7
anity plates express identity
oìntncntuTy2-2005____ ________ ^
lackamasp ^^
b Piazzisi
¡Clackamas Print
■People like to stand out in a
|wd. whether by doing their
Bup a certain way, the choice
[clothes they wear, or in their
Bnality. No one wants to be
Bke someone else. Sure they
■want to have aspects others
■ but they want to be their
Berson.
■lot of people do it in dif-
B ways. This individualism
liven spread onto our license
Btes. You can see anything
Ini people’s names to funny
Bents to some not-so-funny
Bnents. I think that having
bese custom plates is a good
fcng as long as it’s kept tasteful.
Bs you and your car aside
Bevery other car that is on
■id.
Bving a custom plate also
B people’s attention to your
Bgiving them something to
■during rush hour traffic,
Bmething to think about as
Ijlsee it. Most people have no
Jealwhat you mean by your cus-
Inllate, so they contemplate it.
Angela Gerhart Clackamas Print
Vanity license plates are used to draw attention to a car and show individuality.
Some people even get tricky and
make backward messages. Like
“T1 3VOM” which says MOVE
[a/-A1art: cheap goods,
gh cost to society
annon Armstead
¡Clackamas Print
Bal-Mart is one of the most profitable
Banies in America, making its way onto
Bp of the Forbes 500 “most admirable
Banies,” but its real worth to our society
Bestionable. While Wal-Mart continues
Kin enormous profit through marketing
neap goods that may boost our economy,
Bperstore destroys American ideals for
Biterprise.
Bal-Mart has its benefits; it’s a huge store
■provides for almost every household
■besides fresh food, with highly com-
Bve prices. It is no wonder Wal-Mart is
Bing so quickly; they have what people
Bor less money.
Bow they can
■rd to sell what
■Ss to be more for
Iss | troubling.
■Wal-Mart moves
»ward in our soci-
tty In the name of
Blism, yet in
By the company
Boris die totali-
Bi governments
Be countries it
Biases
from,
pd leads the indus-
Bend of wring-
bglout more and
nore labor for less.
VallMart purchases
heir goods in large
■modifies and
bporis goods from
Bnunist coun
ts like China.
Be importing
Bs from these
Bries, Wal-Mart
Blds the social-
Bveniments that
KLACKAMASprint
■9600 S. Molalla Ave.
Dregon City, OR 97045
1503) 657-6958 ex. 2309
■The C lackamas Print is a weekly
I student publication and is
Bstributed every Wednesday except
finals week.
car. If a car has someone ’s name
on it they are mainly saying “look
at me, I’m_____ 2,” which isn’t
IT in your rear view mirror.
Each plate gives you an idea
of what kind of person drives the
pay only enough for daily living of work
ers. This also puts American manufacturing
industries out of work.
Another reason Wal-Mart is able to pro
vide for their low prices is because of the low
wages and lack of benefits they offer employ
ees. Wal-Mart may create needed jobs, but not
the kind that society really wants. Employees
are offered benefits such as health insurance,
but at a cost to their already low paycheck
Most employees are held to part-time work
so that the company does not have to pay any
benefits. With these conditions, no employee
can afford to work at Wal-Mart for long
without a promotion, which is undoubtedly
the reason for an employee turnover rate of
nearly 100 percent every year.
Americans enjoy the convenience of
everything they
want in one place
for low prices' yet
the unseen cost
is a lower stan
dard of living for
Americans and
brutal labor con
ditions for work
ers in other coun
tries.
Wal-Mart needs
to take a new
approach to mak
ing their way into
the Forbes 500,
and Americans
should be aware
that
Wal-Mart
does not sup
port the capital
istic ideas that
our country was
founded on, but
props up totalitar
ian governments
and
endangers
American . free
Illustration by Joel Gaynor
enterprise.
necessarily smart if you have any
enemies. Then there are those
who have their name and then a
number. Over in my neighbor
hood there is a guy that has Sam
1, Sam 2, Sam 3 on up to 6. This
tells me he’s all about money, by
showing people which car he’s
driving today.
There are also some more
meaningful plates, with people’s
nicknames, their car’s nickname
or other message. People with a
plate like the T1 3V0M obvious
ly drive fast and like to tailgate.
While others with “CLOC ME”
like to upset traffic cops. Then
of course you have the high-end
sports cars with messages like “C
— YAA” on a Porsche or “SHS
FST” for she’s fast on a Toyota
Supra!
I even have one of these cus
tom plates on my car. Oregon
only allows 6 characters to be
placed on a plate. So keep this
in mind if you are wanting to
get your own. Remember not
to upset people with your plate
because you may get keyed in a
parking lot, or worse could hap
pen with things like road rage.
So keep them tasteful, and make
them your own.
Letters to the editor
New insights on social securitD
Thank you for touching on Social Security Reform in your February 23rd article.
However, I was annoyed drat neither of the two [editors] wrote about a very simple, and
for most Americans, pain-free solution to any social security problem, present or future.
The solution is changing the regressive nature of the present system.
Here is a brief example to help people understand: Dudley makes $45,000 a year;
under the present system, he pays $2,790 a year in payroll taxes (social security). Donna
makes $90,000 a year, she pays $5,580 a year in payroll taxes (exactly double what good
‘ol Dudley pays).Jaime makes a whopping $180,000 a year. Any guesses how much
he pays in payroll taxes? Answer: $5,580 (the same amount Donna pays). The problem
becomes even more clear with Janet; she make $1,000,000 a year, and like Jaime and
Donna, pays exactly $5,580 in payroll taxes. Social Security is set-up so that anyone
who makes $90,000 a year or more is treated as if they were only making $90,000 when
it comes time to pay payroll taxes.
Were we to remove the $90,000 ceiling that is currently shielding the rich from pay
ing their fair share, ALL social security solvency problems would evaporate overnight.
As I said, this would be completely painless for the average American, who makes about
$43,000 (U.S. Census, 2003). So what is keeping this unfair tax system in place? Ask
your millionaire congressional representatives the next time you see them.
Shad Downey, CCC student
Creel El view on war skewed
“WTF?” is right! When will people like Mr. Creel wise up? Being wrong is not
Every person who saw the intelligence on Iraq agreed that they had WMDs. Blamingj
George Bush for acting upon the world’s intelligence is absurd, if the intel was correct
and Bush did nothing, Creel would be bashing him for letting Hussein continue his reign
of terror.
Those who oppose Bush all sing the same, tired song. Mr. Creel would like us all
to believe that Bush somehow manipulated the world’s intel, that the terrorists are not
in Iraq, and that the American troops are the ones causing the chaos. This simply is not
true. The car bombs and beheadings are a pretty clear indication of where the terrorists
are, and the facts are that out of the 50,000 prisoners of the war on terror, there have been
only 300 “allegations” of misconduct by our troops. Compare that to theatrocities suf
fered by the Iraqi people under the previous regime.
Mr. Creel did get one thing right. We are now alienated by those counties who were
in bed with Saddam. I find this article’s timing to be interesting. What better way to
take attention away from the successful Iraqi elections than to play the “deception” card
again.
Facts aren’t important to Mr. Creel, and why should they be? As long as there are
; plenty of those incapable of forming an opinion based on fact and reason, there will be
accepting arms for such cheap propaganda.
Jon Stogsdill, CCC student
Arguello, Stephen Bostwick,
Myque Obiero, Gregg
Radspinner, Ryan Richards,
Monica Gizowski, Madeleine
Cassie Mathieson, Joe Piazzisi,
Atwood
Amanda Polopolus, Jacob Ray,
Jadon Triplett, Katie Wilson, Laura P hotographers : Brie Daykin,
Armstead
Angela Gerhart, Stephen Hayes
Cameron, Christa Danielson,
F eature E ditor : Karlin Johnson
S ports C o -E dttors : Mike McCormack Jeremy Freid, Mike Guidice, Jason D epartment A dvisor : Linda Vogt
D epartment A ssistant : Pat Lichen
Pirtle, Amy Sandell, Kyle Slate,
& Jeff Sorensen
Elizabeth Tobey, Norma Martinez
A&E E ditor : Hilliary Ferguson
P roduction A ssistants : Jesse
P hoto E ditor : Joel Gaynor
E ditor - in -C hief : Isaiah Creel
C opy E ditor : James Tombe
N ews E ditor : Ben Maras
C ommentary E ditor : Shannon
•
A d M anager : Ben Holm
D esign E ditor : Michaele Cooper
S taff W riters : Frank Jordan,
G oals : 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 administration,
its faculty or The Print. E-mail
comments to chiefed@dackamas.
edu.