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¡azis haveright to clean up road
laura Cameron
|fc Clackamas Print
»What do you get when people
■lize and steal to prove that
ey aren’t a community of big-
■ta>
r: a prime lesson in
^■en Marion County put up
^Kns acknowledgingthat the
^■can Nazi Party had adopt-
^■ection of road near Salem,
■dints were understandably
■ After all, nobody wants to
Btovcr that there’s a Nazi chap-
■r active in their neighborhood.
But the locals’ reactions to the
igns were totally out of line.
[First were the demands that
i| signs he removed; then, that
le hfezis not be allowed to par-
cipatc in the Adopt-a-Road pro-
ram. Finally, when the county
used to meet these demands,
taeon defaced, damaged and
olelthe signs - which will no
lubt be replaced, making the
boll thing moot.
Ht Igoes without saying that
■ this all rather amusing,
Bally the man on the news
wing that the protests and thefts
were an effort to prove that they
weren’t “a community of big
ots.” Thank you, random man
on Channel 8 news. I hadn’t
laughed that hard in a long time.
The crown jewel of this whole
affair, however, is the repeated
demand that the Nazis not be
allowed to participate in this
public program. Here, the laugh
ter ends. Indeed, this is the most
serious that many of you will
ever see me become.
First, let me point out that
I am not a Nazi, nor have I
ever sympathized with Nazis
or agreed with their highly
skewed beliefs. Having said
that, I will continue by saying
that I have a much bigger prob
lem with whoever vandalized
and stole those signs than with
the Nazis’ desire to clean up
roadside trash.
Let’s be honest here: how
much damage has the American
Nazi Party done by adopting that
small stretch of road?
The answer is, of course, none
at all. The person who stole
those signs, however, has done
approximately $600 in damage
to the very county whose image
they are supposedly protecting.
OK, so I lied earlier; I haven’t
completely dispensed with laugh
ing. That last paragraph made
me chuckle .
But the way I see it, that
$600 is the least of the troubles
precipitated by this event. There
is a larger issue here, one that,
if some people get their way,
could wreak havoc with the 14th
Amendment. You all know the
14th Amendment, ot you should,
anyway; it grants us equal pro
tection under the law.
Many people say that Marion
County shouldn’t allow the
Nazis to be part of the Adopt-
a-Road program. But for what
reason? Because the people of
Marion County aren’t overly
fond of the Nazis’ viewpoint?
Well, I’m not overly fond of
the viewpoint of over-zealous
Christians who attempt to force
the love of Jesus down my throat
with a hydraulic ram, but that
doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t
be allowed to take part in a pub
lic service program.
I am going to invoke some
language here that is normally
reserved for discussions of same-
sex marriage: this situations is
a “slippery slope.” After all, if
the squeaky wheels in Marion
County succeed in getting the
American Nazi Party blackballed
from the Adopt-a-Road program,
who else could be banned? Once
the precedent is set, who would
be next on the list of “banned by
reason of unsavory politics?”
Basic Rights Oregon, per
haps? Planned Parenthood? The
NRA? The Baptist church? The
Boy Scouts?
If the American Nazi Party is
banned, how long before only
the most easily offended in our
society control who can and can
not be part of a public program?
Surely that possibility is
more offensive than a few Nazis
picking up cigarette butts and
beer cans that some non-Nazi
has tossed by the roadside.
Mike
Navarro
shows his
opposition
to the Nazi
sign. His
flier reads,
“They
only pick
up white
trash.”
Associated Press
Iraqi elections successful
Jeremy Freíd
The Clackamas Print
ildren are the most susceptible to malaria and need things like
and nets to protect them from mosquitoes that may Infect
with disease. These starving children are from a village in
alaria kills millions
hile America stands by
many African families aren’t able to
get hold of the necessary precautions.
Mi 11 ions of children are being
infected with it at birth from their
The recent tsunami in Asia has mothers being bitten by mosquitoes
¡acted the attention of dozens of while pregnant. These deaths are
ief groups and huge amounts of| extremely unnecessary and avoidable,
■dia attention. About 220,000 have unlike most natural disasters.
The lethal epidemic is being ignored,
d globally from the tsunami that
I been said to be the biggest natural over-shadowed by the tsunami that
took place because it is something that
■Today there is another disaster tak- happened very suddenly and can be
■ place that has been killing for physically seen. While tsunamis don’t
Bars. malaria. Malaria kills close to happen every day and people will stop
■million people each year, roughly being mortally effected by the recent
M percent of them in Africa, mostly one very soon, millions will continue
Bung children, making malaria the to die of malaria, which is estimated to
y 30 seconds.
■ding cause of death in children kil
Bder five years old (20 percent).
1 ignored too long, and
■Malaria also makes people more it’s easier and ;heaper to stop infesta-
Bsceptible to other diseases rampant tion before it h ppens. We as a country
■the area, such as AIDS and com- should suppor other nations by how
■n viruses. Malaria is not just found much help the r need, not by what is
■poverty but is also a cause of pov- most apparent ar makes us look good
in intention.
A nation isn’t honored for self
defense against malaria
Oder a mosquito net. that glorified existentialism but for true
tn a dollar to make, but empathy.
j Slate
ilackamas Prints
I think the recent elections in Iraq
were a Success. There are many rea
sons why I think this, but first I
need to clarify just how important this
recent election was to the citizens of
Iraq.
The elections that were held were
to decide on a 275-member national
assembly that will write a constitu
tion and appoint a president and two
deputies. The real success though was
that the election was held and people
did vote. According to CNN, early and
very rough estimates on the voter turn
out ranged from about 65 to 75 per
cent, and this was despite the fact that
the terrorists and/or insurgent groups
promised that a river of blood would
be spilled on election day,
Although 28 people died and 71
were wounded, that really is a low
number considering just how big this
step is. If the elections were derailed,
you only had a 10 to 20 percent voter
turnout, people were afraid to vote,
or many polling places were getting
blown to bits, then the terrorists would
have been able to at least delay the
elections for many months, if not for a
year or more.
But the river of blood did not hap
pen, and in the wake of the elec
tions, terrorist groups are threatening
to behead a G.I. Joe doll and giving
reporters a doctored video “showing”
that they shot down a British military
transport although it went down in a
sand storm instead.
There are many speculations as to
exactly why “bloody Sunday” (Iraq’s
elections were held on Sunday, Jan.
30) did not happen. One reason is
maybe that the terrorists/insurgents
could not marshal the forces necessary,
as conservative estimates hold that in
Iraq,’about 15,000 terrorist/insurgents
have died in the continued fighting.
The elections were a success because
people came out to vote despite the,
terrorist threats. The elections were’
held on time, with only sporadic vio
lence, such as car bombings. Although
the process to get a new government
on its feet will be slow, the process is
now in a position to keep going despite
the arguments and disagreements that
are bound to come up.
The mos,t important thing was that
the Iraqi people came out to vote,
despite everything, and that Iraq’s own
security forces played a major role in
making that happen. In fact, one Iraqi
police officer threw himself onto a, sui
cide bomber so that the citizens around
him at those polling booths could take
part in the election process. He sacri
ficed himself so others could have the
opportunity to vote, and that, in my
opinion, is the most important reason
why Iraq’s election was a success.
Internet Photo
Shiites bearing posters of Grand Ayaotollah Ali Sistani celebrate on
Monday in Bagnaad’s Sadr City following Iraq’s election.