 |
  |
|
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
|
APPETITE FOR WAR This war stuff is getting mighty costly. The fee for the U.S. war in Iraq is over $1 billion per week, but the hidden cost of battle casualties is largely invisible. As a country, we tend not to want to think about it. It doesn't fit the heroic bombast and bravado. There are eight soldiers injured for each one killed. That's double the rate in Vietnam. The amputation rate is also double. Many of them are multiple amputees, needing two or three prostheses. Those prostheses cost between $5,000 and $100,00 each and will need ongoing readjustments. Twenty-five percent of those wounded have traumatic head injuries. No one knows how much that will cost in the future or how those injuries will affect people in the decades to come. Army neurologists also believe that many brain injuries are going undiagnosed due to concussive trauma. Then there are the veterans who will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of mental illness. Already, one quarter of deactivated veterans from the Iraq war seeking help from the VA have been diagnosed with mental disorders. The sad truth is that too many Americans have an appetite for war. It makes them feel very, very American. But it has to be a war that ends fast, with few American casualties and without seeing or counting the dead on the other side. Values indeed. This war for oil and empire is not going according to that script — and then Johnny comes marching home. Roscoe Caron, Eugene
KEY VALUES AT STAKE In the recent controversy over establishing an enterprise zone (EZ) in west Eugene, Mayor Piercy has worked hard to make the best of a difficult situation. After agreeing verbally to the near-unanimous City Council proposal for an EZ with tax-break caps back in April, the Lane County Commissioners (after the state approved the zone) suddenly changed course and demanded that caps be "optional" and — get this — that tax breaks would be based not just on creation of new jobs, but on "retention" of existing jobs. The latter would have opened the door to a vast tax-break giveaway, with no links to social objectives such as creating new, well-paying jobs. Piercy and the City Council rightly said no to the county's tax-break candy store idea. Yet Eugene still faced a newly approved EZ in place with no caps and no local standards. The council's threat to take legal action to nix the EZ, while potentially costly and with an uncertain outcome, nevertheless gave Piercy additional negotiating leverage. The county agreed to her compromise proposal which required dropping the double-dipping "existing jobs" idea from the tax break formula. If the city passes the compromise proposal, there will still be much work ahead, including discussions with the county about establishing community standards such as high wages and worker health insurance tied to the last 25 percent of tax breaks. Many thanks to Piercy and council progressives for keeping our focus on the key values at stake here. Greg McLauchlan, Eugene
PEEPSHOW GETTING OLD That was a nice story (8/4) about the young ladies on 11th Avenue who have figured out that shaking your rear end at passing cars while holding a hose will undoubtedly make you a few bucks. I live near the ladies and what went from a maybe once a month carwash has turned into an almost daily extravaganza. I can't of course speak for the neighborhood, but as for myself, I am getting a little tired of the whole peepshow circus. It isn't just cuties prancing in their yard waving at people, it's gyrating in the flow of traffic with rap music blasting filthy lyrics throughout our residential neighborhood. Why should my children or myself have to hear the disgusting lyrics blasting in our backyard ? That is SO not right. Why should we have to see the bikini-clad ladies pretending to make out with each other in our front yard? It's great that they have come up with a way to make money, but at the same time they should take their neighbors into consideration. We aren't all peeking out our windows at them getting our jollies. Some of us are having to close our windows and pray for rain. Alice Elliot, Eugene
NAKED VS. NUDE In response to the West 11th bikini carwash girls, and to Mark Frisbee's penis, who obviously wrote the article about them: There is a difference between "naked" and "nude." While the first implies vulnerability, the latter implies ambivalence and empowerment, given the right context. To take off one's clothes in support of feminism is to command the patriarchal system of sexuality to bend. To see a nude woman as a person with human characteristics and sexual choices is a piece of empowerment. To gyrate in the street, shake your ass at oncoming traffic, and charge 10 bucks to suds up a car, well, that's not necessarily feminist. That's a display of sexuality that adheres to the idea of women as sex objects. Let me make it clear that I had no problem until I saw you spilling out into traffic where no one had a choice but to see you. It was just plain trashy and imposing. Don't try to utilize a misguided view of empowerment and feminism to justify your carwash tactics, and please get out of the street so that people can choose if they want to gawk at you while you sell a peek of your body for money. Also, to Mark's penis: Maybe you should let Mark do some of the reporting from now on. He might actually be able to write an unbiased article some day if you'd just let him think. Angelene Horlyk , Eugene
FEELS HER PAIN George Bush needs a grief counselor in the White House more than any other kind of advisor. Such a person, someone who has lost a child, would counsel him not to say to a grieving mother words to the effect that he feels her pain or understands her sorrow. Parents' grief when they lose a child is seering. It is unique to that person. No politics, ceremony or badge of honor can modify it. George must learn to hold his foolish tongue. Laurel Fisher, Eugene
THE RAW TRUTH How did raw milk/cream become illegal to sell in America, but not in most other countries? Why is it illegal? Because Big Dairy and the National Dairy Counsel got it outlawed in the mid-20th century. So free trade was stolen, state by state, eliminating the small dairy farm markets by pushing their pasteurized (cooked) milk to "protect" dairy users from "pathogenic" bacteria in the milk of sick cows. With modern medical science, the dairy industry claims "everybody needs milk." So we must battle Big Dairy head-on to legalize raw-milk products, or simply trade privately locally for it, as we're now doing in cooperating networks. If we legalize raw milk the price of organic store milk may decrease and its healthy quality will improve. Raw milk is the most common natural whole food on earth. Ancient traditions prove processing it is unnecessary and harmful. Big dairies feed cows chemo-laced grain and steroids to produce more milk, and give antibiotics to huge cows sick with unnatural bovine infections. The sick cows living in pens aren't allowed to freely graze in green pastures. Worse is the feeding of dead animal parts to cows, along with other waste products. Now we're discovering many healthy (ancient) benefits of raw-dairy products. We need to return to wise traditions of locally grown raw organic milk products. Before industry took over dairies, certified raw milk was common in the U.S. Legalizing it needs the support of organic dairies, natural food stores and buyers demanding our free-trade civil rights to produce, sell and buy raw milk. Michael Sunanda, Eugene
BE THE CHANGE It seems that Brian Bogart ("America Programmed for War" series in EW) uses the false premise that conflict is a necessary ingredient for change. His listing of terrifying government actions and prescription for a "superpower of public opinion" is, I believe, based on the obsolete notion of power politics. New thinking in holistic, systemic theories propose that change is inevitable and evolutionary, and the most productive way to cope with unacceptable conditions is to take responsibility for one's own participation in the system, to change oneself, to "be part of the change you want to see." For example, giving up our addiction to petroleum is an extremely personal act of surrender no different than addicts giving up their drugs in order to ensure their survival. It forces us out of our comfort zone. We cannot blame the oil companies, the car companies or the government, for our addiction. This leap of faith is based on the hope that not only can we live without oil (on a bicycle, or a solar/wind-powered electric vehicle), but we can also develop a lifestyle that is far more creative, productive, and satisfying than anything we could have possibly imagined before. The lifestyle change becomes attractive to others, and soon "everybody's doing it." For further reading, I recommend the book The Cultural Creatives by Ray and Anderson. Their thesis is that "a creative minority can have enormous leverage to carry us into a new renaissance instead of a disastrous fall." Their website is at www.culturalcreatives.org David Hazen, Eugene
CUSTOMER DISSERVICE I travel frequently and have made an observation that needs addressing. It's impossible not to notice the obvious differences in customer service (or lack thereof) between Eugene and other cities. In other cities I expect less customer service yet at every store, restaurant and business, the service is exemplary. I'm immediately greeted upon entering an establishment. If I'm kept waiting, the employee apologizes for the delay and happily assists me. Here in Eugene, not a week goes by that I'm not left frustrated by poor customer service. I've been left waiting at a counter while employees talk to their friends. Often I have to go looking for assistance or I'm met with a surly disposition. There are places in Eugene that provide excellent service and I gladly patronize them. Many restaurants, where service is a major component, have been slipping as far as service is concerned but I still go to theses places because the food is first rate. Naturally the first response to my observation is "why don't you move?" but this contemptuous attitude is what breeds the problem. I enjoy living in Eugene. I hope the customer service improves so we can all enjoy the city as a pleasant, desirable place for residents and travelers alike. Eugene prides itself on such things as honoring diversity but with the disrespect shown to customers, it's hard to believe. We need to be aware of this and change it. Alisa McLaughlin, Eugene
DEADLY FLUORIDE Only the U.S. and a small handful of countries under our influence continue to add fluoride to their public drinking water supplies (cover story, 7/9). China discontinued the practice after finding that fluoride in the water lowers the ability of children to learn. There is also scientific evidence that osteoporosis, Alzheimers disease, and other aluminum-related diseases are caused by fluoride. Research chemist Charles Perkins said, "Repeated doses of infinitesimal amounts of fluoride will in time reduce an individual's power to resist domination, by slowly poisoning and narcotizing a certain area of the brain, thus making him submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him. The real reason behind water fluoridation is not to benefit children's teeth. If this were the real reason, there are many ways in which it could be done that are much easier, cheaper, and far more effective. The real purpose behind water fluoridation is to reduce the resistance of the masses to domination and control and loss of liberty." The "substance" referred to as fluoride is a misnomer — there is no such substance listed in the Periodic Chart of the Elements, nor in the prestigious CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, nor in the sacred bible of the pharmaceutical industry — the illustrious Merck Index. Instead, we find a gas called fluorine — and, from the use of this gas in various industries such as aluminum manufacturing and the nuclear industry, certain toxic byproducts are created which have "captured" fluorine molecules. One such toxic, poisonous byproduct is called sodium fluoride — which, according to the Merck Index, is primarily used as rat and cockroach poison, and is also the active ingredient in most toothpastes and as an additive to drinking water. The proof that it is a toxic poison can be found by reading the warning label on any tube of toothpaste. Sodium fluoride is also one of the basic ingredients in both Prozac and sarin nerve gas, as well as a main ingredient in anesthetic, hypnotic, and psychiatric drugs and military nerve gas! Greg Daugherty, Eugene
POLICE PRIORITIES We have heard a lot about the Eugene Police Department recently, and I know that there are many dedicated people on the force, but I wonder about their motivations and priorities. A shining example of keeping our streets safe: A lady gets ticketed on Patterson because she did 35 mph in a 25 mph zone. Just imagine the unbelievable danger this 70-year-old lady was inflicting on our citizens, zooming down the street at that speed! However, when the PD gets a midnight call from someone living alone to report that a car pulled in her driveway in the south hills, no one seemed to consider it a danger. As a matter of fact, the lady was told to go out and check them out. There's real protection for our tax money! Am I misunderstanding something about needs and priorities here? Is ticketing the old lady a sure way to some extra income for the PD, but checking a out a strange car in someone's driveway in the middle of the night an unlikely source of income? Is this how we build up trust to work together? Ilse Kolbuszowski, Eugene
COMMON SENSE If you're Jeffrey Luers, you get 22 years for setting fire to some SUVs. If you try to blow up LAX, you get 22 years. Makes sense to me. Brian Wilson, Eugene
HOORAY FOR HODGERT Eugene taxpayers are extremely fortunate to have high school physics teacher Mike Hodgert working for them. I met Mr. Hodgert at the end of July in John Day at a race of small electric vehicles built by his high school students. The teamwork and variety of skills involved in making these cars provide lifelong skills to Eugene students. Mr. Hodgert's enthusiasm and teaching skills for the Elecrathon project are truly amazing. I could see many benefits of having all students take his course. Steve Hicks, White Sulphur Springs, Mont.
HELP ANTHONY In all of Eugene, one of the folks who for the past 10 years quietly served as a community member to emulate, has been our friend Anthony Vanderford — a fine sculptor, tie-dye artist, father, husband, friend. Busy with his life, Anthony chose to also be an active member of the community, working with at-risk kids, mentoring budding young artists in projects such as school murals, panels and face masks. Today, Anthony, 34, is fighting cancer of the liver. Please celebrate his life, give thanks for all of his service to Eugene, and support Anthony and his family by buying raffle tickets ($5 each, 5 for $20 — great prizes!) for a drawing Aug. 27. Tickets are at the Lane Arts Council, Saturday Market, Morning Glory Café, or by direct donation to the Anthony Cancer Fund #38010l at the Oregon Community Credit Union. Justine Cooper, Eugene
PO'D AT THE PO I just wanted to ask, why do we have such a horrible customer service at the Post Office? Not only that you have to stay in a line, sometimes over half an hour, watching Post Office workers moving so slowly with bored faces; then, there is never enough parking space at the downtown office. And I don't know why they don't have a small corner with some toys for customers with kids, so, for example, my twins will not run around and make the Post Office lady get frustrated, because she can't understand they are 3-year-old toddlers, and running and laughing are normal things for that age. Tetyana Beede, Eugene
LINE IN THE SAND In a ditch along a gravel road near Crawford, Texas, a grieving mother clutching a picture of her son is gallantly doing something that should have been done years ago. Cindy Sheehan has vowed not to end her vigil until President Bush can tell her face to face: What was the noble cause her son Casey, sacrificed his life for in Iraq ? Meanwhile, out of fear or shame, the news media would rather talk about a teenager who has been missing for more than two months in Aruba. A line has been finally drawn in the sand. This war must stop until we have a reason just and noble enough to send young American soldiers to their death. Michael T. Hinojosa, Drain
BE PREDICTABLE To all automobile drivers in Eugene: How wonderful it is that you want to help me out as I wait to push my infant son around downtown Eugene. May I suggest that when you see me with the pram, waiting at an uncontrolled intersection, devoid of crossing signal or pedestrian crossing that, instead of slowing down or stopping in the middle of the street, you continue to drive your car in a regular, controlled and predictable fashion. For those of you wishing to show support, a simple wave and a thumbs-up as you drive by would be great. I know when you slow down, you mean to be helpful; but every time this happens I wonder several things: A) is that driver lost? B) is that driver waiting for me to step into the street so they can speed up? and, C) is that driver going to get rear-ended by the driver behind them? It's great that chivalry is not dead in Eugene, but as it's been more than 10 years since my last CPR class, I'm afraid if you keep this sort of driving up it soon will be.
John Burridge, Eugene
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
