4 • The Daily Beacon
Monday, February 22, 2010
OPINIONS
Tops
Rocky
&Bottoms
Rising — The need for naps
In the midst of midterms and the general anxiety of completing large amounts of work during the two weeks prior to Spring Break, it may be useful to give yourself an hour or two to rest every so often. New research seems to prove the positive effects napping has on fact retention. “The wealth of study into the science of sleep in recent years has so far failed to come up with conclusive evidence as to the value of a quick ‘siesta’ during the day. The latest study, from the University of California at Berkeley, suggests that the brain may need sleep to process short-term memories, creating ‘space’ for new facts to be learned,” according to a Feb. 21 BBC News article titled “Nap ‘boosts’ brain learning power.” The lead researcher of the study explained how napping cleans out the brain, preparing it to receive additional information. “Dr. Matthew Walker, who led the study, reported at the AAAS conference in San Diego, said, ‘Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness, but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap. ‘It’s as though the e-mail inbox in your hippocampus is full, and, until you sleep and clear out all those fact e-mails, you’re not going to receive any more mail. ‘It’s just going to bounce until you sleep and move it into another folder,’” according to the BBC News article.
Support for Palin significant, bizarre R ed, White & B o ld by
Rising — Hope for dieting chocolate addicts
Sam Smith IV
“In their research, University of Birmingham scientists discovered they could replace a normal chocolate bar’s fat particles with calorie-free substances such as water, air or gels,” according to a Feb. 20 Telegraph article. Chocolate addicts may be skeptical about a chocolate bar consisting mostly of water, but “the bar, which contains about 60 percent water, was found to have the same taste, smell and feel in a person’s mouth,” according to the article. With such a breakthrough, there may be hope for a “new generation of ‘healthy’ foods,” foods which will combat obesity crises. The Telegraph article emphasizes the fact that because the fat in the chocolate has been replaced with water, this new chocolate is acceptable for consumption during Lent. It seems that the pleasure associated with eating chocolate would be more of a reason to abstain during the Lenten season, but many chocolate lovers will be pleased with a seemingly acceptable, healthy alternative. Staying the same — Confusion over Haitian “orphans” Ten Baptist missionaries from an Idaho church group were arrested and charged with child kidnapping for “trying to rescue 33 ‘orphans’ by taking them out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti.” All of these “orphans” “have close family still alive, The Associated Press has found,” according to a Feb. 21 Associated Press story. Eight of the ten missionaries have been released, but leader Laura Silsby, 40, and her assistant Charisa Coulter, 24, remain in jail. “A reporter’s visit Saturday to the rubble-strewn Citron slum, where 13 of the children lived, led to their parents, all of whom said they turned their youngsters over to the missionary group voluntarily in hopes of getting them to safety. Though their parents voluntarily gave up their children, they did so in hopes of moving their children to safety, also believing that their children would be returned to them when conditions improved, according to the AP story. Now it seems uncertain whether or not these “orphans” will be reunited with their families. “The Social Welfare ministry, however, has yet to decide whether some or all of the 33 children will be returned to their parents,” according to the article. THE DAILY BACON • Blake Treadway
When writing columns, it can be quite difficult in the face of a slow news week. Despite that, I can always count on one individual to come out and make some stupid and controversial statement which will get instant news coverage that I can write about. For a long time, I’ve avoided these hit-and-miss comments, thinking it best not to dignify a misstatement as often these types of thing are. Despite that, blatantly obnoxious and arrogant persons who make continued “misstatements” and fail to apologize for them are fair game. I think most others in the “political commentary” business probably follow this general rule as well, even though they often give free passes. That said, I think it’s time for Sarah Palin to develop some tougher skin and stop her incessant whining. Now I know most Americans are intelligent enough to not take her seriously, but it still is a concern that some of these tea-party people, not some small sliver of the general public, treat her like a god. And these aren’t simply the crazies that you see on TV that live in some “other” part of town. I’ve seen plenty of “Sarah 2012” bumper stickers, even here on campus. That’s just frightening. It tells me that even amongst what should be the most sophisticated corridors of American society, an institution of higher education, there is the notion that amusement is more important than accomplishment. When Palin first entered the public eye, it was easy to ignore her. She was clearly pretty stupid and unprepared to be a heartbeat away from the nuclear codes, but we all sort of knew that her running mate was going to lose anyway, so it didn’t matter. But since she’s been liberated from the muzzle of the McCain campaign, her statements
have gotten more repugnant, and people love her and her negativity more. I mean, honestly, was no one else revolted when Palin smiled and asked, “How’s that hopey, changey stuff workin’ out for you now?” Shouldn’t Palin want hope and change to work, or is she still such a sore loser that she would rather Americans suffer under more of the same? What about deriding the American president as some “charismatic guy with a teleprompter”? When I saw the news of the notes on her hand, as opposed to laughing at her, the only thing I could do was wonder about her mental status — and, more importantly, those who justify her behavior. I don’t need to write a column encouraging people not to support this woman. Those who already do have had far too much of the “Kool-Aid” to turn back, and I know she’s not going to beat Obama in 2012. But this does beg a serious question for me to ask of others as a status check of the seriousness of our political system: What is it about this woman that appeals to you? Are you really so insecure in your own life that you need to essentially support a woman like Palin who “knows her place” and boasts of her simplicity? Palin has grown to become much more than the farce we knew her as when she first bumbled onto the national stage in September 2008; she’s become a religion. People, with all human intelligence capabilities, knowingly ignore the facts to support some fringe lunatic who’s essentially all sizzle and no steak or perhaps bacon if she’s still mad about the lipstick-on-a-pig remark. American democracy is based upon many written and well-defined rules that have existed for hundreds of years, but it’s also based on something much more than that. At its core, it’s about decent people who could be regarded as a “cut above the rest,” doing what they think is the best thing for our country, even if we might not always agree with them. There are plenty of Democrats like this, and there are plenty of Republicans like this as well, but Sarah Palin is just not one of them. — Sam Smith IV is a junior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at ssmit162@utk.edu.
Public workers unions’ tactics exploit system Wor d A N N A rc hy by
Anna Parker
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Blake Treadway The Daily Beacon is published by students at The University of Tennessee Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Friday during the summer semester. The offices are located at 1340 Circle Park Drive, 5 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0314. The newspaper is free on campus and is available via mail subscription for $200/year, $100/semester or $70/summer only. It is also available online at: http://dailybeacon.utk.edu. LETTERS POLICY: The Daily Beacon welcomes all letters to the editor and guest columns from students, faculty and staff. Each submission is considered for publication by the editor on the basis of space, timeliness and clarity. Contributions must include the author’s name and phone number for verification. Students must include their year in school and major. Letters to the editor and guest columns may be e-mailed to letters@utk.edu or sent to Nash Armstrong, 1340 Circle Park Dr., 5 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0314. The Beacon reserves the right to reject any submissions or edit all copy in compliance with available space, editorial policy and style.
For the last few weeks, I have been writing about taxing and spending in the United States. I want to finish the three-part series by addressing the dangerous role that public employees play in shaping tax policy — particularly public educators. Because I need to graduate at the end of this semester and because I will be going on to law school at the beginning of next fall, I am choosing to steer away from directly criticizing college-level educators — although as many of you undoubtedly know, many of our dear public servants, some working to the tune of six figures, do a pretty good job campaigning for their own welfare on a regular basis in the classroom. Some interesting changes coincided with the Supreme Court’s recent decision concerning campaign finance laws. While many individuals, including Barack Obama (who made a mockery of his own supposed legal expertise by delivering erroneous information concerning the decision during his own State of the Union address), have determined this decision to grossly tilt the playing field in favor of corporations and most importantly the party they despise, Republicans, these individuals seem far less concerned about another group of individuals exercising an undue amount of power and influence over the electorate and policy: public employees. One of the most recent and profound examples of the potential power that public employees and, more importantly, the unions to which they belong are the tax increases in Oregon. Oregon voters decided to raise taxes by about $700 million on businesses and, yeah, you guessed it, the scum of the earth — that damn wealthy class. I guess one might just
assume that Oregonians (that is fun to say) decided to vote for higher taxes all by themselves, that the initiative to raise the highest income tax to 11 percent — one of the nation’s highest — just appeared all by itself on the ballot. You would guess wrong. Who made this suggestion (if suggestion means an aggressive $6.5 million dollar campaign)? Yeah, you guessed right this time — public worker unions. They utilized the usual tactics: Don’t worry, “normal” people won’t have to pay: it’s for the kids; good people want all of their money redistributed by bureaucrats, etc., etc. If the irony is somehow lost on you at this point, let me spell it out: These unions used taxpayer money to campaign to collect more taxpayer money! Unfortunately for members of the private sector in Oregon, the campaign worked, and tax increases passed. But Anna, one might say, not all members of the private sector are evil and “rich,” and corporations are not people — they are, ummm ... corporations! While this may be so, as I explained last week, when we tax businesses they have to cut costs to stay afloat, which usually means cutting jobs. And when we tax the rich, the investment that could grow companies and thus our economy just disappears! The whole process is kind of magical that way except it’s not. The money reappears after it is collected by the state government in the pockets of public workers. In fact, the government favors public workers so much in Oregon that the average public worker makes 30 percent more in income and benefits than the average private sector worker. One of the biggest winners of the tax increases were public school teachers, who sustained an average income and benefits package of $83,402. I hope there is enough left over for those poor public school kids they talked about in the campaign. But more than that, I hope that when Oregon’s state government goes belly up like California’s, they at least teach this lesson: Remember children, capital and people are mobile. — Anna Parker is a senior in English literature. She can be reached at aparke23@utk.edu.