LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.Byline: The Register-Guard Station still airs liberal content Register-Guard reader James T. Bryant (letters, Aug. 11) appears woefully woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: mistaken about what actually happened recently at radio station KOPT KoPT Kolkata Port Trust (West Bengal, India) . Contrary to his cranky crank·y 1 adj. crank·i·er, crank·i·est 1. Having a bad disposition; peevish. 2. Having eccentric ways; odd. 3. assumptions, progressive listenership's favorite national liberal talk shows continue to be aired on schedule at KOPT. What was lost in Churchill Media's recent decision was local programming - including the local news - and that's a lamentable la·men·ta·ble adj. Inspiring or deserving of lament or regret; deplorable or pitiable. See Synonyms at pathetic. lam  en·ta·bly adv. situation, however common a phenomenon it actually is in the face of
today's media conglomeration con·glom·er·a·tion n. 1. a. The act or process of conglomerating. b. The state of being conglomerated. 2. An accumulation of miscellaneous things. . Local news and local voices producing worthy special interest programs function to bond communities as well as providing an important public service. When local programming is lost from public airwaves airwaves Noun, pl Informal radio waves used in radio and television broadcasting , communities are the losers, and in this instance, Eugene has lost. But, at least, national progressive radio voices still are regularly heard at KOPT, and for that, this reader is grateful. Laurie Hall Eugene KOPT's failure almost inevitable James T. Bryant's Aug. 11 letter illustrates precisely what is wrong with discourse in America today. Rather than argue issues, he instead engages in a stream of unsupported ad hominem attacks An ad hominem attack is a personal attack in the form of an ad hominem argument. Ad hominem attacks are often used in a debate or discussion where the speaker wishes to avoid the substance of the discussion and instead resorts to smearing the character of their opponent. aimed at "the libs," then - through a process which is entirely opaque - determines that most media, not just Air America, are somehow "too liberal," including even Fox News! Say what? That said, I would suggest that as far as KOPT is concerned, its failure may not have been so much due to a lack of audience, or even a vast right-wing conspiracy "Vast right-wing conspiracy" was a phrase used by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1998 in defense of her husband President Bill Clinton and his administration during the Lewinsky scandal, characterizing the Lewinsky charges as the latest in a long, organized, collaborative to silence opposition thought, as it was at least in part due to the complete cluelessness of its founder and owner. John Musumeci obviously has no idea what the progressive broadcast niche demands; otherwise, would he have made hosts of two admitted Republicans, Liz Kelly and Dave Wootan, early on. Add to that the disapproval of any criticism of laissez-faire capitalism, which is as characteristic of the more well-to-do (that is, those with the larger share of potential advertising dollars) as it is predictable, and the revenue which any moderate- to large-scale effort 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. seems sadly to require will not materialize. Combined, these two ingredients made KOPT's failure practically inevitable. Bill Smee Springfield Council does end run on gas tax The Eugene City Council's intended action on the gas tax is absolutely outrageous. Instead of giving the taxpayers of Eugene a chance to vote on the entire gas tax increase of 5 cents per gallon, as our signature-gathering campaign and court action mandated, the council has withdrawn its original ordinance and replaced it with two new separate actions. It enacted a new ordinance to permanently increase the fuel tax by 2 cents, without a vote of the public, and then placed an additional 3 cent increase on the November ballot. Our petition mandated that both issues be placed on the ballot. By taking this action, the council would say that the established democratic process doesn't matter if councilors disagree with Verb 1. disagree with - not be very easily digestible; "Spicy food disagrees with some people" hurt - give trouble or pain to; "This exercise will hurt your back" the outcome. This is political arrogance in action and damages the integrity and credibility of the democratic process in our city. I'm embarrassed that the leaders of the city I live and do business in would consider such action. I agree with the editor of The Register-Guard that this council action will shift the focus of the November election. Instead of focusing on legitimate issues - city streets, gasoline taxes Noun 1. gasoline tax - a tax on every gallon of gasoline sold excise, excise tax - a tax that is measured by the amount of business done (not on property or income from real estate) and local businesses being equitably taxed - the debate will shift to the credibility and integrity of the City Council. Unfortunately, this issue is now more important than the fuel tax. If the City Council won't let the taxpayers vote on items that have been properly referred, maybe 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 for the taxpayers to insist on additional protection from future actions by the City Council. Ron Tyree,president Tyree Oil/Tyco Stations Inc.Eugene Swap placement of two stories I think The Register-Guard's editors are either "squirrely" or "for the birds." Both named creatures appeared on the cover of the Aug. 10 City/Region section. A few pages over was a story of a courageous 9-year-old Chehalis, Wash., boy who speedily took control of his father's huge tractor-trailer rig when the father passed out. With the help of a Good Samaritan Good Samaritan man who helped half-dead victim of thieves after a priest and a Levite had “passed by.” [N.T.: Luke 10:33] See : Helpfulness Good Samaritan , the rig was brought under control and a terrible accident averted a·vert tr.v. a·vert·ed, a·vert·ing, a·verts 1. To turn away: avert one's eyes. 2. . Why not a reversal of the placement of these two stories? Irene H. Fee Eugene A potentially fatal sweetening I read in the Aug. 10 Register-Guard that the "Army sweetens recruiting effort with incentives" such as new homes, cars and education. Wow! It's to die for. Desri Gilmore Eugene The name-calling isn't funny Why is it that James T. Bryant (letters, Aug. 11) and other supporters of the political right need to resort to name-calling when mentioning liberals? "Idiocy IDIOCY, med. jur. That condition of mind, in which the reflective, or all or a part of the affective powers, are either entirely wanting, or are manifested to the least possible extent. 2. Idiocy generally depends upon organic defects. ," "ignorance," "liberal rag," "libs don't understand hypotheticals," "fact challenged" and "uninformed and gullible gul·li·ble adj. Easily deceived or duped. [From gull2.] gul lefties." Is it not possible for Bryant to write a simple declarative sentence Noun 1. declarative sentence - a sentence (in the indicative mood) that makes a declaration declaratory sentence sentence - a string of words satisfying the grammatical rules of a language; "he always spoke in grammatical sentences" without resorting to this kind of rhetoric? Does he think it is funny? It is not. Jack Stevens Eugene Evolution is still purely a theory On these hot summer days, have you ever dropped ice into your lemonade and seen the ice get colder and the lemonade hotter? This never-observed result is entirely consistent with the basic laws of physics. It does not happen simply because it is not probable. The most likely pathway for energy exchange is for the ice to melt and cool the drink. The fossil record is a fairly well established scientific fact. Some use this to argue against "intelligent design" approaches to the origin of life. They miss the point. The question of whether some "force" yet unknown (perhaps called God) caused life to form must be analyzed from the standpoint of probability. Nature as we understand it favors the most probable outcome. Generally, this means systems evolve from ordered states to disordered states. Life is a highly ordered state. Ordering can occur in nature, but to understand its consistency with physical law as currently understood, one must analyze the probability of such progression. To the best of my knowledge, the statistical basis of evolution is unknown. It is very hard to determine. Until this is done, purely natural evolution remains, fossils or not, purely a theory. Fossils are entirely consistent with "intelligent design," meaning the intervention of a force unknown to shape life according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a plan. That force, should it exist, may or may not resemble the God of our religions. Thomas Mossberg Eugene Support troops, send socks The Aug. 7 editorial advised "Hold Applause in Iraq." Indeed. With 590 dead since the "surge" began, perhaps the so-called leaders in our nation's capital wouldn't be "feeling better about the way things are going in Iraq" if their sons and daughters were serving there. My Republican sister-in-law informs us this morning that her eldest son is in Kuwait, headed for Iraq. Despite our information campaign, she and her husband have supported this war from the beginning. Now, all three of their sons (ages 18 to 22) are in the military. Since they support the war, it's appropriate that their sons should fight it, but this doesn't keep us from being grieved and anxious for our foolish nephew's safety. She asks for our "support." Does she want us to put a magnetic ribbon on our Geo Metro The Geo Metro first appeared in Chevrolet-Geo showrooms in 1989. It was a rebadged version of the Suzuki Cultus, sharing many of the drivetrain and interior components. The Metro was a direct replacement for the Chevrolet Sprint, a subcompact hatchback that was several inches ? Instead, we choose to continue our active opposition to the war, work toward improved health care so her son can get the psychological and other care he may when he returns home, and continue to call for the impeachment impeachment, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is sometimes applied also to the trial by the legislature that may follow. of the corporate-owned politicians who sent him on this fool's errand fool's errand n. pl. fools' errands A fruitless mission or undertaking. fool's errand Noun a fruitless undertaking Noun 1. . Meanwhile, we'll send a care package. The Web site www.carepackageproject.com lists the items most requested by our troops: socks, T-shirts, underwear, foot powder, deodorant deodorant /de·odor·ant/ (de-o´der-int) 1. masking offensive odors. 2. an agent that so acts. de·o·dor·ant n. , toothpaste toothpaste, n See dentifrice. . Seems that despite spending over $400 billion of taxpayers' money, the Bush administration can't support our troops "Support our troops" is a slogan commonly used in the United States and in Canada in reference to the United States Military and the Canadian Forces (Army, Air & Navy). The slogan has been used in the recent conflicts, including the Gulf War[1] and Iraq war. with these basic supplies - but I'm sure they all have magnetic ribbons on their limousines. Denise-Christine Eugene Is the Fed in the stock market? Recently it was discovered - by France - that there was a shortage of money in the world. This had not been noticed by members of the Federal Reserve a few days earlier when they met, so no changes were needed. So Europe plugged $80 billion into the breach, Japan $8 billion and the Federal Reserve put in $24 billion before the stock market opened for the day. It turned out that wasn't enough for the stock market investors. So the Federal Reserve added more - and then more - and then more for a third time, for a total of an additional $38 billion. It didn't quite save the day, but it was enough to save the report of the market for the week. So I ask you: Is the Federal Reserve making policy to regulate the national economy, or is it a new goal to regulate the stock market for the speculators? It looks to me as if the Fed is copying the administration's habit of trying to put a positive spin on bad news. Bob Cassidy Eugene To contribute a letter The Register-Guard welcomes letters on topics of general interest. Our length limit is 250 words; all letters are subject to condensation. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month. Because of the volume of mail, not all letters can be printed. Letters must be signed with the writer's full name. An address and daytime telephone number are needed are needed for verification purposes; this information will not be published. Mail letters to: Mailbag, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Fax: 338-2828 E-mail: rgletters@guardnet.com Header Letters in the Editor's Mailbag |
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