Holiday CHEER? You’ll Find It HERE!
TO THE EDITOR
prices, a war, mass layoffs in homebuilding
or tech or some other major sector sometime
in 2007 or 2008, which will result in a lot less
income tax revenue coming in than they fore-
cast. It’s a complex process, made more so by
the fact that the Legislature can only meet
every other year.
Gary Whitehouse
Albany
STAY IN IRAQ INDEFINITELY!
The problem with unrealistic peacenik
utopians is their flawed theory of how to han-
dle the war in Iraq! Any first-year psychology
student can easily predict that if we just leave
Iraq tomorrow, the terrorist jihadists will cer-
tainly view this as a major victory! And this
will seek to encourage both new recruitment
and more terrorist acts on a grand scale, not to
mention their plan to overthrow the new and
fragile democratically elected government in
Iraq and therefore the creation of an al Qaeda
state 100 times larger then Afghanistan
was!
Now let me make it crystal clear that I am
not an apologist for President Bush! I did
agree with removing Saddam Hussein who
murdered close to three million human be-
ings, and yes, some with weapons of mass de-
struction. I also agree that our presence in
Iraq has probably caused the terrorists to at-
tack us there, rather then New York, Chicago,
and D.C.! However, I certainly disagree with
the planning and execution of the war! In
other words, the Bush administration should
have listened to the expert generals’ advice
and given them ALL of the troop strength and
supplies needed to accomplish the task! The
civilian leadership should have listened to the
voice of history; then they would have real-
ized that micro-managing wars from the
White House just doesn’t work! A lesson
learned from President Johnson’s Vietnam
episode!
But it is equally idiotic to completely
compare the current conflict to Vietnam! (We
lost 58,000 troops there, and about 3,000 in
Iraq!) It is always easy to second guess and
view things in retrospect; however it is appar-
ent that we are in this war, whether we like it
or not, so we have some difficult choices to
make.
Tom Bush
Eugene
ZERO WASTE
Kudos to Cascadia Wildlands Project for
another successful fundraising auction (Dec.
2) this year. A delicious meal donated by local
eateries was served on their set of unmatched
ceramic plates accompanied by the silver-
ware and cups that they have collected to
make this and the annual Hoedown “zero
waste” events.
The 150 to 200 place settings are available
to other groups who wish to avoid using dis-
posables. Contact Cascadia Wildlands
Project at info@cascwild.org or 434-1463 for
more information.
Kit Kirkpatrick
Master Recycler
Eugene
SKEWED PRIORITIES
Backing up letters by Todd Huffman and
Paul Prensky, is there any holiday anymore
that isn’t more about buying and selling, lead-
ing to more jobs and profits, than about the
original event? Was there ever?
Is there any profession that’s doing well
that isn’t more concerned with jobs and prof-
its than products and services? Is there any
environmental or social problem that isn’t
mostly about overpopulation, leading, for in-
stance, to the need for more jobs, as well as
more government control, therefore “elites,”
therefore corruption?
Dan Robinson
Eugene
Fabulous Gifts for Everyone on Your List!
E Maggies ORGANIC COTTON Sox & Tights Are In!
E Bob Marley Shirts, Hoodies & Gifts Galore!
E Jewelry, Jewelry, FABULOUS Jewelry
E Huge Selection of Wool Scarves from Sacred Threads
E Big or Small, We’ve Got Gifts For All!
Our YEAR-END SALE Begins Dec. 26!
Fly on by for a DEAL at the PIE!
Mon-Thurs 10-7 / Fri-Sat 10-8 / Sun 12-6 We’re Grateful
Corner of 11th & Willamette in the ❤ of Eugene For Your Support
REAL POLICE WORK
In response to these letters about the
Eugene police, I side with those extremely
disappointed in Eugene police officers. The
police department needs to take its priority
off raising funds for the EPD via traffic tick-
ets, bike tickets and MIPs and do some real
police work. Until then, the police here do not
deserve our respect and will not be getting
votes for more funding.
I work one block south of the police sta-
tion in downtown. When two very young
boys under our supervision disappeared from
a class, we called all the proper authorities to
find them. The Eugene Guides showed up in
about three minutes, but the police took 45
minutes to get there. One block! At another
job in downtown, I was held up at gunpoint.
Police arrived in a half hour.
When everything of value was stolen out
of my home, dispatch informed me that the
police were just too busy and that an officer
would call me within 48 hours to take the re-
port over the phone.
On the flip side, Eugene is teeming with
traffic cops. Not even one full block out of a
parking lot, I got a $100 seatbelt ticket. The
next time you a spot a cruiser hiding in a bush
waiting for speeders, know that there is
someone else in Eugene who is being told
that the police are just too busy.
Why can’t they train some of our highly
efficient metermaids to dust fingerprints, take
reports and follow some leads?
Yuki Conlon
Eugene
WHO’S A REAL PACIFIST?
My apologies to Vip Short (12/14) and
anyone else who understandably misread the
closing four words of my letter (11/22). I
wrote that letter in a bit of a hurry, and chose
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DECEMBER 21, 2006 5