Eugene weekly., January 08, 2009, Page 5, Image 5

letters
TO THE EDITOR
UNRELENTING BRUTALITY
I was pleased to see the letter by Valori
George wondering why Americans are
standing passively by as Gaza is besieged
by Israel. I wonder also.
This December an Israeli drone fi red a
missile toward a group of Gazan children,
killing two boys (blowing one to bits) and
injuring two others. Yet another statistic
representing Israel’s 60 years of Nakba is
the unrelenting, brutal dispossession of
Palestine’s 94 percent indigenous 1948
population including 33 massacres, 531
ethnically cleansed villages and more
than four million U.N.-registered refugees
to date.
In 2006, Israel blocked Nobel laureate
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the U.N.
appointed head of a fact-fi nding mission,
from investigating the killing of 19
Palestinians in Gaza. Also denied Gaza
entry recently was Jewish-American
Richard Falk, U.N. special rapporteur for
human rights in Palestinian territories. Falk
said the civilian population in Gaza was
“being collectively punished by policies
that amount to a crime against humanity.”
He proposed that the International Court
“determine whether the Israeli civilian
leaders and military commanders
responsible for the Gaza siege should be
indicted and prosecuted for violations of
international criminal law.”
Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions director Jeff Halper, recently
returned from the fi rst boat lift breaking
Israel’s siege on Gaza, describes on www.
pdxjustice.org how Israel’s “warehousing”
of Palestinians refl ects an on-going strategy
of nishul, Hebrew for displacement.
Halper’s detailed “Matrix of Control”
analysis reveals how Israel progressively
“wipes Palestine off the map.”
Mariah Leung
Eugene
LOOK AT MY RECORD
I would like to take the opportunity to
respond to Camilla Mortensen’s article
(News Briefs) Dec. 24. Mortensen’s
and Josh Schlossberg’s questions about
Homeland Security can easily be answered
by looking at my voting record. I voted
against the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security, against the misnamed
PATRIOT and Protect America acts
that gave the Bush administration
unchecked power to spy on Americans,
against warrantless wiretapping and
against immunity for telecommunication
companies that helped Bush carry out his
domestic spy program. The agency did
not need and did not seek my permission
in advance, nor are they required to
consult with any member of the legislative
branch regarding their day-to-day
operations. Additionally, the surveillance
was legal thanks to the broad powers
granted by a Republican Congress.
The Homeland Security Committee
has oversight capabilities that have
been curtailed by an unresponsive Bush
administration. For example, in 2007 and
2008 the Bush administration denied me
access to classifi ed information about
the White House plan for operating the
government after a terrorist attack despite
repeated requests and having the support
of the committee chair.
Obama’s team is already taking at look
at all of the Bush administration’s executive
orders. Hopefully, the most questionable
ones will be repealed with a stroke of the
new president’s pen next month. It is my
belief President-elect Obama will work
more cooperatively with the Homeland
Security other congressional committees. I
also my hope his administration won’t see
individuals’ constitutional rights being in
confl ict with national security concerns.
Finally, I hope EW will seek a comment
from my offi ce before going to print on
such stories.
Rep. Peter DeFazio
Springfi eld
ns in Eugene and Springfie
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Our reporter did leave a message at
DeFazio’s Washington, D.C., offi ce Dec. 22, but did not
receive a call back either before or after deadline. More often
than not, we do get calls returned from DeFazio’s offi ce. A
DeFazio aide says they have no record of Schlossberg’s six
months of calls and faxes, except for one.
DOESN’T COMPUTE
In response to two letters by Jeff
Innis, Dec. 18, and John Hickam, Dec. 24,
regarding proposed LTD service cuts and
the latest West Eugene EmX extension
boondoggle, I agree! Why be cutting
service and eliminating routes right and
left due to a lack of operational money,
while at the same time planning a $50
million plus BRT route that will eliminate
more routes (i.e,. through replacement)?
How does this compute?
And yes, contact Congressman
DeFazio; he’s chair of the Surface
Transportation Sub-Committee. Be heard
and he will respond, I guarantee it (from
experience).
The federal government provides money
for capital projects (i.e., construction of
new facilities and routes and the purchase
of new buses for said projects), and does
not fund operating costs. Maybe our voices
can be heard by pushing for a change in the
fed’s subsidies, and have them subsidize
mass transit operational costs like in many
other countries.
EmX is not needed if connector routes
are not kept or created! So why spend all
of that money if you can’t get to the bus?
Jozef Siekiel-Zdzienicki
Eugene
IT’S NOT EASY TO ASK
I feel the new ordinance in Cottage
Grove is most certainly aimed at getting
rid of panhandlers in their town. To try to
claim it is about road safety is dishonest
and insulting. At least be honest in your
intentions.
I understand that many emotions
come up when someone asks you face-
to-face for money. One might feel anger,
guilt, misplaced anger perhaps, concern,
sympathy, compassion, empathy and
maybe even complicity over aiding in
another’s addiction. Of late I personally
try to not over-analyze this or even judge
someone I certainly know nothing about.
When I am asked for money, if I have it, I
give some spare change. If perhaps I feel
a bit more ahead at that moment, I give a
dollar or two. And if I have no cash I can
still wish them well, acknowledge them
and share a smile and kind thought.
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EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 8, 2009 5