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Editorials & Opinions www.mndaily.com/opinion
This isn’t fantasy News of Ty Doohen’s death was met with very disappointing reactions from fantasy football fans.
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MATT HOY columnist
no stretch of the imagination could my situation, especially in comparison to Peterson’s, be considered unlucky. Sadly, I was hardly the only person who reacted that way. The fantasy implications of this incredible tragedy were the biggest topic of discussion with my coworkers all weekend. I saw ESPN’s ticker constantly supplying information on Peterson’s game-time status. My social media was ablaze with similar concerns. It’s hard not to react this way. The social capital that can be lost from a bad week of fantasy football is immense. Those of us who play can get swept up in the game, forsaking school, work and personal commitments in favor of reading up on quality flex plays for a
given week. Within this context, it makes sense that personal tragedy would be a part of this equation. In a broader sense, it doesn’t make any at all. A few weeks ago, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was injured on a non-contact play. Some fantasy players who spent a first-round pick on him responded by telling him he ought to die. In 2011, Houston Texans running back Arian Foster aggravated a hamstring injur y during the preseason. Foster sent a Twitter message for anyone who was worried about their fantasy team over his personal health: “u ppl are sick.” In something of a similar phenomenon, fans at games have been booing players who get hurt on the off chance that they are faking the injuries. It’s disgraceful. These are real people who work incredibly hard to achieve a dream few even get a chance at. They do it at great risk of physical injury that can not only interfere with their professional goals, but can ruin their lives. They do not
DEATHS IN IRAQ: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 4,802 — IRAQI CIVILIANS: 114,946- PLUS DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 3,380 — AFGHAN CIVILIANS: UNKNOWN
belong to us, and their lives are more important than our fantasy teams. These events are testaments to the way that fantasy football can dehumanize the players we claim to love. They cease to be real people with real aspirations. Players become names and numbers for us to rearrange on a screen. It’s an unfortunate effect of a largely positive game, and there doesn’t seem to be any real way to eliminate it within the system. So it falls on those of us who play to change the culture associated with it. The lives of these people are vastly more important than our fantasy teams. Regardless of how this tragedy affects your score this week, Peterson lost a son. So the next time you find yourself, a coworker or a friend complaining about your fantasy misfortunes because someone you drafted got hurt or is struggling, try to remember that this injury, bad week or personal tragedy is a lot harder on them than it is on you. Matt Hoy welcomes comments at mhoy@mndaily.com.
LEGISLATURE
Style without substance Local Republicans are attacking online voter registration for political gain.
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Maxwell Smith welcomes comments at msmith@mndaily.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Alternative medicine for Kill’s epilepsy An impor tant aspect of the stor y about Gophers head football coach Jerr y Kill’s pr edicament has gone unrepor ted. If Kill were coaching at Michigan or Oregon or back in his previous job in Illinois, his doctors could take advantage of laws in those states to see if marijuana could successfully control his seizures. Marijuana is a natural herb, and in my view far less toxic than commonly prescribed anti-seizure phar maceutical medications. For many patients it can be more ef fective. W ise physicians listen to what patients have lear ned. Scientists have shown the anti-convulsive properties of marijuana. The Drug Enforcement Administration has long disputed the medicinal uses of marijuana. Despite its view, the American Medical Association testified in favor of marijuana when Congress passed the original Marijuana Tax Act in 1937. In the late 1980s, the DEA’s own administrative judge held it was “unreasoning, arbitrar y and capricious” for the DEA to continue to deny suffering patients access to marijuana.
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EDITORIALS
SOCIAL NETWORKING
he horrifying death of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s son Ty Doohen caught fire on social media last week, capturing the collective consciousness of Minnesota sports fans. Apar t from the obvious tragedy of the situation, many fantasy football fans — myself included — feared that this situation would bring personal tragedy on the imaginar y gridiron. Earlier in the week I traded a huge bounty of players to get Peterson on my fantasy team. My first reaction after the initial sympathy was to wonder whether Peterson would play this week against the Carolina Panthers. In my mind I lamented how unlucky I was that the name and numbers I had just traded for might not produce for me. The reality of the situation set in a few moments later: By
Monday, October 14, 2013
Since 1996, 20 other states have approved medicinal m ar ij uana us e. But Minnesota politicians slavishly cling to the DEA’s legal fictions about medicinal marijuana. Under the state’s new castle law, a Minnesotan can legally kill someone to defend their life, but a Minnesotan cannot medicate with marijuana. And as long as our lawmakers are afraid of the political risk of medical marijuana, patients with serious illnesses will continue to unnecessarily suffer. Oliver Steinberg Daily reader
AFSCME negotiations
Local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union of ficials at the University of Minnesota are in unsuccessful negotiations. It has become necessar y to bring the Bureau of Mediation Ser vices in to see what they can do. Negotiating teams see nothing but a University unwilling to discuss some contract negotiations. Is this truly how negotiations should happen? Is this how University staf f members want their administration to deal with
coworkers? Is this fair? When President Eric Kaler came into an AFSCME of fice, we wer e convinced that we had found an ally. That does not seem to be the case now. We would like Kaler to step in because there is nothing that is being asked for that is so unreasonable, unear ned or unfair that negotiations should be conducted in such a manner. University administration made it quite clear that they would be in charge and take little feedback from AFSCME, even though what they offered is not only ridiculous, but insulting. Union contracts expire ever y two years. Ever y two years it is necessar y to sit down and tr y to work out a wor thwhile contract for the union members, as well as the University itself. However, ever y two years there is grief and fr ustration, as well as a whole lot of pressure and disrespect in negotiations. We still hope Kaler will set negotiations right in order to settle the University’s contract with us. We have earned these proposals, as well as the respect needed to come out with a fair contract. Judy Grandbois AFSCME employee
ince the state adopted a new online voter registration system, local Republicans have been attacking Secretar y of State Mark Ritchie for RONALD DIXON subver ting the columnist powers of the Legislature. Four prominent local Republicans and the conser vative group Minnesota Majority expressed concern over the voter registration system. They argue that the recent MNsure database leak is reason to place the program under tight scrutiny. These politicians believe Richie did not have the authority to launch the program and that the Legislature should have implemented the online registration system. The rhetorical choices of these Republicans, though, cast doubt on the sincerity of their intentions. Instead of improving government, they appear to be using online registration as a mechanism to gain political points. We see this through the comparisons with MNsure, the Minnesota health insurance exchange program created through the Affordable Care Act. Critics of the data breach, where initial analyses of MNsure detected an abnormal level of data security risk, apply similar arguments to the online voter registration system. For example, Dan McGrath, the president of Minnesota Majority, declared, “Minnesotans deser ve a peace of mind knowing that their privacy should be protected in all aspects of government.” Republicans have a heightened incentive to critique DFL policies in the lead-up to 2014 midterm elections. Ritchie has said he will not seek another term as Secretary of State. This may serve as an opportunity for Republican candidates to use online voter registration as a vehicle to forge a campaign to take back the state executive branch. I wish not to give the impression that politicians should not critique governmental programs. However, local Republicans must provide actual substance to their claims. If they do not take issue with the substance of online voter registration, why does the local GOP critique Ritchie’s authority? Rather than attacking Ritchie, these Republicans should focus on making the program safer in order to open elections to more Minnesotans. Ronald Dixon welcomes comments at rdixon@mndaily.com.
Self-inflicted wounds The pain caused by the government shutdown must spur compromise in Washington.
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s the federal government shutdown staggers on, many federal employees in Minnesota and across the countr y are anxiously wondering when they’ll see their next paycheck. The Star Tribune reported Oct. 2 that there are around 18,000 federally employed workers in Minnesota, “nearly half of whom could be furloughed indefinitely” due to the ongoing shutdown. Meanwhile, Congress is not showing any signs of compromise. Though many states have avoided closure of federally aided programs through state funds, some government programs in Minnesota, like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), will run out of money by the end of October, with no state money to fall back on come November. Government investment in science has also taken a hit during the shutdown. Springtime field research is just beginning in Antarctica, but because of the shutdown, much of that research may have to be put on hold. Proposals for research in Antarctica are planned years in advance, and with only a short window of time to do field work in such a cold climate, there is fear that this year’s entire research season will be canceled, National Public Radio reported. Add that to the limited data the Centers for Disease Control is able to collect on the flu just before its peak season, possible delays in Food and Drug Administration approval of drugs and 97 percent of NASA employees furloughed, and it’s clear the shutdown has been severely detrimental to health and science research as Congress continues to squabble over political ideology. As students of a well-reputed research institution, we urge Minnesota lawmakers in Washington to set aside differences for the well-being of their constituents and for the future of the country. Allowing the shutdown to continue any longer is not a viable option.
A quality farm bill Americans should not accept substandard agricultural policies.
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s most college students know, procrastination never pays off. House Speaker John Boehner, responding to questions about a farm bill and food stamps, told reporters “we’ll get to that later” in early July. The rest of Congress had a similar mindset. Three months later, in midst of a federal government shutdown, lawmakers are still negotiating various proposals for a farm bill that, if signed into law, would go into effect several days or more after its deadline has passed. Because there was no farm bill extension passed by Oct. 1, the permanent agricultural policies passed in the 1949 farm bill will take effect, policies that were crafted for a farming industry radically different than the one we have today. While a farm bill may not seem ver y pressing as the country faces a government shutdown and a possible default, it’s important to understand how cobbled together agricultural policies can affect everything from the economic livelihood of Midwestern farmers to the price of dairy products at the grocery store. There’s a lot at stake in a farm bill, and lawmakers are pulled in many directions by lobbyists and constituents looking to benefit from federal subsidies. Fervor surrounding talks was exacerbated this year when House Republicans passed a Farm Bill without food stamp funding, signaling their intent to make significant cuts in the anti-hunger program. With so little progress in our nation’s Capitol, there’s a strong tendency for voters to accept any thrown-together farm bill that does not implement necessary reforms or sufficiently fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Our elected officials are fully capable of working out a deal to end the shutdown while passing a satisfactor y farm bill. It will do the countr y no good if we accept anything less.
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EDITOR IN CHIEF-TONY-WAGNER = EDITORIALS & OPINIONS EDITOR ERIC BEST = SENIOR EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER WILLIAM BORNHOFT = BOARD MEMBER CASSANDRA SUNDARAM