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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR NOTE TO JESUS Is it good to know that there is an occupant in the White House who says his hero is Jesus Christ, who says he was personally asked by the Christian God to become the occupant of the White House, who proudly states he is a born- again Christian, who has a majority of the media and Christian leaders remind us he is a born- again Christian? The rub comes when you wake up and real- ize, by God, the man in the White House lies, cheats, steals, destroys, and brutally kills for a living. Note to Jesus: I think I found the Anti- Christ! Jack Myreng Jr. Eugene UNITE & DISMANTLE March 15th: Once again violence came from the police — shooting point-blank beanbags and arresting people who were sitting on the street in front of the Federal Building after the same in- tersection (7th and Pearl) had already been blocked for hours. Once again many people have repeated the rhetoric of the media, which mis- represented the events. In any case, these are the signs of the end of freedom. Repression and media control are the pillars of authoritarian regimes. I know that be- cause I grew up under the Pinochet regime. I also experienced the horrendous consequences of U.S. government intervention abroad (CIA involve- ment in the military coup in Chile was confirmed when the files were opened four years ago). I hope that the American people understand that they are living under an authoritarian regime whose tactics of control resemble a dynasty more than a democracy. I also hope that people in this country do not let themselves become di- vided over petty things such as defining whose tactics are more effective. To create a strong movement of resistance, people need to be inclu- sive and open-minded. Every action to fight the irrational and cruel war that dominant rulers want to carry out to increase their finances should be welcomed. People should unite to dis- mantle this illegitimate and authoritarian regime, and to stop mass murder and the devas- tation of nature. Maybe that would be more ef- fective than spending energy discrediting others who are willing to risk their own security for a noble cause. Jesús Sepúlveda Eugene SCHOOL LEARNIN’ Nanci McChesney-Henry, an Anatomy teacher at Sheldon High School in Eugene, re- cently focused on the link between the environ- ment and the human body. A student question re- garding the environmental effects of oil trig- gered a more political, open, 15-minute discus- sion. About half of the 32 students offered com- ments or questions. “My class,” says the teacher, “is about a free exchange of ideas.” For thousands of years this has been the classic definition of education in a free society, education that W.B Yeats calls “not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of the fire.” However Shawn Haggard, 17, (a self-de- scribed conservative who favors war against Iraq) contacted Lars Larson, the Portland-based talk-show host, and also appeared on KEZI news to complain about the teacher. According to other students in class, including Bush supporter Kristina Turner, Haggard almost completely misrepresented what happened in class. Principal Bob Bolden has been fielding angry calls and e-mails from around the state and be- yond ever since. Instead of being publicly vilified, McChesney-Henry should be praised and hon- ored. Anyone aware of the vicious, relentless, extremist assault on public education led by the fundamentalist and evangelical Christian wing of Bush’s Republican Party, however, knows that these know-nothings consider true educa- tion dangerous, subversive, un-American. They much prefer rote memory, religious monopoly, and unquestioning, lock-step state indoctrination posing as patriotism. Through intimidation they wish to smother the free interchange of ideas. We cannot allow teachers on any level to be threatened in this way by American Taliban or anyone else. Jerome Garger Eugene FREEDOM FIGHTERS Has anyone else noticed that whenever we try to exercise the right to dissent, there’s always some logic-challenged patriot telling us, “Men fought and died for you to have those freedoms. How dare you disgrace their memories by actu- ally exercising your rights!” Come again? Even if I bought the lie that my freedoms are rooted in war rather than social justice move- ments, does it make sense to claim that veterans have discretion over when and how you utilize the freedoms they “fought so hard for”? One vet I know recently told me he was glad BY TONY CORCORAN Crock Fighting Salem: Some days are diamonds, some days quotidian. W ednesday, March 19 — From the rough seas of anger and angst to the disconsolate beach of remorse and submission, I arrive at the end of the day. (I think I’ll submit this for one of those bad-beginning-sentence-of-novels competitions.) 7:30 am — Arrive at Capitol, toast and coffee, 37 e-mails. 8-9:15 — Senate Ag and Natural Resources Committee, painful debate on disposing of farm animal syringes. 9:15 — Review and finalize press release excoriating Betsy Close. 9:30 — House Labor Committee. Present press release to Chair Betsy Close — part of the notorious Secret Plan Gang — who has bottled up a bill to extend unemployment insurance to 22,000 Oregon workers whose benefits have run out; SB2 passed unani- mously over from the Senate on March 6. But Betsy says she’s too busy hearing House bills to be able to get to SB2 right away. Instead, she’s holding an “invited testimony” only hearing on a perennial bill to dismantle the minimum wage — a bill that everyone knows will surely die either in the Senate or the governor’s office. Labor had a half hour to testify and the AFL-CIO graciously gave me two minutes to speak. I wondered aloud how the committee could be wasting its time on a dead bill when 22,000 work- ers were twisting in the wind. It’s not like there are jobs out there and these folks are just too lazy to go get them — there are no jobs! Anyway, I was pissed and let the com- mittee know it. 10 am — a few minutes with some opponents of the bill that bans cockfighting. I have to tell them I’m in favor of the bill. 10:30 — Meeting with League of Cities lobbyists on PERS. Not much to say. 11 — On the floor for one vote. Stu Adler, a retired psychologist and tennis-playing buddy of mine, comes up for the day from Eugene. Stu listens to a somewhat lively debate on SB10, which grants in-state college tuition rates to children of legal and ille- 4 MARCH 27, 2003 gal non-residents, if the kids have attended high school in Oregon for three years and graduated. Courtney carries the bill with his usual decorous ebul- lience. Ramon Ramirez, the head of the Oregon farmworkers union, PCUN, lis- tens from the gallery. Noon — Labor Caucus. All the various public and private sector labor organiza- tions meet for a brown bag lunch on Wednesdays to catch up on issues. PERS is obvi- ously the big one for the public sector. Margaret Hallock, a labor hero in my book, is there as the governor’s labor advisor. She takes me aside to tell me that she will prob- ably show the four labor negotiators a compromise PERS successor plan on Friday. The minimum wage attack in Close’s committee, an ugly anti-farmworker bill, ODOT privatization, Jobs in the Woods, a terrorism/marshal law bill that would outlaw con- certed union activity, and independent contractor statutes — all discussed in rapid fire. 1 pm — Revenue. I pissed off my chair, Ryan Deckert, by changing my vote on a local option school-funding bill. I felt bad. 3 — General Government Committee. I set up my own “invitation only” hearing on a PERS bill, HB2004, to engage Greg Hartmann, the union attorney, and my vice-chair, John Minnis, in a dialogue on how these legislated issues might play out in the courts. It is horribly complex, we may even set up a special magistrate to bring all the PERS lawsuits, including the Lipscomb appeal, at the same time before the Oregon Supreme Court to expedite the challenges. 3:30 – I’m called out of committee by Sens. Margaret Carter and Kate Brown. In an odd mixture of sexual harassment and logic, I’m ordered to go apologize to Betsy Close. I’m told if I do that, then maybe we can get the unemployment bill heard and moved to the governor’s desk. 4:30 — After committee I go over to Close’s office, she’s in a meeting, so I leave a note of apology. It was the right thing to do: I was wrong, I should have been more respectful. I was told once, after one of my pull-no-punches horse-pucky diatribes, that I was “unsenately.” I was in this instance. 6-7:30 — Drive home to Cottage Grove; listen to NPR; Bush II declares Jihad II. I switch over to baroque. It’s never been nicer to get home to Jeannie. Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 4, which includes the UO area. He can be reached at sen.tonycorcoran@state.or.us
