January 2, 2013
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Page 15
O pinion
Guns are not Sacred, Children are
Past time to repeal the Second Amendment
by T om H.
H astings
It is now long long
past time to repeal the
Second Amendment.
It serves evil, not
good, violence, not
peace, hatred, not
love.
The Second Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution is a relic of a time
when the citizens accepted their
general powerlessness and seemed
to live without imagination, just fear.
Still, it will likely take indepen-
dent-minded gun owners to lead the
overdue effort to rid our society of
this curse. We need gun owners
with conscience to finally, at long
last, face morality, face the truth,
face the irrefutable terrible facts
on the ground, in the ground, that
perfectly innocent children are
victims again and again and again
to the lack of backbone of gun
owners.
I'm a peace person, as are my
friends. I am striving to be nonvio­
lent and have tried to learn nonvio­
lence for years. I can point to alter­
natives to guns, I can argue against
them, and that's about it.
What we need, what would dra­
matically change our national dis­
course on this, is for gun owners to
stand up and tell the rest of us, "We
no longer want our possessions to be
regarded under our Constitution as
sacred and above the law. We reject
the kneejerk response from the NRA
and the gun industry every time there
is a tragedy. Not once-never, ever
one single time have they admitted
that guns can ever be a problem and
are just things that should be sub­
jected to laws like anything else."
When I worked on high-rise con­
struction projects in my 20s and 30s
I was very glad for OSHA. They
inspected just often enough to help
us stay relatively safe, even 300+
feet off the ground in the Minnesota
winter. We didn't have company
owners lobbying to declare scaf­
folding or tie-ropes or other safety
devices somehow related to near
sacralization.
The OSHA inspectors would pick
up a faulty extension cord, pull out
their wire snips, and cut it into short,
unusable pieces, and would then
write up a fine. Did that cost our
companies? Only once, then they
told the foremen to be careful to
keep it all legal.
We regulate cars, motorcycles,
boats, and much much more. Some
things are simply outlawed. People
cannot have a marijuana brownie
but they can have a handgun?
The lives of children are sacred;
guns are just objects. We choose
guns over children every day that
we do not get rid of that long-anti­
quated Second Amendment.
Am I suggesting ridding our­
selves of the Second Amendment
would solve everything? Obviously
not; guns haven't solved much ei­
Our Health Care System is Still Sick
The health industry is about
making money, not healing
ates according to its own preroga­ drug developers patents for 20 years.
tive.
This allows companies to jack up
Doctors' offices are now filled drug prices and prevents low-in-
with more clerks than white coats. In com e p atien ts from accessing
by W illiam A. C ollins
nursing homes and drug companies
2011, American doctors spent $27 cheaper alternatives to drugs they
It's great living here in our rich vie forourbusiness with inadequate billion more on bureaucratic paper­ depend on.
c o u n try , as long as
oversight. But what if your work than our Canadian neighbors
The FDA also makes it illegal for
you're rich yourself. Take
coverage expires or the cost operating under a single-payer sys­ individuals to purchase prescrip­
our health care system.
of your care exceeds policy tem. Canadians, like most everyone tion drugs abroad at much lower
Unlike other wealthy
limits? Tough luck.
else in rich countries, appreciate prices.
countries, our nation's
M eanw hile, the lucky their universal care
But one thing the m edical mob
« and scratch their
medical apparatus allows
among us continue to live heads in disbelief at our nation's can't yet keep you from doing is
those at the top to re­
longer and add to the na­ medical free-for-all.
seeking treatm ent and procedures
ceive top-notch care,
tional health tab, increasing
Another of our mind-boggling in other countries. Asia and South
while the working class
Medicare costs.
ineptitudes is that we pay medical Am erica have becom e hotbeds of
has to scrounge to survive.
In this era of corporate obses­ providers according to how often Am erican medical tourism. And if
If you're lucky enough to obtain sion with efficiency, the health they see us and the procedures they we are allowed to travel to close-
coverage in the first place, you're care system is a paragon of waste. perform. They should earn more for by Cuba and use its state-run
then confronted with a tangle of red Instead o f a stream lined system , keeping us healthy than simply treat­ health care system in the future,
tape. Doctors, clinics, hospitals, every insurance com pany oper- ing our ever-rising number of ail­ you can bet we'll flood that coun­
ments and administering increas­ try too.
ingly pricey tests.
As always, those at the bottom
With no incentive to get the job of the economic ladder are hit the
done right the first time around, hardest by the health industry's in­
savvy docs set up their own clinics competency. If you're poor, maybe
"Your Budget is our Budget"
to refer us to, while hospitals load you qualify for Medicaid, or maybe
up on snazzy equipment to test us you don't. Maybe there's a neigh­
At Budget we
excessively.
borhood clinic near you, or maybe
work with many
Many of the CEOs of our nation's not. Maybe you're fortunate enough
top hospitals rake in salaries well to be healthy, or maybe you inher­
insurance com­
over the million-dollar mark. The ited a gene that triggered a costly
panies to find
health industry is about making chronic illness.
money, not healing. And it's a big
President Barack Obama's Af­
the best fit for
business.
fordable Care Act is already helping
your needs and
A nd le t's not fo rg et the people obtain or maintain health
to fit your
drugmakers. Their wares are keep­ insurance and by Jan. 1, 2015 it's
DURAN BEASLEY
ing us alive longer too, if we can supposed to be fully implemented.
Budget.
afford them. But keep in mind that But don't get too excited — an esti­
their industry spends more on mar­ mated 26 million Americans will re­
Call today for a free quote!
keting than it does on research.
main uninsured by 2020, according
One study found that for every to the C o n g re ssio n a l B udget
$ 19 Big Pharma spends on advertis­ Office's calculations.
ing and marketing, only $1 goes to
OtherWords columnist William
Fax 503 445 4591 Office 503 445 4595
funding
basic
research.
And
our
A. Collins is a former state repre­
3202 SE 82nd Ave Portland, OR 97266
rigid patent system favors these sentative and a former mayor of
An independent agent serving Oregon & Washington
medical moneymakers by granting Norwalk, Conn.
BUDGET INSURANCE
AUTO
HOME
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HEALTH
503 515 4377
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ther. We need to learn new ways.
Learn nonviolence. Work to end
poverty. Share. Support candidates
who will reduce military expendi­
tures and increase subsidies to all
the many new ways to manage con­
flict that do not involve violence
and the threat of violence.
Learn about Gandhi. Learn about
mediation. Learn about de-escala­
tion. These are how we negate the
"need" for guns. Are they foolproof?
Nothing is. But the Second Amend­
ment is not serving us well, not at all.
Time for change.
Tom H. Hastings is from Port­
land and directs PeaceVoice, a
program o f the Oregon Peace Insti­
tute, and is on the Governing Coun­
cil of the International Peace Re­
search Association.
better te
the (Scditor
Let’s Get
Real
There is one solution to the
recent tragedy in Newtown,
Conn, that I have not seen ad­
dressed in any venue. However,
it has been used for decades in
this country. It's called a "pre­
text stop" or "stop and frisk."
Ask black and H ispanic
young males how many times
they have been "detained" by
the police, all in the name of
stopping gangs and drugs, as
they try to go about their busi-
ness-to school, work, a social
life- even church.
But, in this case, since the
profile of recent mass shootings
has been white male youth, the
police would be targeting a dif­
ferent population. Young white
males. Stopped by the cops-
"Oh, you didn't signal." "You
didn't make a complete stop."
"Where are you going?" "Why
are you in this neighborhood?"
"Let me see what is in your
trunk", only this time it would be
the population of white young
men being targeted-to recog­
nize which ones of them look
troubled and have that psy­
chotic look in their eyes.
Is white America up to it?
Let's get real, folks, if we're go­
ing to keep pretending we are a
"free and equal" society.
Linda Kanzinger
Northeast Portland