Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1995)
OPINION/NEWS The Clackamas Print Wednesday, November 1,1995 The fight against politicians and big business Dan Anderson Staff Writer Yesterday was payday. Like anyone, I trade a certain amount of my time and energy for money. Luckily for me, I work in a union shop and make eleven dollars per hour—significantly better than the typical part-time job for a stu dent—and the trade seems a bit more fair. The arrangement al most always benefits the money giver more than the worker. Even at that, I only received roughly 70 percent of the money I earned; the Man’s associates in Salem and Washington D.C. pulled a fair chunk away. And like anyone, I require food and shelter, so I cash some of my to kens in for those needs. But like anyone, I plug in to the media, supported by entities who crave my money; the Man lures me into buying things I don’t need, such as media gadgets and fuel-con suming automobiles. Like anyone, I’m pinched by the Man. Incidentally, the Man is a convenient label I place on the global ruling class; the Man em bodies, for example, the extremely wealthy, governments, oil compa nies, big business and political interests. There is no one “Man,” although there do not seem to be very many Men (and virtually no GALAB provides needed support Andrew Beck Staff Writer Gay, lesbian and bisexual rights at Clackamas Community College are important to the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Students’ Club (GALAB). GALAB is a club formed three years ago to provide social help and support for gay, lesbian and bisexual students enrolled at Clackamas. GALAB also hopes to provide a forum in which to discuss issues relating to gay, les bian and bisexual students. “We provide an important service on campus, for a campus that supports diversity,” said Kate Gray, English instrucor and advisor of GALAB.Gray has been involved with the club for two years. The club has two meetings during the week; one at 4 p.m., Thursdays, at the Oregon City Starbuck’s on Molalla Avenue; the other at noon, Fridays, in Barlow 238. Up until a week ago, GALAB has usually just participated in a group discus sion on how its members’ lives are being affected by their sexual orientation. The group also pro- vides emotional and mental sup port for its members. As of this week, GALAB now has a weekly topic its members choose for dis cussion. This week’s meetings will discuss the many stereotypes the general community has of gays, lesbians and bisexuals. “I want all possible gays, lesbians and bisexuals on cam pus to know there is a safe place for them in GALAB,” Gray said. But GALAB’s emergence on the campus has not always been eas ily accepted. In 1992, during vot ing on Oregon’s controversial anti-gay bill, Measure Nine, GALAB advertised a public meeting on campus with the group Parents for Lesbians and Gays(PFLAG). GALAB put up posters around the campus for the public, and most of the post ers were destroyed. A swastika was drawn on one of the post ers, along with the German Na tional Anthem. With all the current national attention to gay rights and the growing effects of national gay awareness, GALAB is trying to continued on page 6 ACCIDENT AND PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS BAutomobile, Motorcycle, Pedestrian Accidents BHead Injuries & Concussions SUninsured/Underinsured Motorist Claims BAccidental Death Bsiip & Fall Cases B Denied Insurance Claims BBack, Neck, & Other Injuries E. kudeuw, Dtuuet * Attmey Fair, Reasonable, & Experienced Representation Easy access off 1-205 (1 Oth st. Exit) Historic Willamette District 1664 Willamette Falls Drive FREE Initial Consultation 650-1734 No Recovery - No Fee Women) controlling and forcing the consumption of the world’s resources, to satisfy the Man’s greed. Since the Man controls the world’s resources, at least the re sources he can manipulate to sell to the workers, and controls the means by which these resources are processed, are transported to market, the markets in which the finished goods are sold, the ad vertising used to get more people to spend more money on these fin ished goods, and the media used to run the advertising—as well as selling the means to tap into elec tronic media and to transport one self to each marketplace to buy— the Man needs help. Which is where the biased, disproportion ate trade comes in. I get paid eleven dollars per hour of work to move the Man’s boxes from pallet to pallet, for example. Companies such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart, both immense con glomerates who force the few businesses only partially affiliated with the Man out of business through strong-armed, intimidat ing tactics, pay their employees in a very interesting way. They pay them little enough to keep them shopping at Wal-Mart or K- Mart, but barely enough to keep them working. These employees receive no benefits other than a flaky health insurance plan, which seems to cover all medical conditions except illness, injury or disease, and only after an 80% copayment. These companies cre ate families who must rely on an other facet of the Man, the U.S. Government, for food stamps and medical aid. The Man has become fat on fast food. These restaurants rely largely upon part-time help, stu dents, and full-time immigrants, all of whom will accept minimum wage, degrading and stressful working conditions and a total absence of benefits. These jobs do not create enough tax revenue to pay for the Man’s government to build its weapons and bombs, which means it must entice the Man’s big business to hire more part-time help by offering big business a tax break, or subsidies. Which says nothing about the Man’s desire to fuel the world on petroleum, a finite source of en ergy which he can easily control. Burning gasoline in our automo biles takes us from work to the markets, to home; burning diesel brings all the goods to market. The Man has even invented motorsports, motorboating, and all-terrain vehicles which entice many people into spending money on fuel for recreation. I propose complete, compre hensive unionization of the world’s workforce. This will drive wages and benefits up, which will provide a more stable tax base for the Man’s government to allevi ate its own debts with. Higher wages increase the workers’ buy ing power, which means they can buy the means of production, transportation and marketing from the Man. Big business which relies on a cheap labor force to strong-arm its smaller, not-the- Man competitors, will suffer and give independent owners a better chance at success. Reliable medi cal insurance from employers along with higher wages will radi cally reduce the workers’ reliance upon the Man’s government. There are many, many mote ben efits to the syndicate system. However, there are also im mediate drawbacks. For example, prices for most consumer goods would rise drastically, because the Man would hate to concede de feat and share even some of his wealth. Big business would fight the new unions from the begin ning, planting corruption and of fering bribes to union officials. These drawbacks could lead into benefits as well, in the long term. Smaller, specialized busi nesses would rise, allowing cus tomers to buy cheaper goods from a variety of vendors. Also, a suc cessful fight from the start against such an impervious foe as the Man would bring forth very high morale and support for the union. Next payday, consider the trade you make with the Man, and consider that a union could eas ily make the trade for money more favorable for you. Strange laws still on the record Many laws have stayed on because it is more expensive to change them than to keep them as is Paul Ulmen, Staff Writer & Cori Kargel, Business Manager There are some rather strange and weird laws still on the books in some states, so don’t get caught! It’s still against the law to— —carry an ice cream cone in your pocket in Kentucky. In Utah, don’t let your youngsters hitch their bikes to airplanes. Donkies cannot sleep in your bathtub in Brooklyn, New York. You’ll be in big trouble if you enter a res taurant in Califomia—on horse back. Horse racing on the New Jersey turnpike can bring a hefty fine. If your goldfish is being rowdy and making a disturbance, it won’t be allowed to ride the bus in Seattle. North Carolina will not allow you to plow a cotton field—with an elephant. In another mid-western town, it’s illegal to dye a rabbit Letters to the Editor and Contributing Writers. See your name in print; join the Print staff or just submit your contributions. For more info., or to join, come to B104, MWF, from 1-2 p.m., or call ext. 2309. or a baby chick pink or purple. In a Loui siana town, a man cannot be on a pub lic street in his bath ing suit, but a woman can. In a southern Oregon town, it’s illegal for a man to walk down the street with an other man’s wife. In an eastern state, it is illegal for a woman to wear a two peice bathing suit. In a beach town, a pregnant woman can’t walk back wards on the beach—not while she’s singing opera, that is. In an Oregon town, it is still illegal to carry a knife in the outside of your left boot. In a southern town, it’s against the law to read a news paper from back to front. No matter how hungry you are, it’s still against the law to take a bite from someone else’s ham burger in Oklahoma. Don’t think of keeping pigs outside your kitchen window in Dover, North Carolina. Turtle auctions are still illegal in Kansas City, Missouri. If you plan to attend an outdoor concert in Green, New York, kindly control yourself by not walking backwards on the side walk while munching peanuts. Ckeop Talk tp tt it tp tp tp tp vt tmp iff tt u tt EASILY EARN $50.00 OF FREE LONG-DISTANCE USAGE BY HELPING A GOOD CAUSE. 30+ SCHOLARSHIP INC. 1145 MOLALLA AVE. OREGON CITY, OR. 97045 CALL 650-4418
