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About The North Coast times-eagle. (Wheeler, Oregon) 1971-2007 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2005)
N O R T H C O A S T T IM E S E A G L E , JABRUARY 2005 PAGE 5 on in their communities The best thing we can all do is work hard to make our government better; do what we can on a national and state level by writing letters and stay on our representatives' backs, and as much as we can, pay close attention to what is going on. We need to keep our heads up out of the sand, our wits about us, a sense of humor for our sanity — and look to the 06 elections. GAY BEAUDET For all of President Bush’s talk about a so-called owner ship society, it’s ironic that he is not focused on the things that would genuinely boost ownership among ordinary Americans: good jobs, fair wages and a reduction in wealth disparity. If President Bush were truly interested in promoting ownership in America, he would stop pursuing economic policies that reward the few while the many lose ground For starters, he would: Start fixing a broken health care system that is straining families and small businesses. Drop his opposition to a living wage Abandon his plans to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%, those who make $1 million or more. (They already received $148 billion in tax cuts last year.) Craft trade and tax policies that clamp down on the flight of jobs abroad. Ditch his risky Social Security privatization scheme that would require benefit cuts and jeopardize millions of men and women who live a few steps away from relentless poverty. J O A N N E R ID E O U T MATTWUERKER K A R E N M IL L E N E L IZ A B E T H M E N E T R E Y G R A N T I think it is just like the tsunami that has happened. It is catastrophic for the world. We don’t know how long it will take to recover. It's like a wave; you can't see what is underneath. A friend says the Bush administration is a juggernaut that just keeps rolling forward and crushes everything in its path IR IS S U L L IV A N D A R E I’m very concerned that really irrational decisions are being made that are not life serving. These decisions and the path they are plowing are so irresponsible with life-threatening long-term consequences. They are not addressing the real issues of community health. I feel our society and earth are becoming more fragile: we are still using fossil fuels without looking into alternative sources. I don't understand where it’s coming from. It is so shortsighted and short-term it is frightening. It is the definition of hubris. It seems from my spiritual basis a slap in the face of God. But they present themselves as if they have a mandate from God. It is so self-serving. Worse, it is delusional. I guess they are so wealthy they think their children will not be affected. ^acf)'nRoei< RECORD & TAPE SHOP POPULAR M U S IC F R O M THE 17TH TO 21 ST CENTURY 4 ALLEY CAT ESPRESSO 3B9 12TH ST. ASTORIA 3338-6376 MUSIC NON-PROFIT TO THE SPAY A NEUTER HUMANE ASSOCIATION storia Real Estate Thinking of moving to the coast? Come In and check out the local market) * . HrH^ asforia R e s ta te . net 503-325-3304 Peter and Janet Weidman 2935 Marine Drive, Suite C Astoria, O R 97103 I had been optimistic about Kerry’s chance and I was surprised and deeply depressed when Bush was elected. The so-called moral values" quotient especially saddened m e _ how the quest for improved civil rights for gays and lesbians was twisted into fear mongering and intolerance and was manip ulated into a force that won the Presidency. The consequences are so huge I can hardly articulate them. Social programs will be slashed, education and health care — for many people this is life and death. I don't think Bush cares about the poor. It seems he is trying to dismantle the government — for instance, Social Security is supposed to be a safety net but instead he’s trying to change it into a risky investment scheme.We have a disaster on our hands, like a force of nature that wreaks havoc on our lives. The thing I am concentrating on is community action. I see around me people getting more active about what is going UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE A major issue of the 2004 Presidential election should have been whether Iraqis in their newfound American-imposed democracy have the right to vote for the President of the United States in their own much-ballyhooed elections. After all, the President sent America's armed forces to Iraq to depose a dictator and force democracy upon the people, overseen of course by those same American soldiers. Because it is so obvious that the dictates of the President are the law in Iraq, doesn't it seem appropriate that Iraqis be allowed to help choose a President who has so much power over their country? This is a major consideration — it is essential to have an international political party (or parties) if there is to be a global economy dominated by amalgamated multinational megacorporations that are fundamentally interlocking commercial empires commanding vast wealth and political influence. Parochial politics are inadequate to defy the global power structures forming beyond the shores of the USA that are protected and augmented by its military and political superpower preeminence. For that same reason, we must allow universal suffrage for election of the American Presidency, which George W. Bush has demonstrated has so much impact on the world. In a world community, political parties as well as labor unions, medical/health and environmental organizations must think and act globally and develop the globalization of political power, in particular for the representation of the immense and rapidly expanding global underclass. The paradox is that the USA simultaneously acts as successor to Rome and the British Empire in world affairs (‘The New World Order') while rejecting global influence in its own internal affairs. Bush is more than arrogant, he is wrong when he claims it is unnecessary to adhere to world opinion when the United States unilaterally acts in its own interest by preemptive invasion of other nations (or by threatening to). If the U S. intends to rule the world, the implications of our own Constitution underscore the rights of populations under our thumb to have a say as well as a vote in our governance and global policies. Even Rome granted citizenship to non-Roman members of its empire (with exceptions). The election of 2004 has been as much about the millennial madness erupting all over the world as it was electing a President. As has often been said, democracy is an old dream that devours itself, and perhaps the USA is crossing into a dark ness of empirical theocracy and perpetual religious intolerance, cruelty and strife — globally as well as domestically — for at least as long as the Crusades that convulsed the first millennium of the Christian calendar for more than three centuries. -MICHAEL PAUL McCUSKER I was extremely grumpy when Bush was elected but I’m trying to remember politics is cyclical and not be too depressed. But I think what is happening, if you pull back from a historical vantage, is a conservative response to terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11. 9/11 knocked the American public off-balance and they sort of circled the wagons. People do that when they feel threatened. I think, because we have a democratic system that allows us freedom of speech, it is up to Democrats to come up with a meaty response, but all I hear is whining and platitudes. I voted against Bush and not necessarily for Kerry, which is not a way to build a stable system. What alarms me is hearing rumblings about Democrats running Hillary Clinton for President Not because she is not competent to be President — But it is obvious that the majority of voters are not ready for a female President, no matter who she is. If we want another four to eight years of what we have now, all we have to do is put up a candidate who cannot be elected in this climate. L IA M D U N N E I think the most aggressive Party won. If John Kerry was the best Presidential candidate the Democratic Party has to offer us, then we got what we deserve we deserve what we get. The candidate of the entire election who acted like he had nothing to lose was, to me, the most interesting of the bunch. Al Sharpton. The consequences of the election underscore the necessity for either a quick evolution or a slow revolution of how we do the business of elections. May God help us all. 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