14
Thursday, September 18, 1997
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A
BOARD EDITORIALS
Dying to lose weight
I The Food and Drug Administration ordered two prescription diet drugs
off the market after finding that the drugs caused lethal heart damage.
On Monday, Redux, also known as dexfen
fluramine, and Pondimin, also known as fen
fluramine, were taken off the market after dis
turbing evidence was revealed about serious
health implications. Both these drugs were
immensely popular, even though doctors have
suspected dangerous side effects for months. It
is time we stop playing Russian roulette with
our lives just to lose a few pounds.
The Food and Drug Administration urged
all dieters to stop taking these prescription diet
drugs. The FDA found in a study of those using
the drug that one third of them had damaged
heart valves without showing symptoms.
Studies found that most of the valves leaked
blood, a condition that could possible weaken
and enlarge the heart.
The only remaining diet drug on the market
is phentermine, when combined with Pondimin
makes up the popular diet combination knows
as “fen-phen.” According to the FDA, phenter
mine appears to be safe when used by itself.
Possible risks began circulating in July, when
the first case arose. People continued to take
this potentially dangerous drug.
These diet drugs are intended for obese indi
viduals with potential for health problems and
not for those who are slightly overweight or
unhappy with their appearance. The popularity
of these diet pills poses problems about the way
in which people view themselves.
At UNC, many students feel the need to
Death of democracy
Depending on who you ask, balance of
power doesn’t apply to U.S. senators.
With a single action Sen. Jesse Helms, R-
N.C., has brought the ire and wonderment of
the rest of the country by denying William
Weld a fair hearing before the Senate on his
nomination as ambassador to Mexico.
Helms has again demonstrated his single
minded attempt to repress any thought that
goes against his ultra-conservative beliefs.
As chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, Helms has not missed a
chance to effect change in American foreign
policy. Setting foreign policy is the job of the
president, not the senior senator from North
Carolina, no matter how important he thinks
he might be.
In blocking the nomination of a fellow
Republican chosen by a Democratic president,
Helms struck a blow against recent attempts by
both parties’ leaders to work together to help
the country. The recent strides by both
President Clinton and Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich, have been an example that
should be followed by all of the leaders in
Washington. While they may not agree on
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excessively work out, watch their weight and
continuously diet. Why are they doing these
potentially harmful activities?
Americans are bombarded with the ideal of
the perfect man or woman. Both are supposed
to be in shape and flab-free. No wonder
Americans are unhappy with their bodies and
go to extreme measures to changed their
appearance.
The diet market is very lucrative and makes
millions in profits each year. It is saturated with
diet pills and shakes, special diet food and exer
cise routines.
Instead of sending this message, society
should be advocating one in which individuals
are satisfied with themselves. We should
encourage individuals to exercise regularly and
eat sensibly. People need to realize that we were
not meant to be carbon copies of one another
but unique individuals.
Drug companies and the FDA are also to
blame for this problem. Redux and Pondimin
should have been more thoroughly tested before
reaching the market. More tests should be con
ducted on phentermine. Currently, the FDA
does not know whether heart valve problems
associated with these two drugs can be fixed.
Exercise and a proper diet are important for
longevity. Remember, do both in moderation.
Be satisfied with your body and yourself. Have
self confidence, and do not rely on others for
fulfillment. Remember, dieting can kill you.
everything, they have been able to work out a
compromise on most issues recently.
Committees in Congress are there to study
legislation, and if need be stop it before the bill
has the chance to waste taxpayers’ money. Even
if the bill is killed in the committee, it has had
the chance at a fair hearing.
Helms’ actions have denied Weld an oppor
tunity to be heard. Because Helms disagreed
with Weld’s position on drug-related topics,
Helms decided that the former Massachusetts
governor was unfit to become the ambassador
to Mexico.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is
not a private fiefdom from the Middle Ages to
be ruled like a knight of the manor. In denying
due process to a well-qualified individual,
Helms has again shown that term limits are a
necessity for the people we send to Washington.
North Carolinians who did not vote for
Helms last year still have a right to be heard in
the Senate.
Jesse Helms represents us there, and it is his
duty to at least allow opinions other than his
own to be voiced. That is what democracy in
America is all about.
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EDITORIAL
Helms’ actions legal, against constitutional spirit
For those of you who are less than con
stitutional scholars, perhaps it would be
appropriate to give you a small lesson
as to what the powers of the president are,
according to Article H, Section 2, Gause 2 of
the U.S. Constitution. The president shall
have the power “by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate to ... appoint ambas
sadors."
It seems to me, in the case of one William
Weld, that the advice and consent of the
Senate should be sought. Try as he might,
President Clinton has not been afforded this
opportunity for his appointment of the
ambassador to Mexico. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-
N.C., in his infinite and aged —very aged
wisdom has decided to circumvent this
process to the best of his ability.
As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Helms has seen to it that the
advice of the Senate is limited to one person
himself. While he has not done anything
unconstitutional, due to the well-established
Senate rules and traditions that allow him to
set the agenda for his committee, he has vio
lated the spirit of the Constitution by not
allowing Weld’s nomination to come before
the committee to be debated and passed on to
the full Senate.
Helms seems to think that the advocation
of the medical use of marijuana prohibits
Weld from serving in a position as a repre
sentative of one government to another. This
very well might be the case, but other elected
representatives be allowed to comment and
debate the issue of an appointment.
Constitutional law Professor Jack Boger
was careful to point out to me that a citizen
does not have the “right” to be an ambas
sador, thus there is no remedy outside a
majority vote that will bring the nomination
to the floor of the Senate. It also seems that
the other Republican senators do not have the
guts to sidestep Helms in order to see that
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Column doesn't make sense;
clubs have diverse purposes
TO THE EDITOR:
I’m writing in response to Sarah Corbitt’s
column “After adding it up, Greek life does
n’t make sense,” in which she attacks frater
nities and sororities. Due to the column’s dis
organized nature, I’m not sure what she was
trying to attack. Was is that Greek organiza
tions aren’t doing enough charity work, clean
ing up after parties, or that the cost of dues
and housing cost too much? I really don’t
understand her point. I think that is partially
because the column doesn’t have one.
I am a member of St. Anthony Hall, the
“shaved-head vegetarian” fraternity. Since
Sarah Corbitt mentioned us in her column by
name, I thought it appropriate to respond to
her accusations. One point that she failed to
realize was the fact that not all sororities and
fraternities are service organizations. St.
Anthony is a co-ed literary and artistic frater
nity. Whatever we do in the area of service,
and in whatever form, is our choice, not our
obligation. It’s inappropriate to condemn any
organization that gives its time and energy for
a good cause, and especially ones that are not
service-oriented. By the way, the only bottles
you’ll see in our front yard are in recycling
bins, not embedded in your bicycle tire.
Was Corbitt trying to attack Greek organi
zations for costing too much? I know St.
Anthony costs less, with rent and food, than
a dorm on campus. Let’s not even begin to
talk about the costs of living off campus. In
essence, you’re saving money. That makes
sense to me, how about you, Sarah?
I really don’t think that attacking 18 per
cent of UNC’s student body using meaning
less averages just because Corbitt has a flat
tire is terribly rational. If she is upset about
fraternity party trash, then address that. If
she’s upset about hazing, then address certain
organizations where it is occurring. If she
wants everyone to do more charitable work,
then how about commending charitable
Weld has his spot
in the limelight. So
there sits Mr. Weld,
on the sidelines,
watching his
appointment die
for lack of discus
sion.
I have no opin
ion on Weld’s
appointment; I do
believe that one
person should not
harness as much
ALEXIS STACKHOUSEI
BY ANY MEANS
power as Jesse Helms. Or should he? While
the Democratic Party is having a field day
with the press replaying the footage of the
decrepit slum landlord hardly able to give
coherent answers to rapid fire questions about
the nomination, is it true that Jesse Helms has
this much political power? The fact that the
federal docket is overloaded with cases is also
attributed to Helms because he refuses to set
the agenda for more judges to be confirmed.
He fears that any judges from the Clinton
administration will be soft on crime and hard
on senators who rent houses in Raleigh.
While I am not one of Helms biggest sup
porters, I must say that he seems to be a scape
goat for many of the problems that other sen
ators refuse to deal with.
Jesse Helms is not all powerful and
almighty. Other Republicans must take some
of the flack for their failure to do their jobs.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., would be a good
place to start. He seems to know that what
Helms is doing is wrong, but refuses to take
Helms head on. I guess that’s what happens
when presidential hopefuls continue to serve
as senators.
They begin to cowtow to the whims on one
old man with one foot in the grave and anoth
er on a banana peel. The Republicans are in
the majority, would it be unfair to say that
READERS’ FORUM
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than 400 words and must be typed, double-spaced,
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events instead of attacking the good that peo
ple have done. Greek life may not make sense
to her, but frankly, her column doesn’t make
sense to me.
Steven Fairchild
SOPHOMORE
PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
Flag plates foster memories
of Confederacy, not hatred
TO THE EDITOR:
Kudos to the Sons of Confederate Veterans
for being persistent in their fight to secure per
mission for license plates with the group’s
emblem on them. It’s unfortunate that there
can be so much controversy and debate, just
over a symbol. Unfortunately, the battle flag
of the Confederacy (the stars and bars) has
been misused by many groups in the past, as
well as present, but that should not stop a
group like the Sons of Confederate Veterans
(Tfje Sailij (Ear Hppl
they cannot control one of the many repre
sentatives of the Republican caucus? It might
be fair to say that they prefer to let one dod
dering old man take the heat for much of
what might be avoided if they had any where
withal about them. The rest of the
Republicans realize that Helms doesn’t care
about opinion polls outside of North Carolina
and sometimes doesn’t give a damn about the
ones inside his home state, either.
Even if I agreed with Helms on certain
issues, I would have to be a bit embarrassed by
his display of arrogance last week. He had the
audacity to ask Weld if he had a plane ticket
for Mexico yet. Helms made sport of the fact
that he refused to do his job and represent the
people of North Carolina. This probably
doesn’t matter to most of adult North
Carolinians; I read somewhere that over half
of the adult population in this state can’t find
the United States on a world map, not to men
tion finding Mexico.
Of course, if Helms would get out of bed
with the tobacco industry, (notice I said indus
try, not farmers), and paid a little more atten
tion to teacher salaries and standards that
might not be the case. I guess that wouldn’t
help either, he also wants to abolish the
Department of Education.
Whether you agree with me or not, call,
write, or e-mail your elected representatives
with your own opinions. Their phone num
bers and addresses can be found any number
of places, including the Internet. At most,
Helms’ office can hang up on you, at the very
least though, they can ask you if you have
your plane ticket yet? Needless to say, this dis
cussion is moot, Weld has asked the White
House to withdraw his nomination. I guess
that Jesse Helms is the most powerful man on
the Hill.
Alexis Stackhouse is a second-year law student from
Nichols, S.C.
from displaying their emblem respectfully on
the state’s license plates. The N.C. Supreme
Court did the right thing.
Those who take offense to the flag say that
those of us who don’t need “to understand the
implications and why it’s offensive.” If they
are arguing that the flag is offensive because it
represents slavery and oppression, their rea
soning is flimsy. What flag was flying over the
White House when slaves were brought over
on boats from Africa (referring to those after
1787, of course)? What flag flew over the
White House when black students at Kent
State University were shot by police and the
National Guard? Whose National Guard was
it that shot these students. And don’t forget
that U.S. Grant owned slaves while fighting
for the stars and stripes.
If the Confederate flag symbolizes slavery
and oppression, then that goes double for the
Union flag. Let’s ban the display of the Union
flag because of it’s shady past! Does that seem
reasonable to you?
Sons of Confederate Veterans are con
cerned with preserving their heritage and
should be applauded. North Carolina lost
many young men in the Civil War, so why not
have the Confederate Flag on its license plates
to consecrate that memory? No one is being
forced to buy these plates, so I don’t see how
any reasonable person could even compare a
small flag on a license plate, to incorporating
the battle flag into the state flag.
As for the article in Tuesday’s (“Opinions
differ on Confederate flag license plates”)
paper concerning the new license plate, India
Williams either has her facts wrong or she
was badly misquoted. South Carolina does
not incorporate the Confederate flag into its
state flag, although the stars and bars can be
seen flying above the state house. South
Carolina’s state flag features a palmetto tree.
The two states which have incorporated the
Confederate flag into their state flags are
Mississippi and Georgia.
C. Wesley Lindsey
SENIOR
BIOLOGY