We've got issues.
Recently I volunteered at the Lane Peace Center’s annual Peace Symposium, “Rise to End Gender Violence!” Women's empowerment is essential to cultural progress. And violence toward or objectification of women impedes progress. Yet, I also feel compelled to stand up for that other gender, men. Continue reading
Oregon daily newspapers are hardly worth reading anymore. The bias against public employees, the woeful reporting/analysis of the current legislative session by both The Oregonian and The Register-Guard is bloodthirsty and pathetic. Reporting last Wednesday, the most significant votes of this session — PERS reform and a $275 million tax plan — in their zeal to blast Democrats and Speaker Kotek, both papers lost sight of the pyrrhic nature of the victory the Republicans won in the opening skirmish. Continue reading
I remember how exciting it was to wake up on the morning of April 30, put on my white and gray uniform, my red comfy sweater and my rubber-soled shoes, take the bus and arrive at school for a full day of festivities and treats. The teachers would assemble us in the school patio to read a few short poems and perform a puppet show. Then we would go to our classrooms where an array of tasty goodies, prepared by our parents, awaited us. At the end of the day, we were given a bag full of candies, fruits, pencils and stickers, and still it was not over. Continue reading
During the deafening mayhem of the Boston Marathon, there was a vote in D.C. that stunned people: 45 members of the U.S. Senate caved to the NRA demand that they defeat a bipartisan background check expansion amendment. Put another way, 90 percent of the Republicans voted against it, 90 percent of the Democrats voted for it. This is a measure that polled at 82 to 90 percent support among U.S. voters. Continue reading
Recent experience suggests that once they understand the true implications, 4J parents and students have grave concerns about implementation of the 3×5 schedule at North Eugene, South Eugene and Sheldon high schools, and believe it should be delayed for at least a year or two, pending review of actual results of Churchill’s pilot of the controversial new schedule. This would allow all the key stakeholders — students, teachers, parents, administrators and board members — to develop a better-informed and fact-based foundation for making and accepting decisions. Continue reading
Economic injustice permeates our local, state and national tax policies. The proposed city service fee reinforces and expands what is already a grossly unfair tax burden for low and middle-income wage earners. Not only is Ballot Measure 20-211 unfair, but it fails to deliver on the promise to fund essential services beyond the 2014 budget, and it’s permanent. Continue reading
An epidemic of violence against women is happening globally and in the U.S. that rarely gets acknowledged because violence is embedded in our patriarchal concepts of masculinity. Globally one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime, or over one billion. The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey documents 207,754 victims (age 12 and older) of rape and sexual assault each year. Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. More than 90 percent of these assaults are perpetrated against women by men. Continue reading
In mid-March, forced by a serious bout of pneumonia to spend quiet time at home, I was able to more closely examine budget and other documents and to reassess my advocacy for the proposed city service fee. After much calm reflection, I concluded that I personally, and council majority collectively, had made a mistake in focusing solely on the “revenue-raising” option as the preferred strategy to address the projected General Fund imbalance. Continue reading
At Churchill High School, potters’ wheels sit unused inside a dark room. At a number of schools in town, stages are dark because reduced funds have shuttered performing arts programs. And at most of Eugene’s elementary schools, students get music instruction for just a quarter of the year. Continue reading
As much as I dislike people who talk about themselves in the third person, I am beginning to seriously distrust the author of this column. Last week I bamboozled you into thinking that damn PERS bill, SB 822, went down the Ways and Means rabbit hole, never to be seen again until the back room budget deal at the end of Hot Air Society session in July. For any of my three loyal readers who actually thought I knew what I was talking about — think again. I was totally wrong. Continue reading