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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2005)
Commentary LACKAMASPfint March 9, 2005 ean may give DNC big shock Ben Maras The Clackamas Print Well, these next political years will be interesting ones indeed. Not only because we are faced with four more years of the Bush regime, ut because Give-em- ell” Howard Dean has been elected the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean em erged in the public eye a year and a half ago, when he was the first to officially declare his candidacy for the Democratic Internet Photo ticket in the most important election in many voting. This was immediately jumped years. He quickly emerged as the energized and controversial can upon by the right and twisted didate who took an early lead to mean that it was time for the and was predicted to sweep the Democrats to become Republican- lite (now with 33% less love for primaries. Some things don’t always work the free market system). This, out as planned, all due to one however, is not the case. It is time for Democrats to out-of-context scream (granted it sounded like a wildebeest giving accept the values of Republicans, yes, but that does not mean that it birth in an alligator pit.) Now with Dean the official is time to accept their positions on new chairperson for the DNC, the issues. It is time to meet the citizens from all ends of thè politi challenge head on, armed with cal spectrum are left wondering: well thought-out and supportable what will this mean for half of stances to oppose the right -— and America’s political parties (since Howard Dean is the perfect person to do this. of course there ARE only two)? He explained things in lan Many to the right of Dean have suggested that he is too liberal guage people could understand, for America and the Democratic without talking down to them, and Party. After John Kerry’s near his stances were easy to compre defeat, activists on both sides hend. He was an opponent of the spoke out for the need for reform Iraq war, but a proponent of the in the Democratic Party. Among Afghanistan invasion because it the loudest of these was ex-DNC was directly related to 9/11. He was for health care—for strategist James Carville, who said . that the key to future success for everyone, and provided a more his party lay in their ability to palatable version than the sin accept the values of Republicans gle-payer plan similar to that of as prominent decisions in people’s Canada. Dean instead showed by experience that he could imple ment a health care plan to cover 97 percent of his state that would not be perceived as free enterprise. In one of his best attributes, Dean is a staunch fiscal conserva tive, running Vermont in a pay- as-you-go system, and having a surplus in his run as governor. It is obvious that Dean has the brains to speak to America, and move a campaign forward, as can be seen from his grassroots orga nization Democracy for America, designed to promote progressive politics by utilizing the internet and blogging. He also has the guts to stand up for what he believes in — which has gotten him into trouble a few times, people even referring to him as a ‘‘bulldog.” A man who stands up for what he believes in ... who would have thought? A wise man once said that if you don’t stir the soup once in a while, the scum rises to the sur face. Well, Democrats, get ready for a big huge spoon in your stock pot; it’s gonna be a long ride, but you’ll thank him in the long run. Letters to the Editor brning after pill’ opposing viewpoints, inaccurate,Insufficient wanted to let you know that I pgly disagreed with your “Face [in the February 16’*’ edition of Print. It was presented in such By as to pit forth two opposing »points when in fact it was just varying degrees of the same Jacob Ray wants it over the per obviously and Cassandra Biieson claims that “It is a use end needed drug.” Well, there I opposing viewpoint to both pent and I happen to hold it First of all, there really isn’t [“morning after pill.” It is a nbination of ordinary birth con- pills feat contain estrogen and [sterone. [lie theory behind the “mom- | after pill” is that if a woman [sexual intercourse and fears might be pregnant, she can I large doses of birth control [within48-72 hours after inter ne to prohibit a potential preg- ky. That is not the case. Fertilization can occur as early BO minutes after intercourse in reproductive tract (Fallopian tubes) of a woman’s body. If foe in the uterus, how can you pos- egg is fertilized by foe sperm, con ■ say that a drug designed to the lining of a woman’s ception has occurred. The one cell contains the genetic blueprint for uteres slough off in large amounts every detail of human development; will not affect a pregnancy that a child’s sex, hair color, eye color, is implanted in it I know a girt height, etc. Life has begun and so who has taken this drug before has foe pregnancy. The morning after and described it as feeling like pill may slow down foe transport of she was giving birth to something the pregnancy in foe Fallopian tube else. Miss Mathieson describes to prevent implantation in foe uterus, foe symptoms and side effects to or it may work to irritate foe lining if be those of the common flu virus. Because the pill may cause an the uterus so tliat implantation cannot occur. If foe fertilized egg cannot I abortion through chemical means, implant because the pill has made foe some women who take it may uterine lining inhospitable or it has feel they aborted their child when j worked to prevent foe transport of foe in fact they were not even preg pregnancy to foe uterus the life cannot nant And they’ll never know. Decisions like this need to be survive and is aborted. The assertion made by Mr Ray thought through carefully, and I >: that “It’s well known that foe morn found that the approach of foe ing after pill does not affect those entire piece was misleading and women that are already pregnant” is inadequate. completely misleading and should not have been allowed to be printed. It is Esther Prentice not well known and should have been CCC Student admitted as personal opinion and not feet. Besides the feet thatthepregnan cy is already viable before it implants lirtle’s view enlightened, marijuana addictive health problem pason Pirtle presented an Itening viewpoint that ufi- excellent resources such as [institute of Medicine, a presen- pn that should improve under ling of foe complex marijuana Be. Mike Guidice did not utilize Id resources, and contributed to kinderstandi ng in claiming that fcijuana is not addictive, a view arly not supported by scientific evidence. As a certified alcohol and drug counselor, T am legally autho rized to diagnose marijuana addic tion. How addictive is marijuana? Ap proximately as addictive as tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, and heroin. Teen agers are twice as vulnerable to mari juana addiction as adults. Since marijuana was legalized in Oregon, marijuana has replaced alcohol as foe number one cause of teens seeking addiction treatment Increasing marijuana use is a significant health and social problem, made worse by misinformation. Thanks to Jason for getting it right. Roger Burt, MS CADC Marijuana: valid therapeutic value, should be legal [Thanks for foe March 2, p5 “Face Off” which asked parijuana should be legal- p for medicinal use. Twelve ites (more pending), includ- I Oregon, have legalized sdical marijuana. The Hs. Constitution’s Tenth ^Rendmcnt guarantees state’s I H a current example of a Hhntry approving of its use is Netherlands, where phar- Htcies fill prescriptions for ^■tural marijuana. Another is ^■nada. where Sativex ®, a H>ok plant medicinal cannabis Hpav't. has been approved by Health Canada. Marinol ®, a THC-only medicinal cannabis extract, is approved by the FDA of the USA. The Compassionate Investigational New Drug pro gram (1978-present, closed to new applicants in 1991 by the Bush administration) involves cannabis grown, packaged, and smoked under the auspices of the U.S. Federal Government. Cannabis, an herb that grows well nearly everywhere, has alter native delivery systems: pills, patches, tinctures, tonics, inhalers, foods, oils, vaporizers, etc. As sessing the science base and the world’s long history of using can nabis hemp (an excellent, unbi ased, primarily pro/con format resource is http ://www.medi- calmarijuanaprocon.org/), one can see that, in the words of DEA Judge Francis L. Young, “Marijuana in its natural form is the safest therapeutically active substance known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.” What benefit is there to pros ecuting sick people? How many people must be arrested to win a foiled war on drugs? Matthew Bristow CCC Student Last week’s letter unfounded, unprofessional Although I did not read foe article by “Mfr. Creel,’’ I was privy to foe response it gen erated from a “Mfr. Stogsdill.” There are several statements I am curious about It seems that EVERYOI'IE “...who saw foe intelligence on Iraq agreed that they had WMDs.” This is a false statement Anyone who followed foe pre-war startup would know that foe United Nations proved that American intel was incorrect. For those who were unaware of this false intelligence, I’ll give a small briefing. A long, long time ago, before the war began and after 9/11, the U.S. government was given some information from an informant This informant told them that Iraq had pur chased large amounts of weap- ons-grade uranium from Niger. Our government sent a man named Joe Wilson to Niger to determine if fois infonnation was correct He determined that it was not. This decision was based upon close examination of documents that proved the transaction had taken place and through interviews with gov ernment officials in Niger. The documents were proven to have false signatures, sig natures of people whohad net been in office for over ten years and French words mis spelled. Mir. Wilson went back to our administration and told them that he believed foe docu ment was false. Nevertheless, when Colin Powell metwiihfoe UN later, he gave fois informa tion as fact The United Nations explained to him why foe information was incorrect and later Condoleeza Rice made a statement saying that they (foe administration) had not been informed that this informa tion was false, and if they had been, they would not have said it Joe Wilson argues that fois statement is false. Interestingly enough, when Mr. Wilson went public with this infonnation, it was leaked to foe press that his wife was a CIA operative, effec tively ending her career. There are other examples of false intel, but I prefer not to bare too many readers with my obses sions. As for Mr. Stogsdill, I have several more comments. First, unless he has a personal relation ship with Mfr. Creel or can read foe future, it is uneducated and immature to assume that Creel would bash foe president for “... ( letting Hussein continue his reign of power.” As the old saying goes, you should never assume.... I Secondly, when Stogsdill says that we are now alienated by “those countries who were in bed with Saddam,” he needs to be more specific. Which countries would those be? I find, through many people I know who have taken up residence in other countries, that we are alienated most by those who were against Saddam’s reign. These are countries like Italy, Great Britain, France, and Spain. Finally, I would like to say that I find foe last paragraph of Stogsdill’s response highly amusing. Here is a guy who is attack ing Creel for not using any facts when he himself uses only one. His entire response is full of gen eralizations and foe one feet that he does use is a statistic, most likely retrieved from an American source. Anyone who has taken a statistics course knows that they can be extremely misleading and are easily manipulated to say what : foe writer wants to prove.■ And as for propaganda, Mr. Stogsdill is guilty of this also. He claims that everyone that I is in opposition to Bush uses the same excuses, foe “same tired song.” Well, 1 am here to prove him wrong. Hopefully, he will take into consideration what I have said and take it upon himself to research my facts. It is only foe smart thing to do. I would also like to make it clear that this is my opinion. Everyone is entitled to them. This response was not in any way designed to anger or isolate. It was written to provide and to give everyone one more thing to discuss in foe minutes before class begins. LauraJaques CCCStadent
