LET TERS
OUR EUGENE MISSION
I was a poor college student in 1993
during which time my roommate and I did
not have money to turn on the electricity or
have more than one meal a day. One time I
purposely bounced a check to order pizza
for dinner. Finally I came up with the idea
that my roommate and I could eat at the
Mission.
I fi nished my education and lived the
expensive life but I never thanked the
Mission till my 40th birthday. Mahatma
Gandhi said, “You must be the change you
want to see in the world.” For me and many
others the “change” is giving gifts to other
during our birthday instead of receiving it.
Senior Director of Operation Dana
Eck gave me a tour of the whole Eugene
Mission. This organization serves over
400 meals three times a day. The Mission
sleeps over 385 adult males, 60 women
and 34 mothers with kids. Cleanliness and
maintaining proper hygiene is a must in the
Mission. Our Mission provides a safe night
sleep with clean bed sheets, which many
of us take for granted. Eugene Mission is
our mission and together we can make a
positive change in our Eugene.
Mahi Chowdhury
Eugene
TURD TWISTER
Look in the planter: How much poop
would a police plant plant if a police plant
would plant poop?
Scott Fife
Eugene
REPEAL IT
The Second Amendment states: “A
well regulated militia being necessary to
the security of a free state, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.” Not only did the Framers want
the people to form a militia to protect the
country from invasion, but they also did
not trust government, in general, from
corruption and tyranny. They wanted
those running the government to know
that the people could stand up to them
should they try to usurp the guarantees of
the Constitution. At that time, government
forces had muskets and cannons and so did
the people. With our standing army second
to none, we don’t rely on a militia.
Now the people have small arms and
our police and military have, well, you
name it. Armed insurrection is not feasible.
Consider the Branch Davidians; talk about
asymmetric warfare! So I say to those “If
you want my gun you’ll have to pry it from
my cold, dead hands” types, you’ve already
lost that battle by the gun laws currently on
the books.
I suggest we repeal the amendment and
replace it with one that requires all new
gun sales are registered to a licensed owner
after a background check and certifi cation;
all existing guns registered with two years
of enactment; any gun not so registered
becomes an “illegal” gun; gun owners
must have a license for ownership like
a car; transfer of guns is done similar to
the transfer of a car; guns must be locked
up when not being used; and any person
whose gun was used to commit a crime
is an accessory if they were negligent in
securing said gun.
6
These are not new ideas. President
Johnson proposed something similar after
the murders of King and Kennedy in 1968.
To those survivalist types, go ahead and
bury your stockpile of guns and ammo but
you have forfeited the right for those guns
to become “legal.”
Nothing short of no guns can stop gun
violence, but we can reduce it. Drying up
the source of illegal guns will take years to
accomplish, so we must start now.
Jim Nelson
Eugene
CALL OFF THE ASSASSINS
So yet another lunatic opens fi re with
his assault weapon, murdering innocent
people. The nation is appropriately grief-
stricken and angry at the sheer horror of
such an incalculable loss. And yet — one
of our drones or land missiles misfi res and
takes out a wedding party, or a family eating
their evening meal, causing incalculable
loss and suffering to those equally innocent
humans on the other side of the globe.
The reaction? A collective shrug at the
“collateral damage” and the caveat that
certain prices must be paid in the pursuit
of freedom.
Our so-called “Christian” nation invokes
its god when it sends its soldiers out to kill
and be killed and arrogantly assumes that
our military actions are blessed by this god.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but when
Jesus said; “Love your enemies,” I’m pretty
sure he meant, “Don’t kill them.”
So addressing this latest tragedy, the
president goes before the nation, brushing
away tears and promising action. What
specifi c action do you propose, Mr.
President? Well, I have a suggestion for
you. Dry your tear-dimmed eyes, grow a
backbone, call off your assassins and stand
up to and against the war machine. I know
that I am asking a lot and that you certainly
have no plans to do any such thing. After
all, the last president to have the courage
to defy the CIA, the Pentagon, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff and all the rest of the war
profi teers paid for it with his life.
David Bersch
December 27, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
Eugene
HEALTH CARE PRIORITIES
The problem with today’s heath care
in America is that it is profi t driven. The
intention to heal the sick is secondary to
that. To change this we have to look deeply
at our capitalist system, starting with the
Constitution. This document was written
only by wealthy white men, most of whom
were elitists and believed they were the
“well born” meant to rule over the others,
the majority. This sets up a system of
exploitation where the strong and cunning
skim off the workers.
The art of self-healing is in many cases
prohibited. Wholistic well-being should be
our collective goal as should be recognizing
that everybody is unique. Integrating the
mind and body are foreign to our system
of medicine. In many cases such work isn’t
covered by insurance or even recognized as
legitimate.
We mustn’t lose sight of our health
when we are locked into social corporate
media. American doctors are required very
minor training in nutrition and are always
pushing dairy, meat, fi sh and eggs. This
lack of training is astounding as well as
infl uenced by the animal product lobbies;
68 percent of all diseases are diet related.
Humans as well as all living things
are in a constant state of fl ux. We take air,
liquids and food from the environment and
we excrete our waste into it. To have the
best possible general health, me must get
our priorities straight. Needless to say, the
state of our habitat is essential to our well
being.
Dave Ivan Piccioni & Cindy Biles
Eugene
of the people who lost their homes through
foreclosure when the bubble burst, but they
need to act in the next few weeks.
Millions lost their homes in the aftermath
of an orgy of rip-offs by the big banks and
hedge funds hell-bent on building personal
fortunes by repackaging millions of bad
loans and selling them at ridiculous prices
to gullible victims all over the world.
Housing prices doubled, the bankers and
traders got rich and crashed the world
economy. Then these traders and bankers
walked away laughing at the suckers who
bought into their massive scam.
In contrast to the trillions of dollars
the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury
handed the huge banks since the 2008
collapse, the attorneys general of 49 states
have managed to wrest a small clawback
for homebuyers’ benefi t under the NMS.
Five of the largest mortgage lenders
agreed to pay $5 billion to the homeowners
they’d ripped off under the NMS. Oregon
got $18 million and they’re up for grabs
for the 21,000 Oregonians foreclosed on by
the big fi ve lenders from 2008-2011. This
works out to at least $840 per household.
Not a lot.
For anyone who was foreclosed on by
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, CitiBank,
JPMorganChase or Ally Financial between
Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011, there is
money available if you get your application
in by Jan. 18.
If you got a NMS letter from the Oregon
Department of Justice, look for a unique
code on your envelope, which is needed.
Many eligible ex-homeowners may not
have been notifi ed. Call (866) 430-8358 or
go to nationalmortgagesettlement.com for
an application.
Occupy Eugene’s Occupy Housing-
Foreclosure Action Committee meets at 5
pm Wednesdays at Grower’s Market, 454
Willamette St. Come by or call 937-3034 if
you have questions or stories to share.
Fergus McLean
Dexter
MAKE THE CHANGE
ORGY OF RIP-OFFS
This is in response to “A Needed
Policy” letter Dec. 13. I would like to see
this get the attention it deserves from the
news media and our community at large. I
would like everyone who cares about this
issue to make their opinions known to Lane
Transit District at 687-5555 or ltd@ltd.org
Thank you very much for helping a
member of our community who deserves
help on this matter.
The needed policy I am supporting is
the implementation of a card, similar to
the honored rider’s card, available to alter-
abled individuals. When a rider displays
this card, the driver will not move the bus
until the passenger is seated. And this is in
response to an elderly, alter-abled man’s
fall on an LTD bus in October.
Inana Berry
Eugene
Exactly why the subprime mortgage
crisis collapsed housing prices in 2008,
wrecked the economy and destroyed
40 percent of Americans’ wealth is not
completely clear, but there is one thing 99
percent of us can agree on: It was bad. And
it was crooked. The National Mortgage
Settlement (NMS) provides funds to some
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