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Show 21 Monday, Sept. 12,2005 "journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims ot\ triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air/' - Henry Anatole Grunwald\ 797-1762 statesman@cc.usu.edu www.utahstatesman.com Stop pumping and start walking/riding Utah Statesman Staff Editor in Chief With skyrocketing gas prices that don't look to be coming down anytime soon, it's time to look for another way to get from Point A to Point B. Multiple forms of transportation are available in Cache Valley in order to decrease the amount of money we pay at the pumps. Most students pay for at least one tank of gas per month just driving : Brooke Nelson ; N e w s Editor PETA bred: group's visit turns slightly fowl Logan, Utah, has arrived. I know we have had some Earth First! vigilante attacks, but this is the first time I can remember PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) — not to be confused with Peta (People Eating Tasty Animals) or Pita ( tasty Middle Eastern alternative to sliced bread) — protesting here, which they did Monday. I got a press leak last Sunday evening and was hoping it was going to be one of those naked supermodel things where they hold up signs that say "We'd ^ B M ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ M ^ H rather be naked than wear fur." But Dennis Hinkamp Features Editor Steve Shinney \ Assistant Features Editor Emma Tippetts , Sports Editor Andrea Edmunds : Assistant Sports Editor j Bryan Hinton | Diversions Editor Matt Wright ; \ Four years later Has America really learned from Sept. 11 mistakes? WASHINGTON - It is tempting to use the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, to list, once again, the local and national errors that led to the chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina two weeks ago. But to do so would be to repeat precisely the same mistake that Department of Homeland Security officials have made - in response to demands from Congress and the public - over the past four years. Put simply, this is a nation that is very good at fighting yesterday's battles, very good at distributing funds based on politics rather than risk and extraordinarily bad at fighting tomorrow's unexpected challenge. Since Sept. 11, for example, there has been a large and extremely costly focus on airline security. Some $18 billion has been spent on the Transportation Security Administration over the past four years; in some years, its budget has exceeded that of the FBI. A good chunk of that money been wasted on bad contracts, awards banquets and unde- Nat'l View ipifierVoia served bonuses. More important, the use of reinforced cockpit doors, and the doubtfulness of al-Qaida being able or willing to repeat another multiple airline hijacking, throws its very necessity in doubt. At the same time, vast sums have been scattered far and wide on local projects, many also of doubtful necessity, simply because powerful members of Congress demanded them for their constituents. The truth is that there are entire states that don't need any homeland security fund- ing at all. There are also some vulnerabilities that would be better dealt with locally, or even by the private sector. But instead of recognizing that reality, both houses of Congress have gone out of their way to ensure that everybody gets at least a small slice of the federal pie. Meanwhile, neither DHS nor anyone else has focused hard enough on the major disasters for which the United States is still least prepared, namely a nuclear disaster or a biological attack, both of which would strain the nation's public health facilities way beyond capacity. It is still the case that far too little has been done to secure the nuclear and bioterrorism weapons of the former Soviet Union; that • HOMELAND SECURITY see page 24 Relief efforts speak for themselves Logan is not much of a fur-trading center, even though it used to be before those tooefficient trappers trapped everything and sold it to pre-PETA patrons back East. The "cache" of furs begot our valley's name, but I digress as usual. Back to those ethical treatment people. PETA was here to protest the treatment of the chickens that end up fried in a Kentucky sort of way. I'm not making light of poor treatment of animals because it is a serious issue — as my French bulldog will attest. I just wonder how PETA decided to pick on the secret recipe place which is across the street from Pizza Rut, Taco Daylight Savings Time and two major grocery chains. Between the four of them, there must be an entire animal kingdom Armageddon to protest. For the most part, the colonel only picks on chickens. The protesters showed up with someone dressed in a chicken suit that I kept waiting to cross the road and, thus, answer that age-old question. They recruited a half-dozen local youth to hold up hand-lettered signs and a campaign coordinator to show a video to anyone not too squeamish to watch. It was all very '60s — in a 2005 sort of way. I can say unequivocally that it did not seem to affect business. In fact, it seems that quite a few patrons took the "Boycott KFC" signs as a personal affront to their digestive tract. "Why do these PETA people hate America? How dare they pick on a helpless fast food chain? Boy, I sure could go for some hot wings about now." I could hear them grumbling. In the 40 minutes I was there, they started going inside and using the drive-through window in record numbers. Many of the drive-through patrons stopped long enough on their way out to wish the protesters ill will and make offers to buy them each an extra crispy drumstick. One truck full of four chicken-eating enthusiasts even went out of their way to drive around the block twice to belch some turbo diesel exhaust on the protesters from the safety of their Dodge Ram. What's the point of eating chicken in front of vegetarians if you can't protest clean air at the same time? In fact, most of the ugliness seemed to be coming from those protesting the protesters from the safety of their speeding vehicles. I'm a meat-munching non-fan of PETA myself, but given the choice of supporting the protesters or chickenconsuming huddled masses, I'd have to flip a nugget and get back to you. f lj Assistant News Editor Marie MacKay ' OUT V l 6 W home, so why not save as mucn j J J J i j ^ ^ ^ — g a s as possible while you're in WBBamK^^^M Logan? Logan has multiple forms of public transportation available for free to students and residents. Tne Aggie Shuttle is the most obvious form. There is no reason to waste gas and time driving to campus and trying to find a parking spot when you can just hitch a ride on the Aggie Shuttle from housing on 800 East and other places around campus. If you can't catch the Aggie Shuttle from your apartment, catch it at the stadium. The pass is only $18 and will save you both gas and time compared to looking for a parking space in the B lots you have to pay $75 to park in. The Logan Transit District provides a bus system that goes virtually everywhere in the city, but rarely do the seats actually fill up. These days, it's worth it to sit on a bus for a few minutes to save yourself a few bucks. Another, perhaps more or less obvious form of transportation, is your own two feet. Walking to campus will not only save you money, but can be great exercise and a great way to start off your day before sitting in class for the rest of it. Bikes, longboards, skateboards and even scooters can be good investments before the snow flies and as long as the weather permits them. Some students claim switching to a scooter saved them hundreds of dollars in gas money this summer. Many campuses across the country don't even allow bikes and scooters, so take advantage of USU's new bike-friendly policy. Don't' have a bike? Aggie Blue Bikes is here to help. At this point in time, using anything other than a personal vehicle to get around may be well worth the time and slight inconvenience and could save you more money than you realize. '•• Aaron Falk \ , "George Bush doesn't care about black people." - Kanye West, rapper and producer WASHINGTON-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has gamely tried to defend her Boss against charges that the haphazard federal response to Hurricane Katrina's victims was due to the fact that most of them were black and poor. Rice is out of her depth on this one. She can say all she wants that it is not within George W. Bush to "have left people unattended on the basis or race," but her words won't rescue him from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's abysmal performance. Neither will photo ops with administration heavy hitters and storm victims. The relief efforts speak for themselves. Most of the bodies in those floodwaters and most evacuees scattered around the country didn't hail from the upscale side of their communities. They were let down by government at all levels. Mayors and governors will have to account for their failures. But there's also no way to get around the federal government's ineptitude. The two Michaels - Chertoff and ^rown - are stark facts of life. So are the marooned, the dead and the squalor. But there is a tomorrow, and with it comes a chance for the government to get it right It can be done in the Gulf Coast. It sure as hell is being tried in Iraq. In the past two years, the Bush administration has directed billions >BUSH see page 23 i! Copy Editor Lindsay Kite \ Photo Editor Michael Sharp Assistant Photo Editor Jessica Alexander' - Editorial Board Brooke Nelson Katie Ashton Aaron Falk Bryan Hinton Marie MacKay Michael Sharp Steve Shinney o n ' ••> ' ' About letters • Letters should be limited to 350 words. ' • All letters may be short- lJ ened, edited or rejected ' for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume ; of similar letters. • Letters must be topic ori- ' ented. They may not be directed toward individuals. 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Online poll Have you donated to help the ! victims of Hurricane Katrina? • Yes, I donated through ASUSU (0%) • No, I don't have enought money (13%) • Yes, I donated through | the Red Cross or some other organization (63%) • Not yet, but I intend to (25%) Visit us on the Web at www.utahstatesman.com to cast your vote. Check out these links on www.utahstatesman.com: Local TV listings Faculty evaluations Comics Activities and events Classifieds Weather Archives |