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As a newcomer to Eugene, I have become increasingly confounded over the awful state of the Willamette River and the other waterways within the state of Oregon. The Willamette contains dangerously high levels of arsenic, dioxins, mercury and other harmful chemicals. Having recently joined a household that includes a 4-year-old child, I have had to face the displeasing task of keeping her from swimming in the Willamette. We live three blocks from the river, and this is becoming more daunting by the day. She understands much in the world, but how can she understand a predicament that I cannot explain? Gov. Kulongoski pledged during his campaign to clean up the river. We need to keep him to his promise and without delay. The Department of Environmental Quality must be empowered to crack down on illegal water pollution, conduct routine inspections and impose tougher penalties. Polluters should be made responsible for bearing the costs of keeping our waterways clean. It was Oregon's natural beauty and conscious community that attracted me to the area. I do not wish to see these ideals abandoned — for our sake, for our children's sake and for the sake of the environment itself. Daniel Marks
WEALTHY OF HEART So another presidential election is starting up and all the political rhetoric has begun to fly. Million dollar fund-raisers and another huge tax cut for the rich are simultaneously happening. Ironic or just politics as usual? The rich politicians presently in office, who were bankrolled by the rich in corporate offices, give these same rich huge tax breaks. This seems like quite a vicious circle and goes way beyond irony to just plain wrong! I cannot help but feel totally out of the loop and without representation. I thought the idea was a government by the people and for the people, not by the millionaires and for the millionaires. Our legal system equates money with free speech, and as the saying goes, money talks. I do not begrudge those with wealth the right to buy all the commercials they want to promote their businesses. But when it comes to elections I am not so sure I like our so-called public airwaves accessible only to big money. Where is the democracy in this? While all this talk of millions, billions and trillions goes on, at the other end of the spectrum everyday citizens give blood plasma to raise money for our schools, and services for the less fortunate are slashed. Does anyone else think that mainstream American priorities are completely backwards? If it were not for the wonderful, everyday acts of compassion, kindness and love of folks who simply care about others and doing what is right, I would be totally depressed! There are many ways to be wealthy other than money. I wish we would elect someone for their wealth of kindness, caring, creativity and brains instead of money and how they look in front of a camera. Tim Boyden
WAS BUSH RIGHT? I was a resident of Eugene for seven years and have been living in Southern California for the past three years. I have continually read EW (via Internet) for my dosage of "real news." Not only does this paper relieve homesickness, I feel EW battles the constant stream of propaganda that floods my world. Now, with the complicating angles of this war pressing upon my brain, I have started to believe that maybe Bush was right to go to war. I started to feel good about the Iraqi regime coming to a violent close. I have been fed certain images (mostly from TV) and witnessed the spectacle of the Iraqi people tearing down Saddam's propaganda. Maybe it was the right thing. I just finished reading the death toll article in this week's issue (4/24). All of my fears that this war would do nothing but hurt our own and slaughter the Iraqi people came flooding back. I am penned in by heaviness, but grateful for the reprieve of select information. I read quite a few American newspapers online, and none of them put our war faults in the limelight. In this issue and others, I can count on this paper to deliver the other side. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to downgrade mainstream media. Most large publications are important to me, and I read them often. The R-G is one paper I will always turn to for everyday news. But the groundbreaking, passionate articles that humiliate and spotlight those who are sticking their hand in the cookie jar is invaluable to me. Thank you. Aubonney Wood
SWOOPING CHANGES God, it must be great to be Bush Almighty. With one swoop of his pen he will eliminate all the responsibility for cleaning up all the toxic waste the military and defense contractors have produced and will continue to produce forever. When the spin doctor named "Readiness and Range Preservation Initiative" is finally shoved through Congress, the poisoning of our nation's vegetable food chain by the rocket fuel perchlorate will have been simply swept under the rug. Perchlorate has salted the irrigation waters of the Colorado River and has been linked to IQ reduction and ADD in children. This rocket fuel poison scandal would have made the Mad Cow scare look like a Happy Meal in comparison if not for Bush Almighty and his magic pen. Michael T. Hinojosa
MINIMUM RELIEF Right hand headline, page 3 R-G, 5/30 "Minimum Wage Families Won't Get Tax-Cut Checks." Left hand headline, page 2 R-G, same day (lift up your elbow): "Big Payoff For Halliburton Subsidiary." Whoa, dude, mega-surprise. If it wasn't so painfully predictable, it might preempt the morning yawns. As Foghorn Leghorn might say, "Anybody, ah say, anybody payin' attention, son?" How many more kicks from these guys before enough people know better? Oh wait, that's right! We didn't elect him the first time. One more time, repeat after the rest of us the Bush mantra, "It's your money... yada yada yada." So, to the blue-blooded American, we support whatever you say. Oregonians out there who were thinking this was going to be the ticket to that bigger propane barbecue or fatter bullet or ever more monstering pick-up truck, I gotta say, "Ha!" Pony-up to the welfare line. Roll up for the misery tour. Frank Schramm
CRAZYTOWN, POP. 1,500 It has been a long-held opinion of mine with regards to the mental disability funding crisis that most taxpayer money paid along with cheerful good intentions is being misspent. When I read the Seattle Post-Intelligencer report (to wit), "Lunacyville," Washington State's lunacy community built in 1899, housing 1,500, and costing $500 per person per day, I was taken aback. Lunacyville houses 1,500 patients, has its own grocery, dime-store, pharmacy, bowling alley, doctor offices and hospital, as well as the patient band aptly named Innocent by Reason of Insanity. It also houses and employs 1,000 full-time mental illness professional caretakers and sets them up in beautiful "housing-units" in tranquil scenic settings. At $500 per day per patient, it seems that these unfortunate people could be paired into cohabitating financial "cells," which would be funded with a portion of the $1,000 per day cost as is currently paid. Let these people have the money and real estate guidance to find secluded homes of their own. Brownie Wilson
BACKHANDED GIVING Our brilliant governor and Legislature have devised a new scheme to pull Oregon out of depression. They will seize 30 percent of the pensions of state workers and give the money to corporations that pay no taxes so they can "boost tourism." This will not only affect retirees, who will now have to sell the homes they spent 30 years paying for. It also means workers in mid-career will have to give up weekend trips to the coast, restaurant meals and new clothes in order to save for retirement. This will boost tourism and do wonders for our economy. Since about 30 percent of Oregon households are partially or totally dependent on a state worker's salary, this means a lot of money will be stuck in long-term savings instead of being pumped into the economy at the bottom. This is such a brilliant plan I can't imagine why FDR didn't think of it! Public employees whose incomes are too low to put any in the bank can look forward to living off food stamps in retirement, even if they aren't doing so now. The assault on working people is being orchestrated in the White House and executed in the states by the obedient Lapdogs of Lalaland, including Gov. Kulongoski and Sen. Corcoran. Stealing from working people is part of the Bush strategy of keeping the country and the planet in a state of constant anxiety and war while he and his allies seize and liquidate all the natural resources and eliminate the planet's life support systems. Ann Tattersall
DO SOMETHING I was disappointed at the lack of attendance at Starhawk's speech last week at the EMU Ballroom. Starhawk is a very well known author who deals with spirituality and political activism. Her speech was right on. She said we need a whole core of "spellbusters." The people casting the spell are those in power: government and big business. Many people who protested the war on Iraq are feeling frustrated and powerless. Powerlessness is part of the spell. Fear is also a big part of the spell that is cast on us via the media. Starhawk's advice was, in a nutshell, don't panic, deal with the fear, breathe, root and ground ourselves and do something. She said most of the change comes from the outside. We need to shake them up and "keep growing courageous people with visions." We are powerful. Without us buying their products they are nothing. Without us paying tax dollars they are nothing. Paul Loeb recently wrote "powerful journeys emerge out of bleak times." Find your power and express it. Many people claim they have no time to do political actions. Well, with the average American watching approximately four to six hours of TV a day, I say hogwash. What better way to model to our children than getting involved in a neighborhood group, community garden, city council meeting, etc.? These children are our future. Oh, and another thing, it's fun! Pamela Driscoll
NOTHING FISHY In rebuttal to EW May 29 Morsels on McGrath's: I have been a regular at McGrath's approximately once a month for over eight years. Upon the occasion of being seated in the bar, or at any other area, I have never had drinks pushed on me. Once I had a waitress that was sub-par — an anomaly. She is no longer there. I am still going back. Servers are attentive, courteous and friendly. The food has been up to the standard I require to go back to a place. The clam chowder is very good. Any delicate organization, such as a restaurant, can have an off day. It is unfortunate there were so many on the day of your reviewer's visit. I offer this to contrast the review by Aria Seligmann in hopes that a differing view will be made available to your readers. Chris M. Percival
SHOW SOME LOVE I am writing to let you know I am another reader who would like to see better coverage (reviews even) of the excellent acoustic music scene in Eugene. I also am a reggae fan and I believe this form of music suffers significant lack of respect in the U.S. Your writers may be "clever" and "cute" at times, but let's please respect the artists who bring us this socially, politically and spiritually important music. In the past I have seen patronizing and quite idiotic interviews and coverage. I know this can be improved. Thank you. Michael Madans
SORRY, SOLDIER Most Americans are aware of thanks and appreciation we owe the youth in our Army and Marines sent to Iraq in the belief they were protecting us. We owe them something else, too: regret and apologies for placing them in harm's way when there was no need for it. When some of our soldiers ask of anti-war demonstrators, "When was the last time you did something for your country?" their military blinders keep them from seeing the truth that efforts of demonstrators are a service to our country. What dissenters did after the invasion of Iraq shows courage, which youthful soldiers some day may appreciate. The lying character of the Bush administration and gullibility of its citizens are obvious in the story of the most famous selfless soldier, Pvt. Lynch. She still deserves hero status for putting herself in mortal danger, being injured and captured on what she thought was her nation's behalf. Now we and she know better. Fictional weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were justification for illegal preemptive war, but we have learned there were no such weapons. If they eventually pop up, they surely will have been planted by a government accustomed to sinking that low. The lying about Lynch continued with the Pentagon's untrue story of how she was "rescued" from the Iraqi hospital where she was treated for injuries. We have heard nothing from her since her return to the U.S. Embarrassment may discourage her from telling what really happened. More likely, as a soldier still following orders, she has been told by her commando-in-chief to keep her mouth shut. Our children, like the Pvt. Lynches, suffer when their parents tolerate an unjust and lying "leader." George Beres
RX FOR U.S. A prescription for human survival: Replace the Bush of CEO payoffs, war, stolen elections, propaganda, environmental calamities and U.N. hating with the Kucinich of real democracy, peace, honest elections, truth, environmental protection and U.N. loving. We cannot expect the rest of the world to want to have a U.S.-style government while the U.S. government remains so pitifully addicted to mass death and environmental suicide. Bob Saxton
U.S. OF IRAQ Tell me when our new messiah, George W. Bush, will make his triumphal victory march into Baghdad astride a donkey to accept the homage and gratitude of the liberated Iraqi people. Or is Messiah Bush waiting for the regime's Bechtel and Halliburton cronies to rebuild Baghdad at American taxpayers' expense and huge corporate profits? Will there be Golden Arches for Messiah Bush to pass through on his donkey to receive his accolades? Will the shell-shocked Iraqis kiss the victor's feet for liberating Iraqi oil fields to the hands of Shell, Exxon and other oil cronies? And surely the Iraqis will be flying the American flag to celebrate their new favored status as another oppressed country for our corporate gangsters to plunder and exploit. The conquered people must realize how fortunate they are to have the U.S. regime as their lord and master. Golden Arches on every street and Allah's Christian churches on every corner, with their eventual conversion reward: "Pie in the sky when you die." Alice Greth
THIRTEEN QUESTIONS To Donald Rumsfeld: Where's Osama bin Laden? Where's Saddam? Where are the weapons of mass destruction? To John Ashcroft: Where is the First Amendment? Where is the patriotism in the Patriot Act? Where are the civil rights for victims of racial profiling? To Dick Cheney: Where's the oil? Where's the money? Where is the tax relief for minimum wage earners? To the Democratic Party: Where's your courage? Where is your belief in what's right? Where is your loyal opposition? To George Bush: Where's Waldo? To the rest of us: We're in trouble! David Mandelblatt
START THE PRESSES Uncounted stories of magnitude and relevance go untold by a negligent and conflicted U.S. press. The disgrace runs deep. The U.S. press completely ignored the story of 60,000 valid Florida voters in the last presidential election illegally purged from the voter rolls by Katherine Harris. The press focused almost exclusively on the "hanging chads" issue while ignoring an outright act of treason. Journalists such as Greg Palast who investigated and reported on the issue had to go to Europe to be published. Let us not forget Colin Powell's urgency in making the case for war with Iraq, utilizing five-year-old plagiarized and moot information from some grad student's research paper. Frankly, this is also an act of treason, but where is the press follow-up? And of course, this war was supposed to be about those apocalyptic WMDs that have never been found, but that is old news. While Iraq and Afghanistan lay in ruins, news network cheerleaders are already gearing up for Bush's Caligula-like war mongering ambitions for a regime change in Iran. Continuing, ad nauseam. "Top gun" president G.W. Bush flies onto aircraft carrier for photo-ops while simultaneously cutting veterans' benefits in half. The press completely ignores this act of outrageous hypocrisy, not to mention the deafening silence pertaining to his being AWOL from the National Guard for 18 months. And finally, three cheers for the press falling all over itself to saturate the American public with the touching Jessica Lynch rescue story. Remember the debunked "incubator baby" stories from the first Gulf War? It turns out that the saving of the little white princess from the evil ones is nothing but a big propaganda scam (see BBC documentary Saving Private Jessica). Our democracy is unraveling and it won't stop until an irresponsible and pathetically compromised news media is held accountable. Gerry Rempel e
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