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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR of that problem yourself instead of asking that EW be your babysitter. For the record, I do not find any of these ads offensive and, for the most part, they do not even catch my eye. I would like EW to re- main free and I will respect their right to pro- cure printing funds from whomever they de- sire. Justin Bengtson Eugene BLOODY BUSINESS While I appreciated Bobbie Willis’ obser- vations (cover story 10/23) about the horrors of factory farming versus the power that re- sponsible, informed consumers shopping lo- cally have to improve the lives of farm ani- mals, I wondered why (s)he didn’t take the next logical step and accompany those hu- manely raised animals to the slaughterhouse. Surely, if we choose to eat the bodies of ani- mals killed for our pleasure, we should look at the whole bloody business. Even well- raised, happy animals die miserable and terri- fied deaths and responsible consumers need to acknowledge that, as well. Diana Huntington Eugene COUNTING THE COSTS Well, no one ever said running an empire was cheap. There are so many different costs, it’s hard to keep track of them all. But let’s try a little accounting. There’s the cost in U.S. soldiers’ lives, over 350 now, including an unreported num- ber of suicides. Then there are the wounded soldiers, over 2,000 of them, many of whom have had limbs blown off, more than 20 per- cent of them have severe brain injuries. Then there are those whose minds are shattered by what they’ve seen and what they’ve done. There’s the cost in Iraqi lives. The current estimate is 10,000 deaths. That’s over and above the U.N. estimate of up to 500,000 pre- mature Iraqi children’s deaths as a result of the U.S. and British-driven decade of em- bargo. “We think the price is worth it,” Madeline Albright said to Leslie Stahl on this subject. There’s the damage to international law when the U.S. and Britain illegally invade an- other country. There’s the price to our democ- racy when leaders lie and two-thirds of Americans are manipulated into believing. There’s the loss to our ethical center when we feel false pride as Americans when support- ing yet another “just” war. There’s the corro- sive national cynicism that accompanies massive theft by war profiteers. There’s the $166 billion that Congress has granted for war — above the $355 billion de- fense budget. There’s the loss to the children and elders whose lives could be improved with some of those funds. Empire exacts a steep price from all it touches, except the wealthy and powerful, who profit. Roscoe Caron Eugene cdgbVaÇ ËËË Ë lll# Ë ËËË GdhZ8^inBi\ #Xdb -++#*&(#*'&. LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words, and submissions to once a month. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. SHE’S A DOODLE! Driving Miss Daisy By Alfred Uhry Production Sponsor: Nov. 19 - Nov. 22 Nov. 28 - Nov. 30 Dec. 4 - Dec. 7 Hult Center, Soreng Theatre Tickets 541-682-5000 Adults $12 - $35 18 + under $12 www.willrep.org NOVEMBER 6, 2003 7
