4 - Friday, November 9, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Ele ii tan B)at1U Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu KARL STAMPFL IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solelythe views of their authors. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a criticallook at coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions and comments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. Power up Energy crunch demands long-term solutions Michigan's gas prices are the second highest in the coun- try, only trailing California's. This is part of a trend of rising gas and energy prices that has forced Americans to become more aware of cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative fuel sources. Our reaction to the sudden energy crunch, however, must go beyond just outrage: The country, and Michigan especially, should reevaluate its interaction with the environment and work toward a more eco-friendly culture rather than advocat- ing short-term abatements like cuts on the gasoline tax. We have said today, as a Congress to this president, you can't just keep rolling over us like this." - Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, referring to Congress's override of President Bush's veto of a $23.2 billion water resources bill, as reported yesterday at nytimes.com. The one cable company t is unfortunate that Comcast has not yet negotiated a deal with the Big Ten Network, deny- ing all of its view- ers the enjoyment of watching some Michigan football games. The Big Ten Network claims that it is not creat- ing the problem; it has successfully negotiated con- PATRICK tracts with most of the nation's larg- ZABAWA est cable providers, including DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T. What's more unfortunate, though, is that Ann Arborresidents cannot switch to any of these other cable pro- viders without making the tedious transition to satellite TV. In this mat- ter, Ann Arbor residents' supposed friend, the city government, is actual- ly their foe. It turns out that Comcast has a contract with the citythat allows it to be the sole cable provider to Ann Arbor residents. Such unnecessary government interference is the reason that there are so many monopolies in the cable market across the nation. The Federal Communications Commission allows city governments to negotiate their own contracts with cable companies. This contract sys- tem was originally created so that each city negotiates the cable compa- nies into wiring the entire city. But most cities negotiated with only one cable company and gave that com- pany exclusive rights to provide cable access to the city. Municipal govern- ments quickly learned that they could take advantage of this ability to create cable monopolies. They began charg- ing cable companies a share of their revenue, essentially taxing cable sub- scriptions. The FCC had to step in and cap charges at 5 percent. However, the FCC has found cases in which cities are attempting to sub- vert the 5 percent maximum by col- lecting additional fees. Such cases reveal that allowing city governments to collect money from cable revenues results in corruption. Cities have a vested interest in higher cable rates, which is not in the best interest of cable subscribers. Cities avoid negotiating cable con- tracts with multiple cable providers, and cable companies in turn avoid entering new cities because the new city usually requires the company to rewire the entire community at great expense. Nonetheless, multiple cable providers are available to con- sumers in large metropolitan areas like Detroit, where 40 percent of residents can choose between two or more cable providers, according to a Detroit News special report. Unfortu- nately, according to the FCC, 95 per- cent of Americans do not have such a choice of cable providers. For the 5 percent that does have a choice, benefits are plentiful. Accord- ing to the FCC, cable rates in com- munities with more than one cable provider were 17 percent less than those with only one provider. A Detroit News survey of metro Detroit found that complaints about cable service dropped 90 percent in com- munities with multiples cable provid- ers. Apparently, cable companies care about their customers more if there's competition around. In December 2006, the Michigan legislature tried to open up the cable market to competition by replacing all local cable contracts with a universal contract that all cities must follow. It eliminates the hassle of cable compa- nies negotiating different contracts for each city. However, this legislation is flawed. It still requires cable companies to apply for the contract in each city. The universal contract keeps the 5 percent charge on cable revenues and still requires a cable company to wire 50 percent of each new city within six years of signing the contract. While this helps deregulate the cable mar- ket, the legislation ignores the root cause of the lack of cable competition: the contract system itself. Local cable contracts are anti- quated and need to be eliminated. They reflect unnecessary government intervention in the free market. If government stopped regulating cable television, cable prices would immedi- ately drop because of the elimination of the 5 percent cable surcharge. Cable prices would drop further as other cable providers move into the city in accordance with trends today in cities with cable competition. The real reason you can't get the Big Ten Network. Without the cable contracting sys- tem, cable companies would be more willing to establish service in new cities without having to worry about wiring the entire city at a govern- ment-imposed pace. The pace would be determined by the market. For example, if one cable provider in Ann Arbor does not provide its subscrib- ers with access to Michigan football games, then another could quickly move in and set up cable service in the area before the season begins. If the cable contract system had been eliminated and the free market allowed in the cable industry, Ann Arbor residents would have the choice of switching to another cable pro- vider and watching Michigan football gamescarriedbytheBigTenNetwork. It's too bad that their own city govern- ment is denying them that option. Patrick Zabawa can be reached at pzabawa@umich.edu. I 14 Across the nation, environmental issues seem to be at the front of people's minds. Presidential candidates gearing up for the 2008 elections have already prioritized these issues in their campaigns (the Demo- crats, anyway). Hillary Clinton recently pro- posed an energy plan that would require car companies to produce automobiles that get 55 miles per gallon by 2030. John Edwards's plan includes a 40 mpg standard by 2016, and Bill Richardson wants a 50 mpg standard by 2020. Many politicians have advocated for more significant tax breaks to incentivize the purchase of hybrid vehicles. These are all laudable goals, but the problem requires a more comprehensive solution. One of the most appealing and conve- nient ways to structurally foster a more energy-efficient culture is to expand and improve mass transit systems, especially in the Detroit area, the only large met- ropolitan area in the country without a system of regional transit. Ann Arbor has started making such improvements with the proposed light rail route between Ann Arbor and Howell, but a truly functional regional transit system requires a commit- ment from the entire region. If implemen- tation of a light rail system were expanded to include cities all over Southeast Michi- gan, it would significantly cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions produced by commuters' cars. In June, the Ann Arbor Transit Author- ity announced that within the next three years, it will replace all 75 of its buses with hybrid buses, which use 30 percent less fuel than conventional buses. While this would be an improvement, it also entails a signifi- cant investment. The University has cited cost as the main reason that is preventing it from following in the AATA's footsteps by converting its buses to hybrids. The expense is undeniable, but it is an invest- ment in a cause, one that the University believes in and must work to support. Ann Arbor's aggressive initiatives as one of the country's "green cities" should stand as a guiding light for other cities in the state that seem to have no interest in the environment. It is true that the con- version to a more fuel-efficient and eco- friendly world is going to be expensive and even inconvenient at times. But it is also true that buying gas for cars and heat- ing homes is going to get more and more expensive with no solution in sight if we fail to seek alternatives. It is our responsi- bility to start making changes now to pro- tect our interests in the future. 4 Headless obesity EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Emad Ansari, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Gary Graca, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Robert Soave, Gavin Stern, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa MATT TRECHAV P Dictating democracy Nuclear weapons, terrorists and Saddam Hussein. These were just a few of the reasons President Bush used to propel America into a war that had motives other than simply free- ing the Iraqi people (regardless of the opera- tion's name). Attacking a country like Iraq, which was neither in the throes of a rebellion by its people nor in any way a true threat to the region, is especially suspicious given the many more volatile states that America either ignores or makes excuses for. In late September a protest occurred half a world away in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Saffron Revolution - which gets its name from the color of the robes of Bud- dhist monks - seemed to be in full swing. It looked like Burmese demonstrators finally had the muster to fell a military junta that had bru- tally oppressed the country's people since the early 1960s. The Burmese had staged a large protest in the late 1980s, but that was quashed by the same junta that continues to rule today. With the country facing continuing hard- ship and the government's recent decision to increase fuel prices, it seemed thatthe tide had finally turned against the military dictators that head the government. The fact that the protests were organized by Buddhist monks - Myanmar's most respected and peaceful members of society - seemed to guarantee a degree of success. Sadly, it did not. The junta slaughtered protesters in the streets. Hun- dreds remain in jail. The monks have been ordered to return to their village homes, and many have been forced into hiding. Although Burmese protesters chanted "we want democracy" in the streets, no one came to their aid. Monks and ordinary citizens were beaten, arrested and in some cases shot and killed. Where was the American purveyor of democracy and defender of human rights dur- ing all of this? A quote in The New York Times from a protester captures the feeling of most Burmese, "(Who will help us?) The U.N.? The U.S.? China? They all said they would help us. But all they did was blah, blah, blah." In fact, America did do something; it imposed more sanctions on the country. This will do nothing to stymie the junta's crack- down though. Myanmar is comprised of some of the poorest people in the region, while the military elite live in a parallel universe with all the comforts the people cannot imagine. Sanctions will only worsen the situation for the Burmese people, but apparently Presi- dent Bush cannot find any other way to help a country actually calling for democracy and whose government is killing its citizens in broad daylight. Pakistan is yet another example of the hypocrisy practiced by America and its sup- posed desire to spread democracy. The recent elections in Pakistan were dubiously won by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has been ruling the country since he took over in a coup in 1999. His 98 percent margin of victory came after several opposition runners dropped out for a variety of reasons. While Musharraf has brought his country relative stability, Amer- ica's continued support of a man who took control in a coup and has silenced dissent is intolerable. There can be no gray areas about when it's OK for a foreign country to be oppressive and still retain American support and aid. Yet according to the BBC, the "military regime of Gen. Musharraf, that ousted the last civilian government in 1999, remains a 'well supplied' ally in the U.S.' 'war on terror."' With the injustice that inevitably accom- panies nondemocratic forms of government, our nation needs to draw the line. Becoming involved in countries like Iraq - where there was little reason to get involved other than money - and not doing more in a country such as Myanmar or Pakistan where there is little to gain but the people's thanks is the wrong way to spread democracy. Nations like Myanmar and Pakistan deserve all the help they can get moving away from military rulers. It's the duty of this nation to help them along, especially when their people are chanting for democracy in the streets. Matt Trecha is an RC freshman and a member of the Daily's editorial board. According to the many camera shots shown on the news, this country faces a pandemic of contagious, head- less fat people. However, obesity 3 is a media-pro- liferated disease, like SARS, bird flu and mad cow dis- ease - more likely to cause hysteria than mass graves. GAVIN Media-gener- ated hysterics are STERN nothing new. Even though the news is often wrong in its prediction of pandemics, the public still eats up obesity stories on the eve- ning news. These days, you can't turn on a television without seeing another news report about how Americans are getting fatter, how atrocious that's supposed tobe and how this negative- ly affects absolutely everyone - even those who are fit and thin. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that has gained a lot of attention claims obesity is socially contagious. That's right; the obese are now being blamed for making other people fat. Even more, China no longer allows fat Westerners to adopt its children, and overweight people are being blamed for leaving bigger carbon footprints and worsen- ing global warming. What bothers me most, however, is that this war on obe- sity doesn't demonize viruses, terror- ists or drug cartels but rather an entire segment of everyday people. These people should be pissed. Just about every local news story on the obesity epidemic (and they run every day) includes footage of over- weight bystanders going about their daily lives, with the camera zoomed in on their stomachs. The cameraman conveniently leaves their heads out of the frame. They don't even know they're being filmed. The blogosphere calls this the "headless fattie" camera shot, and I bet now you'll recognize it everywhere. Bythis logic,itshouldalsobe accept- able for "Girls Gone Wild" to produce videos of headless, ample-chested col- lege girls without their permission. All the important body parts are on film, right? Now, imagine those images flaunted every day during primetime. Rightly angered feminists would have a lawsuit drawn up within days. For some reason, though, it's man- dated that similar images of fat people be shown on a daily basis. With such a populous demographic certain to be offended by these images, where's the class action lawsuit or the public out- cry? Where are the investigative jour- nalists to expose the truth? I suppose there's little incentive for news organi- zations that profit from fear mongering to print a story about the immorality of their own practices. In the end, however, it's becom- ing clearer that once again the hys- teria may be for naught. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association substantiating that 25 extra pounds may actually be good for your health. This directly contradicts a heavily publicized and subsequently discredited 2004 study (also from the CDC) that claimed that obesity was set to outpace smoking as one of the major causes of death in America. In the 2004 study, the CDC neglect- ed to differentiate between morbid obesity - which afflicts only a tiny segment of the population - and being simply overweight, which is far more common. The number of deaths attributed to obesity has since been Media frenzy makes obesity out to be an epidemic. revised from 400,000 to 26,000 per year, almost an eightfold decrease. While the morbidly obese experi- ence a dearth of health problems that create some very scary statistics and great negative news, it turns out being mildly obese or overweight may actu- ally be good for the immune system. Unfortunately, these massive revi- sions will never garner as much media attention or fervor as the studies that generated this crusade. So the hysteria and the stigmatization live on - and the media loves it. Gavin Stern can be reached at gavstern@umich.edu. 4 I ALEXANDER HONKALA It is just as we feared - his logic has failed, he is insane. 4 a LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedoily@umich.edu.