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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2005)
"1 1 2* May 25, 2005 ^fjLACKAMASPritlt Commentari Liberal radio station promotes obnoxious rhetoric Cl Ciaramella The Clackamas Print Air America, the first nation ally syndicated “progressive talk radio” station, has recently celebrated its first anniversary. Ratings are up, and profits are coming in. This is a victory for the left, right? Wrong. Punk rock legend Jello Biafra once said, “Don’t hate the media; become the media.” He was implying that people should take an active role in transforming the media instead of being bystanders — invade and conquer, if you will. This is where Air America gets it all wrong. They invaded, that’s for sure, but rather than providing something new or vital, they simply aped the format of the other stations (“ape” being the operative word). The only thing that is fun damentally different about Air America from their conserva tive adversaries is the rhetoric — same obnoxious talk-boxes, same uninformed commentaries, and same biased news. In other words, it’s the same spin cycle, just in a different direction. All this comes at the expense of their listeners, who will invari ably become as ill-informed and annoying as Rush Limbaugh’s in a flavor I like to call “vanilla dreaded army of “ditto-heads.” Democrat.” Yeah, it’s a dissent We already have droves of ing opinion, but remember, these these pudding-heads around the are the people that told you vot country. Do we really need any ing for Kerry was a good idea. more? A i r America fash ions itself as a “progressive’ radio station. This is actu ally a misno- . mer, but you have to give them credit for trying. Let me make | it clear: Air | America is to progres sive as Kenny G is to jazz. I subjected myself to lis tening to Air America for while, but af listening to anti-cor- porate rants shoved in between commercials for Illustration by Jeff Sorensen Clackamas Print vacuums and pain-kill ers, I had to give up; the irony To be fair, around midnight I was too thick. It turns out “pro actually heard a host pushing gressive” radio sucks the sarne some 9/11 conspiracy theories. corporate teat as other radio sta Of course, that was obviously tions. why he was on at midnight. Their actual programming is Air America keeps their prime time slots nice and moderate, so they have plenty of time for Al Franken to make Jew jokes. If you want liberal radio with no apologies and no attempt to please the masses, Portland is home to its own community radio station. 90.7 KBOO is a member-driven, commercial- free station that’s so liberal it makes Janeane Garofalo look like Michael Savage. In fact, last time I listened to their news program, I think I heard them say that the Bush Crime Syndicate eats babies on a daily basis. ,A 11 right, not really, but close enough. Hooray for bias. What it comes down to is this: Without a passion ate desire for informed, bal anced debate and for truth and accuracy in reporting, projects like Air America fall into the same murky depths of partisanship they are trying to combat. It doesn’t matter if I agree with the politics or not. If what a radio station passes for news is politically-driven bile, I’m turning it off, and I hope more people start doing the same. Better yet, call in and voice your opinion, write let ters, or start your own radio sta tion. Remember: don’t hate the media; become the media. Letter to th Editor To the person placed all those ri] up pieces of paper in th Chartwells suggestion bi» If you have a suggest»] please fill out a suggest»! card. This is not elemental school, and we do expect] certain level of maturity.] you haveavalidcomplwnfm or complaint please use th proper form. Thank yoil Peter Morrow Office Manager Chartwells Dining Servid Write letters to the editor Please keep letters undd 200 words and sign then] They may be e-mailed i cccprint@clackaniii.s edu j can be dropped off at RRBj We reserve the right to ed lepers for content and ctanfy Quake conference inadequate Laura Cameron The Clackamas Print . I recently got a chance to view the leadership of Clackamas County in action. What I saw was not very comforting. On Thursday, May 11, Clackamas County conducted an earthquake drill. A hypothetical press confer ence was called for 11:30 a.m. where the effects of the earthquake were described for four members of the Print staff. In this exercise, two major earth quakes had hit Clackamas County; the first, a magnitude 6.8, on May 10, and a 6.5 the next morning. Extensive damage to buildings and roads had been reported, broken water mains had flooded downtown Oregon City, and power was out to most of the county. At die time of the press conference, several bridges were no longer available for use; the 1-205 bridge over the Willamette and the Highway 224 bridge. At the press conference, coun ty chairwoman Martha Schrader said that the county had signed an emeigency declaration that morn ing and had asked Gov. Kulong&ki to declare a state of emergency in Clackamas County. She went on to say that the full scope of the quake was not yet known and encouraged everyone to make the safety oftheir families their first priority. Mike Machado of Emergency Operations spoke after Schrader, saying that they did not yet have specific numbers on casualties, but that updates would be provided by the, 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 finals week. fax and scheduled press conferenc es. Machado stated firmly that 911 should-only be used for true emer gency calls. He also announced that two emeigency shelters had been opened, one at King of Kings Church in Milwaukie and one at CCC, and that PGE was already working on bringing power back on in the county. Ted Kunze, the Fire Chief, said that the number of fires report ed was smaller than expected. However, three fire task forces had still been granted to the county by Gov. Kulongoski, along with at least one search and rescue unit. I was unimpressed. Despite the professional manner in which this drill was conducted and the air of authority with which the county officials spoke, several things seemed a little off about this exercise. For instance, if the earthquakes were strong enough to cause the collapse of the 1-205 bridge, how did the old Oregon City bridge — a good 50 years older and lacking any retrofits to protect it from quakes —escape completely unscathed? Why, more than 12 hours after the initial quake, were there no numbers on casual ties —not even rough estimates? Why had no one checked to see if material was leaking from the hold ing ponds at Smurfit Paper Mill? More disturbing and aggravating was the lack of readily available information. When I asked about areas at risk for liquefaction — the ground turning to quicksand when shaken — they replied that they had “no information at this time.” This same answer was given when E ditor - in -C hief : Isaiah Creel C opy E ditor : James Tombe N ews E ditor ; Ben Maras C ommentary E ditor : Shannon Armstead F eature E ditor : Karlin Johnson S ports E ditor : Michael McCormack A&E E ditor : Hilliary Ferguson P hoto E ditor .- Jeff Sorensen A d M anager : Ben Holm we asked about the fault lines running under Portland’s West Hills. That is information they should already have on file, arid they should be consulting that information immediately if a big earth quake actually hits. The con stant use of “no information” as an answer to tough questions suggests to me that this whole Chairwomen Martha Schrader announced that she had signed an emergent exercise was pre declaration in a hypothetical press conference for an earthquake drill. cisely scripted, and anything not on the script was simply ignored, Cameron, a professional, state-reg got from the press conference, an attitude that cannot be allowed in istered geologist who spent 10 years left feeling a little curious; does]_ _ the event of an actual quake. with the United States Geological county think it actually accomplisl Another strange aspect of the Survey working on volcanic haz anything? drill was the statement that the hos ards. Such questions and the I pitals were filling up, but that they “There was no substance to what of pertinent information si weren’t filling up with injuries. If they told you,” he said, giving his gests that Clackamas Com a large quake were to strike, any professional opinion on the county’s needs to take a hard look at one not sick or wounded would earthquake drill. “Is there a structure earthquake drill scenarios a be turned away at the doors of the in place to handle this sort of situa the information it prepares! hospitals. How was it, then, that tion? What is it? Who’s in charge? the media. the hospitals were full, but not with Is someone out there actually doing “I don’t know what th injuries? an assessment of potential hazards were trying to accomplish,! While I do not claim to be an like chemical tanks and dams? Are it seemed like they were tra expert, I do know enough geology to there structural engineers out look ing themselves on how to dod know when others aren’t doing their ing at the bridges and main roads? questions,” said Editor-in-Cbi homework, and what the county That’s what they should have been Isaiah Creel, “It just seemed li was telling us —and not telling us telling you, instead of just stating they didn’t trust or respect t — made me suspicious . To check obvious things like ‘Oh, in case you they treated us like children I it out, I ran the county’s information hadn’t noticed, your power is out! ’” we surprised them. They were! and answers past my father, Ken That was certainly the feeling I prepared for our questions.’' D esign E ditor : Michaele Cooper S taff 'W riters : Frank Jordan, Joe Piazzisi, Jadon Triplett, Katie Wilson, Laura Cameron, Christa Danielson, Mike Guidicfe, Kyle . Slate, Elizabeth Tobey, Norma Martinez, CJ Ciaramella, Sam Krause, Jimi McDonnell, Jenna Johnk P roduction A ssistants : Jesse Arguello, Joanne Bergstrom, Norma Martinez, Jadon Triplett, G oals : The C lackamas Print aims Randy Thr all 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. j edu. P hotographers : Brie Daykin D epartment A dvisor : Linda Vogt D epartment A ssistant : Pat Lichen
