Byline: The Register-Guard
Law is lagging behind technology
The article on the front page of The Register-Guard on July 9 concerning Dancing Deer Mountain should have upset all small business owners.
In a time when technologies are changing the way we communicate, we cannot use it as an excuse to lower our core values. It's easy to be malicious when you don't have to stare one another in the face and be accountable.
There are people who use the Internet to destroy others and others who use it with good intent. But when did we start allowing someone to harm someone else and say it is free speech because it was posted on the Internet? Such people don't even have to identify themselves. And since when do we condone "revenge postings" and label them "free-wheeling opinions"?
It is unfortunate that our laws have not kept up with our technology. Applying the anti-SLAPP legislation to a mom-and-pop business such as Dancing Deer Mountain is an insult to common sense and the application of that law. I've experienced Dancing Deer Mountain and it is a beautiful, spiritual, tranquil and serene escape for wedding parties, not a loud, no-holds-barred, party-hearty venue.
Patty Arolla
Springfield
Tea party approach is misguided
As I understand the situation, the Republican tea party representatives are trying to force the Obama administration and the Democratic Party to make major spending reductions or endure a calamitous world financial Armageddon. The reason for pursuing that noble end appears to be that Obama must be stopped.
Right-wing radio commentators spew rhetoric challenging Obama's patriotism and implying that his true agenda is not to be president of the United States but to be dictator of the world.
In response to the threat to commit worldwide economic destruction, the Senate has or is preparing to transfer revenue power and control - which the Constitution explicitly invests in the House of Representatives - to the president. Thus, the tea party is engaged in a holy crusade that will result in granting the president the first quantum of dictatorial power over national revenue.
Explain to me how that is logical or rational.
M.G. Finley
Eugene
Cut spending to solve debt problem
Tax cuts for the rich are but a drop of water compared to an ocean in America's budgetary debate. It's a red herring.
If you can't tax your way out of a trillion- dollar deficit, you have to find a new way to stop spending gigantic amounts of money.
My grandmother taught me that the only way to save money is not to spend it. She was a Democrat who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. She was right.
It's a tough problem, and it will be hard on everybody. But our government must stop spending for a few years and let the industrious nature of the average American grow the economy.
James H. Peterson
Eugene
Healthy choices can start with a run
I ended my work day Thursday at a meeting hosted by Lane County Public Health, one in a series of meetings designed to build a collaborative force focused on changing our county's environments and policies so everyday healthy choices are easier for us all to make.
That's no small charge. It will take years to create and generations to sustain, but it's important work, and I left the meeting feeling inspired and excited about helping push a wee snowball off the mountaintop and watch it gain momentum. Hopefully, an eventual avalanche of change will result, healing many of our society's ills as they relate to nutrition and activity.
As I rode my bike home along the river's edge, approaching the Eugene Water & Electric Board plaza, I saw them: a few dozen city employees gathering for a post-workday 5-kilometer run, with City Manager Jon Ruiz starting to jog and calling out, "All right, let's go!" Off they went.
I cheered them on, picturing that snowball already rolling faster and faster.
Here was a large group of local government employees taking care of themselves and each other - and using our city's incredible environments and infrastructure to do it. It may have been just a run to some, but to me it was a perfectly timed symbol of the work ahead and the leadership it will require.
Julie Grossman
Eugene
Let's follow the movie's example
Whoever wrote the screenplay for "Dave" a few years back surely had a glimpse into the future.
I was watching a rerun of the movie, and in one scene Dave, the president of the United States, is challenged to come up with a $6 million dollar cut in budget negotiations if he wants to keep a children's center open. He calls an accountant friend in his hometown, and the two of them sit down and find where the $6 million can be cut. Then the president walks into his budget meeting, tells the negotiators where the money for keeping the center open can come from, and the shelter is saved.
I know that's a facetious comparison to the serious state of things currently occurring in Congress, but where's that accountant?
Connie DeGray
Florence
Capitalism didn't put us into space
We often hear people say the government can't do anything right and it's capitalism and free enterprise that get things done. So the U.S. space shuttle program has ended. Now, if we want to put a man or woman into space, we have to rely on Russia to help us get the job done.
Richard Hand
Eugene
Ditch those bumper stickers
I am tired of seeing bumper stickers announcing, "Obama Is Not My President." Last time I checked, he had been elected by the people and by the Electoral College.
If you look back on the recent history of presidential elections, you will find that former President George W. Bush would be the most likely candidate for that bumper sticker. The fact is that in 2000 the people elected Al Gore, not Bush. The vote totals were 51,003,926 for Gore and 50,460,110 for Bush. The Electoral College vote was Gore 266 and Bush 271.
In 2008, Barack Obama received 69,499,428 popular votes and John McCain 59,950,323. The Electoral College vote was Obama 365 and McCain 173.
I don't remember seeing bumper stickers after the 2000 election saying "Bush Is Not My President."
Robert R. McGilligan
Springfield
A generic pledge is preferable
When it comes to pledges about governments, rather than pledging to my nation or to any other in-group, I'm more comfortable with a pledge to general principles of decision-making, such as: I pledge respect for democratic government as guided primarily by the majority opinion of informed citizens, and respect for the decisions of leaders who pledge likewise, and otherwise not to depend blindly on people to do my thinking for me.
William A. McConochie
Eugene
LTD decision may help fight obesity
Lane Transit District could be doing children a favor by reducing school busing service. A breakthrough for childhood obesity. Kids, get up earlier and start walking. You just might like the newfound health benefits. Never obese myself from a lifetime of biking and walking and running, I wish them well.
And - for a change - nice job, LTD.
Christine Jones
Junction City
No comments:
Post a Comment