LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.Byline: The Register-Guard Civil unions combat prejudice The Sunday service at our church provides time for members, so choosing, to tell the congregation about an important event in their life or to share a joy or a sorrow in their heart. Recently, our friend Lynn told us the 9-year-old boy that she and her partner are raising is often harassed by some of his schoolmates because "he has two mothers." What kind of family sends a child to school ready to bully with anti-gay mockery? Children can be bullies without encouragement from adults, but they learn the form their cruelty takes from the attitudes they see and hear. Who are the mocking anti-gay adults some children copy? Are they in the 53 percent of voters who banned gay marriages in Oregon? Of course not. Most of those folks are not hurtful hurt·ful adj. Causing injury or suffering; damaging. hurt  ful·ly adv.hurt people, but some have been led to equate similarity with morality and difference with sin, and others to equate the traditional with the valid. By their vote they helped continue a climate of prejudice in which bullies can thrive. I write to ask those who voted to ban gay marriages to look again into their hearts. Find there fairness and generosity. When they do, join those of us who support a civil union law that offers those who share their life and love with a same-sex partner same-sex partner Social medicine A domestic partner of the same genotypic sex. See Homosexual. all the legal obligations and privileges that prevail for those with an other-sex partner. When enacted, it will help inspire a climate in which understanding will replace aversion a·ver·sion n. 1. A fixed, intense dislike; repugnance, as of crowds. 2. A feeling of extreme repugnance accompanied by avoidance or rejection. . HERB MATTHEWS Eugene Bases belie be·lie tr.v. be·lied, be·ly·ing, be·lies 1. To picture falsely; misrepresent: "He spoke roughly in order to belie his air of gentility" James Joyce. U.S. pledge to leave The Bush administration finds itself on the horns of a dilemma alternatives, each of which is equally difficult of encountering. See also: Dilemma . Its actions toward Iraq are driven by, among others, two contradictory policies. The first is the policy that the administration articulates as a war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act , regime change and pre-emptive pre·emp·tive or pre-emp·tive adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of preemption. 2. Having or granted by the right of preemption. 3. a. war. Those are the justifications given to the citizens of this country for the U.S. military being in Iraq and Afghanistan, indeed throughout the world. The second is the policy that is not addressed directly. It is a bipartisan set of assumptions that are not discussed with the American people An American people may be:
The problem is that when Bush tells us he has a "National Strategy for Victory," victory should mean our armed forces would be able to leave. But there are many in the U.S. government who don't want to leave Iraq, or Afghanistan, or the 700 bases throughout the world. A consensus is growing in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. that the war in Iraq is a mistake and it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to bring our military home. And we must bring them home - from Iraq, from Afghanistan, from throughout the world. DANIEL BLADES Culp Creek Don't keep crime out of news On the night of Nov. 11, while my daughter slept on her sofa, with the children asleep upstairs in their beds, someone came in and tried to beat her to death, apparently for the theft of her purse. She awoke covered in blood and managed to crawl to the phone and call 911. She had to undergo a five-hour surgery to put her skull back together and have her nose reconstructed. The police did not seem very concerned. When I asked why they hadn't reported it to the media, the officer replied that it just wasn't that uncommon. This felt like an assault almost equal to the one my daughter already endured. My daughter's employer heard days later of the crime and asked why it hadn't been in the news. I explained what I had been told. She was outraged and contacted a news reporter who came to the hospital and put it on her newscast newscast Radio or television broadcast of news events. News gathering and broadcasting by the radio networks began in the mid-1930s and increased significantly during World War II. The television newscast began in 1948 with 15-minute programs that resembled movie newsreels. . Otherwise, no one would have known about it. We have learned an awful lesson. On that terrible night, my daughter had not locked her door. Even worse, the keys were dangling in the lock. We now know that such things really do happen and not, as we always assumed, only to someone else. We hope that others will learn from it. We also hope that the community can be made aware when such things happen. If someone is nearly murdered in the house next to me, I want to know about it. Don't you? CAROL KNOLES Eugene Outsource Bush and Congress Hey, a great idea came to me recently while reading The Register-Guard at dinnertime. The present administration thinks jobs in the United States aren't important and is sending most of them to India and other Third World countries. Based on production and performance, I suggest we outsource Congress - and especially the president's and vice president's jobs. We could probably get someone to do a better job for about $10,000 a year with no benefits. We could probably replace Congress for less than half a million with people who really care about their jobs. The few of us who vote wouldn't even have to do that anymore, and we'd have way more time to watch sports and commercials on TV while saving billions in administration costs. RAY ROBINSON Noun 1. Ray Robinson - United States prizefighter who won the world middleweight championship five times and the world welterweight championship once (1921-1989) Sugar Ray Robinson, Walker Smith, Robinson Deadwood Deadwood, city (1990 pop. 1,830), seat of Lawrence co., W S.Dak.; settled 1876 after discovery of gold. A Black Hills tourist center, it is also a trade hub for a lumbering, stock-raising, and mining region. Do something about Darfur Every morning, I get up, fix coffee and breakfast, get my children and sweetheart off to school and work, and call the White House comment line at (202) 456-1111 and demand, tongue in cheek, that President Bush resign and apologize to the nation for stealing the elections. Makes it a tad easier to get about my day knowing I have done my tiny part for democracy. However, today, I changed all that. I called the White House and made President Bush - well, his message takers - a deal. I would refrain from my daily request in exchange for their making it Bush's top priority to stop the genocide genocide, in international law, the intentional and systematic destruction, wholly or in part, by a government of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group. in the Sudanese region of Darfur. I say this as a son of a Holocaust-surviving Jewish mother who spent the last two years of World War II hiding in a German village. I say this as someone who thinks after reading Nicholas Kristof's columns in the morning paper that the words "baby" and "bonfire" don't belong in the same sentence. If that makes you lose your appetite, it should. And I ask all of you to make some noise, call some politicians and visit www.saveDarfur.org, and do something. DON ST. CLAIR Eugene Media offer only bad Iraq news Instead of whining about how stupid the war is and complaining about how much they hate the president, why can't people be more mature and optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op about things? Instead of focusing on everything bad and negative about the war, why can't the media and people focus on the good aspects, too? No one seems to care about the amazing stories
Amazing Stories magazine, sometimes retitled Amazing Science Fiction the soldiers have to tell, or that the Iraqis are no longer afraid to speak out against Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (born April 28, 1937, Tikrit, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad) President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. . The liberal and biased media, including The Register-Guard, didn't talk very much about the hundreds of Iraqis who marched through the streets several days ago calling for Saddam's immediate execution. Because to the liberal media, that's not a big deal. Before the war, those who said anything bad about Saddam were merely tortured, thrown into prison and killed. Today, American and newly trained Iraqi troops work together. Women in Iraq are now considered people. They can vote, have an education and even run for the Iraqi Parliament. Yes, nothing good has come out of the war. I'm sick and tired of seeing nothing but death statistics that I've already seen a thousand times. I'm sick and tired of only seeing pictures of Iraqis suffering. I want to know the stories of soldiers who have actually been there. I want to see pictures of Iraqis who are happy. I want both sides of the story. It's only a small minority of Iraqi insurgents Insurgents, in U.S. history, the Republican Senators and Representatives who in 1909–10 rose against the Republican standpatters controlling Congress, to oppose the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the dictatorial power of House speaker Joseph G. Cannon. who want us out, not the whole country, like the media portray it. GLORIA KIM Cottage Grove Cottage Grove, village (1990 pop. 22,935), Washington co., SE Minn., near the St. Croix River; inc. 1965. There is farming (cattle, sheep, corn, and soybeans) and manufacturing (chemicals and machinery). Give the school to Santa Clara Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. I went to grade school at Santa Clara when it was the Santa Clara School District, not Eugene District 4J. The district built a new building, which I attended through the fifth grade and my brother, Iven, attended through the eighth grade. My father, Albert Ezell, was a charter member of the Grange that donated some land to the Santa Clara School District for a school. I think that when the Eugene School District Eugene School District (4J) is a public school district in the U.S. state of Oregon. It serves the city of Eugene Elementary schools
The Eugene district bought more land and added to the building with taxes from the Santa Clara community. Santa Clara taxpayers have paid school taxes over the years, and the abandoned land and buildings should revert to the community, which substantially paid for the land and buildings. The Eugene School District should not be allowed to sell the property and take the money. HERBERT F. EZELL Eugene Duck fans could be more polite We are senior citizens. For many years now we have had season tickets to the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. basketball games, as we do this year. The Register-Guard's Dec. 4 article on "America's loss of civility" really hit home. We sit in Section 19 on an end row. People come and go continually - even when the game is in progress. Never do we hear a "thank you" or an "excuse me" when we are forced to get up for them. I know people have to get up for various reasons, but a little politeness would go a long way. ALICE ENGLAND Eugene |
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