North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 69, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Page: 9 of 10
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NORTH TEXAS DAILY
ntdaily.com
Views
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Page 9
Shock Talk
Phil Banker
Views Editor
Views@ntdaily.com
Ed tor a
Grammy awards
pull wool' over
public's eyes
The Grammys were awarded on Sunday night and yet
again, almost nothing of merit occurred.
How did this show get such high ratings? We do
not understand how people could take the time out
of their lives to watch the recording industry throw an over-
blown, self-serving celebration of itself? These are probably
the same people that made "Norbit" the number one movie at
the box office this weekend.
A long time ago, the recording industry existed to promote
talented musicians, singers and songwriters. Not anymore.
These days, the various companies manufacture "pop-stars"
with just enough differentiation between each new act to pull
the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting public.
As far as what actually happened at the awards ceremony,
our earlier summary of "nothing of merit" still holds true. Ap-
parently the Dixie Chicks won about a billion awards, because
being controversial easily supplants being talented. Why
did they have to be played off by the orchestra every time
they made a speech? You would have thought after the sixth
speech, they could have finished the first one.
Adding insult to grevious injury was "My Humps" by the
Black Eyed Peas winning a Grammy for Best Performance by
a Duo or Group with vocals. "My Humps" could be the worst
song of all time. "My Humps" is what is wrong with America.
"My Humps" could very well be why the terrorists hate us.
Thankfully, through file-sharing technology, you can com-
pletely bypass the recording industry and get the music you
want to hear, and discard the reprocessed albums corporate fat
cats keep shoving in your face.
SHOCKTALK
Frequent naps good
or heart health
CHICAGO (AP) - New
research on napping provides
the perfect excuse for office
slackers, finding that a little
midday snooze seems to reduce
risks for fatal heart problems,
especially among men.
In the largest study to
date on the health effects of
napping, researchers tracked
23,681 healthy Greek adults for
an average of about six years.
Those who napped at least three
times weekly for about half an
hour had a 37 percent lower risk
of dying from heart attacks or
other heart problems than those
who did not nap.
Most participants were in
their 50s, and the strongest
evidence was in working men,
according to the study, which
appears in Monday's issue of
Archives of Internal Medicine.
The researchers said naps
might benefit the heart by
reducing stress, and jobs are a
common source of stress.
It's likely that women reap
similar benefits from napping,
but not enough of them died
during the study to be sure,
said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos,
the study's senior author and a
researcher at Harvard University
and the University of Athens
Medical School.
Heart problems killed 48
women who were studied,
six of them working women,
compared with 85 men,
including 28 working men.
A daytime siesta has long
been part of many cultures,
especially those in warmer
climates. Mediterranean-style
eating habits featuring fruits,
vegetables, beans and
olive oil have been cred-
ited with contributing to
relatively low rates of heart
disease in those countries,
but the researchers wanted
to see if napping also plays
a role.
"My advice is if you
can (nap), do it. If you
have a sofa in your office,
if you can relax, do it,"
Trichopoulos said.
Exactly how stress is
related to heart disease is uncer-
tain. Some researchers think
it might be directly involved,
through unhealthy effects of
stress hormones, or indirectly
by causing people to exercise
less, overeat or smoke.
The researchers in the latest
study factored in diet, exercise,
smoking and other habits that
affect the heart but still found
napping seemed to help.
Previous studies have had
conflicting results. Some
suggested napping might
increase risk of death, but
those mostly involved elderly
people whose daytime sleep-
iness reflected poor health,
Trichopoulos said.
His research team studied
a broader range of people,
ages 20 to 86, who were gener-
ally healthy when the study
began.
Still, it's possible that study
participants who napped "are
just people who take better
care of themselves," which
could also benefit the heart,
said Dr. Marvin Wooten, a sleep
specialist at Columbia St. Mary's
Hospital in Milwaukee.
"The guy... who doesn't take
time out for a siesta in their
culture is probably the guy who
is extremely driven and under
a lot of pressure," which could
increase heart risks, he said.
Siestas aren't ingrained
in U.S. culture, and napping
usually is equated with laziness
in the high-charging corpo-
rate world, said Bill Anthony,
a Boston University psycholo-
gist and co-author of "The Art
of Napping at Work."
Why I Hate College
Mooninite
Awareness
Week
This is
a Mooninite.
Not a
bomb
wanted
by Michelle Thacker
U.S. must secure raqs ma or cities
I am discouraged as I write
to you today. Our polit-
ical climate in this country
is toxic. Our politicians
have resorted to name calling and
blaming in order to gain political
power. This is true on both sides
of the aisle.
We cannot continue to call our
leader incompetent or immoral
and likewise we cannot call or
imply that people who disagree
with the President's policies as
un-patriotic. There are places
and times for disagreements.
Those places DO NOT include
talk shows, foreign press clubs
or Davos, Switzerland and lohn
Kerry.
The place for debate should
be conducted on the floor of
the U.S. Senate or House of
Representatives. Our elected
leaders have an obligation to
propose legislation that is binding.
We elected them to take action,
not make each other look bad.
I am a proud conservative but I
don't agree with all the policies
of our president. I can't stand
liberals but acknowledge they
have some very good points. So
were do we go from here? We must
achieve victory in Iraq. You might
notknowwhat victoryis, so I will
explain it.
First, we must have control
over the key
cities in the
country:
Baghdad,
Basra, Kirkuk
and Mosul.
We currently
have control
or have at
least stabi-
lized most of
these cities
, the excep-
tion being
Baghdad. The stabilization of
Baghdad is key, since it is the
capital and most populated city
in Iraq. By stabilizing Baghdad
we allow the elected Iraqi govern-
ment to show progress and actu-
ally make decisions that will
benefit the country.
Second, we must maintain
control over the transportation
and infrastructure that leads to
and from those key cities. This
security will allow commerce to
accelerate and relieve pressure on
the Iraqi population. By having
open roadways, the citizens of
Iraqwillbeableto exchange ideas
and services freely.
Third, by securing the cities
and roadways the infrastruc-
ture repair will be able accel-
erate and the Iraqis will be able to
enjoy modern day amenities that
Kyle Schroder
we take for
granted in
most of the
western
world. Most
Iraqis would
love the
chance to
rebuild their
country, but
are afraid
to leave
their neigh-
borhoods
because the militias and thugs
control the roads.
Fourth, we must be able to
modernize the Iraqi oil infra-
structure so the Iraqi government
will have funds with which they
can use to rebuild their country.
Much of the conflict between the
rival political parties centers on
oil proceeds. With a modern oil
infrastructure most parties will
be able to reap benefits from the
surge in oil proceeds.
Fifth, we must have patience.
The Iraqi people are thankful we
removed Saddam. The citizens of
Iraq lived in fear of this man and
that fear has been a stumbling
blockfor their progress. The Iraqi
people were used to a government
that oppressed them, instead of
serving them. They still fear politi-
cians and see every thing through
a skeptical eye. They don't know
capitalist economics so we must
have patience in teaching them.
Many of us don't even know how
our own economic system works
and we have been taught its prin-
ciples from birth. So it would be
unfair to demand that they walk
before they know how to crawl.
The average Iraqi has seen their
military as a way to oppress them
instead of protect them so we
cannot blame them when they
don't trust there own security
forces. It will take time. We can
only lose in Iraq if we quit.
To use Danielle Pellett's
analogy of a broken condom, we
can do one of two things. We can
choose to abort the baby and say
"Oh I didn't want it" or " It's my
choice" and blame the condom
or we can accept responsibility
for our actions and raise that
child with patience and sacrifice,
knowing in the end we did the
right thing. We have to be strong
for the good of our country and
the world. America is the world's
policeman, whether we like it or
not. Other countries look to the
United States for security and we
cannot let them down.
Kyle Schroder is a junior from
Amarillo. He can be reached at
kyleschroder@unt.edu.
U.S. should pressure raq, withdraw
While very few
argue for precip-
itous withdrawal,
conservative
critics have lately been acting
as if the only two choices in
Iraq are to remove all troops
tomorrow or send more troops
and stay indefinitely. However,
what they fail to understand
is that withdrawal can be
gradual and it can be done
with tactical elements behind
it that help, not hurt, the situ-
ation in Iraq.
In a recent New York Times
article, Edward Luttwak
detailed a promising strategy
that would achieve this. Under
his plan, American soldiers
would no longer be respon-
sible for patrolling towns and
villages, conducting search
operations, or manning
outposts and checkpoints.
This would allow a good chunk
of American troops to return
home, including reservists
and National Guard units.
The remaining forces would
k
move to safe
bases in
Iraq in order
to support
the elected
govern-
ment, train
Iraqi secu-
rity forces,
deter foreign
interference
and strike at
any terrorist
camps.
Critics contend any with-
drawal of American troops will
lead to an increase in violence,
but this assumes that our
troops have an effect on the
daily security of Iraqis they do
not have. The presence of U.S.
soldiers merely diverts attacks
elsewhere or our soldiers are
the ones that are attacked (this
is why sending more troops
won't help security). When
you are dealing with different
sects that hate each other, it is
not a simple matter of finding
and stopping the bad guys as
Adam Silva
the Bush
admin-
istration
and their
conser-
vative
supporters
seem to
simply
believe.
Remember,
the violence
is mostly
Iraqi- on-
Iraqi, with a civil war raging
between Sunni insurgents and
Shiite militants (with civil-
ians and American soldiers
caught in the middle). Letting
the Iraqis know that we will not
stay there forever is the only
chance we have of getting both
groups to come to the table and
find reconciliation.
Former Army Lt. General
William E. Odom, the head of
Army intelligence and director
of the National Security Agency
under Ronald Reagan, boldly
declared recently that "victory
is not an option" in Iraq. By this
he means that victory defined
as pro-American, democratic
oasis in Iraq is no longer a real-
istic goal, specifically citing the
newest National Intelligence
Estimate's dire assessment of
the situation in Iraq. Instead,
we must keep our focus on
stability. Marginally increasing
troop levels isn't going to help
us do that. Despite the hoopla
about the escalation, that's the
same strategy we've had the
last few years.
Our only way out is to pres-
sure the Iraqis into a political
solution. We can do that by
drawing down our forces and
changing their mission. And we
can do it in a way that brings
many of our troops home and
gives the Iraqis the support
they need. The rest is all up
to them.
Adam Silva is a political
science senior from Irving. He
can be reached at adamrsilva@
yahoo.com
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Pamela Bond, Michael Neglia, Chel-
sea Douglas, Katie Farnam, Tony
Gutierrez, Katherine Frye, Danielle
Dominguez and Phil Banker.
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 69, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 13, 2007, newspaper, February 13, 2007; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145424/m1/9/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.