I 4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 26, 2004 OPINION 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 able; opinion.michigandaily .comr tothedaily@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JORDAN SCHRADER Editor in Chief JASON Z. PESICK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE Igot such a kick out of seeing the president huff and puff and get all indignant about the testimony of Richard Clarke this week." - Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, speaking to college students, as reported yesterday by The Washington Post. i I a4 ..f U SAM BUTLER THE SOAPBOX --------- 19 u 0 oS C9 Puncturing the silence LoulE MEIZLISH As MEIZLISH SEES IT 0 After only three years in office, the Bush administration has done a remarkable job of making enemies of its for- mer employees. The most recent, of course, has been Richard Clarke, the former White House anti-terrorism adviser under several presi- dents, Democrat and Republican. Before that there was Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who, like Clarke, is peddling a book. Before them were national security specialist Rand Beers (now on John Kerry's campaign) and faith- based initiatives chief John Dilulio Jr. It is no doubt troubling for the White House that these former staffers like to blast the Bush team while he's running for re-election, and they will no doubt hurt his campaign. One of my more liberal friends remarked, "I think it's a telling nature of the Bush administra- tion that long-serving public servants and high- ranking appointees are dropping like flies and all saying, 'This guy is fucking nuts."' The Bush team has not figured out how to deal with these allegations, save for trying to tear down the critic. As competently reported by The New Republic, Slate and yes, even Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," the response from the White House has been in three parts: Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley: Clarke's a good chap. We tried to do everything we could for him and give him the tools he needed to do his job. Darn. Condoleeza Rice: All this guy wanted to do was talk talk talk, yappity yap yap. We wanted to get down to business and take out the terror- ists. Don't know what his problem was. Dick Cheney: Well, "to be frank," the dude wasn't there with us. I don't know what he's talking about. By the way (nudge nudge, wink wink), remember all those terrorist acts of the '90s - the first World Trade Center bombings, the Khobar Towers, the African embassy bomb- ings - they all happened on his watch. But, hey, I ain't sayin', I'm just sayin'. Last weekend I attended a campus journal- ists' conference in New York. One of the fea- tured guests was Ron Hutcheson, a Knight Ridder correspondent at the White House. Natu- rally, I asked him about my favorite show, NBC's "The West Wing," and whether real White House reporters have all the access the fictional "West Wing" reporters have. His answer was nope, not at all. Most of the information the reporters get, he said, is accu- mulated in the press briefing room. The White House is a victim of its own suc- cess, so to speak. The president hates, hates!, unauthorized leaks and makes sure everybody in the White House knows it. Leaks are usually not altogether positive or negative. They often describe the tough deliberations going on, and that doesn't really hurt. But almost all the news coming out of the White House is authorized by press secretary Scott McClellan. But the public and the media want some- thing more, more of an insider's look. By clamp- ing down on those who would provide mostly innocuous stuff anonymously, the Bush team has vastly increased the public and press's demand for tell-all books like those by Clarke and O'Neill. But now the White House acts surprised that all the insider perspectives are provided by dis- gruntled employees. Lack of information then leads to rampant speculation, and everyone blames Karl Rove when something goes wrong. M icrosoft Corp. is in trouble with anti- trust regulators again, but this time it's the Europeans, not the U.S. Justice Department. The European Commission, the administra- tive arm of the European Union, is imposing a $613 million penalty on Microsoft for bundling its program Media Player with versions of the Windows operating system, freezing out com- petitor multimedia programs such as the RealPlayer. The EU accuses the software provider of abusing its virtual monopoly on the operating-system software. Remember that this comes years after the U.S. government settled its anti-trust case against Microsoft. Does this mean that international companies will have to deal with more than one team of regulators at a time? I think so. But rather than rail against this, businesses and policymakers would be well advised to seek out ways that the United States and Europe can merge their regulatory functions. This would make it easier for companies to innovate, and it would save money for both Americans and Europeans. Auditors from both governments have already agreed to share auditing functions to prevent more Enrons and WorldComs, because failing companies don't just affect the nation in which they're headquartered. Let's keep a good thing going. Let's find more ways to share regulatory duties. Meizlish can be reached at meizlish@umich.edu. 0 Some food for thought SOWMYA KRISHNAMURTHY AuDi AITERAM PARTEM n any given trip to the CCRB, I come across the same dilemma: All of the tread- mills and elliptical machines are in use, leaving me to wait and increase my blood pressure in the interim. Though this is the perfect opportunity to make a harangue against the University's sub-par athlet- ic facilities, I will leave that for another time. What surprises me even more is how the lack of available exercise equipment contrasts sharply with national findings. Americans seem to be more conscious of their health and fitness, yet obesity has skyrocketed. Obesity, being over- weight by 20 to 30 percent of the ideal body weight, affects 64 percent of adults and is set to exceed smoking as the No. 1 cause of preventa- ble death. The epidemic of fat has gotten so serious that some politicians are mulling a "fat tax" on unhealthy goodies like red meat and chocolate bars. At its most basic form, such a tax would increase the price of foods linked to obesity to subsequently lessen our cravings. Although a fat-tax proposal would likely generate some much-needed federal revenue, the actual effects on public health are suspect. The same line of thinking was used to propel the cigarette tax, which has boosted interstate and Internet ciga- rette sales more than significantly curbing smoking. Old habits die hard and other than fru- gal college students on Entree Plus, few will replace Twinkies with carrot sticks if a tax is imposed; only wallets will be lighter. A fat tax theoretically would be especially detrimental to lower-income families who rely on cheaper and therefore unhealthier cuisine. Because the inertia of human nature usual- ly impedes change, the problem of obesity needs to be tackled more stringently from a societal level. The first move is to proscribe all of the political correctness behind obesity and criticize the sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle that propagates it. Minus certain medical afflictions and heredity that can exac- erbate weight gain, it is not feasible to gorge oneself to death. In an effort to appease everyone's "feelings," society has given the obese the right to feel victimized. Clothing manufacturers distort label sizes and store mirrors to placate consumers' egos. Airlines continue to debate whether passengers using multiple seats should be charged single fare, and federal compensation exists for the obese. The image of the "big, fat party animal" and the mantra that "beauty comes in all sizes no matter what" (which are inherently biased to favor men over women) are simply excuses. There is nothing attractive about the sickness- es caused by obesity like Type 2 diabetes, car- diovascular disease, and several types of cancer, or $40 billion - or about $170 per person - the yearly price tag the public spends treating these illnesses through Medicare and Medicaid programs. In no way do I advocate stigmatization of the obese or mandating national starvation; rather, I propose more awareness. Instead of sugar-coating the issue, treat obesity as the epidemic that it is and demand individual and societal responsibility. With their monstrous portions, lack of healthy alternatives and misleading advertis- ing, restaurants and fast-food chains like McDonald's and Burger King are some of the largest purveyors of fat. The numbers speak for themselves. McDonald's Supersized Big Mac and Coke, which were both incidentally discontinued following nutritional litigation, contained a whopping 1,600 calories and 44 grams of fat - over half of the daily caloric and fat intake of an average American male. Even so-called diet food can be deceptive. Subway's popular Friendly Wraps, based on the Atkins "become skinny but clog your arter- ies with saturated fat" pseudo-diet, contain such healthy ingredients as bacon and ranch sauce, totaling to over 400 calories and 20 grams of fat a piece. Corporations need to be more frank with nutrition information, dis- playing it prominently before you order, and offer bona fide alternatives. School cafeterias require some revamping as well. With chocolate chip cookies and French fries being some of the most popular lunch choices, it is no wonder that 30 percent of school-age children are overweight and 15 percent are defined as obese. We live in a country with some of the most advanced medical technology in the world. With our knowledge of preventative measures, there is no reason why hundreds of thousands of Americans should die because of overconsumption. The Bush administration recently launched a campaign to combat the issue via improved product labels, a partner- ship with restaurants, and increased health education. Though its success is yet to be seen, hopefully this holistic approach along with some tough love will provide a solid foundation for fighting the battle of the bulge. Krishnamurthy can be reached at sowymak@umich.edu. 0 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Sensational journalism a disservice, hampers the dialogue on female issues To THE DAILY: I am writing in response to the Daily's article entitled Abortion may be key issue for female voters (03/25/04). The Daily's han- dling of such important and complex issues has consistently been one-faceted and sen- sationalistic. As three of the four women auoted all stated. the discussion of and sensationalizing the issue in an attempt to garner readership, to the point that the primary message of the story is often lost. How can American people ever hope to achieve reproductive justice when the news sources largely responsible for dis- seminating information continue to propa- gate single-issue, narrow-voiced rhetoric in a way that focuses solely on abortion? As many of the women quoted in the arti- cle clearly stated, choice is about far more than terminating a pregnancy. The legacy of Roe v. Wade is key to ensuring legal availability of comprehensive reproductive emotions evoked by the word "abortion" and work to provide a complete picture of the reproductive and sexual complexities facing women today. LISA BAKALE-WISE LSA sophomore MSA representative Executive Board, Students for Choice Reader: Granholm is the governor, not a celebrity from the East Coast ..w.u: :.:uufa :::.; x..4.W % ' . "I!":,i'F'3"11 A41: :f fi:7A b. >'i Aw