Which is Scarier?
There is another front to the U.S. war
effort and it is taking place here in this coun-
try. This attack is being waged quickly and
quietly, and we are the intended targets. This
attack is to our civil liberties.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, our government has
taken the opportunity to expand their powers
in ways that we would have thought unthink-
able in the past. This administration has taken
advantage of the fears of the American peo-
ple, allowing our lawmakers to pass legisla-
tion that invades our privacy and circumvents
our constitutionally guaranteed rights to due
process. The so-called “PATRIOT Act” has
opened doors for government agencies to col-
lect information about us such as the books
we check out of the library, the websites we
look at, the people we associate with, and our
political and religious information.
Now our state government is pursuing leg-
islation that would make it possible to consid-
er acts of civil disobedience to be an act of ter-
rorism. This madness needs to end! We can no
longer be politically apathetic. We need to
become involved while we still can and
ensure our constitutionally guaranteed free-
doms will still be there for our children. Our
government is offering us a sense of security
in exchange for our civil liberties but are we
really any safer as a result of our govern-
ment’s actions? We need to stop letting our
fear of terrorism strip us of the freedoms that
help us define what it is to be an American. If
there is really anything to fear perhaps it is our
government rather than a far-off adversary.
Dan Orleck
Eugene
lege student home for spring break, saw the
war supporters marching down Willamette St.
on March 29, the last day of her visit home.
Desperate at the idea that anyone could sup-
port war’s carnage, she begged me to help her
stop them. I told her that, issued a permit, they
had the right to express their opinion. With
“No War” buttons our only protest, we bought
Eugene treats at the Kiva for her to share in
New York, where over a quarter of a million
people “who for weeks had smelled rotting
corpses on the fall air” had marched against
the war.
War aggravates masculine violence,
already endemic in American culture. My
passionate, articulate daughter, powerless to
stop the ravages of this real and immediate
war, refuses to cheer it as an oil-fueled
football game. She hasn’t the hardened
attitudes to pretend that bombs don’t
blow up people, including the brown people
in Iraq. She won’t forget that gas masks being
used by the Iraqi forces were made in
America. Young and optimistic, she believes a
communitarian spirit can cure a society sick-
ened with violence and undermined by jingo-
istic pride. For her sake, I fear the oppression
that racism and violence perpetrate under the
name of patriotism.
Louise M. Bishop
Eugene
Terrorist Ghandi
Joseph Goebbels is smiling from the gates
of Hell. Sen. John Minnis (R) sponsored sen-
ate Bill 742, which would define
A Mother’s Fear
My 18-year-old daughter, a New York col-
anyone who disrupts commerce, transporta-
tion, or governmental institutions of Oregon
as guilty of the crime of “terrorism.” The bill
would also gut Oregon’s “181” laws that pro-
tect individuals and organizations from being
spied on when engaging in lawful activities.
Specifically, chapter 19, section 666 of the
bill states that “a person commits the crime of
terrorism if he plans or participates in an act to
disrupt: (a) the orderly assembly of the inhab-
itants of the state of Oregon; (b) commerce or
the transportation systems of the state of
Oregon; or (c) the educational or governmen-
tal institutions of the state of Oregon. A per-
son convicted of terrorism shall be punished
by imprisonment for life.”
This bill broadly defines any citizen who
engages in civil disobedience or anyone
involved in non-violent direct action as poten-
tially guilty of terrorism, punishable by life in
prison. A food fight in a university cafeteria or
a sit-in at an administration building could be
defined as terrorism. Ghandi and MLK would
have been defined as terrorists within the first
week of their historical activism.
This is Nazi stuff and it needs to be
stopped in its tracks right now. I believe that
we need to contact Mr. Minnis and inform
him that we value our freedoms and are not
interested in modeling our society after the
third Reich.
Contact info: Senator John Minnis, (503)
986-1725,
sen.johnminnis@state.or.us
Gerry Rempel
Eugene
More Coverups
George Bush and his administration keep
fostering their lies and deceits on the
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