letters
TO THE EDITOR
eligible. There are literally thousands of
Oregon public employees who cannot
afford to retire until they are 65, because of
extreme health insurance payments.
We all remember fi ghting to maintain
decent health insurance coverage for our
families during our days of employment.
However, each contract bargaining would
bring higher costs, an erosion of benefi ts
and less coverage.
This trend will only continue until
we change it. The unnecessary cost for
those who can pay it and the unnecessary
suffering for those who cannot afford to
have health insurance must stop.
It is time for unions to use their
organizational skills and abilities to change
from a health insurance system to a health
care system. It is time for all of us to have
direct health care.
Insurance companies do not heal or
care for the sick. Health care providers do.
We do not need corporations profi ting off
our illnesses. We need direct care.
We, AFSCME retirees, have taken
the fi rst small step to change the system.
Please join with us to make health care a
human right for all of Oregon. For more
information, see http://wkly.ws/17v and
www.hcao.org
Lou Sinniger
AFSCME Executive Board member
Elmira
JOE’S THEORY
I have a friend, Joe who’s into
conspiracy theories. I’ve never been into
them myself, I’m from Missouri, the Show
Me State, but lately, after watching the
living out
GOP attempt to pick their next leader I
began to realize that they never wanted to
win the last election.
After the Bush administration dug us
a very, very deep pit ( two wars) one that
would take four to eight years to climb
from, the GOP not wanting to deal with
the problem they had created, chose the
scapegoat. We’ll run someone who can’t
win. Enter John McCain and the clown
Sara Palin.
We lose but it buys us time to work
on the next election and prevent any
legislative programs that would help the
present situation. Just say no to everything.
After attempting to prevent the Obama
administration from achieving any of their
goals, the GOP sees an opening. They
know that in two to three more years
everything will turn around.
They’ll be in power just in time to
start another war in Iran or Pakistan, take
your pick. We will have full employment
in the military and the military-industrial
complex we were warned about.
So I guess I’ve gone over to my friend
Joe’s conspiracy side and have to agree
thing aren’t always what they seem.
Philip Dietz
Springfi eld
NO LOVE, JUST SEX
You have to hand it to that future
bloated corpse and noted autocoprophiliac,
Rush Limbaugh — and just in time for
International Woman’s Day.
Imagine, a guy who never once in his
entire life had sex without having to pay for
it calling all women who use the pill “sluts.”
SHARING INFORMATION
I strongly feel that members of a
community have a responsibility to give
back or to contribute to that community
in some way. I am writing to try and bring
attention to the ways that online social
media forums can be used to support
causes and/or organizations on a local or
even a global level.
I currently have over 1,200 contacts or
“friends” on my social networking forum
of choice and I actively share community
awareness posts and use the application
“Causes” in order to raise awareness and
sometimes even money for programs and
issues that I believe in. However, you
do not have to have so many person al
contacts in order to have a positive affect
or in order to spread awareness.
I am currently a low-income resident
of Lane County and I have never donated
fi nancial assistance to an organization, but
I often donate some of my time and that’s
all I am asking other online social media
sites to do.
It is as easy as taking a minute to add
your signature to a petition or even looking
for a fundraising event or a clothing drive
in your local newspaper and then posting
about it online and asking your friends to
re-post or “share” the information.
Some online social networking sites
have earned themselves a reputation for
being used for the sole purposes of meeting
the opposite sex or for gossiping. Let’s all
take a minute to use them as an opportunity
to do something a little more positive.
Gretchen Davis
Eugene
BY SALLY SHEKLOW
Southern
Discomfort
Trouble where the sun
don’t shine
I
I know, all you ditto-heads out there
are saying “But wait a minute now, he
was a married man!” What? Do you think
that any of his four wives (three of whom
he met in internet “chat rooms”) married
him for his suave good looks and pleasing
personality? And can you even imagine
the alimony he is paying? You think that
is “free” sex?
And also notice, Rush never uses
the word “Love” and sex in the same
sentence. In his bitter little world, the idea
that mutual attraction and tender feelings
could engender an intense and rewarding
emotional response that manifests itself
physically is an alien concept. Rush has
never made love, Rush has just had sex.
And, in case you didn’t notice, he also
opened up a public door to his private
sex life by all but demanding that his
(imagined) enemy record a video sex-tape
for him (no doubt to hone those fi ne master
debating skills of his). At least we now
know where he gets his jollies.
He’s like those guys in singles bars who
can’t even score at closing time, and who
say that all the women who rebuff him
must perforce be lesbians. Like them, he
hates women because women don’t like
him.
We are left with only two conclusions:
either he is, despite his enormous wealth,
incredibly repulsive, or he just keeps
hitting on lesbians.
Jamie Selko
Eugene
’ve been avoiding telling this story. First off,
I’m not sure I can even say “butt hole” in print.
With vocabulary options so limited, there’s no
acceptable way to even mention, as we all learned
in grade school astronomy, “Uranus” (even though,
and I think I’m safe generalizing here, pretty much
all of us have one).
Mine was troubling me something awful, but
until I could talk about it I suffered in private. For
months I endured sporadic crises in my orifi ce that
dare not speak its name. As you can imagine, this
put a serious damper on social interactions which
customarily include the dreaded question, How are
you? Awkward.
I was embarrassed to tell the truth, but I felt
hypocritical holding back.
How could I, number one advocate of coming out,
remain closeted about anything? Coming out about
sexual orientation and gender identity is our
ticket to acceptance in families, workplaces,
religion, the media, and the law. Proven
fact. In terms of social justice for people
who are GLBT or Q, OUT is better than IN.
Unfortunately, inhibition was keeping
me from disclosing the saga of my
undisclosed location. But those days
are, ahem, behind me now. If others can
benefi t from my experience, then telling
will have been worth it, even if it is way
TMI.
For those who prefer everyone stay in
the closet about everything, stop here.
Stand back. I’m comin’ out!
My story started with a stabbing sensation,
as if I were having my temperature taken with a
bayonet.
What was going on?
As a feminist from the fl ashlight-mirror-speculum
generation, I was confi dent I could fi nd out. My
attempt at self-exam, however, revealed only that
my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, nor is my spinal
fl exibility. I had to ask my Domestic Partner to have a
look-see. Wifey, never keen on self-exam, is even less
keen on examining anyone else. But I was hurting
and she’s devoted and there you have yet another
reason our marriage should be legal. But I digress.
I assumed the position. Wifey shined
the fl ashlight and I awaited her
assessment.
“Oh, wow.” Aside from that less-
than-illuminating
commentary,
she was speechless.
“Take a picture” I suggested.
She reached for the camera.
“Smile.” The fl ash went off.
That photo led to the WebMD’s
conclusion that I had a malady
— one fairly common in women
of my age and body type — called
fi ssure (no relation to Carrie.)
Like the isolated adolescent
fi rst discovering gay community, I felt
profound relief. There was a name for it!
Knowing what to call my condition allowed
me to talk about it and talking about it helped
me discover that I wasn’t alone. Some of my best
friends had experienced the same thing. Like them,
I was eventually cured by a colo-rectal surgeon —
something I can now say without blushing. Much.
Those online testimonials from others like
me were right. Having what I had is nothing to be
ashamed of. There’s hope. It Gets Better.
Award-winning writer Sally Sheklow has been sharing her pain in EW
since 1999.
read us online: www.eugeneweekly.com
6
MARCH 15, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
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