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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1982)
Portland Observer, February 11,1982 Page 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- — Street Beat The Reagan budget by Rep. Ron Wyden Q. On Saturday, the Administra tion released Ils budget proposals f o r 1983. W hat do you th in k o f those proposals? A re they really a prescription f o r economic recovery? A. The A d m in is tra tio n ’ s 1983 budget plan is remarkable for what it doesn't do as much as for what it does do. Wha, it doesn't do is address the pressing problems o f high interest rates, rising unemployment and fa l tering industries such as housing and wood products. There is no mention o f a plan to bring the interest rates down, to cre ate jobs or to stimulate investment in housing. What the budget does propose to di» is more than remarkable, it is dis turbing. The budget shrugs o f f its p ro jected $91 billion budget deficit as unimportant, even though it would be an item for the Guincss Book of World Records. (In fact, the budget deficit could be as high as $150 bil lion— and if that’s not significant, I don’t know what is.) It calls for an unprecedented 17.9 per cent increase in defense spend ing. And it rips the so-called social safety net to tatters by cutting fund ing for Medicare, for child nutrition and student aid. This budget is not a blueprint for economic recovery in America. It is a blueprint for fiscal disaster. •The deficit it merely shrugs o ff is too big. • Defense spending is out o f con trol. •Cuts in safety net programs are beyond all reason. America won’t recover under this budget— it will grow sicker. And the Pacific Northwest and Oregon will especially grow sicker because this budget contains no housing policy, damages our water way system and undercuts our ability to create new jobs through exports and wood products. Q. Last week, you Initiated a peti tion drive among House M em bers asking President Reagan to submit the names o f his recent appointees to the Legal Services Corporation to the Senate f o r confirm ation. Why did you Initiate the drive— and what do you really hope to accomplish? A . I initiated the drive because I firmly believe that to have a good le gal services program that really en sures equal justice for all, we have to have tru ly q u a lifie d and com mitted persons serving on the Legal Services Board. Unless appointees are subjected to the public scrutiny afforded by the Senate confirmation process, there is no way to deter mine whether the appointees fill this bill or not. O ur S t r e e t B e e t question this week is, " H o w would you react to in stitu tin g a State L o tte ry as a means o f raising revenue?” ■ \ . • & T L4 ' » Cookie Willingham, secretary— “ W e ll, I would gamble. W ith the State doing it I have mixed feelings about it. I don’t think people have money to waste. W hen I get to thinking about it I don’t think they should.” Ty Rosenberg, Housespouse— " I f it w ould keep my p ro p erty taxes dow n, I agree. I thin k maybe the reason for the opposition in parts o f Oregon is conservatism.” M rs. Parker, in stru cto r— " I ’ m against it because I ’m from the mid west and they started a lottery. The money was supposed to go into the schools and when the schools went broke everybody wondered where the money went. The school system laid o f 650 teachers and that’s how I got to Portland.” Dick Bogle By now most everyone knows that the liny town of Morton Grove, Illi nois, has outlawed the posession of handguns. Passage o f that law has certainly buoyed the hopes o f gun control advocates for passage o f the K ennedy-R odino b ill in the U .S . Senate. But one doesn’t necessarily follow the other. i There arc two "g u n ” bills facing Congress. The first bill is sponsored by Senator James McClure o f Idaho and REp. Harold Volkmer o f M is souri. It would weaken existing gun laws. As one can imagine, the N a tional Rifle Associatin is supporting the McClure-Volkmer bill. Its critics say it will nearly wipe out all existing gun control legisla- tio. But despite those charges, it lists about 58 Congressional co-sponsors in the Senate alone. One o f the b ill’ s m ajor critics is Michael Beard, president o f the N a tional C oalition to Ban Handguns. He says the bill would allow felons to possess and obtain firearms more easily, but turning current law inside out and placing the burden o f proof on the federal government; provide a procedural advantage to those charged with violating current fire arm law; permit a return to out o f stale, mail order gun purchases so common before passage o f the 1968 firearm s laws; prevent routine searches o f licensed gun dealers by enforcement agancies allowed under current law. news. The Federal Bureau of investigation says an operation in w ealthy Beverly H ills sections o f Los Angeles used fraudulent means to bring at least thirty Indonesians to Los Angeles whereupon they were then sold as indentured ser vants at prices o f between $1,500 and $3,000 each. N aturally the N .R . A . disagrees. They believe the proposed changes would make it m ore, not less d iffic u lt for felons to obtain and operate firearm s, and that the changes are needed to provide protection for those law abiding gun owning citizens who have suffered abuses o f civil liberties in the past due to current law. Those are the arguments and the battle in Congress is going to be an interesting to watch. These 30 individuals d id n ’t just stumble into this situation. The gov ernment alleges they were recruited in Indonesia by an Indonesian na tio n a l, then flo w n to the U n ited States. They allegedly were sold to individuals in this country and kept in servitude for up to two years. ••• Maybe it’s just the darker side o f human nature for man to exploit his weaker brothers. Here it is the year 1982 and the issue o f slavery is in the Some authorities are saying i t ’ s not surprising to sec Indonesians finding themselves in this kind o f situation. Their country is poor poor p o o r. It has a per capita income which is perhaps the lowest in all o f Southeat A sia, in some cases less than a hundred dollars a year. This case is expected to go to a federal grand ju ry in Los Angeles any day. M rs. Patricia Ryan, p rin c ip a l— “ M y first thought is that it would in crease revenue and that would im pact on the high unem ploym ent rate. But the effects on people so Lois O krasinski, teacher— “ I c ially and eco n o m ically, I really don’ t gamble but I w o u ld n ’ t have don’t know.” any objections if the State were to increase its earnings from people who want to participate.” by Lanita Duka and Richard Brown < M ag n o lia Jackson, com m unity agent— “ They need to generate rev enue but I d o n ’ t th in k gam bling should be sanctioned. The reason why some Oregonians are against it is that they don’t want change.” _________ ✓ ^Sassona hair designs f frfr Presents Revlon Platform Artist Marie Edwards from: Paris London Los Angeles Portland Pollca Officer Knight pursues his pic- turs taking hobby while on duty at rally protesting U.S. military Involvment In El Salvador, (Photo: Ron Richards) Have your hair styled by one o f the b est... The view from the left by M . Grinen ' 'C U T D U A R TE S B U D G E T - SEN D S TO CKM A N TO EL. S A L V A D O R !” " A T T IL A T H E H A IG ’’ — Best signs at the hastily called emergency demonstration Saturday (Feb . 6) against the A d m in istra- FORDRY HACKING COUGH ANO CONGESTION TRY EXPECTORANT. c I »«1 K iirw y • <llvl.l..n S .n .l.n Inc Lincoln N . b i . i l « IWMII lio n ’s plan to give $55 million more in military aid to the Duarte regime in El Salvador. T w o to three hundred people listened to speeches and songs in Shrunk Plaza. M ain points: the so- called "reform ist" Duarte regime is itself fully responsible for the fas cist-type terro rist squads; the Cubans are not to blame for the popular uprising, nor for its leftist character, as the movement there dates back at least to the 1930s, long before Fidel’s time. C ity Com m issioner M arg aret Strachan sent a telegram o f support. Thanks M a rg a re t— too bad you were unable to attend and have your picture taken along with the rest o f us. A uniformed, on-duty police o ffi cer, Badge No. 657 (later identified by C en tral Precinct as O ffic e r Knight) was on hand with his cam era and telephoto lens, photograph ing the crowd. "Just a hobby.” was the way this o ffic e r described his photo activity. When I asked him if he thought that the uniform, camera and lens added up to the impression that Big Brother was Watching Us, he said he was sorry I felt that way. What I should worry about, he went on, were the plain-clothes police who were taking pictures o f all us Am ericans freely exercising our right to peacefully assemble. He was unable to point out these p la in clothes officers, o f course. The first colony to or«"’ suffrage to woman was Naw Jarsay. which extended the vote in its 1776 constitution but rescinded it in 1807. 5 2 6 S.W . P ark A v e . P o rtla n d , 241-9462 241-9463 the Morgan-Park Huilding
