Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2004)
■^mnentary tht LACK AM A. Print October 13, 2004 he Lesser of Two Evils: itt/e’ known third candidate offers better selection ankJordan 'e Clackamas Print !004 presidential election sea- s welll underway, with the stretch looming at us in full I As the television ads get :r and each candidate strays pr and further away from the > that matter to us, let me take rt look at which candidate you dn’t vote for and give you an n as to who you should. ssident George W. Bush (not lfused with his daddy, George Bush, the president before >n), lost the popular vote four ago but was handed the keys s Ovatoffice by the Supreme . What has the prez done for the lasttfour years? He took a billion (surplus and turned it i $450 billion deficit, got us yed in a war that we probably dn’t be in, wants to declare isexuals non-citizens (consti- tal amendment?!?) and can’t e record straight on his mili- ¡ervice.t I won’t even go into ronunciation skills (all right, ss, canfwe all say “nuke-u- i. s main opposition this season Democratic senator from achusetts, John Kerry. Kerry, happens to be married to a up empire heiress, has had a and somewhat distinguished career in the United States Senate. Now, he wishes to throw it all away to be “the most powerful man in the free world.” But Mr. Kerry has waffled so much during this campaign, some one needs to serve him up with a little butter and syrup (can anyone say Eggo?). He voted for the war in Iraq, but wouldn’t vote to fund JöHM FlMAtt'f HITS may become the money pit that we might never get out of. Especially if re-elected by the Supreme Court—er, I mean the voters. This, my friends, is a case of choosing between the lesser of two evils. You know one of these guys is going to win. Someone out there will cast at least one vote for one of these two men, so one of them OH A CA/HpAléfN T akt SÊSA'*) T o R-ÊTS-oNA-re W)T h ve-te K s it. He says he initially did vote to fund it, but in a later and more decisive vote, he chose to vote no. At least he didn’t do what President Bush did. “W” funded the war without budgeting for it. In other words, he told the treasury to print more money. He is also the first sitting president to actually lower taxes during wartime. This |------------ —------- - is this award that has haunt- ly dreams of late. It is my belief that the current staff pable of winning this presti- s award. lore important than the writ- nd photographers that make he Print staff, however, is It is your feedback that tells here we are going horribly ig or how awesome we truly hanks for your readership continued support and I look ard tolyour visits in the e. the, ■ C £A CK .-w a Print 19600 S. Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 657-6958 ex. 2309 The C lackamas Print is a weekly student publication and is distributed every Wednesday except k finals week. Don’t be bashful-tell it like it is Commentary Editor Hooray for another year at your local Harvard on the Hill. I’m Hilliary (some of you may remem ber me from the rolling backpack fiasco of spring term) and I’ll be your opinion editor for the coming year. As opinion editor, it’s my job to give the students a voice in matters concerning the state of our commu nity. Now, some of you may have noticed that the general populous of the school tends to lean toward the left. From time to time, our paper more heavily reflects that side of things, yet I know that there are two sides to every argument. This is why I’m extending an invitation to the student body: if E ditor - in -C hief : Isaiah Creel C opy E ditor : James Tombe N ews E ditor : Ben Maras O pinion E ditor : Hilliary Ferguson F eature E ditor : Karlin Johnson A&E E ditor : Cory Price S ports E ditor : Nie Delzell P hoto E ditor : Joel Gaynor Who are you voting for in 2004? “John Kerry, because he sucks less than Bush.” Johnny Jangles “I’m voting Kerry. I think Bush is incompe tent.” Jayde Cook “No one has had to go through what [Bush] went through. He went through 9/11.” Politics aren't meant to be entertaining Hilliarv Ferguso STUDENT POLL: will take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January. But I have an alternative. This being is a very cute, very loyal, very trustworthy entity, who always does what she is told and never complains. This being never waffles and has an exemplary serv ice record. She knows the value of money and watches every dime. now a word m our sponsors folcome back apes! The new I>1 year| has started and it’s chance to turn over a new I’m sure that we all have room for personal growth g this upcoming school year t is up to each of us individ- Ito facilitate that growth, vould now like to take this : to shed some light on my i as newly appointed editor- ief. s.you may be aware, the on Newspaper Publisher’s Iciation (ONPA) holds an lai collegiate day. This is a ce forhewspapers from col- i throughout the state to : in contact with one another >rder to network, share luces J and generally ooze over free lunch. NPA’s collegiate day is not 3e eats;phere is a darker side is bacchanal. In addition to food, the officiators dole out ds to the various schools for effort (or lack thereof) in a ad of categories from best s photo to general excel- I hereby submit for your write- in approval: Mattie, The Print’s mascot. She is five years old (in dog years; 35 to you and me, which is the minimum age required to be president of the U.S.) and has served this staff faithfully and lov ingly for the last couple of years. I know, I know, I am possibly being selfish and probably being inane, but you know, it may be the only choice. Mattie represents all that is good in the world, in contrast to our two other candidates for presi dent, who shall be forever cast as the two evils. But remember, I really don’t care who you vote for (Mattie), but just remember to vote on November 2 (Mattie). As the old saying goes, if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. Please get out and cast a ballot (Mattie). It could make all of the difference in the world. (Subliminal advertis ing brought to you by Mattie for President 2004.) you feel strongly on a certain issue, voice your opinion! I yearn for your letters... let me know that we’ve pissed you off or made you cry tears of joy. It’s just not healthy to bottle up those feelings. Besides, the writers and I surely don’t have the only ideas worth printing. So, if you have a different take on an issue, use your words (and your word processor) and give us the old “one-two.” Letters (of the kind or not-so- kind variety) can be brought to Roger Rook 135 on a floppy disk, or e-mailed to oped @clackamas.edu. I look forward to a more well-rounded commentary section in the coming year, so we need all the ideas you can give us. May the force be with you. (P.S. These aren’t the droids you’re look ing for.) D esign E ditor : Michaele Cooper S taff W riters : Michele Bluemmel, Tony Cho, Ashley Cline, Cyrus Cross, Brandon Delzell, Michael McCormack, Yasmine Najmabadi, Joe Piazzisi, Amanda Polopolus, Jacob Ray, Jeff Sorensen, Jadon Triplett, Mary Wiley, Katie Wilson *5 One of the greatest social delusions of Americans is file idea that such issues as Bush’s record with the National Guard and the flip-flop charge against Kerry are viable topics for what we might call our national political discourse. There is a growing sense that character holds as much priority as do their ideologies - not that they do much to counter this idea. This is rhetorical error. It’s called ad hominem, Latin for 'against the man.’ This is when argumentation moves from the debate to the debaters, or when appeal is directed towards emo tions. This is a devious way to divert attention from the errors in one’s own argumentation. Ad hominem arguments unfairly appeal to emotions rather than reason, and because of this are first rate enemies of democracy, a rational institution. The fixa tion on such frivolous topics is only goaded by a news-media bent on getting a story in. Strangely, we only see this, pol- itics as entertainment and, indeed, entertainers as politi cians, in this Age of Television. On a concluding thought, we should remind ourselves that some of our greatest leaders were drunks (FDR and Churchill), or were depressed to the point of considering suicide (Lincoln), in office no less. Certainly not great character traits. Brandon Zornado “Bush can make up his mind, Kerry just seems to try and please thè people.” Alex Blackmon “I’m undecid ed, but leaning towards Kerry. He seems to know what he is doing more, Bush seems like an idiot.” Dominique “Still unde cided; I don’t really like either of them.” Andrea Wilson “Most likely Bush. He actually has a standpoint, and Kerry seems wav- ery in what he wants to do.” Krieg Holland Joe Clement CCC Student P roduction A ssistants : Jesse Arguello, Joanne Bergstrom, Stephen Bostwick, Alyssa Buster, Brie Daykin, Monica Gizowski, Norma Martinez, Angela McDaniel, Gregg Radspinner, Diane Tierney A d M anager : Ben Holm A dvisor : Linda Vogt D epartment A ssistant : Pat Lichen GOALS: The C lackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the stu dent body, college a dministra- tion, its faculty or The Print. E-mail comments to cheifed@clackamas.edu.
