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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2003)
out ianuar yl2^2ûû3* Pe ruvia n Vessel Vicus Period a more vigorous courting an d acknow ledgm ent of lesbian fan s have helped save the jUSthHNIil:l Would P ortland F ire from fin an cial failu re? A lso, w hat w ill dyke sports nuts do for ath letic entertainm ent now th at the W N BA team h as folded? and bonuses for felonies. They could have cut costs on the Blazers uniforms— get them orange coveralls that say “Property of Mult nomah County” on the back o f them. Way to go, Whitless! K elli R ussell Cascade Locks • • • PHOTO BV MAHTY DAVIS I C ourting lesbian fans couldn’t have hurt. There was a lot of family at the games. We were season ticket holders. 1 am so saddened and angry hy the team fold ing. My first thoughts were to Paul Allen and the Blazers organization: Why did they not pick them up? Yes, they lost money. But you could take your family to a W NBA game and have a great time for a fourth of the price of a Blazers game. The Blazers should have spent the money on the Fire instead of overpaid felons. As for what us sports nuts are to do, maybe support the Seattle Storm, or wherever in Washington they end up. E va H offman Milwaukie • • • I t would be nice to think so, but in reality it would appear that Paul A llen and Bob W hitsitt just were waiting for an opportunity to put out the Fire. A s an article in The Ore gonian pointed out, the decision wasn’t about financial loss. (It stated $100 million is expected to be lost on the Blazers compared to $1 million anticipated with the Fire.) Maybe they just weren’t keeping their end of the deal up. I mean, what could be fun about watching a team who could play a game and play it well, provide quality family entertain ment and provide kids a picture of what sportswomanship is all about? I think the only thing that would have saved the Fire were a couple of misdemeanors expedience— instead, the solution is found in I of evidence linking him to al-Qaeda. budget decisions based on equality, fairness and If Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction pro long-term results with the interests of every cit gram were the issue, then successive Republican izen in mind. administrations would not have supported him after he already had employed poison gas and D avid M. B aker attempted to produce bomb-grade uranium, nor Survivors Advocating for an Effective System would Vice Fresident Dick Cheney have con Outreach Director tinued to conduct business with him as late as 1998. Hussein fits the standard pattern of brutal dictators whom the United States backs until they become too independent and too grasping. To th e E ditor .- Once they outlive their usefulness, the U.S. am disgusted with our Legislature! How can news media belatedly begin reporting on their they possibly believe the choices they have human rights abuses and beating the drum for made are responsible? war, just as they have in the past for Trujillo, The failure to fund programs like general assistance and Medicaid show a contempt for Noriega, etc. The real danger is George W. Bush, the the most vulnerable and needy. The funding cuts as they are now, even if we pass Measure 28, most powerful (unelected) president in U .S. history. The threat stems from multiple fac will be the death of many. tors: obsessive secrecy, contempt for dem o This budget cutting was not an even-handed attempt at removing waste or cutting the fat; it cratic process, secret trials, the Guantanam o more closely resembles the climate in Nazi G er concentration camp, domestic political and religious spying, perpetual warfare, trampling many in the 1930s— the ultimate solution to the Bill of Rights, cynical media manipula the sick,-p<x)r and mentally ill. Hopefully enough of us will survive to ensure no incum tion, rule by executive order and politiciza tion of routine government services. Had it bents are re-elected. not been for 9/11, Bush probably would be facing impeachment today for securities fraud C huck D u it committed while he was head of Harken Portland Energy. If you believe we can ’t lose our democracy, then you’d better think again. Several histor ical democracies have failed, a fact of which To th e E ditor : the framers of our Constitution were well \ merica is in grave danger today, but not aware. A from Saddam Hussein. There is not a shred Cut it out Fight the real enemy t takes more than ass-kissing (and that is what you mean by “acknowledgment”) a par ticular group of people to keep something as complex as a professional sports team together. If you look at the history of professional sports, you will discover the demise of not only numer ous teams but of entire leagues. They come and they go. The Fire is no different just because it was an all-female team. As for what “dyke sports nuts” will do for athletic entertainment, I’m sure plenty of them will be in front of a big screen Jan. 26 to watch the Raiders kick ass at the Super Bowl. Maybe they prefer all-male sports just like they seem to prefer all-male pom. P.S. I hope someday our “community” will aspire to be something other than a desirable marketing demographic. TTc D avid L ee B allard Portland next m z rm Critics and m ainstream audiences are raving about two queer-them ed film s, The Hours and Far from Heaven. W hich do you feel is better an d why? Respond a t ww w .justout.conu (D on’t forget to include your nam e, city and daytime telephone num ber.) The Federalist Papers make it plain that the framers especially were concerned about the runaway expansion of federal power at the expense of the states, a condition that prevails ttxlay and has sparked several civil wars in the i past. They were also keen to limit the power of i the executive to start wars, since one of the chief | complaints made against kings was that they dragged their unwilling people into ruinous wars that destroyed lives, ravaged the countryside and bankrupted the treasury. | As things stand today, the war on terrorism is j the only issue Bush has. Since peace means trou ble for him, he will drag us into one conflict after another just to save his own political skin. He wants us to occupy Iraq even though the war in Afghanistan is far from over. Bush appears not to care how many inno cents die in his wars. His hubris and lust for power are limitless, and he brooks no opposi tion. He must be stopped, and only the Ameri can people can stop him. It sometimes is said that our generation has lacked the opportunity to prove itself. That opportunity now has arrived. If you care about this country and the freedoms that past genera tions of Americans fought for and died to pre serve, then you must not remain silent while right-wing fundamentalists undermine our democracy. The future of the world is at stake. 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