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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 25, 2000)
Letters to the editor Jesus vs. Ryan Jesus was a revolutionary. Ryan is a business administration ma jor and a football player. Enough said. Lucas Thurston linguistics, romance languages Power of the vote Today is the last day to register to vote in the Oregon Primary Election. Unfortunately, voting is not a right that is fully taken ad vantage in our country, and among college students, voter turnout is especially low. At the University, we can solve that problem and increase the strength of our political voice. The ASUO has made it a priori ty to help students strengthen their political voices in local, state and national governments. The first step in that process is registering to vote. Registering to vote now means that you will re ceive a ballot for the Oregon Pri mary Election in May and the General Election in November. In the elections, we will have the chance to choose our local, state and federally elected officials, in cluding the mayor of Eugene, state senators and representa tives, U.S. representatives and the president of the United States. But in order to vote, one must reg ister. Voter registration cards are available in the ASUO office, where you can fill out the form, and we’ll deliver it to Lane Coun ty Elections for you! If you have any questions about voter registration, talk to Robin Miller or Arlie Adkins in the ASUO, Suite 4 in the EMU or call 346-0628. Register to vote and strengthen your political voice! Robin Miller ASUO Federal Affairs coordinator Vote no on 81 I recently saw the movie “Erin Brockovich” and found it very in spiring. Why did I leave the the ater with that feeling, in spite of the movie being about people who were injured by a large cor poration that treated their health with total disregard? Because the movie illustrated how our civil justice system is used every day to hold wrongdoers accountable for their irresponsible actions. Oregonians are under the threat of losing the power of the civil justice system that was so won derfully illustrated in “Erin Brockovich.” Ballot Measure 81, on the May primary ballot, would let the politicians in Salem limit damages in any civil action, no matter what the Constitution says. That means despite what a jury of ordinary people decides, its decision won’t matter because the legislature would have the power to assign a one-size-fits-all limit on damages, rather than let ting juries decide on a case-by^ case basis. When Erin asks in the movie, “How much is your pine worth?” what would your answer be? I know I would want a jury to de cide, not the politicians in Salem. That’s why I’m voting “NO” on Ballot Measure 81. Kristin Davis reader Nike not the only problem If there is one argument that to tally skirts the sweatshop issue, it is the argument that those fight ing them are hypocritical because they themselves are wearing clothing made in sweatshops. Chances are, if you happen to be wearing clothing right now, you are probably wearing sweatshop produced goods. Why? Nearly the entire gar ment industry is using horrific la bor practices. Some of the protest ers were wearing Nikes. Does this make them hypocrites? No. The alternatives to buying sweatshop produced goods, with a couple exceptions, are making your own clothes, buying them secondhand or getting them tailor-made. So, rather than go to great lengths to find sweat-free clothes, why not try to pressure those who profit from these unfair practices to change their ways? What a con cept: trying to make the world a better place rather than just eas ing your conscience. To me, the real hypocrites are those who say they are against sweatshop labor who take no action to change it, but instead only take small meas ures to make themselves feel that they are not contributing to the problem. And hypocrites are those who claim to be against sweatshops but wag their self-righteous little fingers at people who actually are doing something just because the doers might be wearing sweated clothes. Do not place the blame of inhumane labor practices on peo ple fighting them. Place blame where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of those despicable CEOs and subcontractors who think the dollar is more important than basic human rights. Randy Newnham linguistics and anthropology co-coordinator, Survival Center WRC shackles business I would like to voice my sup port for Phil Knight’s rescinding of funding for the University ath letic department. The Worker Rights Consortium as an organi zation has lofty ideals. They are also ideals that make it impossi ble for businesses to function. This is likely because of the WRC’s lack of knowledge about business. The WRC isn’t an estab lished organization. It doesn’t have a board of directors yet. It doesn’t have its own code of con duct. It doesn’t have its own in spectors. What it does have is a commit ment from universities to bind companies to whatever rules it decides is appropriate. Currently, the plan is to have each Universi ty make up its own code of con duct. This will give businesses not one but several hundred codes of conduct to meet, a ludi crous plan. The Fair Labor Asso ciation may not be perfect — its code may not be strong enough — but it is better than the utter non sense the WRC proposes. I support Knight’s decision to drop his funding. He has been the University’s strongest supporter — note the library that bears his name. Nike made its position clear with Brown: Joining the WRC means breaking contracts with Nike. The University’s ac tions are a clear backstabbing of our greatest patron. The only de cent thing for us to do is to give him back the law school. Jay Schneider graduate student, computer and information science Protest misrepresented I am deeply dismayed by your coverage of the 1970 student ROTC protest (ODE, 4/19). There was no personal account of the event on behalf of the protesters. Simone Ripke chose to limit the bias of the article to that of the University administration and student ROTC members at that time. In no way is there an at tempt to hear the student voice. In order to provide accurate cov erage, all sides need to be heard from. Improper coverage lends this article a very disturbing tone. The protesters are depicted as vi olent, raging lunatics. The ending quote that “the Oregon campus has always been a hotbed of ac tivism, and that’s not any differ ent today,” suggests largely that student activists today are still carrying the torch of uncontrol lable rage. Intolerable media of this sort is what has led public opinion to marginalize those who have the courage to speak out as ignorant and volatile. In short: Shape up — you’re messing with people’s heads. Nick Vaughan music Students make a difference Last weekend, the Friends of the Library raised $56,000 at its annual used book sale. We could not have done it without the help of two wonderful groups of Uni versity students. The ROTC cadets and Presidential Student Scholar Association helped move 2,000 heavy boxes of books to the fairgrounds. The community needs to know students do things other than riot at Halloween. Next year more than 16,000 children will attend programs at the li brary paid for with the money we raised. And University students helped make it happen. Norine Madden Book Sale chairwoman Friends of the Eugene Public Library Bonny Bettman is endorsed by: Organizations Campus Green Party Oregon League of Conservation Voters Oregon Natural Resources Council Sierra Club Elected Officials Bill Dwyer Gary Rayor David Kelly Peter Sorenson Scott Meisner Betty Taylor Floyd Prozanski Members of the Campus Community John Baldwin Jerry Berk Shawn Boles Howard Bonnett Tom Bowerman Suzanne Clark Paul Engelking Joan Fariel Eben Fodor Linda Fuller Jerome Grzybowski Chuck Hunt Robert Long Greg McLauchlan Sandi Morgen Robert O’Brien Chris O’Conner Paul Prew Cheyney Ryan Nathan Tublitz Ray Wolfe Authorized and Paid for by Bonny Bettman for City Council little Caesars 3: mi -a- 4a* rf l;f* 72* MEDIUM PEPPERONI OR CHEESE PIZZA 1711 Willamette (next to Blockbuster) 343-3330 tvwtv.dailgememld.eoni Groovy Weekly Reader Polls Vote online. 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