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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Proposed Colorado law steals tax-exempt rule ■ OUR OPINION: f *ompt status is important to humanitarian and religious organizations Ongon, ever the referen dum state. will probably be winching Colorado as it goes through the process o( putting a controversial mi dative on their November ballot. II passed. the law would hurl infinitely more people than it would help The proposed initiative would eliminate prac tically all property lax exemptions for churches and non profit organizations. Non profit schools and universities, groups that provide housing for prison ers. the elderly, the home less, the disabled and orphan* would all still ho exempt from properly taxes. The initiative specifically targets the tax-exempt status of churches, synagogues and mosques, a variety of non profit organizations, reli gious retreats, many hospitals and health-care facilities, fraternal organiza tions and even soup kitchens. If the initiative becomes law in Colorado (or Oregon), churches supported by smaller communities might bo forced to close their doors and soup kitchens could tie (inane tally pinched out of existence. The now law might deny that last ray of hope for thousands of needy people who would no longef have access to that one hot meal every week Places of wor ship. long considered by people of faith to lie havens from a hostile world, would no longer have any guaran tees as to how long they would Ih* around. Colorado officials ealeu* into Ih« amendment would add approximately S3 bit* Hon worth of lanrf and building* to the *tat«'» tax* able base, resulting in nearly J70 million in new property tax revenue* Those figures sound sub slantial, but one initiative opponent cruncher! the numbers and found that Colorado Springs home owners would only save a whopping $44 per year on a $110,000 house Clearly, the benefit does not outweigh the possible harm such a law would inflict on different organisa tions No matter what a person believes in (or doesn't believe in), gathering togeth er to express faith is an intrinsic American right — one that provides many with a sense of community and fellowship. Removing the tax-exempt status for churches and other nonprofit organiza tions would be an infringe ment on that right. The law would cross the invisible line that separates religion and government. Without this line, government intru sion would ire the norm instead of the exception. Colorado's initiative, though sinister, does raise some interesting arguments. Existing laws need to tie tweaker! to discourage unscrupulous religious lead ers (mm raking in money hand over fist and buying lavish homes and cars. In many instances these false profits are allowed to wal low in the lap of luxury largely because they are tax exempt Remember the Bhagwan Shree-Rafneesh? Despite thews cases of abuse, Colorado's proposed amendment would not be a good law for anyone. I Or. #0 9d$ i*t* o F SFliaSF? jPaWFa^Naa fafF” aanFiajJ aFvFSHj^F ^.ad^S dFF^Bd add adft©(sa ^ddF dad *i * l.f 1» jk^Mui tttt ■■■■"—- — Ij^ |M» V Jt^dk I.Mudd d . J.I I » — . 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LAID OFF OUtiHb THE RECOVERY? ****** Vr* I IQVtrMK* jol M Please don’t shoot me; I’m just horny Violence it at American at cherry pie ~~Hubert Gerald Brawn Set and violence Two of Aimnti'i favorite pastime* — berth in act and in argument about them Or more sporifi tally, arguing about whtcii one it worse for little fane and Johnny and for mm totv a* a whole And far too often doing berth at the same lima So why do we spend so muc h lima debating •a* and riolwtuf Who know*’ In my humble opinion, only one of them is worth considering Which one* Hmmm ... lot's see is nif^ai in menu instants)*. tan cause enormous •mount* of «mot tonal and physic al street, and can load to ana or more participant* and <ng up either being dead or in a Riant world of hurt — and tlist's just having *i In Missis sippi lSorry. I couldn't resist it I Violence It painful and gen orally an all around unpleasant especlam » Sat. cm the cither OPINION m*na. i* usually cpiiie Mifoyaute ami is perhaps the must wonderful «speirtenca two people can share If you have ihe two confused or think that tho two go great together, you're one sick indi vidual If you are, just calmly put the newspaper down and then listen to the voices in your head that tell you to load up the of 12-gauge and go pay a visit to thoee antichrist* in the Pentagon who are sending subliminal messages through \fr/mse Place in an attempt to control what brain you still have If you're not confused. I‘m assuming that you are a well-enough adjusted individual to keep reading So why is it. then, that everyone gets their panties in a bunch every time someone shows a little skin but couldn'i really am less if a dozen people get perforated by gunfire? Whv is il that presidential candidate (and Mr. Warm Fuzzy himself) Bob Dole blasts violent films he's never seen (Trim Romance and Statur al Barn Killer* ) and then praises the film True Urn starring Mr Violence. Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger, for its "strong family values"? In a side note. Amie ulso starred in a little film about 10 years ago, in which he took out 17 officers of the peace, called The Terminator Interestingly enough, when musical artist lce*T wrote a song on the same subject entitled "Cop Killer." Sen. Dole wanted to nail Ice-T's ass to the wall. perhaps b T should donate more to the Kepuhlic an (vartv ami re.Vr !<» Newtie Gingrich a* "our leader." like Amie does. Maybe (hen Ice T can gH the family values seal of approval on all his albums instead of a Parental Advisory sticker However, I digress. The big question: "Is sex worse for you than violence?" The Moral Majority, religious right, and the ever vigilant Bible -thumpers certainly think so Sex is laid; sex is evil; sex is the devil's foul temptation Violence? Hall, that's why we had the Crusades and the Inquisition Work out that sexual frustration in purer way*. Kill a little: go entry! God don’t care if you knock off a couple of non believers But if you start to enjoy copu lation. yer gonna burn boy! Oh. OK Yeah. I’m going to believe this front a bunch of repressed Puritans. Then there’s the argument that sex incites or causes violence You know something? They’re right Every time I see a naked woman I just want to go postal and take out a couple dozen yahoos just like m» The world would Uj a safer plat e Sex doesn't cause violence Repressed sexual frustration and people who are genuinely tweaked in the head to begin with cause vio lence If sex ia so detrimental, then why is violent* so appealing? People want to live out vicarious ly what they can’t or won’t allow themselves to do Action flicks are big money That’s why idiots like Van Damme and Stallone are paid so much to he tough guys. Men want to be them and women want to be with them The actor* probably wish they were as t ool as the charac ter* they portray. What’s frightening, however, is how deseruu tired we are becoming to violence A scene out of Pulp Ftction illustrates this quite well Toward the end of the film, the two main char acters. hit men. accidentally shoot a kid in the face in a car. My initial reaction was shock, but the scene was played up for laughs (sounds so k in retrospect!, and soon the theater was filled with nervous laughter from both me and other* I didn’t notice how bizarre thi* reaction was until the second time l saw the film During that scene, I looked at a friend who was looking at the screen in horror. Here a kid loaf his life, and people were laughing It was sickening This isn't meant to be a moral tirade on Amer ican culture or on "good family values.” Rather, it is to get you to think about where your values come from, what defines them, and whether or not you could change them if you wished to. Too much sex in our live* is not necessarily a bad thing, but too much violence may be. /esse / Hohrvr Clancy, a senior ma/onng in bio chemistry, it a columnist for the Emerald E-mail fbclancyUgladstone uoregon.edu
