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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS iOlTORIAlS OPINIONS UtlfRS TO T M{ tOlTQR Telecom act does not benefit most Americans ■ OUR OPINION: Deregulation puts more power m fewer hands When politicians, broad casters and phone company executives are the only peo ple who era happy, the rest of us should be worried The Tel«communications Act of 1996 passad through the appropriate channels last week, giving the people with power more of the same and leaving consumers and the First Amendment in the dust. In short, the bill eliminat ed many Federal Communi cations Commission restrictions that had pro vented phone, long-dis tance, cable and television companies from doing busi ness outside their fields. This prevented cable com panies from getting into the phone business or AT&T from handling local calls. Now. TCI may lie offering great phone rates, and US West may be offering more Melrose and less Master piece. President Clinton, ot. al. say that opening the com munications field to the market will increase compe tition and result in more choices and lenter prices for consumers. It s not clear, however, that the bill will lead to con sumer utopia With the reg ulation gloves off, welter-weight companies will have to face-off with heavy weight conglomer ates. Any guesses on who will get clobbered? Somewhere below the applause rising up from the Holt way. you can hear the dying breath of Independent media. As companies such as TimeWarner Turner gain momentum, nothing can keep them from buying-out or out-competing the dwin dling pool of dissident voic es. The merging of America's media will do nothing to democratize m e ets to the marketplace of ideas. An increasingly elite group will determine what we see. hear and know Executives may not abuse that power, but nothing it in place to pro tect us from their profit-dri ven motives. In addition, while politi cian* celebrate government downsizing, they have decided to Install the V chip in new television sets, showing parents to block too-violenl programming from reaching their chil dren's ears and eyes The problem, of course, is that someone at the federal level must decide what is "too violent," And lest we assume that politicians are deregulation nappy, on-line interaction is now considered broad casting. Nothing that cannot |*« *«>n on the »-•*! r an blip across the screen Other than the screen, however, computer commu nication shares no similari ties with television. The internet is more like a maga zine rack, filled with every thing from the New Yorker to Nude Babe*. Parents who worry shout that maybe shouldn't let their children browse the magazines unattended for hours at a lime Most of the telecom bill is misguided, putting regula tions where they shouldn't be and removing them from where they should If Amer icans really want smaller government, they should be prepared to pay the price and quit expo* ting someone else to do their parenting jobs for them •** * WWW ft* tftWft aft# h*ft armt am mmtm m *M ‘man w 'WWW wmii •• nm( ft •» Oa#w w*» («mn ♦’•wm*ca am m «• an*.* a ->am» !«pMk Oftft* » «awfti» a n kmmmm **n. ft» l—«« ■—»*■ iiiumwi a am imanat am (MteiM It 'WHt JUS 30 An t*% ^mtawK u’liaww ««ft» <ift iftwftm *» imm* m am < *mm taamm amm mpmaimmmrnimaMmmmm* a muwim Utlwwiixwift* HwmftftW —«x«t m mm m Mum «. » » ». 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Stay off sidewalk I drive a titty-pink 70s Hulck. of which I am rat hot proud I added the leopardiktn upholder)- and dva-cita hall* ntywlf. and the eight track cassette player is vintage The whole pin kage it a dunning ml dure of kitsch and sheer courage On the down tide, envious driven have made many attempts on it* life, and these accumulat ed collision* show Still, for all its scan and aes thetic problem* it s better than a bike Thu t* a coat to vernal statement to make in Eugene — to say that a fuel-burning, smog-sus taining vehicle is better than the ecology and economy of. say, a Diamond hack mountain hike (of comparable value to my car) fa like saying trow make good paper. Tree* actually do make remarkably good paper, hut you know, politics. These politics were brought home to me t*« mlly by a pedestrian who stopped to Inform me that my car was very polluting He Mid, Mif rvpicuvcttsg up ihe planet Cot ■ future generation* because you're too (insert expletive! Uury to walk'" Well. Ok I generally try to get along with Itn*** people who will spend nearly a thousand dollars on an db|ed that doesn't even come with an eight-track player, but there is certain bicy did behavior that, a* a driver, l cannot abide Hi« vclids are rarely lound on bike path* They prefer to pedal, at 6 mph. in the same lane with my tar — which cant even sustain an idle at speed* less than 13 mph Old couple* driving their mobile home* through mountain passes have the courtesy to pull over to the shoulder when they real)re they 're holding up 20 care, but a bicyclist will have none of ini* Maybe they have their built in helmet headsets on too high to hear the frus tration behind them. Maybe they think ifa payback for all the exhaust they're forced to breathe Couldn't tell you. It's all the more puzzling because Eugene has some of the bed bicycle paths in the state and is recognised nationwide for being bicycle nir vana Recreational bicyclists have river routes, mountain routes, mall routes and more on which to pedal to their heart s delight They've got maps, dubs and magazines to sudain them But streets' Street* are for car*. Jud as sidewalks are for pedestrians. Twice my car has nearly been struck by a bicyclist traveling on the sidewalk as I left my driveway. The first time this happened. I was given such a look of hatred that I believe the bicyctid was tormented by envy at the sight of my chncha balls and couldn't help himself. The second time this happened was at night. Ifi OPINION A simple rule-of-thumb is that if your vehicle is ten times smaller anil a hundred times slower than the vehicles around it. i is probably either a himtrance or a hazard -39 »nd 1 tan only immt that the bicyclist was on* of these blind bikers cycling for charity because my headlights dearly announced my approach Again, the look of hatred This time the bicyclist also kicked my bumper on his way by (using bis heightened sense of touch). To this outrageous behavior I have one response: Go ahead and tell me politically incorrect, accuse me of laziness and environ mental abuse — but accost my iar and 1 have no thoice but to publisli my complaint in a public forum And the nest time 1 meet you in a dark driveway, look out The bike vs auto debate is old. with passion ate contenders on both sides People drive because it’s fast, convenient and dry. People bike because it’s healthy, ecological and cheap Streets are for cars, bike paths are for bikes and sidewalks are for walkers The problems arise when these things converge in dark driveway* throughout the city, or at busy intersections dur ing lunch hour Then fingers go up, looks become hateful and bumpers get thumped. If the solution is mote bike paths, then let's build them If the solution is less cars, then 1 challenge anyone to invent a bike with a roof In the meantime, is it too much to ask that all travelers stick to their respective places? A sim ple rule of thumb is that if your vehicle is ten times smaller and a hundred times slower than the vehicles around it, it is probably either a hindrance or a hazard And if you think that rid ing on sidewalks is the answer, keep in mind that city ordinance 5.400 (I) forbids it (although it is damnably legal on campus). By the same token, drivers should be aware that running over slow bicyclists is manslaughter in any city Nobody's happy with the restrictions, but the sooner we recognize them, the sooner we can greet transportation segregation with smiles instead of middle fingers. Songi Sherwood, a senior majoring in journalism and English, is a columnist for the Emerald and sometimes drives around just for the hell of it
