LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.Byline: The Register-Guard Money trumps compassion Now that he has been arrested, you would think that the harmless little fuzz ball Rush Limbaugh would have some compassion for the hundreds of suspects that have just been released from military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These suspects have been held without any charges or trials. Like Limbaugh, these illegally detained suspects had proclaimed their innocence, but they have had their lives in limbo for more than four years, imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- without rights, while a military tribunal determined their fate. Booked on a felony charge that carries a five-year prison sentence, Limbaugh's lawyer cut a deal that freed him on $3,000 bail and a 30-month drug-free probation. Limbaugh sells "Club Gitmo" shirts and hats to his fans, mocking the treatment that the hundreds of released detainees received from the U.S. military. If Limbaugh did show some compassion, he might risk losing support from his conservative, compassionate Republican fans and their financial support, and money will trump compassion for "ditto heads" every time. MICHAEL T. HINOJOSA Drain Maybe they'll offer free tofu tofu Soft, bland, custardlike food product made from soybeans. Believed to date from China's Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), tofu is today an important source of protein in the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia. I just read in The Register-Guard that Whole Foods posted a second-quarter profit of $51.8 million based on total revenues of $1.31 billion. That's obscene. No American company should be allowed to be that successful. Forget supply and demand, clearly this is a case of price gouging on the part of Big Natural Food. Get Sen. Ron Wyden on the phone. I demand a congressional investigation! Well, at the very least Whole Foods should have to send every American a free tub of tofu. STEPHEN H. WRIGHT Eugene Dealers have plenty of SUVs Recently, my wife and I drove to Portland. Since we were not in a hurry, we decided to go the long way - over the Cascades to Redmond, up through Warm Springs, past Mount Hood and into Portland traffic. We left during rush hour for a trip up to Vancouver, Wash., dealing with morning rush hour stop-and-go all the way from Beaverton to the Washington border. When we arrived back in Eugene via Interstate 5, we'd driven about 420 miles. Had we been driving a large SUV it might have taken about 23 to 27 gallons of gas. Fortunately, we weren't. Our Toyota Prius hybrid gave us an average of 49.2 mpg. It took less than 9.3 gallons to fill - regular at that! Our federal government has refused to mandate a higher fuel efficiency ratings on vehicles because it might hurt the bottom line of the car makers. Only now, with gas prices soaring above $3 per gallon, is lip service coming out of Washington about changing that head-in-the-sand stance. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , if you really want an SUV, this might be the time to get a good price on one. There are plenty on the dealers' lots. JOHN BREDESEN Eugene Say no to a third Bush president I just learned today that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush might run for president. My reaction? Abject horror. Is it not painfully clear to all with opposable thumbs the near ruination that the first two Bushes have brought upon our country and a better part of our planet at large, and the universal hatred we endure because of them? Do I need to mention our economy is all but destroyed, and that innocent men and women have been sent to slaughter in the name of the infamous Bush avarice av·a·rice n. Immoderate desire for wealth; cupidity. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin av ? Like everything else these administrations have wrought upon us with stealthy stealth·y adj. stealth·i·er, stealth·i·est Marked by or acting with quiet, caution, and secrecy intended to avoid notice. See Synonyms at secret. insidiousness, particularly the most current administration, so very well might Jeb Bush be thrust upon us. Please remember: George W. was voted into office not once, but twice. Yet there could be one more Bush who would be president, after the aforementioned debacles brought on by the first two? Shame on us. LINDA S. HYATT Eugene Birth notice policy exclusionary My husband and I are deeply disappointed in The Register-Guard's policy to exclude gay and lesbian couples from the birth announcements in the paper. It is shocking that the newspaper representing Eugene, of all places, would have such a closed-minded policy. Perhaps the policy stems from a time when such anti-social policies were the norm, but it is time to broadcast more pro-family and pro-people messages. We have two children, both born here at Sacred Heart Medical Center Sacred Heart Medical Center may refer to: In the United States:
How heartwrenching it must be to feel so excluded from one's community via the newspaper! The policy is oddly and seemingly arbitrarily punitive to both proud new parents, their friends and families - and most of all the innocent children being born who will learn a lesson in hate instead of merely getting a loving clipping for their scrapbook A Macintosh disk file that holds frequently used text and graphics objects, such as a company letterhead. Contrast with "clipboard," which is reserved memory that holds data only for the current session. . Please reconsider the policy in this matter, as we are reconsidering our subscription. CONSTANCE VAN FLANDERN PHILIP SCHER SCHER Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (European Commission) Eugene Check HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, rules on drug plan I have been watching the flood of brainwashing brainwashing Systematic effort to destroy an individual's former loyalties and beliefs and to substitute loyalty to a new ideology or power. It has been used by religious cults as well as by radical political groups. to get seniors to sign up for Medicare Part D. They are told they have a choice of many plans and will save a bundle of money if they join one of the plans. Well, I think come the end of the year seniors will realize that the savings are not all that great. Also, there has been little or no information about seniors who are in an HMO or PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there that has a Part D plan of its own. If you are a member of an HMO or PPO, you have no choice. You have to join their Part D plan. I contacted my HMO and was told that if I joined any Medicare Part D plan but theirs, I would lose all benefits from them. Good old Big Pharma really has tied us up. SIDNEY REED Eugene OSAA OSAA Oregon School Activities Association OSAA Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (United Nations body) OSAA Ocean State Aquaculture Association OSAA Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms (Philippines) plan's fuel costs are high At $3.19 a gallon, exactly how much is it going to cost everybody if the Oregon School Activities Association's redistricting redistricting: see legislative apportionment. plan is upheld? It gives me heart palpitations just thinking about how much it must cost to fill up one school bus, let alone the cost of filling up all the school buses needed during the year for sports. I know the school districts don't have the extra money, so it will all get passed down to the parents. It doesn't bode well for increased competition when you are going to lose athletes whose parents cant afford the extra cost. I also think you will lose athletes who don't want to participate when their parents can't come to support them. My husband and I have three boys all playing sports locally. We are already stretched to the limit trying to make sure one of us is at their games, getting home in time to get their homework done and getting them to bed at a decent hour. If this redistricting passes, everything will be stretched thinner - money, support and time. I don't want to have to make the decision when the positives from playing sports is outweighed by the cost. JENNIFER THARP Eugene 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. founded America It is fascinating to study the terms being used in the media to describe the major problems of the day. The term "insurgent INSURGENT. One who is concerned in an insurrection. He differs from a rebel in this, that rebel is always understood in a bad sense, or one who unjustly opposes the constituted authorities; insurgent may be one who justly opposes the tyranny of constituted authorities. " has a very negative connotation. We see the bad guys, faces hidden by masks, doing evil deeds. A quick look back in our own history would lead us to understand that the word applies to our Founding Fathers and all those who fought for our freedom in the Revolutionary War. The United States is the result of an insurgency. We fought the most powerful military force in the world and defeated it, to gain our freedom. The word "immigrant" has suddenly become vilified. Not even illegal immigrant illegal immigrant n. an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa. (See: alien) , but just "immigrant." Using that term, all inhabitants
The game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. who are not Native Americans need to leave now. Lest we forget Lest We Forget is a phrase popularised in 1887, by Rudyard Kipling; it formed the refrain of his poem Recessional. As a title, it may refer to any of:
JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SCHMIDT Eugene Why even belong to the OSAA? I have followed with interest the astonishingly a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. harsh battle over the alignment of school athletic leagues. Given the great attachment that communities have to their school sports teams, I suppose that the level of noise over who plays whom should not come as a huge surprise. However, one basic question comes to mind: Why do the Eugene and Springfield schools have to belong to the Oregon School Activities Association at all? Why play under conditions that are unacceptable? There are enough schools in our area to form a respectable league. Surely it is not a felony to fail to be a member of the OSAA. Presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. our schools would not be eligible to play in state championships if we were not members of the OSAA, but who cares? Our champion could always challenge their champion if we want to. In the meantime we'd have a lot of excellent local games to watch, minimal travel times, lower costs and no reason to listen to the puffing and snorting 'snorting' Substance abuse A popular method for consuming cocaine and opiates–one nostril is held closed, the other inhales pulverized cocaine. See Cocaine, Crack. of OSAA lawyers. Let us decouple local school sports from their statewide bureaucracy and get back to having fun. ALAN L. CONTRERAS Eugene |
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