Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2004)
4 • C ommentary T he C lackamas P rint F ebruary 4, 2004 Mad Cow disease jolts consumers — Has the Mad Cow scare changed your meat eating habits? “I stopped eating beef. I haven’t eaten at any fast food restau rants for like 2 months. You never know.” Siena Radford “I don’t eat meat, so there is no Mad Cow nothin’ in my diet.” Jamie Halder I Gluftonou Americans may benefit from scare Ben Maras O pinion E ditor Be afraid, be very afraid—of cows? Yes, cows. Who would have thought that old Bessie had it in her to unleash such a plague on humanity? Alright, to be fair, it wasn’t just the fault of our friend the bovine; we had a little hand in it, too. Mankind has created a monster. It kills everyone it gets in its clutch es through a horrible death, with out exception. It can slip through the most, densely-populated city completely unnoticed; there is no cure or preventative vaccine. The worst thing is that it can’t even be destroyed by heat—because it isn’t even alive. ■ Bovine Spongiform Encephalo pathy (BSE), a.k.a. Mad Cow dis ease, is a degenerative disorder that affects the nerves of (mainly) cat- tie: It was spawned in Britain dur ing the early ‘80s, first through sheep, then spreading to cows. It occurs when cattie are fed their own kind; in other words, when they eat feed that contains bovine protein (similar to the insanity pro duced by human cannibalism). The term “Mad Cow disease” did not become a household term until 1996. Following the deaths of procedures. Although the disease is only present in the brain and spinal tissue of the affected animal, sloppy butchering practices can easily contaminate other tissue, not to mention that the aforementioned parts are used in the making of hamburger. And now this monster is in America, home of the double-cheese- burger and the two- inch thick steak, but could this curse possibly be a bless ing in disguise? ' Is it possible that the tree-hug- gers were right about the many benefits of organ ic foods? Although it may cost them a little more, maybe now America will start shelling out the extra dough to protect themselves from Frankenstein viruses and other health concerns, considering that organic food is almost infinite ly more nutritious and tasty. Not to mention better for the animals and the environment. It is said that “You are what you eat,” and it is doubtful too many 11 people want to mone-injected, mush-brained can nibals. Since it seems the only way to get through to the majority of the American population is to scare them to death, this may be just what it needed to highlight an issue that has been growingly significant for many years. Letters to the Editor “Not at all. If it’s gonna hap pen, it’s gonna happen.” Profanity use Student says Opinion Editor blindsided by bias I’m writing regarding the sure Clinton is glad he is out of the country’s health care. That’s questionable “State of Union...” article you office, because he would be what would happen here if we Jamie Peery “I don’t go to fast food that much; it’s not that big of a deal.” I write to protest the profanity that was printed in the “Person on the streef’ column concerning gay and lesbian marriage. Are the comments of Elisabeth Bishop and “Skot” the best representa tions of CCC? I believe not. Just because they spoke or wrote the words is insufficient justifica tion to lower The Print to their questionable standards—or lack of standards. ---- LeRoy Cook Chris Bugg Editor's Response: “I think the whole Mad Cow thing is overblown.” Joseph Stone The above letter refers to page 4 of Issue 7 where profanity was used in direct quotes from students. We referred to the AP Style Guide in this matter; which to quote directly, said: “Do not use [profanities] in stories unless they are part of direct quotations and there is a compelling reason to use them. ” We concluded that there was a com pelling reason, being as the words were used in quotes on the Commentary page, and thy were relevant to the intent and meaning of the quote. We also contact ed other newspapers, including the University of Oregon’s “Oregon Daily Emerald, ” whose managing editor advised us to print the words unedited. “I don’t usual ly eat fast food, but at my house nothing’s real ly changed.” Brandon Hadley 10 young people, the British gov ernment admitted, something was wrong with their meat supply, and they had been suspecting .it for the past 10 years ... whoops! It appears the tainted meat was sold to the British people without their knowledge, and the World Health Organization has said that _ the tainted meat and feed could nave spread all across the globe and it is nearly impossible to determine where. The British government’s solu tion to die dilemma was to destroy any animal suspected of being infected with BSE ... except that the disease cannot be destroyed by heat, since it is not alive. Lab tests have determined that even after the cow is a smoldering pile of ash, the disease lives on, waiting for a new victim. As little as one teaspoon of tainted feed can transfer the disease to the unsuspecting cow, and once it is consumed by humans, can develop into a variant of BSE known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD or vCJD). According to some, the disease can lie dormant for up to 30 years before wreaking havoc on the nervous system and turning the brain into Swiss cheese. It is even thought that some 200,000 American senior citizens diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease may in fact have been suffering from misdiagnosed GJD, since brain biopsies are not common -The Clackamas Print wrote about President Bush. blamed for all of this also. Yes, You are so completely blind- our economy is in a slump and sided by your bias. that half of many people are struggling, but what said was completely wrong. President Bush has had almost Many things you wrote were no effett on that. You have also never actually incorrect. Starting off, yes, there studied is a “War on socialized Terror.” You health care obviously have “You obviously before. Yes, forgotten about have forgotten everyone in the capture of a our country dictator who mur the capture of a would have dered millions of dictator who health care, people during his but in social- reign. murdered mil ized medi- Yes, over 500 lions of people cine, the soldiers have died during his standard of to find Saddam care dimin and restore peace reign.” ishes. In this in Iraq, but that’s system, if a war! Lives are lost Andrew Wheeler surgery is in war.. It’s not Clackamas student performed pretty and it does incorrectly, it n’t make it easier will not be on anyone, espe cially the families, Those sol- redone correctly. It just costs diers fought and died for a too much to fix all the mistakes that are made. That person cause. Think about it this way: dur would just be out of luck. This ing World War 2, somewhere has happened to me personally. around 250,000 American sol I had a tibia-fibula fracture sur diers lost their lives. That war gery performed in Canada, who was to capture and remove a dic has socialized health care. The tator who was murdering mil surgeon messed up the surgery lions of people. I totally believe horribly. I had the surgery redone one. that every life is' sacred and those soldiers that lost their fives month later here in Portland. That redo would never have should be honored. The next part of the article happened in Canada. The sur talks about the economy. We are geon here told that if I wouldn’t in a recession!! Our president have had it redone, I probably has very little to do with that. would .not be walking in five Our country has been moving years after the initial surgery. Also, in Canada, the govern into a recession since partway into Clinton’s presidency. I’m ment jacks up taxes to pay for would go to socialized health care. So, our taxes would raise and the standard of health care would diminish. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! On to the next point, which is on the gay marriage ban. This country was founded on Christian principles and morals. They are written over all the documents and memorials. We can take God out of everything in our country, but that will never erase history. The Holy Bible is extremely clear on homosexual relationships. They are strictly forbidden. God intended man and woman to be one in the sanctity of marriage. Our country was founded on Christian beliefs and the further we get from that foundation, the closer we get to the destruction of our country. Look at the great empires of history. What broke up those kingdoms? Pride, immorality, greed. That is exactly what our country is going through now. These things are driving us apart and will, eventually destroy us. I know that you are the opin- t ion editor, and this article was your opinion. One word of advice: you need to include all the facts, not just skip over the details to make your side look better. Sincerely, —Andrew Wheeler Clackamas Student Have an opinion on genetic engineering of humans? E-mail letters to chiefed@,clackamas, edu or bring them on a floppy disk to RR135 by this Friday at 1 p.m. Please include your name and limit all letters to/no more than 200 words. Letters are not required to pertain to subject proposed above. Submissions become property of The Clackamas Print and are subject to editing on the grounds of clarity; grammatical and otherwise.
