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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2002)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 Email: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com Friday, October 18,2002 -Oregon Daily Emerald Commentary Editor in Chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing Editor: Jessica Richelderfer Editorial Editors: Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne Editorial Evil debt monsters lurk along the path to the magical place There once was a boy named Dick, who graduated high school and was ecstatic when he was accepted into the University of Oregon. But alas, Dick was unaware of the terrors that come with college life. Dick’s mom cried and said, “Gall if you need anything.” Dick’s dad patted him on the shoulder and said, “Take care, son.” Dick arrived at his residence hall, 18 years old and ready to take on the world. But little did Dick know that monsters lurked be neath the shadows, waiting for him to say, “I have no money. What can I do?” That day soon came when all of Dick’s newfound friends told him of the parties, the pizza and the fun — but it took money to get to these magical places. What could he do? Dick’s friend Sam took him aside and said, “It’s easy. All you have to do is sign your name.” Well, Dick was in awe, and he agreed when Sam said he knew of a person who could help. They met in the Pioneer Cemetery. Sam in troduced Dick to Damian, stammered his goodbye and ran. Damian asked what Dick needed. Dick said he craved access to the magical place of fun. Damian twiddled his bony hands. “Excellent.” Damian took out his blood-red clipboard with a long piece of parchment on it. Tiny, illegible writing was scrawled across the bot tom. Instead of reading what it said, Dick signed it. With that, Damian handed him the key to the magical place. From then on, Dick was hooked. Dick couldn’t stop. He couldn’t get enough of the magic. He found himself overwhelmed and was never heard from again. The moral of the story? Don’t get “Dick-ed.” Learn to stay in con trol of your finances and credit. You can follow a few simple steps, as documented by StudentMarket.com. • Pay on time. • Stay within your credit limit to avoid fees. • Limit the number of credit cards you apply for. Don’t get sucked into the “free stuff’ world. • Set money aside for emergencies or savings. • Use credit wisely. • Read everything before you sign. Pay close attention to terms and conditions and tiny print. • Review your credit report periodically, to make sure there are no discrepancies. • Be honest. If you can’t pay your bill on time, call the creditor and make arrangements. We understand being a college student can be rough. Students are often strapped for cash and starving just to pay rent. We’ve been in those situations. Yes, even the editorial board members. And once credit is established, it can be even harder to stay in con trol. But students should heed our senior advice: Don’t go on “thera peutic” shopping sprees to deal with the fact that you’re so far in debt you can’t make minimum payments. For more tips on budgeting and maintaining credit, visit www.stu dentmarket.com. Also, a debt management team is coming to cam pus to counsel students who get in over their heads. For more infor mation, contact Sue Jenkins at 346-3215. Michael j. Kleckner Editor In chief Jessica Rlchelderfer -Managing editor Salena De La Cruz : {Editorial editor Pat Payne Editorial editor jersna Cunningham tudent Representative 0(4CE NITRATE .. Peter Utsey Emerald War of ideas comes to total standstill For weeks, the Emerald commen tary page has served as a soapbox for anti-war propagandists. And for weeks, I’ve waited for someone to write in with a rebuttal. But none has arrived, and I feel it necessary to share the more rhetorically persuasive and intellectually honest position — that war in Iraq can’t be avoided. It should be obvious to most ob servers that charges leveled against the Saddam regime are — as concerns arsenals of genocidal weaponry — true. If Saddam Hussein was a mur dering tyrant in 1991, it stands to rea son he is still a murdering tyrant to day. Certainly the Iraqi people have not benefited from his extended reign. From a humanitarian standpoint, war with Iraq would be an opportunity to the turn the tide against despotism in the Middle East. Relativists often ar gue that other Mideast countries are just as guilty as Iraq of promoting ter rorism, which, true or not, doesn’t jus tify Iraq’s actions. Two wrongs don’t make a moral neutrality. If the United States is to be a global citizen in good standing, we cannot look the other way while people suffer under a megalomaniac who’s shown a propensity toward aggression. We cannot fiddle while Rome bums, aigu The story "Art, culture and tango bingo” (ODE, Oct. 17) should have said that Michae Moore performed at the EMU The story “Artist draws^ Oct. 17) should have saidthat the name of Nelson Mandela’s ing over timetables while Iraq subsi dizes suicide bombers in Israel. Once Iraq is a free democracy, we can decide whether the theater of war should be taken to other coun tries. From an international security standpoint, war with Iraq is also jus tified. One of the conditions of end ing the Gulf War was that Iraq agreed to disarmament and compliance with weapons inspection. In failing numerous times to hon or this agreement, Iraq has violated a series of U.N. resolutions. These resolutions are international law. In this light, war with Iraq is hardly a discarding of international law. It would show the United States’ dedi cation to sustaining it. How do we know Iraq is develop ing weapons of mass destruction? We don’t. But it’s hardly a roll of the dice to assume nefarious intent. And even if the evidence were set before us in a court of law, it would n’t deter the same voices of “dis sent” who argued against military action in Afghanistan. The left in America is currently engaged in a campaign of anti-anti terrorism, a position of cowardice hidden behind sophistication. It should come as no surprise that this illogical crusade has found safe har bor in college campuses, where stu dents are often taught not merely passivity in the face of evil, but admi ration of it. The Islamic Fascists who wage their jihad with human bombs rep resent everything a good liberal should oppose. They are religious fa natics, brutal, anti-Semitic, misogy nist and homophobic. They oppose free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom of conscience. And yet the campus left continues to spin them as sympathetic third world revolutionaries fighting against globalization and other West ern-promoted evils. “Blood for oil,” they say, ignoring the fact that the oil resources of the region are perma nently vanguarded by a sadist who wouldn’t hesitate to spill his own people’s blood to protect it. Nobody can guarantee a success ful war in Iraq — but that is not rea son enough to avoid conflict. If war in Iraq will bring more terrorism to the United States, will acquiescence bring less? Ask the people of Bali. Pete R. Hunt is a senior journalism major and editor-in-chief of the Oregon Commentator. Letter to the editor Beer’s a threat, too Curtis Taylor’s commentary has it half-right. Milk is indeed more harmful than beer as its health consequences, animal suffering implications and effects of addi tives overwhelm drinking a beer in moderation. Yet his claims of “mounting evi dence” of health benefits of beer are outrageous. The alcohol industry funds many of those studies, and beer is a toxic poison that can never be used “re sponsibly.” Its effects can be mini mized, but responsible behavior in volves positive modeling and positive product choices. A beer or two may not have a no- > ticeable effect, but it is not healthy, and promoting it hurts the credibili ty of a very real threat from both al cohol and milk. Mike Meyer junior family and human services
