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Pope leaves legacy for successor
Jenna Jonk
The Clackamas Print
Pope John Paul II died this
month from a long, drawn-out
illness. I must admit that before
his death, I knew nothing about
the pope. In fact, I was barely
aware of the man
sitting at the head
of the Catholic
Church all the way
in Rome. Now,
through the heavy
media coverage, I’ve
learned quite a bit.
Such as, John Paul was
the first pope since the
1500s to be non-Italian.
As a papabile (which is
a candidate for pope),
John Paul was widely
unknown. His attitude
. towards running the
Vatican was to not
so much to run it
as a bureaucra-
cy, but as an actual church, taking it back
to more traditional days. Still, John
Paul made many modern changes.
He ran the church alone, without much
say from the Curia (the central adminis
tration of the church).
John Paul was a “face of the church,” a
pitchman of sorts, with a friendly, people
person attitude. He traveled the world,
cruising in his popemobile.
John Paul may have been a positive
influence, but many of the beliefs and
characteristics demonstrated bÿ him may
not be looked for in the next pope. The
Conclave choosing the next .pope wants
a pope who will take less time traveling
the world and spend more time within
the Curia. Also a big factor for choosing
John Paul’s successor is his nationality.
Should the next remain non-Italian? Why,
yes! What better way to represent all of
Catholicism than to choose a non-tradi-
tional candidate?
If I was, say, a political candidate, I’d
do whatever I could to get my non-sup
porters to change their minds. Really,
other than for tradition, I don’t see why
the pope has to be Italian. The church is
not limited to Italians only, then win
pick a pope for the people?
While speaking with one Catholic
dent, she told me that one factor
Conclave considers is the age. An <
pope is preferred, so that their i
Would not last long. John Paul’s di
changes shook the church. To me,
logic seems to be that the shorter the
lives, the less damage he can do. So
horrible, but the fact -is the Catl
Church is one of the oldest major po
in the world. Too much change is
How are we much different in allo
our presidents a limited amount of th
run our country? It’s all politics.
This is why choosing a new pope
become so difficult. John Paul wa
to reshape the Catholic Church, to
the political management of the chi
But hasn’t this been the way the ch
has bqen run all these many, many yi
Why change now? In my opinion, cha
for the church, would be a double-ei
sword. With too many changes, you
lose your loyal, lifelong followers,
you may gain an equal amount in yo
fresh faithful.
Rising gas prices:
corporate rip off
Joe Piazzisi
The Clackamas Print
Yesterday, I went to my local
gas station and got $20 of gas put
into the tank. My $20 only got me
7.5 gallons. At this time I noticed
a bright new Red Dodge Viper
parked on the side of the building.
It was at this point I realized that
we may have a problem here.
Gas keeps rising as a temporary
increase due to “oil prices rising.”
If this is true, why is it a temporary
increase never seems to be tempo
rary? Also why is it that when I go
to buy my five quarts of oil to do
an oil change on my car the oil is
not more expensive?
I have a theory; it very well
may be wrong, but we all think
it My theory is someone is get
ting greedy and has some deep
pockets they want to fill. Call me
crazy but they are in the industry
to make money. They
don’t really care about
the consumers’ needs,
or that the consumer
is getting less bang for
their buck
They don’t see it
as an issue as long aS
the consumer keeps
consuming. It’s not
a hospiitality-based
product. They have
no worries that if you
don’t like it, you won’t
buy the product at all.
The feet is, those of
us who own gas-pow
ered products such
as cars, motorcycles,
bikes, lawnmowers,
etc. will keep buying
gas because we need
to.
We
need
to
because we need to
get to school, our jobs,
or even have the need
to maintain our yards.
Whatever it may be,
we need to do it As
long as there is a need
we will buy. As long
as the price change
isn’t drastic we won’t
complain about it too
much.
If you increase
gas prices within 20
gallon, people will be
frustrated but will still
buy just as much as
before withoutproblems. However,
if you raise gas by $1 per gallon,
then you have it all over the news,
people boycott and the gas industry
has problems.
Or you could look at it the way
I see it. Just about 3 years ago I can
remember paying around $1.45
per gallon of premium while it
now sits at $2.63 a gallon for the
same thing. It has been raised over
a dollar, they just broke us all into
the idea of handing them our extra
cash.
I leave you with this one last
point. The Exxon Corporation
ranked No. 2 in the Fortune 500
with profits in excess of $25 bil
lion. While Chevron-Texaco
ranked in at No. 6. To give you a
little comparison, Microsoft came
in at No. 41 with just over $8 bil
lion. So if oil prices are going up
and it is costing these corporations
more, why is it they are climbing to
the top of the Fortune 500?
Law-makers introduce new
bill, get stingy with waiters
cJ Ciaramella
The Clackamas Print
racen
Photo illustration by
Jeff Soronsen Clackamas Print
Oregon’s
House
of
Representatives recently intro
duced a new bill, HB 2409,
which would freeze the mini
mum wage for waiters and
waitresses across Oregon. The
bill would also institute an
“opportunity wage” for new
employees; for the first 60
days of employment workers
who are under 18 would have
their wages cut by 50 cents.
The bill was introduced
by Rep. George Gilman, R-
Medford, and it is being heav
ily lobbied by the restaurant
industry. Supporters of the bill
say the current minimum wage
is unfair because the tipped
staff at restaurants make
much more than the “back
house” employees (cooks and
busboys). Supposedly, if the
bill passes,' restaurants will
have more money to give the
backhouse employees raises,
resulting in a fairer working
environment.
At least that’s what they
say is going on. What’s really
happening, though, is a much
different story. Tipped work
ers are being vilified by the
Republican-controlled House
and the restaurant industry
as overpaid slackers, walking
off their shifts with money-
filled pockets while the back
house staff gets stiffed. The
proposed bill, however, suf
fers from two inherently false
assumptions.
First, the bill assumes that
ALL waiters and waitresses are
being generously tipped. This
is simply not true. Anybody
can see that not all restaurants
are created equal. A waiter or
waitress working during the
dinner rush at McMenamin’s
would probably make many
times the amount of tips that a
waiter working the graveyard
shift at Shari’s would. Both
would have their wages frozen
under the proposed bill. That’s
fairness?
Second, the bill assumes
that the wait staff is keeping
their tips all to themselves.
This is also patently false. In
many successful restaurants,
the tips are shared among the
wait staff, the cooks and the
busboys. And since when have
Republicans (or Democrats)
been concerned about eco
nomic equality anyway? They
always tout free-market capi
talism as the greatest thing
since sliced bread, so why the
sudden change of heart? It
couldn’t have anything to
with a few handsome coi
butions from the restaii
industry, cbuld it?
As a pizza delivery dr
who depends on tips to fill
gas tank, I couldn’t help
notice the irony of the si
tion.
A bunch of people who
paid over a $100,000 a ;
in tax-payer money to si
their offices and “legist
are telling me that I amo
paid. Beautiful. Well, I ha
little proposal for the Ore
Legislature: I’ll switch
with any one of you for a
I’ll sit in your poshol
and receive contribut
from special interest gro
and you can wash dishes
deliver pizzas to rednecks
tweakers. Afterwards we
reconvene and discuss
unfair it is that I get tip
Deal?
It’s clear that this bill w
not benefit the wait staf
Oregon., Furthermore, I
ously doubt the ’ backht
staff will receive the ra
promised by' the restau
industry. The only fore
able thing that will happe
the bill passes is the fattei
of the restaurant indust
coffers.