COMMENTARY
Letters to the editor
Don’t waste money
on 20-54
Please treat 20-54 propaganda
as junk mail soliciting your hard
earned dollar. If it “promises more
than it can deliver.” don't waste
your money.
The West Eugene Parkway is no
more a “solution” than throwing
gasoline on fire. Solutions to
sprawl are not found by fueling
more sprawl. They require step
by-step internal improvements. If
surgeons bypassed congested or
gans to supply peripheral cancers,
their patients would die.
That's why the 1999 Oregon
Highway Plan directs “ODOT and
local jurisdictions to do every
thing possible to protect and im
prove the efficiency of the high
way system before adding new
highway facilities,” ranking new
bypasses as the lowest priority.
That's why the efforts of plan
ners, elected officials, developers
and citizens in TransPlan funded
only WEP phase one, ranking the
others 15th, 20th and last of the
28 currently nonfunded road proj
ects in Lane County.
That's why the Federal High
way Administration ruled you
can't start a bypass unless you
have money to finish it.
The 1986 vote wasn’t to fund
the WEP, only to approve a route
that’s proved unworkable. Now
developers are trying to bypass
prioritization of your tax dollars
by buying your vote for their short
term financial gain, not for Lane
County’s livability.
The WEP is not needed; it will
destroy parklands that technology
cannot fully mitigate and requires
4-5 times as much money as is
currently funded. Guess whose
pocket they'll pick for that?
Vote no on 20-54. Use your lim
ited tax dollars on higher priority
transportation improvements.
Rich Cooiman
Eugene
Anthrax cartoon
shows poor taste
Last week you ran a cartoon in
your paper (ODE, 10/19) where a
person was eating some powdered
donuts, and a nearby onlooker in re
turn shouted: “Anthrax!”
Hahahaha. It is hard to believe
something done with such poor
taste could be shown in a daily
campus newspaper, not to men
tion it had no comedic value what
soever.
I expected that since the Ore
gon Daily Emerald is at least
some sort of a newspaper, they
v. ould have known that at the
time of the cartoon, one person
had already died from the virus,
and since then, two more people
have died. Real funny stuff.
Josh Brown
junior
sociology
America’s defense
is legitimate, right
Guest Commentary
Brandon
Oberlin
w
"hen the people ofthe
United States look in
the mirror, what they
see isafriendofthe
world. I am stunned that George
Beres (“To find the real enemy, we
need to look in the mirror,” ODE,
10/12) and others like him see an
enemy of humanity instead. I can
not keep quiet about this any longer:
The logical flaws of the “peaceniks”
and their intellectual allies need to
be brought to light.
First, I’d like to discuss Beres’
position. Beres indirectly asserts
that, a) the United States has per
petrated great evil upon the world
and therefore, b) “had it coming”
with regard to the recent slaughter.
It should also be noted that hidden
within his unbalanced view of cur
rent events is the insinuation that
Bush was not lawfully elected and
that U.S. corporations are to blame
for the world’s evils. He goes on to
project Bush’s term, “faceless cow
ard,” onto the American people.
Most Americans won’t deny that
the U.S. government has made ter
rible mistakes and still does.
Weigh these errors against the
good that the United States does
for the world and a more balanced
picture emerges. Remember World
Wars I and II? In both cases, the
American people selflessly donat
ed thousands of soldiers’ lives and
billions of dollars to free other peo
ple from tyranny.
Penicillin is a gift to the world
from the United States. So is the
transistor (which made computers
possible). The U.S. government
has forgiven more Third World
debts than most countries ever
loan out. The United States is the
world leader in humanitarian aid.
When there is a natural disaster
anywhere in the world, it is Ameri
cans who are there first offering
medical care and money.
There are millions of people
alive today who wouldn’t be if it
weren’t for the perseverance of
American scientists who devel
oped cures for diseases and the in
vestment by American corpora
tions that produce them.
Americans are not cowards, nor are
they the enemy. Even suggesting
that Americans are in the same cat
egory as the terrorists is an intellec
tual crime.
A recap of recent events: Thou
sands of innocent Americans were
slaughtered at the hands of mur
derous sadists. The repressive gov
ernment harboring and sanction
ing the primary suspect refuses to
turn him over for trial. President
Bush gives the Taliban almost a
month to recant before taking mili
tary action. During this time, food
is airlifted to hungry Afghani citi
zens at the United States’ expense.
Al-Qaida (Osama bin Laden’s or
ganization) makes still more
threats against innocent Ameri
cans. An apparent (and so far un
successful) bioterrorism campaign
is waged upon American civilians.
What is there to think about?
It is the legitimate place of any
government to defend its people. It
is time to defend America both in
tellectually and militarily. This is
the first time in my life that I have
supported a U.S. war: I have
thought all the others were ques
tionable at best.
This time it’s different. This is
defense of my people. I would be
honored to die defending the gen
erous, hardworking, courageous,
peace-loving, decent people of the
United States of America. And to
hell with those who don’t like it.
Brandon Oberlin is a senior biology major.
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Michael Collins
The Keepers of the Truth
Tuesday, Oct. 30th * 7:30 p.m.
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Irish-born Collins comes to the University to read from
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Ten Tips For Women Who Want To Change The World
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J
The West Eugene Parkway will cost $88 - $100 million.
It won't reduce congestion.
$88 million -► The money is NOT there!
$88 million -► Slashed state budgets could mean higher tuition
$88 million More tax dollars when budgets are tight
$88 million -► Cancels traffic improvements throughout the city
$88 million Destroys wildlife habitat
Vote NO on 20-54.
Vote NO on the West Eugene Parkway.
It's Highway
Robbery!
For more information, to volunteer, or to make a financial contribution, please call 686-6761 or visit our website: www.westbynorthwest.org/no20-54
Authorized and paid for by "No on 20-54 PAC- — Audrey Erickson, Treasurer
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