|
Insider
Baseball: Parallel Universe: Report from the
second special session.
Living Out: Year of the Phlegm: Not just anybody
messes with my chi.
Letters:
EW readers sound off.
Parallel
Universe
Report
from the second special session.
By now you know all the bad news. The Republican legislative
leadership voted out a horrendous budget -- more than $300 million
in cuts to K-12, huge cuts to higher education and community colleges,
nasty cuts to human services and public safety -- all along straight
partisan lines. The governor is going to veto part of the package
because the Republicans relied on one-time spending which will put
us in a deep hole in the next biennium. The Republicans are in bed
with Big Tobacco, so we weren't allowed to vote on a referral to increase
the cigarette tax -- which alone would have brought in about
$100 million in continuing revenue. Nor were we allowed to vote on
a nickel-a-drink beer and wine tax referral or a referral to delay
Measure 88, the federal tax deduction break for the higher income
brackets. Then, on the federal front, Bush signed an "accelerated
depreciation" tax break for corporations that creates another $75
million hole in Oregon's general fund for the each of the next three
years. So we'll be back in session again to rebalance the budget in
the next few months.
But the ugliest action that took place in the
second special session had to do with Oregon's farmworkers. Apparently,
things are different in Salem. In Salem large agribusiness interests
are quaking in fear of the incredible power of PCUN. If you drive
on I-5 north or south between Salem and Portland you'll see these
Burma-Shave ads by the ag community:
We grow your food
We protect your land
Oregon Agriculture
Deserves a Hand
So, in the spirit of helping these pathetic guys overcome
the competitive disadvantage that those incredibly powerful farmworkers
apparently have over them, here's my Burma-Shave proposal:
It might be March
It might be June
Anytime's good
To screw PCUN
During the first session we beat back a bad bill by
the Farm Bureau. In my last column I told you the story: The Farm
Bureau tried once again to bring PCUN, the farmworkers' union, to
its knees by making it unlawful for them to boycott. Why? Because
after 10 years of pressure on NORPAC, the state's largest food processor
-- who had refused to bargain with PCUN -- the nationwide
boycott finally brought them to the table. Sodexho, a huge French
conglomerate who buys from NORPAC, forced them to settle with the
farmworkers, the governor brought in a mediator, and two days after
the first session, both sides had an agreement to end the boycott.
But during the second session, the bill came up again.
On the Senate floor Medford's Jason Atkinson trashed Sodexho for being
a foreign company trying to impose its standards on us "Amuricans"
-- the nerve of them French. He forgot to mention that Sodexho
had merely informed NORPAC that they should abide by the Sullivan
Principles, which arose out of the anti-apartheid struggles with corporations
that did business with South Africa. How dare they?
The Farm Bureau called PCUN "terrorists" and compared
them to the governments of North Korea and Iraq! I never knew they
were so powerful! The poorest of the poor workers in Oregon, living
in sub-human hovels -- and paying rent to stay there --
have brought the Farm Bureau to their knees. Oh, my! Susan Castillo
and I were singled out by the Farm Bureau for defending the farmworkers.
The Bureau even placed a duplicitous ad in Willamette Week
urging Portland area Democratic senators to give farmworkers the same
rights that other workers have, i.e., collective bargaining rights.
They failed to mention that it was farmers who had fought against
collective bargaining rights for farmworkers since the New Deal in
the 1930s!
There's no question farmworkers should have collective
bargaining rights, but there has to be some protection built in to
insure that the few greedy farmers who give all the other good ones
a bad name won't just ignore PCUN like NORPAC did. We need a neutral
oversight commission with bilingual enforcers trained in farm labor
law to keep the process fair. Anyway, along mostly partisan lines,
the Republicans passed an unacceptable bill that Gov. Kitzhaber will
veto. Thank you, John! That's why I love the guy, and that's why the
next gubernatorial race is so crucial to Oregon.
Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove represents portions
of Lane and Douglas counties in the newly formed Senate District 4,
which now includes the UO area. He can be reached at corcoran.sen@state.or.us
Back to Top
Year
of the Phlegm
Not just
anybody messes with my chi.
Here I am lying on the acupuncturist's table, thinking the floaty
kinds of thoughts people think when they're lying around with needles sticking in
them. Profound insights unfold, like "I have needles sticking in me!" Before
long I'm lulled into a healing trance.
The reason I'm lying here at Sue's House of Needles is that I've
been sick. For weeks on end I've been training for the Olympic Cough Team. My cat
enjoys soaking up the extra body heat generated by my recurring fever, but jumps
aside for my coughing fits. She watches with a been-there-done-that expression, waiting
for the day I finally hawk up a humongous hairball.
In Chinese Medicine this is known as The Year of The Green Phlegm.
It's been hell. I've tried everything to get rid of whatever I've got, even mainstream
Western medicine. The only thing the MDs have been able to rid me of is my last shred
of confidence in mainstream Western medicine. I've been screened, scanned, palpated,
diagnosed, billed, re-diagnosed and re-billed. I paid $100 for one prescription.
When that didn't work the doc said, here, try this one, and gave me a free sample
of a stronger version of the same drug. Definitely go for the free samples. They
don't work either, but they are easier on the pocketbook.
Pocketbook -- now there's an odd word, I muse as I slip further
into the needle-induced meditative state. How do you suppose they came up with a
word like pocketbook? Does anyone actually call them pocketbooks anymore? Why do
so few lesbians carry pocketbooks? I get a vivid memory of Aunt Ida's pocketbook
-- a big white plastic thing she'd let me poke around in during long car trips. Amid
the jumble of her rhinestone compact, photo-bulged wallet, ring of keys my brother
and I use for playing "jail," boar-bristle hairbrush, Kleenex, fire-engine
red lipstick that children are not allowed to play with if they can't remember to
wind it back down before closing, rhinestone saccharin box, fountain pen, bobby pins,
extra clip-on earrings, rhinestone reading glasses, and folding plastic rain hat,
I could usually find a box of Smith Brothers cherry cough drops. Sweet and delicious.
Maybe eating all of Aunt Ida's cough drops when I was a kid made me immune to the
$100 medicine. It's probably too late for a lawsuit. Those Smith Brothers already
looked pretty old back in the '50s.
I am lying perfectly still on this cushioned table careful to move
only my eyeballs so as not to disturb any of the needles that, if you're at all squeamish,
I would strongly advise you not to look at. The table is eye level with drawings
of naked Chinese people. These wall charts reveal how acupuncture works. After several
treatments I think I finally have it figured out. Your body is covered with "points"
along a network of "meridians" that carry your "chi." Ancient
Chinese healers discovered which specific points eventually become so terrified of
the next needle that they release enough adrenaline to bully your immune system into
expelling the "lingering pathogen." Then you feel all better.
I wouldn't let just anybody mess with my chi, but I trust Sue because
we've been friends for years. Sue is a kind, gentle person who really cares about
helping people get well, I remind myself when Sue opens a packet of needles and proceeds
to skewer my points. I keep my eyes closed during this part just in case her usually
calm, compassionate expression has turned into a wild, maniacal grin.
While Sue flicks needle after needle into my flesh I notice my
consciousness drifting to a higher level, a brighter, happier place, and wonder if,
perhaps, I am dying. When the treatment is over I'm so relieved to have survived
that I find I actually do feel quite a bit better. I'm struck by the urge to go out
and get myself a pocketbook.
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
EDUCATION
IS BASIC
I participated in the LCC walk-out
March 4 along with 400 others who were outraged at the Legislature's
decision to cut $7.25 million out of LCC. This comes in accordance
with a $200 million cut to K-12 programs throughout the state.
I understand the cuts are being made due to retroactive
budget cuts. I understand the programs being cut are the most expensive
programs effecting the smallest volume of people. What I do not understand
is: Why are the priorities of this state and community so !@#k'd up?
How do the people in elected positions of power get
to decide we need less education, but more police, roads and prisons?
How do those whose job it is to battle soaring unemployment rates
decide that more people will fill nonexistent positions with less
education? Are these people educated? Do they have degrees? Can they
graph the exponential projections of the future of Oregon and Eugene
as related to a education-jobs-economy function?
How are we supposed to get better jobs to support
our kids, pay the outrageous rental costs, be able to live like a
human being or even dream of an American Dream without good education?
The problem here is priorities. Priorities as a state, as a nation,
as a people. Our priorities have gone to revenge and the presently
failing economy. Priorities that do not include the future.
If we want a strong future economy that entails a
generation of bright, focused individuals who turn their noses up
at the temptation of drugs, crime and self-depreciating behavior;
we need to focus on these goals now. Stop killing the planet and indigenous
peoples; stop ranking death above life.
Better jobs, better wages, better healthcare --
it all starts with education. The future depends on it.
Kristina Mullins
Elmira
LOST FROM SIGHT
What ever happened with the Worker Rights
Consortium? It seems that this mystery is shrouded in confusion and
forgotten by nearly everyone. The issue truly had a backlash after
it was sort of settled two years ago and it seems to be gone even
from the back of the back of people's minds. Half of the student body
at the UO wasn't even around when the issue became public two years
ago after a group of students occupied Johnson Hall.
The backlash came because some thought that these
students were attacking Nike, and Nike's CEO resented this and withdrew
a large sum of money from the university. Factories in which Nike
produces are already being monitored by the WRC. As of now there are
92 colleges and universities that are members of the WRC, including
ones like the University of Michigan that have strong ties with Nike.
Not that I'm condoning Nike's business practices, but this issue should
have nothing to do with Nike or Phil Knight. The issue is really about
making sure that businesses use good labor practices.
This issue shouldn't be simply left behind after a
series of rash decisions and legal technicalities. The university
actually became a member of the WRC only to rescind the decision a
short time later due to "monetary problems" and the fact that the
WRC was not a fully recognized, non-profit organization. Because the
WRC was not incorporated, the university feared being sued. Since
that time the WRC has become recognized as a non-profit and the "monetary
problems" have resolved themselves as well.
It seems as though all obstacles have been removed
and now it would be quite simple to rejoin the WRC and put this whole
thing behind us in a positive way.
Greg Dusic
UO
VENEER OF
TRUTH
Propaganda, rhetoric, unbalanced,
one-sided, insidious, demeaning, frightening, brainwashing, crap --
and many more words that can sum up Bobbie Willis's "But Words Will
Never Hurt Me" (2/18 cover story). Sure there are a few factoids tucked
in there to create the veneer of truth. It seems the one voice that
made clear sense was "Frank" in the Options meeting when he asked
why his wife/partner wasn't required to attend the program also and
that she "can say anything she wants to me." In this town, if you
have a penis, forget about any personal/relationship rights.
When men's feelings, experiences, needs and issues
are given the same measure of respect, attention, support and column
inches in this publication and in the Lane County Legal System that
women's are then maybe all those "words" will mean something. Until
then, men live in an atmosphere of intolerance, vindictiveness, manipulation
and abuse. Fathers will be taken from their children; partners will
be pitted against loved ones and the "us against them" Gestapo will
continue to set the agenda and discussion or try to emasculate you
for standing against them. The grant dollars that fund these organizations
seem too attractive to step back and recognize the level of abuse
and pain that is inflicted on our community by psycho-engineers bent
on reprogramming us into their image of appropriately behaving drones.
Jim Evangelista
Cottage Grove
BETTMAN'S
VALUE
City Council member Bonny Bettman
performs at a consistently high level in televised city council deliberations.
Her comments aid clarity of understanding for the viewing audience
because they are both precise and brief. Also of great value to democratic
process are her questions. She asks lots of questions. Sometimes she
gets answers; sometimes not. On many occasions, when others raise
issues, she presents knowledge, which in quality surpasses that of
staff. Finally, few on the city council have the ability to sum up
the bottom line in a debate as concisely and as accurately as Bettman.
Her know-how on democratic process goes back a long
way in public service to the community. She served as a stakeholder
in the early deliberations on TransPlan. She was a leader in the Friendly
Area Neighborhood organization. She served one term as treasurer for
Friends of Eugene. She provided good advice and support to other neighborhoods
in ongoing efforts in different parts of town. She was always a force
in deliberations by the Eugene Neighborhood Leaders Council as she
represented the interests of her own neighborhood.
Eugene is fortunate to have the services of a council
person who facilitates and respects the democratic process in carefully
analyzing and shaping community progress. Bettman is worth a lot more
than $12,000 a year for her contribution to good government.
Jack Radabaugh
Eugene
THE LINCOLN
HOAX
The supposed Lincoln warning against
corrupt corporations on which George Beres bases half his Jan. 31
Viewpoint column was exposed as a hoax 70 years ago; see They Never
Said It, by Paul F. Boller Jr. and John George (Oxford 1989),
p. 85. In Lincoln's lifetime, corporate power was not yet an American
issue.
Ironically, bogus political sermons by Lincoln have
also been touted by the right. Two pages earlier, Boller debunks a
supposed Lincoln defense of private property and free enterprise that
was circulated by enemies of the New Deal. Labor agitation and trust-busting
weren't issues in Lincoln's day either.
As Santayana should have said, those who lack sensitivity
to historical reality are condemned to print historical fiction.
Gordon B. Chamberlain
Corvallis
NO SOCIAL
VACUUM
We, the staff at Jefferson Middle
School, are proud of our history as a Racism Free Zone (RFZ). Since
1989 we have worked diligently to make our school a safe place for
all of our students. We are proud of the diversity of our student
body and our staff. Our curriculum has been recognized in the city
and the state as a model of multicultural/international education.
Thousands of students who have passed through our
doors in the past 13 years have benefited from experiencing a RFZ
school. Many of them come back to tell us how their experience here
has helped them in high school and beyond.
Being a RFZ school does not guarantee total absence
of racism, harassment or disrespect. Jefferson does not exist in a
social vacuum and we do reflect problems that exist in our community.
Our staff and students strive to be racism free by directly dealing
with the problems when they arise.
We would like to assure the community that the recent
unfortunate incident at our school will not divert us from our vision
of promoting equality and respect for all. RFZ principles will continue
to guide Jefferson and our school will be strengthened by today's
challenges. Finally, we remain committed to ensuring that all the
parties involved in the incident are treated in a fair and respectful
way.
Katherine Gorham
and 27 staff members of JMS
CHAPTER
11
I'm going to ask every person who
reads this to seek out and read North American Free Trade Agreement's
chapter 11 if they haven't already done so. It seems this is where
corporations flip to when they sue governments for anything "tantamount
to expropriation." I guess this means environmental and social health
protections which deprive a corporation of future profits it might
reap.
Most Americans do not know about chapter 11. Maybe
if we did, the richest companies in the world would have to share
their meeting rooms with members of the public, elected officials,
and the (alternative) press. As I understand it, 33 other countries
are planning to join NAFTA. The country of Mexico and state of California
have already been sued for standing by their citizens to make Metalclad
and Methanex stop killing with bone, blood, womb, and brain cancer-causing
toxic dumps. New environmental legislation is under threat if governments
can now be sued for hundreds of millions of dollars for enacting protections
for communities and ecosystems. Please read chapter 11 of NAFTA, pass
it on.
Jadene Fourman
Eugene
EDITOR'S NOTE: See www.tradewatch.org
DRAMATIC
CHANGES
I work as a fund-raiser/organizer
for the Sustainable Forestry Project. We are a statewide organization
working to stop clearcut logging in Oregon's forests through the Oregon
Forest Restoration Initiative (OFRI). If voters approve our initiative,
forestry in Oregon will change dramatically. Timber companies will
be required to treat forests as whole ecosystems embodying a wide
variety of vital public goods. The practice of reducing our forests
to economic resources and dismantling them for corporate gain will
be stopped. The myriad values connected with intact forests --
clean water, healthy fisheries and wildlife, as well as forest jobs
and forest products -- will come to be destroyed, as they are
now, primarily for the purpose of corporate profits.
The OFRI stands for economic as well as ecological
sustainability. It would create lasting jobs for Oregonians, as well
as an environment that we can be proud to pass along to future generations.
It stands for a moderate approach to managing our forest.
The Sustainable Forestry Project is striving to introduce
grassroots democracy into important natural resource policy decisions
-- decisions about how we want our forestlands managed. Part
of my job is to go door to door in neighborhoods throughout Oregon,
informing folks about our initiative and asking them to support us.
Given our very limited budget, door-to-door canvassing is the only
effective way to reach people and broaden our base of support. It
is also the only way to raise enough money to run a strong public
education campaign, so that when folks go to the polls in November
they will make an informed decision about our initiative -- instead
of voting solely on the basis of timber industry propaganda.
Door-to-door political activists are not trying to
sell you anything. We are only trying to invite you into the process
of grassroots democracy. We are trying to empower you. Help us work
toward true democracy.
Vincent Mulier
Eugene
Back to Top
Table
of Contents
| News | Views | Arts & Entertainment
Classifieds | Personals
| EW
Archive
|