BY MARK ROBINOWITZ
downtown dan
Advice for Uncertain Times
Fake Debates
Dear Dan,
Beyond binary thinking
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
— George W. Bush
T
Citizen for a New Downtown
No, CAN DO. But you can probably hear us bickering.
A final thought for the undecided voter out there. The Eugene 4-J District
Board of Directors supports 20-134. Dan finds it odd that opponents spent
time and money “defending schools” from a PHDVXUHWKHGLVWULFWVXSSRUWV.
What 20-134…
Doesn’t Do:
Does:
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Craters are Depressing. Let’s Get to Work.
YES on 20-134
*results may not be typical
he Bush administration states that everyone on Earth must choose be-
tween supporting their policies or supporting Islamic terrorism, when
nearly all of the world rejects both. A peaceful approach compatible with
the survival of civilization cannot support either the War on Terror nor the Iraqi in-
surgency, neither the U.S. occupation of Afghan poppy fields nor the Taliban.
Establishment politics in the U.S. seek to confine discourse toward whether one
supports the Republicans or the Democrats even though there is a much more di-
verse range of opinions. While the two parties differ on some social policies, they
are nearly identical on the core issues of expansionist empire (even though the
Republicans are usually worse).
Some in the Democratic Party imply that if you support a stronger role for
women in politics you have to support Hillary Clinton even though many feminists
(female and male) are repulsed by her shilling for corporate polluters and efforts
to further shred the social safety net. Margaret Thatcher’s terms as prime minister
in England proved that gender does not determine policies.
The mainstream view of environmentalism suggests that those concerned about
pollution changing the climate should embrace Al Gore’s nonelectoral political cam-
paign even though he helped make the climate crisis worse while vice president.
And some far-right wing anti-environmental voices suggest that because Al Gore
has some unpleasant politics, therefore climate change is a hoax — as if atmospheric
chemistry were dependent upon a particular politician or political entity
The loudest voices in support of the paradigm that the Bush administration
was complicit in 9/11 argue for “no planes” (the plane crashes were faked, or sub-
stitute planes were used). The debunkers in the media accurately point out that
these no-plane claims are nonsense but then claim that because this claim is false,
therefore there was no official conspiracy to permit the attacks to happen. Few on
either side mention the well-documented evidence that there was complete fore-
knowledge at the highest levels of the administration.
On Nov. 2, the Pacifica Forum is sponsoring a white supremacist neo-Nazi to
speak at the UO on the topic of the Israel lobby. This is about as ridiculous as invit-
ing KKK leader David Duke to talk about human rights abuses in Darfur or
Zimbabwe. Zionists and extreme anti-Semites each tell their supporters that they
can only support Israeli apartheid or Holocaust denial, and that the presence of
the other is a reason to support them. However, within Israel there is a much
broader range of opinions about the morality of Israeli policies than within
American politics although most American Jews do not support the Likud (ultra-
militarist) faction in Israel. We don’t need neo-Nazis to tell us that Israel violates
human rights. It is possible that some of the Holocaust deniers are provocateurs
intended to give uncritical supporters of Israel an excuse to avoid examining
human rights abuses against Palestinians, among other contemporary crimes.
Finally, the statewide Measure 49 campaign poses a false choice for voters con-
cerned about rampant overdevelopment. The Yes on 49 campaign claims their
measure would protect the qualities that make Oregon special. While pro-49 rhet-
oric campaign is laudable, the details are less impressive. Measure 49 would block
some of the worst parts of Measure 37 (passed in 2004), but also cement into law
the regulatory repeal of Measure 37 and set a horrible precedent for future envi-
ronmental rollbacks.
The Yes on 49 groups are spending more energy on 49 than they exerted to
stop Measure 37. The lead group for 49, 1000 Friends of Oregon, promotes timber
industry representatives on their “Envision Oregon” website — Hal Salwasser (OSU
Forestry dean) and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute. Every strip mall, free-
way, subdivision, paper mill and toxic dump currently littering the countryside is in
compliance with existing Oregon land use laws — a reason to strengthen protec-
tions, not negotiate them away to appear reasonable. Further details about
Measures 37 and 49 are at www.greenwasheugene.com
I hear you can see the downtown pits
from outer space. True?
Pa i d f o r by E u ge n e C a n D o I t PAC
We b : e u ge n e d o w n t o w n . b l o g s p o t . c o m ( P D L O e u ge n e c a n d o i t @ g m a i l . c o m
Mark Robinowitz of Eugene is publisher of oilempire.us, which has a longer version of this article.
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