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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2006)
BY DAN CAROL Return of the Dammit With some no-brainers steps toward energy independence S o it’s been a while since my last column for Eugene Weekly. Of late, I’ve been busy doing a lot of writing for The Huffington Post online and writing a book proposal that I am shopping around this month. Don’t hold your breath that you’ll see anything on the shelves soon — err, probably ever — but I must say it was fun to sketch out some ideas that aren’t just about politics, politics, politics. Speaking of which, I am still neck-deep in the political swamplands. Above the water line, it’s been wonderful sup- porting and advising the continuing emergence of great groups like Oregon’s own Bus Project and ProgressiveMajority.org who are now acknowledged national leaders in building our future “farm team” of progressives. Mainly though, I’ve been agitating on the energy independence issue, nationally and in Oregon, through The Apollo Alliance. For you seven or so Kumbaya Dammit junkies out there, you might remember that Apollo — a proposed moon mission, crash investment program to create clean energy jobs and freedom from foreign oil — was in fact was the subject of my very first K-Dammit column here back in 2003. Nowadays, lots of folks are touting an Apollo energy program as a key part of a resur- gent Democratic Party message to win back Congress in 2006. To which I say, hold on a second. Frankly, as I have opined here before, we need to spend way less time jockeying over party politics and more time just defining and branding the things that all Americans are craving for — no-brainer and big ideas like energy independence, a sane health care poli- cy, a smarter war on terror and so on. And then we can let the parties and the candi- dates fight over who “owns” these ideas, and be relaxed that this political jump ball will cut way Democratic. My gut is that following this two-step approach will help Democrats and progressives running for office far more than trying to overreach with a cookie-cutter Democratic “Contract with America” designed to nationalize the 2006 Congressional elections. Look at it this way. Imagine if you will that voters are stuck in a really-really bad mar- riage right now, battered and bruised by the lies and broken promises of Republican poli- cies, privatization, and post-Katrina posturing that leaves them cold as ice. They want out of this marriage BAD but uh, it’s actually their SECOND marriage. The thought of jump- ing back into a serious relationship, let alone a binding contract, with Democrats who they were already married to before is not exactly an exciting alternative that they will rush into. So in essence voters are wisely looking to go out on a casual coffee or two with a nice local candidate who is talking about common sense issues and results, not about another major commitment. Apollo is just that kind of issue. Clearly, our original idea of spending $300 billion — about an Iraq War’s worth — to move towards energy independence over 10 years is no longer such a crazy notion. Economic studies we’ve done show that over 20 years our 10- point plan would more than pay for itself while creating three million high quality jobs. No wonder polls show 90 percent of Americans are ready for such a program. Unfortunately, too few of these Americans live inside the Washington, D.C., beltway where partisan bickering has stalled out major programs and new investments in renew- able energy at the scale we need. So the Apollo Alliance strategy is to call for big, bold national-scale commitment to good jobs and energy independence but to move that agenda in states — via legislation (such as Washington State’s 2005 green building legis- lation), innovative Green Wave public pension fund investments (California’s State Treasurer Angelides’s plan, for example) and sometimes at the ballot. W hich brings me to Oregon Apollo and an exciting new ballot measure designed to boost our state’s biofuels and renewable industries. Last week, ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber and State Sen. Ben Westlund (R-Bend) agreed to lead this broad-based effort to create thousands of high quality jobs by keeping Oregon green with more clean energy. Salem and the Legislature have had their chance and failed; now it’s time to change our politics by building a broad-based campaign that unites rural and urban Oregonians around no-brainer steps we can take to be free from foreign oil. Now let’s be clear to you well-read Eugene Weekly readers: Oregon Apollo isn’t a panacea for peak oil or global climate change — just one small step towards energy inde- pendence, down the right path we need to go. But qualifying and passing this measure can also be an important emblem for the new politics of change that must define our future, so like the Bus Project, which endorsed this effort two weeks ago, I hope you will get on board. Check out OregonApollo.com to learn more about how you can get this effort on the November 2006 ballot — and hold a house party to help make New Energy for Oregon the Dean-esque, do-it-yourself political story of this year’s campaign season. Dan Carol of Eugene is a political strategist.. 4 JANUARY 26, 2006 TO THE EDITOR WE’RE NOT FOOLED On Jan. 13 I heard Senator Ron Wyden speak at the City Club of Eugene and at the Campbell Senior Center. When asked why he voted for appropriations to continue the war in Iraq he responded that he did so in order that U.S. troops would have the body armor they needed. Obviously everyone was appalled to learn of the callousness of the U.S. military command in sending men and women into combat without the necessary armor. However, Wyden’s rationalization is a sham. First of all, body armor does not cost the hundreds of billions of dollars that the senator and his colleagues have been appropriated for the war. I am sure Wyden has the intelligence, political savvy and connections to figure out a way to fund body armor that does not cost bil- lions of dollars and that does not simultane- ously fund armaments of destruction too nu- merous to mention. Secondly, U.S. troops would not need body armor if they were not in Iraq in the first place. Being concerned about the troops having ade- quate armor is a bit like telling a bunch of kids to ride their bicycles down the middle of I-5 on a traffic-filled holiday weekend, then feeling righteous because you’ve given them good bi- cycle helmets. Thirdly, Wyden voted against the war in Iraq — the first time. But it is erroneous to think that Congress votes only once on any war. In a very real sense they vote yea or nay repeatedly when they choose to fund it. Wyden has voted yes on the war in Iraq with each of his subsequent votes to ensure funding for the war. I, for one, am fed up with politicians wrapping themselves in the flags of the coffins of dead servicemen and women. We are not fooled, senator. Kate Savannah Eugene BLESSED UNION It was interesting to read (1/12) about cou- ples who have met and married in Eugene. My husband, Richard Catlin, and I met at the WOW Hall on Oct. 5, 1991. We were there to see and dance to The Back Porch Blues who had recently performed during the Eugene Celebration. We have been together since that day. Our marriage, which took place at Waldo Lake, has been blessed beyond measure in myriad ways. Between us, we have five chil- dren and five grandchildren. Interestingly enough, it was Richard’s son, Sebastian, who introduced Mike and Jordan Klindt to one an- other, the featured couple in your wedding arti- cle. Eugene is truly a special place. J’nene Wade Eugene BAI KHAO PRIDE Molly Templeton’s review in EW (1/12) stated that Springfield’s Bai Khao Thai restau- rant is friendly, welcoming, generous and deli- cious with lots of affordably priced menu items. What Ms. Templeton didn’t discuss is Bai Khao’s family feeling, its employees’ ten- dency to greet patrons by name and send home a gift of soup and ice cream when a patron is ill; its wonderful neighborhood community feeling; and its light-tasting, high quality healthy food. Two adorable young people cook wonder- ful food, working 10-hour days, seven days a week, and their love and respect is noticeable at your table. As Templeton points out, “The kitchen open(s) to the dining room,” and we feel this is intimate; it makes us feel at home as we enjoy a delightful ballet of cooking, flames, friendship, fun and family. Bai Khao is our neighborhood restaurant. Templeton finds “Value Village” and a “strip mall” to be liabilities. Our node, so prized in Eugene, allows us to walk safely to the restau- rant. EW doesn’t rate Jo Frederico’s according to it being by train tracks; Tasty Thai being next to a lube joint; Chao Pra Ya being behind an oil station; Ring of Fire being in a “strip mall”; or restaurants in Oakway and around 5th St. Market as being in strip malls. Does she describe our locale negatively because it is smaller, unpretentious and Springfield? This is about the values we choose and feed, which
