Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 21, 2001, edition 1 / Page 8
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8 Friday, September 21, 2001 Opinion ultjp Smlii ®ar 1W Established 1893 • 108 Yean ofUitohal Freedom www diMartw*UxMn Katie Hunter Editor Office Hours Friday 2 p.m. -3 p.m. Kim Minugh MANAGING EDITOR Sefton Ipock VISUAL COORDINATOR Jermaine Caldwell SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Kate Hartig EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Lizzie Breyer UNIVERSITY EDITOR Kellie Dixon CITY EDITOR Alex Kaplun STATE Si NATIONAL EDITOR Rachel Carter SPORTS EDITOR James Giza SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR Faith Ray FEATURES EDITOR Russ Lane ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Terri Rupar COPY DESK EDITOR Kara Arndt PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Beth Buchholz DESIGN EDITOR Cobi Edelson GRAPHICS EDITOR Catherine Liao ONLINE EDITOR Josh Myerov OMBUDSMAN Concerns or comments about our coverage? Contact the ombudsman at jmyerovssemail.unc.edu. Readers' Forum Ticket Distribution Does Not improve Student Safety TO THE EDITOR: I am an avid Carolina fan, and do my best to attend as many sporting events as I can here. However, I’m not too fond of the fact that I rely on the CAA for coordination of some of these events and the processes by which I am able to attend these events. I am referring to this weekend’s FSU game, and the fact that I must go obtain tickets that will be “distributed randomly,” says Mr. Reid Chaney, CAA President. Maybe he means “distributed randomly” in the same sense that basketball tickets were “dis tributed randomly” last year for sev eral big games, those random people being members and friends of the CAA’s upper echelon who received the best student tickets. The CAA’s assumption that entrance to the stadium will be hectic is probably very true; however, I fail to see the logic behind Mr. Chaney’s statement that “students are safer” with tickets, as opposed to the ONE I- | ' -- -T Board Editorials Love and Theft People wanting to help the victims of last week's attacks should watch out for unscrupulous "charities" The overwhelmingly charitable response of the American people following the events of Sept. 11 represents the true giving spirit of the country. The city of New York has already reported huge donations of food and clothing resulting in a sizable sur plus of these items. With numerous people giving blood, food, clothing and water, the nature of donations has now changed toward mone tary gifts. These donations are needed to address the specific needs of survivors, those who lost relatives in the attacks and rescue workers. Those who give money, however, should be aware that some individuals hop ing to turn a profit from a tragic occasion have already taken advantage of some gen erous Americans. After Sept. 11, everyone wanted to do something to help the victims of the terror ist attacks. But concerned citizens should remember to not let emotions get the better of common sense and intuition. Where the Heart Is The WOW program is designed to help people buy their own homes —but it needs to widen its focus A man’s home is his castle, but some people own more castles than others. This week N.C. Reps. Eva Clayton and David Price unveiled the With Ownership, Wealth initiative in the hopes of increasing minority home ownership. The WOW program was formally launched by the Congressional Black Caucus last April, but this week’s ceremo ny brought it to North Carolinians who still don’t own their own homes. Home ownership is a basic fact of life that many people take for granted. But blacks as a whole own far fewer houses than whites. The reasons for this disparity are numer ous and difficult to understand. Despite the strides made by the civil rights movement, and despite the fact that the national black home ownership rate grew four times faster than the white rate in the last decade, the gap between the two groups remains wide. Regardless of the problem’s source, a Card entrance process. Maybe our tickets will prevent us from being mauled, which happened to me too often last year while using my ONE Card for access. In short, I find it hard to believe that distributing tickets for a free foot ball game will increase my safety or chances of getting in. My attendance of Carolina athletics should not depend on a group of officials proven to be crooked, or maybe I should “get to know the right people” so I can get great seats in the Dean Dome come basketball time. Greg Whitley Sophomore Political Science Microsoft is User- Friendly, Does Not Have a Monopoly TO THE EDITOR: I have a couple things to say in response to Josh Baylin’s Microsoft bashing article. Firstly, get your facts straight, or lack thereof. Yes, Microsoft is moving to phase out the MP3 for mat. However, they are doing this in It’s easy to be duped by phone calls from an unknown organization or an organiza tion with a similar name to a reputable charitable group. Individuals should call the police if approached by suspect people through e mail, telephone, or even door-to-door ven tures. The local police and the N.C. Attorney General’s Office will then ensure that others don’t get taken advantage of by con artists preying on the giving spirit of Americans. Everyone should be wary of e-mail and other Internet solicitations, especially those that direct potential givers to someone’s personal Web site to make a donation. With all of these considerations in mind, here is a list of Web sites that have a direct link to give financial aid to various rep utable philanthropic organizations helping everyone affected by the tragic events of last week. http://wYvw.helping.org. - This web site lists numerous, legitimate organizations solution has been too long in coming. WOW is the first program of its kind to tar get a problem that many Americans rarely think about. WOW also takes a refreshingly sensible approach to a thorny problem. Rather than provide new funds - which are difficult to come by as the economy continues to slow down - WOW seeks to utilize existing resources to erase some of the barriers to home ownership. It is also heartening to see that some par ticularly powerful backers have joined forces with various bureaucracies to get the program off the ground. GE Capital Mortgage Insurance Corp., United Guaranty and Fannie Mae are all involved with the WOW program. This confluence of business and government could accom plish something that neither could do by itself. A large part of WOW’s mission is infor mational. Seminars, forums and home favor of anew music compression for mat that effectively halves the size of music files. None of which will have any effect on music sharing. Saying that Microsoft’s software is bloated and inefficient is also unfounded; with the release of Windows XP Microsoft will have created the most stable, secure and user-friendly operating sys tem to date. As for the P.O.S. CCI computers, IBM is far from a monop oly. On a more theoretical note, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act should never have been passed. The reason it exists is that the government actually helped to create railroad monopolies. If from the very beginning they had let the free market run its course everything would have been just fine. As for the alleged Microsoft monopoly: Microsoft is one of the major reasons that computers are at the stage they are today. It is because of their inno vation that the technology industry has flourished. There are iways other alternatives for those who do not opt for Microsoft’s flaming superiority. Corbin Graves Freshman Business and Political Science that are involved in the relief effort. Each link has specific instructions on how to donate to a particular relief fund. http://www.libertyunites.org - This Web site also provides numerous links to various charities where direct donations can be made to any specific charity. http://www.redcross.org - This Web site directs users to a local American Red Cross chapter where donations of blood and money can be received. Donating money to online charities, when done correctly, is safe, secure and is easily accomplished by simply punching in a name and a credit card number. People from all across the nation, includ ing Chapel Hill, have already demonstrat ed their compassion for all victims of the terrorist attacks through their donations to local and nationwide charities. They simply need to ensure that their donations will be given to a charity that will end up helping the needy and not the greedy. ownership fairs are planned as part of a widespread outreach effort. But even more promising is the prospect of action. WOW’s architects want to make partnerships with financial institutions offer flexible mortgage packages and financial counseling to lower-income individuals and families. If there is any detectable shortcoming in this otherwise iaudable program, it is that its focus is perhaps too narrow. Although blacks are the most obvious victims of the home ownership disparity, other minorities and less wealthy people in general also find themselves on the wrong side of the gap. Rather than exclusively target blacks, WOW and its leaders should direct their efforts at aiding all those who lag behind in home-ownership rates. Everyone deserves a chance to own his or her own home. After all, it’s where the heart is. J? The Daily Tar Heel wel comes reader comments and criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 300 worth and must be typed, dou ble-spaced, dated and signed by no more than two people. Students should include their year, major and phone num ber. Faculty and staff should include their title, department and phone number. The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vul garity. Publication is not guaranteed. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104, Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail forum to: editdesk@unc.edu. Barometer neighborhood. The two parties plan to finally settle the matter with a game of rock, paper, scissors. the business of not doing anything remotely useful. Tar Heel Quotables “I would move off campus to not go to South (Campus).” Joyner Residence Hall Dweller Kiki Johnson Hey, most of us would move to a cardboard box on Franklin Street to not go to South Campus. “...the legislators have learned more about the lottery and its adverse impacts.” Lottery Opponent Chuck Neely Commenting on a possible state lottery. Just because poor people are going to get poorer, that's not adverse, is it? Wanted: High- Tech Hookers For the Future Open up The Daily Tar Heel classifieds on any given day, and there’s an offer: “Seeking healthy females (ages 18 to 33) willing to donate eggs to infertile women. Call or e-mail for information. Please include name and address. s2ooofor complete participa tion. Anonymity is preserved. ” Let’s take a look at this seemingly harmless plea for help. Seeking healthy females. Think you’re healthy? Well, if you want to be an egg donor, healthy has little to do with how much you exercise or how many Luna bars you eat. Healthy means having wanted genes - fair, blond, blue- eyed, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with no hereditary diseases in your family for four generations. Many female donors fit into these categories - look for an in-vitro Aryan generation run ning around in a few years. Ads at Ivy League schools ask for egg producers who scored 1300 or better on their SATs. Guess that explains why couples are seeking egg producers here instead of at N.C. State. Parents also want nice kids, so they search out altruistic women who want to help. Ironic, don’t you think? How much kindness can you expect from kids whose mothers sold them to the highest bidders? Willing to donate eggs to infertile women. Willingness is an understatement. Consider the monthlong process of suck ing future embryos out: psychological analysis, hormonal drugs, invasive procedures and unlimited risks. Before the little suckers are extracted, expect questions like, “What will you do when your child knocks on the door, all grown up?” Former eggs showing up on your doorstep in 20 years might be somewhat disturbing. Medically, egg extraction is similar to an alien abduc tion. A donor creates a harvesting environment by first tak ing drugs with menopausal effects. After three weeks of daily injections of the drugs Pergonal and Metrodin, the ovaries expand to baseball size, creating a dozen eggs. Then the eggs are sucked out through a freakin’ huge nee dle. The risks of egg donation are uncertain. Some women may develop cervical cancer or infertility themselves. Call or e-mail for information. Please include name and address. Don’t let a local phone number fool you. Instead of matching a donor with a family, some ads are part of a scheme to add women’s names to databases. There are more than 200 egg donation agencies in the United States that advertise profusely in order to build up these databases. Recent ads offering $50,000 dollars were actually fraudulent advertisements for donor banks, not needy customers. These ads influence women into giving up genetic maps of them selves - for a price. Let’s face it, women’s eggs are hot commodities, and there is a market to buy. Men have been selling sperm since the 19605, and now women have the chance to catch up - that’s gender equality. s2,ooofor complete participation. Easy money, that’s what it all comes down to. Yet men and women are recom pensed at very different rates. A man donating sperm receives an average of SSO for about one hour of work. At that rate, women who take one month to make a donation should receive $36,000. As it stands, a woman’s hourly rate is about $2.78. The difference in payment can be blamed on a society that values men over women. But, as the price of prefertil ized children increases - to upward of tens of thousands of dollars - you have to wonder who wants to raise kids whose biological mothers sold them to total strangers. Anonymity is preserved. Of course it is -a future kid can’t discern who his or her real mother is. “Is it the woman whose baseball-sized ovary I popped out of?” “Is it the sur rogate who carried me for nine months?” “Or is it the woman I have called Mama all my life?” These are confusing questions, and women might not want their biological offspring knowing who they are for reasons of guilt, greed or genuine concern for the child’s welfare. Think back to what your mother always said: “When it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” A classified ad offering women a financial solution by selling their eggs is this century’s high-tech prostitution. Is it really worth it to finance your future on your children’s backs? Or do you want the chance to advise your own children as to the rights and wrongs of the world, as your mother did? Rachel Hockfield earned $8.34 in the time it took to write this column, but she won’t see any of it. Reach her at rachel@email.unc.edu. Turf Wars Chapel Hill residents are still up in arms over the University's plans to buy part of the Mason Farm Road Mo' Money Student Congress recently found SIB,OOO in funds it thought had been lost. Congress can now get back to lolly ular MM RACHEL HOCKFIELD OVER MY HEAD Pay Up As the state budget inches toward completion, it appears that North Carolinians might be paying more taxes. Because, you know, that tuition increase just didn't leave our wallets light enough. What a Mice Guy A University professor won an "American Nobel" for his research on mouse genomes. So when can we sick a 50-foot killer mutant mouse on Duke? “N.C. State is a large portion of the city, and we have a big voice.” NCSU Student Thomas Croom On his bid for a Raleigh City Council seat. Finally, the needs of tractor-driving turf-grass managers will be addressed. “Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” President George W. Bush 'Nuff said.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 21, 2001, edition 1
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