urban core while they capture shoppers from outlying areas
before they can get into the urban core.
Sprawlitis is an opportunistic infection. While the
sprawl pathogen is present in all U.S. cities, those with an active
citizenry, strong traditions of local democracy, and healthy labor,
environmental, and social justice movements seem to have a higher
degree of natural resistance.
Like tobacco, sprawl is a slow, silent killer. Some
common early symptoms: clogged arterials, respiratory congestion and
asthma, sagging energy and less ability to concentrate on the important
things in life. Other symptoms: preoccupation with increasingly time-consuming
daily chores like getting the kids to school, commuting to work, shopping;
a second car payment; and flagging sexual appetite as many victims
report being exhausted after a day of work and commuting.
In its later stages, sprawl produces more traffic
injuries and deaths; environmental cancers from pollution; stress-related
illnesses from social program cutbacks and from higher tax bills that
subsidize far-flung road and infrastructure costs. Not surprisingly,
declining core vital signs often follow.
The more I think about it, the more appropriate the
health/disease metaphor is for thinking about sprawl.
PeaceHealth's proposed expansion
and move of Sacred Heart Medical Center from the downtown/university
area to north Eugene is a case in point. If PH goes, it could be the
sprawl-inducing move of the decade, taking well over 1,000 jobs (including
associated businesses) and tens of millions of investment dollars
from the downtown area to the urban fringe.
PH spokespersons have justified the move in terms
of what's good for PH's bottom line -- it will be $100 million
cheaper to build at the fringe.
But add up the thousands of additional miles driven
(and time lost) to get to a SH on the fringe; the increased congestion
and air pollution; the millions in public road and infrastructure
costs; the additional traffic injuries and, yes, fatalities; the loss
of 38 acres of land zoned for residential housing (and the inevitable
pressure on the urban growth boundary). How does this balance sheet
look over the 50-year-plus time frame PH is planning for?
This is the biggest test case to date of the city's
ability to implement its 1998 adopted growth management policies,
designed to promote compact growth, livability, and to curb sprawl.
Let's keep in mind the common ground: All parties
in the PH discussion agree that an expanded, modernized hospital is
a legitimate need. All parties have said a workable solution in the
urban core is preferable. To get to "yes" what we need now is creativity,
flexibility, and a good public process that involves the entire community.
Eugene possesses the talent and good will to make
this happen. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, 10 years from now, we can
look back and say "Yes, Eugene decided that for sprawl, like other
public health threats, the best cure is prevention."
Greg McLauchlan of Eugene is sociologist who writes
about urban politics, livability, and the environment.
Back to Top
Rx
for IT
We have
miracle drugs for every other unmentionalble ailment.
So many amazing medicines grace our pharmacy shelves,
why don't we have an antidote to homophobia?
That tired old condition afflicts millions and annoys the hell out
of the rest of us. Activists are at wits' end. We've got to find a
remedy.
Maybe we should hand this one over to the big pharmaceutical
corporations. They've come up with miracle drugs for every other unmentionable
ailment. Notice how nobody experiences impotence anymore? Drug companies
renamed it "erectile dysfunction," brought it out of the bedroom,
and gave it friendly, easy-to-pronounce initials -- ED. To treat
ED they brought us Viagra, along with its very own celebrity spokesperson
-- Mr. ED. Viagra's advertising blitz convinced men that talking
to the doctor about ED is an act of courage.
Turns out the market is chock full of courageous men.
Now, why can't they do the same for homophobia? Pharmaceutical geniuses
persuade multitudes to seek help for the heartbreak of other disorders
just by renaming them. Supermarket sales skyrocketed as soon as we
knew we could get relief from the lack of feminine freshness.
Once drug companies recognize the profit potential
of combating homophobia, they're sure to come up with a new name for
it, a product to treat it and an ad campaign to get people to
ask their doctors for it. But first they'll have to bring the disorder
out of the closet. Get folks to recognize that being homophobic is
at least as shameful and personally offensive as dandruff, unsightly
facial hair and dishwasher spots on your stemware.
Naturally, they'll have to test-market names for the
condition to find one that will sell. Candidates might be HQ (Hate
Queers), or CHAD (Can't Handle Actual Differences), or GPDLMSTOTBO
(God, Please, Don't Let My Son Turn Out to be One). Execs will push
for their favorite runners up: Bias Anxiety Disorder (BAD) and General
Repetitive Rudeness (GRR).
But it's got to be something really simple and catchy,
something homophobes won't be afraid to take a pill for. A normal
name. Amidst cheers of corporate camaraderie they'll unveil it.
Ladies and gentlemen: Inhibited Tolerance (IT).
Convincing people that IT is even a problem
will be a formidable advertising task, because one symptom of IT is
that nobody wants to admit they have IT. But the pharmaceutical
industry has overcome much bigger challenges; surely they can tackle
IT. They can launch an awareness campaign and distribute cute little
refrigerator magnets listing the warning signs of IT:
-- You've been telling the same fag joke since high
school and still think it's funny.
-- Anti-gay petitioners know you by name.
-- Rainbows give you the creeps.
-- "Guess what, Mom?" makes you cringe.
-- Nobody invited you to an Ellen party.
Now let the mass marketing begin. Clinical descriptions
of IT will blitz magazine ads and TV commercials. "Do you have trouble
enjoying people of diverse orientations? Do you deride, devalue or
deny the rights of sexual minorities? Do you ever use the insult 'That's
so gay!'? You may suffer from Inhibited Tolerance. You're not alone.
Millions of Americans like you have IT. But there's good news. Now
you can get HELP -- Happily Embrace Life's Plurality. Ask your doctor
if HELP is right for you." (Warning: May cause loosening of rigidity,
the uncontrollable urge to embrace banished family members and a change
in voting habits.)
Some sort of status will have to be associated with
admitting Inhibited Tolerance and asking for HELP. Drug companies
will need someone who can do for IT what Bob Dole did for ED. A familiar
celebrity spokesperson who's been around long enough to be the voice
of experience. A trusted voice from Washington's hallowed halls.
"Hi, I'm Jesse Helms. I never even realized I had
IT until my lesbian great-granddaughter took me aside and told me.
(Jesse smiles and puts his arm around a strapping young dyke.) Then
I found HELP."
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
SEE
NO COLOR
Who cares? Why does everyone care
so much how many people of one color live in any specific location?
Haven't we learned by now that it is not the package? On your birthday,
do you, upon opening your gift say, "Ooh! I like this one best. It's
got the purple paper!" Heck no! It's what's inside the box that matters.
What makes our package any different?
Here's what I care about: I care that there are humans
in this town who have no food or shelter, while others glut themselves
to cardiac arrest. I care that I've only seen about a dozen butterflies
this year instead of hundreds. I care a lot that my daughter tries
to eat the cigarette butts you smoking yahoos throw on the ground.
I care about the strangulation of the land at the hands of some people's
multi-colored greed. I care that some people have no idea what organic
is -- and why. And I care that some people won't look past another's
package and just love. These do not happen because of any God blessed
color! That does not matter. What these come from are what's inside
our hearts and minds. And we all need to work on that.
Angela Jaster
Eugene
ATHLETIC SUPPORTER
As an Oregon alum ('79, BS, Journalism)
and longtime supporter of both the UO and its athletics department,
I read Alan Pittman's recent article (6/21) on the "Joey Heisman"
campaign with interest. Mr. Pittman apparently put little effort into
researching this story. One need look no further than the UO to refute
the contention of Miles Brand that financial support for a university's
athletics programs has little effect -- or worse, an adverse
effect -- on fund-raising for academics. According to the Oregon
literature I receive, the most successful charitable giving period
in the history of the university occurred just before, during and
immediately following Oregon's 1994 Rose Bowl season.
Coincidence? Not in my case, where I gladly donated
(modestly) to both causes. Now, in light of the WRC fiasco and the
continuous whining from Professor Earl, how many Duck alumni will
continue to support academic programs? As long as Professor Earl is
employed by the UO, I will discontinue all donations to university
academic programs and increase my contributions to the athletics department.
And there are literally thousands of alumni who likely feel the same
way. (I understand that over 60 percent of university donors also
contribute to the athletic department, so Professor Earl's public
crusade against student-athletes will potentially disenfranchise the
majority of the university's contributors.)
Please feel free to forward this to Professor Earl.
He should know how he's hurting the university that pays his "meager"
wages.
If Professor Earl's position on that issue is any
indication of his judgment or wisdom, he is overpaid. And his very
public vendetta against the athletic department is insubordinate and
cause for immediate dismissal.
Mark Pilkenton
Portland
SHARE THE WEALTH
After reading that the UO is spending
more money on sports and less on professors than any other state university
("Inflated Ducks" EW 6/21), I had an idea: Why not give professors
odd sports-related jobs, thus redirecting some of the sports money
back to them? For example, doesn't the football team employ a "water
boy" or a "ball boy" or something? Why should such jobs be given to
students when professors are obviously more deserving, what with their
PhDs and all? I've always heard that baseball teams have "bat boys"
too, and I'm sure the golf team is always in need of caddies and guys
to fetch their balls on the practice range. For that matter, couldn't
Joey Harrington use a personal valet, being a Heisman Trophy contender?
Just think how great it would be if your valet was
an English professor, who could tell you cool stuff about Shakespeare
while you're getting ready for the big game. It's just common sense:
Instead of alienating professors, why not put them to use? If we can
make them feel like part of the team, maybe they'll stop complaining.
Bradley Butterfield
Marcola
HEALTHY 'HEART'
I did not intend to participate in
hospital-bashing as quoted (EW 6/28). I try to be positive,
and my interview with Alan Pittman was supportive of the city and
Sacred Heart finding a downtown solution that voters would pass.
As a non-Catholic member of Sacred Heart's Bioethics
Committee, I affirm their mission and service, and need for a new
hospital if Eugeneans want state-of-the-art care in the future.
If I said the hospital acted in "bad faith," I meant
to say they lacked commitment to the ballot measure by demanding the
city's support on Crescent/Coburg should it fail. Alan Yordy's unwillingness
to consider a downtown site was specific to the Willamette campus,
which I favor given its lesser impact on current density and the boost
it would give our true downtown. PeaceHealth has been "greedy" in
the context of wanting six blocks when Mr. Yordy had previously said
four. The desire to avoid future acquisition battles ignores the reality
that each expansion has to be weighed on its merits. Similarly, a
non-profit's attempt to contain costs has to balance with what the
city can afford and voters will support.
Please oppose PeaceHealth's plan to abandon the Willamette
campus, their disregard for the sprawling consequences of a hospital
at Crescent/Coburg, and their desire for a rushed September ballot.
Urge both parties to negotiate with the same fervor used to keep the
Federal Courthouse, with reexamination of other potential sites. Let's
not kill the process with insults.
Richard B. Coolman MD
Eugene
LESSER SENTENCE
I was one of hundreds of wildland firefighters
deployed in the Umpqua National Forest in August of 1998, chasing
the work of a serial arsonist around Tiller. After a tracking device
was attached to her vehicle and she was observed in the act, Forest
Service fire safety specialist Tamara Meridith of Canyonville was
arrested on 35 counts of first degree arson. The motivation was "overtime."
Meredith was only convicted on two counts; the evidence was "circumstantial",
which apparently doesn't carry the weight in Roseburg that it does
in Circuit Court in Eugene.
After putting 600 of us at risk of injury and death,
and costing tax payers a few hundred thousand dollars a day (not including
the damages to the forest), Ms. Meredith was sentenced to three years.
She'll be out next year (if she isn't already). I'd like to hear Judge
Velure tell us once again that politics had nothing to do with Jeffery
Luers's 23-year sentence for crimes that did less damage and risked
fewer lives. Too bad, Mr. Luers; you should have said you did it for
money.
Mick Garvin
Eugene
BETTER NEIGHBOR?
Jeff "Free" Luers has just been sent
away for 22 years. His primary motivation for damaging three petro-chemical
internal-combustion engines seems to have been that the oil those
trucks were prepared to burn is a keystone cause of global warming,
air pollution and colonialism threatening us here in Eugene and people
all over the world.
During the same week that Luers was shipped to his
new home, the local corporate paper reported that he would be replaced
with a proper U.S. citizen, the Enron Energy Corporation. Enron intends
to produce energy in Eugene to power machines throughout California.
Besides the destruction caused by air conditioners,
refrigerators and TVs that Enron's plant here will facilitate, the
$53 billion corporation helps fund police beatings of environmental
protesters in India, illegal deathsquads in South America and everything
that George W. Bush does. Enron was the number one campaign contributer
to the son of the former head of the CIA and presumably was not displeased
when he bombed innocent starving people in Iraq in his first day in
office.
Who then, between Luers and Enron, would you prefer
to live here with? Were Enron to treat Eugene as it does the rest
of the world, the answer to that question would be clear. It surely
knows, however, that its public legitimacy in the first world relies
on it being no more carcinogenic a neighbor than Hyundai, Monaco Coach
and Symantec. Regardless, given the polution, exploitation and alienation
that Enron will inevitably bring to Eugene -- the corporation
may be called an eco-terrorist.
Luers damaged three trucks. Enron gets rich off of
the oil that makes them run. Which one gets the red carpet?
Robert Giordano
Eugene
CHALLENGE POWER
I wish the laws against unregulated
monopolies were enforced, as they are a conspiracy in restraint of
trade, and harmful to the poor and the powerless.
Lawyers, doctors, dentists, social workers (there
is only one school in Oregon that offers the MSW degree), all price
themselves out of the reach of the poor, and they tend to institute
rules that keep others from challenging their monopoly.
Lawyers pass laws saying we have to use lawyers in
order to access the courts. They then insist we give them $5,000 in
advance to use their services to assert our rights in court. They
devise laws that are intentionally too full of legal jargon for ordinary
citizens to understand. They hound paralegals who dare to try and
challenge their monopoly on offering legal services. Are lawyers necessary?
Doctors do the same thing, in their way. There are
many medical services that can be offered by a nurse or physician's
assistant, but the laws have been crafted to stop anyone from usurping
the medical monopoly. Certainly a candidate for surgery wants the
best trained doctor available, but when that doctor's services are
unregulated, his fees rise unreasonably.
Either allow the breakup of monopolistic power, or
allow regulation of fees where that isn't possible. Anything else
is unAmerican, and I think against the law, as there really are laws
against the monopolistic practice of business.
If power companies need to be regulated to stop their
gouging of the people, then don't lawyers? Sure, it will never happen,
but isn't it a good thing to contemplate, the return of power to ordinary
folks?
Hugh Massengill
Eugene
SUPPORT INSTANT RUNOFF
As one of the "two old conservative
white guys" referenced in Kevin Hornbuckle's guest column (6/28),
I want to set the record straight. I do not favor proportional representation
for the Eugene City Council. Rather, I strongly support the Charter
Review Committee's recommendation for instant runoff under the existing
ward system.
Both proportional representation and instant runoff
use preference voting, under which voters rank multiple candidates
in order of preference. However, proportional representation would
allow election of councilors with only a minority of votes. Instant
runoff ensures that successful candidates are supported by the majority
of their constituents.
Ken Tollenaar
Eugene
LISTEN, UO
I'm glad Eugene women have banded
together (EW 6/14) to encourage the UO to value women as much
as men. The university has a pattern of villifying women for the same
behaviors it accepts from men. If the behavior that Jody Runge's basketball
players complained about had been that of a man, the players would
likely have been told, "That is how men behave."
I hope this team of women activists pickets Dave Frohnmayer's
office until he is willing to discuss the different standard to which
women are held at the UO. A discussion would require the university
to consider a viewpoint other than its own. This seems to be very
difficult for the university administration to do, once it has taken
a stand.
The UO should meet citizen activists with an open
mind. Administrators should listen to what concerned citizens have
to say during meetings, rather than cut them off when they try to
make a point. The goal should be to hear meeting participants;
not to repress what they have to say. The UO should not have non-violent
citizens arrested for trying to open a dialogue, or for going about
their business on campus.
The UO could be a truly diverse campus if they learn
to open their eyes, ears, and minds. Isn't that what education is
about?
Pam White
Moodus, CT
WHERE'S HERBIE?
I always look forward to each season's
Chow! restaurant guide. I was disappointed, however, not to
see Herbie's Garden and Juice Bar covered in the piece about healthy
fast food options. This is the only all-vegan, all-organic eatery
in Eugene that I know of. They have created such fast food staples
as the "Philly No Missteak" and "Neatball" subs, but without the environmental
and ethical toll of animal products. The smoothies are so good, they
can stand on their own as a meal. Best of all, vegetarians and meat-eaters
alike can feel comfortable at Herbie's. There is no holier-than-thou
attitude, and the menu is affordable. If you are exploring healthy,
planet-friendly fast food, check out Herbie's at 525 Willamette.
Kylie Belachaikovsky
Eugene
ENERGY HOG
In this summer of severe drought
and power shortage, please remind us again how many hundreds of thousands
of gallons of water and kilowatts of electricity Hyndai/Hynix is using
every single day, at exactly what heavily discounted prices. Also
interesting to know would be how many thousands of homes and residences
could be fully powered and watered with what is being given to them,
and how much they will be conserving during this time of shortage.
Lyn Dahlstrom
Eugene
UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITY
As a recent college graduate, I know
how frustrating it is to break into the workforce. But even with a
college degree and little work experience, I should be able to find
a decent job. There are thousands in this area just like me. Sadly,
I have found that Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) means very little
to employers these days. For example, the UO is rumored to falsify
their job listings by requiring applicants to have at least one to
two years of clerical experience and a high school diploma for Office
Specialist and Receptionist positions, well-paying positions that
many business students from community colleges can perform well. However,
I found out from a former teacher that the UO apparently doesn't grant
interviews for these same positions to anyone with less than a BA
or BS. The reason? An excuse to pay less for these positions by requiring
less experience and education. I have also heard that the city of
Eugene and other agencies operate the same way.
This is deliberate deception and it means thousands
of people will not be considered for jobs they are clearly qualified
to perform. This does not fall under the category of EOE, and I hope
that worthwhile employees, no matter their type of college education,
can stay away from companies that deceive prospective employees. Do
your "homework" as you job hunt.
Alisha Mobley
Springfield
KEEPING US COOL
To paraphrase the officer at Ben
Tre: "It became necessary to destroy half the west university neighborhood
in order to save it." The progressive elements on the City Council
advocate the largest urban clearcut in Oregon history as a viable
compromise in the hospital debate. Have they done an accounting of
the energy savings these trees provide? They not only furnish direct
shade, but also create thermal differentials that produce cool air
convections throughout the neighborhood. Are these councilors accepting
campaign contributions from air conditioner manufacturers? It might
be time for that meddlesome scapegrace, Chainsaw Kelly, to reboard
his spacecraft and fly back to California.
Tom Tracey
Eugene
QUIT WHINING
Political correctitude has brought
me to the brink. Alan Pittman's use of "honky" was just slang. We
crackers know that blacks call us that 'cause of our nasal twang.
Big deal. Hey, EW is free. But here is an example of
EW's PC patrol. I wanted my personal ad to read: "Even the
Chancellor of Nazi Germany from 1933-1945 had a girlfriend." I thought
it was self-deprecating humor and harmless. But you can't say the
"H" word according to them. Here is what squeezes me: There is a Mel
Brooks Broadway musical, The Producers that has a catchy song
titled "It's Springtime for H----- and Germany." Did they
review that? Don't know. And just for the record, I heard a song on
NPR titled "Even H----- had a girlfriend." If you listened
to NPR, you'd know a lot of their staff are Jewish. Didn't bug them.
Why won't everybody just freaking chill out, relax and put your whine
in the cellar. Good grief.
Greg Hume
Creswell
EDITOR'S NOTE: We want all of our ads to bring
favorable results, so our ad reps sometimes suggestion revisions --
in this case, nix the nasty Nazi.
PALESTINIAN PLIGHT
A mini history of the Palestinian
plight: When Britain created the Palestine Problem in 1917, more than
90 percent of the population of Palestine were Arabs.
Fact: More than half of the Jews living in
Palestine at that time were recent immigrants who had come to Palestine
in the preceding decades in order to escape persecution in Europe.
Less than 5 percent of the population of Palestine were native Palestinian
Jews.
Fact: The Arabs of Palestine at that time owned 97.5
percent.
Fact: During the 30 years of Britain occupation
and rule, Zionists purchased 3.5 percent of the land of Palestine.
Much of this land was transferred to Zionist bodies by the British
government directly, not sold by Arab owners. Britain passed the Palestine
takeover to the UN in 1947; Zionists owned no more than 6 percent
of Palestinian land at this time.
Fact: The General Assembly of the U.N. recommended
a "Jewish State" be established in Palestine, deciding to unrightfully
give this new Israeli state about 54 percent of Palestine.
Fact: Israel swiftly occupied and is currently squandering
80-plus percent of Palestine.
Fact: The General Armistice Agreements were signed
in 1949; Israel has maintained an aggressive policy of waging military
attacks across the Armistice Demarcation Lines, invading the territories
of neighboring Arab states, resulting in condemnation by the Security
Council.
Fact: Acts of apartheid and oppression by Israel and
supporters have caused the denial of equal opportunities.
We pray for justice and peace for those oppressed
globally.
Abdullah Al-Hemyare
Eugene
LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print
as many as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words, keep submissions to once
a month, and include your address and phone number. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044, or mail
to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401.
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