Mannix wants to take away retirement
When looking into the future, many parents see a bitter existence for their children. My fear is not for the future of my children, but for the future of my mother. All my mother wanted was a future for me and my brother. She works long hours at two jobs so that my brother and I can succeed. She has already dipped into her 401(k) to support us. What if it’s not enough?
With health care rising every year, her retirement won’t keep her safe. Kevin Mannix wants to “freeze the expansion of the Oregon Health Plan” (The Oregonian, May 28). This brings a chill to my spine. The Federal Government has promised $1.4 million to expand the Oregon Health Plan. What will Mannix do with the money?
Kevin Mannix also wants to “partner with the pharmaceutical companies”( Washington County Public Affairs Forum, Sept. 25) and provide them with legal immunity in exchange for lower prices. Why is Mannix partnering with the pharmaceutical industry when he should be partnering with our communities? And does the pharmaceutical industry deserve immunity?
My mother has given so much to me, and I refuse to see her still working in 20 years because her retirement couldn’t take care of her. Freezing the Oregon Health Plan would hinder my mother from retiring.
When you look at your ballot think of your mother like I do every night, then think about how much Mannix wants to take away from her.

Nick Maggi

Eugene

Talking about feelings

can ease pain
Just as talk of outright war with Iraq has increasingly dominated the news over the last several weeks, so has this distressing possibility also occupied our hearts and minds. An underlying sense of uneasiness pervades our souls.
The sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area have only added to our apprehension and feeling that the world seems like a particularly unsafe place right now.
We know that we are not alone. We suspect that many in the University community share our apprehension and uneasiness. At the same time, for some, these feelings may remain unrecognized.
While we are committed to peaceful means of resolving disputes, we write not to further our own religious or political views. Rather, we are writing to encourage members of the University to notice within themselves any uneasiness or fear they may be experiencing and talk about it.
As human beings, we are gifted with a range of emotions. Acknowledging those emotions and feelings encourages our own growth. More than anything, the simple act of acknowledging our feelings to others reveals our humanity in all of its fragility and beauty.
As we move ahead in this often times frightening and random world, we do so, certain that the sun will rise tomorrow (yes, even in Oregon). We are also certain that there is a goodness in this world that is greater than any of the temporary and transitory experiences of evil we may encounter.

Rev. Ann Bowersox

Koinonia Presbyterian campus ministry

Jeremy Hajdu-Paulen

Wesley Foundation campus ministry

Bradbury reaches out

to students
I am a student enrolled at the Honors College at the University. One strong focus of the college is centered on the necessity for critical thinking in everyday life.
During Oregon’s campaign season, such a mode of thinking has helped me to develop an objectionable opinion of each candidate running for office. However, you do not need to be an astrophysicist to notice that Bill Bradbury is the best candidate for U.S. Senate. Bill believes that students matter. He has coordinated a Halloween event on campus, simply to encourage students to vote. Unlike the Smith-Bush campaign event, which sold at $1,000 a plate, the most expensive ticket at the Bradbury event is $25 for an adult.
Bradbury even went further with his mission to educate college students by donating 2,500 free tickets to University members.
Kevin Mannix, on the other hand, is more concerned about campaign finances than his younger constituents. In fact, he arrived 90 minutes late to a student X-Pac debate because of a possible donation he was to receive from a timber industry union.

Sarah A. Koski

freshman

law

Peace through war?
Gordon Smith did not make it onto a recent list by a syndicated columnist of officials in Washington who say one thing and mean another. The Emerald (“Political leaders stand against war push,” Oct. 14), however, quotes Smith’s defense of a green light for war against Iraq: “We must take the heavy mantle of leadership to seek peaceful regime change.”
Shades of Orwellian war is peace! Has the senator been asleep in his office, with the shades drawn during the (President) Bush push for a regime change in Baghdad by war or the threat of war?

Orval Etter

associate professor emeritus

planning, public policy

and management

Mannix supports

higher education
There is little doubt that Kevin Mannix is the higher education candidate for governor. Mannix does not support the proposed tuition increase for students, and if he wins the Nov. 5 election, Mannix will immediately go to work with the Legislature to avert harmful tuition increases.
Mannix promises to pump $350 million more into Oregon universities during the next two years to bring state higher education funding to a level where it should already be. Higher education funding has continuously been put on the chopping block by Gov. Kitzhaber and his friends like Ted Kulongoski, who always put a higher priority on big government social programs than Oregon’s universities.
We need a governor who will put students over government bureaucracies. We need a governor who has a solid record of commitment to higher education.
For lower tuition, a better economy and a stronger University, students should vote for Kevin Mannix for governor.

Matt Pfeiffer

junior

political science