TO THE EDITOR
BY FRANK SCHRAMM
Presidential Finesse
as stepping up licensing enforcement.
Your cat will no longer be allowed outside
unless it is spayed or neutered. Yes, the report
limits this to “cats at large,” but try explaining
property lines to a cat.
In order to accomplish these things, the
report calls for a huge new county workforce
to track your compliance with all these new
regulations.
Unless we all protest the adoption of this
report as presented, we will feel its impact on
our wallets forever.
Ann Jensen
Eugene
The Brits don’t like us right now.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eugene Democrat and writer Frank Schramm was in London for
President Bush’s visit Nov. 19.
R
6 DECEMBER 24, 2003
LAY OFF DEAN
FRANK SCHRAMM
onald Reagan
was advised to
remember one
important rule before
meeting with Queen
Elizabeth II in London
in 1982: Whatever else,
don’t ride your horse in
front of the queen’s
horse. Duh. Even that
senator who used to be
on “The Love Boat”
knows that. So of
course, President
Reagan not only trotted
out ahead of the
Queen’s horse, but he
did a fancy little pirouette thing and turned back to wait for the queen as she rode
to catch-up.
American presidential finesse was continued last week when President Bush vis-
ited London. No horses this time, just fourteen thousand extra police to protect Mr.
Bush from terrorists. Truer, the extra bobbies on horseback, snipers on rooftops and
helicopters swooping down nose first over formidable crowds of protesters were
strategically placed exactly where the Secret Service demanded they be placed, to
protect Bush from the angry royal subjects of what he likes to refer to as “Old
Europe.”
Unfortunately, our long planned trip to England coincided with Rove’s Droves
and we paid the price for it. My favorite moment in London? Let’s see, might have
been when I was buying tickets to the Tower of London and was immediately
pegged for American (could it have been the way I held out my handful of coins and
asked “Is this enough?”) and was roundly roughed up verbally by a beefeater at the
gate. Mr. Beefeater was merely one of a number of old Europeans willing to point
out how much money Bush’s visit was costing the crown. We were advised to enter
via the Traitor’s Gate.
No, perhaps my most memorable moment was being pinned against a glass case
full of gold bars at the British Bank Museum by a very opinionated docent who was
not amused at my ungrateful attitude toward my president when I responded
ashamedly to his question “How do you like being here at the same time as your
president?” How was I to know he was the one and only British Bush fan?
Not to be a disappointed tourist though — I have my souvenirs. I still have the
two $25 tickets to the inside of Westminster Abbey we were unable to use. It was
closed for the first time ever due to security reasons. And I have my photographs of
the important London sites — Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, British Museum, St.
Paul’s, Tate Museum and the rest, each photograph perfectly framed by a width of
chain link fencing and London police in their green and yellow reflective stripes and
bullet-proof vests. And I have a bunch of coins that are still a mystery. The big ones
are worth less than the small ones. Then there are the special memories: our
cheeks red from the brisk London morning air as we stood at crosswalks watching
the signs go by, “America Sucks,” “Bush go home and take Tony Blair with you,”
and my favorite, “Bog off Ape Boy.”
While packing for home, Janice and I watched the news on the tele’. As obsessed
as Londoners are with Michael Jackson, it was a different clip they were repeating
as if it were a memory test: that of the golden papier-mache statue of George Bush
being felled a la Saddam Hussein into a ring of burning American flags. They don’t
like us right now — not at the restaurants; not at the Internet cafes; not at the cas-
tles and other monuments; not at the pubs; not on the tele’. We’re just not appreci-
ated at all. They don’t like Tony Blair, either.
Press reports of 70,000 protesters were laughably low — double that at least.
BBC reports a closer-to-the truth account of the motives behind our war with Iraq,
the push of phony intelligence, the lack of post-war planning. America is perceived
by the British as calling the shots, even though it was Tony Blair who was waving
the worry about Hussein flag while Bush was still involved in the theft of electors
from Florida. Blair is regarded as Bush’s puppet. Save for the televised accounts and
the well-timed attacks on the British consulate in Turkey, the news was all about
how unwelcome Mr. Bush was. Vanessa Redgrave may have said it best on a
Donohue-esque British TV panel. “It’s not that the American presidency isn’t wel-
come here. It’s just that George Bush isn’t welcome here because he is a liar.”
If you go there now, you’ll know that it doesn’t take an account from Her
Highness to grasp that His Heinous is unwelcome at Buckingham Palace, no matter
what you hear from Downing Street.
Mean Mr. Dean. Is this what it has come
to, Ms. Tattersall (12/11)? When you are un-
able to articulate a reasonable or a well-
thought-out argument to as to why left-of-
center, liberal Democrats such as myself
should vote for Dennis Kucinich all you can
come up with is name calling? In attempting
to convince the Green Party/Ralph Nader
voter that Mr. Kucinich is their candidate of
choice, are mean-spirited half-truths and
name-calling all you can bring to bear?
Let me tell you why I support Howard
Dean. Howard Dean is honest. He speaks
from his heart. He doesn’t avoid answering
difficult questions. He is educated. He con-
nects to me on a simple emotional level with-
out resorting to name calling. Yes, I know that
Mr. Dean and I disagree on many subjects.
Are our disagreements significant? Not in the
larger context.
Millions of rank and file Democrats have
intuitively grasped what is going on in
America today. Bush is bent on repealing the
“New Deal” liberalism with a simpleminded
Corporate Nationalism. If you are not for him
you must be against him. And he is against
you. There is a chilling sort of mean spirited-
ness in his “bring ’em on” rhetoric.
As for my opinion of Mr. Kucinich, like
many, I like much of what he says. But I re-
member his voting record. I understand that
fundamentally he is not capable of winning
the election. And I do not want another four
years of George Bush.
Paul Ausems
Eugene
SINS OF OUR FATHERS
It is sickening to hear the mealy mouthed
supposed opponents of the junta conform
themselves to politically correct expressions
that defend the ridiculous notion that the cap-
ture of Saddam Hussein is good news.
Does the U.S. invasion and occupation
deserve credit for finally detaining the mon-
ster they created, informed, trained, funded,
armed, and, at the behest of god bless fucking
america, encouraged to commit the very
crimes against humanity about which we
now fulminate within a weak critique specu-
lating upon the manner of his prosecution?
This capture is not closure, nor would be a
show trial. This could be at best a necessary
evil to deal with the sins of our fathers.
However, since we are committing precisely
the same sins in the process, not even that can
be claimed.
This is a grievous culmination and confir-
mation of decade after decade after decade of
moronic, atrocious, monstrous foreign pol-
icy. Further, this is a wonderfully explicit and
yet still ignored lesson:If we want to stop war
and terrorism, it might possibly be useful to
avoid alliance with monsters.
Perhaps for these crimes in Iraq a trial in
which Jimmy, Raygun, Shrub, Bubba, Dub
and Saddam stand together in the docket as
collaborators would manage a fleeting
glimpse at the truth.
Harold Rogge
Eugene
BOUTIQUE THRONGS
Oh, the “power of the printed word.” That
was made abundantly clear when the EW
covered our “Bust Bu$h Boutique,” a holiday
fund-raiser promoting peace and a regime
change for Amerika. The EW was the only
media to cover this incredible event, and it
was made incredible because of Aria
Seligmann’s skills in conveying the intent
and essence of our project.
We made a point of asking many atten-
dees how they heard about it, what prompted
their attendance. Virtually every single re-
sponse was, “I read it in Eugene Weekly.”
The Peace Elves who hosted this event to
raise funds for Eugene Peaceworks and their
project, the Committee to Counter Military
Recruiting, are deeply grateful to Aria and
EW for being so very community-minded in
this, and in countless other ways. We are
grateful for this community who purchased
our “Peace-L-Toe” and our regime change
fashions and peacewear. Many hundreds of
dollars were raised. (And of course the exqui-
site desserts donated by Sweet Life Patisserie
were the “icing on the cake”!) Thank you all
for bringing in the throngs.
Carol Berg for
The Peace Elves
1251 Lincoln St Eugene, OR 97401
541.484.0519 • (fax) 541.484.4044
on the web @ www.eugeneweekly.com
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