‘TIS THE SEASON
Like every year, I pause to ponder the
signs going up around town. Ones like, “Put
Christ back in Christmas’ and “Jesus, the
Reason for the Season,” to name a couple.
I fi nd them very interesting because Christ
has never had anything to do with Christmas
(check your Bible. I have yet to fi nd
“Christmas” or an indication that He was
born then. In fact scientists have proven He
was born earlier, probably in September or
October during the Biblical feast of Sukkot).
Don’t take my word for it, check your Bible,
and Google “origin of Christmas.”
To participate in a festival is to give
honor to that festival’s deity. I do not think
the God of the Bible likes Christmas, a
holiday steeped in pagan history. As for
the “reason for the season’? I think the
“Luanne” cartoon in The Register-Guard
last week came closest to hitting the
nail on the head. It depicted a drawing
of Christmas lights on a house roof in
the shape of a dollar sign. The character
explains he simply followed his mother’s
directions to portray the season’s meaning.
He did not choose Christ. Google it.
Research it. Think about it.
Rich Peters
Lowell
SPYING ON PASSENGERS
I read an article in Wired magazine
(http://wkly.ws/1el) and I fi nd it
completely unacceptable if LTD installs
microphones to record the conversations
of it’s passengers. If this happens, it may
be the end of me taking the bus in Eugene.
Up to now, I have often chosen to take
the bus instead of car or bike, partly to
support the local public transit system. If
this happens, I will most likely chose car
or bike instead.
I will not support or take part in yet another
move towards an increasingly hyper-
surveillance and fear-based society. I will
also do my part to make sure as many as
possible in Eugene knows about this.
Per Kielland-Lund
Eugene
SOAKED IN POISONS
On 12/12/12 I walked to Beyond Toxics’
open house and at last found where I belong.
Many human beings who are sick and tired
of being poisoned with chemicals, on our
food, in our water, along our highways and
now even our own front yards i.e.: “A road
to paradise soaked in poisons” Lisa Arkin in
the Nov. 29 EW special insert.
When are all people going to realize that
we cannot eat perfectly manicured lawns,
sprayed with Roundup and synthetic
fertilizers (which have fumes that travel
400 meters)? How deeply saddened I have
become to explain to my 2-year-old little
girl why she can’t walk barefoot in the
grass at our parks, why she must not eat the
blackberries along the river and bike paths.
Why is it not a law to have to post where
sprays are administered?
Get your noses out of your poisoned rose
bushes and write your county and state reps,
write to big business like Costco, Bi-Mart,
Home Depot, etc. and demand that our
general safety comes fi rst! Remove these
chemicals, sprays, herbicides, pesticides
from inside our stores where are food is
stored. Roundup does not belong next to
food storage bags! Would you eat fertilizer?
This is up to us as a whole and our
children’s future is in our hands! Stop
dreaming of a world with out toxics, no
one can change it but us. Please support
Beyond Toxics and its mission to protect
human and environmental health.
Heide Kost
Eugene
WISE SUGGESTIONS
Thank you, Ms. Breitenstein, for
sharing the tragic story of “Little Black
Cat” [Letters, 11/21]. Your compassion
and your wise suggestions for preventing
such suffering are restorative for everyone
who read your letter. You demonstrate
Albert Schweitzer’s “Reverence for Life”;
“We are life which wills to live in the midst
of life which wills to live.”
Your words remind me of those written
by E.M. Forster:
I believe in aristocracy ... not an
aristocracy of power based upon rank
and infl uence, but an aristocracy of the
sensitive, the considerate ... its members
are to be found in all nations and classes
and all through the ages and there is a
secret understanding between them when
they meet. They represent the true human
tradition, the one permanent victory of our
queer race over cruelty and chaos.
The “aristocracy” of humane people in
our community thank you for reminding us
we are not alone in our consciousness of
animal suffering. I pray that our numbers
will grow; that someday there will be,
mercifully, no more “little black cats.”
Kathryn Husted Mason, Ph.D.
Eugene
The Shedd Institute
www.theshedd.org - 541-434-7000
Give Music
Shedd Institute Gift Certificates for the holidays
541-434-7000 | www.theshedd.org/gift
Jenny Scheinman
with Bill Frisell & Brian Blade
Friday
01.04
Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour
TIME FOR FLASHLIGHTS
Isn’t this the third rate raise EWEB has
imposed in less than two years? They just
raised the rates this last summer.
I’m wondering if they got a ton of
stimulus money to hand out new light
bulbs and encourage conservation of
energy. They are concerned with profi t, not
going green.
People don’t have the option to go
elsewhere. EWEB has the monopoly.
It’s extortion. Read your electric bill and
be prepared to be shocked. Observe all
the charges. I reduced my usage by two-
thirds and it hardly made a dent on my bill.
Raising fl at rates means paying more and
getting less. It’s insane.
This is where people on a limited
income are forced to choose between food
and heat. I dream of the day I’m off the
grid entirely. We should all go out and
turn off some of our breakers. Keep the
refrigerator on, get some fl ashlights and
use our camping equipment.
People should be outraged.
Linda Kelley
Eugene
LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and
will print as many as space allows, with priority given to
timely local issues. Please limit length to 200 words, keep
submissions to once a month, and include your address
and phone number for our files. Email to letters@
eugeneweekly.com fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251
Lincoln, Eugene 97401.
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Christian McBride
Benny Green
Lewis Nash
Chris Potter
Ambrose Akinmusire
Friday
01.11
Hult Center - Tickets: 541-682-5000
Coming up at The Shedd
(see www.theshedd.org for full listing)
1.4
Jenny Scheinman - Blade & Frisell
1.11 Monterey Jazz on Tour 55 (Hult)
1.12 Robin Willaims (Hult)
1.16 Loudon Wainwright/Dar Williams
1.19 Moombah! Rumbles & the Wild Sky
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
5.1
Hapa
eugeneweekly.com • December 20, 2012
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