Thursday
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com
IIGHTen up, Dick!
A CAULDRON
OF IDIOCY
aaron McKenzie
Those of you who love your Ford Expedi
tions or Chevy Suburbans ought to be
pleased to know that our resident Kreskin,
Vice President Dick Cheney, is predicting a
fall in gas prices this summer. This comes only
days after President George W. Bush - again inyok
i ing his ever-ready tax-cut proposal - indicated that,
hey, if Americans had more money to spend, they
wouldn’t mind paying more at the pump.
But of course prices are going to come down,
what with Bush proposing that we tear Creation
asunder if it means another week or two of energy
for this gluttonous nation. Not to worry, though —
with these two masterminds in charge, driving
around at nine miles per gallon will be more afford
able than ever.
We ought to question whether such a decrease in
energy prices is necessarily a good thing, though.
Paying upwards from $1.60 per gallon at the pump
is an admitted blow to the pocketbook, but isn’t
that ultimately what makes most people think
twice about driving instead of walking or riding the
Schwinn? Knowing that their consumptive prac
tices are responsible for the destruction of the pris
tine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not bound to
diminish the American appetite for fossil fuels.
History has shown that nothing gets our atten
tion like a shock to the collective wallet. It took a
severe spike in gas prices during the 1970s to con
vince the American populace that perhaps fuel-ef
ficient vehicles were a good idea. But while compa
nies such as Honda and Toyota have begun to
produce some of the most fuel-efficient cars ever,
the general trend nevertheless seems to be return
ing toward vehicles with insatiable gas tanks.
One contributor to this, I dare say, is a relatively
strong economy, which has flooded the middle
class citizenry with more expendable income than
they’ve ever known. And sadly, economic prosper
ity does not generally hold hands with the necessi
ty of environmentally friendly innovation.
Moreover, minds like Bush are not of the inquir
ing type. Introducing his budget proposal to Con
gress in February, Bush claimed that “we can pro
duce more energy at home while protecting our en
vironment.” Pray tell, how does he plan to protect
the environment while drilling in the Arctic Refuge
and expanding coal and nuclear production while
simultaneously cutting funding for alternative en
ergy development?
The energy outlook isn’t good. Democratic lead
ers are effectively reduced to begging in the hopes
that Bush will institute price caps on oil and elec
tricity; Trent Lott suggests a temporary suspension
of the federal gas tax; and California Gov. Gray
Davis wants to use the state's budget surplus to buy
power. All of which leads us back to the problem of
consumption: Simply because we institute policies
designed to subsidize our energy consumption
does not mean we should be devouring every fossil
fuel we can find.
How about letting Los Angeles and San Francis
co deal with those blackouts for a while and invest
ing the extra money in alternative energy research?
If nothing else, Wyoming has some great wind tur
bines — from which EWEB purchases power, inci
dentally — and I'm sure it’d be happy to sell some
kilowatts to the Golden State.
We would also do well to reconsider our ideas
about what has become an international energy cri
sis. We think the world is coming to an end when
we have to turn off the appliances for a few hours a
day, and then we have the audacity to become in- 1
dignant when those undeserving souls in China or
India want cars, refrigerators or anything else that
might divert energy from our hands.
At present, more than six billion people live on
this planet, and because we're so fond of pushing
'development' as the standard of excellence, a good
many of these people will soon be wanting all the
conveniences that we enjoy here in the United
States. I don't personally feel qualified to deny
them these comforts; not when I own a car, keep
my pasteurized milk fresh in the fridge and read by
lamplight every evening.
My point here is that, while I hate to see oil and
electricity companies enlarging their profits simply
because they can, the skyward trend of energy
prices is a fine opportunity to rethink our habits.
Perhaps if we were not so dependent on their prod
uct, these companies would not be able to hold ex
orbitant prices over our heads.
Aaron McKenzie is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald.
His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald.
He can be reached at awmckenzie@yahoo.com.
Yellow badges have returned;
we should sound the red alert
CAPTAIN
SENSIBLE
PAT PAYNE
He who does not learn from
history is doomed to re
peat it.” — Attributed to
Georges Santanyana
Once again, the Taliban militia
that rules 95 percent of Afghanistan
has brought the world’s outrage
upon itself. The senior clerics of the
Taliban this week issued via Afghan
radio a fatwah, or religious edict,
which will have a profound effect
on the lives of religious minorities
living under Taliban rule. The cler
ics announced that starting immedi
ately, all Hindus in the country must
wear a conspicuous yellow cloth
badge on their shirt pockets to de
note their religious affiliation.
The Taliban would like to say that
the reasons for the labeling are altru
istic. They claim they’re only doing
this to prevent the special Islamic
police forces from rounding up Hin
dus for daily prayers or arresting
them for shaving. I cannot say I be
lieve that reasoning. Fool me once,
shame on you. Fool me twice,
shame on the whole world. This
badge will make it easier for the
Muslim authorities to persecute
non-Muslims, rather than shield
them from persecution.
This would not be the first time
that a religious minority has been la
beled for easy recognition. Perhaps
the most infamous case of this prac
tice was in the Third Reich. Every
Jewish person was made to wear a 6
inch-diameter yellow “Star of
David.” At first, it seemed to be only
a mark of humiliation forced upon
them by the Nazis. But as the years
wore on, that star affixed to people’s
clothes slammed more and more
doors. It banned them from theaters,
parks, recreation facilities and
restaurants. It forbade them to prac
tice medicine, law or other profes
sions. Bythe war, the only doors the
Nazis had left open to those wearing
the star were the gates of the ghetto
and the doors of the concentration
camps.
I fear that the same events will
play out in Afghanistan. I fear that
those wearing the badges will at
some point be rounded up and giv
en the choice between conversion or
death. I fear that once again a nation
will be walking down the dark path
of hatred against a minority it has la
beled and marked. I fear that when
that time comes, we will be unable
to stop it. But we cannot ignore it, as
our predecessors did when the
Nazis brought out the yellow stars.
We must remember.
Pat Payne is a columnist for the Oregon Dai
ly Emerald. His views do not necessarily
represent those of the, Emerald. Hecan .be
reached at Macross_SD@hotmail.com.
Letters to the editor
Support working-class
students
Students may not know that
approximately 18 percent of
their peers are first-generation
students and are often the only
members of their families to at
tend college. Students may also
be unaware that 31 percent of
University students come from
low-income or working-class
homes. The University, tradi
tionally the realm of the middle
and upper classes, has a poor
track record regarding the prob
lems of poor students. And the
struggles of the underrepresent
ed, including the working class
es, are often trivialized or ig
nored.
Working-class students often
face obstacles to learning: the
inability to find affordable
housing, the expense of text
books and the all-too-frequent
need for multiple jobs in addi
tion to school. Student parents
also struggle with the added
time and expense of child care.
In order to recognize, support
and provide resources to low
income University students, a
new group, Working Class Stu
dent Solidarity, is forming.
WCSS is building strong sup
port and advocacy for working
class students. WCSS also aims
to build class consciousness at
the University and in the com
munity.
We, as low-income and work
ing-class students, represent a
significant number of students
everywhere, and ft is in the in
terest of the whole community
that our voices are heard. If you
can relate to any of this, please
join us. The last two WCSS
meetings of the term are May 21
from 4-6 p.m. in the EMU Cen
tury Room B and }une 4 from 4
6 p.m. in the EMU Metolius
Room.
Sophie Smith
senior
English
CORRECTION
A letter writer ("Can men admire
women without oppressing?"
ODE, May 22) was misidentified
in Tuesday’s paper. His name
should have read “Michael
Bench."
The Emerald regrets the error.