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Surplus not free money
Things at the state treasury are looking pretty rosy.
Despite predictions of gloom and unemployment,
Oregon’s income tax structure generated a surplus during
the last biennium of over $80 million. There’s no lack of
ideas on what to do with the money, but two of the stars of
Oregon’s governmental cast have a similar idea on what to
do with the money.
Gov. Bob Straub and Senate Pres. Jason Boe, in what
many see as the beginning of the Democratic primary race
for the governor’s office, are both trying to take credit for
providing the most property tax relief, and both are talking
basic school support.
Both Boe and Straub are supporting their plans to
increase basic school support to 40 per cent by saying no
new taxes will be necessary because the surplus from this
biennium combined with revenues expected during the
next will finance the dramatic increases they’re both calling
for. That's dangerous, and shallow, reasoning.
The reason there’s an $80 million surplus in Oregon’s
budget is the state's economy did better than expected
over the past two years and most residents paid more
personal income taxes than the state expected they would.
But that doesn’t make the money free. Boe and Straub
shouldn’t be supporting their programs by claiming they
won’t require any new taxes, they should be supporting
them by arguing increased school support is the fairest
way to spend the revenues the state’s already collected.
To toss out some questions they might consider. Is it
fair to raise basic school support to 40 per cent knowing the
tax relief commercial property will reap from the personal
income tax funds? Are Boe and Straub convinced the
present taxing support won’t represent an unfair shift in tax
burdens from one group of taxpayers to another? Would
the money needed to raise basic school support to 40 per
cent (an additional $120 million) be better spent beefing up
direct refunds to residential owners? Providing additional
social services? Giving rent relief to those on fixed in
comes? These are things that need to be considered.
Most of all, proponents of increases in basic school
support shouldn’t try to justify their programs by portraying
them as a gift that isn’t going to cost anybody anything
extra Mc;u spent on basic school support is money that
won t be available for other programs, and the question is,
which programs represent the fairest expenditures of state
funds.
V
Letters
Clean toilets
What's all this sexism uproar
anyway? Why shouldn't the
Emerald carry ads with voluptu
ous young girls holding beer
steins? And the wet T-shirt con
test is terrif. I mean, gee, I wish I
was good looking enough and
stacked enough to flaunt my body
all over a bar or the pages of col
lege newspapers. A girl trying to
get a big modeling break needs
some kind of exposure!
What bugs me is all this
women’s movement talk. Who
needs it? I have a perfectly good
job, making $300 a month. I have
a nice quad, an LTD bus pass and a
full allocation of food stamps. Who
could want more with a college
degree? This job's a far cry better
than my last. I was in a partner
ship Can you imagine? My part
ner had the generosity to offer me
40 per cent of the profits for the
same amount of work. I mean, he
has a wife to support and house
and car payments to make. I only
have a husband to put through
school, rent payments and car
maintenance. He was absolutely
crazy to offer me so much.
And as far as equality on the
home front, who could ask for
more? If I want something, I pout
until I get it. And if that doesn't
work, then I go into my Lysistrata
routine — works like a charm
every time Men are such slaves
to their third leg.
I think the women's movement
is silly. I’m a second class citizen
and happy as an armadillo. Let
men do all the work. Who needs
the responsibility? I applaud the
Emerald for the ads it runs and
Pace 4
congratulate the enterprising men
who hold the wet t-shirt contests
As for me, those girls can have
their Blaze Starr routine. I’ll just sit
here and watch 'Search For To
morrow" and feed my baby. After
all, I litre to dean toilets.
Barbara J. Geiser
Senior-Journalism
Support MSP
The Multiphasic Screening
Program (MSP) is a program now
under operation in Lane County. It
is directed to low income persons
55 and older who have not had a
physical exam in the past year.
Unfortunately, MSP is on the
county commissioners' list of
programs to possibly be cut from
their budget which would bring it to
c screeching halt after its present
funding runs out in June. The final
decision is to be made in May.
MSP offers a physical exam con
sisting of 13 different tests at a
minimal cost to those who qualify
for the program. It deals with early
detection of disease based on the
belief that good preventative
health care is less expensive than
curative health care.
The results of those screened
have been amazing. The most
frequently found positive findings
1975-76 of approximately 2,000
screenings include: 622 people
with elevated blood pressure, 807
people were overweight, 1,733
people had positive blood tests
and 393 had diet inadequacies.
These are only a few examples.
MSP helps keep a lot of low
income elderly out of long term
care facilities. Discontinuation of
may xy/n
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Shah violates all basic human rights
President Garter has frequently insisted in the
last few weeks that he is very concerned about
the violation of human rights throughout the
world Supposedly, as a gesture of his con
cern", he has singled out a few countries and he
has criticized them for their inhumane treatment
of their nationals.
Of course, one should wonder why his token
list of oppressive governments did not include
the Shah s regime in Iran (or South Korean,
Chilean, and Brazilian regimes) — perhaps the
most oppresive regime in the world today Not
being under the illusion that Carter could be
sincere in his claims, we feel obligated to bring to
the attention of the people in this community
some of the violations of human rights by the
monarcho-fascist regime of the Shah in Iran
It has frequently been reported in the Western
press and extensively discussed in books writ
ten on the CIA; and it was revealed by Senator
Church's Senate Subcommittee on Intelligence
several months ago that in August, 1953, on
behalf of American oil companies and other mul
tinational corporations, the CIA engineered a
coup in Iran. This coup was able to overthrow
the national and popularly elected government
of Dr Massadegh and bring back to power the
Shah, who has been stripped of his command
for his support of British colonial rule in Iran.
In essence, this coup marked a turning point
in Iran's political life; since it re-installed the
Shah's reign of terror, supported by America
and other western powers, and caused the crea
tion of SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police force,
modeled after Hitler’s Gestapo. The Geneva
based International Commission of Jurists, a
non-governmental orga n.ation pledged to de
fend human rights throughout the world, in a
published report showed that SAVAK is con
nected to the CIA. As reported by the Washing
ton Post last May, "The Iranian secret police,
known as the SAVAK, has been expertly trained
by the Central Intelligence Agency, agents of the
Agency for International Development and the
Israeli Secret Service."
V
bince me inception ot bAVArv me political
climate of the entire country has been domi
nated by an unprecedented degree of political
repression and police terror No freedom of
speech, assembly or expression exists there
and any opposition to the Shah s rule is severely
punished Very simply, every basic human right
is being violated and no civil liberty can be found
in Iran
To overthrow the CIA-imposed regime of the
Shah thousands of Iranians have spoken out
and have dared to fight This is precisely why. as
reported in the Sunday Times of London and the
London Economist, there are about 100,000
political prisoners in Iran, living in medieval-type
dungeons awaiting an unknown fate Torture is
loutinely practiced by SAVAK to the extent that
many prisoners die under torture SAVAK uses
the most sophisticated and barbaric torture de
vices and, as reported in the Sunday Times of
London, has the grim distinction of having in
vented an instrument of torture which victims
call the ' hot table" — an iron frame, rather like a
bed frame, covered with wire mesh which is
electrically heated like a toaster Prisoners
would be strapped to the table while it is heated
until it becomes red hot This is how Ahmad
zadeh, the celebrated Iranian martyred re
volutionary was tortured and how Badi
Zadegan, another revolutionary, died m SAVAK
dungeons
In light of the above, we are hoping that all
those who cherish democracy and human dig
nity oppose the crimes committed by the
western-supported regime of the Shah and the
support given to it by the U S. government We
believe any support of the Shah s regime would
imply the endorsement of all the atrocities
committed against the Iranian people in general,
and those revolutionaries dedicated to end in
justice, inequality and foreign domination, in par
ticular
Submitted by the
Iranian Students Association
MSP could lead to institutionaliza
tion of a large number of people
that couldn't pay the high cost of
nursing homes and would place
the financial burden on taxpayers.
It is important that MSP continues
to serve the senior citizens of
Lane County. Let your support be
known by writing your county
commissioners.
Linda Strange
Sophomore—Undeclared
Killing unjustified
Concerning your editorial "Fight
back against Rape” ODE 3-2-77.
It appears that the good old ODE
has taken it upon themselves,
without forethought, or probably
any other kind of serious thought,
to promulgate the Idi Amin Death
Wish philosophy that made man
king of all the earth's beasts so
long ago.
Somehow I find it difficult to feel
outrage towards a system that
tells Inez Garcia and Joanne Little
that they cannot kill the men that
raped them. Garcia killed her man
long after the rape was consum
mated — giving her plenty of time
to have called the police. While
she was convicted, she had a
chance to defend herself in the
legal and established manner, the
man she wasted did not.
For any publication supposedly
representative of its constituency,
(at least paid for by them) the jus
tification of manslaughter is irres
ponsible. To carry this illogic to an
extreme, I would think that child
beating is no more heinous a
crime, with far more psychologi
cally and developmentally devas
tating potential than rape. So why
not an ODE editorial suggesting
nine-year olds arm themselves
with shotguns and blow away their
old man next time the woodshed is
scheduled?
Charles Silverstein
Graduate-Educational
Psychology
Excellent program
I disagree with vice-provost
Glenn Starlin's opinion that
perhaps the University should
send its broadcasting students
elsewhere and fold up broadcast
program
From what I've seen of the
broadcasting department the in
structors and programs are excel
lent and the facilities are the only
aspect that is lacking in the prog
ram The broadcasting depart
ment also offers excellent overlap
into the University's prestigious
School of Journalism for students
involved in television news and
the like.
I feel it would be a waste to
eliminate an excellent program of
study merely due to a lack of
facilities
Eric F. Slade
Freshman—
Telecommunications