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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2004)
| Commentary | INBOX Logging leads to fires that devastate forests I am disgusted with the abundance of uninformed bias in the article “Waves of Environmental Opinion” (ODE, Oct. 20). The article did not in clude any facts that support preserv ing the Roadless Rule; rather, the argu ments relied solely on common myths and misinformation. A common misconception is that fires are bad, yet fires have been a nat ural part of nature’s system for thou sands of years. In fact, some trees can not reproduce without fire. The nation’s leading ecologists have concluded that past commercial log ging, road building, livestock grazing and aggressive forest fires are major sources for increased insect and dis ease outbreaks and severe wildfires. Ironically, some people advocate con tinued heavy logging as a method of fire suppression. Yet logging is what causes the catastrophic and deadly fires that burn out of control. Forests are naturally able to withstand fires, but logging takes away the part of the forest that controls the fires: the tree trunks. After an area is logged, only dry leaves, needles and limbs remain, all of which are very good fuel for fires. So go log all the trees! It doesn’t matter that we will sacrifice millions of dollars and that unnecessary lives will be lost if it’s good for the econo my, right? Only five percent of America’s native forests remain. Who’s the extremist? Danielle Foley-Mutu Voting still possible for voters without ballots If a student did not receive a bal lot but believes that he or she registered, it is still possible to vote. This is a legal right under the feder al Help America Vote Act of 2002. To help you do this, send an e-mail to vote@uoregon.edu. The ASUO's di rector of legal services will then try to help such a student exercise his or her right to vote on a “provision al ballot.” If you received your regis tration card back in the mail and a letter from Lane County Elections about making corrections, take these steps: 1. Make a photocopy of your card for your records and keep the enve lope if possible. 2. Draft and sign a statement that you originally tried to register before Oct. 12, if that was the case. Keep a copy. 3. Take the original card and state ment to Lane County Elections at 275 W. 10th Ave. (one block west of the downtown Eugene library). 4. Correct the card in front of a desk clerk and file it with Lane County Elections. 5. Vote on a "provisional ballot" for this election. John E. Bonine Professor of law ■ In my opinion Heroes in error Ahmed Chalabi gave a candid in terview to the (London) Telegraph in February 2004. When asked about his disinformation campaign before the Iraq war, he said, “We are heroes in error. ... That tyrant Sad dam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important.” The members of the Bush Adminis tration are not heroes. They are “he roes in error.” What is the difference, you ask? 1. Heroes win wars. Heroes in error fight unwinnable wars. (When asked about the war on terrorism, Bush said, “1 don’t think you can win it.”) 2. Heroes have success. Heroes in error have “catastrophic success.” (This is what President Bush called our quick occupation of Baghdad during an interview with Time magazine.) 3. Heroes accomplish their mission. Heroes in error stand behind “mission accomplished” signs even though the mission is far from accomplished. 4. Heroes fight bravely when asked to serve. Heroes in error never seem to make it into the battle for one suspi cious reason or another, but they feel no qualms about questioning the pa triotism of those who do serve. 5. Heroes move our country for ward. Heroes in error take four years just to “turn the corner.” (This was a popular campaign slogan for Bush un til he started to be mocked and ridiculed for it.) 6. Heroes have peace on their minds. Heroes in error have war on their minds. (”I'm a war president,” Bush said during an interview. “I make decisions here in the Oval Office on foreign-policy matters with war on my mind.” That’s reassuring.) 7. Heroes “shock and awe” the ene my. Heroes in error shock and awe their own people. Americans are truly shocked at and in awe of how poorly things are going in Iraq. DAVID JAGERNAUTH CRITICAL MASS I could keep going, but you get the point: Heroes in error are not like oth er heroes. Rather than take responsi bility for their mistakes in Iraq, as he roes would, heroes in error pass the buck by suggesting that everyone thought Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Really? In February 2001, Colin Powell said, “(Saddam) has not devel oped any significant capability with re spect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.” Con dellezza Rice made similar comments. The only people in the administration who thought Iraq had a significant weapons program were the neocons who were listening to Chalabi. And re member what he said: “What was said before is not important.” It is tragic that the majority of Americans support the way the presi dent is handling the war in Iraq. We can only assume that this support is based on ignorance. A recent poll sug gests that three-fourths of Bush sup porters still believe Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and that he had substantial links to A1 Qaeda. It is probably foolish to think that further proof will change the minds of people who have such faith in the cur rent administration that they have somehow managed to ignore the most basic facts about the Iraq war, facts that were discussed during the de bates, facts that even the president owned up to. 1 can respectfully dis agree with somebody who supports the war in Iraq, but anyone who sup ports or defends the administration’s handling of the war is, with all due re spect, a moron. Bush’s first mistake was letting Ch eney bring Rumsfeld into the admin istration. This man is so hawkish, he actually considered Kissinger to be a moderate. Rumsfeld wasted no time asserting civilian control over the Pen tagon, which quickly alienated the en tire military. It was like Vietnam all over again: Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz decided that they knew how to run a war better than the four star generals. As a result, Colin Powell was marginalized, General Shinseki’s advice was ignored and an original plan that called for 400,000 troops on the ground in Iraq was downsized to around 120,000 troops. Rumsfeld had originally wanted only 50,000 troops, according to a report by “Frontline.” We all know the results. We took Baghdad in a blaze of glory, but did not have enough troops on the ground to secure the peace or even for our troops to protect themselves. A com plete lack of post-war planning creat ed chaos that we are still dealing with today. And the president’s cavalier, go it-alone mentality, tempered slightly by Colin Powell’s desperate efforts, has resulted in Americans paying an unacceptably high cost in terms of blood and money. When the commander-in-chief botches a war this badly, we have no other choice than to relieve him of duty. Bush got his four years despite the popular will. We see now that the instinct of the majority of Americans was right. We need a hero as a com mander-in-chief. Bush is not a hero. He is a hero in error. And heroes in er ror can only succeed at one thing: Tak ing real heroes to war and needlessly sending them home in body bags. davidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com LARGER & MORE TERRIFYING! # - 020443 Located in Equestrian Building at the Lane County Fairgrounds Admission $7.50 per person, ages 6 and over. Ages 6-11 must be accompanied by an adult. For more information call 341-5200 or www.eugene2030.org October 21-23, & October 2&-31 Hours: Thursday & Sunday, 7-10pm Friday & Saturday 7-11pm , Sponsored by: The Eugene Active 20-30 Club. Starbucks, t Big Boy Toys, Jerry's, KDUK, Dominos Pizza, Pepsi & Bi-Mart SAIF: Taking on Measure 38 Continued from page 2A give Liberty Northwest a dominating market share in Oregon. Clearly, SAIF has its problems. It may be Ore gon’s most corrupt, poorly run state institution. But it would be a shame if Oregon voters let an insurance company tell them how to run their public policy. 7Yavis Willse — NO In what is probably the most tech nically challenging measure on No vember’s ballot, Measure 38 details a plan to dismantle the State Accident Insurance Fund, a public (i.e. social ized) insurance program. SAIF cer tainly suffers from its share of prob lems — an FBI investigation and allegations of unfair denials of work ers’ claims, among others. But these questions and others, coupled with the benefits of better private competi tion, prescribe the state’s eventual withdrawal from the insurance mar ket. However, the measure’s provi sions aren’t sufficiently specific to convince me that its passage would n’t do more harm than good during the upcoming years. Vote a (re served) no on Measure 38. Jennifer McBride — NO SAIF may not be perfect, but it's good for Oregon. Over the past 14 years, workers’ compensation rates have not gone up, while prices in other states, such as Washington and California, have. A loss of competi tiveness resulting from increasing rates will drive away jobs from Ore gon and worsen our state woes. Though there are problems with the insurance company, they must be fixed by limits and reforms and not by abolition if we intend to preserve the quality of Oregon's health care. Ailee Slater —- NO It is extremely important to keep SAIF intact by voting no on Measure 38. Companies such as Measure 38’s biggest supporter, Liberty Northwest, have internal problems similar to those of SAIF; yet the difference is that these problems will never be solved by for-profit private insurers. Keeping a state-owned SAIF and con centrating on reform is the best op tion. Furthermore, SAIF insures many high-risk businesses, such as nursing homes, that other insurance companies would either refuse to cover or charge 30 percent to 50 per cent higher than what SAIF charges. This results in unemployment. Also important to remember is that SAIF covers workers’ compensation; whereas states such as California have seen workers’ comp rates rise 20 percent in the last year, SAIF has made it possible for Oregon’s basic rate to stay stable for 14 years. PYONI WELCa C YOUR U) TO mt SATURDAY, 0CTO8ER 30 TPfNlAM W<* * fortune RequLnly SI4.00 Hours: Mffi So THfuik M-F 9am 8pm Sat 9am-7pm Sun 11 am 5pm Close To Campus!
