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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2003)
te,,ers IP THE EDiTOR GETTING THROUGH Your spam discussion (7 /31 cover story) missed a big part of the story. E-mail providers, attempting to block spam, are also blocking legitimate messages, with some- times serious consequences. A mailfnan who throws away bags of mail because they con- tain "too much junk mail" will soon be in I prison. Yet e-mail providers are doing the same thing to us, perhaps exposing us to terri- ble risks. Friends made on the Internet often don't exchange phone numbers or street addresses, and ifwe don't hear back, the friendship will die. The Internet's value to entrepreneurs pro- viding useful products and good jobs is being threatened by busi- nesses beingunable to get messages to ' even already inter- ested customers. Health care providers use e-mail to exchange inforr rnation about pa- tients, and if a mes- sage is blocked, ef- · fective treatment may be delayed. What can we do? We must support only solutions to spam that don't in- volve the destruction of legitimate mes- sages. Service providers should b~ required to obtain fully informed consent from account holders to block any messages TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN B'<SAA~~O~W\\m.ER from reaching their accounts. Meanwhile, in- dividuals should contact their service provider and ask if suspected spam messages are being destroyed (what you don't want), or being sent to a bulk folder where the user can check for mistakes (what you do want). If the former, consider getting another provider, or at least give everyone you communicate with an alternate way to contact you if messages don't seem to be getting through. Your well- being may depend on it. Lee Young Eugene PURE POPPYCOCK Who is Rep. Pat Farr (R-Eugene) trying to fool? During the floor debate and vote on HB 5077 (the K-12 educa- tion budget), Farr stood in support of the bill. He stated twice that it was a "responsible" budget. He also stated that by voting for that budget he would not be caving in to the pressure of his caucus leaders. He then filed a vote explanation trying to .downplay his support· for an inadequate educa- tion budget and stated he had to vote for the bill to move it. That is pure poppycock! Farr should have withstood the pressure and demanded a fully funded budget from the House. Farr continues to claim to be a moderate, Salem Cave-In Moderates going with an unworkable budget. R-G Reporter David Steves: "Sen. Morrisette, aren't legislators embarrassed by their lack of a budget deal during the longest session in Oregon history?" Sen. Morrisette: "I know the public perception is that we are doing the state a dis- service by not solving the problem . I think just the opposite: We would do a great dis- service to the people who sent us here if we folded our tents and went home just for the sake of public p,erception. "* *Actually, Bill, most Oregonians don't even know or care that we are still in session. > often tell people that timing is everything in politics. I, for example, was stupid enough to run for the Oregon House io 1994, the first time in 40 years that Republicans took control over both chambers of the Legislature. Now I'm part of the longest session in 144 years! But we may be ending the session by the time you read this. And if you accept the beatitude that the meek shall inherit the Earth, then Salem's moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans are in great shape to pie~ up a lot of land. I'm gonna get spelunker hats for some of our Democratic leaders because they are such excellent cavers. In Democratic politics these days leaders are determined by their ability to raise money: Their personal political philosophy, their ability to stick to princi- ples while negotiating, are not requirements forthe job. For example, we s_ent our Senate Democrat negotiators into a room after giving them our bottom line on the K-12 education budget - all 15 members of our caucus said - $5.3 billion in real money ... no bonding, no tricky accounting, no triggers ... $5.3 billion firm. They came back from the table with only $5.1 billion and more tricks than an Enron hooker. And now they're trying to peel off our members to support it. Why? Because Republicans know that they can always out-wait us, we always cave eventually, because we're always in a hurry to get out. Our leaders measure leadership by the standard that a quick bad deal is preferable to a slow, fair deal. I E ven in a session like this, when we had the Republicans on the run. Last week we actually had the minimum of 16 Senate votes needed for $5.3 billion! And we let · it slip away. Why? Because it's more important to our leaders to not let things but his floor speech and vote supported the conservative right of his caucus. It is too bad that he did not stand up to his caucus leaders and vote against the bill. He should have done his job and not caved to the pressure of his caucus leaders. Farr should not have passed the buck or expect that the Senate would do his job. On Aug. 5, he voted for the Oregon Department of Transportation budget, which eliminates the Cascades passenger train serv- ice in the Willamette Valley. If Farr really wants to be a moderate, it is time for him to stop just talking like a moder- ate and start voting like one. He needs to stand up to the conservative members of his caucus and not enable their demagoguery views. Floyd Proza~ki State Rep., District 8 · get too partisan - and hold hands with unreasonable leader- ship in both chambers - than to do the obvious: Vote for $5.3 billion for K-12 and send it over to the House. The budget package our leaders accepted only gefs to $5.3 billion if the following events happen: • The governor or the Legislature expands the lottery by adding video poker machines, expanding to slot machine line games, or cutting the tavern owners' commission (Republicans will never allow this to happen). · • The Legislatur~ must steal $48 million in PERS savings from agencies not funded by the General Fund - probably illegal. • And schools only get from $5.22 billion to $5.3 if the economy improves and rev-· enue increases $64 million over projection. I couldn't believe our negotiators actually came back with this proposal. The budget also lacks sufficient money for community colleges, higher ed, and - surprise, sur- prise - for seniors and disabled; arid we still don't know what the Oregon Health Plan looks.like. The proposal also forces agencies to eat the expense - $18 million - of state labor settIe·ment costs. Even though state workers got no pay raise, they did get some additional help with spiraling health insurance costs. That $18 million provides services, so that means more cuts. Republican leaders like Randy Miller keep insisting there just isn't enough money. But their negotiators absolutely refused to discuss mortgage interest income tax deductions for second homes and yachts. And they refused to look at delaying Dubya's federal income tax cut for the rich (Oregon's richest 1 percent get 30 percent of the cut, the poor don't get squat). If we'd just delay half of that tax break, that alone would put $1.4 billion on the table! Dear Senator, After reading about the goings-on at this legislative session, I have an idea that might help to narrow the state's budget gap for the coming fiscal year. Consider put- ting a swear jar in the Capitol. Best, Andrew Ross, a constituent Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 4, which includes the VO area. He can be reached at sen.tonycorcoran@state.or.us
