LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
informed decisions instead of relying on
gambling industry hype. Find lawmakers
at www.leg.state.or.us/house/houseset.htm
and www.leg.state.or.us/senate
Debby Todd
Florence
DELUDED ARROGANCE
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Starting Jan.17th
Winter Classes:
Painting: Still Life with Oils - Mon. evenings with John Holdway
Intro to Acrylics - Thurs. evenings with Rebecca Mannheimer
The Art of Bookmaking: Mon. evenings with Paula Gourley
Drawing: Basic & Intermediate - Tues evenings with Paula Stuart
Photography: Light and the Human Form- Weds. evening with Lorin Edmonds
Chinese Calligraphy: Weds. evenings with Teresa Hsu
Printmaking: Printing without a press- Weds. afternoons with Diane Rios
Parent/Child Art Class: Tu/Thurs afternoons with Donna Dawson
Sculpey in 3-D: Tues afternoons with Donna Dawson
Also find information about workshops at DIVA
visit online at www.divanow.org
REGISTER AT
OREGON ART SUPPLY . 1020 PEARL ST. . 683-2787
8 DECEMBER 30, 2004
Few people noticed that only 31 per-
cent of eligible voters approved of Bush,
and a whopping 40 percent abstained, per-
haps because both Democrats and
Republicans support defiant, violent world
domination. I hope the corporate-political
aristocracy feels abandoned by the non-
voters because the empire-expansion poli-
cies will hit the wall of petroleum exhaus-
tion soon, resulting in deadly chaos.
At only 5 percent of the world’s popu-
lation, Americans dominate the rest of the
world by consuming 20 percent of the dis-
appearing oil, which requires enormous
military support. In 1998, the Republican
Policy Committee stated “most of the cost
of Persian Gulf oil is the military cost.”
Obese oil corporations are protected by
an obese military so that obese Americans
can drive their obese vehicles. The people
who display the “Support Our Troops” rib-
bons are insulated from viewing the
obscene violence committed by those
troops and they obviously don’t connect
the gas-guzzling vehicles that bears their
ribbons to the demand for oil bought with
the blood of those troops.
We have a deluded arrogance: 137
species are going extinct every day from
global warming, we produce 25 percent of
the world’s global-warming carbon emis-
sions, yet we refuse to sign the Kyoto
treaty. We also have enough nuclear
bombs to destroy all life on the planet sev-
eral times over. We could become extinct
ourselves, easily. Realizing this, millions
of people worldwide are working toward
cooperation and peaceful coexistence. We
do not need to wait for an obsolete domi-
nation system to grant us true security.
David Hazen
Eugene
EYES WIDE SHUT
To those “citizens” in Eugene who sit
by tacitly and watch as women are abused,
you are a disgrace. Apparently my gender
still feels comfortable with assaulting
women. I am angry and disillusioned with
the actions of these bottom feeding
abusers and the cowardly “non-confronta-
tional” spectators peering in Buddha-like
silence as assault takes place in the city
streets.
This city sure has a high concentration
of people willing to turn their tie-dyes
when realistic problems are in full view. I
hope the children in attendance with their
parents didn’t get any negative ideas as
they looked upon this confusing mix of
apathy and aggression.
The fact is, if you do not react, if you
make no movements, no interjections, or if
you refuse to stack yourself into a physical
presence, more power is being comman-
deered by these simian self-hating tough-
guys. You should already have a working,
cognitive value system by now. Is some-
thing you are witnessing confusing to you?
I had no problem running to the aid of
someone who was being assaulted in the
street while an entire busload of people
watched dumbly; and I certainly didn’t
stand about crippled by internal moral
dilemmas when I reacted to an obvious,
public case of abuse. Yet, my “nosy”
behavior sent some abusive creep stagger-
ing home and away from his victim. That
was my only concern at the moment, my
only reaction. To the large crowd watching
from a distance — YOU SHOULD HAVE
DONE SOMETHING.
Jon Young
Veneta
WHAT’S SUCCESS?
I am homeless./ But not one can help
me./ People say homeless people are
poor,/ that they don’t know about success,/
so they don’t have a door or a roof, / They
say they drink and do drugs,/ And then it
makes their life go poof./ But it’s not true
because I’m homeless, too./ Homeless
people know about success/ Look what I
do./ I go to school, I don’t smoke/ Or do
drugs./ I work on Saturdays/ I live without
my mom,/ I take care of two kids,/ Try to
survive on my own,/ So if that’s not suc-
cess/ Then what is?
This poem was written by Matthew
Hernandez, a student at Churchill
Alternative High School. This poem was a
response to my own homelessness and to
others that experience it. Because a lot of
people aren’t aware of this issue, this
poem is a social commentary exposing my
own emotions and the truth about “staying
on the streets.”
Matthew Hernandez
Eugene
FACING EXTINCTION
Forever is a long time. We are in an
unprecedented crisis, one whose implica-
tions have failed to reach those responsible
for it. The rate of species going extinct due
to our collective activities has reached an
unprecedented number, thousands of
species per year.
But that’s nothing compared to what
eco-science experts predict. They say that
if we do not act to slow, stop and reverse
our fouling of air land and water, 30 per-
cent of all species will be on an irre-
versible path to extinction by the year
2015, and potentially 90 percent will be in
that category by 2100.
What we do or fail to do now, in these
next 10 years, will determine the extent of
our enormous sin. Man(un)kind has been
responsible for many sins (by causing
undeserved harm to vulnerable “others”),
especially in the 20th century. Our influ-
ence has grown so massive that the very
survival of the planetary web of life is in
question. We have to find ways to signal
through the flames, to cooperate in ways
we have not yet done, for the outcome to
be anything but tragic. Extinction is forev-
er.
Paul Prensky
Springfield
BY THE WAY …
Side effects may include, but are not
limited to: excessive sweating, nausea,