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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2002)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com ___T_ ___'•'*“7 Editor in Chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing Editor: Jenni Schultz I hursday, June 27,2002 Editorial Oregon mustpay for services Wiui me uregon L.egisiaiure s third special session getting closer to a finish, Oregonians are once again being treated to a ridicu lous show of impracticality, partisan fighting, and flat-out denial. A group of senators is apparently working on a plan to replace the “no new taxes” bill defeated Tuesday. We’re glad that bill, which included no new ideas as well as no new taxes, was stopped in its tracks. Now someone needs to stop the new “compromise” being worked on — and someone real ly needs to find a rational way to fund Oregon public services. Surely Oregonians realize that if they want schools, police and a safety net for the most vulnerable popula tions, they have to pay for it. And sure ly no one believes that there’s much fat left to cut at state agencies; those agen cies have been trimmed and cut re peatedly in recent years, and they’ve become more efficient as a result. So perhaps it’s just our legislators who don’t realize that a stable solution is needed for Oregon’s budget woes. In the long run, a more equitable system, which taxes businesses and individu als evenly (instead of relying more heavily on individuals, as is done cur rently), should be the goal of state law makers. r or now, nowever, uregon neeas a tax plan that doesn't simply rely on ac counting tricks (shifting payments into the next biennium), failed attempts to raid the state’s education endowment fund (the recently defeated Measure 13) and singling out the 20 percent of Oregonians who smoke (why choose cigarettes and not hair dye or DVDs?). Here’s our solution: Legislators should gather all their internal forti tude and pass a two-tiered sales tax. Forget referring it to the voters — let’s just have it and balance the budget. The first tier should be fairly low and be for products ranging up to $10,000 in price. The second tier could be a much higher tax rate for products cost ing more than $10,000. With a two-tiered system, some of the flat tax sting on lower-income residents’ pocketbooks would be eliminated. Big ticket luxury items will cost more, as well they should. But the state could then reap the benefit of taxing tourists, who currently pay too little for the pleasure of visiting our fine state. Perhaps the political will doesn’t ex ist in Salem for a tax that has failed at the polls so many times. But legislators need to find some political will — any political will — and raise taxes now, before our state services are forced into bankruptcy. Judges are supposed to judge ongratulations are in order to the ASUO and students who testified V—Jjune 10 to the Eugene City Coun cil regarding fines for furnishing alco hol to a minor or allowing minors to drink on one’s property. City staff proposed changing the law, in what they called a “housekeeping” measure, to remove the possibility of diversion programs or community serv ice and instead creating mandatory sen tences of fines and jail time. Mandatory sentences for anything are a bad idea. Judges exist specifically to judge, and when we remove their ability to weigh circumstances and of fenders’ history, we might as well just use a computer to come up with the sentence. In this case, University students or ganized by the ASUO testified about the value of diversion programs, and with Ward 3 Councilor David Kelly’s support, the City Council dropped the mandatory minimum wording from the proposed changes. This victory, however small in the scheme of things, should be lauded be cause it shows that when students get involved in policy decisions, they can make a difference. It also shows that Kelly is standing up for students’ inter est, as he promised during the May election. Concerned community members should take note, however: The battle may not be over. City Council will be revisiting the issue of changes to city ordinances during a special Monday meeting. Whether you support or op pose this specific change — or other changes to city law — the opportunity exists to make your voice heard. Students should take HIV tests |oday is National HIV Testing Day, and students need to follow the or JL ganizers' advice — “Take the Test. Take Control.” This is the eighth year that the National Association of People with AIDS has organized the event, and it is more critical now than ever that peo ple find out their HIV status. According to the Centers for Disease Control, people under age 25 are esti mated to make up half of all new HIV in fections occurring in the United States, and HIV remains a leading cause of death among young people. A study published by Kaiser Perma nente shows that 40 percent of Ameri cans who are HIV-positive don’t know about the infection until they are about to develop AIDS. The study found that this is often 10 or more years after the person was infected. That’s 10 years of potentially infecting sexual partners. Ten years that could have been spent getting treatment to boost the immune system and learning to live with the virus. College is often said to be a time of ex perimentation and learning to find one self. Often this time of “growth” in volves sexual encounters — and they’re not always safe. Students should now take the time to experiment with needles: Go to a clinic or doctor’s office, get a blood test and learn your HIV status. Then, regardless of the results, follow it up by taking control. Cut down on high-risk behaviors, such as having un protected sex and sharing needles used to inject drugs. As of June 2001,41,093 people under age 25 had been diagnosed with AIDS, according to the CDC. Nobody knows how many more are HIV-positive, and that number will skyrocket if people don’t take the test. Do it today. This editorial represents the opinion of the Oregon Daily Emerald. Responses are welcomed and may be sent to editor@dailyemerald.com. Pledge used to have meaning CC T pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands, one na X tion, indivisible, with liberty and jus tice for all.” — Original pledge of allegiance, written by Francis Bellamy, 1892 It was these 22 words, written by minister Francis Bellamy, that have sparked a run ning national controversy. Wednesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francis co ruled that the pledge of allegiance, per haps more recognizable in its current form — “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the repub lic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” — was unconstitutional in its current form, because the words “under God” con stitute an establishment of religion. If the ruling is upheld, it will mean the end of a fa miliar morning ritual at schools around the country. The value of the pledge as a sign of love of our country should not be discounted. I am not against voluntary recitations of the pledge. I am against saying the pledge before class every day in public schools, only be cause it becomes a matter of “teacher said to say it” rather than a thoughtful reflection on the sacrifices made for this country by so many people. Further, the climate in schools, both today and in the ’50s, when the pledge mandate was made widespread, is not con ducive to thoughtful reflection. Schoolchildren, both in the 1950s and to day, have no conception of what the pledge really means or what this country is about. In the Eisenhower Era, about the time that the words “under God” were put in the pledge, we were in the middle of the Cold War. Sena tor Joseph McCarthy was conducting his mostly chimerical hunts for Communists in government to further his own political ca reer, people were building bomb shelters in their backyards in anticipation of the day that Soviet planes would blanket the entire coun try with H-bombs, and the average American either saw or was told of hidden Communist intrigues everywhere. Guest Columnist Pat Payne Into this climate, the pledge was intro duced into schools. This was not the right time, as I believe it was installed in the spirit of paranoia rather than love of country. It was perhaps not so much a tool to foster patriot ism as it was a hope that “If he says the pledge enough times, little Johnny won’t be come a Commie.” Further, there was a mindset that “America can do no wrong.” Slavery, the Trail of Tears and even our own civil war, were simply swept under the rug. All of these things should have reminded people of how pre cious and fragile the ideas behind the pledge are and how far we have come in our own history, instead of being ignored. Today, however, we have just as little a grasp on the meaning of the words. Whereas in the ’50s, children were given the pledge and then told that “America can do no wrong — ever,” in some cases, there is a tendency in academic circles toward “America has never done, and can never do, right.” On college campuses across the nation, students are attending classes with profes sors who, far from presenting an unvar nished, “warts and all” view of America, are in many cases depicting American history as only greed, war, genocide and racism. Future teachers will be bringing to elementary and high school a view of the United States that is as much divorced from reality as the view in the ’50s. Children will be no more prepared to realize the meaning of the pledge than were their forebearers. Perhaps some day there can be a place for a voluntary affirmation of the pledge, without the words “under God.” But for that to hap pen we are going to have to change our schools and strike a balance between white wash and self-flagellation. Pat Payne is a freelance columnist. His opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. UO shouldfightfor professors I am deeply dismayed to hear about the departure of one of my professors, Makiko Nagae, from the University of Oregon. Not only because she is a won derful teacher who I count among the very best I have had the pleasure of studying under, but more distressing is the nature of her departure. Professor Nagae is a Japanese citizen who has lived and taught in Eugene both in high school and at the college level for more than 10 years. Yet the nature of her visa requires that, in order for her to secure a green card and con tinue teaching, she is reliant on the University to provide her with a state ment of support. Yet for some reason this support was not forthcoming, leav ing her with no other option but to leave the country and return to Japan. I do not claim to be an expert in immi gration law and its various complexities, but if the problem is that Professor Nagae is only under a nine-month contract rather than a one- or two-year contract that is standard for such statements of support, it seems to me that the University would and should take whatever steps necessary to retain one of its top instructors. If anyone were to inquire about whether Professor Nagae is indeed one of the best teachers at the University, I think they would find no shortage of people to attest to this fact. It then comes as a huge disappointment Guest Commentary James Squires to me that the University would be unwilling to lend its support to her, espe cially in light of a highly charged political climate in which "non-Americans" are being harassed and deported seemingly arbitrarily. As a student who has been on the Dean's List every term I have attended this University, and as one who values what extraordinary instructors like Professor Nagae have to offer, it makes me wonder why I am supporting an institution of high er learning that will not extend this same support to its faculty. Regardless of what I decide to do with my education in the future, I know that many of my fellow stu dents echo my sentiments. I would like to leave you with one final thought: No university, no matter what it may believe to the contrary, has the luxury of losing not only quality teachers but more importantly, quality human beings. The loss of even one is one too many, and it is something that should cause all those involved to reflect on what a great loss it is for all con cerned. James Squires is a junior Japanese major.
