The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 13, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 Page: 2 of 14
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Opinion
The Collegian
page 2 • December 3, 2008
Collegian Ofeiniw
Viewpoints
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Laws shouldn't blame fast food
Bad idea to revisit
Fairness Doctrine
Correction
Letter Policv
The Collegian
My town not what it used to be
• All-American •
• Pacemaker •
Staff
sour and left a
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*1
Your brain on Webb
Congo crisis needs
America's attention
All letters to the editor should be signed
by the writer and include his or her Col-
league ID or telephone number (the numbers
will not be published).
Letters should be typed and not lon-
Americans pride themselves on being a nation of free-
dom with freedom of religion, press and speech. Americans
also have the freedom to eat what they want when they
want to.
But with that freedom also comes personal account-
ability. Having the choice to make our own decisions
means we are responsible for decisions that affect our lives.
With the rise in the number of obese children in the
past three decades, some parents have looked to scapegoat
the fast food industry for the health and eating habits of
their children. Some have gone as far as filing lawsuits
against many restaurants, but lack of personal responsibil-
ity is to blame.
Most notable are the numerous lawsuits against the
McDonalds Corporation. In 2002, two New York teens
accused the restaurant of causing their obesity by serving
highly processed food.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin said in a CNN
interview, “If a person knows or should know that eating
copious orders of supersized McDonalds products is un-
healthy and could result in weight gain, it is not the place
of law to protect them from their own excesses.”
Yes, the restaurants offer the food, but people need to
have enough self-control to limit their consumption of un-
healthy foods. If they are exposed to too much sun and get
sunburned, will they then try to sue the sun?
The goals of the corporations are to sell a product and
make money through advertising. Consumers need to edu-
cate themselves before buying. If consumers do not like the
The Collegian is a weekly student publication
serving the Tarrant County College District. Editorial
statements and advertisements do not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the TCC administration.
Letters to the paper should be 150 words or less,
free from libel and poor taste and include the writer's
Colleague ID or telephone number (the numbers will
not be published).
Letters may be brought to The Collegian office
(NCAB 1124A, NE Campus), or mailed to:
Chris Webb, editor-in-chief • Gary Collins, managing editor
Alex Muhindura, ne news editor • Frances Matteck, nw news editor
Shelly Williams, se news editor • John Harden, sports editor
A. J. Eaton, copy editor
Sarah McVean, photo editor • Daniel Worthington, illustrator
John Garces, Angel Torres, reporters
Keisha McDuffie, computer/design assistant
Tina Anders, advertising director • Stacy Luecker, business manager
Eddye Gallagher, Chris Whitley, advisers
product, they should not buy it. This will cause the compa-
nies to change their products as McDonalds has by offering
healthier food.
Approximately two-thirds of American adults and 15
percent of 6- to 11-year-olds are considered overweight.
This high percentage results primarily from a sedentary
lifestyle and foods with high fat content.
In 2005, the U.S. House passed the “Cheeseburger”
Bill, which would protect fast food restaurants from frivo-
lous lawsuits.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said lawsuits that blame
others for our own choices should not be encouraged.
It is hard to claim ignorance and say people did not
know fried food is unhealthy. It is the job of parents to en-
sure their children eat healthy foods and maintain a healthy
diet. Responsibility lies with the parents who need to say
no to begging children who do not know any better.
It should be obvious from the name of places like Ken-
tucky Fried Chicken that the food being served is fried and,
therefore, should not be consumed in large doses.
What examples are set for children when they learn
they can blame others for their own failures and mistakes?
Some people might not realize when fast food chains
first appeared, they were considered a treat, something
eaten on Friday nights and weekends not three times a day
seven days a week.
If Americans don’t learn to control their diets, the fast
food industry might have to resort to dosage instructions ...
eat once daily, but not more than four times a week.
The Collegian • 828 Harwood Road
Hurst, TX 76054
Office: 817-515-6391 Editor: 817-515-6392
Advertising: 817-515-6619 Fax: 817-515-6767
e-mail: tcceditor@lycos.com
Check out The Collegian online at www.tccd.edu/col-
legian
TCC is an equal opportunity institution that provides educational and
employment opportunities on the basis of merit and without discrimi-
nation because of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran
status or disability.
■ i
u
r\A
CHRIS WEBB
editor-in-chief
ALEX MUHINDURA
ne news editor
I
X®’
$
ger than 150 words. They will be edited for
grammar, style and space and will run as
space is available and at the discretion of the
editor.
Send letters to tcceditor@lycos.com.
posedly because it didn’t aesthetically
mesh with the rest of the town.
The local church was overshadowed
by a megachurch.
The town’s main road was repaved
and widened for increased traffic.
The schools have multiplied.
Some of the restaurants have added
French subtitles.
And a $15 million football stadium
replaced the need for academic perfor-
mance, and, by the way, it will have a
sushi bar installed soon.
It’s not the money or the new air
reeking of snobbish elitism blowing
around town. It’s not even the fact that
I no longer know the name of any of my
neighbors. It’s the total loss of percep-
tion.
Southlake has become a self-per-
petuating machine encapsulated by a
bubble blocking out reality.
I wish I had a pin.
£
fins
In the Nov. 19 issue of The Col-
legian, the salsa dancers on Page One
were Rosa Chavez, NW communica-
tions chair, and Robyn Buckwaiter, NW
Spanish instructional assistant.
tlWWWM
Imagine a world where all
people with the ability to speak
their minds for a living have
the right to do just that, regard-
less of the controversy their
opinions might create.
Sounds great, right?
Wrong.
The policy created by the
Federal Communications Com-
mission, known as the Fairness
Doctrine was originally sup-
posed to ensure all media coverage of a
controversial subject be fair and balanced.
But it seems some within the Dem-
ocratic Party, led by New York Sen.
Charles Schumer, are attempting to rein-
state the policy, dormant for years, as a
way to attack their political enemies.
That’s not fair at all.
Schumer told Fox News in an inter-
view, “I think everyone should be fair and
balanced, don’t you?”
The problem is all people should
also have the First Amendment right to
freedom of speech, which ensures every-
one has a right to voice an opinion. And
thanks to the right to free press, journal-
ists not only have the right to be heard
but to judge for themselves the balanced
views of a story.
As news broke of another
chapter unfolding in the bleak
story of the Congo, I wondered
how many people knew of the
ghastly origins of their favorite
technological toys.
The turn of the century
boom that flooded the mar-
ket with cheap, high-powered
gadgets has a dark underbelly
and bears responsibility for the
most gruesome war since the
Wehrmacht stormed Europe.
While the official story paints a sim-
plistic picture of tribal warfare, a deeper
view reveals a sordid entanglement of min-
ing interests, the Rwandan government
and its American and British allies as they
chase the vital ore, coltan. The hunt for
access, exploitative mining and ruthless
tactics to maintain territory has led to mil-
lions of deaths and created a lost generation
without a country, an education, healthcare
or a future.
Coltan, which powers popular gadgets
from laptops to cell phones, also fuels the
war that claims 1,500 lives daily. As we
send e-mails on our smart phones, children
toil in mines, women are raped and muti-
lated and refugee camps are shelled.
This conflict began in the aftermath
of the Cold War but has raged for nearly
two decades growing in scope and car-
nage. Looking for an American foothold
in French-controlled Central Africa, the
Rwandan Patriotic Front attacked Rwan-
da in 1990. At the height of a brutal civil
war, the RPF shot down the presidential
plane sparking nationwide chaos and vio-
- close to an airport and away from the
city smog.
Coming from California, my fa-
ther was ripe with jokes about how
we were stuck in the boonies and we
had left the industrialized world be-
hind. Little did he know how quickly
| that would change.
Of course, the change was more
than welcome when construction
plans began all over town.
When the City Council approved
the now massive town square, I was ec-
static and thought of how fantastic this
was.
I didn’t realize the shopping center
had a destiny as a daycare for Southla-
kian parents late for their latest Botox
injections.
Anyone leaving town when I ar-
rived certainly couldn’t recognize it
anymore.
The Wal-Mart was torn down sup-
lence broadcast worldwide. It
seized power amid the may-
hem, which led to a mass exo-
dus of Rwandan citizens into
neighboring Congo. In 1996,
supposedly bringing the geno-
cidaires to justice, the RPF
attacked Congo and secured
coltan mines along the border.
This Rwandan occupation,
along, with surges in violence
every few months, is directly
responsible for countless or-
phans and limbless or hopeless people who
populate eastern Congo.
Rather than finding war criminals, the
invading army is engaged in an extermina-
tion campaign to eliminate any threat of an
insurgency by the former Rwandan gov-
ernment. These barbaric acts, like raining
bombs on camps of displaced civilians or
gang-raping women before shooting them
in the vagina, show the justice they hand
out.
In an attempt to stabilize the situa-
tion, Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean
troops were recently sent to assist the Con-
golese army in their defense against the
RPF. While the attempt is noble, they are
no matches for the well-supplied proxy mi-
litias representing mining interests.
We can cry foul and demand a deploy-
ment of the ironic peacekeeping force or a
halt in the production of tainted technology,
but little will change until our voracious
appetite for coltan is curbed.
As we continue to fan the flame, we
should at least pause to recognize those
who sacrificed so much for so little.
' si
I
The policy was abolished j
in 1987 by a Reagan-led FCC, 1
which believed there was no
need for it since there were
plenty of outlets for a range
of opinion in the media.
Schumer and others with-
in his party, though, seem to
be using the doctrine in its
worst possible way, as a bully
pulpit to strike down the con- |
servative talk-radio market,
which, led by Rush Limbaugh, has been
credited with saving AM radio. i
With everything Obama and his ad-
ministration must tackle to make all the
“change” promised, rewriting the rules of
an antiquated policy abolished 20 years
ago shouldn’t be that high on the list.
Forcing conservative talk radio off
the air and replacing it with a show more
favorable to a party’s views is not fair.
It’s more along the lines of commu-
nism.
It also threatens to trample the spirit
of the First Amendment, which says Con-
gress shall make no law prohibiting the
free exercise of or the abridging of the
freedom of speech or the press.
Is this the kind of change we really
need?
ta
L
Every town has —
its own distinct fla-
vor.
The people,
schools, architecture
and festivities es-
tablish a unique feel
that makes it unlike |
just any old town.
The flavor
of the town I have
called home for the
past 14 years has gone
bitter aftertaste reminiscent of burning
plastic.
When I first moved to Southlake,
the town consisted of the church, the
school, an Albertsons and, of course, a
Wal-Mart.
Unless you had a farm or ranch, it
was a transit town—a stopping place
with a good school system that attracted
attention from families with a need to be
f w
. ■■ ■
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JOHN GARCES
reporter
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The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 13, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 3, 2008, newspaper, December 3, 2008; Hurst, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1310460/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room.