Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 1991)
EDITORIAL Oregon says no to wetland redefinition Chalk up another one for our un-environmental president. In his latest venture, George Bush ami his myopic administration plan to reduce wetland protec tion to appease land developers and farmers - a move Oregon will have no part of. Revisions art; designed to redefine wetlands as they appear in a 19H9 standard, and the result could drop one-third of the nation's 100 million acres from the protected list. Oregon would stand to lose ,'iO to 50 per cent of its wetlands. Hut the state's Division of State Lands will ignore the proposed changes because of the large potential land loss and possible confusion for property owners, according to Ken Bierly, Division Wetlands program manager. At least someone has sense enough to reject a pro posal that was launched in reaction to developer and agriculturist opposition to lands that qualified under the original wetland definitions. The changes come not from a committee of experts who arc upgrading the original scientific-based stan dard, but from a political group whose bumbling efforts to satisfy the elitist norm prevail. The group's name and leader? The President’s Council on Com pet i tiveness, directed by Vice President Dan Quayle. Bud enough this crucial policy-breaking council is led by Quayle; bleaker yet, this crew was given the right to redraw wetland defining lines not ac cording to scientific fact, but economic and political persuasion. Someone better take this group's crayons away before they do some serious damage. This council has no business meddling in Bad enough this crucial policy breaking council is led by Quayle; bleaker yet, this crew was given the right to redraw wetland defining lines not according to scientific fact, but economic and political persuasion. what should be scientific affairs. Wetlands are valuable ecosystems, acting us natural sponges and water filters as well as breeding and sustaining grounds for count less numbers of animals and plants. But this isn't the first time financial gain and profit won out against environment in this country. Two recent examples: • U.S. officials recently refused to participate in the international reduction of carbon dioxide emissions — the main gas thought to cause global warming. • The administration’s recent creation of the “God Squad" to override the; Endangered Species Act so that logging of old growth timber in the Northwest may continue. This decision to sacrifice the environment in the face of political and economic pressure once again shows this country's weak-kneed decision-making pri ority: monetary instant gratification. America's ruling body doesn't seem to understand that our almighty economic system is based in the nat ural world. The operation of every “progressive" toy. from industry to vehicle, depends on natural resources. If administration officials arc truly concerned about our economic well-being, they need to begin thinking in terms of the gift horse: it's in our best inter est to protect its long term survival. There’s no room or excuse for declining wetland protection. Our existence is intertwined with and de pendent on these and all natural areas; they deserve our undivided attention. Mr V’S* >» V * ■ *•"/ Did I ever skew intelligence assessments to please my superiors'7 I don't know . how would you like me to answer that?” LETTERS Bom that way Arr homosexuals "Ixim th.it way?" 'lint media has directed considerable attnntion toward some preliminary research whit h Implies that possibility It s a notion that homosexuals tirsirtng to legitimize their sex ual habits want you to believe, hut in fact, that suggestion has a conflict with biological truths. Bv definition, homosexuals max apply their sexuality to recreation, but not to proerc ution Obviously, a non repro tiut ing gene pool would quit k ly eliminate Itself Certainly over the eons retpiireti to ra tionali/e the theory of evolu tion, homosexuality would be totally erased Therefore, the theory of evolution (as well as the basic laws of biological st i erne) leaves only one way re maining to propagate homosex ual it v: active recruitment. Militant out-id the closet ho moxexuels don't want you to recognize this fat I It would make it harder lor them to "re produce” tfieir next generation by blatantly penetrating our so ciety with their landlyphohit agenda. Involution versus gem-tit ally pretlisposeti homosexuality, at least one of these theories is false This leaves a dilemma for those claiming that practicing homosexuals are powerless to change since they arc "Ixirn that way " If they abandon their faith to evolution, that de mands creation and u Cre ator A Creator who has the wisdom to define the limits of sexual behavior. On the other hand, if they ad - mil there is no genetic predis position toward homosexuality, that loaves the perpetuation of homosexual activity complete ly to free choice Jon Wollander F'ugene Angered As African- American stu dents here at the University, we are deeply concerned and an gered with the Oregon Daily Emerald's lack of professional ism and the increase of racial insensitivity that the Emerald has shown toward we African American students. Most recently, the Emerald printed a political cartoon (Oct. 1) that We feel blatantly perpet uated a racial stereotype toward African-Americans. We feel that there is absolutely no ex cuse for such ignorance and racism It is for these reasons that we are making the follow ing demands of the linn-raid • The limn aid takes a step to overcome its ignorance by in corporating racial sensitivity into its journalistic duties. • I he lint,-raid aggressively re, ogni/.e more African-American activities as fieing newsworthy in order to more accurately re flect the University community as Ixhng diverse. • The Emerald editing staff re< ogni/.e it as not only their pro fessional but personal, and more so. ethical responsibility for what they allow to lie pub lished. • The Emerald staff guarantee to us that such racial insensitivity in their reporting in all aspects will not occur again without di rect action lining taken to guar antee that we have an Emerald staff that will serve the needs of us as students. We as African-American stu dents demand th.it the Oregon Daily Emerald uphold Us jour nalistic responsibilities and professionalism, and finally re alize that their purpose is to re port the news in a socially re sponsible manner. It these expectations and de mands cannot he met, we as Af rican-American fee-paying stu dents will institute a change I.isa Lawrence, Black Student Union director, and other concerned members New right It's about time! I hope there are more conservatives out there like William Caskill (ODE. Oct. It) and myself; people who believe that the Constitution was intended to benefit white, heterosexual males. 1 come from a small town in eastern Oregon and was raised to believe in traditional Ameri can values However, 1 must admit, Eugene has changed me I live in sin with my girlfriend We still try to be morally up standing, however, especially when it comes to protecting and defending the lives of the innocent (the unborn). Wo both believe that life does not start at birth Instead, we are biological determinists who believe that a person is already formed before birth. Following through on this belief, we try and preserve as much life us possible: Each month, my girl friend ovulates, and each month, she saves the egg in a test tube. For my part, 1 save all my sperm in a test tube, also. We fool it would be un-Chris tian to deny the right to life to these procious organisms. We hope there are many more out there who feel us we do. Matt Kmrich Political Science aF-GONE ' T4E PHILIPP/NES mill not Support you aw longer / i I SPLASH./ \