TO THE EDITOR
WAS IT A WAR?
Who would consider an encounter in a box-
ing ring between Mike Tyson and a small child a
fight? A brutal assault perhaps, or maybe an ag-
gravated murder, but not a fight. Why then does
the media and our delusional leadership refer to
the invasion and brutal assault on Iraq as a “bril-
liant military victory” and something of which
to be proud?
The world’s number one military power at-
tacks a poor, Third World country ravaged by
war and 12 years of economic sanctions, 90 per-
cent disarmed by the U.N. inspectors and mili-
tarily defeats it. What an accomplishment! A
country that spends $1.4 billion a year on de-
fense is defeated by another that spends $400
billion — not counting $70 billion extra for Iraq
– all in the name of freedom.
Iraq joins the list of other bombed and liber-
ated countries: Afghanistan, Yugoslavia,
Nicaragua, Panama, etc., democracies all. Add
to that list my country Poland, not bombed but
raided by American economic and political ad-
visors like Jeffery Sachs, Zbignew Brzezinski
and finally strangled by IMF and Globalization
austerity projects. It is a shell of a country now
with an American puppet government, ready to
serve its master by sending 200 special forces
troops to aid the “coalition of the willing,” while
96 percent of Poles oppose it. Democracy
thrives in Poland. Add to the list “new Europe”
on its knees, whose governments are prepared
to sell their souls and sovereignty for a few dol-
lars of American aid.
Behind it all, 70 percent of Americans wav-
ing the Old Glory and cheering. Shame.
Adam Uminski
Eugene
START TALKING
What I believe we need and desire is com-
munication face-to-face, thoughtful discussions
that are respectful, with both sides listening
fully with open ears, minds and hearts. I am
naïve enough to believe that any two people
brought together would have something to
teach each other.
Our culture, media and two-party political
system do not work to bring us all together. On
the contrary it is quite the opposite: polarizing,
stereotyping and dividing us and sensationaliz-
ing the negatives.
My hope at all levels (personal, community
and global) begins face to face with old-fash-
ioned, slower-than-snail-mail talk. We need
open, honest discussions across the divide of
ideas. Community being built person by person,
real life connections being made. To me, it
seems what’s more important than talking of
our differences is talking of what we have in
common. I believe we all have much, much
more in common than we might think.
I would ask you all to take a chance, reach
out a bit, open yourself up to someone (a neigh-
bor or a co-worker maybe). Start a conversation
with the intention of listening, not judging or
wanting to change their views, but openly lis-
tening to see where they are coming from. It
might seem daunting at first, but gets much eas-
ier the more you do it. What do you have to lose,
fear? There is so, so much to be gained!
We might come to realize we do not have to
act to agree upon everything to be friends.
Tim Boyden
Eugene
BAD ADVICE
I take offense to the bad advice given by
Charles Gray (Commentary 4/10) for tax resist-
ance. From the picture of Mr. Gray, I would
guess he doesn’t have to worry about his in-
come anymore because it’s fixed by now. To ad-
vise young, working-class folks with kids and
mortgages to “lower their income” to below
taxable level is not only impossible for most but
utterly stupid and irresponsible.
His advice to quit your job and become self-
employed and sell advice to people is way off.
Your self-employment tax kicks in at $400.
Your accounts, estates and trusts can all be gar-
nished or have liens filed against them. You can
ruin your credit and lose your home by follow-
ing Mr. Gray’s advice. True tax resistance is a
shell game for millionaires.
For the rest of us, make donations to your fa-
vorite nonprofit organizations that provide the
services you want to support. This is a dollar-
for-dollar reduction of income. It lowers your
taxes so you pay less into the war machine. You
can donate a huge amount of your income. The
amount is determined by your income; if you
donate then you can carry forward to the next
year what you missed in the present year.
Ask yourself this: Do you really want to lose
your home and have you and yours live in a tent
just because it will cause the IRS problems? Or
BY TONY CORCORAN
Dueling Science
Take 10 steps, fire and turn.
C
ougars: Recessionary budget wolves at the door, and all the
Oregon House can talk about are cougars? The biennial bear
and cougar fights are on again. Ever since Measure 18 passed in 1994, for
my past five legislative sessions, hunters have tried to overturn the will of the
people by turning to the Legislature; and I always get caught in the middle of it
because of my district. From the UO campus to the Steamboat Inn on the North
Umpqua, from the south hills of Eugene to Drain and Yoncalla, from Oakridge to
Oakland. Talk about a swing district — my two House members are Jeff Kruse and
Floyd Prozanski, Elmer Fudd and Abraham Lincoln!
Here’s the Senate, preoccupied with disappearing school days, brain-dead
seizure patients who ran out of Medically Needy coverage, suicides caused by clos-
ing down mental health programs, and PERS; and the House is wasting our time on
professional wrestling, metal pants and cougars? Here’s the perfect political solu-
tion to this biennial debate, and we can charge admission. We’ll form a work group
composed of the “special interest” lobbyists involved in this bill, then we’ll put
them all in one of those caged, no-holds-barred, no-exit wrestling arenas. We’ll pass
food and assorted liquid beverages through on a slider. We will feed them experts
from both sides — dueling sciences. The last side standing wins.
(And they’ll only have one Porta-Potty manned — with a towel on his arm — by
our distinguished colleague, Senator Atkinson. Jason must be still trying to over-
come a childhood trauma dealing with the aforementioned plumbing fixture by
pushing a bill that would require perma-potties on the Capitol mall; he has issues,
as they say — but, I digress.)
I know, most of us were taught that “dueling science” is an oxymoron, because
sound, verifiable, scientific methodology should yield only one result. Think again.
Welcome to the world of predator management, testosterone, trophy hunts, animal
defenders and other self-proclaimed stewards of the planet Earth. One side holds
up the argument that it’s just a matter of time until someone’s little baby gets
4 MAY 1, 2003
eaten, so we gotta hunt them critters. Then a wildlife biologist on the other
side points out that hunting cougars actually creates more human/cougar
confrontations because hunters love to kill big mature adult males, and
when they do, that territory is taken up by immature cubs who don’t under-
stand the borders and boundaries of their new turf.
Anecdotally, I believe the cougar population has increased. We’d never seen
cougars in our 20 years out here at the Flying Pig Ranch, but in the past few years
we’ve seen a cougar several times at our place; and our neighbor met one in his
driveway one morning recently. Last week, in Blachly, two cubs and their mother
were executed after eating two goats. But I generally end up in the same place on
this issue: There’s a reason we hire wildlife biologists to work for the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife — to manage the damn animal populations. If
ODFW says control the cougars, we should probably listen to them. Meanwhile,
shut up Jeff Kropf, go get signatures on an initiative if you want to vote on this
thing again — the voters already told you NO. For now, Jeff, just go put on your
Elvis suit and chill.
The animal rights folks will argue that ODFW doesn’t have the right attitude;
after all, they used to be known as “Fish and Game.” I’ll never forget the time
Jeannie caught a chicken-thievin’ bobcat in a Hav-a-Heart trap and when she asked
the wildlife guy what she should do next, he assured her that she couldn’t have
captured the bobcat. That was not the answer she wanted to hear.
F
armworker justice: Speaking of biennial events, it appears the growers will
try to push another bad bill out of the House. Attacks on farmworkers have
been going on since the 1997 session, since the Oregon Supreme Court
ruled on the Oregon Roses case. The current version would give farmworkers the
right to strike, but not during harvest time; and it would not provide any venue for
timely settlement of labor violations and bargaining. No, se puedes.
It’s déjà vu again, Yogi. The next thing you know, the House will be trying to
eliminate motorcycle helmets again. What’s that? They are? They did? Back to the
bad movie: “Dial V for Veto, The Sequel” starring, guess who?
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