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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2006)
V*1 Clackamas Print -- Student poll: 1$ college Afferent than high school? “It’s different because it’s scary, but it’s fun.” Mlory Kelly ion’tlike tfar the h between besare.” Erik Brawner “It’s not that different besides the length of classes.” Commentary Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006 Voting system blues Nicholas Delzell The Clackamas Print Politicians piss people off. Why do so many people back certain candidates, when an independent one can’t vote in primary elections ... so what is the point of register ing in a flawed and suppressed votmg system? Considering the scandals that followed recent presidential elec tions, people should be turned off to voting and the system as a whole. First off, people get so worked up around voting season that it’s hard for regular citizens, let alone politicians, to relate to others outside of their political party. Scandal will occur if people get worked up over any subject. According to a Wikipedia.com article on voter sup pression, “In the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming schedule, Republican officials attempted to reduce the number of Democratic voters by paying pro fessional telemarketers in Idaho to make repeated hang-up calls to block Democrats’ ride-to-the-polls phone lines on Election Day.” The article went on to tell about some scandalous things Democrats have done as well. “In 2006, five employees of the John Kerry campaign were convicted for slashing the tires of 25 vans rented by the GOP to drive voters and poll watchers to the polls on the day of the 2004 general election.” If you take into account voter suppression, what is the point of voting at all? This article is not supposed to put down those who vote religiously; it is meant to inform people that voting and voter registration is not what old school people may think. Votes are suppressed not only by political parties, but also by the government. “In the US, voter suppression was used extensively in some Southern states until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made most disenfranchisement, and voting qualifications illegal. Traditional voter suppression tactics included the institution of poll taxes and literacy tests, aimed at suppressing the votes of African Americans and working-class white voters. Mailbox smashing was also used in some districts. Measures in place in seven U.S. states ban released fel ons from voting; some allege that this is a tactic aimed at suppress- ing voter turnout. OccasionaHy, as in Florida in the 2000 presi dential election, some non-felons are banned due to record-keeping errors and are not warned of their disqualification before they have the right to con test it. “In the U.S. presi dential election of 2004, Ohio officials allegedly miss-allo cated voting machines to reduce Democratic turnout. With too few voting machines per registered voter, in areas heavily populated by African Americans who were Democratic, had to wait in line for hours. Republican districts received many more voting machines per capita.” With this information in mind, rethink the reasons to register to vote in our country. Rethink where a vote goes once it comes off the ballot. Think of the people who take your vote and have their own political agendas. And mind yourself, because voter registration, and voting in general, is a flawed government system, set up by “the man” and for “the man,” with intentions of only taking “the man’s” advice Staff Ml: What is your reaction to the Print's special edi- tion, “Crisis in Leadership”? ‘It’s unfortunate that so many people are forming opinions without having all toe information.” Loren Ford. Psychology Instructor ‘I thought it was excellent. It doesn’t happen very often that The Oregonian will use information from a student paper.” Robert Keeler, Social Science Instructor f Letters to the »hanie Tombleson Devon Trigg H “It’s a lot less B social; people mostly I keep to themselves.” E|9| MM tred Hanley I This week's poll I compiled by Liz Trav- lers and Elizabeth Hitz Clackamas Print 19600 S. Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 657-6958 ex. 2309 Ik Clackamas Print is a weekly ,£ student publication and is <Abuted every Wednesday except finals week. Mach responds to ‘Bias’ I would like to “out” myself as the instructor to whom Matt Olson refers in his article ‘Biased instructors can be distracing, affect learning.’ Mr. Olson mentions a writing course in which he read, “an explicit story about a homosexual encounter.” The class was Writing 121, and the story, The Toughest Indian in the World by Sherman Alexie, was actually about a young Native American man attempting to come to terms with his cultural and perhaps his sexual identity. The central character in the story is a journalist from Spokane, Washington, who picks up a hitch hiker while on a drive to cover a story in Yakima The hitchhiker is an Indian street fighter, off to conquer an old rival. The journalist views his fellow traveler as a warrior. At the end of the story, the two men share a hotel room, and yes, they have sex. During the class discussion, I encouraged the students to focus on the craft of the story, and to dis cuss the metaphorical aspect of the sexual encounter between the two men, rather than get caught up in a discussion about whether or not it’s okay to be gay. That’s not what the story was about. C o -E ditors - in -C hief : Sam Krause, go I’m curious to know what Mr. Olson means when he accuses me of bias. He states that it was “obvi ous that the teacher was directing the arguments towards one standpoint” I’m wondering what, specifically, he believes my standpoint to be? I have opinions, and although I don’t attempt to openly tout them in class, neither do I hide them. As I tell my students at the beginning of each term, if we can’t discuss ideas freely in the classroom, then we’re in big trouble. If I have a bias, it’s against intolerance of any person or group—whether it be Christians or homosexuals. I also assure students that dissenting opinions have no effect on their grades. Mr. Olson, in fact, received an A in my class. W.B. Yeats said “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” As an educator, especially one work ing in the humanities, intellectual pyromania is part of my job. Perhaps rather than fearing the discomfort of toe academic experience, Mr Olson should welcome and explore it Sincerely, Sue Mach English Instructor A d M anaghc Elizabeth Hitz Katie Wilson C opy E ditor : Colleen Watkins N ews E ditor : Megan Koler C ommentary E ditor : Tayo Stalnaker F eature E ditor : Laura Cameron S ports C o -E dttors : Nicholas Delzell, Mike Guidice A&E E ditor : Matt Olson P hoto E ditor .' Adam J. Manley Thoughts on Iraq War I was surprised and grateful to The Oregonian for publishing toe number of Iraqi deaths, and on toe front page! (600,000 Iraqis died since 2003, study says.) The general public almost always hears through the media onlyabout the number of American deaths. Iraqis are human, too, a perception that is all too often ignored when there is war. One of the tactics used by the military in all nations is to present toe enemy as less than human in order to justify killing people. Soldiers who fought in Vietnam have told me about this technique first hand, as have my students at Clackamas Community College who are coming back to school after fighting in Iraq. Diane Averill 503-657-6958 Ext. 2370 To send a letter to the editor, e-mail it to chiefed@clackamas. edu, or drop it off at The Print office, Roger Rook 135. P hotographers : Juno Dean, Jeff Sorensen S taff W riters : Justin Goe, Danny Helus, Frank Jordan, Andrea D epartment A dvisor : Unda Vogt Simpson, Jeff Sorensen, David Stark, Liz Travers, Alexandria Vallelunga P roduction A ssistants : Rachel Gillette, Andrew Green, Genyva Laubach, David Stark “It’s a deciding moment, and we’ll let those in charge make their decision. We need to let toe water clear.” Robbie Robinson, Baseball Coach “Informative, but it didn’t have a lot of meat.” Jennifer Bown, Science Instructor This week's poll compiled by Liz Travers and Elizabeth Hitz G oals : The Clackamas 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.
