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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR fore enough people know better? Oh wait, that’s right! We didn’t elect him the first time. One more time, repeat after the rest of us the Bush mantra, “It’s your money... yada yada yada.” So, to the blue-blooded American, we sup- port whatever you say. Oregonians out there who were thinking this was going to be the ticket to that bigger propane barbecue or fatter bullet or ever more monstering pick-up truck, I gotta say, “Ha!” Pony-up to the welfare line. Roll up for the misery tour. Frank Schramm Eugene CRAZYTOWN, POP. 1,500 It has been a long-held opinion of mine with regards to the mental disability funding crisis that most taxpayer money paid along with cheerful good intentions is being mis- spent. When I read the Seattle Post-Intelligencer report (to wit), “Lunacyville,” Washington State’s lunacy community built in 1899, hous- ing 1,500, and costing $500 per person per day, I was taken aback. Lunacyville houses 1,500 patients, has its own grocery, dime-store, pharmacy, bowling alley, doctor offices and hospital, as well as the patient band aptly named Innocent by Reason of Insanity. It also houses and employs 1,000 full-time mental illness professional caretak- ers and sets them up in beautiful “housing- units” in tranquil scenic settings. At $500 per day per patient, it seems that these unfortunate people could be paired into cohabitating financial “cells,” which would be funded with a portion of the $1,000 per day cost as is currently paid. Let these people have the money and real estate guidance to find se- cluded homes of their own. Brownie Wilson Eugene BACKHANDED GIVING Our brilliant governor and Legislature have devised a new scheme to pull Oregon out of depression. They will seize 30 percent of the pensions of state workers and give the money to corporations that pay no taxes so they can “boost tourism.” This will not only affect re- tirees, who will now have to sell the homes they spent 30 years paying for. It also means workers in mid-career will have to give up weekend trips to the coast, restaurant meals and new clothes in order to save for retirement. This will boost tourism and do wonders for our economy. Since about 30 percent of Oregon house- holds are partially or totally dependent on a state worker’s salary, this means a lot of money will be stuck in long-term savings in- stead of being pumped into the economy at the bottom. This is such a brilliant plan I can’t imagine why FDR didn’t think of it! Public employees whose incomes are too low to put any in the bank can look forward to living off food stamps in retirement, even if they aren’t doing so now. The assault on working people is being or- chestrated in the White House and executed in the states by the obedient Lapdogs of Lalaland, including Gov. Kulongoski and Sen. Corcoran. Stealing from working people is part of the Bush strategy of keeping the coun- try and the planet in a state of constant anxiety and war while he and his allies seize and liqui- date all the natural resources and eliminate the planet’s life support systems. Ann Tattersall Eugene DO SOMETHING I was disappointed at the lack of attendance at Starhawk’s speech last week at the EMU Ballroom. Starhawk is a very well known au- thor who deals with spirituality and political activism. Her speech was right on. She said we need a whole core of “spellbusters.” The peo- ple casting the spell are those in power: gov- ernment and big business. Many people who protested the war on Iraq are feeling frustrated and powerless. Powerlessness is part of the spell. Fear is also a big part of the spell that is cast on us via the media. Starhawk’s advice was, in a nutshell, don’t panic, deal with the fear, breathe, root and ground ourselves and do something. She said most of the change comes from the outside. We need to shake them up and “keep growing courageous people with visions.” We are powerful. Without us buying their products they are nothing. Without us paying tax dollars they are nothing. Paul Loeb re- cently wrote “powerful journeys emerge out of bleak times.” Find your power and express it. JUNE 12, 2003 5
