TO THE EDITOR
CHECK IT OUT
KILLING US SOFTLY
Balance is important in life. In all areas
we should be balanced. I’m not putting any-
one down for watching sports and television.
Especially if you watch “NOW” with Bill
Moyers Friday nights on PBS. But if your
free time consists of watching television and
little else, you are out of balance.
I bring this up because I had the privilege
and pleasure to attend the third annual Peace,
Justice and Media conference Oct. 9-12 here
in Eugene. It was a wonderfully inspiring
and educational event with speakers, theater,
music, workshops and films. I got the chance
to meet other people who were involved
in various organizations which are trying
to make the world a more just and fair
place. My dismay was the lack of atten-
dance.
I had a hard time finding parking because
there was a sporting event going on which
was very well attended. I often find myself
thinking if only these people would go to one
of these types of conferences for one week-
end a year, then maybe they would possibly
expand their consciousness just a little to un-
derstand in depth some of the issues we are
faced with today and what can be done to
help.
Jim Hightower, who kicked off the con-
ference, had a full house for his speech. That
was great, but part of his message was for
people to get active. The first step is to edu-
cate ourselves. The second step is to get in-
volved in issues that concern us. This is a
wonderful example to set for our children.
Children notice and mimic what we do, not
what we say.
Please, next year, check out the Peace,
Justice and Media Conference. It just might
get you to turn off your TV and get out in the
streets!
Pamela Driscoll
Eugene
I had just walked out of the Peace, Justice
and Media conference’s video called “Killing
Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women,”
when I saw a copy of your 10/9 newspaper
lying on a table in the EMU depicting a naked
woman getting “The Best of Eugene” tat-
tooed on her body with a person’s black
gloved hands on her ass. I cannot tell you the
sadness and despair I felt.
A whole segment of the video was de-
voted to the dehumanization of women. To
dehumanize is to objectify, leading the way to
use and abuse. One way to dehumanize
women is using women’s bodies as an adver-
tisement with examples that were less offen-
sive than your cover page. One of the first
things Jean Kilbourne said was that most
people think they are not affected by advertis-
ing and that that is simply not true — not for
us or our children.
This is my third letter to you — the other
two were about the objectification of women
in your sex ads. You didn’t print those letters.
The letters to the editor you print are predom-
inantly written by men (11 men to two
women in that issue.) You said mine ex-
ceeded the 250 word limit yet I see many that
are in excess of that — the first two in that
issue are 347 and 336 words (written by
men).
Since your cover has absolutely nothing
to do with the “Best of Eugene,” I can only
conclude that this is more than insensitivity.
Please see that video and inform yourself be-
fore you continue to contribute to our abuse.
Jean Denis
Fall Creek
EDITOR’S NOTE: The tattoo artist on the cover is Best
of Eugene winner Dr. Julien of The Parlor. As for letter
length, 250 words is the target length, but it’s the editor’s
discretion. The week before, the longest letter (“Field of
Stumps,” 426 words) was by Camilla Mortensen.
Occasionally we’ll run longer letters if they have news
value, offer unique perspectives or advance arguments —
and if space is available.
IN DEAN’S DEFENSE
Mark Rabinowitz made some mislead-
ing statements regarding Howard Dean in
his 10/9 letter. He claimed that Dean has
mere tactical differences with Bush on for-
eign policy. In fact, Howard Dean has con-
sistently been against this war with Iraq in
contrast to all of his congressional primary
opponents (except Kucinich) who voted for
the war resolution. Dean advocates control-
ling increases in military spending, seeks
support from the U.N. in Iraq, and he has
spoken out ardently against Ashcroft and
the parts of the PATRIOT Act that infringe
on our civil liberties.
Dean has a progressive health care plan,
will roll back the Bush tax cuts and reinvest
in our schools, increase jobs, stimulate the
economy. His environmental agenda in-
cludes protecting natural resources and in-
vesting in alternatives to fossil fuel con-
sumption. The Bush administration and
their cronies claim he will be easy to beat in
the general election. Could their mantra be
because they fear his message, as well as his
superb organizational skills and fund-rais-
ing activities from hundreds of thousands of
supporters?
Those who advocate the continuing
playing of the band while the Titanic is
BY TONY CORCORAN
The Final Out
Three years of agitatin’ in the bull pen.
D
ear readers, this is my 75th and final Insider Baseball column. In my first
yammer, three years ago, I told you about the upcoming 2001 legislative session
and admonished you to pay attention locally to the Newspaper Guild members
at The Register-Guard who were without a contract, and to boycott Bi-Mart because of
their treatment of Teamster warehouse workers.
A lot has happened since then. The R-G and its union settled their three-year dispute,
and the Teamsters lost out at Bi-Mart. We’ve also had 9/11, an economic crash in Oregon,
the U.S. and around the world. We’ve had two regular sessions of the legislature and six
special sessions. But the news hasn’t been all bad: Arnold Schwartzenegger was elected
California’s governor; and we here in Oregon can take some solace in the fact that
12,690 Californians voted for Gary Coleman and 4,864 voted for Gallagher. And, Eugene
Weekly has donated $750 in the past three years to the Cottage Grove Relief Nursery as
payment for this prodigiously poorly written claptrap column.
In early September, I told you I was going back to work and very concerned about the
hostile work environment that awaited me. Sure enough, it got ugly quickly; I was even
forced into a disciplinary investigation regarding comments in my last Insider Baseball!
Of course, the union claimed that none of this was retaliation for my work on PERS, it
was simply business as usual. The boss said: “So, Corcoran, we told you in July that your
consulting contract was canceled without warning, this homecare job is the only job
available at the moment, and you get the supervisor that comes with the job, even if she
did try to fire you two years ago. But this has nothing to do with PERS. Yes, we did cre-
ate a bunch of new jobs over the past few years; yes, we have, in the past created special
jobs for spouses of some of our union bosses. But darn, we just don’t have anything
available right now.” As my good friend, Sen. Lenn Hannon, would say: “Excuse me while
I dust myself off, I just fell off the turnip truck.”
4 OCTOBER 23, 2003
T
o make a long story short: I resigned. I will begin my new job on
Nov. 7. Since it’s an appointment to an executive position, as a
member of the Employment Appeals Board, I am forced to resign
my Senate seat. And just to set the record straight for Bill “Don’t-bother-
me-with-the-facts” Smee and the other meatheads out there who think it’s
a “cushy” job from “my PERS-gutting cohort, Gov. Ted Kulongoski,” the job
pays less than my current OPEU/legislative salary and benefits. Now, I know I’m
Irish and all, subjected to many moral and mental shortcomings, so to speak. But you
must have ridden in on the same aforementioned turnip truck to think this was a finan-
cial conspiracy on my part.
If the Oregon Public Employees Union Executive Director Leslie Frane had a website
it would be entitled: disingenuous.com. Her pathetic personal attack in The Oregonian
Oct. 15 (“Sen. Corcoran was a victim of his own choices”) speaks volumes about the jam
she’s in. I’m content to let the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries decide if she vio-
lated ORS 171.120 by discriminating against me as a legislator for my work on PERS.
I can honestly say I’ve never worked harder for an employer than I did in my 15 years
at OPEU. I deeply respect the state and local government workers I represented; I ad-
mire the member leaders and my co-workers at OPEU. But I’m seriously disappointed in
union bosses, like Leslie Frane and Rich Peppers, who have transformed this union into
something I don’t recognize anymore.
The other night in Eugene, Jim Hightower said: “The opposite of courage is not cow-
ardice, it’s complacency. Even a dead fish can go with the flow down river.” Leslie and
Rich went with the flow, misled their members about the crisis in PERS, and then de-
cided to scapegoat me for speaking the truth.
Again, thank you, Anita Johnson and Ted Taylor, for allowing me to rant in EW, and
for your generous contribution to the Relief Nursery. Readers, thank you for your sup-
port. I will continue to offer my observations on state politics periodically as the situa-
tion arises — if anyone cares.
Keep agitatin’!
Until November, 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