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Clackamas Print fa opinion ofThe Clackamas Print editorial board \SG should end jar on candidacy 'onstitution addition stifles democratic pro ws, breeds apathy, low voter turnout fhe following is an editorial written by, and expressing the opinion the majority ofThe Clackamas Print editorial staff. As such it is left signed. the student government debates last week, presidential hopefill u Lussier said something that should strike a chord with students. “I’m amazed how much the [ASG] president’s job does for students,” said, “meeting with various organizations and standing up for stu nts’ rights.” The student government, and in particular the ASG president, plays invaluable role in campus politics, representing as they do the interests al] the students at Clackamas. It is because of their unquestionable Motion to students that an amendment to section five of the “Bylaws of ¡ASGCCC Constitution” is so troubling. Section five states: any person running must serve at least two terms on Student udership (CCC Student Government and CCC Student Ambassadors) to to position.” Hie amendment was made during Spring Term 2005. This is the first JG presidential election under the new guidelines. While the amendment may have been passed with good intentions, believe it will have a damaging side-effect on the elections. This is ¡second election in a row with an uncontested run for the president sition, and voter turnout last year was smaller than the enrollment of he classes. There seems to be a surprising lack of concern as to why students are [voting. This creates problems for campus workings, because as with )p, politics needs to be stirred up to prevent spoiling. ! Anyone can join ASG. However, they are not elected in by the student fy Instead they apply and are approved by the current ASG officials, e amendment to the ASG bylaws creates an institutional block against esh” candidates, because in order to be eligible to run (by previously ng a part of ASG) they must be selected by the previous ASG officers, is way the choice is selectively limited to those approved by student It makes sense that student government wants Someone with experi- X in leadership as president; after all, experience is something to be ¿red in a leader. But this cannot get in the way of a free election, for if t principle is lost a feeling of apathy and disassociation is bred, which heritably bad for both the students and ASG. One of the issues addressed by the presidential and vice presidential ¿dates during last week’s forum is that much of the campus is not a aware of their existence. If a well-contested election were held, te issues would be subject to debate and students would have more of opportunity to learn what ASG does and what they stand for. But more importantly this would keep the student body from feeling gotten. If students are allowed to directly oppose and take part in the ideal process, they would feel better connected to their government While no easy solutions to appease both sides are apparent yet, dis- ¡One price of democracy is that occasionally those without experi- x or even ability will be elected to important offices. We at The ickamas Print believe that this price, while often heavy, is an integral t of ensuring that the voice of the student body, the entire student body, sard when it matters most Letters to the editor can be directed to chiefed@clackamas.edu, or dropped off in RR135 on a floppy Llackarnas Print |600 S. Mölalla Ave. Ron City, OR 97045 R 657-6958 ex. 2309 pCucioiAus Print is a weekly [Went publication and is Ruted every Wednesday except finals week. Declare huntins season on loan sharks . Ben Maras | Editor-in-Chief In the shortest session on record, the Oregon Legislature passed into law a handful of statutes that were met with little to no opposition last Thursday. Of them, two are worth special attention. The first involved tougher sentences for sex offend ers against children, and was sure to pass from the get- go. The second places tighter regulations on “payday loans,” - although it does not go far enough. Payday loan operations (also known as paycheck advances or cash advances) are privately run short term lenders that charge borderline usurious interest rates to those who fall on hard times. For years this economic hammer-lock has been the rfecessary evil (emphasis on the “evil” part) of millions of working families who experience an unforeseen hardship, or even worse, use them to make ends meet and buy things as simple as milk for their kids. Now Oregon has done something about it-sort of. Although this is a strong step forward for Oregon, the text of the bill falls short of impressive, and does more to disgust the citizen with the kinds of practices that the legislature previously allowed to be perpetrated by these companies. The bill’s first change sets a maximum rate of interest at 36 percent. This is by far the most impressive move by the legis lature, for a reason best summed up by a payday loan operator himself. Expecting to be risen up on shoulders and championed as a prince of a man, one owner wrote in to the Oregonian last week saying that as an act of heartfelt misanthropy, he had already cut his inter est rates in half - they originally stood at more than 500 percent. Forgive me for not applauding. The law also limits the beginning fee down to 10 percent of the loan total, and specifies that no more than one fee may be charged for the inability to pay a loan back on time. It also limits the sort of fees that can be charged to a person, so that meaningless charges cannot be tacked onto their bill. ~ Considering these moderate limi- tations of arm-twisting by the private sector, it’s surprising that the pro-business House Republicans and Neofiberals passed it. While they claim that it is an attack on freedom to conduct business, what they seem to forget is a payday loan operation’s sole pur pose is to exploit others for their own financial gain. In this case, the prey is those who can afford it least. The state’s first job is to protect the people, espe cially if they have become their own enemy. If a nation can in fact be judged on how it treats its worst-off citi zen, then protecting the rights of the fat parasite does not reflect well on us as citizens, and as Americans. We can only hope that this first step will not be file last Bush's stance on Iran is familiar Administrations angle on Iran carries dis tinct Iraqi flavor I Laura Cameron II Commentary Editor Is George W. Bush really that stupid? Noises have been coming from the White House lately about the possibility of mili tary action against Iran. This notion has been greeted with about the level of support that one might expect. The problem with Iran, of course, is that they have a nuclear program going and recently managed to refine a small amount of uranium. In the eyes of the Bush admin istration, any country with both a large population of Muslims and a nuclear pro gram is obviously working on making nuclear weapons feno matter how many times they say they’re only interested in nuclear power plants. E ditor - in -C hief : Ben Maras C opy E ditors : Katie Weinberg, E. E. A d A ssistant : Helen Conley S taff W riters : Derek Erickson, West Justin Goe, Elizabeth Hitz, Frank Jordan, Mike Kimberling, Megan Koler, Adam J. Manley Matthew Olson, Kyle Steele, David Stark, N. P. Delzell, Helen Conley N ews E ditor : Katie Wilson C ommentary E ditor : Laura Cameron F eature E ditor : C.J. Ciaramella S ports E ditor : Mike Guidice A&E E ditor ; Tayo Stalnaker P hoto E ditor : Jeff Sorensen A d M anager : Sam Krause Commentary 3 Wednesday, April 26, 2006 P roduction A ssistants : Adam J. Manley, Kim Maier, Elizabeth Let’s be clear on this: I am not claiming that Iran’s actions are necessarily inno cent. I have a hard time trusting the word of a pres ident who claims that the Holocaust never happened. But the Bush administra tion is now taking the same tack on Iran that it "did on Iraq - apparently under the impression that, if he just changes the last letter in the country’s name, no one will notice him starting another war. But even better than Bush’s plan to recycle Iraq by subtracting a “q” and add ing an “n” are some of his ideas of how to deal with Iran if we do attack. For example, Bush has the bright idea of sending missiles against the plants where they are enriching ura nium. That’s right, to keep Iran from making nukes, we would blow up their, ura nium. Because that’s a good idea! I have heard several times now that Bush is focusing Hitz, Chris Anderson, Scott Risvold P hotographers : Adam J. Manley, Lara Hedbor, Elizabeth Hitz, Matt Olson, N. P. Delzell D epartment A dvisor : Linda Vogt D epartment A ssistant : Chris Hennel on Iran because it’s look ing like the Republicans will suffer in the November elec tions, as though he thinks having another war sitting on the back burner would force people to re-elect House and Senate Republicans to keep the war effort running. If that is truly the president’s plan, then he is even dumber than I thought. We don’t even have enough troops now to keep both Afghanistan and Iraq on track. If we invade Iran, the only way we could get enough “boots on the ground” would be to reinstate the draft. I can just imagine the reaction to that proposal! Mr. Bush, please reconsid er your position on this. Yes, yes, we know that military action against Iran is “a last resort,” but supposedly so was military action against Iraq. We the people are even more cynical about your motives now than we were when we entered Iraq. Watch your step. 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.
