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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1990)
EDITORIAL Measure 7 unfair to disadvantaged Oregon voters should respond to Measure 7, the six-county work-in-lieu-of-wclfare-benefits pilot pro gram, with a resounding no. It passed. Measure 7 would begin a three-year pilot program in six Oregon counties. The program would suspend food stamps, unemployment and Aid for Fam ilies with Dependent Children. People who wish to ob tain public assistance would be placed in jobs by the state employment division at a rate of $3.87 per hour 90 percent of the current minimum wage. People who are. lor one reason or another, dependent on public assistance need to Ik: trained for longterm skilled la l»or positions They should not be placed in dead-end. make work jobs. Self-esteem comes from knowing vou c an take « are of your family and yourself. Working at .1 non-es sential )ol> and at subtninimum wages would do little to boost anyone's self-esteem. These jobs would also become dead-end avenues to dependence Information supplied by the Human Servo es Coali tion of Oregon states the average take-home pay (after state and federal social security taxes are paid by the employee) would bo $7-41 per month. This is $139 be low the poverty level for a family of three. There are also no provisions in the measure lor dis abled nersons or mothers who need dav care I( single mothers are expected to work to make up for the lost AIK: payments, who will pay the additional t.hilt! c are costs? This would come out of the mother's already below-poverty-level income Proponents of the measure claim it will reduce and eventually get rid of an unemployable work force However, the- measure* w ill add to a temporary, depen dent. low -skilled work forc e rather than creating a sta hie. independent, skilled work force One group that c ertainly would benefit from Meas ure 7 would Ire those employers who receive the tree* labor (all labor would be paid by the government) If only six c ounties are going to take part in the* program, employers in those six counties will have an unfair ad vantage over employers outside the program He fair to dislocated workers and the disadvan taged Vote no on Measure 7 President rebuffs minorities, women Ceorge Hush gave progressiveness an other kic k in the shorts when he vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1990 on Monday. He made a grave mistake. Hush vetoed the hill because he claimed it would have set up a quota system and be cause of a couple of phrases in one section of the 30-page bill Civil rights leaders called it their most important legislative priority. Kven Hush's appointee to the IJ.S. Civil Rights Commis sion said Hush's interpretation was inaccu rate. The president has dealt working people a crushing blow. The bill had repeatedly been weakened over the past months so leg islators could pacify Bush. The House and Senate passed the bill with healthy margins, but not enough for a two-thirds majority to override the veto. The legislation contained anti-discrimi nation clauses and would have allowed em i ployees to sue an employer regarding any aspect of employment. The bill would have given victims of in tentional discrimination the right to sue for punitive damages. Bush sent a message to the American public. By vetoing the bill he has insulted minorities and women. The legislation would have improved workers’ rights regarding suits against an employer. Employees would have two years to sue an employer for discriminatory se niority plans, instead of the current six months. Victims would be authorized to sue for up to $150,000 in punitive and compensa tory damages for intentional discrimination. Only victims of racial discrimination may sue undercurrent law, not victims of sexual or religious discrimination. It's sad that it has taken so long to garner a good civil rights bill. It's even sadder when the United States has to legislate civil rights. But saddest of all. we have a presi dent who vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1990. LETTERS Crybabies Regarding the article in a re cent ODE concerning the fear of many homosexuals on campus: I. as a straight, normal per son. also have fears that per haps some of these people might approach me and try something on me. It sure is strange that the term "gay hashing" has come into use recently, but how about "straight-hashing"? Why don't these crybabies grow up and realize that if you ( house a lifestyle that is not the accepted norm, you're putting yourself into the position oi Irv ing criticized? Ron Williams Stall Let's get active Defining what is Judaism' A religion? What if you don't be lieve in God or prayer are you still Jewish? Is it .in ethnii group? What alaiut blai k Jew s ' We i an disi us.s what it means to he Jewish forever, hut one thin# remains clear: Only hi1 can define ourselves. lews, let's get active, lait's show our presence on this cam pus and in our community. Only 2 percent of the U S pop ulation is lewish; we need our voices to lx? heard. Oil’s gel to know and get in volved with our co-minority groups: GALA. Black Student Union. MEChA. Muslim Stu dent Union and Native Ameri can Student Association We at the Jewish Student Union want to work with you and for you. last's celebrate the fact that we are all unique. We are lucky enough to tie different. Jewish students should speak up and reach out Get in touch with JSU. come to meetings, get to know our wonderful 1111 - lei Kahhi Italian Sills There's more to living lewish than just our last names Phil /uckerman Student Proves point In regard to the responses to "Outta M\ lace" (O/ Oct.18) I don't think there's any need for you to apologize on behalf of all males since her letter was specifically addressed to “the men on this campus who in vade women's privacy.” Any man who does not fit this description need not be of fended We recognize that all men are not horrible, sexist people However, I would like to publicly thank Kouando Long for proving the point that Lima Dole's letter needed to he written Also, to K I l.'hristiano. 1 would like to sav that the ma son women are objectified and used in ads to sell everything is because as with almost every thing in our society, men con trol the advertising industry 1 don't appreciate your gross generalizations and your insin uation that everything women do is done to please or compete with someone else and that none of us have enough self-es teem to want to look good for ourselves List hut not least. I'd like to sav that if there is sue h a thing as a "world of feminists.” please let me know where it is and I'll Ik; on the first ship out. Kronda Adair Student Climate control In response to Konando Long and K | Christiano's letters (ODE, Oct. 1H): I guess the best response to these letters would be a slightly humorous elaboration on the is sue ol violence against women on this campus. Alas, humor does not come to me. Anger comes and has not left me since 1 read the Emoruld this morning I find myself fan tasizing about feminist censor ship of DDE letters Or even better, a daily statement to the effect that it only takes 30 per cent of a women's strength to break an aggressor's nose. Wouldn't a broken nose be a neat way to identify male ag gressors on campus streets or on a date? Instead, of course, male edu* 1 it ion on the issue of violence against women has to be the "rational" answer Send them to Women's Studies 101. Yet 1 have come to doubt whether we will achieve this raising of men's consciousness when the world around us is still so full of sexist images, values and people. Mere 1 am confronted with Long and Christiano, another two men who refuse to lake re sponsibility for the crimes their gender has committed. Ridi cule and "blaming the victim" is still what a woman has to ex pect when she dares open her mouth and talk about the abuse, the harassment and the constant fear of men. I appreciate Dole's courage and her clear articulation of women's experiences on cam pus. Attitudes such as Long's and Christiano’s are responsible for creating a climate on this cam pus in which the next rape will almost certainly occur - deal with it. l.isa Kuppler Graduate. History