Health care is no free lunch
This letter is in response to Ruth Duemler’s letter on Oct. 7, concerning Measure 23 in the upcoming election.
Measure 23 is being proclaimed by its supporters as health and dental care for everyone, no matter what your income level. This is true, but the taxpayers must stop for a second and think where all the money is going to come from. Right out of the taxpayers’ pocket! The harsh truth is that Measure 23 will force the average Oregonian to pay about double the income tax they do now.
Measure 23 is also one of the biggest job-killing measures Oregon has ever seen. Within two to four years, virtually everyone in Oregon working for health care providers and related businesses will be out of a job.
This measure will also hurt businesses in Oregon, small or large. Measure 23 will impose an 11.5 percent tax on employers in addition to the taxes they already pay on employees. The result: Established businesses will leave Oregon, and new businesses will go elsewhere because of Oregon’s unfavorable business taxes, slowing growth and increasing unemployment even further.
Essentially, Measure 23 is putting every Oregonian on the Oregon Health Plan. Oregonians deserve the right to choose their health care plan and how much they want to pay. Vote no on Measure 23 to keep your freedom of choice.
Brian DeLaGrange
senior
business administration
Kent State’s the answer
A way to stop the rioting in the University area — and all others as well — is to stage another Kent State. If we had shot those persons seen on the screen as they participated in the riot, there would be no more.
The guilty would be taken care of, the damage would have been lessened and a lesson would have been learned by the riot-minded type. The “innocent” would be freed of accusation, the University would be cleansed and we would all be ahead. Any observations?
Larry Traglio
Eugene
Media should cover
child abductions
I recognize “freedom of the press,” but I also recognize your inability to grasp the real problem here. If the media hadn’t placed the child alerts they did, and if the media coverage hadn’t taken place, where do you think the sexual predators — that have been caught — would be today? I earnestly pray that neither you, nor any other family member, has to endure the pain and sleepless nights many parents have.
Rather than turn your head and become numb to these brutal attacks on our children, take your frustrations and put them to good use. Robert and Janet Cooke did just that, while they are still searching for their missing daughter, Rachel Cooke, missing since Jan. 10. She too hasn’t made national news, but her family and friends have kept her search alive, along with a country singer named Al White who wrote a song for Rachel Cooke and all missing children. Listen to the clip of “Rachel’s Song” at www.kvue.com and you will hear how one man has taken a totally different attempt of restoring hope, faith and love.
One person can’t do this alone. You turning your head and looking the other way won’t change the situation, at least in your mind. I’m thankful the people I’ve talked to haven’t suggested stopping the media coverage. I pray for your change of heart and thoughts on such terrible and horrendous crimes against children and older missing persons.
Pamela Shephard
Texas
X-Box makes us fat
On a recent trip to the Student Recreation Center, I noticed a new X-Box game station. On the yet-to-be-turned-on screen was a hand-written caveat about how X-Box donates money to intramural athletics.
Now, instead of working out, students can sample the newest incentive to join the ranks of Pepsi-swilling couch potatoes. In order to make the irony complete, could the rec center move the new soda machines next to the X-Box? A generation of obese, apathetic, physically unfit students awaits.
Ezekiel O’Brien
Eugene
Nearsighted forest policy
In response to Salena De La Cruz’s Voice Off (“HFI good for timber harvest,” ODE, Oct. 10): I find your commentary very disappointing. I am encouraging you to voice your opinion, but to use the excuse, “I come from small-town America” is quite sad.
You see, I too come from a small town, and my family made a living off of the timber industry. Yet I choose to define myself by my own thoughts and conclusions. I don’t stick to the stereotype that all small-town Oregonians have the same mentality.
Your argument goes in two directions. In one paragraph, you are in support of the thinning as to avoid future forest fires. In another paragraph, you encourage the use of old growth trees, stating that they, “make better paper,” even though, as you point out, they are more fire resistant. This only shows your true thoughts on logging.
This is not an issue of thinning for the safety of people. You are worried about loggers scraping by without a job. This is something we need to address as a nation that can afford billions on the military but must make budget cuts in education.
You are barking up the wrong tree if you believe that increased logging will help us. It may, for a while, increase jobs and wealth, but once again, we will be back to square one. Look into the future, not just next year. We can no longer afford to have such nearsightedness in this world.
Adrian Hoffman
junior
environmental science