OCR Text |
Show Monday, October 3, 2005 Editorial Editor in Chief: Maria Villasenor Phone: 626-7121 The Signpost editorial staff Gas prices beg for improved mass transit It seems that with the gas prices rising all over the country, a viable alternative would be public transportation. Perhaps it is in larger cities, but not so much here in Utah. Granted, Utah Transit Authority does have buses that run regularly to and from the main campus of Weber State University and to the other universities in the state. For us "poor college students," that's great. What about the other people who can't afford to drive their SUVs or trucks from Ogden - or some other location - to Salt Lake City to work? What about the people who have to be to work early in the morning and have to drive 25 miles to work? The buses in this area of the state do not run early enough to get someone to work before 7 a.m. in Salt Lake City from Ogden. The difficulty is the same getting back from Salt Lake City to Ogden after "rush hour" traffic. If someone has to work a later shift that doesn't end until 6 p.m. or later, the bus does not leave enough time for that individual to have an evening. People in this situation have no choice but to drive a vehicle to and from work. With how things are going in the world, the oil refineries on the coast getting pounded by hurricane after hurricane, gas prices will continue to rise. President Bush even came out and told the American public that they need to conserve gasoline. It's not just traveling to and from Salt Lake City that is a problem with the bus system. Traveling here in Ogden is bothersome with a bus. If an individual misses the bus they need, they will most likely be waiting anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour for the next. At least UTA has some different buses that go to the same destinations from the same pick-up/drop-off area. When the public transportation system of Utah is compared with that of Europe, or even other cities in many other states, our system is lacking. UTA can be given some credit with the installation of TRAX in the downtown area of Salt Lake City: Getting around there has become easier. Work has already begun on extending lines up to Ogden and down to Provo. Hopefully, those line extensions will be of some help to those who live north or south of Salt Lake City. It is just too bad that the lines will not be finished for a few years. From the Chicago Tribune. Separation of church and state misunderstood Is global warming the culprit? The First Amendment of theConstitution says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting Nature for the second time has overcome the levees that were supposed to protect the free exercise thereof." How can that, in New Orleans, and rivers of mud-buried streets and neighborhoods. Not even the dead any way, be interpreted as power to take were spared - one of the city's above-ground tombs was seen sailing in the torrent, religion out of government? Yet we have listing but with a vase of flowers still firmly on top, as if to preserve a trace of dignity a mountain of court decisions that throw amid the ruin. Other Gulf Coast cities were seriously hit. this concept back and forth. We also have a The arrival of Hurricane Katrina, followed so closely by Rita, has a lot of people Supreme Court decision that has outlawed asking whether tills is a fluke or a sign that hurricane seasons will only get more prayer in school. All of this is the reaction of chaotic. Some environmentalists have linked the recent spike in the frequency and the majority to a loud minority of people ferocity of hurricanes to global warming. who demand the removal of all Christian The environmentalists' argument goes like this. Warm ocean water is a hurricane's icons and symbols from the public sphere. vital fuel. Global warming, caused chiefly by the burning of fossil fuels, has increased It seems, however, that the intent of the First Amendment has been misconstrued: the ocean temperature, and that has led to fiercer and more numerous hurricanes. Indeed, mere have been so many hurricanes this year we're about out of names There is, after all, another side (which is the - after Stan, Tammy, Vince and Wilma, it's on to the letters of the Greek alphabet. The majority side) of the story. ferocity of Katrina and Rita feeds theories that weather patterns have gone ominously The question is, has the issue of church awry. and state been properly addressed? It seems Well, not so fast. There is no definitive scientific proof of the link between global ironic that both sides of the argument use warming and the hurricanes of recent years. the same letter written by Thomas Jefferson The hypothesis got something of a boost from a study by Massachusetts Institute to the Danbury Baptists as the answer to of Technology atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel mat was published recently in the their argument. The anti-church and state magazine Nature. Emanuel noted that the power unleashed by tropical storms in the crowd has extracted one phrase from this North Atlantic and North Pacific has increased sharply over the last three decades. letter that reads, "thus building a wall of But viewed over the long term, is that pattern so unusual, and, if so, does it have separation between church and state." anything to do with global warming? Among climatologists, the answer to such crucial It is on these few words that they lay the foundation of their argument. questions is a resounding: "We don't know for sure." Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, told a panel in Congress This minority has invested their entire that the recent rash of hurricanes was but another wave in the cycle of hurricane argument into that one phrase. It is so activity. He said the current cycle parallels one that began in the 1940s and ended 20 well known and quoted that it seems years later. Mayfield pooh-poohed suggestions that global warming is behind the rash most people believe it to be a part of the of violent storms this year. Constitution. Nothing could be further A paper published last month in a leading journal of meteorology concluded that from the truth. The fact is that the context "no connection has been established between greenhouse gas emissions and the observed behavior of hurricanes." Emanuei's study is mentioned as "suggestive" but "by no means definitive." Not exactly a smoking gun, is it? The potential link between global warming and hurricanes certainly deserves more study. Meanwhile, there's plenty of on-the-ground work for environmentalists and others to do. For instance, they should press to restrict residential construction along hurricane-prone coastal areas. They should promote the restoration of coastal wetlands and barrier islands that can soften the blow when other killer hurricanes strike, as they inevitably will. From the Right By Jared Hardy columnist | The Signpost of the letter from which it was taken clearly supports the strength of religion in general to practice freely and openly. If this is too hard to believe, read the letter for yourself. The letter is short and very much to the point Not Thomas Jefferson or any other founding father condemned religion from being a part of the American way of life. Jefferson's letter clearly demonstrates that he was mindful of a specific religious sect's fears that a state religious institution might be established, thereby diminishing or negating some of the promises of the First Amendment. Americans had justrecentlyrid themselves of the English way of doing things and had no desire to return to Anglicanism or any other form of state-run religion. We do have a Supreme Court decision against prayer in schools. This is only one aspect of the issue, but let us not forget that the Supreme Court has been found to be wrong on many issues before and could be wrong on this one. The justices have been known to overturn previous rulings, and Congress has intervened with legislation and constitutional amendments to redirect or entirely reverse decisions that they perceived to be incorrect. Not to mention that the promise of the First Amendment is not a world devoid of religion, that was the communist plan, but the absence of a religion promoted by the state. Thus far it can be safely determined that there is not a Church of the United States of America Incorporated. If anything it seems that the second part, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," is the only part of the phrase that seems to get stepped on. The irony of this is that the majority of Americans are religious. They belong to tens of thousands of nonstate sponsored sects and as a majority are forced to abridge their supposed freedom to express themselves in order to appease an underwhelming minority This is not to suggest that minority issues are not important, only to reconfirm that the will of the majority in this case does not make the minority any less free. It is the will of the minority in this circumstance that makes the majority less free. When this dynamic presents itself, the will of the majority is justified and should be implemented. It only seems obvious that the letter Jefferson wrote was an assurance of freedom of religion, not a warning that religion was to be abridged or state endorsed. The separation of church and state does exist and was intentional. The state was not to run or not to intervene in the affairs (so long as they were legal) of any church in any way. This is the promise Jefferson was alluding to; this is the promise of the Constitution. Letter to the Editor Return of reparative therapy debate The -^ A Weber State University vveueroiau; university Signpost Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Editor Sports Editor Copy Editor Features Editor Entertainment Editor Business Editor Photo Editor Graphics Editor Online Editor Advertising Manager Office Manager Advisor Distribution Publisher Signpost Fax Marfa Villaseftor Jason Staley Blair Dee Hodges Jeremy Tyler Kristen Hebestreet Jesica Medellin David Fairchild Lisa Mann Mo Williams Brady Leaver Nick Litster Brandy Lee Georgia Edwards Allison Hess Austin Adams Dr. Randy Scott 626-7121 626-7614 626-7655 626-7983 626-7659 626-7621 626-7105 626-7624 626-6358 626-7661 626-6358 626-6359 626-7974 626-7499 626-7974 626-6464 626-7401 • The Signpost is published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the semester. Subscription is $9 a semester. The first copy of The Signpost is free, each additional copy is S.50. • The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State University students. Student fees partially fund the printing of this publication. Opinions or positions voiced are not necessarily endorsed by the university. • The Signpost welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must include name, address, telephone number and the writer's signature. Anonymous letters will not be printed. • The Signpost reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space and libel and also reserves the right to refuse to print any letter. Letters should not exceed 350 words. Bring letters to the editorial office in SUB 267, mail to: The Signpost, Weber State University, Ogden. Utah", 84408-2110. Attn: Editor in Chief, email theslgnpost@weber.edu In celebration of Weber State's 2nd annual reparative therapy debate, Kristen Hebestreet "graced" 77?? Signpost columns with her slanderous satire on Evergreen International. Evergreen provides support for individuals overcoming same-sex attraction. Advocates of sexual reorientation therapy (SRT) are accused of stereotyping and being closed-minded individuals, eager to force their ideas on others. Do you see the hypocrisy? Despite opponent's claims, SRT therapists do not force patients into or through therapy. Dr. Throckmorton demonstrated that there was more pressure against homosexuals going into SRT than pressure to go into it. In contrast, prominent psychologists Wright and Cummings pointed out in their book, "Destructive Trends in Mental Health," that university students are destructively force-fed only one viewpoint - the liberal view. Did I mention these psychologists are life-long, self-proclaimed liberal activists? Such liberal teachings include: blind faith that homosexuality is "hard-wired;" implicit valid and reliable measures of homophobia; and stereotyping SRTs as aversive - viz. shock therapy- The accusations that SRT exemplifies close-mindedness is absurd at the least. SRT theories are realms of knowledge. To cut it out of existence is to close the minds of all humanity to those ideas. Many prominent mental health professionals would agree. For example, Dr. Perloff, former president of the American Psychiatric Association has stated many times, "... To discourage a psychotherapist from undertaking a client wishing to convert is ... anti-research, anti-scholarship and antithetical toward the quest for truth." Accusations of stereotyping are another harsh jab at SRT advocates. Ironically, stereotyping homosexuals are what opponents of SRT do best! Take for example last year's debate over marriage laws said to hatefully discriminateagainsthomosexuals. Yet Dr. Lannutti published a Massachusetts' survey after the court ruling legalizing gaymarriage. Some gays were concerned: "This will cause a split in the [gay] community... nonmarried gays will... be seen as rebels ..." Others feared allowing marriage would " impose a cookiecutter set of rules," forcing heterosexual standards on them rather than allowing "more fluid" relationships. Other traditional values movements have received gay support. For example, keeping gay leaders out of the Boy Scouts and petitioning against a gay pride display at a Salt Lake City library. Concerning the gay display, one lesbian mother said, "I don't want my children to see that." And while most SRT therapists agree that not all homosexuals want to change their same-sex attractions, their opponents stereotype all homosexuals do not want or need to change. Richard, a homosexual, stated, "1 am angry with the psychological professionals for adopting the gay agenda, perpetuating that lie Ithat gays can't changel, and abandoning men like me for whom change is by far the most emotionally healthy alternative." James Oberg coined the Oberg dictum, which states that it's a good thing to be open-minded, but not to be so openminded that your brain falls out. To be open-minded means you are still open to finding and considering an alternative view to your opinion. However, to be "openminded" by ignoring truth is digression. ••••'• •-. L o o k f o r a n o t h e r g j J f f Letter to the Editor On p a p 8 - ChadMcBride& Josh Stevens WSU alumni |