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Viewpoint:
Commitment Time An open letter to governer candidate Ted Kulongoski.
Viewpoint
: Deadly Arrogance 9/11 and the conscience of
America.
Viewpoint
: Stalk Shows Limbaugh imitators serve ideologues.
Letters:
EW readers sound off.
Commitment
Time
An
open letter to governer candidate Ted Kulongoski.
While I appreciate the enormity of running for
governor in Oregon and the challenge of
bringing home the vote from a diverse population of people and views,
I do want to share with you some thoughts as you move into the final
months of the campaign.
Those of us who are concerned about the future of
education in Oregon are really waiting to hear you demand that Oregon
must and can do better. We want to hear that you recognize Oregon's
funding of education, from pre-kindergarten through higher education,
is woefully inadequate. The message our current level of funding gives
to our children is unforgivable, and the message it gives economic
investors is perilous for our state. Our children have to believe
they do not rank very high in our state priorities. And who would
locate their business in a state that has been busy disassembling
its education system for a decade with no end in sight?
I have read that you caution schools have to make
the case to the voters that they have been
spending tax dollars responsibly before schools can ask for more revenue
to be invested in our children. Ted, I believe the case has been made
over and over again for a decade. School districts have tightened
their belts to the point of touching their backbones. You can easily
access the statistics. Teachers and administrators have more than
risen to the task. All you have to do is look at our test scores –
at the top in the nation – for that proof. But our children
can well ask where is the music, the art, and the very necessary physical
education that enriches their lives, helps them find their future
direction, and opens doors for many. They have the right to ask why
their class options have dwindled and their classrooms are crowded.
We want to hear that you understand the public
school system is in danger and that you will be a leader
in protecting this valuable asset. Public schools have been asked
to meet higher standards while their resources have been depleted.
At the same time that higher goals have been set for those teaching
in public schools, charter schools have been established with lower
standards and requirements. We need a leader who demands that the
public school system be the source of an excellent education for everyone
who attends. The standards should be uniform for all schools funded
with public dollars. We need a leader who speaks out about the value
of all of us – with our diverse backgrounds, our differing abilities,
goals and belief systems – attending school together. It is
an essential element of our democracy.
And we want to hear you ask that we invest more public
dollars in our system of higher education to protect its integrity
and its access for all our children. The growing reliance on private
funding affects academic freedom and the character of our universities.
Now the UO has raised the entry bar to 3.5, virtually excluding many
of our capable children need and deserve the opportunity to learn
and prepare for the future. Our community college is needed more now
than ever and yet has had to dramatically reduce its program options
while raising tuition.
I could talk to you, Ted, just as honestly about the
need for a voice of leadership when it comes to the needs of many
Oregonians for jobs, shelter, food, health care, safety and environmental
policies that preserve our Oregon. We stand at a crossroads.
Kitty Piercy is a former state representative from
Eugene currently serving as public affairs director of Planned Parenthood
Health Services of Southwestern Oregon.
Back to Top
Deadly
Arrogance
9/11
and the conscience of America.
In the opinion of this citizen, the U.S. is making
grave errors in its response to the events of
Sept. 11, 2001, and our leaders would be wise to consider a quote
from George Washington: "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little
spark of celestial fire called conscience."
Since 9/11, taxpayers have spent countless billions
pursuing a course that does nothing to address the root causes of
that tragedy, instead funding policies guaranteed to provoke more
terrorism, and a homeland defense program that has attacked our freedoms
while failing to produce greater security.
Indeed, 9/11 has provided an excuse for a plethora
of policies that project a deadly arrogance instead of the wisdom
of a great nation. Looking beyond our borders, one sees that we are
not so much defending ourselves as offending the rest of the world.
Rather than promote an America for peace, liberty, and justice for
all, we thumb our noses at international law and prepare to shed more
blood and dollars in an illegal attack — without just cause
— on a nation not linked to the tragedy of 9/11.
In his book No More Vietnams, former President
Richard Nixon emphasized that America could not and should not go
to war without the support of its people and its Congress. As if Osama
bin Laden never existed, today we have a president so obsessed with
a grudge that we are about to tell the world that an unjust offense
is our definition of defense by attacking another country without
incitement or any evidence of an imminent threat.
Most Middle East experts agree that a likely outcome
of an invasion of Iraq is an Iraqi attack on Israel that will trigger
a nuclear conflagration. A certain outcome is the loss of innocent
civilian lives. All this to unseat one man? Discussing an invasion
so thoroughly, so publicly, is a dangerous provocation in itself and
displays a disturbing lack of conscience on the part of our president.
We cannot afford to be a nation without a conscience.
Americans of all ages lack medicine and treatment,
schools are shutting down, big businesses are robbing employees, small
businesses and transportation systems are going under, the surplus
is gone, and our environment is severely threatened. At a time when
a visionary leader would show compassion and attempt to initiate an
era of global peace and justice for a truly secure future, our leader
speaks in terms of hundreds of thousands of people as expendable for
his own political ends.
This nation has a unique potential, and with it the
highest obligation to serve a compassionate vision to the world. We
have not earned a right to dominate; we've acquired the ability, and
thereby the opportunity, to create a crowning legacy by uniting civilization
in a quest for a prosperous and permanent peace in this unforgiving
century. We must earn the respect of the world by exercising our finest
principles. Anything less is self-destructive, for if we fail to promote
a sensible and inclusive approach to the future, we will selfishly
squander a tremendous wealth and potential that humankind may never
again possess, and in so doing, forever tarnish the magnificence of
America.
It is evident that the lessons of the 20th century
have been overlooked, even hijacked by our leaders for the purposes
of further greed and bloodshed. Rather than seek disarmament of the
entire Middle East region and beyond, our country strongly promotes
the perpetual pollution and weaponization of the world.
Truly, then, grassroots American activism in pursuit
of a peaceful global community is the noblest kind of patriotism,
and represents nothing less than the conscience of a civilization
striving to evolve beyond the hopeless path of violence. But unless
we demand such wisdom in leadership, America will neither succeed
economically nor find security in the long term.
Today's Americans did not inherit a finished product.
We inherited a work in progress, founded by activists and built by
a multicultural populace. Consider me not, therefore, anti-American,
but as one who is following George Washington's "spark of celestial
fire" on an intellectual quest for freedom that began with the birth
of our nation.
It is incumbent upon citizens to speak out and act
wisely. Because of America's blatantly careless and belligerent attitude,
Sept. 11 has brought me back to graduate school at the age of 46.
I'll be focusing on peace studies. And I'll save a seat for President
Bush.
Brian
Bogart is a lifelong peace activist who worked with Dr. Carl Sagan on
the U.S./U.S.SR. Space Bridge project in 1986. He is also a member of
the Eugene Middle East Peace Group in Eugene.
Back to Top
Stalk
Shows
Limbaugh
imitators serve ideologues.
Eugene attorney Ed Monks and I rarely listen to
talk radio, especially the kind that clutters the daily
broadcast schedules of our city's two strongest signals, KPNW and
KUGN. Yet in the past month, both of us have spent hours as guests
on what we describe as stalk shows. We were invited guests. That doesn't
mean we were treated the way guests normally are treated. Our hosts
— Lars Larson (once a Eugene newsman), Michael Medved and Jim
Greenfield — were in their customary attack mode. That's the
pattern they and dozens of other clones of the original, Rush Limbaugh,
follow in broadcast markets they monopolize nationwide.
Monks and I were logical targets for these stalkers
of the airwaves, having co-founded RADIOACTIVists, a Eugene group
that hopes to put a serious dent in the dominance such syndicated
programs have nationwide. Monks has written extensively on the demise
of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and parallel growth
of attack radio.
With a coalition of civic and religious groups in
Portland, we've already had an impact on the most outlandish of the
talk shows. St. Vincent DePaul in Eugene canceled its ad contract
with KUGN for the Michael Savage show after it learned of its content
— described by the Portland Coalition as vicious and bigoted
toward women and ethnic and religious minorities. In Portland, PGE
is the most significant of several sponsors who have canceled contracts
with the Savage outlet, KXL.
In my Larson interview, he became livid when I responded
to his rapid fire questions with my own question, and he hung up after
three minutes. He had spent most of that time complaining that I,
as chairman of the Morse Integrity in Government Award, had allowed
"a traitor" (Rep. Barbara Lee, Calif.) to receive the award. The talk
show format as formulated by domineering types behind the microphone
allows hosts to attack, and guests never to attack back.
Monks fared better. When Larsen called him some days
later, Monks countered his blatant criticisms with calm responses
that included no questions. They talked for an hour. Monks had the
same experience with Michael Medved, who fenced with him for an hour.
RADIOACTIVists didn't come together to complain
about an absence of courtesy from talk show hosts. We're concerned
about what we've heard on Eugene and Portland radio — talk show
hosts who spout rightwing extremist views that sometimes border on
the violent. The style flourished after President Reagan's crusade
to deregulate big business.
These syndicated yellers are planted by ideologues
who have discovered saturation of radio signals nationwide is an effective
way to brainwash a population. I heard the same thing on my rental
car radio during a recent drive through Wisconsin and Illinois.
The format — negative, but sometimes exciting
because of its extremism — got rolling in the '90s. Limbaugh
imitators have sprung up to push their extremist views — carbon
copies of each other — coast-to-coast.
Radio's AM signal has deteriorated to a bottom
level not possible if the FCC had not quit on its responsibilities
to the public after Reagan gave station owners a blank check. It was
created to protect the public interest when commercial radio took
shape in the 1940s. Unlike printing, radio stations (and TV, later)
use frequencies that belong to the public. As the FCC assigned those
valuable spots on the radio dial, it monitored broadcasters to assure
a fair hearing for opposing political views, and guarantee a measure
of programming "in the public interest."
Nowhere has the invitation for corporate exploitation
of the public been more evident than in radio and its expanding big
brother, TV. It made a joke of the fairness doctrine. In the process,
protections against monopoly ownership of the mass media were dismantled.
Administrations looked away as individual stations (and newspapers)
were absorbed by monolithic mass media operations. Today, most broadcasters
and newspapers are owned by fewer than a dozen of the super-rich.
I've heard from two former FCC commisioners who seem
dumbfounded over the failure of their successors to maintain earlier
standards of fairness and balance in broadcasting. One, Newton Minow,
a Chicago lawyer today, coined the phrase "vast wasteland" for the
low standards of early TV programming. The other, Nicholas Johnson,
today on the University of Iowa law faculty, shares Minow's concerns
about the deterioration of broadcasting fairness.
It will take time for the tide to turn. Maybe the
trend has begun. Monks has been invited by Medved to host an hour
segment of his program in Monk's own style. Medved may feel he is
setting up Monks. I'll bet on the Eugene attorney
George
Beres, a Eugene writer, was a Chicago sportscaster in the 1960s. He
hosts a weekly public access TV program, "In the Public Interest."
INSPIRING
YANKS
Last night (Sept. 3) the BBC's "Newsnight"
program featured a series of interviews with a number of your town's
residents.
As you may be aware, the image of the United States'
citizenry is none too good at this time, even in England. Your fellow
citizens are seen as loud, brash, with no knowledge of world history
and incapable of rational thought. This is an image now widely held
amongst my fellow countrymen and portrayed widely in the world's media.
The people of Eugene, though, will have done much
to correct that impression amongst those who viewed the "Newsnight"
report — universally coming across as considerate, thoughtful
and knowledgeable of world affairs, regardless of their stance on
the Bush administration's response to 9/11, Iraq, etc.
This was the America that inspired countless thousands
to cross the oceans in search of a new life; the America that we want
to believe in. The people of Eugene are America at its best. Unfortunately,
this is a side of the U.S. that is all too often hidden from view.
The American dream lives on in Eugene; long may it (and the good citizens
of Eugene) continue.
Richard Mansfield
East Sussex, England
MISPLACED
BLAME
In response to Paige Lehman's letter
(8/22) lamenting having to share bathrooms with transgendered people,
I have a few comments.
I understand her concerns, based in reality, about
wanting to keep herself and her daughter safe in a world where, yes,
women are hunted, and we are not safe. But to say that having tolerance
for transgendered people will lead to more violence against women
is oppressive and simply not true.
When she asks what's to stop any transgender poser
from entering and attacking someone in a woman's bathroom, I have
to ask: What's to stop any man from doing that whenever he wants,
if his intention is to attack someone? A sign on the door is not going
to stop him. It never has. We know that it happens. It has nothing
to do with transgendered people.
To force a person who identifies as a woman to use
the men's bathroom is denying that person's right to exist as they
want to, is denying the struggles and the rights of transgendered
people everywhere, and is creating a potentially dangerous situation
for that person.
Tansgendered people are a very oppressed minority.
They are subject to violence and hatred everywhere they go. I think
it's important to recognize that and not contribute to more intolerance.
It is unfair of any of us to judge another's gender,
to dictate how another can or cannot live, or force someone to stay
in a gender role that they reject.
I understand Lehman's fears about safety in general.
Violence against women and other minorities is widespread. In order
to end it, we need to deconstruct patriarchy and all its forms of
violence — including the oppression of those who are different
from us.
Olivia Stone
Eugene
OPPORTUNISM
Politics sure can twist the facts.
What do wilderness designations and environmental regulations have
to do with fire?
Let's be clear. The Biscuit Fire started less than
a mile within the wilderness and was easily accessible from Bald Mountain
Road. And the 100,000-acre Silver Fire of 1987 began almost two air
miles outside of the designated wilderness.
In both the Biscuit and Silver fires, the Forest Service
withdrew initial crews because needed air support was busy at other
fires. The Forest Service has not said that wilderness designations
or environmental regulations or lack of roads hampered their efforts
in any way. Their concern was for firefighter and public safety.
There are several instances of successful containment
of fires in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The most recent example was
last September. The Craggie fire started deep in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness,
more than seven miles from the nearest road. It was put out while
still small (275 acres) because needed resources were available.
When speaking about issues as serious as public safety,
it's important that we have our facts right. Lack of resources assigned
to backcountry fires is what contributes to making them large. Residential
safety is best served by thinning and brush removal at the forest
edge, not in distant backcountry.
There are many views on the value of wilderness. It's
good to debate them. But let's understand that wilderness has nothing
to do with the pressing need to reduce the risk to the community fire
zone. Don't be fooled. Going after big fire-resistant trees and environmental
laws under the pretense of public safety is pure political opportunism.
Lou Gold
Ashland area
DISHONORABLE
ACTS
How best can we honor the victims
of 9/11? We cannot honor them by continuing to kill and maim children,
women and men in Afghanistan. We cannot honor them by bombing Baghdad,
as our "leaders" have vowed to do. Who will be the victims of that
bombing? We cannot honor them by continuing to make war anywhere we
choose in the name of retribution for "terrorism."
No! We must not dishonor those who gave their lives
on 9/11 with acts of war in their names. Our violence will only breed
more violence.
At noon this 9/11, in honor of last year's victims,
I suggest we all stop what we are doing and meditate upon peace. In
the words of Black Elk: "Know the power that is peace."
Deanne Thompson
Florence
HE
NEVER ASKED
Just a couple of facts about last
week's (8/29) commentary by write-in governor candidate Richard Alevizos:
This person was not on the Pacific Green Party (PGP) agenda for nomination
or endorsement at any of our conventions. We did not discuss his candidacy.
No "contention grew and swirled" around his campaign.
The question of whether or not to support his candidacy
was never a question put to any of our conventions. Perhaps he has
our party confused with another of the groups to which he shopped
his candidacy. He never officially approached the PGP of Oregon.
Hope Marston
Eugene
NO
ACCOUNTABILITY
Since Sept. 11, newly disclosed U.S.
government documents acquired by the National Security Archive at
George Washington University revealed that the U.S. has known for
15-years that the billions it's sent to the government of Colombia
weren't fighting drugs, but were being shared with paramilitary death
and torture squads to kill union organizers and rural peasants.
Immediately afterwards, the U.S. sent hundreds of
millions more dollars there to "fight terror." "Our" president even
overrode a U.S. congressional ban on military aid to Indonesia, imposed
to protest repeated security-force massacres, just after Indonesia's
president told troops this year on Army Day, "Don't worry about human
rights."
The global legacy of Sept. 11 has been to enable the
world's most powerful "nation on a hill" to reign down terror on anyone
it chooses, with no need to explain anything to its uninformed, self-righteous
people.
Thanks, TV! America grows sicker every day. Should
have called it quits after 1492.
Marshall Kirkpatrick
Eugene
MY
WEEKLY SMUT
I am writing in response, or should
I say in reaction, to the ongoing nasty ads in the back of
the paper. What a disappointment. I have read this paper for years,
regarding Rob's "Freewill Astrology" as my weekly little blessing.
In a not so-joking way I would refer to the column as "my weekly bible
verse." Every week I have gathered with friends, drinking good coffee,
taking turns reading our weekly forecast.
But as of late, I think not. I am no longer so looking
forward to readings due to smut in the back pages. I have my opinions
about smut and my opinions about child pornography
(which I believe some of these ads tend to border). Has the EW
no ethics?
This is certainly no longer a paper that should mix
family/kidstuff nor enlightening happenings amongst this type of advertising.
It is tasteless, inappropriate and disgraceful.
On the positive side, it's an absolutely perfect example
of what would clearly be defined: poor form. I'll give EW
an A+ for imitating that.
In closing, as I join in the boycott I pay tribute
to the "old rag," in a rhetorical fashion simply stating "What's Happening?"
Caroline Keen
Eugene
LIBERAL
AUDACITY
There was a time when one had to
speculate on the political temper of the people in various states.
But with the Internet we can now watch in real-time as Oregon displays
itself as a wretched place infested with aging '60s style-communists
escaped from northern California. There was a time when Rep. Lee could
be branded a traitor and it is appalling to me that Kitty Piercy could
recognize simple ideological intemperance in times of national crisis
as "courageous."
The sheer audacity of her column (8/22) to point out
political defects in the Vietnam War by way of comparison —
when, in fact, radical communist sympathizers in this country demonstrating
in our streets gave the enemy the political will to survive —
is revolting and disgusting. It is a case of the disease calling the
patient evil.
To borrow from one of your readers commenting on "Sharing
Bathrooms:" "But how far can I be wrestled into 'tolerance' of something
that is bizarre, potentially dangerous, and disturbing?" Good question!
I assume the rest of us can simply reference your website in the future
and find out how Oregon answers. Thank God most citizens of the great
U.S. have said "No mas." It is truly amazing that you can consider
sharing bathrooms but not common cause.
Art Brown
Big Canoe, Ga.
DISSENTERS
NEEDED
An overflow crowd at UO's Law Center
gave Congress-woman Barbara Lee a standing ovation throughout her
awards reception. No wonder — hers was the lone vote against
the 9-14 congressional resolution approving the administration's "war
on terror."
"It was a blank check to the president to attack anyone
involved in the 9/11 events without regard to our nation's long-term
foreign policy, economic and national security interests, and without
time limit." Senator Morse would have cheered. Not only did he, with
Gruening of Alaska vote against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution —
which expanded the war in Vietnam — but earlier, in l957 he
also voted against the Eisenhower Doctrine giving presidential authority
to use military force to help nations "requesting assistance against
armed aggression from any country controlled by international communism."
Eisenhower sent thousands of marines into Lebanon l8 months later.
Of this, Morse said, "I am not going to vote to give
the president any power to make war in the Middle East by a predated
declaration of war." He noted that actions in Lebanon were "unconstitutional
and authoritarian" and stated that in reality it "is oil our troops
were sent to defend. I am not in favor of spilling American blood
for oil."
Senator Morse, where are 21st century congressional
dissenters to join Barbara Lee? We need people like you more than
ever.
Marilyn Dilles
Corvallis
PRESSING
NEWS
I went to a wonderful Labor Day picnic
on Monday at Jaspar Park sponsored by local workers and unions. I
got the information about the picnic not from The Register-Guard's
"Ticket" section, which did not include it in the week's activities,
but from Eugene Weekly, which did.
I find it most interesting that the Guard not
only declined to announce the picnic in advance but that it had absolutely
no coverage of this annual event, even though it did print an article
of pressing local interest about people finding a beached whale in
Washington State.
Could the Guard's ongoing battle to keep its
employees from having a union contract possibly be coloring its presentation
of the news?
Carol Busby
Eugene
FED
UP
There are things I appreciate in
America: the scenery in the American West (insofar as it isn't being
destroyed by "development"), the works of great American writers,
such as Thomas Wolfe, the universities of Washington, Oregon and California
at Berkeley and my friendships past and ongoing with former UW people,
and the American contextualist philosophy or world view, which was
developed successively by John Dewey, Stephen Coburn Pepper of UC
Berkeley, and by my good UW emeritus-friend, Wayne Burns. Has been
called the most flexible and adequate of the four major world views.
So far, so good.
But otherwise, my patience with this country has long
since been exhausted. Theodor Adorno rightly said that in America,
one can find capitalism in its purest (most vicious) form, and especially
in recent years, it has seemed to me that half the people in the country
are trying to get money out of the other half.
Recently, of course, people were righteous about corporate
corruption, but the public has a short attention span, and next the
topic will be something else. But capitalism didn't stink just recently;
it stinks all the time.
And since 1964, I've been waging my private war against
capitalism — as anarchist limbo instructor, as humanist, as
veteran of baiting and verbal battles, as Wobbly biographer, as one
who knows his Marx, as one who is "in and against," and as writer.
Paul Green
Eugene
GREAT
SITE
I happened to visit your web- site
(www.eugeneweekly.com) for the first time today — searching
for an article which I found in the Aug. 8 edition. It's an excellent
site — heavy on content; no annoying pop-ups or flickering icons,
etc.; good organization; straightforward navigation; quick response,
including graphics. With the archive, this is a real community asset.
Thanks.
Terry Bequette
Eugene
TAKE
'EM DOWN
OK, OK — after many years of
debating whether or not to take up EW's space with one of my
pet peeves, I decided to give in. It's in regard to garage/yard sale
signs: I'm a real believer in recycling, re-using, etc., etc. But
please, please take down your signs after the sale is over. The signs
get to the point where they fall down and just add more litter to
the streets, sidewalks and lawns. And when the rains and winds come
in the fall, they just come down quicker.
I commute by bike all year round and try to rip down
as many as I can, bring them home and recycle them in my blue box.
I would take the signs that have an address on them back to the homes,
but I figure the people would throw the paper/cardboard away instead
of recycling them.
I know in the grand scheme of things, especially with
all the current world events, this is a trivial matter. However, it's
a matter I wish some people would take seriously.
Kristen Kaminski
Eugene
PEED
OFF
As I read Norm Maxwell's letter,
"Pee Nonsense" (8/15), right after I read a letter, "Millions Up in
Smoke" (in The Oregonian), I couldn't help thinking that Jeff
Jarvis and Tracy Johnson are also talking about volunteer wildfire
fighters.
It is time to stop persecuting humans for using cannabis.
It is a simple as 2+2.
Stan White
Dillon, Colo.
TACKY
AUDIENCE
I have been a student of Marianne
Williamson via books/tapes and have also studied The Course in
Miracles. I was delighted to be able to hear her speak in person
about such important political issues. It was an honor to be in her
presence.
The second half of the program was disappointing for
me. When Marianne allowed the audience a question and answer session,
instead of an interesting session based on the first hour of spirituality
and politics, it was primarily people standing up to advocate their
own local causes — announcing rallies they hold, website addresses
and the like. Where were the relative, intelligent questions or comments?
To the woman who expressed her (long-winded) opinion
that the world is full of abuse, anger and hate due to circumcision:
First, did you not know that Marianne is Jewish? Second, your comments
influenced me to do some research on the subject. It appears Jesus,
one of the most peaceful, giving, spiritual human embodiments to ever
walk the face of the Earth was circumcised. And Adolph Hitler
was not.
To the woman who stood up and
put Marianne on the spot in regard to a "sliding scale" fee to see
her: Please. The nominal charge of $25 is very reasonable compared
to some of the other world renowned spiritual teachers. You could
have at least talked to her individually (as many people did) instead
of getting up to the microphone for that. Tacky.
Lisa Powell
Westfir
WOMEN
AS PROPERTY
I have wracked my brain searching
for a compelling argument to explain why the sex ads the EW
carries make me cringe and feel disappointed in humanity. At the risk
of sounding hysterical and extreme, I believe a connection exists
between these ads and the murders of the two adolescent Lincoln City
girls.
Miranda and Ashley are dead because they became the
object of sexual obsession for a sick, violent man. These ads perpetuate
the idea that females are products to consume, and their human qualities
are a threat, inconvenience and distraction.
Women are considered a minority because they still
fight for independence on political and economic fronts. Less than
100 years ago, women were still considered property. I am not a prude,
and I have no objection to people expressing sexuality. I do object
to economic inequality that commercializes sex. Let's face it, most
women strip for money, not for love or fame.
It is irresponsible and disingenuous to pass off responsibility
for the content of the EW as a disconnection between the advertising
and editorial staff. They are also exploiting for cash, and it degrades
the content of the articles. If the silent majority can't change the
EW's minds, EW risks becoming part of the corruption
it sometimes exposes.
Also, I have been noticing over the past year that
about 75 percent of the letters to the editor are from men. Do women
write less frequently, or is it bias?
Kelly Bogan
Eugene
HOOP
JUMPING
Thanks for Hope Marston's excellent
article (8/29) on the police brutality that accompanied Dubya's August
(not august) visit to Portland. Dubya was here ostensibly to gather
in the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed by the Elected Elite
to continue the control of this undemocratic country of ours.
Marston, in the concluding paragraph of her article,
says, in part, "… run for office and work on campaign signs
for third-party candidates to shake up the corporate status quo."
Sure, I agree. I tried to run for the Oregon House
of Representatives on the Socialist Party ticket. The Socialists have
attained ballot status in this Oregon U.S. House District at least
six years ago. The congressional party for any minority party must
at least attain 1 percent of the votes cast to maintain ballot status
for the next election. The Socialist Party of Oregon did that. But,
alas, the Republocrats have created more hoops for minority parties
to jump through.
A minority party must, in accordance with Oregon Revised
Statutes 248.008, "register 0.5% of the total number of all registered
voters in this state after the current primary, but 90 days before
the general election." The Socialist Party, at least in the 4th U.S.
House District, was 16 registered voters short of that magic percentage.
Accordingly, neither I nor any of my Socialist colleagues who were
nominated by the party for other offices in the upcoming November
race were accorded ballot access. So much for working for the Socialist
Party's candidate as "third-party candidates."
Nope! The plain and simple truth is that the corporate
world has bought the so-called democratic process in this country
and that "democratic process" is evidenced by the Republocratic Party,
the one and only viable "political" party in the U.S.
Karl G. Sorg
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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