Thought someone in this course might be interested in this website and/or EW's Letters to the Editor!!

Awesome Independent Media Center Website: www.indymedia.com

Last Week's Eugene Weekly Letters to the Editor-
COST OF HATE
Kudos to the Democratic Party's stance against "hate radio" ("Reining in Rants," 4/4) but I think we can impose the "Fairness Doctrine" without any help.

Progressive causes across the board are under an unrelenting radio attack, complete with personal invective and good ol' boy insults, every weekday for up to 15 and 18 hours a day!

The hate radio jocks would have us believe that this is "free speech" but it isn't free at all. The microphone is utterly controlled: first by the Hate Jockey, then by the station management, then by the advertisers, and finally, by you. It 's our hard-earned cash that pays for those ads that keep hate radio on the air.

Here in Lane County one out of every two households has a registered Democrat in it. It seems crazy that any business in Lane County could pay these hatemeisters to insult half of their potential customers (and it's a lot more than half, I'll bet) for three hours a day or more.

I'm in favor of free speech. And I'm in favor of people using that free speech to tell an advertiser that they patronize who advertises on hate radio: "I will not buy from your store as long as you pay to have my beliefs insulted." That's fair. And that's free speech.

Remember a few years ago when Proctor & Gamble hastily junked their century-old moon & stars logo rather than offend a few religious fanatics? Hate radio should be commercial suicide to advertisers. You can make it happen.

Hart Williams
Eugene

CAPITALIST NONVIOLENCE
Spruce Houser's March 28 Viewpoint, "A Dividing Factor: an invitation to dialogue on nonviolence" was not about dialogue but domination. Houser, like other "nonviolent" authoritarians, wields the idea of nonviolence, over which he has no monopoly, as a weapon of bourgeois morality designed to smear those who question the middle class nature of the various failed movements to end U.S. imperialism.

Houser claims that forcing everyone to follow the dictates of the leaders of the movement for nonviolence is the "most effective strategy," but his historical examples leave much to be desired. Nonviolence, for example, was not the only strategy employed to get the British out of India and likewise, nonviolence did not end the war in Vietnam. America, of course, was defeated militarily by a Vietnamese guerilla army.

Houser reveals his complete disconnection from history when he states that "nonviolence rejects the us verses them dichotomies and sees all of us enmeshed in a system driven by greed" (his emphasis). Systems of greed do not drive themselves but are driven by the ruling class. The ruling class is not an abstraction but a real group of people who benefit materially from the exploitation of their fellow human beings. The fact that Houser operates without a theory of history makes it hardly surprising that he came up with the fantastical idea that some sort of alternative to capitalism can coexist along side the capitalist system. The end of imperialism, authoritarianism, domination and exploitation can only be ended with the total destruction of the capitalist system. This system had a beginning and will have an ending.

Humans have struggled against work, the clock, bosses, priests and exploitation for tens of thousands of years and they rarely did it "nonviolently." The nonviolent movement is a product of the capitalist system and a particular class within that system. History has demonstrated that domination.

Michelle E. Loew
Eugene

PACIFIST-LIBERAL BLEATING
EW is a slightly hip consumer product that tells its readers how cool their "alternative" consumption is. Its politics are an exact parallel: EW liberalism says to its reader/consumers, "How elevated you are to be liberals like us."

Pacifist liberal Spruce Houser, especially in light of the growing and increasingly anarchist anti-globalization movement, defends the basic status quo as a Green for Gore and gets regular space in EW. Replying to his humorless smears, anarchist voices get chopped up and somewhat buried (4/4) -- underneath yet more pacifist-liberal bleating. No columns for us.

Houser's slander of me is as telling as his overall campaign against resistance to the death machine. He shows how threatened he is by the example of people all over the world who won't confine their struggle to self-satisfied, protest-as-usual gestures. Even here in the U.S., some -- unlike Houser -- are willing to step up and risk privilege to fight for life.

John Zerzan
Eugene



GENES PLUS
A comment on Hugh Massengill's letter (3/28): Massengill implies that "mental illness" is not mainly a question of genes. (No one really knows, yet.) He writes, "It is devastating to be disabled with emotional pain, but to fix the problem, don't we have to understand the cause" (sic).

Massengill confuses "phenotype" with "genotype." "Genotype" is having genes for a trait, before environment comes into play. "Phenotype" is "genes plus environment." For example, one strain of fruit flies has wings that curl up if the temperature is lowered. Raise the temperature and they can fly again. These insects' genotype doesn't become a phenotype except when temperature comes into play.

Stress (emotions or environment) affect the body (including the brain) adversely. A wedding is highly, though happily, stressful; so is losing your job. Combat or child abuse are implicated in many psychoses. Some people "crack" under stress (combat or child abuse); some don't. The difference seems to be due to genes and quality of upbringing. One thing MDs, biologists, psychiatrists, and torturers know is that if anyone is denied sleep for 15 consecutive days, they all will experience psychosis -- some permanently.

But Massengill is partially correct: A murderous flood will leave an increase of psychosis in its wake. And a whole nation, Germany, went berserk from 1923-45. Germany was a basket case in which few could admit that Hitler was a screaming Teppichfresser (carpet chewer). If the infantile Americans (6 percent of the Earth's population) were deprived of their unfair "share" (40 percent) of the Earth's resources, America might be a basket case, too. Sigmund Freud warned that whites' racial hatred of blacks could destroy America. Freud never looked over his shoulder at the Germans' hatreds of Jews, which almost destroyed the world.

James Atlee Asher
Springfield

A TIME TO RESIST
Spruce Houser's call (3/28 Viewpoint) for the absolute practice of nonviolent "resistance" is as wonderful and inspiring to contemplate as it is utterly unrealistic and dangerous to the survival and well-being of minority populations. In particular, he seems to assume that an "us and them" stance is a pure matter of perspective. Few oppressed populations adopt this perspective by choice -- it may be forced upon them from without, or it may be -- at least in the immediate term -- an inescapable outcome of cultural or other differences.

It seems particularly instructive to consider the ongoing plight of the Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom practiced nonviolent "resistance" to illegal Israeli occupation of their lands for years. As the Netanyahu government, in plain contradiction to stated policy, encouraged armed settlers often openly expressing fascist ideology to establish footholds throughout Palestinian lands (see www.indymedia.org.il and related links), those opposed -- Israelis and Palestinians alike -- typically appealed to law, good faith, and a common goal of peace by holding nonviolent demonstrations and negotiations. Spruce, they failed.

The incursions continued, the provocations continued and the dominant regional power (the IDF) trained and acting a priori with an "us and them" perspective, reacted to Palestinian protests with ruthless, devastating force.

What do you do when your very survival is threatened by a superior force, and when the "us and them" divide is not of your own making? What do you do when people you know, people you love, when your culture or land, are being murdered, vilified and degraded by a force over which you have no influence or control? You pick up a stone, or a gun if you have one. You fight. You resist. You would do the same.

Mark Post
Eugene

MIDEAST MADHOUSE
I am writing to you from Amman, Jordan. I'm an American working and living in the Middle East. I am from Eugene but I've been living in Saudi Arabia for two years now. I've been watching the news (unfortunately we only have CNN and BBC in English over here). I'm trying to find out how America is responding to the Middle East Crisis. All the people see over here is Bush and the American media making one-sided statements. It is an embarrassing time to be American and live here.

Is anybody protesting in Eugene? I know the people of Eugene and I can't imagine they are "buying" all that our wonderful media is feeding them. Please forward any info you can on the subject so I can pass it on. People over here need to hear that not all Americans think like Bush, that we don't all think that all Arabs are terrorists, and that we are concerned and want to help.

Meanwhile I am a walking book of information. Let me know how I can help and if there is any information that I can provide. I am on my way to the U.S. Embassy. Currently the American School in Amman is there with all the international students protesting the U.S. involvement in the Middle East and U.S. support of Israel. The children at the American school did not attend school today.

It is a madhouse over here. Israel has tanks and F16s and Palestine has rocks and bombs tied to people. Something is definitely wrong with that picture. The people are feeling desperate and are worn completely down.

Sharon Carter
scartersaudi@hotmail.com

INFLATED PAYROLL
The latest movement by a coalition of groups supporting a law requiring a "living wage" for certain government agencies, tax beneficiaries and their contractors is a big-time loser for the taxpayer. The "living wage" is nothing more than a fancy name for a super-inflated minimum wage and is based entirely on "feel-good" economics with nothing substantial supporting it's implementation.

What the proponents of the "living wage" don't want you to know is that ultimately the taxpayer (yes, this means you!) is the one who ends up subsidizing the artificially inflated payroll.

What will happen is a small group of qualified bidders will quote projects without the fear of competition, thus demanding more profit on the project than they might have otherwise received -- a practice affectionately known as "fleecing." The government then has to go after more money from its only revenue source, Joe Taxpayer, in order to pay the bill. So not only is the taxpayer going to entirely fund this increased payroll, but we are also getting screwed by the bidding process in that we are no longer getting the most for our money since bidders aren't truly competing for the business.

The "living wage" activists promise that regulated high wages will save the taxpayer money by eliminating some social program demands and easing poverty. The true effect is the reverse. If $14.28 per hour is the unskilled labor rate, what do you think the union skilled rate will be? Now picture the inflation that will follow this wage increase.

Now try visualizing the expansion of the program to the private sector (the next logical activist step) and the corresponding $8 McDonald's hamburger and $250,000 two-bedroom home next the railroad tracks. Please contact the Eugene City Council (736-9041) and tell them you do not support this "living wage" nonsense.

Tim Pollard
Springfield

SINGLE-PAYER SOLUTION
Gender parity in healthcare (cover story, 4/4)? The best way to have parity is to provide all women, men and children with a single-payer Health Care For All--Oregon comprehensive financial plan. Everyone will be covered with our plan. But since women and children are the majority of Oregon's uninsured or underinsured, it will benefit women and children most. The high cost of paper shuffling by insurance and HMOs will disappear. We will pay for our plan according to our ability to pay with a limit of 5 percent administrative cost. This will be a great and needed change for taxpayers!

Elizabeth Pownall mentioned in EW that women spend two out of every three health-care dollars and 90 percent of all children with single parents live with their mother. I must add that women are the most uninsured and most often face bankruptcy because of unexpected health-care cost. I can also add that it is the cause of 90 percent of elderly suicide.

The Oregon's Women's Health and Wellness Alliance with two of our local participants, Sen. Susan Castillo and Kitty Piercy, have worked to improve women's health in Oregon and should be congratulated. We now need to gather all the signatures needed to put our Health Care For All--Oregon plan on the ballot and see that it passes in November! Sign on at the library, post office or Saturday Market or give me a call to volunteer at 484-6145.

Ruth Duemler
Eugene


THE GREED FACTOR
Politicians have been talking about nursing home reforms and initiatives to ensure quality care for the elderly. As a health-care professional I must tell you that many of these measures are a worthless hindrance to quality care.

These measures do little but further complicate the nursing care system. These measures only ensure that a difficult job will be yet more difficult. Nursing assistants who are the foundation of care are already overwhelmed by work, stress and low wages. They do not need more bureaucratic technicalities to make their task more complicated.

There are two major areas of reform necessary to bring about high-quality care. They are not being properly addressed.

The single most important factor is appropriate staffing levels. Nursing assistants are not allowed to do their best to supply quality care simply because facilities require so much work in so little time.

Staffing levels were mandated at a time when nursing home populations consisted of a different class of patients. With today's life-extending systems and insurance practices, nursing facilities are crowded with people whose conditions are far worse.

Greed is the contributing factor. To make a fortune on the suffering of others, facilities continuously cut corners to increase profits at the expense of care. This is most evident in low staffing levels which forces CNAs to cram residents into a tighter and tighter schedule.

The capitalistic spirit might be appropriate for a warehouse, but treating our elderly as though they were boxes on an assembly line is a matter which needs rectification.

Stuart Banister
Eugene

DESPICABLE BIODABBLING
It is not possible for George W. Bush to do the right thing because of his genocidal war policies involving numerous weapons of mass destruction and because of his genocidal environmental policies. What is possible is hope that the human race will survive and that the Earth's biosphere will survive. You can think up your own worst-case scenarios. For despicable human biodabbling and fundamentalist ethnic obsessions have made all doomsday scenarios possible.

While terrorism is definitely immoral, the Bushian calculus of terrorism is extremely fuzzy. All one needs to do to find the biggest sources of terrorism is to follow/count the biggest flows of money, the biggest flows of weapons and the biggest piles of bodies. The biggest monsters shoot the biggest and most expensive arrows. Will we survive with a president whose most important product is death?

Bob Saxton
Eugene

PERPETUATING VIOLENCE
In September 2000, Ariel Sharon deliberately ignited Intifada II to garner votes and win the election -- with thousands of casualties still being left in his wake -- yet America now sides with Sharon to perpetuate that violence, saying Arafat cannot be allowed to use force for political gain.

The unfortunate bombing in Netanya caused Bush to green-light Israel's racist agenda. Isn't it obvious such acts are bound to happen since they happen every day? Why suddenly hold Arafat responsible for a single event after witnessing uncontrollable violence for 18 months?

Sharon knew Arafat couldn't control the violence. Sharon knows America's "war on terrorism" can be manipulated to Israel's advantage. Sharon had already destroyed Arafat's ability to track down and incarcerate the extremists -- who refuse to answer to Arafat in any case.

The Palestinians have been pushed off their land into camps, categorized, forced into poverty; even their water is controlled by the Israelis. Now Sharon conducts house-to-house searches, provoking further bloodshed. I object to having my taxes used to support any of these tactics.

There are many tragic ironies in life; none more disappointing than watching an oppressed people be killed in camps by the very ones who made the phrase "never again" mean so much to me as a child. Nothing defiles the Holocaust more than the belligerence of the state of Israel.

America's claim of being a peaceful, compassionate nation is stained by its complicity. The leaders of the U.S. and Israel should obey the United Nations or face charges of high crimes against the world.

Brian Bogart
Eugene

March 28th Eugene Weekly Letters to the Editor-
MOOSHING MINDS
Are you reading Ken Kesey's classic, Sometimes a Great Notion? Have you participated in any of the many events centered on this community-wide read? Were you a part of the audience that shook the hall, singing along with Baby Gramps' wild rendition of "Good Night Irene"? Did you make it to the First Friday Community Songfest at OFAM, where Debbie Diedrich and the Wobbly band led a big diverse crowd singing songs mentioned in the book, and a log jam of masterful readers entertained us with readings?

How about one of the many book discussions where 40 highly educated individuals came together to take natural turns in sharing and describing the grand experience of this book we read together?

Were you there last Saturday at Tsunami Books, when those who in 1987-88 wrote the collaborative novel Caverns under the loving direction of Ken Kesey, discussed the adventure, bringing the whole audience into the wildly enlightening tribal civilities of their "mooshing of minds"? A one hour event that grew for three beautiful hours, the whole room rapt, where Kesey was memorialized with unabashed love by his students and ancient wounds to various writers' egos were openly treated and the healing begun?

Which events have you been to? Many of us are becoming book group groupies. Momentum grows. Lots of good free fun, and you get a button. You don't even have to read the book to attend.

Get your tickets now for the Library and Neighborhood Fun(d) raisers at the McDonald Theatre April 1-2. Check out the "Readin' in the Rain" website at www.eugene.com for a full schedule of activities.

Scott Landfield
Eugene


EWEB NOT LISTENING
Last night (3/19) I attended the EWEB public hearing regarding rate hikes, and have the following observations:

1. The three members who voted for the increase (led by president of the board Dorothy Anderson) had apparently already made up their minds as to how they were going to vote, prior to any public input.

2. Public input is supposed to be weighed and carefully considered. Clearly it was not.

3. Many excellent cost-cutting ideas were given during public testimony. The board patently chose to ignore them.

4. Anderson told the audience that they were "spoiled" by the low power prices EWEB charges. This is not only an insulting comment to make, but it is arrogant as well.

Also important to note that during public testimony it was suggested that the rate hike decision be delayed by two weeks. If the board had done this, it would have at least given the appearance that they had given some consideration to public input. The board has clearly shown how much contempt they have for the ratepayers by not even listening to them.

EWEB needs to scour its budget for additional cost savings and clean its own house before they dip further into the ratepayer's wallet.

Mark Hudson
Eugene


ASKING FOR THE MOON
Your article on chronic pain (2/21) was right on target! Wish this would have came out a year ago, perhaps then my partner's nightmarish experience would have been just a bad dream. Like those you mentioned, my partner has had chronic back pain for most his life due to a genetic condition predisposing him to a malformation of some of the lower vertebrae which in turn causes severe pinched nerves causing intense pain in lower back and leg.

In Texas (bubba land) he was able to remedy much of the pain with narcotic prescriptions from a general doctor. When we moved here to this supposed "progressive state" and went to see five doctors, all of them acted like he was asking for the moon, something diabolical something desperately needed, pain killers! So after being thrown 25 pills here and there, but mostly, none, he was FORCED to take to the streets for a remedy. This is "with" fully documented medical records, surgeon's agreement and all. Still believe that shit! Still in shock!

Still haven't found a "affordable" doctor yet, but was able to find help via Internet. There needs to be a network started for this kind of problem. Let's start here. If you have compassionate doctors to share or any positive, helpful knowledge for chronic pain people, please write me at wlfinn@hotmail.com

William Finn
Eugene


FINE DISTINCTIONS
The only significant divide between the political left and right is their disagreement over which side of the toilet paper they demand to be wiped with by the government. Responsibility is a chimera for both.

The left envisions progress through bigger, broader government. For example, leftists propose to solve energy problems by mandating higher automobile fuel standards, and by paying bureaucrats to double-check that the so-called "progressives" turned the lights off when they left the room. Protect ANWR, fund mass transit, but liberals still drive everywhere.

Conservatives talk about market forces allocating resources and solving problems, but also want bigger, broader government. Rightists want little tax, no tax for corporations like Enron, and want the government to provide waste treatment, congestionless highways, etc.

Small government talking conservatives want $380 billion for the military to ensure global "stability" for "free" trade: i.e. the smooth flow of resources, especially Mid-East oil, to sustain the "American Way of Life." Small government includes NAFTA, WTO, and the energy of their elected officials to bring the free-world's corporate logos to the savages.

The Lord of the Flies society of children was a paradisiacal isocracy compared to the techno-civilization of U.S.A.'s coddled, training-pantied society of adults.

Wil D. Hormann
Corvallis


ZONING IN CORVALLIS
Greetings from Corvallis! First, I would like to say thank you for the article about Nearly Normals. I have long waited to see Normals get an appropriate review in EW. And while on the subject of the Chow guide, I would like to say that I was bummed to see no mention of the best coffeehouse in town! The Interzone is open seven days a week serving all organic coffee and espresso drinks, and the organic, made from scratch vegetarian and vegan breakfasts on Saturdays and Sundays are not to be missed! In fact, EW is delivered to the 'Zone and it was there over my delicious food and coffee that I was reading this week's issue! The Interzone also supports local artists and musicians by featuring different people's work in art shows and live performances.

I am also writing as a crossword addict. So, on the question of running the Jonesin' or the NYT crossword, I say: Jonesin! Jonesin! Jonesin! PLEASE keep the Jonesin' crossword! Its irreverence is refreshing. Besides, The Oregonian runs the NYT crossword every day! I don't know if the R-G runs it or not, but I implore you to keep me Jonesin'!

Thank you for the great 'zine, folks! Keep it coming!

Michael Kalmbach "Firefly"
Corvallis


INTERVENTION IN ISRAEL
Where are the "humanitarians" now when we need them? Remember Kosovo? Three years ago, after a year of fighting that left close to 2,000 Serbs and Albanians dead, US launched a "humanitarian intervention" using laser guided missiles. The "humanitarians" attacked only after they imposed economic sanctions on Yugoslavia, after sending hundreds of international observers (that included CIA agents) into Kosovo and only after Yugoslavia failed to agree to allow NATO troops access not only to Kosovo but to the whole of Yugoslavia. Only then did we assault the Yugoslavs in the name of peace.

Isn't our peace loving leaders' patience running out in regards to Israel? Why haven't we imposed economic sanctions on Israel yet? Better yet, why haven't we stopped sending our sophisticated weaponry to a state that is using F-16s and tanks on its Palestinian citizens? Why are we not demanding that Israel accept international observers to help cool the conflict? And finally, haven't we seen enough carnage on both sides to get our humanitarian juices flowing and call for NATO military intervention to stop the slaughter? I guess not.

While Milosevic is in the Hague defending himself against war crimes charges, our friend and ally Ariel Sharon is conducting his war on terrorism by slaughtering hundreds of innocents with an approving nod from Washington. Recently, after a day in which 50 Palestinians died at the hands of the Israeli army, Colin Powell declared that "U.S. will always support the state of Israel." So much for humanitarianism.

Pete Mandrapa
Eugene


BULGING POCKETS
A little known casualty of the war on terrorism is the tropical fish hobbyist and the casual exchange of tank-raised aquarium fishes. Airlines once reluctant to allow a box of live fish as a checked bag have mainly banned them. Unless a person is a "known shipper", air cargo is not available either. Some airlines allow fish to be carried aboard, but this really limits the number of fish that can be taken to a national convention, to exchange with other hobbyists.

Recently traveling out of state, I was given two small fish in a plastic bag the size of my fist. I pondered what to do: inside my suitcase, they might be irradiated; in my carry on, the x-rays might be strong enough to sterilize them; I decide to place them in the breast pocket of my cargo shirt, and walk them through the metal detector, fairly sure that security would not force me to place a transparent bag of live fish through the x-ray machine if I was asked what the bulge in my pocket was.

To my surprise I went unchallenged. Then I realized that I could have had a bag of flammable liquid in my pocket instead. Soon I began to look at the women all around me, and wonder which of them might be carrying some flammable or caustic liquid tucked away in their brassiere. I am afraid that until all women are forced to go braless on airplanes, or at least bare their breasts for security, I will be reluctant to fly again.

Eric Hanneman
Eugene

WHAT HAPPENED?
I have been attending Lane County Planning Commission public hearings and work sessions for 1 1/2 years. In this period they have discussed such major topics as the McKenzie River Watershed riparian zones pertaining to salmon and the Endangered Species Act, Eugene Sand and gravel's application for a new mining pit, an update to the Rural Comprehensive Plan, cell tower regulations and sightings, and a myriad of smaller yet important land use issues and rezones. Some of these topics have taken three months to complete.

Most impressive has been the way the Planning Commission at it's work sessions will discuss the planning staff's reports, sometimes sentence by sentence. They always bring up the public testimony presented at public hearings and state that the public input is important to their decision making and advisory report to the Board of Commissioners.

However, tonight (3/19) at the West Eugene Parkway work session, they completely reversed their methodology, without any discussion, and only a half dozen questions of the staff, they voted five to one in favor of the West Eugene Parkway in a total time of 45 minutes. It's as if they were a big rubber stamp guided by someone else's hand. There was no interest and it was a very ho-hum affair. I was shocked and bewildered and walked out of the room wondering, "what happened?"

Jozef Zdzienicki
Eugene


TRUE MASCULINITY
A quick response to Sally Sheklow's column (3/21) "Where the Men Aren't." No, women absolutely do not need men to validate themselves, but nor do they need other women. Skeklow took great pains to express that she is not opposed to men universally, but there is yet in her words a condescending undertone.

I would like to propose the controversial idea that true masculinity is among the most oppressed spirits in the country. Men are often led to feel inadequate if they do not model themselves after the most destructive form of "masculinity," that of arrogant conqueror and killer, one who knows not pain or fear, one who is an island unto himself.

Why do we so often associate men with these negative qualities? Women have rightfully begun to take power back from destructive male dominance; yet images of positive male power remain mostly suppressed. Men are taught to forget what positive masculinity really means -- qualities such as gentle strength, protection of community, fairness, generosity, and the wisdom of the elder man. With so many John Waynes out there, where do young men look to learn what it means to be a true man in the best sense? What happened to our collective acknowledgement of these qualities?

David Caruso
Eugene


OUT OF LUCK
I read with alarm about the coming budget cuts in higher education and human services (R-G 3/14), maybe some of you don't know how this will affect families in your community, so let me give you an idea.

Although I will still have a job through most of June (or until my child is born, which ever comes first) I'll be out looking for work with a belly full of baby, trying to beat the students who will be joining all the other soon-laid-off workers and out-of-luckers whose unemployment benefits ran out long ago (if they ever had any to begin with).

It's tough wondering how much my family will receive in food stamps after July 1, when my Oregon Trail benefits and WIC coupons already run out mid-month. I worry because I've gained weight only two months out of seven during this pregnancy, I hope to be able to nurse this summer.

It occurred to me that when I run out of resume copies I can turn to the higher-income folks for some help. I'll bring a Bible and a news crew and some of my hungry friends with me (perhaps a few former state of Oregon employees too). I hope the walls are high in your gated communities. See you at the club then?

Donna Smith
Eugene


DAMAGE FROM WITHOUT
And the drugging of America continues. I have taken a lot of heat for putting forth the heartfelt conviction that most of what is called mental illness is externally caused, and is not biological. It is devastating to be disabled with emotional pain, but to fix the problem, don't we have to understand the cause?

I recognize the futility of trying to push for research into the true causation of emotional dysfuction. Think about it. If 1890 America admitted that the alcoholism and suicide on Native-American reservations was due to the way they were being treated, then guilt would set in. So the myth of the "inferior savage" was perpetuated. And if research showed that most of what is called mental illness is from trauma, then the myth of the "genetically inferior" American would change. The sociologist and social worker would be as important as the shrink. Drug companies would lose billions. We would have to start listening to the emotionally disabled, and stop drugging them.

Now they say that up to 20 percent of Americans will become "mentally ill" and need drugs. They say that up to 8 percent of children have hyperactive disorders that require drugs. Am I an evil person for simply asking the question "is there something in this modern America that is driving us all crazy?"

My letters may be rambling, and my perspective far from politically correct, but I am sincere in my devotion to getting help to the emotionally shattered. And whether I am wrong or right, those bashing me with personal attacks are simply shutting up a friend who thinks another way may be best.

Hugh Massengill
Eugene


ADDING TO THE STRESS
How long will we keep believing that never-ending population growth and consumption are good for our society? Growth adds to our already- substantial social needs and problems. Growth brings us higher taxes, more waiting in traffic and elsewhere, cuts in school funding and other community services, and more stress on the already stressed-out ecosystem.

How long will we keep believing that never-ending economic growth will be the solution to our social problems? We want to get rich as individuals, but don't want to support the social and environmental cost involved. We have learned to be quite indulgent and spoiled, and want to share less and less.

As it's working out, our public and ecological needs are increasing from growth while funding to these needs is not keeping up. We are de- funding our government while funding the wealthy, neglecting those most in need. For a relative few individuals, growth is good, but for our society and its long-term well-being, growth is causing more problems than it helps.

Expect our social and environmental problems to keep getting worse until we learn to stop growing and live more simply. It will take many of us willing to find alternatives to the "bigger is better," and "throwaway" mentality that drives our culture. Please join me in making this much needed social change by speaking out publicly and politically for stability and moderation.

Patrick Bronson
Eugene


PAYING ATTENTION
Eugene Weekly deserves a round of applause for featuring Ralph Nader (3/7) and its coverage of this effective consumer activist's appearance in Eugene. Had other media paid this kind of attention to his presidential campaign, we might not have some of the problems we face today. We are proud to have supported his candidacy based on what Eugene V. Debs said decades ago, viz., "Better to vote for what you want and not get it, than vote for what you don't want and get that."

John Saemann
Eugene


MONEY IS NOT DEMOCRACY
This is the title of a ballot initiative that would ban all corporate contributions to political campaigns in Oregon. It would also limit the amount of contributions of individuals to $1,000 per statewide contest, $300 for each state Senate contest, $200 for each state House contest and $100 for any other office. This measure would be an amendment to the state Constitution so that neither the Legislature nor the Oregon Supreme Court could invalidate it.

Politics in Oregon is degraded by big money, eagerly collected by candidates in order to get themselves elected to office. In order to stop the corruption of politics, we must limit campaign contributions to candidates. Large corporate and personal campaign contributions are a corrupting influence on those seeking office. Rather than serving the interest of the people, many elected officials opt to serve only those few corporate contributors who help them build massive campaign war chests to outspend their opponents. Even wealthy individuals, like those who fund Bill Sizemore's efforts, can have a huge effect. Recently Bill Sizemore vowed to support opponents of any Republican who voted to reduce the tax kicker.

Please sign the Money Is Not Democracy petition, or better yet, volunteer to circulate a petition yourself. If each of 2,000 people got one page of signatures, we could get this measure on the ballot. To find out more or to get a petition call 343-5628 or check out www.voters.net

Peggy Robinson
Springfield


CULTURE WARRIORS
So the Drug Enforcement Administration hopes to get tough on hemp pretzels, snack bars and veggie burgers and the Eugene-based Merry Hempsters business is now in jeopardy ("Ignorning Reality," 3/14). The government's attempt to categorize health food alongside heroin seems even more absurd when placed in a historical context. Prior to the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 few Americans had heard of marijuana, despite widespread cultivation of its non-intoxicating cousin, industrial hemp.

The first marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, passed in large part due to sensationalist yellow journalism. Incredibly violent acts were allegedly committed by minorities under marijuana's influence. White Americans did not even begin smoking pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. An estimated 38 percent of Americans have now smoked pot. The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research, trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant.

Unlike alcohol, pot has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of nicotine. Unfortunately, marijuana has come to represent '60s counterculture to misguided reactionaries intent on legislating their version of morality. This country cannot afford to continue subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors to the tune of $50 billion annually.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.
Drug Policy Alliance
Washington, D.C.