TO THE EDITOR
FALSE ADVERTISING
Mr. Bush campaigned in 2000 on the
promises to set a new tone in Washington, to
be a uniter, not a divider, to promote a humble
foreign policy, to be a compassionate conser-
vative, and to not leave problems for others to
clean up. Instead we have the most polarized
society, the most closed and secretive admin-
istration and the most bullying foreign policy
in living memory. We’ve left more of our cit-
izens behind than ever before, rolled back
many environmental protections, and have
the largest federal deficits in history, which
our children will inherit. This is false adver-
tising and poor leadership.
In studying Mr. Kerry’s positions on the
issues, I’ve found that he has a thoughtful
plan for energy independence and the transi-
tion to renewable sources and conservation,
which will also create many good jobs. He
has a health care plan which, according to in-
dependent experts, would cover about 60 per-
cent of the uninsured vs. less than 10 percent
in Mr. Bush’s plan. He understands that coop-
eration and diplomacy are a more effective
starting point in foreign policy than the use of
brute force. He understands the need for fis-
cally responsible budgets. In short, Mr. Kerry
would offer the kind of real leadership we’re
lacking under Mr. Bush’s tenure.
I’ll be supporting Mr. Kerry in November
and I encourage you to do the same.
Michael Wherley
Eugene
SAD LEGACY
Anyone who a) earns less than $200,000 a
year or b) has an ounce of concern for the fate
of the world and its people, should be hoping
for George W. Bush to be decisively beaten in
November. But as important as this is, we
should also be concerned about the method of
that defeat.
Not a day goes by without the Bush ad-
ministration handing John Kerry more am-
munition to use against it, and yet Kerry
seems happy to play it safe, to let Bush Co.’s
hubris prove to be its own undoing. But is it
enough to hope that a group of people this
demonstrably bad for the world will defeat it-
self? Should there not also be outrage and
condemnation? What does this silence
presage for a Kerry presidency?
Given that the mainstream media treats
Bush with the kind of deference and leniency
that it refuses Kerry, this is probably a smart
election strategy on Kerry’s part. But a presi-
dency that follows one as destructive as this
one needs to have more in mind than gaining
a majority of Electoral College (or Supreme
Court) votes. It needs to stand up for some-
thing, rather than just be the safe alternative
that has little boldness about the constitution-
shredding now taking place.
As flawed as Kerry is, I hope he wins the
election. I just wish he knew how much better
his campaign, his chances of victory and the
likelihood of a successful presidency would
be if he ripped wide a few of the multiple
holes in Bush’s sad legacy.
Mervyn Duddy
Eugene
ARE WE SAFE YET?
Einstein said that problems cannot be
solved with the same level of awareness that
created the problem in the first place, and I be-
8 AUGUST 12, 2004
lieve that the 9/11 Commission and all the rich
white boys in Washington are simply cowards,
shaking in their boots, completely helpless to
deal with the terror of uncertainty. This kind of
leadership has created an America that is a mil-
itarized fortress, a police-state nation, which
only creates more uncertainty. Fifty percent of
our tax dollars serves the Pentagon, 1 percent
goes to foreign aid, we export arms to 92 per-
cent of current wars, 80 percent of arms ex-
ports go to non-democratic regimes and the
arms industry receives the second largest sub-
sidy from the federal government. Are we safe
yet? I hear the sound of hollow laughter...
The U.S, the world’s only superpower,
ranks 21st in the world in foreign aid as a per-
centage of GDP. Just how much safer would we
be if all the nations of the world were able, be-
cause of our generosity, to eliminate starvation,
malnutrition, illiteracy, HIV epidemics, over-
population, and were able to provide housing
and clean water? What would that cost us?
Twenty-five percent of the military budget.
What would happen to the image of America if
we struggled to give up our fear of strangers?
What would that cost us? A big change of heart,
a leap of faith, and a whole lot of humility.
So the choice we face as a nation comes
down to humiliation or humility. What’s your
choice?
David Hazen
Eugene
TIBET UPDATE
My name is Robert MacFarlane. I am a
Buddhist in this fair city of Eugene and
would like to share some frighteningly dread-
ful information about what is currently hap-
pening in Tibet and to the monks and nuns, as
well as the countryside as a whole, and hope-
fully you can help me in spreading this
knowledge of atrocities to the greater city
limits and abroad...
China’s Vice President Hu Jintao made
his first visit to Washington, D.C., at the end
of April. Members of Congress should know
about Hu’s involvement in Tibet, which was
invaded by the Chinese in 1949 and where
Tibetans are still persecuted for their political
and religious activities.
Hu’s record remains a mystery to many out-
side observers, but Tibetans know that during
his stint as party secretary of the Tibet
Autonomous Region from 1989 to 1992 he was
responsible for brutal crackdowns inside Tibet.
During his time there, Hu oversaw the impo-
sition of martial law in Tibet and continued a
campaign of oppression of the Tibetan people by
the Chinese government, which continues today.
As a consequence of the brutal nature of
China’s occupation of Tibet, Tibetans face
torture, arbitrary detention and harassment.
Tibetan nuns and monks, peaceful demon-
strators and children among many other sec-
tors of Tibetan society face an intolerable sit-
uation in their homeland.
We should hope and trust that our admin-
istration and members of Congress share our
concern for Tibetans’ human rights to prac-
tice their religion, to share their political
views and to self-determination. We should
hope that they use every opportunity to raise
these concerns whenever they meet with Hu
Jintao any other Chinese officials.
Robert MacFarlane
aka Karma Jinpa Tarchin
Eugene