■^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.