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Show OP NO N 4 THE TUESDAY 113 "Daily Utah Chronicle CHRONICLE'S VIEW U Bookstore still profits NCoMPfeTrrff at students' expense J i bill. students returned to school Monday after a relaxing month long break with likely little or no money in their pockets to begin the new semester. That didn't stop them from lining up at the University Bookstore to purchase textbooks and other essentials for the coming weeks and months. It has become a necessary ritual, albeit an expensive one. Students who procrastinated their purchasing until the first day of the semester discovered that most of the used books were gone they had no choice but to buy new books, often at outrageous prices. It is not unusual for U students to spend several hundreds of dollars on textbooks with each new set of classes. What adds to the financial strain is that tuition and other student U Obviously the bookstore should profit, to some extent, from textbook sales. But at the end of each semester, when students sell used books back to the bookstore, too much profit is made at the students' expense especially considering the publishers do not receive any proceeds from the buyback. It would be ideal for the publishers to lower the prices of textbooks. This would enable the bookstore to lower its prices for both new and used books. But until this happens, the bookstore should give students more money for their books at the buy-bac- ' Canada, vjeve btc&fc TO WFfeMb fUR eff StOivce.... A -- J Mil XT k. Some campuses across the nation have more than one bookstore. This yields competitive prices for their students. There are other alternatives to buying books from the bookstore. Students can be more cognizant of ways to save a few dollars when purchasing textbooks. For example, the Associated Students of the University of Utah provides an ongoing online book exchange where students set their own prices for used textbooks. With some foresight and proper planning, students can also purchase new or used textbooks from any number of Web sites before each semester begins often at prices significantly lower than the bookstore. After all, a penny saved is a penny earned. which also continue to increase on a yearly basis are due shortly after textbook expenditures are made. It is easy to place the entire blame on the bookstore. This would not be fair. After all, the publishers charge an exorbitant amount of money for textbooks, preventing the bookstore from offering deals to fees students. Publishers also have a habit of creating new editions of textbooks with little or no change to the actual content other than a new cover and title page. Professors usually find themselves forced to use the new editionbut students have to foot the Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited or will not be published. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Mad cow disease is no threat in U.S. Editor: In response to Jason Hardy's vegan propaganda piece published in The Daily Utah Chronicle on Jan. 12 ("The dangerous gamble with mad cow disease"), I would like to ask him: "Where's the beef?" Hardy seemed to extract a whole lot of from the recent find of a cow infected with mad cow disease in the United States. The fact is, no one died from meat in the ingesting United States. But Hardy wouldn't want to confuse people with facts. Isn't the fact that no one has died from infected beef in the United States mean that the problem really isn't that severe? Hardy says that mad cow disease is just another gamble we are taking every time we eat meat. It seems that if no one has BSE-infect- died of ingesting infected meat in the United States, then there isn't much of a gamble there. I'll leave it to him to calculate those odds. The truth is, mad cow disease is among the least of our concerns as food consumers. If, as Hardy stated, 5,000 Americans do indeed die of e illnesses annually, then we have much bigger problems than mad cow disease. These deaths are not completely unique to meat-eatein this country, though they make up the largest proportion. However, if we all became vegans overnight, deaths from food-born- e illness would still continue. If you want to avoid these illnesses completely, your best bet is to make all of your own food and take proper food-born- rs precautions during preparation. That doesn't sound like much fun to me, and neither does veganism. The United States has one of the safest food supplies in the world. Maybe it can be improved, but the problem is not severe enough to warrant the kind of fear groups like PETA spread throughout the country. If meat is so incredibly bad for us, then why aren't a majority of the athletes in this country vegetarians? Seems like we can be healthy and eat meat. These athletes prove it every day. In fact, they prove that it is very hard to be the superior performers that they are and not eat meat, meaning, the very pinnacle of human health comes from eating at least some meat. As soon as vegans can address this issue satisfactorily, then I will consider throwing out the beef. In the meantime, I think I will go eat some nice, warm, bloody cow flesh. Jared Johnson Junior, Computer Science The media fascination with the dou hnut di Discover the delicious, new way to a better body in this country would a go to jail over doughnuts. read correctly doughnuts. I mean, sure, I understand arresting crack dealers and pimps, but a doughnut salesman? That's a new low. Here's the story, according to the BBC: Illinois resident Robert Ligon was recently sentenced to 15 months in jail after repackaging regular doughnuts as "low fat." Naturally, dieters were onto these goodies faster than a fat kid onto a frosted cupcake. Ligon's supposedly illegal act was discovered after several consumers complained that the low-ftreats were just too tasty to be health food. It is here that I must interject a huge "Duh." This is the problem with dieting. Anyone who thinks that a doughnut will help him or her shed those nasty fat pounds needs Only at to do a serious self actualization. The bottom line is, if you' really believe that a ball of dough that is fried in hot oil and topped with sprinkles could ever be healthy, there is a reason that you are heavier than you want to be. It's like buying a box of SnackWell's cookies and feeling OK about eating the entire container simply because they're labeled as "low fat." No! We've all seen Jared the Subway miracle. Have you observed anyone becoming famous for sticking to the doughnut diet? If you have, I will load a potato gun and let you shoot me with it. As good as it sounds, it just doesn't happen. Doughnuts are one of the only foods whose consumption can actually cause you to physically resemble the product. I kid you not. Try the doughnut diet and see how long is takes you to look like a doughnut. truth) contained 18 grams of fat per I must reiterate: serving. Again, healthy doughnuts? That is a definitive oxymoron. It's like saying that gravy and cardiovascular fitness go hand-i- n ftmnHfiii'i ' it f pan Anna Plepmeyer Chronicle Opinion Columnist You could model for Krispy Kreme. Ligon's packaging said that the doughnuts in question contained three grams of fat, and were "carob-coatedRight. "Wow, honey, this carob coating sure tastes like a Hershey bar. And my ass will still fit into a size two!" I'll never eat salad again. The glaze on the pastry was actually chocolate, and the product (in ." To serve or not to serve hand. I can't go a week without seeing an article asking why Americans have become so pudgy. Why are we so overweight? Why are we so unhealthy? Why do our nation's youth look like stand-in- s for the Pillsbury Doughboy? I'll do everyone out there a favor and tell you all a little secret about why Americans are so fat. It's because we have an obsession with bad foods to the point that we think something like a doughnut or baked (not fried, mind you) potato chips will automatically make us look like Cindy Crawford or Brad Pitt. OK, maybe doughnuts are a health food. I mean, if we dropped them over Ethiopia or Somalia we just might solve the problem of starvation. Then again, if we dropped doughnut holes over Alabama, you'd see an entire state fall into the ocean, being unable to support the weight of its inhabitants. It's all a toss up, really. I also absolutely love that Ligon's story made it to the press. Sure, little kids are raped, people are killed in drive-b- y shootings and yet the whole of society is angered about the lying doughnut man. This, undoubtedly, is a catastrophe of immeasurable scale. But what to do with such lowlifes who would profit on our chub? As' my friend Matt says, "Let him be sentenced to death by suffocation with delicious powdered sugar and cinnamon." Yes, sadly, it has come to this. letterschronicle.utah.edu that is the question Understanding the motives of military men and women Editor's Note This column is the first in a series of three. Part two will appear in next Tuesday's edition of The Daily Utah Chronicle. H nd when I go to heaven, to A Saint Peter I will tell, one X JLmore soldier reporting, Sir, I have served my time in hell." Undoubtedly, war is hell. So why do people sign up for a job that will possibly take them there? . We've all heard of different reasons as to why people do it. Some think the motive is an economic One. Conversely, others believe the motive is inspired by a love of country and freedom. Some believe military men and women are in it for the adventure. Whatever the reason, thousands of our fellow countrymen and countrywomen still voluntarily march off to boot camp and ultimately into the different war zones with which our country is involved. When I enlisted in the National Guard almost four years ago, I did it largely for the sense of adventure that I thought the Army would provide for me. I wanted to do something outside of the norm. I thought the Army would be a good place to start, There I saw the sense of nationalism and patriotism that comes from serving in the military as a benefit and not entirely as a motive. My recruiter threw all sorts of cash bonuses and educational benefits at me, trying to buy me. I carefully considered it for more than two months and tried to remain blind to the financial incentives. I knew that if the Army was going to suck, it would probably take more money than was offered to lure me into a job that I could potentially dread. Thankfully, I ended up liking most of it. At the time of my enlistment, National Guard deployments were rare. It's a different story now. In PLEASE SEND LETTERS I Brian Johnson Chronicle Opinion Columnist fact, very few Utah National Guard units have not been activated in the last two years. I'll be honest the National Guard was attractive to me, in part, because of its past tradition of infrequent activations. My recruiter used this as a selling point. But I have since learned to accept the reality of frequent activations and deployments. One of the largest attitude adjustments I've had to make is this shift from "probably won't go to war" to TO THE EDITOR TO "probably will go to war." This type of personal paradigm shift affected my whole manner of interpreting world events. The echoes of war became a little louder for me. I thought of being scared and homesick. I thought of killing someone. I thought of being wounded. I thought of the sacrifices that would be asked of me and my family. Needless to say, an important dynamic of the National Guard has changed since our fathers' draft dodging days. The burden of occupying Iraq will become more and more a reservist's role. The military especially the Army is being stretched dramatically. Amazingly, several units are seeing their second tours in combat areas of AfghanisUn and Iraq. Our volunteer military may not be adequate. The U.S. Department of Defense has recently issued one of the largest stop losses in recent LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU history in order to keep people from leaving their services. It has also authorized "re up" bonuses for people in combat zones of up to $10,000. All these events seem to indicate that the draft may become a possibilityin spite of denials from the White House if the military remains understaffed. But it is unlikely in an election year. Whichever path leads one to war, when shots are pounding and bombs exploding, survival of self and friends become the largest mo- tives. Only then can mission accomplishment occur. When everything that could go wrong does indeed go wrong, your friends and your faith are all you have. No matter why or how one gets there, noble as his or her reasons and service are, why a nation goes to war, noble as its cause must be. letterschronicle. utah. edu |
