letters
TO THE EDITOR
wrong with appropriating that phrase.
“The Whole World Is Watching”
originated at the Chicago police riots of
1968 — it resurfaced after the National
Guard riot at Kent State in 1970 and
again at the WTO police riots in Seattle
a few years back. In fact, the whole world
watching the abuse of our human and
civil rights probably curtailed some of the
repressive violence.
The UO had its head in the sand about
Vietnam, and it looks like that’s become
their default position. They should
withdraw the ad.
Paul Prensky
Eugene
CALLING US TRAITORS
A recent study conducted by two
independent journalism watchdog groups
revealed that the Bush administration spoke
935 lies during the ramp-up to the U.S.
invasion of Iraq. Bush himself uttered 259
deliberate lies. For some of us at the time,
this duplicity was as obvious as the naked
emperor himself. Five years ago, I was part
of a group of 15 or so who attempted to stop
business as usual at the Federal Building in
Eugene. It was a last-ditch effort to point
out the lies, focus attention on what would
be lost and persuade policymakers to call
off the dogs of war.
For our stand that day we were, at
times, vilifi ed and threatened. A local
school teacher entering the building
speculated that we might be crazy and/or
dangerous. An enraged visitor labeled me
with expletives and expressed his desire to
punch my face in. (The ever-professional
Homeland Security offi cer on the scene
quickly took him for a walk.)
We were called traitors that day, but
such “patriotic fervor” is no substitute for
reasoned judgment. In this year of frenetic
elections campaigning, all Americans
would best serve their nation by refl ecting
for a while on our collective propensity
for gullibility. Why was it so easy to sell
this madman’s scheme which has wrought
so much death, misery, and loss of world
respect? And why were the mainstream
media so eager to help with the sales job?
Top Nazi Hermann Goering had it
fi gured when he observed, during his trial
at Nuremberg: “Of course the people don’t
want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the
country who determine the policy, and it’s
always a simple matter to drag the people
along, whether it’s a democracy, a fascist
dictatorship, a parliament or a communist
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people
can always be brought to the bidding of the
leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell
them they are being attacked, and denounce
the pacifi sts for lack of patriotism, and
exposing the country to greater danger.”
When will we ever learn?
Vip B. Short
Eugene
DOUBLE STANDARD
Once again, the U.S. has fl aunted
international law. In a precedent-setting
move, the U.S. encouraged Kosovo
Albanians to proclaim independence from
Serbia and then recognized it in violation of
U.N. Security Council’s resolution #1244.
That resolution recognized Serbia’s claim
to Kosovo and brought in international
administrators to govern.
This has become a familiar pattern
used by the U.S. government: Support
international law when it suits your
interests but violate it when it doesn’t. In
1991, the U.S. justifi ed its attack on Iraq by
claiming to uphold the U.N. charter, which
states that borders cannot be changed by
force without the consent of all parties
involved. Then last week, after violating
that principle in Kosovo, it supported
Turkey in its move across an international
border to attack Kurdish rebels fi ghting for
independent Kurdistan.
Why allow Albanians in Kosovo to
secede from Serbia but not allow Kurdish
independence from Turkey? Why can’t
Serbs in Republica Srpska secede from
Bosnia as Croatia did from Yugoslavia?
Why ask the U.N. to uphold the rule of
“international law” in the aftermath of the
attack on the U.S. embassy in Belgrade
but ignore the U.N. when you unilaterally
invade Iraq or bomb Serbia?
The answer is simple. Albanian Kosovars
will allow the U.S. to keep a huge military
base in Kosovo (Camp Bondsteel), and Serbs
won’t. Croatia will allow U.S. warships to
use its ports in the Adriatic while Yugoslavia
wouldn’t. Turkey is our NATO ally while the
Bosnian Serbs aren’t.
So much for the “rule of law.”
Pete Mandrapa
Eugene
ns in Eugene and Springfie
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FEED THE NETWORK
I’ve been following the Eugene Police
Department’s frequent request for more
expensive offi cers, and it occurs to me
that law enforcement is only one aspect
of the crisis network. Some other aspects
are crisis intervention and de-escalation,
drug and alcohol treatment, rape crisis
counseling, safe houses for battered women
and hunger prevention.
A few of the organizations doing this
work are White Bird/Cahoots, Buckley
House, Sexual Assault Support Services,
Womenspace and FOOD for Lane County.
While the presence of the Eugene police
can be needed in violent crime and in
traffi c related crisis, they can’t be expected
to manage all aspects of crisis nor are they
qualifi ed to. When it comes to distributing
funds, it could be effective to strengthen
the entire crisis network rather than lean
too heavily on one specialized part.
Kari Johnson
Eugene
WAL-MART SAVING TIME
Thanks to the feds, we changed our clocks
to Daylight Saving Time March 9 this year.
They don’t go back ’til Nov 2. This means
Standard Time is no longer “standard.” It’s
barely four months. What’s the use? Some
people like the “extra” daylight, but I say to
them, “Wake up earlier.”
Screwing with the clocks was
considered a great idea by the retail lobby.
Congress and the Senate bought it. The
thought is that more people will want to
run out and go shopping if there’s daylight.
I don’t see the Pavlovian connection. Ugh.
Thanks, D.C.
While we’re at it, let’s change the name
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EUGENE WEEKLY MARCH 13, 2008 5