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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR BY TOM LININGER The Home Front Life during wartime. U ntil recently, I’ve managed to answer every question that my kids have asked me. Where do babies come from? The stork. Why is that deer lying on the side of the road? He’s sleeping. Why do we have to eat vegetables? Because I said so. (I should write a book, huh?) But the questions got a lot harder last week. What is war? What is assas- sination? What is anthrax? Do the Power Rangers have anthrax too? Fortunately, there’s a simple answer to all of these questions: Go ask your mother. I’m amazed that my kids have obtained so much information about the war. My son’s school sent home a memo recommending that parents avoid exposing their kids to TV coverage of the war. Since the war began, the only show we’ve dared to watch in front of my kids was an MTV special that list- ed Saddam Hussein’s favorite movies (#1 was The Godfather — at least the guy has good taste). I think that adults’ effort to keep children uniformed about the war may have backfired. As Thomas Payne wrote, the suppression of speech only heightens its allure. A taboo subject spreads like wildfire across a kinder- garten playground, whether the topic is bathroom humor or the war against Iraq. My wife has been buying huge amounts of canned food and bottled water. In fact, we have so much bottled water that we might sell some to EWEB if the snowpack is as low as everyone says. I’m beginning to suspect that the U.S.-Iraq war might just be a marketing ploy by Costco. Forget about the military-industrial complex; I’m worried about the military-retail complex! L ane County is observing heightened security measures at the Courthouse. Right now we’re on “Code Orange.” (I’m not exactly sure why orange is a menacing color. What’s next? Code Beige?) On the UO campus, I’ve been impressed by the civility of the debate. Both sides are organized and vocal, but they seem to be respectful of opposing views. This civility is a far cry from the senseless “beer riots” that opened the academic year. The only disappointing comment I overheard was this statement by an undergraduate in the gym: “The war’s all right by me, but why did it have to come during spring break?” By the way, let me tip my hat to Ruth Duemler, a longtime Eugene resi- dent who has been attending all the peace rallies, rain or shine. Sometimes I think Ruth is the conscience of Eugene. I also want to commend the people who have shown their support for our troops by waving the American flag at intersections in downtown Eugene. Some of these people have relatives in the military and are con- cerned about their safety. How can I praise demonstrators on both sides? Well, I may not be very good at teaching my kids about war, but I have no trouble teaching them about tolerance. Tom Lininger is the county commissioner for the East Lane District. 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Those barriers include not having a place at work where they can pump their milk or breastfeed, and not having suffi- cient time to do so. Lactating women who do not express milk or breastfeed during the workday risk losing their milk supply and having to wean their babies prematurely. Those of you who are not pregnant or breast- feeding might wonder, “What’s in this for me?” Everyone has heard “breast is best,” that breast- feeding protects moms and babies from all kinds of health problems, ranging from ear infections all the way up to cancer and diabetes. Not every one realizes the costs to families, employers, and society when women don’t breastfeed. For pri- vate and public health insurers, a minimum of $3.6 billion must be paid each year in the U.S. to treat illnesses preventable by breastfeeding; $2 billion is spent by families on infant formula; $578 million per year in federal funds is spent by WIC to buy formula for families who could be breastfeeding. For employers, formula feeding results in increased claims to company health plans and more days missed from work to care for sick children. In these tough economic times, SB 783 is legislation that has something to offer all Oregonians through cost savings for families, employers and the Oregon Health Plan. Martha F Johnson RN IBCLC Eugene EDITOR’S NOTE: This bill was scheduled for a hearing this week. voted for Al Gore, saying they stole votes from Nader, but that would do just as little to change our situation as sitting back and saying, “It’s your fault because you voted for Ralph.” I am proud to be, as Huntington so elo- quently put it, a “Nader Idiot” (2/20), and I com- mend those of us who were brave enough to break out of the status quo, to stand up and say, “We are fed up with this two-party system and we want a viable alternative. We want to be able to vote for somebody who will accurately repre- sent our opinions.” I honestly don’t see what good it does to be- little other people’s opinions, or to mock them for whom they chose to vote. I would think that the Gore voters and the Nader voters would be able to come together and see that they both dis- agree with Bush’s actions and use that bond to try and effect change together. The peace move- ment needs all the help it can get and if we can get past our petty differences, perhaps we can be a loud enough voice to show Bush we are not happy with the way he is running our country. Zac Larson Eugene REFLECT PEACE To Laura Passin’s “War Rhetoric” (2/27): I agree, and shouldn’t the same argument apply to the police? Why are the police called Lieutenant, Captain etc.? The city of Eugene should be the first to re-name police to something reflecting peace, not war Frank Skipton Veneta SERVE & PROTECT I participated in both the Feb. 15th and March 15th peace marches from the UO to the Federal Building. After the first event, the only mention I saw in the Eugene Weekly regarding police and protester relations was negative and one-sided in that it addressed only a small por- tion of activities that day (a disorganized “side march” with no real destination). It’s frustrating to see the press fuel a common misconception that police and protesters are on opposite sides of the law. This isn’t necessarily so. What I saw on Feb. 15 and March 15 was Eugene’s police force stopping traffic for marchers and enabling us to participate lawfully in our democracy. This is what being American is all about. Eugene Police Force “served and protected” those days, and I am grateful for that. Ingrid Parmeter Eugene GET A-CLU Munir Katul, who, as a member of the Eugene Police Commission, has been a defender of the militarization of the Eugene police, and an obstructionist in holding the EPD accountable for acts of brutality and violations of civil rights, has been nominated to the Oregon ACLU’s Board of Directors for 2003 by the ACLU Nominating Committee. In spite of overwhelming evidence and re- peated acts of violence and repression by the po- lice, the Oregon ACLU has yet to sue the city of Eugene for civil rights violations by the EPD, and this nomination further demonstrates its lack of credibility. Randy Gicker Eugene LEXICON As we near the beginning of the Bush vs. Iraq war, I thought that it would be good to brush up on our war lingo. A sort of refresher course you could say. Collateral damage: killing innocent civilians. Regime change: overthrowing a sovereign nation and placing a leader who is friendly to your economic interests in charge. Friendly fire: being killed by your own mili- tary, where the friendly comes in is beyond me. Preemptive war: attacking someone who is not attacking or threatening you, making you the aggressor nation. Unilateral attack: attacking another nation without the world’s support (excluding those na- tions you have bribed, threatened to cut off aid to or otherwise strongly armed.) Propaganda: ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN. U.S. economic interests – all usable resources on the earth including cheap slave labor. Rogue nation: aggressive, uncooperative country who threatens the world community (you are either with us or against us), threatens preemptive strike wars, and refuses to comply with international treaties. Disposes of the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty, threatens to violate the International Criminal Court, refuses to sign the Kyoto Climate Change protocol, gutted the Biological Weapons Convention and refuses to help end the use of landmines. Real life definitions of often-used terms are not very pleasant but I do believe the honest truth is called for in times such as these. But as some- one once said, “truth is often the first casualty of war.” Tim Boyden Eugene DON’T BLAME NADER I find it rather unfortunate that I have to keep reading these letters that blame George Bush’s faults, and the fact that he is in power, on all of the people who voted for Ralph Nader. It would be equally as easy for me to blame everyone who LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words, and submissions to once a month. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401.
