LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Cut off funding for war in Iraq

The straws are piling up, and this is the last one.

The irrational man in the White House has authorized the purchase of young bodies at $20,000 apiece to throw into his illegal, unconstitutional war in Iraq. They will be called in 30 days, `trained' and then sacrificed in his `crusade.'

We must stop him. Beseech your representatives in Congress to cut off the money he is pouring into this debacle. He cannot continue this madness without your money.

WENDY RAY

Eugene

Troops can disobey illegal order

I have a suggestion for our military. They have a constitutional and moral right to disobey an illegal order.

Since the commander-and-boss is a complete lunatic and the planes and gas are available, why don't the troops just come home? What are they going to do to you, shoot them?

Then we give the money (well, maybe not all of it) to the women's movement where, although slow, true change will come to the Middle East.

VINCE LOVING

Eugene

Cyclists don't deserve to die

Writers posting generic threats to bicycle riders, as noted by The Register-Guard's July 26 editorial, should hope they never hit one of us with a car.

Their belligerent words could help them into jail, a civil lawsuit or both. They appear to have an illusion of entitlement. Their cars belongs on the road, but bicyclists don't.

For 30 years I've ridden bikes in this town. I own property, do business, pay taxes and often drive a car. My right of way is routinely violated by cars, sometimes aggressively by drivers half my weight.

I don't push it, which is how I've dodged hits for three decades. Still, when on bike, I should be able to enjoy equal, vested and legal rights to the road.

Like most bicyclists, I generally abide by the rules. If, in a stupid moment, I ignore a car's right of way, I hope the driver will react reasonably. Why injure or kill another citizen over a few lost seconds - especially when car drivers consider how much easier we cyclists make it for them?

Bicyclists use less fuel, which keeps prices down. We're easier on roads, which keeps taxes lower. We create less fumes, less noise, take up less room and leave more parking.

We don't deserve being mangled for a minor infraction by some self-righteous vehicle vigilante.

ROY KEENE

Eugene

Medicare Advantage is a benefit

In response to Robert Roth's July 29 letter regarding Medicare Advantage plans, Roth misses some important points about Medicare and the plans available to augment its somewhat limited benefits.

While highlighting the additional costs associated with Medicare Advantage plans and touting Medicare as `the efficient program that guarantees its members a core set of reliable benefits,' he fails to mention the fact that original Medicare benefits carry hefty deductibles for covered services while providing very limited routine benefits, such as physicals and eye exams.

Medicare Advantage plans do provide these additional benefits and do so with manageable and predictable copayments. When compared to the costs of having original Medicare alone, most members of Medicare Advantage plans appreciate the additional benefits and cost savings associated with their coverage.

In addition, Medicare Advantage plans offer important medical management services that can assist their members with finding the best care possible.

Finally, Roth overlooks the fact that more and more physicians no longer see patients who are covered by Medicare alone, or Medicare Supplement Plans that can also augment Medicare benefits. The reduction in reimbursements to physicians working directly with Medicare has made it unfeasible to do so, while Medicare Advantage plans offer the assurance that members will have access to a wide range of local providers.

If anything, over time, Medicare Advantage plans have opened the way for Medicare beneficiaries to have greater access to better care at a more reasonable price.

JAKE GARIEPY

Eugene

UO athletics should be praised

Jesse Springer's July 30 cartoon only served to exemplify the ignorance of so many of our community members with regard to the University of Oregon's Athletic Department.

It certainly feels good to espouse `elite' thinking, criticizing UO athletics while bemoaning a lack of funding for academics, but it does little to further the cause Springer purports to care so much about.

The UO Athletic Department should be applauded, not derided, for its successes. It is innovative and proactive. It acts responsibly and demands the same from student-athletes.

Our Ducks work hard in the classroom and on the field to take advantage of their opportunities. The department's financial prowess, deftly fundraising for and operating programs that make it one of the few departments in the nation to operate in the black, should be a point of pride.

Would university professors prefer that the department actually tap into the general fund and take money from academics, rather than simply making academic programs look bad in comparison? A lack of academic funding is nothing more than a failure of public policy. Instead of wasting time criticizing an outstanding organization, the professors and their backers could spend their time lobbying those who are actually empowered to effect the change that they seek.

`Taking a page from the athletic department playbook,' as Springer put it, may not be a bad idea. But rather than instituting `half-naked lab experiments,' our elite community members, such as the backers of athletics, could put their money where their mouths are.

J. MATHEW DeVORE

Eugene

Navarrette played race card

Having followed Ruben Navarrette's columns since he began appearing on The Register-Guard's op-ed page, I figured it was only a matter of time before he played the race card in explaining the failure of President Bush's amnesty plan for illegal aliens.

Navarrette didn't disappoint, as evidenced by his July 30 column, `Racism was a big factor in the failure of the immigration bill.' Many open-border proponents end up playing the race card eventually to explain opposition to their point of view. That's because they can't win the debate over illegal immigration through any legitimate argument. Name-calling becomes the `argument' of last resort.

While there are no doubt some opponents of open borders who are motivated by racial issues, the vast majority of those wanting meaningful immigration reform are primarily concerned with numbers, not race - and the numbers are unsustainable. The Bush amnesty plan failed because of the massive public outcry over what is happening and what will happen to this country because of uncontrolled immigration.

Most people are not clueless - and most of them are not racists. Sen. Gordon Smith has concluded that if he wants to keep his job, he'd better change his attitude about immigration reform. Other elected officials hoping to continue their careers should take heed.

Learn more at www.oregonir.org.

JERRY RITTER 

Springfield

Society ignores addiction issues

The July 28 editorial attack on Lindsay Lohan's treatment attempts demonstrates some deeper problems, not the least of which is: Why she is in the news in the first place.

More importantly, though, is what doesn't get said, such as what we can do to make it better. Our society appropriately will drop everything in a crisis, but we become more and more blind to the more complicated crises of addiction and mental illness, as if because they're more complicated we could leave them to someone else. The collateral damage, however (crime rates, social infrastructure, insurance rates) touches us all.

We all want the easy solution, and just as the addict doesn't want to give up a pleasure that someone else might enjoy without such terrible consequence, we don't want to give up our various comforts to help find a solution.

Who wants to pay for research? Who will pay more taxes to fund treatment (not just addicts will use the excuse `it didn't work for Lindsay')? Who wants to fund prevention programs that actually might work? We try with limited resources, make mistakes and even fail, and then use those failures as an excuse to quit supporting the effort.

If taking the moral high road worked, we wouldn't need to look further (and St. Augustine would have been a happy camper!) But it doesn't, and the cost of making it someone else's problem to both fix and prevent in the first place is truly what is `hard to know.'

SARAH McARTHUR

Springfield

Don't downplay significant news

On July 29, I learned from National Public Radio that data mining by the government was the reason Alberto Gonzalez had rushed to Attorney General John Ashcroft's sickbed.

The New York Times broke this story, and it is big news. Numerous members of the Justice Department threatened to resign over this invasion of America's constitutional right to privacy. Yet the story, rather than being front page news for The Register-Guard, (as it was on the Times) was on Page A4.

I realize that Sunday papers often have a local focus for the front page, but surely this news story was more important than any of the stories on today's front page: Competitive cheerleading at the University of Oregon, the success of the Iraqi soccer team, rising job opportunities in the county, and the trials of cancer patients in getting adequate care. This goes to the heart of the destruction of our constitutional protections by the Bush administration and the walls of secrecy it has built around its actions.

This news needs to be on the front page every day. Americans need to realize that what we think of as our rights as Americans are being undermined by the people in the White House.

A well-informed electorate will be better able to advocate for our rights. The Register-Guard, like all of the news media, has an obligation to provide valid information very visibly.

GAY KRAMER-DODD

Eugene