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Archive for March, 2010

Sunday Best

March 14th, 2010 by D

Here’s a guy who hasn’t lived up to his full potential.

This is only going to go downhill [Update]

March 13th, 2010 by D

Was sent this e-mail from a group called College Grievance Consulting. In part, here’s what it said.

College Grievance Consulting is a newly formed organization of former ASUO members that would like to help the elections process this Spring. These individuals are willing to anonymously use their time to produce both grievances and responses to submit to the Constitution Court. By anonymously working for any and every campaign, we will be able to communicate fairly with the individual parties involved.

Former students meddling in college politics? This is obviously going to go well.

7PM Update:
This group sent out an e-mail saying they don’t exist anymore.

We regret to inform you that our organization will no longer be operating in the UofO. Upon recieving our first request, internal power struggles, social inadequacies, and infighting at our group has led to our demise. While we all wish that we could work on henalf of the morally just, or group can no longer function as is. We appreciate all of the support we have recieved, and look forward to a possible comeback maybe.

Maybe they’re secretly going to exist while lurking in the shadows.

Man, I could not care less.

Sources: ASUO candidate Rousseau violates campaign rules

March 13th, 2010 by D

An anonymous source from inside the ASUO is reporting that Amelie Rousseau, a candidate for ASUO President in the upcoming spring elections, has violated campaign rules by using the ASUO office to print campaign materials.

Signage is posted around the ASUO office and the entrances which tell candidates that there is to be no campaigning inside.

The source said that no grievance was scheduled to be filed, “She got reprimanded for it and paid for it.”

When asked who reprimanded Rousseau the source replied, “She is on [the ASUO executive] staff still. That makes her subject to who she works under.” Rousseau is the ASUO Executive’s events coordinator.

The source declined to comment on what happened to the aforementioned printed material saying only that it had been destroyed or thrown away.

Masoli and Embry plead guilty

March 12th, 2010 by D

Embry and Masoli/KVAL

“So when my little brother comes to visit in April, does this mean I can take him to the Eugene prison to get his football signed?”

That was what my friend’s Facebook status read today. That particular person is from the state of New York, only further proving that the rest of the country thinks our football team is a bunch of losers.

Jeremiah Masoli plead guilty today, as I am sure you are all aware of. What does this mean now, as far as our football team goes? To be honest, I don’t particularly care (blasphemy!) What I am worried about, however, is the strain this puts on our school and our surrounding community. The comparisons have been ample, so I won’t go into depth here, but I assume the coming wave of displeasure will feel much like it did around the summer of 2003.

Is it too cliche to wonder about the sense of “entitlement” our athletes have, what with the lavish surroundings Uncle Phil surrounds them with?  Masoli ran into legal trouble in high school, and the fact that he was willing to again commit a crime–this time with so much more to lose as an adult and as the face of a team that is sponsored by the world’s largest shoe company–is absolutely inexplicable.

There are so many consequences to Masoli’s actions, much farther reaching than I’m sure he’s imagined up until now. The state of Oregon, Eugene, even Phil Knight’s contributions to the University could be affected Masoli’s lust for musical instrumentation.

I’m also curious about how the rest of the student-athletes feel, especially from the football team. I highly doubt any of them would talk (for “brotherhood” or from simply being muzzled by the AD) but I’m sure that many of them, upstanding individuals, feel like they are now unfairly painted with the same colors as Masoli, James, Beard and Embry.

Good thing Spring Break is coming up. We all need some rest from this insanity.

UO Senate passes anti-Pacifica resolution, I yawn

March 11th, 2010 by D

Just received an email from the UO Senate President (not to be confused with the ASUO Senate, which is comprised of students) announcing the passing of an anti-Pacifica Forum resolution. In essence, here’s what it was all about.

The University Senate denounces in the strongest possible terms the hateful speech that is frequently expressed at the Pacifica Forum and deplores the pseudo-debates that Pacifica Forum portrays as serious intellectual inquiry, and the University Senate will publicize this stand widely throughout the University community.

Now that that’s out of the way, does anyone want to talk about how water bottles are bad? Or maybe about Duck athletes getting into trouble? I’m bored.

Nobody Asked Us But…

March 11th, 2010 by D

A few issues ago I wrote a “fake news story” about the Ol’ Dirty filling their news editor position with an orangutan named Pat. During a conversation with the Emerald‘s business manager Kathy Carbone, she complimented me on the story as well as asked me, “It’s funny, but can you just write that? Or is there some kind of rules against writing fake, ridiculous quotes?” I told Kathy that anyone who thinks a chimp getting hired at a school paper is real was not worth my time. We never received any complaints.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said for the Vancouver Voice, ran by former OC editor-in-chief Ossie Bladine. In a section titled “Not Real News” they ran a fake story about a local business considering implementing casino games for children as part of their business model. Just wait, it gets better.

Apparently a local citizen called the Washington State Gambling Commission and the business is now under investigation. Now, I can understand Ossie’s problem of readers’ lazy eyes — I have read links to this very blog (mostly from Tea Party people who hate me) saying that “there’s not even an author to this blog!” when clearly, my name is directly under the title.

What is more confusing, however, is how on Earth anyone could think that a news organization like the Voice would run a straight news story about a children’s gambling establishment with no commentary or editorial substance. Is the generation gap becoming so large that The Onion is becoming a dividing line?

This is not the first time this year the Voice has had such confusion over a clearly labeled and clearly satirical article. In their Jan. 21 issue, the Voice ran a story about The Columbian changing its name to The Fort Vancouver Tribune. Apparently this caused some mental anguish for their readers, and Ossie had to formulate a very obvious, simply-worded note for his slower readers that read, We’d like to state that this was not quite real news–as in, we made it up.” 

In any case Ossie said, “From an outsider’s view, this is pretty funny. But for Big Al’s, a locally owned business that works hard to keep a family friendly image, not so funny.” But Ossie’s wrong, isn’t he? It’s not funny.

It’s absolutely hilarious.

Forget the OC, the University needs an ASUO watchdog group

March 10th, 2010 by Ross Coyle

In a recent press release to the Elections Committee and general student body, Tony Mecum announced the creation of the Students for Responsible Government. SRG, according to Mecum, is “a watchdog group to monitor campaign promises and rules by creating awareness about this year’s student government elections.”

Mecum, who resigned today from the EMU board, declares that he is tired of the elections being a “giant circus show” and that “for too long have special interest groups poisoned the democratic free allocation process.” He plans to wage this ASUO war with “every constitutional power granted to free paying members of this association.” The group is “nothing short of excited” and has received support from leaders across campus, according to Mecum. SRG is looking forward to the coming weeks, and is already analyzing wire tips.

Well all I can say is that it’s hight time that the UO finally has a group to keep an eye on the ASUO. Despite their stunning effectiveness as a governing body, you never know when the ASUO might misallocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to some kind of shady lobbyist group, or potentially break constitutional law. It’s great that we have upstanding men people in our student body willing to speak out against these abuses. I can rest easy tonight knowing that though ASUO elections loom on the horizon, Mecum and his group “are committed to this cause. Justice will be served.”

The most fiercestest government watchdog.

May the ASUO fear this face.

The Foresight of our Fathers

March 10th, 2010 by D

The First Amendment is a delicate subject — surprising given its nature, which is one that protects the opinions and speech of all. Such was the argument of a federal appeals court that dismissed a suit against a group of extremist Christians who picketed the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder in 2006.

The protesters (Baptists from Kansas) were holding signs that, “maintain that God hates homosexuality and that the death of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is God’s way of punishing the United States for its tolerance of it.”

I’m not going to enter the semantic realm of Christians arguing that God punishes evil; that seems an open invitation to interpretation and an unwanted diversion of attention. Instead, what I’d like to point out is the incredible irony that arises out of the situation considering the death was that of a serviceman.

Although I could never do it myself, the burden our military people put on themselves in the line of duty is something I admire in and of itself. Regardless of the conflict, the self-sacrifice–putting yourself in the line of danger for my safety–is something I will never understand, never experience. But I am damn grateful for it.

As a Marine, Lance Cpl. Snyder undoubtedly believed that he was helping to protect our citizens and therefore our Constitution, in some way or another. As such, he actively helped protect the same governing laws that allowed, rightfully, a handful of religious zealots to make light of his death and his sacrifice.

Do I believe the picketers were wrong to protest Lance Cpl. Snyder’s funeral? Yes, but only on moral grounds. Having such disrespect for another human’s life is to be despised, and the grief put upon his family is more than they should have to endure. But as I sit here, with a picture of my grandfather in full Naval uniform staring directly at me, I have to remember that my morals are not solid basis for the policy of this nation’s laws. During WWII, he fought to protect my right to protect myself, to protect my home and my right to speak my mind. There is no doubt that Lance Cpl. Snyder fought to protect those things as well.

That is why when the Supreme Court hears this trial, I hope they will find in favor of the protesters. Not for their sake, and not for their expressed views; those I can live without. Instead, I hope they find in favor of the First Amendment. For all of us. That way, Lance Cpl. Snyder’s service will not have been in vain.

Secret Agent Man

March 9th, 2010 by D

Zachary Bucharest/The Vanguard

Now that the sun has started to shine, it inevitably means that Zach Vishanoff will break out his easel and get to work painting Eugene in bloom. As such, the state of Oregon will be requiring a new conspiracy theorist to take his place. Enter Professor John Hall of Portland State.

In an insane story, Hall has accused one of his students — a former Israeli Defense Forces member and contracted mercenary — of being an agent provocateur and an FBI informant.

It started when Zachary Bucharest brought a deconstructed and firing pin-less AR-15 to class for a presentation in November. After months of interaction with Bucharest, Professor Hall had decided he was dangerous to the PSU community. In January, Hall called Bucharest out during a class session, and presented a letter he’d written to the local FBI office.

In the letter, Hall makes several cliche, paranoid references like “As you would [already] know…” The story seemingly tangles itself considering Hall took a campus safety officer to class with him to “pat down” Bucharest — a violation of his privacy — to look for a gun (lets not forget OUS/PSU rules that violate the 2nd Amendment either).

As a result, Hall has been suspended with pay pending investigation into the matter. There are so many directions to go with this story, so much input it’s hard to know where to start. For starters, Bucharest brought an AR-15 to campus, violating PSU’s “rules” against firearms — a sticky situation in itself.

Then comes the attack by Hall, asking a campus officer to do an illegal search of Bucharest. Combine that with the fact that a tenured professor going off about a secret FBI informant in his midst is going to seem a little batshit crazy (even if he did somehow hit the secret hotspot).

For Christ’s sake, even if Bucharest is an FBI informant, what is Hall expecting with that letter? I’ll save you the long, rambling read but the professor ends his letter with a warning to the FBI that he will, “Inform my students’ parents of this likely threat.” Was Hall expecting the FBI to come out and say, “Wow. You really got us, John. We tried to slip it past you but you were too on the ball. Great job!”

This may be serious business a little farther north, but from where I’m sitting this is just plain funny.

New Issue Online: March Madness

March 7th, 2010 by Drew Cattermole

Need something to do while putting off studying for upcoming finals? Well look no further, we have our latest issue online for all of you to read.

Inside:

  • Draw-a-Dick winners
  • Webstars!
  • Bias in the Classroom
  • Hate Speech Debate
  • Campus Customer Service
  • and much more

Sunday Best

March 7th, 2010 by D

Now that the ASUO Senate is out of session until next term, I figured this picture that Pete drew me during our special request senate meeting had some kind of sigificance.

The Oregon Commentator Goes Quarterly

March 5th, 2010 by D

A new issue of the Oregon Quarterly is out, most notably with an article by Managing Editor Ross West about the Oregon Commentator’s By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator.

There’s some great quotes in there, and overall the article is pretty positive. You can check out the digital issue of the Oregon Quarterly here or pick it up in person at the Duckstore.

I should take this time to remind you that By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator is still only $10.

Red Cross Program Starting on Campus

March 5th, 2010 by Drew Cattermole

When Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake killing over 200,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless a number of  students took action. Many students planned fundraisers, some threw Haiti donation parties and many others donated individually.

Three students in particular wanted to take action and did not want to wait. Jon Kam, Corey Smith and David Zahn took to the corner of 13th and Kincaid with a bucket and hope.The three stood on the corner with their bucket in place and begun asking students for a donations to the American Red Cross. Many questioned their intents and thought they were trying to scam students. The Red Cross recognized their efforts as official and sincere, and applauded their work.

Over a two day period the three students were able to gather $1,500 merely asking students for donations. Now Kam is looking to bring the Red Cross to the UO students. Their first meeting took place last Wednesday and he group  has already begun planning future events. Such events include a smoke detector distribution program for impoverished neighborhoods in Eugene and a Civil War fundraiser in May.

If you would like to learn more about participating in events  or  joining the upcoming student group follow their twitter at rceverydayhero.

Video Blog: Smoke-In and Cigarette Cleanup

March 4th, 2010 by D

ASUO Senate March 3rd

March 3rd, 2010 by Drew Cattermole