Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
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■ In my opinion
A Christmas wish Jot' weed.
The one thing I’d like to see under
my Christmas tree is a Chippendale’s
dancer, partially unwrapped, of course.
The second thing is world peace. A
slightly more realistic option might be
wishing for no hypocrisy from our nine
funeral-clad dark angels whose job it is
to protect the Constitution. Sandra Day
O’Connor is no sugarplum fairy, but if
she has a little ideological consistency
in her body, I might be getting some
thing sweet in my stocking after all.
Angel McClary Raich, one of the
plaintiffs in Ashcroft v. Raich (which hit
the Supreme Court’s gladiatorial arena
Monday), is hardly the stereotypical
scary, tattooed drug dealer. She suffers
from a gauntlet of wasting diseases, in
cluding fibromyalgia, endometriosis,
scoliosis, uterine fibroid tumors, paraly
sis, asthma, rotator cuff syndrome,
seizures and an inoperable brain tumor.
Thirty-five alternative medicines
failed to dull the pain, so she turned
to an act of Californian compassion
that legalized marijuana for medical
purposes. Unfortunately, the federal
government robbed her of her home
grown plants under the auspices
of the Federal Controlled Substances
Act, because when our ports are
unprotected, our firefighters are
underfunded and our education sys
tem is an international travesty, the
best possible use of the federal budget
is to shove handcuffed grannies to the
concrete floors of their own base
ments for the crime of seeking a little
relief. Republicans yet again show
JENNIFER MCBRIDE
QUASHING DISSENT
that they believe in states’ rights, as
long as the states don’t do anything
they object to.
The Supreme Court can stop this
heresy right here and now, and it must,
if it’s to show respect for legal prece
dent. Liberal policies with similarly
sympathetic victims have been hacked
down with the sword of federalism (the
concept that the federal government is
limited in the scope of what it can do,
short of specific constitutional man
dates) and now Chief Justice Rehnquist
needs to enjoy some of his own bitter
medicine and sign on to a broadly
worded majority decision that admits
drug policy, in this case, does not be
long under federal controls.
After all, Rehnquist and the four
other right-wing election-stealers
threw out a congressional ban on
guns on school grounds because such
encroachments by the U.S. govern
ment would lead to “police power”
ending in tyranny. They also ravaged
a federal remedy for gender-based vi
olence because, while admitting rape
is heinous, it certainly doesn’t fall un
der the commerce clause. The feds
can regulate the flow of money but
not the flow of illicit semen!
If Rehnquist and the rest truly be
lieve the federal government has no
power in either of these cases, one
can only hope Acting Solicitor General
Paul Clement’s contentions that med
ical marijuana is a national issue be
cause patient use may tangentially af
fect interstate commerce will also be
set aflame — violence and rape have
much more impact on our economy
than a little legal dope. For this rea
son, the Supreme Court should do
what it has rarely done: affirm the
Ninth Circuit’s ruling that marijuana
grown for limited local use cannot be
regulated by the federal government,
only by the states.
Of course, intellectual hypocrisy
is seldom limited to conservatives.
Suddenly, liberals of the high court
have praised stricter interpretation
of congressional powers. Clinton ap
pointee Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed
out, “Nobody’s buying anything.
Nobody’s selling anything.” Who
knows, maybe Rehnquist’s jolt of
chemo will give him insight into peo
ple’s pain and create a new, softer
chief justice who lurches leftwards
and begins a new fantastic five of left
ist hippie justice.
Please, Santa, please! Maybe then
we can all sit back and enjoy our
"special” fruitcakes without fear of
the feds.
jennifermcbride@dailyemerald.com
INBOX
Emerald pursuit of ASUO
interferes with job duties
I am appalled at the uproar the
ASUO has suffered over the drinking
infractions at Sunriver. This minor in
fraction of rules would have resulted
in a simple resolution in any legal
court. Because the ASUO is responsi
ble for self-regulation in these cases,
the mandate for radical punishment
of offenders comes from all angles.
This fails to serve the student body of
the University.
Every hour our student representa
tives spend trying to mollify the blood
lust of the Emerald is taking away from
the execution of their offices. The
Emerald itself claims that "... mem
bers’ relentlessly immature actions
prove they don’t deserve to be treated
as serious politicians — or as adults for
that matter.” Yet nothing published
thus far has shown that these activities,
in any way, negatively affected the sen
ators’ ability to do their jobs.
When the ASUO maturely brought
this issue to a press conference to
avoid a repeat of last year’s contro
versy, it made no difference in the
calls for extreme action. If the ODE is
interested in benefiting the student
body of this University, then bring is
sues of interest to light in the propor
tion to which they will affect the av
erage student. If the ODE is
interested only in propagating con
troversy and ridiculing those hired to
protect those interests, then refund
the incidental fees that support the
ODE, move off campus and take your
place amongst the tabloids where
you will be in like company.
David Watson
Environmental Science
■ Editorial
Unheeded
rules make
Dead Week
truly killer
We are smack dab in the middle of Dead
Week, so no doubt you are about to drop
dead from exhaustion. What happened to
this week? When did our buffer before finals
— perfect for catching up on studying
and sleep — become the favorite week for
teachers to dump loads of work and spring im
portant tests?
Many students don’t realize that some of
these practices violate the rules governing
Dead Week. While teachers are allowed to as
sign homework, they are not supposed to
overload their students with big projects and
examinations. Of course, this doesn’t stop
them, and enforcement of the rules appears to
be nonexistent.
Nevertheless, as a student, it is important
that you know your rights. Here are the rules
governing Dead Week, as they appear in min
utes from the March 10, 1982, meeting of the
University Assembly:
1. “No examination worth more than 20
percent of the final grade will be given with
the exception of make-up examinations.”
2. “No final examinations will be given un
der any guise. ”
3. “No projects will be due unless they have
been clearly specified on the syllabus within
the first two weeks of the term.”
4. “Take-home final examinations will
be due no earlier than the day of the formally
assigned final examination for the class
in question.”
We are hard-pressed to recall a time when
these rules have been followed, even in just
the spirit of the law, but an even larger prob
lem is the flawed nature of these rules — the
loopholes are so large you could drive a freight
train through them.
Does it make it better that a professor gives
notice of a Dead Week due date within the first
two weeks? Of course, but there is still some
thing wrong with assuming that students
should work through the holiday weekend
when it is almost assured that few professors
will spend the same time preparing for their
next week of school.
We can all agree that because of how the
quarter system is structured, with Thanksgiv
ing falling on the week before a large mass of
projects hit the docket, a week for students to
prepare would be a welcome addition.
Additionally, professors seem to think they
are doing students a favor by getting them out
of finals during the actual Finals Week, but
this couldn’t be further from the truth — what
we’d really like is to have adequate time to
prepare for our finals.
Let us return Dead Week to its original in
tent. Let’s start by amending the rules: Rather
than limiting the size and nature of the work,
how about requiring no examinations and no
projects whatsoever during Dead Week, peri
od? And how about actually holding teachers
accountable for breaking the rules — what re
course do students have for the professor who
slips in a large project?
A final note to instructors: Give us a
break already, before Dead Week becomes
tragically literal.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagemauth
Editorial Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
Gabe Bradley
Freelance Editor