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Oregon Daily Emerald Thesday, November 23, 2004 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 IEN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR IARED PABEN AY1SHA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER MORIAH BALINGIT AMANDA BOLSINGER MEGHANN CUNIFF KARA HANSEN ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON [ONES SPORTS EDITOR ION ROITMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR NAIASIIA CHILINGERIAN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER DAHVI FISCHER AMY LICH'IY RYAN MURPHY PULSE REPORTERS DAVID IAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR IENN1FER MCBRIDE AILEE SIATER CHUCK SLOTHOWER TRAVIS WILLSE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR IAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER PARTTIME PHOTOGRAPHER ERIK BISHOFF PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER BRET FURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST KIRA PARK DESIGN EDITOR ELLIOTT ASBURY CHARLIE CALDWELL DUSTIN REESE BRIANNE SHOL1AN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY I FANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD PAUL THOMPSON SPORTS COPY EDITORS AMANDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR SLADE LEESON WEBMASTER BUSINESS (541) 346-5511 JUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRJTCHEJT RECEPTIONIST NATHAN FOSTER A1BINCGUO ANDREW LEAHY JOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELL DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ IJERON C AL1SCJ IIX)IJN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HIRONAKA MAEGAN KASERLEE MIA LEIDELMEYER EMILY PHILBIN SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUFTHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED (541) 346-4343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KATY GAGNON SABRINA GOWETTE LESLIE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541) 3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA SLOAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR JEN CRAM LET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT ANDY HOUAND DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri day during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon. Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law ■ In my opinion Bright spots in the shadow or the election The thorough slapping that Democ rats received from the American elec torate Nov. 2 has been much discussed and needs no rehashing. What we could use, however, is a look at the bright side — with one eye pointed to ward the future and another looking back at the election. 1. Barack Obama: The Illinois sena tor-elect has a mix of charisma and gravitas that has national Democratic leaders peeing their pants. Obama is smart, funny and about as liberal as a national figure comes these days. Oba ma was an Illinois state senator and a University of Chicago Law professor before he embarrassed Maryland car petbagger Alan Keyes on Nov. 2 by car rying 70 percent of the vote. To top it off, he’s a family man, with a 14-year marriage and two young daughters, and he has a great life story. Liberal De mocrats like his populism and his op position to the war in Iraq. But the best thing about Obama is that he’s only 43 years old and has a long time to gain experience in Washington, DC before his inevitable run for president. Let Hillary have 2008; the future beyond belongs to Obama. 2. Hillary Clinton: Next to the presi dent, Clinton is perhaps the most po larizing figure in American politics. Democrats (especially women) love her; conservatives think she’s the devil incarnate. But just as Obama represents the best chance for a black president in the near future, Clinton has a real shot of becoming America’s first woman president. Hillary’s case: She brings to the table name recognition, connections and a vast pool of donors. She has fought and CHUCK SLOTHOWER TAKING ISSUE beaten the “vast right-wing conspira cy,” as she famously put it, and has a passion for health care. Perhaps most importantly, Clinton has worked since 2000 in support of reproductive rights, environmental protections and educa tion as a rather prominent junior sena tor from the state of New York. 3. John Edwards: Like Obama, Ed wards has a thin political resume but has shot to the upper reaches of his party thanks to charisma. It sells Ed wards short, however, to say he’s a pretty face and nothing more. Edwards is one of few Democrats in recent years to have convincingly articulated a pop ulist message, which is the only way Democrats can hope to win back the White House if the country’s conserva tive mood on social issues persists. His “two Americas” speech caught fire on the campaign trail, catapulting Ed wards from a curiosity to a serious con tender during the Iowa caucuses. He is a real hope for 2008. 4. Peter DeFazio: As baseball man ager Leo Durocher once said of Willie Mays, “If he could cook, I’d marry him.” We’re lucky to have DeFazio, and judging by his election returns over the last 18 years, we know it. He’s a fighting Oregon liberal in the tradition of Wayne Morse and he does everything he can for his district, from supporting dredging coastal ports to getting more than $1 million out of federal coffers for the Eugene Airport. He’s also famously responsive to his constituents. To top it off, he’s a Duck alumnus. What’s not to like? 5. Kitty Piercy and the Eugene City Council: Eugene voters bucked the na tional trend this year, voting Democrats and liberals in and Republicans and conservatives out. After eight years un der Mayor Jim Torrey, Eugene finally has a chance to see what local liberals can accomplish with real power in their hands. Hopefully, this will mean more land conservation and less sprawl. While conservatives fretted that a liber al-leaning city government would lead to an economic downturn, Torrey’s regime saw the Sony disc manufactur ing plant close, and Lane County’s un employment rate is still above 6.5 per cent, despite recent improvement. As the saying goes, “If you want to live like a Republican, vote Democrat.” 6. Russ Feingold: We need more sen ators like the 51-year-old gentleman from Wisconsin who won re-election Nov. 2 to a third term in the U.S. Sen ate. He was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, coura geously standing up to 96 yea votes and abundant cowardice among his colleagues in the wake of President Bush’s post-9/11 surge in popularity. Feingold also opposed the war in Iraq, has worked to pass some of the 9/11 commission’s recommendations and co-authored the famous McCain-Fein gold campaign finance reform bill. chucks lot hower@ daily emerald, com INBOX Student senators are the real flip-floppers If you thought a certain presidential candidate was a “flip-flopper,” just talk to one of your student senators. On Wednesday, during their benchmark hearing to determine proposed increas es in your student fees, senators denied the proposed fee request by the Athletic Department Finance Committee. The Student Senate passed a lower increase, citing concern for saving students mon ey. Not only will it accomplish this, but now there will likely be fewer football and basketball tickets. Now for the flip-flopping: Once the Programs Finance Committee pro posed its fee request, those fighting for saving students money were mysteri ously quiet. In fact, the Senate over whelmingly passed a motion for a pro posed increase of over $200,000 in growth for ASUO programs. What hap pened to saving students money? Do we really want student leaders who say one thing and do another? First they want to save money and then they don’t care. What will it be tomorrow? Student senators, get your message straight; stop pandering to ASUO programs and start represent ing all students. Mike Sherman Former Student Senator, 2002-2004 Voter fraud investigations launched in several states Just when you thought the presiden tial election was over, accusations of voter fraud are all over the nation. It’s not some nutty conspiracy theory; it's a non-partisan issue that conflicts with the central tenet of our democracy. Did you know that recounts are hap pening in Ohio and New Hampshire? A fraud audit has been launched in Flori da, where phony audit logs were put in place of real ones that were later found in the garbage. Early exit polls in Flori da and Ohio matched votes in areas that used paper ballots, but not in areas that used video voting. In Broward County, Florida, electronic voting ma chines counted backwards: As more people voted, the official vote count went down. In one Columbus, Ohio, suburb, election officials have acknowl edged that electronic voting machines credited Bush with winning 4,258 votes, even though only 638 people voted there. And senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have re quested an immediate investigation of voting machine problems. I want to know that our president won honestly so we can get on with life. If he didn’t, let’s make sure justice is carried out. Jason A. Kilgore Junction City University Psychology Clinic extends helping hand The recent story and editorial on suicide prevention efforts on campus were excellent. We share the senti ment of the editorial (“Suicide sur rounded by sad social stigmas,” ODE, Nov. 18) that seeking help for mental health issues should be easy and non stigmatizing. In this spirit, I would like the University community to be aware of an additional campus re source for mental health services: the University Psychology Clinic located in Straub Hall. We offer assessment and psy chotherapy to teens and adults in the Eugene and Springfield community. Our services include individual and group cognitive behavior therapy, a therapy approach that has been found to be most helpful to those with depres sion and various forms of anxiety in cluding panic disorder and social pho bia. Services also include medication evaluation and treatment for those re ceiving psychotherapy in the Clinic. Services are free to University students and are based on a sliding scale for non-students. We invite everyone to feel welcome to contact us for further information and/or services. Anne D, Simons, Ph.D. Director, University Psychology Clinic OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office EMU Suite 300 Electronic submissions are preferred Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 woids Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month Submissions should include phone number and address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald ■ Editorial Celebrate Consume Wisely Day year round The day after Thanksgiving is Buy Nothing Day, a day, according to Adbusters, to “not participate in the doomsday economy, the marketing mind-games, and the frantic con sumer-binge that's become our culture.” For those who choose to celebrate this holi day, we ask that you do so properly. At mid night on Nov. 26, you must leave your house or apartment, because shelter is a commodity and this is Buy Nothing Day. If you don’t want to walk around naked we suggest that you make your own clothes out of materials found for free in nature like bark and leaves, but be careful not to remove these forcibly from the trees. You’ll also want to fashion a few tools because you will be hunting for your food. For those living in the city, your best bet will be rats, pigeons, cats and small dogs. Okay, you get the point. Buy Nothing Day misses the boat for two reasons: First, its ex treme goals are impossible to sustain for even a day, let alone a whole lifetime; second, it ig nores good consumption. One couldn’t buy a meal to give to a starving person on the street on Buy Nothing Day. People couldn’t even buy books to inform themselves about environ mental issues. Don’t get us wrong. The spirit of Buy Noth ing Day is right on the mark. America is a consumption-obsessed culture. We worship the god of money and our religious ritual of choice is shopping. Our lifestyles are not even close to being sustainable. Rather than make an attempt to live in frugal, more environ mentally friendly ways, Americans have gone in the opposite direction: Our cars are bigger and less fuel efficient than ever; our homes are using more electricity and we are eating so much food that obesity has reached epi demic proportions. Creating a day to reflect on America’s over consumption is definitely a good thing. How ever, “buying nothing” is not the answer to the problem. Vilifying the act of consumption it self is not the answer. Those who participate in Buy Nothing Day admit that the importance of the day is largely symbolic; most of them will probably go right back to over-consuming on the 364 days until the next Buy Nothing Day. And nobody on the outside will be per suaded to consume differently because of their street-party antics. Instead of participating in meaningless sym bolism, the Emerald hopes our readers will participate in a new post-Thanksgiving holi day: Consume Wisely Day. As a family, sit down and brainstorm little things that you can do to consume less. To make up for Thanks giving gluttony, eat a small vegetarian dinner on Friday. Seek out locally grown fruits and vegetables. Watch one hour less of television. Instead of going directly to the mall, shop at a few of the family-owned businesses in town. Instead of driving, take public transportation. We need not become ascetics in order to free ourselves from consumerism’s grip. There are hundreds of small ways we can al ter our habits and make a difference for the planet. But we can’t just talk about it — we must act. The day after Thanksgiving is the perfect day to begin. The trick is to continue it every day thereafter. EDITORIAL BOARD Jennifer Sudick Editor in Chief David Jagernauth Editorial Editor Steven R. Neuman Managing Editor Gabe Bradley Freelance Editor
