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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2006)
TO THE EDITOR PR FAILURE covenants to which the U.S. is a signatory. This is also American law. Article VI of the Reading the interview with Don Woolley U.S. Constitution defines our international (6/22) reassured me that the “failure” to de- velop downtown according to the C&W plan treaty commitments as the “supreme law of is actually a tremendous blessing: Despite his the land.” Opposition to the Iraq war is not simply a assurances to the contrary, and his repeated liberal political viewpoint or a foreign references to irrelevant “chatter,” the policy option, but reflects the law- plan (again) seems like little ful, institutionalized will of the more than a template of na- peoples of the earth. By end- tional retail shops that can be ing funding, Congress has the found in any major city any- power to stop our country’s where in America. In other outlaw role in the world. words, a $165 million con- Plainly stated, Iraq funding is sumerism monument mas- complicity in ongoing war querading as a public space — crimes. hardly unique, interesting or According to the Nuremberg groundbreaking, let alone func- Don Wooley Principles, the Uniform Code of tional for anyone without dispos- Military Justice and the U.S. Army able income. Field Manual on the Laws of War, military More important than a debate over aes- personnel are obligated to refuse any illegal thetics or function, however, is an examina- order. These principles form the intended de- tion of the utter condescension Mr. Woolley fense of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada at Ft. Lewis in exhibits toward his own community. Perhaps pending actions against him for refusing de- what he terms a “lack of sophistication” is re- ployment to Iraq. It is shameful that a 28- ally just an awareness of developmental year-old company grade Army officer must mediocrity, uninspired planning and trans- bear the moral burden evaded by our elected parent greed. representatives in the halls of Congress. There couldn’t be any greater proof than Jack Dresser his dichotomous attitude regarding down- Springfield town parks. I would speculate he wouldn’t have trouble reallocating funding or brain- WRAP BEFORE USE storming unique solutions to such “financial choices” if it also happened to fit his bottom The EW (6/22) and Flux magazine pro- files of UO student Cree Gordon were line. But then again, developers don’t often make money off public parks. poignant. I applaud his prevention efforts. Gordon is part of nearly every risk group Eugene deserves better — and no amount of Jenny Ulum’s public relations will change that. targeted by HIV prevention specialists. He is an HIV-positive biracial youth who lost his Peter Alilunas Eugene bottom virginity while drugged up and is a former homeless “smart ho” who earned money having unprotected “survival sex” BIODIESEL FOR FAMILIES with at least 40 other men. In late May, I totaled my Subaru. I de- cided I wanted a biodiesel car, and after doing Of course, being part of a risk group is not required to be infected. HIV does not dis- some research, I decided that a Volkswagen Jetta station wagon diesel would be the best criminate. I therefore wonder why so many young car to get. Having kids and dogs, I needed a car which would hold everybody. gay men are having bareback sex? Only 32 percent always use condoms, according to a When I went to the Volkswagen dealer- ship, I found out that they stopped making scientific random sample from the nation- wide college student alcohol study published that particular car in 2005. Needing a car right away, I settled for a gas powered station in the November 2002 issue of the Journal of American College Health. More recent stud- wagon (I wanted to avoid buying an SUV or a minivan). To my dismay, my car only gets 20 ies suggest an even lower number. An editorial in the June 2006 American MPG in town and 15 on the highway. The lack of diesel larger cars was both dis- Journal of Public Health explained how the “moral values” of our “fundamentalist appointing and surprising. As I could not af- ford to buy a Mercedes diesel station wagon, Christian religious right” government has re- sulted in ineffective prevention programs for my choice was extremely limited. Why are there not more biodiesel cars that sexually transmitted infections. Efforts to honestly address key risk factors, such as the serve a family’s needs? As a society, we must push for more biodiesel options since the au- risks of unprotected fellatio compared to re- ceptive anal sex, have been censored. tomobile industry seems not to be getting it. Darcy Wienshienk Thomas Kraemer Corvallis Eugene ILLEGAL WAR POPPING OFF Although usually in agreement with Mr. DeFazio (Viewpoint, 6/22), I find his contin- ued rationalization of Iraq war funding un- persuasive. An aggressive war by any other name (pre-emptive, preventive, elective) is just as abhorrent to mankind, which has prohibited these by international law since 1928 follow- ing the horrors of WWI. Nazis were tried and executed at Nuremberg for planning and waging aggressive war. The principle that armed force is permissible only in self-de- fense is enshrined in the U.N. Charter, the Nuremberg Charter and other international Well, it’s that time of year again. My dog takes refuge under the bed for the next three weeks. It seems that some folks are so inse- cure with their shallow lives they must set off firecrackers at all hours of the day/night to be heard. “Let’s drink some beer and make some noise and draw more attention to our pathetic selves.” I guess the old pickup isn’t invasive enough. Maybe it’s a genital thing. If you feel so miserable with your own lives I am sorry for you, but please don’t pass it on to us. Colin Campbell Eugene 4 JUNE 29, 2006 REAL ESTATE BATTLE So you think the Bush administration is planning on leaving Iraq? The American Embassy, 104 acres being built on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad, says other- wise. And mind you, Halliburton is in charge and employing imported labor from Kuwait. This of course does wonders for the morale of the Iraqi people, with over half of them un- employed. The size of this project challenges the Vatican and is comparable to the Mall of America. While Iraqis suffer through daily 22-hour blackouts, light floods the project 24/7. How can we call this 8,000 person embassy, with thousands of military personnel necessary to defend them, other than a permanent base? So, thousands will run the country, giving or- ders to the Iraq government, and dare not leave this “green zone” for fear of their lives. This is not a war we’re fighting, for Mr. Bush has already told us “Mission Accomplished.” We are an occupier, holed up in the world’s largest bunker. And we all know what history teaches us about occu- piers. I wonder how the Iraqi people view the residents of this new palace? Christopher Michaels Eugene CHRISTIANS SAFE City endeavors to keep a Christian cross on publicly owned hilltop. In the face of legal challenge, cross declared “war memorial.” Attempts to sell property to private interests fail. Courts ultimately decide in favor of Constitution, declaring “cross must go.” Sound familiar? Of course it does. Only this isn’t Eugene 10 years ago, but San Diego, just this June. The “theo-cons” cer- tainly don’t give up. The latest controversies are over The Da Vinci Code, which apparently dares point an accusatory finger at the “apolitical” Catholic church, and the UO’s student Insurgent, wherein are published cartoons mocking Christianity in a manner similar to recent ones regarding Islam. Letters and editorials decrying these “attacks” on Christianity abound, particularly in The Register-Guard (which, incidentally, seems to have no com- punctions against printing correspondence attacking Islam in what would otherwise be termed “hate speech”). “Christianity threatened,” my ass. Christians have TV shows, even their own networks. The “In God We Trust” on our money and “Under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance — does anyone really think this deity is any other than the Christian god? Some 85 percent of the U.S. populace claim to be Christians. And if you’re in the slam, what’s a good way to get parole? Why, announce that you’re a “born again Christian.” Furthermore, when was the last time you heard some serious candidate for high office proclaim that he or she was not an adherent of some kind of Judeo-Christian mythos? I wish my lack of beliefs were under this kind of “attack.” Bill Smee Springfield GREED IS BAD In their June 9 op-ed piece for The New York Times (“The Corner Office In Bangalore”), contributors Lawrence Orlowski and Florian Lengyel propose that American corporations, which have been ac- tively moving factories and call centers to other countries in order to lower costs, start applying the same market logic to the high costs of corporate management. Specifically, they recommend outsourcing chief execu- tives! The writers note that outsourcing man- ufacturing and services has led to higher chief executive compensation at the expense of shareholder profit. In fact, several orders of magnitude now separate the compensation of American and overseas executives. According to the Federal Reserve, in 2004 the average American chief executive’s com- pensation was 170 times that of the average American worker. For comparison, in Britain it was 22 times greater, and in Japan only 11. Here’s a sobering statistic: An American chief executive, who is paid an average of $11.3 million annually, gets rewarded enough in one year to exceed the lifetime standard of living of 99.99 percent of the world’s popula- tion. Think about it.
