Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
NEWS STAFF
(541)346-5511
JEN SUDICK
EDITOR IN CHIEF
STEVEN R. NEUMAN
MANAGING EDITOR
JARED PABEN
AY1SHA YAHYA
NEWS EDITORS
MEGHANN CUNIFF
PARKER HOWEIJ.
SENIOR NEWS REPORTERS
MORIAH UAI.INCIT
AMANDA BOLMNGER
ADAM CHERRY
KARA HANSEN
EVA SYLWESTER
SHELDON TRAVER
NEWS REPORTERS
CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
JON ROFTMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
STEPHEN MILLER
BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTERS
RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
NATASHA CHIUNGERIAN
SENIOR PULSE REPORTER
AMY LICHTY
PULSE REPORTER
CAT BALDWIN
PULSE CARTOONIST
DAVID JAGERNAUTH
COMMENTARY EDITOR
GABE BRADLEY
JENNIFER MCBRIDE
AILEE SLATER
TRAVIS W1LLSE
COLUMNISTS
ASHLEY GRIFFIN
SUPPLEMENT
FREELANCE EDITOR
DANIELLE HICKEY
PHOTO EDITOR
LAUREN WIMF.R
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
TIM BOBOSKY
PHOTOGRAPHER
NICOLE BARKER
ERIK BISHOFF
PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHERS
BRET FURTWANGLER
GRAPHIC ARTIST
KIRA PARK
DESIGN EDITOR
DUSTIN REESE
SENIOR DESIGNER
WENDY KIF.FFER
AMANDA LEE
BRIANNE SHOL1AN
DESIGNERS
SHADRA BEESLEY
JEANNIE EVERS
COPY CHIEFS
KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD
PAUL THOMPSON
SPORTS COPY EDITORS
AMBER LINDROS
NEWS COPY EDITOR
LINDSAY BURT
PULSE COPY EDITOR
ADRIENNE NELSON
ONLINE EDITOR
S1ADF, LEESON
WEBMASTER
BUSINESS
(541) 346-5511
IUDY RIEDL
GENERAL MANAGER
KATHY CARBONE
BUSINESS MANAGER
REBECCA CRITCHETT
RECEPTIONIST
NATHAN FOSTER
A1BINC GUO
ANDREW LEAHY
JOHN LONG
HOLLY MISTELL
HOLLY STEIN
DISTRIBUTION
ADVERTISING
(541)346-3712
MELISSA GUST
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
TYLER MACK
SALES MANAGER
MAI L BET/
1IERON CAUSCII-DOLEN
MEGAN HAMLIN
KATE HIRONAKA
MAEGAN KASER-LEF.
MIA LEIDELMEYER
EMILY PHILBIN
SHANNON ROGERS
SALES REPRESENTATIVES
KELLEE KAUFTHE1L
AD ASSISTANT
CLASSIFIED
(541)346-4343
TRINA SIIANAMAN
CLASSIFIED MANAGER
KA1Y GAGNON
sabrina Gowirm:
LESLIE STRAIGHT
KERI SPANGLER
KATIE STRINGER
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
ASSOCIATES
PRODUCTION
(541) 346-4381
MICHELE ROSS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
TARA SLOAN
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
JEN CRAMLET
KRISTEN DICHARRY
CAMERON GAUT
JONAH SCHROGIN
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
STARRING II
(SENATOR. BARBARA, THAT IS/)
jA—fa—Am
fO'kjy AK6U*
Bret Furtwangler | Graphic artist
■ In my opinion
I have a theory. The popularity of
superhero movies proves how much
Americans like comic books, but it
also suggests Americans are espe
cially fond of waiting around for
somebody to save us. We carry
bumper stickers proudly proclaiming
that guns don’t kill people. We over
medicate our children to the point of
paralysis. Our politicians' speeches
are long, resplendent and devoid of
facts. Apparently there is content
ment in complacency. As long as
there’s a football season, the nation
al populace will be quite comfort
able in the position of damsel in dis
tress, passing and passing and
passing the buck.
Our children’s children are already
burdened with the dinner check of
an Iraqi war. The elections in Iraq
were a great success with higher
turnout than expected, and hopeful
ly all those ink-stained fingers raised
in celebration will be part of an
emerging democracy that will be
come both peaceful and prosperous.
I was one of the few in Eugene who
originally supported the Iraqi war on
the basis of human-rights interven
tion. The rape rooms left me shud
dering. The Kurds and the Shiites
were vulnerable to systematic mass
murder. U.N. sanctions had left the
rich privileged and the poor starving.
I was also an unabashed Colin Pow
ell groupie: How could the near
peacenik of the Bush administration
let us down? I still think toppling ag
gressive dictators who commit
chemical genocide is the right thing
to do, although I prefer it to be done
in a different manner — better or
ganized and involving international
forces. And, oh yeah, avoiding that
whole torture thing would have
been nice.
Unfortunately, our policy on inter
vention doesn’t extend to such
places as Sudan. Plus, the cowardly
and illegitimate U.N. Human Rights
Council refuses to label Sudan a
genocide. The unwillingness of other
nations to intervene with the very
limited amount of money and mili
tary aid necessary to stop a Holo
caust convinces me that Americans
aren’t the only ones who love to
stand around waiting for
Wonder Woman.
But the Bush administration does
seem to be moving toward a Persian
excursion: a military strike against
Iran. The president’s inaugural
speech trumpeted liberation, laying
out justifications for further inter
vention for the sake of freedom. The
United States has also actively ab
sented itself with European-Iranian
negotiations over weapons inspec
tors, almost as if hoping they
will fail.
How could the Bush administra
tion invade anywhere new, one asks,
with our troops being overextended
and all? The answer is that the Wol
fowitzes of the world can funnel
money to other nations and let them
do the assaulting. Donald Rumsfeld
casually mentioned he wouldn’t be
surprised to see Israel invade Iran.
I’m sure they’d have at least one ally
in their star-crossed attempt. After
all, our air troops are almost useless
in the guerilla war in Iraq, and
heaven forbid we let all those planes
just sit around. We want them out
and bombing all those gosh darn
Islamic threats.
The Republican embrace of a fool
ish policy seems to know no end.
President Bush is gripping his sword
of justice by the wrong end if he
thinks now is the time to move into
Iran. At this fragile time in Israeli
Palestinian relations, when some
kind of peace between the two
decades-old enemies might actually
be possible, how dare the Pentagon
choose to publicly bully the Israeli
government into doing President
Bush’s dirty work. If Israel did in
vade, not only would it become a
full-blown calamity as hordes of
haters poured over Israeli borders,
but the peace process would be sav
aged, and Israel would be left mili
tarily vulnerable to invasion. The re
sult would be United States troops
diverted away from police action in
Iraq early, leaving a quagmire to be
come a wasteland. Luckily for the
Ayatollahs, Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon is too smart to invade
Iran. By even suggesting it, Bush
may have destabilized Sharon a lit
tle, hurting the upcoming peace
process. If we step in and mess
things up, there really will be no one
to come to the rescue.
The locals in New Orleans deter
mine how successful their Mardi
Gras celebration was by weighing
their trash. If the same standard is
used by the Bush administration, I
can only applaud their overwhelm
ingly splendid success. Unfortunate
ly, those of us who would prefer not
to live in a world of landfills are only
left with one prayer: “Help me, Obi
Wan Kenobr. You’re my only hope.”
jennifermcbride@dailyememld.com
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 aie limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words 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, gammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald.
■ Editorial
New Bush
budget sets
'muddled'
priorities
President Bush submitted his 2006 budget
to Congress on Monday and surprise, sur
prise: more funding for the military and
homeland security with severe cuts in practi
cally every other department, from education
to health care for veterans.
“It is a budget that sets priorities,” Bush
said. And those priorities are: working or not
working rich and Bush family friends, high
priority; children in poverty and the working
poor, low priority.
Almost every program for lower-income
Americans was potentially expendable in
Bush’s budget, including food stamps, farm
subsidies, Medicaid, public-housing programs.
His budget would cut the Environmental Pro
tection Agency by 5.6 percent. A number of
community development programs would be
cut by about 40 percent. And the budget would
expand Pell Grants, but only at the expense of
the $6 billion Perkins Loan Program, which
would be eliminated.
But apparently making Bush’s tax cut for the
wealthy permanent is too important to sacrifice.
Furthermore, the budget submitted to Congress
is incomplete because it does not include
spending for the president’s number one for
eign priority, our various wars in the Middle
East, and it does not include spending for the
president’s number one domestic priority, over
hauling Social Security. The administration has
requested $80 billion for the former, and the lat
ter, some experts estimate, will cost around $3 -
$4.5 trillion over a 20-year period.
This is a question of priorities. The govern
ment has a responsibility to provide for our
safety, but safety from terrorists is only one part
of that equation. Safety also includes providing
a safety net for those less fortunate. Safety in
cludes keeping us safe from disease and envi
ronmental disaster. Pushing privatized Social
Security over adequate health care is not the
kind of thinking that will keep us safe.
Bush explains Social
Security, sort of
Speaking of Social Security, are you con
fused about how President Bush is going to
solve the Social Security crisis? Well, you are
not alone. Apparently President Bush isn’t to
tally clear about it either, as evidenced by his
attempt to extemporaneously explain it to a
confused audience member on Feb. 4 (we are
not making this up):
“All which is on the table begins to address
the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits
are calculate, for example, is on the table;
whether or not benefits rise based upon wage
increases or price increases. There's a series of
parts of the formula that are being considered.
And when you couple that, those different cost
drivers, affecting those — changing those with
personal accounts, the idea is to get what has
been promised more likely to be — or closer
delivered to what has been promised.
“Does that make any sense to you? It's kind
of muddled.... I’ll keep working on it.”
Well, we are convinced. If you want an actu
al explanation of the president’s plan, read the
Emerald’s Tbesday cover story (“Security for
the future,” 2/8/05).
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagernauth
Commentary Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
Shadra Beesley
Copy Chief
Adrienne Nelson
Online Editor