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