LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

What does it mean to progress?

In our increasingly polarized country, the use of labels or sound bites - a schoolyard tactic - represses and trivializes meaningful debate about important subjects.

Labeling others with different points of view is a commonly used political strategy that is a substitute for ideas and debate. It leads to the suspension of reason.

The environment is an example of a subject that is often marginalized by the use of such tactics. To perpetual-growth advocates, environmental constraints or land use regulations are impediments to their primary goal of wealth accumulation. As the environment - broadly defined - includes all of environmental elements that sustain life, it is outlandish that so many fight these constraints.

The majority of news media ignore the ever-increasing degradation of the western landscapes that, in part, includes damage caused by unrestrained industrial recreation, mercury pollution, oil and gas development, urban sprawl, unsustainable water use and increasingly dirty air. Or if these subjects are discussed, they are framed in negative terms such as "elitists versus progress."

It seems self-evident that in order to maintain or improve the quality of life, there must be a collective understanding as to what progress means. Does it lead to more crime and pollution and less space and freedom? Or does it mean more space and freedom and less crime and pollution?

"Progress" is the sum of its parts.

MONTY WILSON

Blue River

Checks and balances working

On Oct. 2, Kathryn Cotton's letter inquired, "Did I miss something? When did the United States become a dictatorship? Where are the checks and balances?"

In the case of the National Security Agency wiretapping (as Cotton cites), the issue is currently going through the judicial system to determine whether the Bush administration has overstepped its authority. This, in and of itself, is an example of the system of checks and balances at work.

Cotton is 100 percent correct - President Bush is no more above the law than she or me. In the cases where the public calls foul to an administration or Congress' policies or legislation, they have the opportunity to present their case to the courts - one component of checks and balances - with the hope that such policies will be deemed unconstitutional. Case in point: Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld, where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down military tribunals and determined that the Geneva Conventions applied to U.S. detainees.

Quite frankly, Cotton has been missing an awful lot. The system of checks and balances is alive and well in this great American democracy.

NICK GOWER

Eugene

Republicans lost sight of rules

While the world is literally aflame with ecological degradation, sectarian bloodletting and American troops embroiled in the centuries-long Shiite-Sunni Muslim crossfire, the titillating scandal involving Rep. Mark Foley is the latest in a string of tragedies hobbling the nation's capital.

The sordid mess involving Foley's alleged sexual overtures to teenage House pages points to the imperative of observing strict boundaries in the workplace. Anyone who has held a supervisory role knows the necessity of avoiding a sexualized work environ- ment.

Having supervised legislative interns and staff myself, one is entrusted to act in a quasi-parental role - working to give young people a healthy and intellectually rewarding experience that will inspire them to future public service and engaged citizenship. Respect for interpersonal boundaries and dignity is required, reinforcing a congenial yet arms-length formality. Respect breeds re- spect.

While the clear majority in Congress reflects high ethical and moral standards, recent Republican congressional scandals involving Tom Delay, Bob Ney, "Duke" Cunningham, Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff comprise a new low.

While former President Bill Clinton left office as one of the most gifted presidents of the 20th century, his failure to observe strict workplace boundaries with intern Monica Lewinsky limited his scope of achievements and probably cost Al Gore the presidency.

What a better America we'd have today had boundaries been observed and Gore elected!

SCOTT BARTLETT

Eugene

Kissinger linked to Iraq war

Being Jewish, I tend to think of Henry Kissinger as my personal war criminal. As Bob Woodward, author of the new book "State of Denial," said on the Oct. 1 CBS broadcast of "60 Minutes": "He's back!"

Apparently, Kissinger sits down with Vice President Dick Cheney and with President Bush at least once a month, each, and his strategy advice is "victory is the only exit strategy." In the past 43 months, Bush and Cheney have been responsible for the deaths, in Iraq and Afghanistan, of more Americans than died on Sept. 11.

This slaughter is eerily reminiscent of the years 1968-72, after National Security Adviser Kissinger and Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara had concluded privately the inevitability of defeat in Vietnam. Fully half of the 58,000 American war deaths occurred during these years of futile effort. Oh, and also more than 1 million Indochinese deaths.

Kissinger has written that it was "a failure of will." In my book, Kissinger's war crimes make him America's most wanted, No. 1. Instead, he is at the center of power, advising that the American will, once again, is at stake.

Well, he's right about that, in a way. Is it our will to be complicit in the deaths of additional thousands of mostly young American men and women in another lost cause? Oh, and several tens of thousands of Iraqis, mostly innocent civilians.

When is enough?

PAUL PRENSKY

Eugene

Keillor becomes political pundit 

Folk philosopher Garrison Keillor became, in one easy stride, a political pundit of the first order in his Oct. 3 column, "Our leaders are doing the work of our enemies."

Keillor points out that 65 senators passed the president's bill denying the right of habeas corpus to anyone accused by the United States of being an enemy combatant. First cold and worried about the bill's implications, then warmed and satisfied by concessions coming from the White House, high-profile senators made last-minute decisions to vote with President Bush. Had the president made any concessions? Not clear to anyone out here.

Keillor lists alphabetically the names of senators who voted to pass the bill: M for McCain and S for Specter among them. It's been rumored that McCain has his eye on the presidential nomination in 2008. There are other reasons, surely, why senators switched their votes - for example, coming to realize that it would be too expensive to provide habeas rights to the accused.

Let's see what the Supreme Court has to say on the matter. Meanwhile, guilty or innocent, prisoners are held incommunicado, wasting away under the sun at Guantanamo.

PATRICIA W. CHRISTGAU

Eugene

Jim Torrey is a bridge builder

Given that Eugene has burned its bridges with the state regarding the West Eugene Parkway and related transportation issues, it is even more important that we send a "bridge builder" to Salem to work on our behalf.

Lucky for us we have that person in Jim Torrey. For 10 years, he faithfully worked to implement the will of the voters regarding their support of the parkway. He knows the people and the processes involved in funding and making transportation improve- ments.

His opponent never uttered a word nor lent any influence to help the citizens get the transportation infrastructure they need and deserve. Torrey will work again to bring the other state and federal agencies to the table to find a reasonable and safe solution.

He has a proven track record of successful problem solving. Voters can be confident Torrey will take those skills to the state Legislature and work hard on our behalf.

SANDRA MATTSON

Eugene

Saxton wrong about forest fires

As I write this I'm listening to a radio interview with gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton. I tuned in while he was talking about education policy, and he sounded kind of reasonable.

I flirted with the idea of voting for him - after all, Ted Kulongoski hasn't thrilled me. But then I heard his "answer" to a question about global warming. Saxton seemed to think that Oregon's chief contribution to global warming was burning forests.

Burning forests do not further global warming; the carbon in wood eventually returns to the atmosphere via rot, whether from rotting trees or from lumber in landfills. Whether it happens quickly from burning or slowly from rot doesn't change the total amount of carbon that ends up in the atmosphere.

Kulongoski (however timidly) has proposed restrictions (however toothless) to the amount of fossil fuels that we burn in this state. Fossil fuels, not forest fires, are driving global warming; if we leave them where they are, they won't get in our air.

Perhaps the same could be said about Ron Saxton.

JOHN FLANERY

Eugene

Correction

Due to an editor's error, an Oct. 12 guest viewpoint provided the incorrect time for a conference, "Choice in Mental Health Care as a Human Right: A Vision of Recovery and Success." The conference is from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Erb Memorial Union on the University of Oregon campus, 1222 E. 13th Ave.

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