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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2010)
letters TO THE EDITOR vote. In truth, voting for a corporate tool who will not challenge his Puppetmasters is wasting your vote. We cannot afford continuing to accept Democratic half- solutions to problems that continue to get worse. Perhaps if a few of them lose their jobs, they won’t take the rank and fi le for granted. That is why I left the party after 34 years. The only way to take back America for the people is to reject party labels and vote for anyone who is willing to introduce a Constitutional amendment abolishing corporate personhood and challenging other senators up for reelection to declare whether they support democracy or corporate domination of government, which some might describe as fascism. Rick Staggenborg, MD Coos Bay TAKE ACTION As a mother to two elementary school children and the wife of a 4J teacher, I recognize I am more directly affected by the continued budget slashing that is happening in our district, but you fool yourself if you think these cuts don’t affect each and every Eugene citizen. My husband received a letter from the district this week warning him that he and basically every other fi rst and second year teacher in 4J might very well be laid off as of Dec. 17. Happy Holidays! With 4J’s teacher force reduced by 10 percent, classroom sizes will grow (yet again), schools will close, teachers will suffer increased stress levels, students will receive even less individualized help, test scores will drop, students will drop out, our population of downtown daytime teens with nothing to do will expand, families with investments in their children’s education will move to communities with better schools, good young fresh teachers will move elsewhere, businesses will suffer. The entire community of Eugene will bear the scars as we repeatedly slash at our school budget. Ask yourself if my long list of threats seem likely and if you want them to happen. If not, then do something! Write some letters, support taxes for schools, send the union and the district your ideas for cost reduction and funding. Take action, Eugene! This is our town. Don’t drive us out of it. Mari Livie Eugene EDITOR’S NOTE: See our cover story Sept. 16 on how Eugene could pass an income tax on wealthy individuals to support public schools, similar to Oregon’s Measure 66 which Eugene voters favored by 73 percent. REIN IN THE GREED Our democracy is threatened by destructive corporate interests. Whatever their political beliefs, Americans are outraged when they learn that anonymous corporate attack ads are now legal according to the recent Supreme Court’s “Citizen United” decision. They correctly see the ads as an affront to even the barest standards of fairness. In fact, Republican leaders have long argued that so long as people knew who was paying for campaign ads, there was no need to regulate them through campaign fi nance reform. Yet since “Citizen United” opened the fl oodgates for monied interests to drown out the rest of our voices, Republican senators have prevented requiring corporate interests to at least put their names on their ads. Consequently we are bombarded with thousands of dollars worth of such untraceable advertising on local broadcast media outlets. Frustrated as voters are with the state of America, including with the Democrats’ own frequent capitulation to corporate interests, most still don’t want our government to become the wholly owned property of BP and all the other corporations (including foreign ones) who can now buy our elections without people even knowing they’re involved. It would be a big mistake to sit out this election to teach them a lesson. We need to get past our broken hearts to help elect the best possible candidates. If we work well enough at explaining why the money matters, it could tip race after close race and help us begin to rein in the power of unaccountable greed. David Zupan Eugene Tarra Hartlauer transforms old jeans into fresh, fun, entirely unique skirts with plenty of whimsical attitude. Then when she’s done with her sewing machine, she picks up her router and creates more whimsey with her cheerful garden signs. Local Crafts • Great Food • Live Entertainment Eve r y S atu r d ay • 10 a m - 5 p m • R ai n o r Shi n e • 8 t h & O a k w w w.eugenesaturdaymarket.org If you like casual footwear that embraces style and comfort, then T Täō s footwear is for you. DYI MUSIC CRITICS The way I see it, the authors (“EW Doesn’t know Shinola,” 10/7) have two choices. First, since they are so certain that EW is lamer than their parents, it is obvious there is missing from the Eugene music scene a music critic. Therefore they can fi ll that void by becoming the voice in the Eugene music scene. They do that by starting their own website. This can be done for $5 a month. They can marry their journalistic skills with their technical and marketing skills to create the ultimate media experience for the discerning Eugene audiophile. I can see now an article (video?) describing the shows, along with video clips, art, etc. And because everyone fi nds the information so important to their lives, advertisers fl ock to them and beg them to take money for a few pixels on the site. They are so good that the audiences in Portland plead with them to review all of the shows there. Their careers are launched, using Seattle as springboard: New York, London, Paris! They will have to fi ll in just a couple holes with their own creativity. (Dose of reality: It might be that the Eugene music scene can’t support even one music critic, let alone a half dozen.) Second, go back down by the river and smoke a couple dubes. The fact that I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Eugene music scene doesn’t mean the authors couldn’t do something really positive for themselves and their community. Just forgoing a joint a month, they could make an awesome site by turning their passion and creativity into something that will be a benefi t. Don’t whine about it. Do something better! Gregg Ferry Corvallis RUST HAS INTEGRITY Find Footwise Eugene on Facebook SANDALS SHOES CLOGS BOOTS &#SPBEXBZt%PXOUPXO&VHFOFt 48.BEJTPOt%PXOUPXO$PSWBMMJTt .PO4BU4VOtXXXGPPUXJTFDPN Pick up milk & snacks! Check out our great selection: • Granola bars • Pretzels • Nutrition/ protein bars • Teas • Yogurt • Cheese • Crackers • Juices • Sports drinks • Fruit cups • Nuts • Jerky • Baked chips • Deli salads • Tomato/ vegetable drinks Quick, convenient, healthy If you live in the district for the West Lane County commissioner, you probably received the mailing from Keizer, Ore., which purports to be an unbiased survey of who you plan to vote for, with business WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENE WEEKLY OCTOBER 21, 2010 5
