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Viewpoint
: Economic Genius: War economy is good for business,
bad for people.
Viewpoint
: Dirty Business: Are Oregonians really interested
in change?
Letters:
EW readers sound off.
Economic
Genius
War economy is good for business, bad for people.
Ever wonder why the stock market tanks every time
"Georgie Boy" opens his mouth?
Ask his "good buddy," Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay. Kenny Boy is walking
the streets with plenty of time to hide assets, eliminate possible
incriminating evidence and spend the bazillions of dollars stolen
from the people, us — you and me.
Ever wonder why we in Eugene are paying $70 per megawatt
hour while Bonneville Power is trying to sell power for $7 per megawatt
hour and can't find enough buyers? So, why did the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission on July 17th approve a 170 percent increase
in maximum electricity prices in California and other Western states
beginning Oct. 1? The top price for wholesale power will jump to $250
per megawatt hour from $92. Such a deal, Enron lives on.
And there are people out there that think that George
W. Bush is doing a good job. The doorknob to your house is doing more
for you than "Georgie Boy." Big W. is strictly in it for the big boys.
The "no child shall be left behind" baloney went the way of the stock
market, down and out — no money for the poor, the disenfranchised,
the elderly; no money for health care, pharmaceuticals, transportation
or housing, token money maybe, but no real help for the people.
We need more money for a misguided so-called "war"
in Afghanistan that has expanded to every nook and cranny in the world.
Bush thinks God is speaking to him to rid the world of anybody that
doesn't think or believe the way he does. Well, Georgie Boy is fulfilling
the Peter Principle that people ascend to their own level of mediocrity.
Bush has already surpassed Ronald Reagan as the dumbest president
in U.S. history. Unfortunately, this poor excuse for a president is
killing our democracy, stealing from the Social Security "lock box,"
and destroying responsible capitalism. Capitalism in the 21st century
is a different bird. Now it is proper to lie, steal and cheat, and
get away with it, no problem. Do it the Bush way. Pay yourself first,
second, and third and forget the investors, the owners, us.
So, how's your 401k, IRA and other investments
doing? Hey, we've got a failed CEO, Harvard MBA in hand, and a
track record of lying and cheating and enriching himself by selling
political influence because his daddy was vice-president, then president.
How does a dumb guy who doesn't like to read or write, and got poor
to average grades at Yale, ever manage to get into Harvard? His MBA
is as vacant as his character. He's a danger to our country.
Where is the outrage? The Patriot Act is exactly that,
an act. An act that can eliminate democracy as we know it. The federales
can come into your home, without your consent or knowledge, search
it, again and again and again, and never tell you. They "act" like
patriots and behave like thieves in the night, hiding behind lies,
secrecy and innuendo. The domestic ringleader, the right-wing bigot
J. Edgar Ashcroft, the guy who lost the last election to a dead man,
wants to look up grandma's patootie to enforce his convoluted ideas
about America. These public employees have no respect for their employers,
us, as in U.S.
So, what are we getting for our money? A phony
war — if war hasn't been declared by congress, it isn't a war;
just like Vietnam wasn't a war. It was a business decision. War is
good business. We've been on a war economy since World War II, never
left it. Korea, the Cold War, several wars against various defenseless
Latin American countries, the Cuban embargo — all part of the
pattern. But what if peace broke out? Would we be prepared? Maybe
we would have to have a new cabinet-level position to protect the
Motherland. How about the Secretary of Motherland Defense? We could
merge Health, Education and Welfare with Commerce, Transportation
and the Interior. Better yet, we could merge all the cabinets into
just three Secretaries: Homeland Defense, Motherland Defense and Fatherland
Defense. Boy, that'll get them. And all will be right, extremely right,
in Georgie Boy's heaven.
Jimmy D. Carter of Eugene is descended from a long
line of revolutionary fighters and battles for democracy, peace and
justice.
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Dirty
Business
Are
Oregonians really interested in change?
When I started running for governor last fall somebody
told me "Be careful, politics is a real
dirty business." I told them I knew what I was getting into. Looking
back on it, I knew more than most people would have guessed.
Starting with last summer's Pacific Green Party state
convention, the contention grew and swirled around my small campaign.
The Greens at that convention and all subsequent conventions couldn't
decide on much, let alone whether or not to endorse my campaign either
as green or non-partisan. I told them then that if they didn't nominate
me, not only would they not field a candidate, but it would make my
chances slimmer. As it turns out, I was right. Not only was Jim Weaver
not a viable candidate for the Greens, but he sabotaged them (and
me) by backing out at the last minute right before their last convention.
Last fall I went to the UO Street Fair. Next to me
was Eugene PeaceWorks. Curiously enough, the PeaceWorks people told
me they wouldn't support me because my stance on abortion wasn't exactly
what they wanted to hear. Now during the whole campaign my message
has been "if you can't find common ground and consensus with those
whose viewpoints most closely represent yours, you will never find
peace with those whose opinions are widely divergent from yours."
You heard it here first.
But I don't think Eugene PeaceWorks is all that peaceful.
For one, they were gnawing on sticks of pork, beef and chicken. Now
thousands of years of yogic teaching tells me that you don't harm
a thing that has a face, feet or a mother. Non-violence extends that
far.
Next stop on the campaign trail was the hemp
and marijuana movement. Last spring as I tried to ramp my campaign
up into high gear my interactions with them became competitive instead
of cooperative. Instead of backing a signature drive like mine where
I only needed 15,301 signatures to get on the ballot, Voter Power
chose to field their own petition at the last minute. They needed
82,000-plus signatures in a couple of months and I told them they
weren't going to make it and should just focus on getting me on the
ballot. Their big angry egos got in the way though and they asked,
"What have you done for me?" not realizing my years of activism in
the hemp and marijuana movement.
And if that wasn't bad enough, a Prineville person
came out of the blue with a marijuana petition. Once again I tried
to tell people that it wouldn't work, and sure enough it didn't. Both
petitions got some 30,000 signatures, twice as many as I needed.
Lastly, and leastly, the local hemp movement, which
puts out a little television program, had me on as a guest several
different times. But they themselves were unwilling to do any of the
hard work of getting signatures or any other difficult work associated
with campaigning.
Amongst all of this, people asked me how can I as
a yoga teacher run for governor? Aren't yoga and politics mutually
exclusive? I don't think so, and if you don't take my word for it
ask Marianne Williamson, who was just here speaking about that very
issue at the Health and Well-being Celebration.
In the backdrop of all of this the media refused to
give me the attention I deserved as the only multilingual candidate,
the only candidate who had a baby on the campaign trail, the youngest
candidate (36), the only candidate currently enrolled at the UO, the
only candidate in favor of legalizing marijuana and hemp, the only
candidate who has served as an international peacekeeper in Mexico
for the Zapatistas — twice.
All of this raises some very good questions:
Can true change be achieved through politics? Are people interested
in change, or just in their channel changers? When is the progressive
left ever going to get together to field good viable candidates? How
many election cycles are we going to be tricked by the fear factor
of getting the other guy elected?
Don't forget it was Democrats who nominated Attorney
General John Ashcroft, and if a democratic governor gets elected,
you can bet that the National Democratic Party will tell its flunky
in Oregon to toe the line and let Ashcroft have his way. So either
one means a complete loss of state and civil rights for Oregon. That
is why
you can still vote for me, just write my name in like tens of thousands
of others
across the state.
Richard Alevizos is a Eugene resident. His website
is www.richforgov.com
RIVERSIDE
STROLLS
If I see yet another saccharin PeaceHealth/River
Bend TV advertisement, I think I'll need a doctor.
The one that really gets my blood boiling is the nurse
who says she's looking forward to taking patients on quiet riverside
strolls. With nurses already overworked and understaffed, who's going
to answer the buzzer while they're taking patients on leisurely strolls?
And what HMO is going to pay for this?
Most hospitals are trying to save money by hustling
you out the door after major procedures. Patients recovering with
leisurely strolls conjures an idyllic image, but my guess is that
the biggest beneficiaries of the trees, meadows and river at River
Bend will be the hospital's handsomely paid brass with their commanding
office views.
And as to PeaceHealth's current battle with McKenzie-Willamette
over the Springfield hospital's accusations of predatory pricing practices,
just wait until PeaceHealth gets the OK to build. Expect "Why can't
we all just get along" to be translated: "This town ain't big enough
for the both of us."
Ron Norberg
Eugene
NO
QUICK FIX
Thanks for your "Burning Agenda" article
(8/15) on the state of our national forests. I really hate to be pessimistic,
but the conditions in our forests are unlikely to change anytime soon.
In part, the fires of today are intensified by the policies and forest
practices that have been in place for the last 50 or so years. One
needs only to walk through an old-growth forest (if you can still
find one) on a hot day then go out into a clear-cut. What you will
find is a dramatic difference in temperature and humidity.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the
clear-cut is in much greater danger of intensive burning. While one
might argue that a crown fire is much worse in an old growth forest,
that type of fire is much less common than fires in clear-cut areas
or young stands of trees that were planted in clear-cuts.
Even if by some miracle the Bush administration decides
to manage our forests in an ecologically sound manner, we still will
be living with the legacy of past forest management practices. Those
of you reading this will not likely see our forest crisis end in your
lifetime. What is needed is a vision of what our grandchildren and
their children will have for forest land. Changes in our forests,
particularly positive ones, will take decades. That is unlikely to
occur when forests are viewed as board feet rather than the basic
ecosystem that provides us with oxygen and clean water.
I am not at all against logging or the use of wood,
indeed our society needs both. We do need to look to the future legacy
of what we will leave for future generations. Endless cycles of clear-cutting
and replanting trees plantation-style will likely leave our forests
more vulnerable in the future.
Jack Bates
Eugene
POWER
& CONTROL
Domestic violence in our society is being
fueled by a misunderstanding that is widespread in Lane County. Victims
are put at greater risk when perpetrators are encouraged to believe
the crime is a result of emotions.
As people convicted of domestic violence are sentenced
to anger management groups rather than domestic violence groups, the
courts and parole officers are giving them permission to re-offend.
Studies and experience shows that domestic violence
has nothing to do with anger. The root cause is power and control,
and until those who make sentencing decisions become educated about
this dynamic, we are assured of giving men the tools to increase the
victimization of victimize women.
Mike Meyer
Eugene
UNSOLICITED
ADVICE
In a recent editorial, The Register-Guard
essentially called upon public employee unions to give up many of
the PERS benefits which over the years their membership has earned
(unlike the wealth currently enjoyed by R-G (Editor and Publisher)
Alton Baker III, whose position was given to him by Daddy).
Ironically, this unsolicited advice comes from a publication that
censors any input from the community (of which it is a self-proclaimed
"citizen") concerning its own less-than-stellar employee relations.
So, when picketers carry signs at the R-Gs
Lane County Fair "Family Day" observance, calling upon the rag to
"Be Fair," their message will extend far beyond their own difficulties.
Here's hoping it resounds loudly in Sonny's posh office.
Bill Smee
Eugene
TURN
IT OFF
As it appears, our need for techno toys
will continue to increase under the guise that we become more efficient
and more productive. It seems that at any given time there is someone
somewhere needing to call that all important person and share. Most
mobile phone users attempt to be considerate. The remaining users
tend to wield their phones as swords of superiority and inflict their
need to communicate on those nearest to them without any regard to
their comfort or their need for peace and relative quiet.
I choose to ride the bus whenever possible to reduce
my use of other personal transportation modes. A young woman prior
to boarding the bus chose to yak to whomever might be on the line.
Upon boarding the bus she continued to talk and after a specific request
by the driver and repeated requests by other riders, she barely slowed
down and her volume continued to increase. Now I don't care about
Billy or boring parties or even scrapbooks made of photos for a birthday
present. Her arrogance and total disrespect for her fellow riders
makes me consider the option of riding the bus less.
If you own a mobile phone please be respectful of
those around you. Most don't care about what's for dinner or who's
dating whom, or the plethora of personal situations that you use my/our
time to endlessly discuss. Find a not-so-public place or turn your
phone off! Your life is on a need-to-know basis, and I don't need
to know.
George G. Brooks
Eugene
DECLINE
THE ADS
I am one more woman boycotting EW
because of the sexually explicit ads.
Each week I have hoped you would listen to the letters
from women (and a few men) in the community — and raise your
standards of publication. But every week, there they are — ads
for chat lines and "dating services," and ads looking to hire "naughty
and nice girls in Eugene," along with more advertising than ever.
I encourage EW to continue to be a politically
active and responsible member of the community and decline to print
these ads. Until then I, along with Bonnie Robbins (8/15), encourage
anyone concerned with this issue to stop picking up the EW,
and let EW advertisers know that you're doing so.
Kenda Hills
Eugene
JUST
WORKING FOLKS
Just because Nate Puckett's dealer plies
his trade on Blair Boulevard doesn't give Puckett license to claim
(News story, 8/15) that Whiteaker is "known for heroin and the poverty
that accompanies it."
There is little heroin and none of the "poverty that
accompanies it" in Whiteaker, although we have plenty of anarchists,
many of whom evidently smoke marijuana. We also have a few junkies
from the south hills hanging around like flies on Blair Boulevard.
This is a working class neighborhood and the junkies
from west Eugene and the south hills can stop turning up their noses.
If this isn't a fine enough setting in which to conduct their drug
deals, I suggest they take them elsewhere.
People in Whiteaker work for a living. That seems
to be different from other neighborhoods in Eugene.
Ann Tattersall
Eugene
THREE
FINGERS
The governor and Legislature seem to be
spending a lot of time pointing fingers at each other and forgetting
the future, the children. The Legislature wants to borrow from the
future and fund education on cigarette taxes. Both of these concepts
we should be teaching to avoid. The governor wants to tax a workforce
with the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
They both need to remember that there is plenty of
blame to go around and when we point our finger at someone, there
are three fingers pointing back at us. Under eight years of our current
governor's "stewardship" we have achieved job losses and nearly a
third of our state's high school students fail to earn a diploma.
National research puts Oregon 39th in high school completion.
This is a far cry from the goals of HB 3565 passed
in 1991. That bill spoke of "rigorous intellectual standards" and
that we would, by 2000, have the "best educated citizens in the nation."
The problem is like corporate corruption. The leaders
in the state have allowed the Department of Education to force an
unproven system upon our children. Nearly a third of high school students
have rejected this "plan" and dropped out.
Education funding is one of the largest budgets in
the state. We need to get efficient and accountable when it comes
to our children's education. Proven systems must be used with independent
standardized testing to evaluate progress. Then perhaps we could achieve
a "work force equal to any in the world by the year 2010," as stated
in the 1991 legislation.
Angelo Davis
Cottage Grove
ROUTINE
SLAUGHTER
Warm thanks to Jacquelyn Lewis for her sensitively
written article about the feral cats in Lane County (8/8). While she
focuses on the sensible TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) solution to cat
overpopulation, I would like to call attention to the 6,000 cats slaughtered
here as a matter of routine each year.
That this killing would be taken as given and normal
is indicative of our culture's estrangement from the natural world.
We domesticate or kill whatever we meet that is wild and untamed.
From Columbus's extermination of the Arawaks who welcomed him with
open arms to our "manifest destiny" of "felling trees and Indians"
to widespread extinction and the current hunger for logging the last
of the old growth forest, Western culture has visited genocide and
ecocide on whoever and whatever we cannot enslave or control.
To really come to the root of the problem and solve
it, we first need to realize the full scope and depth of our culture's
addiction to mass destruction. As we try to dominate nature, we create
the imbalances in ecosystems that allow for effects like feral cat
overpopulation; we then respond by further violence. When this happens
in every county in the U.S., what does it say about our society? When
the landlords' divine right to make money is more important than life
itself — wild, free, and feral — what do we really value?
Who are we to decide who lives and dies? Killing these cats is institutionalized
murder, plain and simple.
Richard Crebo
Eugene
GOD'S
SUPPORT
Ann Tattersall (8/8) is correct when she
writes that "science is silent on questions regarding God," but she
errs greatly when she states that "God's hand in evolution …
is revealed through prayer and reflection, not through material evidence."
In the first case, science works with empirical data
and testable results. There is no evidence of God except in the subclinical
impressions experienced by susceptible people.
At one time, most of us believed in Easter bunnies,
tooth fairies and Santa Claus; but the mythology of the supernatural
"God" persists despite all lack of proof. God, one might say, has
no visible means of support.
True believers in the many incarnations of God are
busy killing each other in Northern Ireland, Israel, Kashmir and the
Philippines. Here in America, the religious fanatic is no longer hiding
under the hood of the Ku Klux Klan, but regularly appears on TV begging
for money. Sometimes they write letters to newspapers claiming that
science is devoid of meaning in modern life. Chances are, they enjoy
many of the conveniences (cars, medicine, computers, etc.) produced
by the sciences held in such contempt by them. Tsk, tsk — such
hypocrisy!
Scientists are a generally peaceful bunch: When was
the last time one of them bombed a school where a competing theory
was being taught?
The value of prayer and reflection as a method of
evaluating evolution has not yet been established and the religious
practitioner should, as one religious text states, "stick to his last,"
teaching Sunday school instead of interpreting natural history.
Pete Giberson
Eugene
ACT
OF ANGER
I wanted to suggest to (music) writer Jason
Moss (7/18) , who asked in regard to Pete Townshend's reverting to
his smash-my-guitar finale at the Gorge earlier this summer, "Was
this a calculated act of showmanship or has the man finally snapped?"
that pretty clearly, it was an act of anger and defiance (as it always
has been), understandable under the circumstances.
In light of the more recent news about John Entwhistle's
death, I want to put a pair of questions (with answers, you're welcome)
to the readership at large. Question: What do you call a young person
who indulges in cocaine? Answer: An idiot. Question: What do you call
a man 57 years old under medication for a heart condition who indulges
in cocaine? Answer: An addicted idiot.
Damnit.
I only hope it was one of those recent, cheaply built,
off-sourced strats.
Kyle Christopher
Eugene
OUR
OWN NIGHTMARE
Don't ask a question unless you can handle
the truth. I wish I would have remembered that saying when I thought
"Where did all the chemical weapons stored at Umatilla Weapons Depot
come from?"
Since the U.S. government is willing to invade and
wage war against any country that possess chemical weapons of mass
destruction, then Umatilla must store chemicals seized from the Germans
from World Wars I and II. Wrong! The 7.5 million pounds of chemical
weapons stored at Umatilla were all researched, developed and manufactured
in the U.S., just in case any of the 80 member nations of the United
Nations who signed the chemical weapons ban (which the U.S. refused
to sign) tries to develop some of their own. The U.S. is living in
a glass house and should be careful before any stones are thrown.
Michael T. Hinojosa
Drain
ONLY
20 CAGES
I thank you for the "Feral Frenzy" article
(8/8). It is an issue that is largely unknown except to the people
working day and night to help the situation. However, once you become
aware of it, you can't NOT help. Feral cats are a huge problem all
over the U.S.
Yet I am completely flummoxed by LCARA's policy to
urge people to "just stop feeding the feral cats so that they will
go away." Well, duh! — so will hungry children! If our county
officials are condoning this policy of ignoring the starving cats,
then why should anybody else care about them? This mindset only makes
it someone else's problem. How can this possibly help the situation?
We have become a community of denialists.
Not feeding the cats does just what has always been
done in uncomfortable situations where someone might actually have
to make a commitment: "Don't look at him sweetheart and the hungry
man will go away." Just as we are instructed to ignore the cats until
they die on their own of disease or hopelessness.
I also question whether Lane County is actually taking
24 hours to identify a "feral" cat. They only have about 20 cages
to keep all the confiscated cats in Lane County. Where do the extras
go when they don't have any cages? I used to board cats. I cared for
pet cats who became "feral" with fear just from being away from home
and would not calm down until their owner came to pick them up. They
can stay scared for weeks. So, how many pet cats have been prematurely
euthanized because they were scared and deemed feral?
We must take responsibility for these poor animals.
History has shown that killing doesn't end a problem and it certainly
won't work with cats. These animals are our responsibility
as a community. Trap, neuter and release is the enlightened way to
resolve this problem. Let's take care of it with logic and compassion;
not ignorance and apathy.
Molly Sargent
Pleasant Hill
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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