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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1990)
Emerald Er(l.ltOI*l<l-l Daily Flag-burning issue just a smokescreen With cii 1 the hoopla surrounding flag-burning, one would think it is the most pressing issue facing the country We think Congress has much more to concern itself with. The House and the Senate are preparing to vote on .1 constitutional amendment to make flag-burning un lawful The Supreme Court, by a 5-4 margin, recent I \ overturned a Texas law that made flag-burning a crime Justice William Mrennan, speaking for the ma jority, said the law violated the underlying principle of first Amendment law "That tin* government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because soc i etv finds the idea offensive or disagreeable What is offensive and disagreeable is the amount of time and energy lawmakers are spending on the flag burning issue. With intense problems facing the coun try, including the budget deficit, the Savings and Loan iiisis AIDS, education funding, and militarv spend ing, it is deplorable to see Congress expend energy on restrii tine free exnression. The c:rv for a constitutional amendment against flag-burning is absurd Our flag is supposed to repre sent our dediration to the principles of a democratic society, in< ludmg free speech. It is illogic al to assume that m prohibiting a certain form of tree speech, we are protecting free; speech. No one knows what effect a ban on flag-burning would have on the First Amendment With the Nation al Kndovvment for the Arts under attack IHiC.ausc' it funds allegedly obscene art. and the performance of the1 rap group 2 hive drew labeled "obscene” because of the; lyrical content of its songs, free speech is under light scrutiny. But the real scary aspect of the? proposed amendment is the number of lawmakers jumping on the bandwagon to support it. It is perceived that a vote against an amendment is a vote against freedom in the; l ’nite'd States. Restricting flag-burning is in direct contrast to what the First Amendment represents While President Bush says flag-burning "endangers the; fabric of our country." he fails to mention the cloak of secrecy sur rounding his role* in the Iran-contra affair and his ties to Manual Noriega It isn't the cloth of the flag that needs protecting, hut the principles it represents. What would Ire the cost, in time, money, and re sources, in enforcing flag-burning? If our flag repre sents all the good that the United States stands for, what about the1 poor, the homeless, and the unem ploved? Some people may feel justified in burning a flag Instead of prosecuting, and perhaps putting in jail, citizens who burn the* flag, the government should Ire c one erned v\ ith the c auses of these people's frustra tions * jh*r0*'ntut &*>*-* »-m «>i»j*"(*v"‘ Homelessness: not a seasonal problem l or tlu> past two years. the beginning of summer has signaled Lane bounty adminis Irators that it is time to shut clown Kugenes Opportunitv Shelter Perhaps countv ofli c ials believe the homeless disappear in tin* summer, th.it homelessness is a seasonal problem Those ol us w ith reasonable minds know that this is not the i use It is true that the i ount\ provided fami lies who were still staying at the shelter and were without permanent housing vouchers tor local hotel rooms, hut the families claim that the hotel rooms are unlivable Bee ause of these problems, a few ot the families dei ided to protest the i leisure by c .imping out on the shelter's lawn The c reation ol tin1 Opportunitv Shelter two years ago was a definitive* move to deal with a pressing problem Now the eountv wants to put its money elsewhere and plans on expanding current family shelter pro grams and building more low-income hous ing f'ntortunatelv these programs are not reach non tor tin* people who need them non The continuing housing problem in this area seems to be at the c enter of the* home less problem Income is a he\ fa< tor in ob taining housing Signing a lease on a place is too expensive with first <mil last month's rent plus a deposit due before tenants ran move in. Some rental agencies even require po tential tenants to earn at least four times the lost ol their rent before they will even con sider their applii ation. Landlords traditionally do not like fami lies with a lot ol i hildren. even though it is illegal to discriminate against such families. Large families put a lot of wear and tear on a house, so landlords often prefer quiet, older people with well-paying jobs. Community concern has been growing and some landlords are realizing the prob lems and opening up their doors to a wider variety of people. Over the weekend people brought food, clothing and money to the families camping out on the Opportunity Shelter law n What is truly disheartening is that while public concern about homelessness contin ues to grow in our community, there is little direi t action by our elected officials. Money has been set aside to enlarge pro grams in the near future, but right now there is still a gap: there are still people without housing The county should have left the shelter open until it could provide needy people with equal or better services elsew here. Abuses With Admiral )ohn I’oindex ter's senteiu mg (six months jail time and no fine). th»* scries ot Iran-contra prosecutions wages h\ Special Prosecutor laiwronce Walsh threatens to draw to an entirely unsatistai lory close Despite all tile publicity over Poindexter’s guilt on "all counts." like the other delen dants he was tried solely for his role in the cover-up. and not for the original i riminal at tivitv he attempted to hide All i barges relating to the ai tual Iran-contra aitivities were dropped liecause Keagan-ap pomtee Attorney (leneral Thornburgh refused to release the classified documents net es sar\ to prosecute Iran-contra figures on these charges The real issues look as if they max never be addressed I he crimes which Iran-contra fig ures tried so desperately tried to hide ( ontinue lu be prntei t<*<i h\ tin- cloak ol national seen ritv" and mam high-ranking officials involved in these (limes remain unprosecuted 1 he otl the shelf ( overt Kntei prise" w hit h illegallv armed the contras and was uncovered In Congressional committees and the ('hristit Institute, was neither dismantled nor brought to justice in addition, govern ment collusion with drug traf tii kers in support of the contra war and illegal propaganda ef forts In the ()ftu e of Public I )i plomai v have all been ignored When all is said and done, nothing was done to prevent the Iran i ontra abuses, or worse vet. trom happening again Those who planned and com mitted the i rimes have not been adequatelv punished and the institutional weaknesses that allowed the Iran-contra at fair to happen have not been corrected \o institutional re forms have been made The co vt’rt community .uni their il legal ai tivities were protected at (lie expense of mu political system Diiuglas K Slarfield Eugene No mincy steps President Mvles Brand's overseas journeys, and espe i taliv his trip to South Korea, remind me of a conversation I enjoyed with a young man just hei k from a vat ation to Kurope I asked him it he had noticed how Europeans can recognize an American woman a blot k and a halt away; by the easy was she walks no minis steps And certainls no walk mg behind a male companion, as in the Middle Hast |so as not to interfere with the Great Man s thinking) This fellow bac k from Europe had served in the 1' S military over in South Korea. rind there, lie told me, women walk a blot k and .1 half m front of the men they re with. \\ In ' Be i ause all of the hind mines ha ven't been found yet Well, that's what he said fames Heermance kugene Shocking photo Kareh am I stopped dead in my trai ks like I was when I opened the Kmerald [ODE. |une t) to a photo on page three of three gene-rations of men en gaged in "valuable leadership skills" including teaching a Letters young boy how to aim ami shoot an automata weapon' I am shocked h\ what appears to be the "fun" quality of the pa lure Is KOT(! advocating tear fl ing r hildren how to use auto matic weapons/ What are these folks smiling about7 We should be horrified flow pervasive militarism is in our society that a photo like this r ail appear in a local newspa per and make learning to use a deadly weapon look like a fun and appropriate activity Print ing this photo was a grave mis take Janet Cromwell United Methodist Campus Ministry -Letters Policy_ letters to tin; editor must be limited to no more than .’."in words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is submit ted.