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News
Briefs: Images of Utopia
| Stupid Penguins? | Disenfranchised
Workers | Labor Notes | Fee
Guzzlers | Sprawl and Drought
News:
State Budget Fix: Cut the tax breaks.
News:
War on Many Fronts: Undercovered #24: Bombs and Bullets continue
to fly.
Happening
People: Deanna Kuhn
IMAGES
OF UTOPIA
Mention the term "intentional community"
and the images that most often come to mind are the hippie communes
of the 1970s. Speaking in Eugene on Sat. Aug.31, however, Geoph Kozeny
described a much broader and more diverse movement that has been engaging
in social experiments for more than 25 centuries. Kozeny spoke to
a packed room at the UO campus while showing segments of his newly
released documentary film Visions of Utopia: Experiments in Sus-tainable
Culture.
When Kozeny discovered the Fellowship of Intentional
Comm-unity (FIC), an umbrella network for disseminating information
about intentional communities, he seemed to find the perfect niche
to match his passion. He assisted the FIC in gathering information
and making it available to the public through such publications as
the Communities Directory. He has now visited no less than
350 communities in 14 years.
The impulse to create new social forms has been alive
in human society for quite some time. In the 5th century B.C., Buddha
invited followers to live together to support their spiritual path.
The Essenes formed communities near the Dead Sea to encourage their
teachings of nonviolence and natural healing. Early Christians created
communities in which they lived out their belief that there be no
private property and that all things be held in common. The 20th century
brought an expansion in the number and breadth of these experiments.
Many current efforts are a reaction against what are seen as the dehumanizing
consequences of both urbanization and industrialization.
Kozeny says one of the fastest growing sectors of
the movement are "ecovillages," communities based on implementing
and promoting ecological living practices. One example is here in
Eugene at the Maitreya Ecovillage in the 1600 block of West Broadway.
Kozeny acknowledges that some land use laws in Oregon are inhibiting
the formation of rural ecovillages. He suggests that ecovillage advocates
in this state become more organized and press for changes in these
laws.
Kozeny believes it vital to create alternative models
while actively resisting the destructive effects of the old. His goal
for the past four years has been to produce a documentary that will
make information about such models accessible to a larger number of
people. His program not only presents the history but also examines
18 contemporary communities. More details are available at www.ic.org
Those wishing to contact specific communities in the Northwest can
do so through www.ic.org/nica
Information about ecovillages all over the world is available at www.gaia.org
— Spruce Houser
STUPID
PENGUINS?
Political cartoonist Dan Perkins (Tom Tomorrow)
announced over the Labor Day weekend that he and Michael Moore are
collaborating on the screenplay for an animated film based on Tom
Tomorrow and Moore's best-selling book Stupid White Men.
Perkins says he will be the art director, Harold Moss
will be working on animation, and Moore is "nailing down financing"
along with scriptwriting.
"We should be in pre-production within a few months,"
says Perkins, whose penguins may or may not have a role in the movie.
DISENFRANCHISED
WORKERS
Many may have celebrated having an extra
day off last Labor Day weekend, but for too many others, being out
of work darkened holiday skies. Although some economists suggest the
recession is over, stalled economic growth has caused many workers
to become disenfranchised.
"Too many Oregonians are still unemployed, and there
is great uncertainty about the fate of Oregon's economy," says Jeff
Thompson, an economist and policy analyst with the Oregon Center for
Public Policy, a Silverton, Ore., nonprofit research institute that
studies how policies affect low- to moderate-income Oregonians.
"Most economic data show that the 2002 recovery has
been timid and could dip back into recession," he says.
While the short-term outlook for workers looks "limited,"
Thompson added "the primary long-term trends in Oregon's economy suggest
widening income inequality, more low-paying jobs, and de-unionization."
In the1990s, Oregon had one of the fastest growing
economies in the nation. Tight labor markets and a powerful boom in
high-tech manufacturing helped bring real earnings and income gains
to most workers. But, says Thompson, "the benefits of the boom were
distributed very unequally, with those at the top of the income scale
reaping most of the gain." Also, the Portland area benefited most,
leaving average earnings in the rest of the state well below historic
levels.
High tech fueled Oregon's boom but is also responsible
for much of Oregon's bust. "Our economy is not diverse enough, and
its main driver in the 1990s took much of the state over a cliff when
it crashed," says Thompson. He added that if the slow recovery of
2002 repeats the patterns of the early 1990s, then wage and income
gains will not return for some time. The 1990s boom did not reverse
long-term trends toward more low-paying jobs, greater income inequality,
and declining unionization in Oregon. "If history repeats itself,
the future is not bright for Oregon workers in this recovery," says
Thompson.
But Thompson believes there is some hope. He says
Oregonians can vote to raise the minimum wage, they can implement
better job training systems and they can organize unions to bargain
collectively with their employers.
LABOR
NOTES
Strike authorization was approved overwhelmingly
in a vote Aug. 28 by Eugene and Salem area grocery and meat workers
represented by United Food and Commercial Workers 555. The threatened
strike is against Fred Meyer, Albertson's and Safeway stores. The
next step is federal mediation scheduled for Sept. 17 in Eugene. The
employers are reportedly seeking wage freezes and reduced benefits.
FEE
GUZZLERS
Eugene-area drivers who complain to the
state about paying double registration fees for their new hybrid gas/electric
cars are getting letters from the Oregon Department of Transportation
justifying the higher fees.
"Passenger cars pay for their use, and wear and tear
of the roads, through registration fees AND gas tax," writes Berri
Leslie of ODOT to Gene and Virginia Holloter of Springfield. "Regardless
of the motive power, all cars use the roads and create wear and tear."
She goes on to say that "owners of gasoline powered cars pay more
per mile to operate in Oregon than owners of hybrid or electric cars."
Gene Holloter says he's not convinced. "Looking for
pacifying trade-offs should not be the issue," he says. "If highway
funding is inadequate, the gas tax should be raised. Owners of these
environmentally friendly vehicles should not be penalized."
John Corliss of Springfield agrees, saying in a statement
to EW that "this tax structure is the opposite to what I would
expect from a legislative body in a state such as Oregon. …
Let's hope that the pachyderms in the Oregon Legislature receive enough
flak from aware citizens that it will reconsider its wrong-headed
action soon."
SPRAWL
AND DROUGHT
The expansion of paved-over lands in urban
areas is contributing to drought conditions nationwide, according
to a new report cited in an LA Times story by Elizabeth Shogren
Aug. 29.
The report, prepared by American Rivers; the Natural
Resources Defense Council, another national environmental organization;
and Smart Growth America, examined the effects of development on water
supplies in 18 rapidly growing areas. The authors said they were not
trying to come up with precise numbers for any region, but wanted
to show the magnitude of the problem.
"Sprawl development is literally sending billions
of gallons of badly needed water down the drain each year —
the storm drain," the article quotes Betsy Otto, senior director for
watershed programs at American Rivers, a national environmental organization.
"Sprawl hasn't caused this year's drought, but sprawl
is making water supply problems worse in many cities."
The report says the lost water could support the average
annual household needs of between 1.5 million and 3.6 million people.
The authors urged the Geological Survey to embark
on a thorough scientific study. Some drought experts said they had
no doubt that rapid development was exacerbating water shortages during
the current drought, but they say the extent is impossible to quantify.
"The construction industry criticized the report,
calling it a blatant effort by the environmental groups to support
their goal of increasing regulations on development," wrote Shogren.
Back to Top
State
Budget Fix
Cut the tax breaks.
BY
ALAN PITTMAN
The governor and state Legislature are
at each others' throats trying to close a $480 million budget chasm
without raising taxes or slashing schools and other state programs.
There's an easy solution. Without any tax rate increases
or budget cuts, EW has found a way to raise enough money to
close the budget gap with $3.2 billion leftover for low-income tax
breaks and new state programs serving needy Oregonians and school
kids. The answer lies in the state's biennial "Tax Expenditure Report"—
a laundry list of unfair and wasteful giveaways to corporations, the
wealthy and special interests.
Eliminate the worst of these hand-outs and Oregon
will have solved its budget crisis and be a better, more just place
to live. Here's the list based on information in the state expenditure
report:
Mansion Money — $755 million. ORS 316.695
allows home owners to deduct mortgage interest from their income taxes.
This break benefits mostly the affluent with 73 percent of the money
going to people who make more than $40,000 a year. Renters don't get
anything.
| ORS
830.790 exempts pleasure boats from taxes. It's unfair to tax
housing (a basic need), while not taxing rich people's yachts. |
Rich to Richer — $696 million. ORS 316.680
and 316.695 allow taxpayers to deduct up to $5,000 of their federal
income taxes from their state taxes. This unfair deduction mostly
benefits higher income taxpayers who pay more federal taxes.
Timber Baron Welfare — $587 million.
ORS 321.272, 321.420, and 307.050 exempt various types of standing
timber from property taxes. The break is supposed to encourage loggers
to wait to cut down trees until they get older, thus providing better
wildlife habitat. The same objective could be achieved through regulation
or high taxes on cutting young trees.
Mercedes Stamps — $577 million. ORS 803.585
exempts motor vehicles from property taxes. Why should a poor family
pay property taxes on their home while a rich guy pays nothing for
his Ferrari collection?
Silver Spoon Support — $319 million.
ORS 316.048 and 316.048 excludes inherited property and gifts from
capital gains taxes. The break mostly benefits the children of the
wealthy.
More Mansion Money — $186 million. ORS
316.695 allows homeowners to deduct their property taxes off their
state income taxes. This break benefits mostly the rich with 72 percent
of the money going to people who make more than $40,000 a year. Renters
don't get anything.
Strategic Corporate Welfare — $78.9 million.
ORS 307.123 exempts corporations from taxes on assessed property
values of more than $100 million. The 15-year exemption was supposed
to create jobs, but research has shown many of the jobs would have
been created anyway. Smaller companies that create jobs don't get
the same tax breaks.
Corporate Welfare Zones — $76.6 million.
ORS 285B.698 exempts corporate property located in "enterprise zones"
from property taxes for three to five years. The Hynix chip plant
in west Eugene was given at least $170 million under this program.
The giveaway was supposed to create jobs, but independent research
has shown that most of the jobs would have come even without the tax
breaks. Other local companies that create jobs don't benefit from
the tax break.
Windfall Deduction — $69 million. ORS
316.048 mirrors a federal provision that exempts up to $500,000 in
capital gains from selling a home from income taxes. Some of this
break may be justified since home sellers often have to buy a costly
new home. But in 1997, Congress made the program a giveaway by doubling
the exemption.
Fringe Benefits — $56 million. ORS 316.048
exempts executive and other employee fringe benefits such as free
parking and athletic facilities from personal income taxes. This exemption
is unfair to employees that don't receive these benefits.
Agribusiness Dole — $39 million. ORS
307.400(3) exempts certain farm machinery, equipment, and animals
from property taxes. Some of this tax may be justifiable for small
family farms that struggle to get by. But the many big factory farms
and ranches in the state should pay taxes just like urban factories.
Roads to Nowhere — $34 million. ORS 308.236
exempts private farm and forest roads from property taxes. Taxing
the roads would discourage road building that can damage the environment.
Polluter Tax Break — $31 million. ORS
315.304 gives corporate polluters income tax credits equal to 50 percent
of the cost of pollution control equipment. Most of the money goes
to corporations that were required to install the pollution control
equipment anyway.
Executive Parking Spaces — $26.2 million.
ORS 316.048 exempts free parking spaces for executives and other
employee transportation perks from income taxes. Subsidizing free
parking encourages driving over transit and increases road congestion.
Pleasure Boats — $25 million. ORS 830.790
exempts pleasure boats from taxes. It's unfair to tax housing (a basic
need), while not taxing rich people's yachts.
Welfare Loggers — $24.6 million. ORS
321.352 and 321.810 exempt private forest land from most of the property
taxes other landholders pay. The break was supposed to help keep forest
land from being developed. But state land use laws already restrict
urban development of forest land.
Business Breaks — $21 million. ORS 316.048
and 317.013 allow accelerated property depreciation for business buildings
and rental housing. The tax breaks favor tearing down old buildings
over remodeling and aren't available to home owners.
Job Export Incentive — $18.6 million. ORS
317.013 mirrors a federal tax provision that cuts income taxes for
multinational corporations that move jobs to low-tax/low-pay third
world nations. This is the opposite of what Oregon should be doing.
Poobah Break — $12.6 million. ORS 307.136
exempts fraternal clubs like the Elks and Masons from property taxes.
Many of these organizations do some charity work, but mostly function
as private social clubs.
Corporate Jets — $7.1 million. ORS 308.558
and 308.565 exempt most aircraft from property taxes. Not taxing corporate
jets while taxing family homes doesn't make
sense.
Growing Giveaway — $7.1 million. ORS
316.048 and 317.013 reduce income taxes for timber growers. More than
80 percent of the break goes to big timber corporations.
Dead Giveaway — $5.1 million. ORS 307.150
exempts cemeteries from property taxes. The exemption encourages valuable
urban property to be dedicated to wealthy dead people rather than
people alive today.
Log Rolled — $4.7 million. ORS 307.827
and 307.831 exempt "environmentally sensitive logging equipment" from
property taxes. This oxymoronic tax break was enacted in 1999. Much
of the equipment is already, or should be, required by forestry and
environmental regulations.
Holy Rollers — $2.8 million. ORS 316.048
exempts housing benefits provided to ministers from income taxes.
Housing benefits provided by most other employers are taxed.
Fishy Exemption — $2.3 million. ORS 308.256
gives big tax breaks to fishing boats. Other industries don't get
similar breaks for their equipment.
Forest Homes — $2.3 million. ORS 308A.253
gives a property tax break to forest home sites for loggers. Everyone
else pays taxes on their homes, why shouldn't loggers?
Gold Diggers — $2.1 million. ORS 316.048
and 317.013 provide various income tax breaks for mining corporations
that aren't available to other businesses.
Fraternity Beer Fund — $520,000. ORS
307.460 and 307.195 exempt frat houses and sororities from property
taxes that fund schools. This tax break was passed in 1973 (five years
before the movie Animal House ), ostensibly to keep college
housing costs down. But other student renters who don't drink as much
beer don't enjoy a similar perk.
Back to Top
War
on Many Fronts
Undercovered #24: Bombs and bullets continue to fly.
BY
KATE ROGERS GESSERT
• While mainstream media ask, "Will
we go to war with Iraq?" Robert Jensen and Rahul Mahajan point
out that we already are at war. Twelve years of economic sanctions
have helped cause the death of more than 500,000 children under age
five, according to a UNICEF study. U.S. and British planes patrol
no-fly zones over large areas of Iraq, bombing military and civilian
targets and killing civilians (Counterpunch). There have been
at least 34 attacks in 2002, seven during this past busy week. According
to Iraqi sources, American bombs killed eight people and wounded nine
on Aug. 25 (Boston Globe).
• Bush lawyers determined that he already has
permission to launch a full-scale attack on Iraq, because the permission
Congress gave his father in 1991 is still in effect (Harper's
Weekly Review).
• CNN's general manager admitted that CNN had
censored news about the war in Afghanistan, not because of government
pressure, but "a reluctance to criticize anything in a war that was
obviously supported by the vast majority of the people" (Press
Gazette Online).
• While still refusing to participate in international
peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. finally dropped its opposition
to expanding the forces across the country. Human Rights Watch urged
quick progress toward greater security, as Pashtuns arrive in southern
refugee camps, fleeing raids, kidnappings, rapes and murders by Uzbek
soldiers in the north (Christian Science Monitor). U.N. officials
admit they cannot investigate the mass grave of up to 1,000 Taliban
and Al-Qaeda prisoners who may have suffocated in metal boxes last
November. Soldiers of General Dostum, local warlord and vice president
of Afghanistan, might harm investigators and witnesses. According
to survivors, Dostum's troops beat truck drivers who tried to give
water to prisoners and make air holes in the boxes. U.S. Special Forces
advised and coordinated these troops, but, said Pentagon General Peter
Pace after an internal review, "I am comfortable that we have scrubbed
the U.S. side of it very carefully" (New York Times).
• The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are regrouping and
preparing for a long war in Afghanistan. U.S. soldiers are under constant
attack now, suffering more casualties than officially acknowledged,
ranging from the Pentagon's "less than 100 dead" to Indian and Russian
intelligence estimates of 300 to 400 American dead and an unknown
number wounded. Resistance to U.S. presence spreads as Afghans react
to U.S. soldiers' belligerent behavior and to accidental bombings
of Afghan civilians. The situation is sliding toward a long war of
attrition like the 1980s' Soviet-Afghan war (STRATFOR).
• American pilots in Afghanistan are routinely
given Dexedrine to fly long hours. Pilots keep the amphetamines in
their cockpits and decide how many "go-pills" to take. If they refuse
the drugs, they can be forbidden to fly a mission. Terrible mistakes
U.S. pilots have made, bombing their own troops and Afghan civilians,
may result from drug-induced paranoia (Independent).
• Since last Sept. 11, the fortunes of weapons
manufacturers have soared. Northrop Grumman, which makes B-2 bombers
and F-14 fighter jets that bomb Afghanistan, has 1,000 job openings.
Raytheon, manufacturer of Tomahawk, Javelin, and Maverick missiles,
bunker buster bombs, and reconnaissance planes, has 1,400 job openings
and a big stock gain since the war began. Lockheed Martin won a $200
billion contract to build the new Joint Strike Fighter combat jet
after investing $9.8 million in one year to lobby Congress and the
administration. Boeing's JDAM is the most widely used "smart bomb"
in the Afghan war, despite its propensity for missing its targets
and killing and maiming local civilians and American soldiers. The
Pentagon denies any problem and has ordered many more (World Policy
Institute).
• On the night of Aug. 30, an Israeli tank fired
a shell packed with 3,000 inch-long arrows into a family orchard near
Gaza where fruit-pickers were sleeping. Ruwaida al-Hajeen and her
two sons were killed, along with another relative. Israeli soldiers
often fire these arrow-packed shells. Palestinian suicide bombers
load their bomb belts with nuts and bolts to maximize injuries to
Israeli civilians (Independent).
• Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership organized
two Israeli-Palestinian peace demonstrations. Aug. 10 in Bethlehem,
Israeli demonstrators were doused with water and whipped by Israeli
police on charging horses, but still exchanged speeches with their
Palestinian counterparts through sound systems booming across the
military checkpoint (Gila Svirsky.) Aug. 24, Israeli demonstrators'
buses and trucks of humanitarian aid were detained by the army, while
the demonstrators walked past jeeps and soldiers. They carried placards
and baby formula and eventually met Palestinians who had struggled
through tear gas and rubber bullets, to hold an emotional joint demonstration
in Hawara, near Nablus (Coalition of Women for Peace).
• Joe Gessert and Liv Dillon will talk and answer
questions about their experiences as international observer/activists
protecting Palestinian civilians in Bethlehem during the April Israeli
occupation. This free event will be at 7 pm Tuesday, Sept. 10 at First
United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street. It is co-sponsored by
Eugene Middle East Peace Committee, Eugene PeaceWorks, Oregon PeaceWorks
and Women's Action for New Directions.
Back
to Top
 |
Deanna
Kuhn
After teaching French and Spanish in Alexandria,
Va., for more than 30 years, Spokane native Deanna Kuhn returned to
the West in 1997. She and her husband, Ron, a long-time amateur winemaker,
settled on hillside acreage southwest of Eugene that includes four
acres of prime wine grapes — find their Briggs Hill Vineyards
Pinot Noir at the Broadway Bistro. While her husband tends the vines
and the business, Kuhn works part-time as a substitute teacher and
full-time taking care of cats. "I have 27 cats of my own," she reckons.
"I love all animals — we're vegetarians." Soon after moving
to Oregon (with five cats), Kuhn connected with cat rescue groups
such as the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon. She and several friends
started the Stray Cat Alliance in response to a Junction City ordinance
that made it illegal to feed strays. "We were active in getting the
law changed," she notes. SCA (phone 341-3974) provides low-cost spay
and neuter services to low income people — 132 cats were spayed
or neutered in the first year. "Thirty-five cats were abandoned in
Cheshire," Kuhn reports. "We've fixed and found homes for 28. It has
taken all summer."
— Paul Neevel
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