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COMMENTS OF THE DAY »
Thursday, June 25, 2009
In response to Tuesday’s column about feminism.
Luke Atkinson, opinion editor dailyopinion@ou.edu • phone: 325-7630 • fax: 325-6051
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OUR VIEW
City park smoking ban clearing the air As we all know, smoking is bad for you. Although this knowledge nearly has become common sense, it still doesn’t change the minds of some smokers. But for those smokers, the area in which they are free to light up has become smaller. By banning the use of tobacco products in parks, the Norman City Council has taken a step towards better health and easier breathing for us all. The ban will prohibit the use of any tobacco products in any city park, except for the Westwood Golf Course. Norman has become the third city to ban the use of tobacco products in parks, adding to the list of Oklahoma cities who are taking a progressive stance of limiting tobacco use. Parks are intended to encourage recreation, which carries the connotation of participating in healthy activities. People who frequent the parks are not interested in the damaging effects of smoking which disrupt their outdoor activities. By removing the tobacco products
“I’ve got some bad news for you, Josh - people aren’t as stupid or ignorant as you apparently think they are. Please spend a little more time researching reality rather than wallowing in an indulgent liberal fantasy that makes all of us - especially “rank and file” non-activist feminists - look
like a bunch of idiots in need of enlightening by a man.” - JJanowiak
“He wrote this article for people that might need to hear it’s message. Go back to English 101 and learn about a writer’s “audience.” - king3808
STAFF CARTOON
from areas accessible by children, we can remove the influence of unhealthy habits that children may see while at the park. Reducing the amount of exposure to the products may lower the trend of teenage smoking. We can also lower the exposure to secondhand smoke, which kills an average of 3,000 non-smoking adults each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 440,000 people die each year from diseases associated with smoking. Some argue that smokers’ voices were not heard in the debate, however, the city conducted a survey which found that a majority of 76 percent of Norman residents favored the ban. For any survey, this percent is a substantial number of citizens to represent the removal of tobacco products in a public place. For smokers who are concerned about where they are allowed to smoke, the parking lots of these parks are still available to take a smoke break. Mai-Thao Nguyen is a biochemistry senior.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Daily columnist wrong on recession origin First off, I applaud you Elijah Lavicky for taking an interest in and writing about such an important topic. Conclusions on what caused the current economic crisis will determine the appropriate “fixes” and we will both have to live with those fixes for many, many years. As a summer intern working at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka, I’ve spent part of my summer researching causes of the housing bubble and subsequent crash. I acknowledge it’s a complicated subject and that there were many factors at play and much blame to go around. However, I was shocked by your conclusion that we should let Wall Street off the hook. Sure, the government played a role. But take a look at the toxic assets in the financial system and where they came from. Wall Street found a crack in the system and exploited it to the max, while stuffing so much money in their pockets they rivaled the drug cartels. Wall Street found that they could package questionable mortgages into so-called private label mortgage backed securities, obtain AAA ratings from the rating agencies and sell them throughout
the world. Where did they get the mortgages? Mortgage brokers, who continued to originate loans to meet Wall Street’s unquenchable need for MBS product even though those loans had little likelihood of ever being repayed. But it didn’t make any difference because Wall Street would just tweak the structure of the securities and continue to get the AAA ratings. Bottom line, it was a grand scheme that worked to blow housing prices through the roof until it started to become apparent how far underwriting standards had deteriorated. Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s contribution: they bought billions of Wall Street’s questionable securities when they either did or should have know better. Listen to what the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, one of the Wall Street firms that appears to have survived the crisis, recently said: “[the firm]regrets that [they] participated in the market euphoria and failed to raise a responsible voice.” That sounds like a ‘sorry we screwed up’ to me. True the government wants to help people own homes, but none of the government’s programs required that lenders give out loans to just any average Joe with the time to fill out an application. None of the programs asked
lenders to make loans that weren’t secure or sound. The main cause of the housing crisis wasn’t the government. It was the rocket scientists on Wall Street and in the rating agencies who placed too much trust in mathematical models as opposed to using common sense. It was the mortgage brokers who were all too willing to make loans to people with bad credit, little capacity to repay , and poor collateral because they got paid for making loans regardless of whether those loans would ever be repaid. The big names of Wall Street said it themselves – they had a chance to stop things before they spiraled out of control, but chose to continue to make money instead. Maybe the government helped to set the stage, but it was Wall Street that had the starring roles. Again, I appreciate the OUDaily for printing coverage of this important topic and Elijah Lavicky for taking the time to write the article. However I disagree with Elijah’s perspective and opinion; facts should prevail, not political perspective. Please don’t let Wall Street off the hook on this one. Thank you. Lorin Jetter/University of Kansas 2011
University should protect students from bikers During the school year, thousands of kids walk around campus trying to get to class. At the same time, they are trying to avoid one thing, bicyclists. While the walkers are taking their time strolling through the South Oval, a biker is weaving between people, hurrying to class with nothing to separate the DARA two than a painted bike lane MIRZALE that no one seems to obey. Last week, I witnessed a bicyclists run into two pedestrians after it was clear that the biker did not know how to stop her bike. The two girls
had scrapes on their legs and were lucky to not have any other injuries. Do not get me wrong, not every bicyclist out there is clueless as to how to ride their bike. Some actually do pay attention to bike lanes, and pedestrians crossing in front of them. But for every one of those bikers, you have another that has no idea what they are doing besides pedaling. It is clearly becoming more and more dangerous for students to walk around campus while bicyclists are speeding through the very same road. When a danger like this is posed to students it is the University's job to help protect those students. OU can do that by doing one thing, banning bikes on campus. If riding your bike is the only mode of
transportation you have to get to campus then that is fine, but once you get to campus you should have to lock it up and walk like the rest of us. It is not for your safety, but mainly for mine. Bikers have also posed a risk to drivers on campus. We have all seen bikers ride across a street hardly stopping or looking both ways. All it takes is one driver to not pay attention for one second and the results could be deadly. There are already parts of campus that says you must walk your bike from this point on, but hardly anyone follows those rules. Maybe we could use one of the people constantly writing up parking tickets on campus and have them enforce those no biking
zones. Those signs are there for a reason, and if you can not follow it on your own accord, someone should make sure you do. I know people may argue that riding your bike is environmentally friendly, and it is. But you know what is even friendlier? Walking. Think about what goes into making a bike, after all the metal on that bike was not magically formed. All it takes is one person to get seriously injured and people will become concerned with this issue, and I am just hoping that OU takes actions before that happens. Until then, all of us walkers are constantly in danger.
Dara Mirzaie is an economics senior.
Role of the father in desperate need among children With Father’s Day just behind us, I find myself pondering over the importance of fatherhood. Driving up and down the small town streets of Norman, I could smell the sweet savory smells of a family barbecue. Going into restaurants, seeing the families celebrate their love of their father and all of the happy memories that build on Father’s Day are happening right around you. But this isn’t the case for everyone. All across America, there are children saddened by the fact that they are unable to spend this spectacular day with their dads. Some mourn the loss of their beloved fathers, while others wonder just where he might be. Whatever the case, the role of the father is an important position that cannot be filled by any means. It is one never to be taken lightly. President Barack Obama wrote, “We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully
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make up the difference. That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child, but the courage to raise one.” “We” referring to the United States does a lot for the youth of America, but like he says it is not enough to fully make up the difference. The government does their best to keep these “dead -beat dads” in check with such things as alimony. Some of these “dead-beats” would claim that they haven’t abandoned their child because they pay their alimony. Comments like these are absolutely absurd. Although single mothers may struggle to make payments more than a traditional household, the children miss out on the teachings of the father, not so much the money he provides. Father’s give us the belief to do whatever it is we want, while always showing the boundaries of how far we can extend our wings. A true dad teaches you the lessons you must learn to maintain a balanced
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lifestyle. The need for fathers to step up and do the right thing is becoming more and more important with the economic hardship we are facing and most likely will to continue face for some time to come. In times of depression, a man’s actions and behavior is more important than the size of his wallet, so the lessons of the father are in desperate need with the generation to come. As much as we need these fathers to do the right thing, for some it may be best that they stay gone. These “dead-beat dads” that are choosing to leave families probably have little to offer their children anyhow, but for those who do we need them to step up. We need them to do the right thing and be there. We need them to not only give children life, but to be a dad, to be someone to look up to, to be a hero. Brandon Smith is a University College freshman.
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