r • . •
Editorial
Now & Then
Well, now it looks like the Grand Old
Party holds a majority in the hallowed
halls, for the first time in forty years And
being in charge, they will be expected to
pull some solutions out of the hats they
have tossed in the ring We believe it will
take some kind of magic And "Mouth of
Newt" or "hair of the dog’ isnt going to do
it The old policy of "Just Say No I* will no
longer cut it This election period, we were
treated to a full page ad for the Republican
ticket with the image of Lincoln, and a
reminder that the philosophy of
Republicans was fiscally conservative,
supportive of civil rights, and for reducing
government interference in the lives of the
average citizen
Well, since you brought It up, the last
few Republican Presidents have lead us
down the road of debt, drugs, and
discrimination To be precise, the S&L
fiasco, the horribly expensive and totally
failed "war on drugs’, the support of the
Christian right, and its war on gays and
women's rights
We have seen in the past that the
Republicans can often suggest solutions
that would be laughed at if proposed by
liberals, and actually bring them off
(Nixon's China policy comes to mind ) So,
could we humbly suggest a few
possibilities Balanced budget, yes, line
item veto, yes. Welfare Reform, absolutely,
but let s take it just a little beyond the
Welfare Cadillacs, and get into the
Corporate Welfare Limos The reason the
Tax and Spend Liberals couldn't get things
paid for is tax codes favor the large
corporations and rich individuals, leaving
the poor and middle class to shoulder the
burden We tax the unemployed, and give
exemptions to "Non-Profit" corporations
and the "Church’ So the poor and middle
class must make up for the lack of revenue
that would be generated by property taxes
on land used for "religious purposes" Hell,
here in Oregon we can give money to a PAC
and take it off our taxes, so instead of the
general fund getting $50 the OCA or Sierra
Club gets it, and the rest of us have to
make up for that loss Now don't get us
wrong We do encourage support for
whatever cause you freely choose It just
doesn't seem fair that others must
eventually pay the bills for an agenda that
is not one they support In the Mother
Country (England) contributions to the
Church are not tax deductable The feeling
is that giving is a private matter and the
giver will be rewarded by some other
means than a tax break We could go on
for days about the separations of Church
and State and the philosophy of "render
unto Caesar", but we must move on
Drugs' We don't know how much this
country has spent since the sixties to
combat drugs, we imagine it is in the
billions and billions of dollars Surely, we
have spent enough to give every junkie
and crack head enough dope to kill himself
or cure herself a hundred times over We
have built more jails and incarcerated
more people than any country in the
world It has been said that 75< of all
crime is drug related (and at least two
thirds of that are the drug Alcohol) One
very prominent conservative, William
Buckley J r, advocated the legalization of all
drugs He suggests we spend our money to
help folks stop using drugs if they want
help, and if they don't, let them do what
2
UPliK U R
tt> 6 t btCLIW -K i m
I
they will, as long as they break no other
laws. Once you take away the profit
motive, and with it the Beamers and the
Uas, a doper is just a guy who can't form a
sentence and falls down a lot We have
made substantial progress with the drugs
alcohol and tobacco, but by using social
pressure, not legal sanctions With one
small change m the drunken driving laws
we have greatly reduced the negative
impact of our most dangerous drug, booze
If you don't think the drinking habits of
Oregonians has changed in the last ten
years, just ask a bartender Strictly
enforcing the laws we already have, and
doing away with those which don't work is
a much better solution than trying to keep
up with the "drug of the month" folks
Besides, we must give some thought to
why folks want to be stoned out of their
minds Most people (including junkies)
only take drugs when they are in pam
(Granted, junkies' pam is brought on by the
absence of the drug, but it is a very real
pam nonetheless ) The after-work beer
and the three day binge are attempts at
self-medication for the relief of pam We
agree with Mr Buckley that we would be
better oil if these folks could see real
doctors to get safe doses, clean needles,
and an opportunity to change, rather than
Dr Feelgood, who offers dangerous
dosages, violence, and prices that might
include your grandma s TV or your 15 year
old daughters body We are reminded of a
recent article about the success of
Portland's Outside/In Clinic's needle
exchange program They give clean
needles to junkies, so they dont share, get
AIDS and die But, we also read about a
new shipment of heroin that is more pure
than the last batch, and it killed a half a
dozen folks If we can give them the tool
to use the drug, m an effort to save their
lives, why cant we just give them the drug
m a safe, dean needle, and eliminate the
whole damned sub-culture that is drammg
our fiscal and emotional reserves
Onward, The Religious Right vs The
Constitution of The United States It has
been stated so many times that this is a
nation of laws, not of men, that you would
think we would remember Whatever the
Constitution does not forbid is left to the
individual citizen to decide No, we don't
get to vote on what god we all have to
worship, or if we sacrific goats or virgins
on Sunday or Easter Our Constitution says
that Congress shall make NO laws
concerning religion None It is a private
thing, and the state has no business in the
religion business We find it amusing that
the same folks who say they want to get
government out of our lives, also want the
government to write prayers for our
children to say m school This is why your
beloved editor is a Republican It is a
funny party Self-righteous womanizers
like Ole Bob Pecker wood, Bragart Bigots
like Jesse Helms, Young Mouth of Newt the
money machine, yes, it will be sweet to
poke fun at obvious scoundrels, rather
than a bunch of do-good liberals who just
whine when you yell at them Republicans
these days (with a few exceptions) are like
puffer fish, when you scare them they puff
up big and tight Then it just takes one
small hole to explode the bags of air
So, fear not, my underdog democratic
friends, you will have more fun in the next
two years than you imagined possible The
new dog and pony show m D C will be a
barrel of laughs, and remember, now it is
your turn to sit back and watch them shoot
themselves in the foot that they have stuck
in their collective mouths Yes, Jesse, we
mean you
More Stuff
Well, it being winter and our vacation
time, we find that due to circumstance
beyond anyone's control, Alex and Mar &
Rory failed to get in in time But we expect
to see them back soon Dr Karkeys has
surrendered in the face of abuse and is
back in these pages Plus, our friend and
former resident of C B, Pattra, is back
home and has a few Cowboy Haikus in this
issue with more poetry to follow And
again in the Haiku form, by Satbodi, more
« « Neahkahnie Haikus in an attempt to keep
the road open We would also like to
welcome new advertisers, Geppetto s,
Photographer Don Pier, and the Bayside
Gardens, the nearest place to Cannon Beach
to hear live music on a regular basis
Coming Soon The Fund for Wild Nature
has, in its infinite wisdom, given a small
but much appreciated grant to the Upper
Left Edge, to help us tell you about some of
the smaller groups and grassroots
movements m the Greater Edge area We
will begin next month with the Alliance for
a Paving Moratorium, out of Northern
California These folks get down to the
pavement when it comes to real solutions
This means we will again be a twenty page
rag. Whee"
i Hu n
hu 5
G oast R ange
A ssociation
P O BOX 148
M 'W PO R T, OR *47365
I^ u p p e r l e f t e d g M
Editor/Pabhstei The Beloved Reverend
Billy Lloyd Halo
Assirtoat E d itoi/P abtistei/G raphici
Editor The Humble Ms SaDy Loaw Lackafl
SritBca Editor/Voica o f RataoW I te la a
CoaatryfUacle N ftefetc. Mrhael Buijesa
W ü lh fe /M a n c Reporter at Large Pefci
"Spod* Sard
Edaratioa Editoi P e ti Lwdjey
M eaavtele ta M evport Alex LaPoDeta
Ia^rovtaattoaal Eagtaeer Dr karkeys
Wiae E xpert hm Anderson
Political C o aialtoat kaihten K nuhaa
Eartroaaeeatol H m
K m Bossé
N o v in A Pood Rob M ilto n
M r Baseball Jeff Laron (temp ret)
Talas o f the M o n te ra Saas Rory A Mar
Local Coloar Ron Loçan
V re v Prom the Vaa JohnPresax
N a p » Dtstrihattoa Coyote DumboUon
Ecoaoaücs Editor Geraldine Rock
A te A C o t O f Ttow satesU
H J fT tR LEFT EDGE SUBSCRIPTION""
simistr.
milUffiAMUS:
$
ffWit xm cittti a MtV m
r » tnetrr mums ie.
ra toi u u
tmi u r td u rT
tMNON BlAtn, on
• GMXIO rod A YtAK’S RIAD I MS Of Tht th&t •