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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
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proper form. Thank yoil
Peter Morrow
Office Manager
Chartwells Dining Servid
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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