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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1989)
Editorial Congress holds party without inviting us Should Congress proceed with the hefty pay hike it has so generously promised itself, look for heads to roll during the next elections. Not that vve could hope for more integrity from a simple political transfusion, but members of Congress seem to un derestimate the memories of their constituents. We should check to see if Congress has its car idling in the driveway. Perhaps congressmen have adopted a "take the money and run" mentality, and do not intend to extend their political careers Otherwise, they should display a little more humili ty. and a bit of sensitivity to those among the public who have lost their jobs and their self-respect, but not their vot ing power. Recommendations by our own Rep. Peter DeFazio that Congress should restrain itself also should be remembered. DeFazio has promised to ignore any pay increase his col leagues decide to approve, DeFazio has said .ill along that Congress should not be willing to im rease its pay more than it is willing to raise social security benefits, lie has said that he will raise his own pay only by 4.1 percent, the amount approved tor re( ipients of social security I he proposed Congressional raise amounts to a boost in pay of 50 percent, which follows on the heels of a 1f> percent raise Congress voted for itself in FI87. For the record, DeFazio refused the 1087 raise, too. Another point that Congress wants voters to overlook or to forget: members of Congress already enjoy sizable ex pense accounts not figured into the $80,000 base salary about whic h they are weeping. Hut while an $80,000 beefsteak with lots of gravy has the rest of us salivating, some still defend higher salaries for Congress Those in favor of fatter wallets for members of Congress point to a reduced competitiveness with similar lobs in the private sei tor her ause political salaries have not kept par e with the salaries of corporate presidents, for in stance Toward this argument, we only can say that public office should hold no economic attraction for starry-eyed corporate-ladder climbers anyway. If Congressional jobs offer no financial incentive beyond opportunities offered by a beefed-up resume, then voters are saved from several of those candidates who may be closet dog-kickers and baby haters who have their eyes on a new Cadillac and a date with the California Prune Queen. In stead. public service jobs would and should attract members of the community who have a sincere interest in serving the public. If members of Congress can take all of the above into consideration — not to mention the hundreds of thousands of causes which are more deserving, are crying out for im mediate help, and are being summarily ignored — then per haps they will renegotiate their contracts with their own consciences. If they still want more money, they can trv out for the NBA. Precedent called for with Bush subpoena Expect lots of continued worming by Konald Keagan and George Bush regarding their subpoenas in the Oliver North trial Both the President and the President-elect will try every way possible to bail out on this issue. But Keagan soon will not have executive privilege for protection. Bush, on the other hand, will lie able to laugh and point to his new position as king of the mountain. But if the North trial continues as long as some have projected, Bush, too, could be out in the rain without his galoshes. Of course, he could just pardon North and get a good chuckle out of the entire activity. Although little mention has been made about a North pardon, raising the possibility is warranted. In spite of what the majority of people in Eugene believe, many people in the country consider Oliver North a patriot and a hero. Even so, unless more people are somehow recruited to the ranks of the North supporters in the coming months. Bush would commit political suicide by such a maneuver, just as Gerald Ford did when he pardoned Richard Nixon. Legally speaking, no actual precedent has been set for a situation quite the same. The legal system demands some accountability on this one. Once and for all, the precedent for presidential testimony should be set. After all. don’t the i \ nil s alua\ s come out of the woodwork and tell us that po litical corruption is alive and well in every administration? We should expei t to have to subpoena the President, rather than being surprised In it whenever it comes up. BcurideJhae tpaJtinlinelfcw ace.„ine®d a huge Letters Speculation Mr Dawson, your summa tion of racism and its destruc tiveness to our society was very well put in your letter "Racist i Iimate" (ODR, Dec. 5): "Racism is destructive and oppressive both to its victims and to its perpetrators. In the face of tin* rising tide of racism in this country, we must all ed iu ate ourselves about racism and refuse to tolerate it from others.” Yet. you based your persecu lion of a group of people, the Greek fraternities, on evidence that was speculative. The two gentlemen in question were not actually known to lie members of the Sigma Alpha Kpsilon fra ternity. members of any frater nity, or even American citizens for that matter. The point being that two people who appeared to be Greeks are not a fair means of judgment on the char acter and worth of the entire Greek system. Similarly, it is not fair to judge a person's worth by the color of their skin or gender. There seems to be a very severe contradiction be tween your definitions/beliefs and your analysis. As a proud member of the University's Greek system, I am outraged and offended by your naive and discriminatory re marks toward this system. How can you be so ignorant as to be lieve that two people are repre sentative of the entire Greek system of approximately 3,000 people? Yet. there is a much greater issue to be addressed here. The act of passing judgment based on circumstantial evidence, pertaining to an excluded inci dent. and declaring it to be the nature of a much larger constit uency is prejudiced! Prejudice is the foundation of racism! Mr. Dawson. I write this in hopes of educating you because 1 refuse to tolerate this from others — for as things stand now. you’re not only preju diced. but a hypocrite too. Tom Oberhue Fraternity member Cod of wrath It is rare to come across a re port so courageously honest about the inhuman and petti fogging role of the United States toward the Palestinians as that by Gary Murrell (ODE. Dec. 6). if only someone had a magic wand to sweep away the delusions, prejudices and apa thy of average Americans on this subject, official Washing ton couldn't persist in its Pharisaical attitude. Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue nurture this attitude. Congress is tied to Tel Aviv by golden chains. Jewish organiza tions throw the politicians op portunities for trite speeches that are rewarded by fat hono raria. In addition, the law makers tremble in their boots before Jewish voters — so much more alert than their gentile fel low citizens — and rabid fun damentalists whose God of wrath blesses the oppression of the Palestinians just as He blessed similar happenings in the Old Testament At the other end of Pennsyl vania Avenue, Ronald Reagan made the administration as par tisan toward Israel as is Con gross, ims resuueu m uw surry spectacle of Secretary Shultz first looking like Don Quixote on his pseudo-peace mission, and now barring Yasir Arafat from the UN. Y'et, lher<’ is hope. When governments fail, citizens do their own thing. Jews. Mus lims. Christians, and agnostics come together in a U.S. Interre ligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East — which has a branch in Eugene — in which Rabbi Kinberg and Dr. Munir Katull play leading roles. Thus, instead of cursing the darkness, let us light a candle by support ing this committee. Finally, let us give credit to those five American Jews who braved Shamir's rage by meet ing with Yasir Arafat. A. E. Brettauer Eugene Insight I'd like to thank G.A. Baker, the "Republican student” for sharing his extraordinary in sight with those of us whom are confused (Friday, Dec. 9). Over the years I’ve spent an in ordinate amount of time study ing for poli-sci classes. It never occurred to me to just make a table of "strong-minded win ners" and “weak-minded los ers" as a foundation for past American political achievers. I suppose a subscription to Sol dier of Fortune, a few ROTC classes and a pledge pin would also be beneficial for me. And whew! Finals are just around the corner. Thank you. Matt Luster Political Science P.O. Bn 3159, Eugmt, Ort«on 974BJ The Oregon Daily Emerald Is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Dally Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon. Eugene. 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