Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, November 23, 2004
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■ 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
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■ 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