TO THE EDITOR
troversy. I hope that the feds build the access
ramp, but cancel the rest of the building. I
don’t see a need for this Homeland Security
complex. The existing federal courthouse is
adequate to prosecute federal violations, es-
pecially if we restore our Bill of Rights by re-
pealing the so-called PATRIOT Act.
A second topic: the “anyone but Bush”
mantra. While I support immediate impeach-
ment of the entire Bush regime, the real issue
is ending imperial policies, not merely re-
placing the figureheads in the White House.
Dean supports Bush’s obscene military
spending increases. In contrast, Kucinich
wants to cut the bloated military budget to
fund human needs. Kucinich is the only can-
didate talking about the Pentagon’s missing
trillion dollars, something that Coward Dean
does not discuss. Dean merely has tactical
differences with Bush regarding the conduct
of the US empire. See www.kucinichdean-
compare.com for the details.
Any Democratic candidate can only beat
Bush if the phony electronic “touch screen”
voting machines being installed from coast to
coast are withdrawn and actual ballots
(counted by hand) are used in 2004.
Otherwise, there will be a repeat of the 2002
Georgia election, where the conservative
Democrat governor and senator, both ex-
pected to win (according to the polls) sud-
denly had a massive drop in their support on
election day.
There is no way to verify the results of an
election using touch screen ballots — and it is
not a coincidence that these disputes all favor
Republicans, since Republicans make these
machines. Kucinich is the only Democratic
presidential candidate to express concern
about this new form of vote fraud.
Mark Robinowitz
Eugene
(9/25) has the honor of being this week’s cry-
baby. I can’t help but laugh when I see such
foolishness.
This person has the gall to equate football
with our enemies’ perception of us. This
“football drug fix” she speaks of, brings in
gobs of money to the university. This money
helps fund the arts and academics that the UO
is known for. These new multi-million dollar
buildings that are springing up around cam-
pus, just where does she think the funding is
coming from? Seems to me the only “drug”
she needs to worry about is the one that is ob-
viously distorting her perception of reality.
Do us a favor Miss Linn, keep slapping those
“Free Tibet” stickers on your bumper, at least
you can make believe your making a differ-
ence. Or, here is a novel idea, get off your
butt, and champion a real cause!
Mark Zacchino
Eugene
LETTER FROM A POODLE
COLD COMFORT
I loved the letter of Mitzi Linn (9/25)
chastising EW for having an Oregon football
insert, blaming football for contemporary in-
ternational problems. First, she probably
writes using a pen name (I do not find her in
the telephone book), because only miniature
poodles are called Mitzi.
Mitzi, I am sorry your undies are in a knot
over sports. Having served on the UO
Alumni Association Board, I know well the
benefit to student and academic programs of
the UO sports programs. Simply put, Mitzi:
Joey Harrington and Luke Ridnour translate
into thousands of dollars in donations to stu-
dent and academic programs, at a time of leg-
islative non-support.
I am pleased that no football fan wrote
EW protesting EW’s appropriate expansive
coverage of the Oregon Country Fair.
Relax, sweetie.
David Jensen
Eugene/Vida
I’ll vote for Kucinich in the primary and
general elections, even if I have to write his
name in. He seems to be the only one that rep-
resents new ideas. Yes, this is a critical time,
not a time for business as usual. Dean seems
rather like another Gore, and I see nothing
outstanding about the rest. They’re all look-
ing to gain the advantage of more money.
Everyone on the left seems to be saying
Kucinich is good, yet, being short on money,
has zero chance of winning. If this is so,
what’s the point of paying any attention to
elections? Maybe it’s time to make more ag-
gressive responses to corruption. But here’s
another low probability.
The chances of my one vote actually af-
fecting a presidential election are insignifi-
cant (though not zero), especially with the
electoral college and other corruptions, as
was certainly true when I voted for Nader the
last two times. But the votes are reported, at
least for significant candidates. Minority
votes still send a message of who and what
we really want, which may someday affect
what candidates the Demolicans support.
If the Republicans dare to support Bush
again, and by chance and corruption he stays
in, I feel his excesses may wake us up to the
corruption of capitalism, consumerism and
corporatism and help to put an end to them,
hopefully before they completely destroy the
earth’s ecosystems.
Anyway, maybe hell has freezers, and
even a snowball does have a chance.
Dan Robinson
Eugene
EDITOR’S NOTE: For the record, Mitzi is a real person
(one of several upstanding local citizens with that name);
in addition, we know of at least one ankle-biter poodle
named Dave.
CRYING FOWL
There are few certainties in life. We know
the standard, death and taxes, are things upon
which we can rely. But there is another, that I
have found, a guarantee if you will. As soon
as I had the pleasure of seeing the Oregon
Ducks insert in EW, I knew, for a fact, that
there would be people crying fowl (I could
not resist the pun, forgive me) in you’re
Letters section. Sure enough, Mitzi Linn
STICK TO THE PLAN
The Healthy Forest Restoration Act is an
attempt by the Bush administration to roll
back the environmental protections of the
Northwest Forest Plan and the continued log-
ging of old-growth forests on public land.
The Northwest Forest Plan protects water
quality, salmon habitat, rare and endangered
species associated with ancient forests. The
national forests are owned by the public —
by you and me — a public who believes that
old forests, salmon, wildlife and our water
need protection.
As the agencies managing public land, the
Forest Service and the BLM actions should
reflect public opinion. So I urge everybody to
stop this proposal and defend the Northwest’s
heritage by speaking out loud!
Sylvia Bigontina
Eugene
OCTOBER 9, 2003 5