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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1999)
0regotrirj£meraU> NEWSROOM: Wl} 346-5511 E-MAIL (riefa'jRgn uwegcaedu ON-LINE EDITION uoregcjaeAV-ufe EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Frank EDITORIAL EDITORS KameronCole Stefanie Knowlton Larry Flynt vs. adultery? Although Flymt believes he is helping the president, he is only adding to the sleaze that surrounds Capitol Hill these days Bring on the Y2k bug. Hurl an as teroid directly at the United States. Bring on the biblical apoc alypse. Why not? While I don’t personally give much credit to any of these theories destroy Opinion _Mm Aaron Artman nig the planet, I some times wish they were true. The last seven years of my life I’ve seen more laws manipulated with legal double talk, cover-ups and blatant lies than I can possibly stomach. And that’s only talking about the president of the Unit ed States. On the eve of the Senate Impeachment trial, would it be too much to ask if we can simply have the presentation of the fads followed by a Senate vote to put this whole ordeal to rest? Yes, as a matter of fact, it would. Thanks to Larry Flynt, the publisher of the sex magazine Hustler, the American people can add blackmail to the lengthy list of crimes that the Democrats see as ir relevant. Flynt, an alleged friend of President Clinton and lead strategist James Carville (who actually appeared in the biographi cal Fdm “The People vs. Larry Flynt"), is offering one million dollars for proof of “an adulterous sexual encounter” by members of Congress or other high-rank ing government officials. Thus far, not a single Democrat has made a single statement encouraging Fly nt to stop his tactics. And why should they? Flynt’s strategy is aimed at revealing the hypocrisy behind the Republican’s de sire to impeach Clinton. Because no De mocrats are under attack, why would they IT W/fS OMLY Ouce... I ;2 C want to interfere with Flynt? The blackmail campaign already forced the resignation of Republican House Speaker-elect Bob Livingston. Tuesday, the campaign may have taken another vic tim with Georgia Republican Congress man Bob Barr accused of having multiple affairs as well as paying for a former wife’s abortion. That is not the kind of press a pro-life congressman needs, but the mo tive behind Flynt’s attacks seems convo luted. In fact, it doesn’t even make sense. Why take down a congressman who has already cast his vote for impeachment? If Flynt is really against the hypocrisy, then why is he paying women for their stories? For years the Clinton team destroyed the credibility of women alleging sexual misconduct because they were paid by a media outlet for their story. Now, all of a sudden, we are supposed to believe these allegations. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for the re moval of morally bankrupt legislators and government officials. I don’t care if they are Republicans or Democrats. But when sex magazine publishers are footing the bill for these removals, something is very wrong. Hey Larry, if you are going to pay hook ers to bring down our nation’s leaders, take down both Democrats and Republicans. Otherwise it is fiercely partisan. And how can you be a supporter of the De mocratic party if you participate in partisan politics. After all, isn’t that the job of the witch-hunting, sex-obsessed Republicans? Flynt may believe he is helping Clinton and the Democrats, but in essence, he is a fine illustration of the clichd that the pot is calling the kettle black. By engaging in a witch-hunt of his own, Flynt is just anoth er example of a confused American claim ing that the whole impeachment ordeal is just about sex. Aaron Artman is a columnist for the Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. Letters to the Editor Article unfair I would like to address a couple of the comments in the Nov. 21 Oregonian article, “One in four trucks rumbled north in spite of bad brakes, bald tires etc.” The national average for our out of service viola tions on commercial vehicles is 25 percent; there fore, the Oregon experience followed the national trend. This figure is higher than any of us in the in dustry would like to see, but it should be noted that these trucks are not selected on a truly random basis for inspection. The enforcement officers have a data base identifying which companies have a known safety problem and those are the companies that are targeted. This allows the agencies to best use their limited resources by targeting the known unsafe carriers and letting the better companies proceed without inspection. However, this practice skews the aver age number of trucks placed out of service. We can show you many Oregon trucking companies whose out of service ratio is as low as 5 or 6 percent, and some who have no out of service violations. It was also noted in the article that employers must trust the driver to advise them if he or she has a traffic conviction. In fact, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require each motor carrier to “ make an inquiry into the driving record of each driver it em ploys every twelve months.” Again, we support the enforcement efforts of OSP and ODOT. To those who share the highways with our trucks, please be assured that we are working diligently with these agencies to remove unsafe dri vers and trucks from the highway. In the meantime, please remember that the vast majority of truck dri vers on our highways are safe, professional and make their living delivering all the products you and I will find on the store shelves today. John S. Sallak Executive Vice President, Trucking Associations Clinton Defense Fund It is a shameful situation that the country is in now. True, President Clinton did have a disgusting relationship with Monica Lewinsky. However, with Paula Jones, his request for oral sex was refused. She walked away, and Gov. Clinton did nothing. She went back to her job, received favorable ratings and pay raises. Then several years later, he told a Republicans or ganization what had happened. The final result; she walks away with nearly $1 million. Not bad. Lewinsky, an attractive sexually experienced young girl in her 20s, reveals to the president, by lifting up her dress, her undergarments. Any man, aged 50 or so, would respond to such activity. The president did as she expected. All future contracts were made by her. So after meetings involving some sexual inci dents, over a period of less than 15 months, and un der investigation by Starr, Lewinsky will walk away with about $5 million in media and public appear ances. Now the president is left with legal bill of about $5 million. If only 10 percent of the 47 million vot ers who favored the president will send him a dollar or two into a defense fund, the bill can be paid. No Republican critic would be able to point a finger at any number of prominent democrats and accuse them of paying the bill. The supporters of a Clinton Defense action should mail checks to : Mrs. Hillary R. Clinton 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C. 20502 Sol Lubitsch Florida LOTTOS POUCY The Oregon Daily Emerald wi attempttoprintaB letters containing comments on top ics of interest to the University community, let ters must be limit ed to 250 words. The Emerald re serves the right to edit any letter for length, clarity, grammar, style and libel. Letters may be dropped off at EMU Suite 300.
