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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 1993)
Voters likely to dash legislators’ hopes The Oregon Legislature will at least bo able to say "Wo tried." Just before completing a marathon session of a record setting 207 days, in whir h a variety of issues were dis cussed (and some even resolved), Oregon's elected sen ators and representatives dealt with their most pressing problem, how to save the state from the effix ts of Ballot Measure 5, in a prodictablo. if useless way: They pro poser! a sales tax. It was not an unexpected move After all. 1990 s Mea sure 5. which placed drastic limits on properly taxes, left the Legislature in a diffic ult position either cut govern ment spending viciously with each successive year, until the limits are fully implemented in 1990, or come up with a plan to replace the revenue. On the surface, this year's session appears to do a lit tle of both. A total 51.2 billion was cut from the state budget fur 1993-94, and the sales tax should replace mur h oi the tax dollars lost to Measure 5. raising an astf mated St.2 billion in 1993-94 and 52 billion in 1995 97 There’s only one hitch. The sales tax must bo approved by the voters. That's a pretty big hitch. History provides the best evidence that the sales tax proposal is dead in the water. Oregon voters have scut tled the idea eight times already, most recently in 1980, when it failed by nearly « 4-1 margin. Granted, the state's fist al woes weren't as severe at that time, but even if the measure mobilized twice the support it did that year, it would still go down to defeat. Why did the Legislature attempt to put a measure before the voters that was about as likely to pass as a Yugo on a steep mountain road? Even the members of the Legislature itself barely supported the idea. It failed once in the Senate and another time in the House before one senator and three representatives switched their votes, allowing the bill to finally gain passage and the proposal to lie placed on the Nov. 9 ballot. It seems incredible that after 207 grueling days of pol iticking, in which even popular measures such as the Oregon Health Plan came under fire, the Legislature could still be optimistic. But that's the only way to describe its hopes for a sales tax. Pollyanna syndrome. A terminal case. The Legislature did its best to sugar-coat the sales tax pill, by dedicating most of the revenue it would generate to schools and higher education, and by speeding up the property tax limits of Measure 5. And at least one major objection to the sales tax is addressed by the inclusion of a number of important exemptions, including food and prescription medicine. Even with these features, however, it is unlikely that the sales tax will gain much popular support. It is. after all. another tax. oven with an armload of exemptions (fcx)d and medicine, in particular). It is a nuisance to cal culate when shopping. Voters fear that once it's in place, it will continue to grow, despite assurances that such increases will require a vote of the people. It is regres sive, taking a greater percentage of a poor family's income than a rich one's. And, finally, it is now, and now can be frightening The sales tax should be passed, but that hardly means that it will be. And by resting all of its hopes on a hope less proposal, the Legislature has done little to easo the pain inflicted by Measure 5. Two hundred and seven days for this? Oregon Doily Emerald ~1 ■. . " 'I I rv« Oregon Daly f merakl * pushed dftfy Monday through Fndty ’*• school ,enr »n<i T..**da, 1 Thursday dx • -g the *ummer by the Oregon Da y Ime'aKJ PuOAahmg Co Jot at the UrwerfAy of Oegon, f ugene. Oregon the tmeraxl operates independently of the Untve*sfy with 0ff<es at Suae 300 o* the l rt> Mem* x<al iJnon and <s a memtxM of the Assoc wiled P»es* The f merext <» private property The unlawful removal c* use of paper* .* proseeutatse by w Editor Jake Berg PhOfO Editor Anthony f orn«y Associate Editors EdQferton. Martm faner Scot Demons Night Editor. J»« Berg General Manager Judy Red Advertising Director M.*r* W.vv Production Manager M*N*e Rosa Advertising fre'-*se fie Jeremy Mason Van V O'Bryan II. Ang»e W»ndhe*n Paine* Wong Classified: Becky Merchant Manage* Business Kafhy Carbone. Supervisor Production: iryyxl Whte. ProdUCfton Coot&oMo* Stacy feAtChe*. Jennie* Roland Newsroom - wmn Business OWcs X»MU LMtptay *(Wfrwwn «.. w-*' ci—m#d a<—mm9 —.»4»-4w » C*?J _ _QuTVOu DON'T mvf S3'rut Guts to use it Stories that you won’t read here 'Ton will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly an our own [Hunt of view — Obi-Wan "OI‘ Ben" Kenobi One day I was trying to discuss a great story idea with another member on staff when my editor told me to "Quit talkin' and start writm’." 1 tried to reason with him, saving that if 1 didn't ana lyze this partu ular subjt* t. who would? He said. "Precisely." That sums up American jour nalism today The old enthusi asm and imagination that was once the hallmark of newspajiers has faded away Reporters and editors are deliberately holding off investigations that go beneath the surface and are content to run only cut-and-dry stories However, these stories need to In* brought to light, if only in a rough and incomplete form So here are some stories that you won’t read in the Emerald or any - where else. • The Mongolian-Shaq attack connection During the summer. Pepsi has been running a commercial star ring NBA center Shaquille "Shat)" O'Neal of the Orlando Magit . In the commercial. Shot) drinks a bottle of Pepsi, and all of the other Pepsi bottles in the world start to empty, as if Shaq was drinking them all in one mighty swallow. (Actually, this has some roots in ancient Norse legends involving Thor at the home of the Giants, but that's another story you won't read ) Anyhoo. all of the Pepsi drinkers watch their cola disap pear before their eyes in shock and amazement. All. that is, except for a group of what appear to be Mongolian nomads. They look at thoir empty bottles and i rv "Shaq Altai k" in Mongolian And indeed it is. but how did thev know that? Mongolia is rel atively isolated from the rest of the world There is no reason why they would know the answer when millions of Pepsi drinkers in the United Slates don't — [HMiple who presumably would tie Itetter acquainted with Pepsi and the NBA than a band of nomads Now the first and most obvious answer is that it's only a com mercial and the Mongolians were simply being paid to say "Shaq attack " However, that story, though conveniently I wicked up by the "facts.” lai ks a certain Oliver Stone reality that is so much more interesting than con ventional reality. An experienced. dedicated reporter would go beyond the truth to unc over a story so pow erful that the movie rights would be sold before the article was even published Perhaps the Mongolians, living in an isolated country under rugged conditions, are being trained by Pepsi as the Fromen were taught by Paul Muad'Dib Atreides in Frank Herbert's Dune Will Pepsi unfurl its banner and use the Mongolians to unleash a soft drink jihad around the world? Maybe not Hut remem ber the words of Pepsi's founder. "God created Pepsi to train the faithful One cannot go against the word of Pepsi • The Pauly Shore-)apan Con spiracy Pauly Shore, the wandering surfer boy who is riding a wave of popularity following his jump from MTV to Hollywood in such ground-breaking films sm h ns Enrino Man and Son in-Law, can not be explained i>y the known laws of physics. IjisI time anybody checked, the earth had not entered a space time distortion and we are not in the 19711s, the last known period of sustained mass delusionary behavior. How then to explain Pauly's apparent popularity? Wo should harken to the words of Sherlock Holmes, who once said that when the impossible has been elimi nated, what remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Pauly cannot be popular, ergo, the improbable truth is that some one manipulated the Nielsen rat ings of his MTV show to make him appear to !>e popular Who did this and why? Some have speculated that Japanese Education Ministry officials are conspiring to further erode the average intelligence of American citizens by flooding the airwaves with brain-free programming Supporters of this conspiracy theory have dubbed it Rising Dumb (This nun not lie the full extent of Japan's efforts It's a Japanese company that brought us Nin tendo. the video game system that turns children into Stimpy.) Pauly is probably not even aware that there is a conspiracy 1 le may not lie aware of anything 1 do not profess to have inves tigated these and other subjects to their conclusions Indeed. I have barely scratc hed the surfac e of the breadth and depth of such stories I urge readers to demand more risk-taking from their newspapers. Ed Corson will not be return ing to the Emerald fall term. Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identifit-ation of the writer must !*• verified when the letter is submitted. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.