editorial
Civil rights suffers
another big setback
"Shame on this body.” That’s what Sen. Ted Kennedy,
D-Mass., said to his colleagues supporting the conservative
effort to defeat civil rights legislation on the Senate floor
Tuesday. The conservatives won the battle and in the pro
cess dealt another serious blow to civil rights advocates.
Throughout the heated debate within the Republican
controlled Senate, not a single word was heard from Pres.
Reagan in support of the civil rights legislation. As Kennedy
put it, “If Reagan should wink, this bill would fly through
the Senate.”
The bill was designed to apply civil rights laws to all in
stitutions, organizations, and government agencies receiv
ing federal aid, whether only a portion of the institution or
the entire institution received the aid. The new law would
deny federal money to any group, school, or agency that
openly discriminates against minorities.
Currently, if a department within an agency refuses to
employ handicapped people, or program within a school
doesn’t admit women, the department and the school can
still receive federal funding. This has enabled some schools
that discriminate against blacks and other minorities to con
tinue receiving government aid.
Civil rights groups were particulary upset when Oregon
Sen. Bob Packwood, who in the beginning strongly sup
ported the civil rights bill, reversed his position and joined
conservatives voting against it. Packwood said he gave in
under repeated attempts by conservatives to water down the
bill’s original goals.
Kennedy, shocked at the senate vote, said these were
anti-discrimination battles he thought were fought in the
1960s and 70s. He is right.
Since Reagan entered the White House, civil rights
legislation has suffered repeated setbacks, losing many of
the hard-won gains made in earlier years. In order to change
this, eligible voters must take to the ballot box Nov. 6 and
put a stop to an administration that fights against civil rights
progress.
Ballot measure 2 offers
very little that is positive
It’s a ballot measure that sounds good on the surface,
but underneath it lies the potential for great harm to local
government and low-income Oregonians.
Ballot Measure 2 is a proposed amendment to the
Oregon Constitution that would place limits on property
taxes and restrict the authority of state and local government
to increase non-property taxes, license and user fees, and
service charges.
While proponents claim it’s time to end skyrocketing
property taxes in Oregon and to cut the fat out of govern
ment, Ballot Measure 2 is not the way to do it. If passed, the.
measure will cripple one of the most important areas of local
government: social services.
By limiting property tax revenues, which local govern
ment now depends upon for social services, Oregonians will
find themselves with fewer patrol cars on the streets, fewer
firefighters to assist in emergencies and fewer funds for
almost every other area of social service. That includes
higher education.
Furthermore, the limit on property tax increases would
not benefit those who need help the most: the low-income
taxpayers. Instead, the benefits will go primarily to those
people who have large real estate holdings and businesses.
To learn more about Ballot Measure 2, attend an infor
mation program today at noon in the EMU Ballroom.
r-- -
U,ru klC.fi)
(Si6h) WUT®
jJVEf WASfJft)
#*>$&*! tte
**w w$%;
W^SdKT//
IM ft) f»f war mt.
letters
Do something!
Dear Senator Packwood,
I urge you to do everything in
your power to stop United
States funding of the
“covert”war against the
Nicaraguan government.
Nicaragua will be having elec
tions in November which from
all outward appearances seem
to be much more just and legal
than recent elections held in El
Salvador and Cuatamala.
We must stop trying to abort
the Sandanista government.
They have already done a great
deal to improve the situation for
the majority of Nicaraguans.
Everyone that I have spoken
with that has visited Nicaragua
comes back with a similar im
pression; the people there
believe in the Sandanistas and
are determined to maintain the
freedom from oppression that
they fought for and won only
five years ago.
The Sandinista government
has agreed to sign the proposal
advanced by the Contadora na
tions. Why does the Reagan ad
ministration all of a sudden
back off from it’s support of the
Contradora process? The Con
tadora treaty would provide for
reductions in arms, troops and
foreign advisors in the region.
The nations of Central
America are desperately seek
ing peace through negotiations.
Ronald Reagan and American
foreign policy is a major
obstacle to that process. I urge
you to support the Contadora
peace initiatives in Central
America and to stop United
States aggression against
Nicaragua. Randall Harbour
Eugene
Oregon doily
emerald
The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday
through Friday except during exam week and vacations
by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co., at the
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403.
The Emerald operates independently of the Universi
ty with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial
Union and is a member of the Associated Press.
General Staff
Advertising Director
Production Manager
Classified Advertising
Controller
Susan Thelen
Russell Steele
Rose Anne Raymond
Jean Own bey
Ad Sales: David Wood, Marcia Leonard, Tim Clevenger,
Laura Buckley, Roberta Oliver, Laurie Noble, Jennifer
Fox.
Production: Sharia Cassidy, Kelly Comyn, John Dorsey,
Stormi Dykes, Julie Freeman, Kathy Gallagher, Dean
Guernsey, Susan Hawkins, Kirk Hirota, Karin McKercher,
Uuri Neely, Kelly Neff, Curt Penrod, Tamye Riggs,
Michele Ross, Peg Solonika, Tim Swillinger, Colleen Tre
maine, Eileen Tremaine, Hank Trotter.
Page'2 -
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
News Editor
Photo Editor
Sports Editor
Sidelines Editor
Entertainment Editor
Assistant Entertainment Editor
Night Editor
Associate Editors
Higher Education
Administration
Politics
ASUO
Student Activities
Features
Michele Matassa
Costas Christ
Michael Kulaga
Michael Clapp
Brent De La Paz
Sheila Landry
Kim Carlson
Mike Duncan
Michael Clapp
Mike Sims
Michael Doke
Paul Ertelt
Julie Shippen
Jolayne Houtz
Lori Steinhauer
Reporters: Sean Axmaker, Shannon Kelly, Allan Lazo, Lori
Stephens.
News and Editorial 686-5511
Display Advertising and Business 686-3712
Classified Advertising 686-4343
Production 686-4381
Circulation 686-5511
Reagan reality
As I read the article pro
moting “Students for Reagan
Bush” (ODE 10-2-84), I was
disturbed by a dangerous in
ability to distinguish image
from reality in regard to Ronald
Reagan.
Image-. “He’s brought a kind
of leadership that's been absent
since John F. Kennedy.” Reali
ty: Kennedy was a Harvard
educated foreign policy expert
who spent hours in head-to
head negotiations with
Khrushchev. Reagan couldn’t
hold a private conversation
with Gromyko for eight
minutes. His “leadership” is a
cleverly contrived montage of
made-for-media posturings. Far
from being another JFK, Reagan
is in fact the most isolated presi
dent since Richard Nixon, or
perhaps Calvin Coolige!
Image: “He’s an American
just like the rest of us.” Reality:
Reagan is a wealthy former ac
tor and the political puppet of a
pack of plutocrats including in
dustrialists Justin Dart, Holmes
Tuttle, and William Wilson,
who brought Reagan into the
political ring in 1965 and who
continue to mold his world
view.
An American public which
cannot clearly differentiate liv
ing reality from media imagery
is in peril of succumbing to the
manipulations of the highest PR
bidder. Reagan’s media snow
job would replace real
economic fairness with deficit
prosperity, the real security of
arms control with the maniacal
pseudo-security of nuclear
buildup, real freedom and
global self-determination with a
world economic order "free”
for unrestricted exploitation by
multinational corporations.
That's the reality of Reagan and
is admen are betting you don’t
want to think about it.
Larry Taylor
Linguistics
f
Flight 007
It is regrettable that a report in
The Nation (August 18) was
summarily dismissed by the
media. David Pearson's incisive
article documents the events
which led to the shooting down
of KAL 007 over the Soviet
Union fust a year ago, and clear
ly demonstrates the U.S.
government’s complicity in the
loss of 269 lives.
Pearson also reveals how the
U.S. and the U.S.S.R. regularly
violate one another’s airspace,
obstensibly to evaluate each
other’s radar defenses. Soviet
violations of U.S. airspace have
been erratic. American intru
sions into Soviet airspace,
however, have consistently oc
curred at sensitive times, either
preceding or during arms con
trol negotiations.
Such intrusions appear to be -
planned in advance and are not,
as often claimed, the result of
"navigational difficulties."
Consequent Soviet interception
of the intruder thus helps
perpetuate the Western myth
that the Soviets are fanatical
about protecting their borders,
and such fanatics could never
be trusted to respect an arms
agreement. Indeed. Soviet in
tervention has usually resulted
in distruption of negotiations by
the United States.
A nation that uses such
reprehensible tactics as these,
and routinely dismisses Soviet
sponsored proposals for arms
reductions, cannot be very
sincere in its purported desire
for world peace. In America, the
outrageous profits of influential
defense contractors are, it
seems, more important than
peace despite the threat of an
nihilation posed by our
ludicrously overstocked nuclear
arsenals. Judging by the 269
who died aboard KAL 007, it's a
risk that the U.S. government is
apparently willing to take.
Dennis Lueck
University Staff
letters policy
The Emerald will attempt to print ail letters containing fair com
ment on topics of interest to the University community.
Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, typed and
signed, and the identification of the writer must be verified when the
letter is turned in. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for
length, style or content.
Letters to the editor should be turned into the Emerald office.
Suite 300, EMU.
Thursday. "October 4. 1984"