Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1995)
EDITORIAL Reduce programs but cut rationally As promised during political campaigns last fall, it's budget cutting time In Washington. Republicans in Congress are exploring a number of ways to reduce spending Among ideas mentioned by some in Washington is privatizing, ctilting or eliminat ing a number of government agencies and departments. From billion dollar agencies to million dollar programs, many items are Iwing eyed for the chopping block Some of the departments mentioned for cuts are the Departments of Housing and Urban Development. Edu cation, Commerce and Energy. The United States Geo logical Survey is also being targeted for elimination or reduction. It is true that in order to reduce spending both large and small programs and agencies must bo cut. Both cab inet agencies and relatively small programs, suc h as public broadcasting, are being reviewed for cutbacks. Whether one disagrees with the particular cuts or not. it seems that Republicans ns a whole seem genuine in try ing to make spending reductions based on what they s«w as waste. The current proposals on the table are just that — pro posals Thc\ hast) not boon approved or. in main < axes, offH ia 11v introduced in C.ungress They are merely a smattering of cuts that ( an be made to save money. With that in mind, a number of good suggestions for cuts have been made that can be followed on within upcoming months. Regardless. there could be problems with some of the proposed cuts. For example, with the proposed cutbac ks at the Department of Energy, at least one Republican member of Congress is talking about relaxing policies on nuclear waste, aiming more toward “containment" of contamination at areas such as the Hanford nuclear reservation, instead of total cleanup. It is probable that elimination or cuts to an agency would reduce Its effectiveness in legislating; one would hone that it would not come with the consequence of a reduction in regulations for a particular industry. Cuts must he made based on actual waste, not because one feels that a particular policy is wrong. While the Idea of cutting departments is good, it seems questionable that a middle-class tax cut is still being proposed. It seems like the money, which is just not there to make the cut possible, is being user! to bribe the middle class. Rather than cut on one hand and pay the middle class with the other, it makes more sense to use the money to reduce the deficit. Americans elected a Republican Congress to, among other things, cut federal spending. Congress should con tinue to explore ways to cut wasteful expenses reason ably and rationally. However. Congress must also con sider the consequences of any cuts or changes that it makes. Daily *0 #01 in* iv^GlNi OftfGOftVtti Th# Oapon £Wy ( « pwt»^«3 <***> Mernlty tfwoogfh fotfty CM«r»g **•« *cf*x* f**f •'xJ T uaaddfty «rx) Th^KMy dunng fr*a wnm# fcy t*\a Dragon (Wy F J>ufcfcVwg C# t<x *? *Nb lW»*fv^ of Oregon'. tug*r*_ t>«gor. T Nb i **ra<f apc*a!«M» -'x'fcapawxtar^y Of *Nb Or*v«r M> w4h tft Suit# 500 e* »>• £ ft> Mvnonfli iKw ano a « m*«<w of tN* Aaaoooiad P*«»a The £ « pnv*t« property TN> unt#*4ut icmavtl 0* UM» ol papa* * <* pra»«cut«bto CdtaK-fevOuat Ka*y Solo Oregon Edttcrft* E<$to< >ww Art tdnw fr+*lmno# Editor tkctobm Kmv«i l Btottr**** Sport* Ednor SuppMmaot* Ednor Mtghl Editor mwdolv* *r»wr Or* Mr*; toM* trow Italy So*0 T atany t'Oucw^n A#n**airmon N*wm Staff Sl*v« Aabury Amy CoAimbo. Pal Qafy Amy l C>**«**x>rt P*«mo Fiantana. G**w Format ChiltapNr Fo* Man Garten. Gary Grasa. Jo* Harwood. An* itanry. Tf*vc» Kaarwy Shannon KAMI. Adam k**.n» SWann* Marta Mar* McTy**. Ptfnicfc Mwilord Ban MMbui S^taM Monyomary Amw ktow Komtaai CoAaan Pohkg. Sharry Rartay Aat» SabOunn P*u Van S-cMa. Sam S5n*ah Am a«u fVur Womack Oar*ar al Managar Judy W**f Adv*rtt*ieg £>f«ct<y kAtr* Wi% Production Kk:twrV)U Adva*tt*tng. Anna A.ra>o A. >%* Borgoa* Uar^o 0<’$. Ton* Fo« fcr^ Hartnar h,- - <* M*r*m.A» ..‘run) *%>!>'■. Sarar- Mrtctw* Tom M*u**taac# A*«*ey W <■*.»* Oaaaffwd Bacfcy Mn- .nani. ManagNfr Kyta Oav*». Jofe Saaan Distribution; John loog Faranc RaA:*:** Ragsn* Zaupn* BkrtMwai: Aaffty Cartxyw Jv-iwv'.xv Ady Conr»o*y Production Dan Ml Mr ‘ >bb Nv» i^wdKafcv SPa*r‘-4 Abate T*r» GfeJtnty Br*3 Joa* Mo*y ifeGar** JarvMar Roland. Dayton v** OfflC* >44~S5l2 AWO THE R£-LEGAUZAT»oa/ OF ASSAULT VJFAPONS... J n> MAKE IT EAS/f R TO 0>€T IN. y A 'OT Of mi COHTVACT JlNDJ TO UOkK UKt /wr ■ LETTERS Misinformed In response to the charmingly disturbing abortion-related ■ om menlary in the Emerald, Feb 7, for goodness sake. gentlemen! Mow can you not realize what an editorial like yours means underneath the thinly vailed double-talk and inflammatory premises’ How dare you assert that these abortion murderers are somehow excused from responsibility because they whine that they are being «x» hided from coverage by the national news media? This is the same kind of dis gusting escapist malaise that is sweeping our country today “The serial rapist did it because he had an absent father com plex.” "The mass murderer came from a dysfunctional fam ily," eic We cannot allow these horribly dangerous attitudes to continue It there is one thing we as a society are perfec ting iotelv. it's our ability to run away from plating the blame where it belongs on the individual w ho perpetuates these unlawful activities If we want to focus on preventing the activities that "drive" people to do these crimes, fine Do not, however, simply sit back and write off someone's violent actions as "just one of those things " Bv maintaining this attitude, we are doing more harm to our society than a million doctor killers every could. |ust a side note here, hut 1 w as espec iflily conc erned over your assertion that "pro-c hoice" is a kind of |argon masking a deeper "pro-abortion” movement 1 instantly lost any amount of respect I held for v'all, as writers and an opposing side, when you brought up this c ompletely false assertion Pro-choice does not imply pro-abortion 1 am completely morally opposed to the practice of abor tion. 1 do. however, adhere to the idea that I have no control whatsoever over w hat a woman wishes to do with her body A person who is pro-choice believes in a woman’s right to c house what is right for her own body Pro-abortion, however, implies that you sanction the pra< tu e of abortion to the point of wishing to extend its political influence. You are misinformed and guilts of one of the most heinous literary cliches ever dev ised compromising the truth to sue k out the last drops of con troversy from the universal juice box that is American political discourse Shame on you. Kavi Chaitanya Grace-Luke Philosophy Housing scarce Mr Fontana has stated in his editorial [OPE. Feb. H) that the issue of Amazon Family Hous ing is not one of low-cost pub lic housing Patently. 14 [>ert ent is 14 percent and low-cost pub lic housing is an issue Did Mr Fontana also forget that living costs, including housing, pre vent Oregonians from attending the University? Students from rural Oregon ami those with families find it very difficult to find housing which won't bank rupt them in the middle of a term Since low-income housing is very scarce in Eugene, students occupy a disproportionate share of that housing throughout the Eugene-Springfield area, down to the trailer spots In 1994 nationwide, Eugene had the largest increase in housing costs. That same year, homelessness rose 42 percent, according to this month's The Other Paper Are low-income students expected to pay fair market val ue for S524 per month? That's fair only if year-to-year rent inflation is fair. II the University can be allowed to get into the Student Housing gouge game Should it tie? Three engineering studies have been conducted for (tie Amazon units. They all do not, I am told, agree and at least one did not even tour the site. The Eugene Eire Department hasn't, ns far as I know, expressed safe ty concerns and neither has the EWKB utility. True, these build ings were not intended to he used even as long ns they have. They lack foundations and they need a new sewer. The Univer sity's lack of care over the years has been fully documented. On the other hand, these are light buildings designed to be dis mantled and moved, making rehabilitation cheap. The buildings have been declared eligible for the historic register, and this puts them in a specific category in the demoli tion process laws made to pre vent tho loss of historical prop erties have been followed. The University hasn't followed those laws, and as long as the proper ty husn't been condemned, the Save Amazon Coalition is sim ply demanding due process. Finally, planning for the new housing has yet to result in any document detailing what the 5400 per month figure reflects. Those who will have to pay that amount want to know whether that figure will serve to pay the University's financing, staffing and maintenance costs or w hether rent increases after the second year will skyrocket. With the figures available now. it won't and increases will occur. Apart from the issues of low income rental scarcity and demolition of historical proper ties, there is a responsibility on the part of the University to pro vide realistic and public plans for future housing for its stu dents at the Amazon site Vincent Reynolds History ■ LETTERS POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing comments on topics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted. 1 he Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.
