Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2005)
Commen Oregon Daily Emerald Tuesday, May 3, 2005 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 JEN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR JARED PABEN AY1SUA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS MEGHANN CUNIFF PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTERS MORIAH BALINGIT ADAM CHERRY EMILY SMITH EVA SYLWESTER SHELDON TRAVER NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON JONES SPORTS EDITOR ION ROCTMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR AMY LICHTY SENIOR PULSE REPORTER JOSHUA LINTEREUR PULSE REPORTER CAT BALDWIN JOHN PALMER PULSE CARTOONISTS AILEE SLATER COMMENTARY EDITOR GABE BRADLEY ANNEMARIE KNEPPER CHUCK SLOTHOWER JENNIFER MCBRIDE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN W1MER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHERS KATE HORTON ZANERITT PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHERS BRET FURTWANGLF.R GRAPHIC ARTIST DUSTIN REESE SENIOR DESIGNER ELLIOTT ASBURY WENDY K1EFFER AMANDA LEE JONAH SCHROGIN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY JEANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD JOSH NORRIS SPORTS COPY EDITORS GREG BILSLAND AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS JENNY GERW1CK PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR WEBMASTER (541)346-5511 JUDY R1EDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHYCARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER LAUNA DE GIUSTI RECEPTIONIST JERED NAGE1. PATRICK SCHMERBER HOLLY STEIN JANA SWANSON ROB WEGNER CAROLYN ZIMMERMAN DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ HERON CAL1SCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HI RON AKA MAEGAN KASER-LEF. KELLEE KAUFTHEIL MIA LEIDF.LMEYER SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES CLASSIFIED (541) 346-4343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KORALYNN BASHAM ANDO KATY GAGNON KER1 SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541)3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA CIHAM PRODUCTION COORDINATOR JEN CRAM LET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT SABRINA GOWETTE JONAH SCHROGIN DESIGNERS The Oregon Dally 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 A Fix for Social Insecurity I know you don’t give a damn about Social Security. I know now that I’ve mentioned Social Security you’re probably not going to finish reading this article. But you should do both, and I’m going to tell you why. First, you should read this article because you don’t want to be the only one of your friends not talking about it. Now wouldn’t that be awkward? Second, you should give a damn about Social Security because if you’re reading the Emerald you’re probably either in school or still work ing, which means it’s you — not the old folks — who will be affected by changes to the system. We can no longer take retirement for granted in this country. There is now a better-than-ever chance you could both begin and end your work ing life wearing a blue vest or asking, “Do you want fries with that?” Have you ever wondered why the majority of people who work in low-level serv ice jobs seem to be either really young or really old? Let’s cut through the politics, the nuances and the numbers for just a second and get to Social Security Crisis 101. The problem is not, as some have suggested, that Social Security is go ing to run out of cash and be unable to pay promised benefits. The prob lem is that Social Security’s expenses are going to exceed its revenues, which will force the government to go deeper and deeper into deficit in or der to continue paying for the program that is already the single biggest line item in the $3 trillion federal budget. Social Security will be Ross Perot’s worst nightmare 10 times over be cause it will make all previous deficit GABEBRADLEY THE WRITING ON THE WALL spending seem Scrooge-like in frugal ity. It will test the absolute limit — and beyond — of how our economy can continue to function while our government is mortgaging everything just to make ends meet. Congress will finally be functioning like an average American household, and it will pray for a return to the days when its checks weren’t allowed to bounce. Though we’ve known about these problems for decades, we’ve done nothing about it. No, the crisis is not yet imminent. But that’s why it’s crucial that we act now, while we still can. We don’t need to live in fear. We do need to think smart and act smart today. We need to either cut benefits, raise taxes or both. The president is against raising taxes and slowing the unsus tainably high rate of benefit growth for high income workers. The Democrats do not have their own plan; they're just against the president's plan. The most controversial part of the president’s plan to reform Social Se curity is the concept of voluntary pri vate accounts. This would involve taking a tiny fraction of the money paid into Social Security and setting it aside in a private account that the individual would control. The idea is that a person can either have traditional Social Security and collect a monthly check, or a person can take a small portion and try to get a higher rate of return through mutual funds. Although many may be nervous about the president’s idea for the fu ture of Social Security, these private accounts are not as risky as they may sound. First, the amount of money in vested is quite small. Second, invest ing in mutual funds carries much less risk than investing directly in stocks (which is one reason why the poten tial rewards are smaller). Moreover, one investment option in the president’s plan is a fund com posed entirely of treasury bonds, which are universally regarded as the safest investment on the face of the planet. None of this, by the way, stops a monthly deposit from being made into a retiree's bank account (they stopped using checks a while ago). Nothing really changes except retirees will own a portion of the assets used to pay their monthly sums. The real key, though, is to avoid the Social Security quagmire altogether. Many people are afraid of investing, which is not very different from gam bling in their minds. But I’ve got news: The only true escape from the imminent Social Security mess is to become an investor. Those who get smart about their fi nances and start putting money into individual retirement accounts, real estate, and other investments won't need to worry about whether the gov ernment is able to keep its promises into old age. More importantly, they won't have to worry about putting on the blue vest and going back to work in their twilight years. gabebradley@dailyememld.com INBOX Campus newspaper delivers disappointment If the Emerald wishes to gain sup port in their crusade against being “censored” and “defunded,” as with the PFC fiasco earlier this year, wouldn't it be much easier to do if readers didn't pick up the paper and find a huge amount of articles, pho tos/graphics or headlines taken from the Associated Press? Example: April 22,2005 issue. Why should we (students) pay for this out of our incidental fee, when we can go to the library and read the same arti cles on the Internet for free? So that we can read Ailee Slater unintelligibly whine for a few paragraphs (justice = terrorism? Is she related to Univer sity Professor Chuck Hunt?), then delve straight into some of the AP’s best work? Further more, the issue I picked up is now three days old, and resided on a very large stack (no less than 20) of unused and soon-to-be-thrown-out copies of the same edition. What a waste of my time and money. The Emerald's over-the-top liberal rheto ric is simply a veil for what the paper really is — a joke. Rather than take action, such as reducing printing or placing more emphasis on original work, the Emerald has reverted to the same ol' same ol' now that their financial battle has been won. Thanks for nothing. Lance Lucas Eugene Parental notification bill endangers pregnant teens The Oregon House is considering a bill that requires doctors to obtain parental notification prior to perform ing an abortion on a minor. I attend ed the House Judiciary Hearing on House Bill 2605. This is a dangerous law. Studies show that the majority of teens al ready discuss abortion and alterna tives with their parents. Teens who don’t discuss alternatives are usually from abusive homes or risk being kicked out of the house. HB2605 will not protect those teens. HB2605, under sections 4 and 5, states that a woman may go to court to petition the parental notification law in a private and confidential court hearing. This is unconstitutional. Un der ORS 192.420 “every person has a right to inspect any public record of a public body in this state.” It’s called transparency, we as citizens have a right to know what is going on in our government. Furthermore, the Oregon Constitu tion in Article III Section I establishes a separation of powers between the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. This law infringes on the powers of the Judicial Branch by cre ating a secret court where no secret courts are allowed. Under these circumstances, it is likely that teens would not seek court petitions, as there is no public to eval uate the hearing. The passage of HB2605 would leave us with a popu lation of homeless pregnant teenage girls. Doctors are already required by law and a standard of ethics to notify authorities of abuse. The Oregon De partment of Human Resources is against this bill. Please contact your legislators to make sure they are too: www.leg.state.or.us. Sermin Yesilada Senior ■ Editorial Controlling immigration best left to professionals April represents the highest period of illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States. This year, when the Bush administration was unwilling to fund more Border Patrol officers, citizens nationwide took it upon themselves to regulate. Taking the name “the Minute men,” about 1,000 volunteers settled down last month to watch the line between Mexico and Arizona and inform the U.S. Border Pa trol of any illegal activity. It gives new meaning to the phrase “neigh borhood watch.” Not surprisingly, a great number of groups are up in arms over the Minuteman Project, and rightly so. In a society that claims to work toward acceptance of diversity, it is highly xenophobic that everyday citizens, often armed, are in charge of regulating the flow of Mexican immigrants. There is a reason why police officers must undergo schooling, not to mention training in ethics, before they are al lowed to enforce laws. Upon considering the ever-present racial profiling problem, it seems apparent that if of ficers of the law cannot always make ethical choices based on skin color, there is no way civilians can be expected to treat illegal immi grants fairly. The Minutemen patrol the bor der, but who patrols the Minutemen? In the absence of a news camera following every Minuteman, there is no way to be sure immigrants are not stripped of their dignity or safety. A camera was certainly watching San Diego Minuteman Bryan Barton. Barton has been accused of civil rights violations after momen tarily detaining an illegal immigrant, then forcing him to be videotaped while wearing a shirt reading “Barton caught me crossing the border and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.” Public officials have taken an interesting stand on the issue of Minutemen. Most Ari zona border patrol officers are uncomfortable with the idea, saying that Minutemen have done more harm than good by repeatedly tripping sensitivity wires meant to track illegal immigrants. Because of them, the border patrol wasted time and resources following false leads. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has alienated many by standing in favor of the Minutemen, an ironic stance considering that he is an immigrant himself, as well as gover nor of a state with a large population of immi grants, legal and otherwise. Although April has ended, the Minuteman Project is far from over. Organizers have called the project a success and are now discussing taking their volunteer force to other Mexico border states and the Canadian border. It is not the job of everyday citizens to ex ercise legal, armed authority over others. That system is called anarchy. Border patrol offi cers are employed and trained to do a certain job; if they are unable to fulfill this job, the government should consider increased funding or training. Letting civilians armed with weapons and xenophobia patrol the Mexican border is not the answer to illegal immigration. CLARIFICATION The location of the “Sephardic Poetry: Lost Jewish Voices” event with speaker Professor Monique Balbuena, part of Holocaust Awareness Week, has been changed to 246 Gerlinger Hall, on Thursday at 3 p.m. OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POUCY 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 words Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submissions should include phone number and address for venfication. The Emerald reserves the ri^it to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald.
