Article 1, Section 8 of the original
Constitution describes the subject of the
Second Amendment: “Congress shall
have power ... to provide for organizing,
arming and disciplining the militia, and
for governing such part of them as may
be employed in the service of the United
States, reserving to the states respectively,
the appointment of the offi cers, and the
authority of training the militia according
to the discipline prescribed by Congress.”
The right to bear arms, individually, has
not only been taken out of context, it has
no context with the original Constitution.
Manufacturing companies, in their
pursuit to maximize profi ts, have acquired,
controlled, and protected markets;
consumer choices are handed down
corporately and controlled politically. Even
though the Second Amendment is more fat
than pork, it has enabled manufacturing
companies to thrive, but thriving in a sick
culture that has perforated the nation with
fear is the bane of free market enterprise.
Jon Meadow
Eugene
WHITEWATER PARK
Per the letter “We Can Do More” by
Eliot Treichel [11/29]: Yes, Yes, yes. Our
Willamette River has changed from an
industrial sewer into potentially Lane
County’s largest recreational resource.
Now much cleaner with restored habitats,
it should be a top priority in developing
environmental awareness and recreation.
Kayaking and rafting are clean participatory
sports that encourage stewardship and
care for the river, but also could generate
millions in income with a whitewater park,
events, classes and tourism.
We have a major opportunity perhaps
by replacing the hazardous low head dam
remnants upstream of the new I-5 bridge
with a safe, fun whitewater park. With bridge
construction already on site, replacing a
public danger with a skill-building water
safety facility now would make sense.
Mark Murphy
Creswell
SOCIETY’S DIRTY WORK
I agree with Curtis Taylor, Ken Barnhart
and others who have pointed out to EW
readers that euthanasia is unfortunately a
tragic necessity. It’s simple math: There
are too many companion animals and
not enough good adoptive homes. Many
people breed animals intentionally or fail
to prevent them from bringing unplanned
litters into a world that is bursting at the
seams with unwanted animals!
The result? Between six and eight
million unwanted dogs and cats are
dumped at animal shelters in the U.S. each
year, and between three and four million
must be put to death. Even worse are the
fates of animals who suffer on the streets
or are trapped at the end of a chain in a
lonely backyard.
As long as animals are still purposely
bred and people aren’t spaying and neutering
their companions, open-admission animal
shelters and organizations like PETA must
do society’s dirty work.
Please, if you care about animals, help
prevent more of them from being born only
to end up chained and left to waste away
in people’s backyards, suffering on mean
streets where people kick at them or shoo
them away like garbage, tortured at the
hands of animal abusers, or, alas, euthanized
in animal shelters for lack of a good home.
If you want to save lives, always have your
animals spayed or neutered.
Abby McDonald
Springfi eld
JUST TALKING POINTS
As Rae LaMarche notes in a recent letter
[11/29], the whole truth is often missing
in the discussion of the Palestinians.
Unfortunately, her letter commits the
same error, for it is simply a compilation
of common talking points from members
of the Israeli government. She writes that
more than 800 rockets have been fi red
from Gaza this year; but fails to point out
that until the recent fracas the last killing in
this manner was in October 2011.
There can be no doubt that such events
frighten Israelis living in Sderot, that
they are outrageous and constitute a war
crime as designated by the 1949 Geneva
Convention. (I can’t help but note that,
fortunately, such things were not war crimes
when the Greatest Generation was killing
Japanese and Germans by the millions.)
But I would ask what would you expect the
residents of Gaza to do, besieged as they are
in a giant lager (see the Anglo-Boer war)?
He is upset that an IDF jeep was destroyed
in November; but Israel often defends its
military actions as acts of war, and surely
this attack can be so described.
She is upset that Hamas does not
provide bomb shelters, but fails to note that
Gaza has a population of 1.7 million, is an
economic basket case, and Israel sharply
limits shipments of concrete. They have a
good reason for this, for they are concerned
that it would be used to build bunkers
to shelter military units; but it is surely
unseemly when an Israeli government
offi cial raises this very criticism.
And fi nally she is upset that military
units hide in civilian areas. Good point.
Surely what they should do is put military
units in areas distant from civilians, and
then the Israeli Air Force could easily
destroy them in a single afternoon. An
ironic variation on the famous Masada
suicide in around 73 CE.
John Buckmaster
Eugene
A BALANCED GOVERNMENT
Why should the middle class have to
suffer from the pledges the Republicans
made to Grover Norquist, a man with less
infl uence than the president?
I am a senior and my total income a
month is $200 over the poverty level. I have
worked for 45 years. If the Republicans
in Congress would drop their pledges
and raise taxes on the super wealthy, the
middle tax cuts could go into effect.
I would feel more secure as an
individual living in a balanced government
knowing my Medicare and Social Security
was paid for and I could enjoy retirement
with a government that honored and
respected the work I put into the system.
Sherry M. Joiner
Portland
The Shedd Institute
www.theshedd.org - 541-434-7000
Shedd Theatricals 2012
Shedd
Theatricals
2012
The Gershwin’s
1924 zany smash hit
musical comedy
SINGIN’ IN
Lady,
Be
Good!
THE
RAIN
Thu-Sun,
October
4-7 - The Shedd
Nov 30, Dec 1, 7, 8, 14 & 15 - 7:30 pm
Dec 2, 8 & 16 - 2:00 pm matinee
A Jazz Kings Christmas 2012
Let It Snow!
Dec 6 evening & 9 matinee
Give Music
Shedd Institute Gift Certificates for the holidays
541-434-7000 | www.theshedd.org/gift
Coming up at The Shedd
(select concerts & shows)
11.30-12.16 Musical: Singin’ In The Rain
12.6-13 Christmas at The Shedd ‘12
1.04
Jenny Scheinman - Blade & Frisell
1.11
Monterey Jazz on Tour 55 (Hult)
1.12
Robin Willaims (Hult)
1.16
Loudon Wainwright/Dar Williams
1.24
Solas: Shamrock City Tour
2.01
Black Prairie
2.15
Victor Wooten
2.16
Afro-Cuban All Stars
2.20
Led Kaapana
2.21
Woideck: Jazz/Mancini
3.2
Ken Peplowski
3.6-17 Siri Vik. My Funny Valentine
3.8
Blues at the Crossroads II (Hult)
3.10
B. B. King (Hult)
4.12
Molly Ringwald
4.24
Taj Mahal-Shemekia Copeland (Hult)
4.25
John Pizzarelli Quartet
eugeneweekly.com • December 6, 2012
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