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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2011)
letters TO THE EDITOR KLCC’S QUANDARY The letter Oct. 27 from David Kennedy about KLCC was way off the mark. As a public radio DJ, I do agree that NPR is overtaking the station with shows that are excellent in small doses and elitist and soul-sucking in large doses. Fresh Tracks and several of the specialty music shows have provided community-building and culturally enriching programming, and are indeed in danger of disappearing. The problem with Kennedy’s assessment is he blames the changes of the program director when it is the public that demands talk rather than music. Public radio listeners have shorter and shorter attention spans, and they are increasingly lured by the mirage of “intelligent” talk rather than spiritual or artistic fulfi llment. Based on feedback and trends, KLCC has no choice but to respond accordingly. They and KRVM still have great music that lingers while many city public stations have eliminated music completely. Mike Meyer Eugene CRAVING WEALTH While walking to the Oct. 15 Occupy Eugene march with my sign, a homeless man asked me what I had against rich people, said someday he was going to be rich and he wanted everything they currently have. John Steinbeck said: “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” At another Occupy protest, some obviously not-rich people yelled at us. Do these people identify with the rich and are willing to do what it takes to be a billionaire, by exploiting people and destroying the environment? Then there are the fence sitters who are waiting until the movement grows or are down by the riverside so scared they’re willing to cling to the current shitstem. This movement cannot be just about economic justice BUT must include environmental justice. What is the worth of more jobs, if it’s at the expense of the planetary life support system? Humanity is on the edge of collapse due to climate chaos. This movement is a critical opportunity. Any fence-sitting parents who are not helping this movement should be charged with child abuse for having them and then denying their kids a future. Scott Fife Eugene DEFENDING THE RICH? Another way in which the game is clearly rigged for the rich is that blue collar workers have been exposed to “free trade” competition and are losing their jobs to people from China and India who work for a lot less. Meanwhile, doctors, lawyers, journalists and many other well paid professionals are protected from this kind of competition by trade pacts. So “free trade” competition is only applicable to lower paid people and not higher paid professionals. I wonder why Don Richey (letters, 10/13) is shamelessly promoting the plight of “the evil rich”? Assuming that he doesn’t belong to the richest 1 percent, he is promoting against his own best interest. I wonder how high his IQ is? Arjen Hoekstra Eugene DEFUNKED ANARCHISM I’m grateful for your coverage of the Occupy Wall Street march in Eugene. Warren Weisman (letters, 10/20) and I agree that the Occupy Wall Street movement is a great and important step for American democracy. I do not agree, The ethics of slavery continue today ccupying my mind, rising like Tenochtitlan, Cahokia or Cheops, is what used to pass for economic justice before there was an America. Suffusing the atmosphere like smog, infusing the water like aspartame, putting a price tag on water falling from the sky, all the products just doing business as usual in the land of the free built on the ethics of slavery. That is, profi t at any cost even if that means screwing someone and selling your family. What was once done to us because of race, is now being done to you for the money. If everybody is being treated like “niggers” have been treated, how do you achieve justice? I took in Occupy Eugene with the kids. The granddaughter’s fi rst demo, we made funny faces at each other while her mom and dad spit rhymes via the people’s microphone. Little Zeely is named for the earliest African ancestor on grandpa’s side, and like her namesake is a fi end for literacy, even at 17 months. Grandpa is a fi end for historic irony. Here is a leaderless movement without specifi c demands, camping for economic justice, using a decision model born from people who lived together for tens of millennia under economic justice. They voluntarily move their tent city to a park (protecting economic interests) — a park where American citizens were once forced to live, because while they had money, their “excellent suntans” barred them, like their ancestral “kinsmen” were barred from coming to Oregon 4 NOVEMBER 3, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY MEDICAL NECESSITY I am in the process of transitioning from female to male. I have been wanting to do this for about 30 years. I have realized that this is an expensive process, as many have in the past. I recently checked with my insurance to see if they would cover me to have gender reassignment surgery, in my case female to male top surgery. I found out that there is an exclusion to the policy which does not cover anything to do with transitioning even with the proper documentation of my disorder. The surgery is about $6,000. This is a huge step for me personally, and medically necessary in my diagnosis of gender identity disorder. I strongly believe that this type of surgery/procedure should be covered by insurance companies. To not cover this is purely an act of discrimination. Recently Seattle city employees voted to take out their exclusionary policies based on a letter sent to the health care committee. This encouragement to consider removing exclusions for city employees that were transgendered resulted in a more fair and equitable policy for all employees instead of just a few. This is a huge step forward and I would like all insurance companies to not have such exclusions allowed in any policy. Exclusions regarding gender identity disorder are not fair and they don’t show social justice. Anyone with a disorder has a right to receive the appropriate medical treatment needed. Gender reassignment is not “experimental,” investigational, elective cosmetic or optional in any meaningful sense. It constitutes very effective and appropriate treatment for transsexuals or profound gender identity disorder. Please join me in fi ghting for equal rights for people who suffer with any disorders. Exclusionary policies based on this disorder are unfair and unjust. Now is the time that employers are re-enrolling for the new year of health insurance. Let your voice be heard that you want equal access to health care coverage for all employees. Max Burris Eugene CRY FOR CHANGE I appreciate the efforts and sense of justice offered by the people of Occupy Eugene. This occupation represents a cry for fundamental change towards balance and fairness in our society. This occupation is an example of people joined together out of a common sense of community. This occupation will require a sustained period of growth and support in order to succeed. I BY MARK HARRIS Pre-Occupied O however, with anything else that Weisman wrote. Weisman refers to the 1920 bombing on Wall Street as “propaganda through deed.” Apparently the propaganda worked on him. I’m pretty sure us normal people call that bombing “terrorism.” He laments that this terrorism didn’t kill more people. He asserts that organized anarchism (ha!) ended nearly a century ago, but that Occupy Wall Street is a descendant of the anarchist movement. He concludes that social movements that don’t engage in the mass murder of innocent citizens are “worthless.” I hope that Occupy Wall Street main- tains its focus on economic justice. I also hope that the movement doesn’t listen to anything that Weisman has to say, and re- mains a nonviolent demonstration of what democracy really looks like. By ignoring Weisman’s advice, the Occupy Wall Street movement may actually accomplish some of the social goals that the defunct anarchist movement aimed to achieve a century ago. Finally, I hope that EW will try to print fewer nonsensical, contradictory, disgusting letters. Gabriel Yospin Eugene for the same reason. A county commissioner named Christian ordered the Ferry Street community (aka Tent City) bulldozed, without making any provision to allow American citizens the right to live where they could afford to, let alone choose to. Occupy Irony. At one time, the ecology was the same as the economy, wisdom and culture were currency, and the currency was seashells patterned in a story of how to be in a working relationship with all your relations: visible, invisible, past, present and future generations. This wisdom informed all decisions, not just next quarter’s profi ts. It was dishonorable to have poor people, it meant you weren’t taking care of the most vulnerable. Elders were preserved like libraries, not warehoused. Warriors contributed to building peace in the society. My Occupy demands are for economic justice and national security, starting with citizens: Everybody housed, clothed, fed, educated to the level needed to do excellent self-care, useful work including potent healing of others, and to avoid becoming trapped by the unethical actions of corporations. Citizenship is for anyone who makes a demonstrable positive contribution, even if you weren’t born here, and not just whites only, or people that whites like. If corporate citizens cause the injury, disability, or death of human beings, they suffer the same legal consequences that human beings experience, including the death penalty. If Wall Street had gotten funny with Mafi a money, do you think they’d get bonuses comprised of 30 pieces of silver or 9mm lead? Occupy demands, being mindful of past solutions, should look neither right, nor left, but forward! Mark Harris is an instructor and substance abuse prevention coordinator at LCC. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
