Group 2 (Cydni Chapman on Healthcare)

October 28, 2007

With the 2008 election nearing closer the debates continue and the race grows closer. Americans feel one main issue for this election is healthcare. According to the article “As Democrats Criticize, Health Care Industry Donates”, unlike previous elections, the healthcare field has donated more money to the Democrats rather than the Republicans. Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lead the pack with $2.7 million and $2.2 million respectively.

While the closest Republican candidates, Mitt Romney and Ruddy Giuliani, trail with $1.4 million. Many ask why the sudden change in policy? According to Phillip J. Blando, a political advisor to insurance companies, money is being donated due to “smart politics”. Since healthcare is a major domestic issue, healthcare providers want to make sure their interests are being protected. Similarly, Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, reports that “everybody in the industry knows that health care reform is on its way, and you have only two decisions: sit on the sidelines or get on the field.” In other words, the prediction that Democrats will take over the White House in 2008 has led to a skeptical healthcare industry that worries about their future. Democrats have made healthcare a primary issue that they promise to tackle if they get elected. Healthcare companies hope to protect themselves if in fact there is a reform in the near future. What is in store for healthcare in this country and is it even right for healthcare companies to give so much money to the campaigns in fear of their future?

New York Times

Group 5 (Carmen Coats on Menominee/UW transfers)

UW-Madison, tribal school hit deal
by Heather LaRoi

UW-Madison and the College of Menominee Nation has recently planned a transfer program that will allow students who attend the College of Menominee Nation to transfer to UW-Madison after two years if certain demands are met. The colleges believe it will benefit both schools by allowing Native American Student accessibility to a better education and and giving more diversity to UW-Madison. This program will make the transfering process for Native American Students a little easier. Like other colleges that have similar arrangements with UW-Madison there are certain requirements that are needed to qualify for the transferring process. Students need to obtain 54 credits and a G.P.A of atleast 3.0. If they meet these requirements than they are guaranteed admittance to UW-Madison.
I think that programs like these benefit our University. I think that we need more diversity in our school's population. I feel that bringing Native American students to our university will definitely increase the diversity, especially with a group of people that is not strongly represented in the population as of now. I think that transfer programs like these are good, especially for students. Transfer programs provide ways for students to get an education at a cheaper cost with also having the opportunity to go to a university that they want to attend for further education.

Carmen

Group 1 (Josh Gauger on NFL in Europe)

On a Slippery Day in London, Giants Hold On

The NFL played its first ever game outside of North America Sunday. The game was played at Wembley Stadium in London. The English fans who witnessed it firsthand saw a sloppy game between two of the NFL’s most boring teams to watch. Wembly stadium is meant to host European “futbol” games, not NFL style “football” contests. The teams sent abroad to represent American football to these Europeans were the slow and methodical New York Giants and the still winless Miami Dolphins. The NFL had no idea what these teams would be like when this game was scheduled but I’m not sure that this game will help our countries favorite sport catch on to these European people.
The pitch, as the field is called in England, was muddied by the rain and the fact that it is constructed of a grass not meant to support the trampling of 350 pound men and the cuts of powerful NFL running backs. The game itself was not an exciting one either, although this article attempts to convince the reader otherwise possible due to bias, it is a New York paper. The final score was 13-10 win by the Giants, with very little other than scrambling runs by Giants QB Eli Manning and mistakes by the mistake prone Dolphins QB Cleo Lemon. The article explains that the fans cheered on any down field pass complete or not, most of them were not. The most exciting thing for the fans may have been the streaker that the article claims ran across the field at half-time. The fans did show up in good numbers to the surprise of many sports analyzers who predicted that the NFL’s attempt to spread this sport would fall on deaf ears.
The NFL may look on this game as a successful one but I as a true NFL fan do not. This game could do nothing to hold my attention past the singing of the two national anthems. The NFL is looking to host several other games outside of the United States in years to come and possible the NFL super bowl as well. I hope that they do because I think that the world would really enjoy our sport. I do hope that when scheduling these games that they do not involve teams with a typically boring style of play or ones in which they have virtually no young talent and are in the first year of a coaching changes, as these teams were.

Group 4 (Christopher Martin on Cell Phones and Privacy)

In “Privacy Lost: These Phones Can Find You” in The New York Times, Laura Holson discusses the latest in cell phone technology. One can know where all of their friends, family, and co-workers are at any time. It is looked upon as a great advancement because no one will have to partake in the annoying task of opening their cell phone, dialing a number, and having to say “Where are you?” One can simply add this new service provided by Loopt and Buddy Beacon to their phone plan for about three dollars a month. Advocates say that the plan can be utilized to track employees and can be turned off for periods of time. College students could use it to find a friend to eat with or a fellow study buddy. But, those opposed to it say that it is an invasion of privacy and can cause conflicts in relationships. A man may want some along time and could turn the service off for a while, but then his spouse would want to know why, thus causing a fight over nothing. Or, an employee could turn the service off and wind up in trouble with their boss. The outcome could be disastrous.
I have to agree with the latter. This is defiantly an invasion of privacy. I would not want someone knowing my whereabouts at all times. It is basically a tracking device for everyone with the plan that has your number. Not only does it show where everyone is, but it also shows the exact distance away they are from you. Jealous ex-boy/girlfriends could follow someone around just to ruin the moment. Or, the girl that a guy gave his number to at a bar one night could wind up regretting the fact that she always knows where he is. Although someone could just block people, it is more of a hassle than it is worth. Picking up a phone and calling or text message would take a mere three seconds longer than trying to find someone’s homing beacon on a 2’’ screen, and it would allow for much more privacy. Plus, if you knew where someone was and wanted to meet them somewhere else, then you would still have to call them. This service is a novel idea, but is not for me. Would you seriously want everyone with your number to know where you are at all times?

Group 2 (Krista Lefflin on Wall Street)

In the article, “With Wall Street Slowing, Uncertainty Descends” the main focus is how the steady growth of the economy in New York has stalled. Many of the biggest firms on Wall Street have begun to struggle and more and more banks are making job cuts and their profit has gone down. The chief executive of Bank of America has even talked about how his company is no longer expanding like they had planed because they had huge losses in the last three months. The economy has had a steady growth for the last three years but now people are starting to realize that the growth is in the past. The Chief economist, Frank Barconi, in the comptroller’s office says he is “not sure whether the troubles in the financial markets will turn into something worse than we were predicting.” Major investment banks have already gotten rid of over 1,000 jobs and people are expecting more. Also financial firms in New York have made job cuts of 42,404 this year. While New York may become one
of the weakest economic places in America people are not sure that they will go into a total recession. One of the main questions is are major financial firms going to be able to keep their cost cutting under control or are more and more jobs going to be lost? Why has the economy slowed down? How much worse will the slowdown in Wall Street get or is it just a temporary lapse in economic growth?

Group 4 (Holly Feldman on Dumbledore)

Magical day for gays as Dumbledore is outed

JK Rowling, the author of the famous "Harry Potter" Series, recently spoke to a group of people at Carnegie Hall in New York. As she was taking questions on her final book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", she stated that one of the characters in the book was actually gay. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school that Harry Potter attends, is homosexual and was smitten by Gellert Grindelwald, a rival who the reader learns about in the final book. When making the 6th movie, JKR actually had to edit a scene in which involved Dumbledore with another girl. Gay-rights campaigners said that they were disappointed in JKR for not making Dumbledore's sexuality explicit. As for thier disappointment, I think that JKR made the right decision in not revealing the character's homosexuality. Reading closely enough, a person could easily determine that Dumbledore is gay, by the details JKR writes about him. By openly stating that he was gay could then cause some parents to prohi
bit thier son or daughter from reading the series. She made the decision to keep it quiet for the avoidance of hositilty and I think she made a smart move. Would the books have been as popular as they are if she would have bluntly stated that Dumbledore was homosexual? Do you think that she should have addressed his sexuality?

Group 1 (Lesley Hacker on Madeleine McCann)

Tests Show Madeleine McCann's Brother and Sister Were Not Drugged

(London Times, October 20, 2007)

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been a tragic story all over the media. Her parents were named main suspects months ago. There have been allegations saying her parents drugged Madeleine and their other children the night Madeleine disappeared. Forensic tests have been ran on their two other children proving that the parents did not sedate them. “Anything that enters the blood-stream also enters the root of hairs and stays in the same position as the hair grows." Although Madeleine went missing over five months ago, there were no traces of a sedation drug in their hair. it "grows at about 1cm per month so to test for five months ago you would need a 5cm-long hair.” Once again, the parents beat another allegation, but do you think they will be able to keep on fighting?

Group 3 (Lauren Brendel on MRSA)

Schools in Several States Report Staph Infections, and Deaths Raise the Alarm
(Ian Urbina, NY Times_

Summary: MRSA or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus is responsible for more deaths in the us each year than even AIDS. It is a strain of bacteria that does not respond to antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. It can be spread by sharing towels, sports equipment, along with skin to skin contact with an open wound. Wednesday and Thursday schools in Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virgina were closed so crews could disinfect. Schools in three states have reported student deaths within the last two weeks and four others reported cases of infected students. Nearly 19,000 people died in 2005 from MRSA and 85 percent of the infections were in health care settings. MRSA is usually a mild skin infection that doesn't usually become life-threatening. Ashton Bonds a 17 year old football player from VA died Monday from the bacteria. 15 percent of invasive MRSA cases originated in the community without any health care risk factor.

Response: I think that since we had an outbreak two years ago killing nearly 19,000 and we are in the process of having another outbreak, we really need to crack down on hygiene standards. Locker rooms, bathrooms, classrooms, lunch rooms, everything in the schools need to be clean. I was lucky i went to a really nice and clean school where I don't think there has ever been a staph infection, but many schools aren't as nice, and there really needs to be a standard. Janitors need to sanitize everything and make sure bathrooms have everything for kids to wash their hands. Also, everyone needs to be informed about the chances, what happens when you get it, how you get it and how to prevent from getting MRSA. We didn't learn from our history and we are paying for it again. We need to get hygiene standards for schools and public places set in stone. Hospitals and nursing homes have inspectors, this would be a good idea for schools too.


Lauren Brendel

Group 5 (Casey Christian on Cold Medicine for Kids)

The article F.D.A. Panel Urges Ban on Medicine for Child Colds, written by Gardiner Harris (New York Times, October 20, 2007), describes how an advisory panel from the Food and Drug
Administration voted to ban over-the-counter cold medicine for children under age 6. There were actually two votes taken. The panel voted 21-1 to ban medicine for children under two, and 13-9 for children between two and five. The reasoning of this panel was that medicine is not effective and can actually have negative effects. This ban will have a drastic effect on pharmacies and companies nationwide if put into effect. However, manufactures of the medicine claimed they would fight against this ban. The FDA then has the choice to accept or decline this ban. The second vote was close, so the agency might feel there was too much uncertainty and may decline the ban. Therefore, the FDA is clearly in a predicament, being pressured from both sides. The panel obviously wants this ban to be put into actions, whereas companies will strongly oppose the ban because it will cause a loss in sales. The issue presented here is whom should the FDA agree with to make this decision. Should the FDA agree with the advisory panel or the companies and doctors?

Group 1 (Beau Dobson on School Violence)

Adults egged on boys in fight inside school, police say
Karen Rivedal-Wisconsin State Journal

Recently a fight broke out inside Madison La Follette High School. Arguments and small fights are common in schools across the United States but in an article from the Wisconsin State Journal it tells of adults egging on the three boys involved in the fight. The fight took place last Thursday and seven police officers along with 30 staff members were needed to stop it. Apparently two boys and two women approached another boy and the adults promoted the boys to fight. The mother of one of the boys actually “stomped on” one of the security guards. The article goes on to say how the Madison area is seeing a rise in violence at schools. Luis Yudice, the safety coordinator for the Madison School District commented on incidents like this reoccurring. "But sometimes you do your best and it's not enough," he said. "Obviously we're very concerned any time that kind of violence takes place in our schools." Do you think security needs to be increased at schools in the Madison area
so incidents like these become less frequent?

Group 5 (Luke Ehlen on Drinking in Wisconsin)

State Ranks High For Responsible Drinkers

Scott Milfred's article in the Wisconsin State Journal addresses the drinking statistics in the state of Wisconsin. While the state ranks very highly in some positvie categorires, its is also leading a very negative one. Milfred begins the article with a visit to the doctor. When the doctor asked how much he drank, Milfred replied, "two beers a day." The doctor suggested that he was an alcoholic. Scott Milfred's claim is that small amounts of alcohol every day actually promote a healthy heart. His high levels of good cholesterol supported his claim.

The article the moves on the state some startling statistics. Wisconsin leads the nation in binge drinking and adult drinkers. This brings up disturbing issues of drunk driving and alcohol abuse. Although that is a very negative statistic, the state tries to make up for it by ranking 8th in the nation for adults that consume alcohol, but do not binge drink. Also, 31% of the adults surveyed in Wisconsin claimed they had not had a drop of alcohol in the last month. This just shows that while Wisconsin has a drinking problem, it does not apply to the entire population.

Group 3 (Bryanna McCarrell on Sleeping Outside)

Los Angeles to Permit Sleeping on Sidewalks
(New York Times, October 11, 2007)


In recent years the Los Angeles police were, by law, able to arrest homeless people that were sleeping or lying on public sidewalks in and around Skid Row. Skid Row has one of highest concentrations of homeless people in the country at 10,000-12,000. On October 10, city officials agreed to no longer enforce that law until 1,250 low-cost housing units are built. Until then, the city will allow the homeless to sleep on sidewalks between the hours of 9 PM and 6 AM. They cannot, however, sleep within 10 feet of the entrance to a building, parking lot, or loading dock. Ramona Ripston, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said, “What this does is permit people to sleep throughout the city… without the police disturbing them.”

I do not think that LA is approaching their homeless problem in the right way. Instead of focusing on finding housing for their homeless, they should be focusing on getting jobs for them. Building only 1,250 housing units will hardly put a dent in the number of homeless people in the area – especially considering only half of the housing will be in the downtown area by Skid Row. I think that allowing them sleep on the streets is not the way to go. Ripston says that the police won’t be disturbing the homeless now, but what about the homeless now disturbing the other residents?

Group 4 (Olivia Zabel on Surveillance)

The article Google Spy: Zooming in on Neighbors, Nose-Pickers, and Sunbathers with Street View (June 8, 2007, Slate) discusses one of Google's latest technologies. This new technology is the ability to view "360-degree shots around the streets of
San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, Denver, and Miami" from your computer. Vans equipped with cameras roam the streets and take these shots for our viewing pleasure, but is this right? Is it okay for us to be able to "spy" on a woman walking to work or shoppers in the street? A few specific incidents have been reported of some questionable images that had been captured on Google Spy, including a man standing outside of a strip club and some co-eds in bathing suits tanning on a hill. This seems a little harmless, but I do think that these cameras are encroaching on peoples' privacy. It is one thing to see these girls laying out on a
hill tanning, but the article mentions how "the men of the Web go a little crazy and 100 links to the 'Girls of Escondido Road' bloom." Although there are people who will not even bother with these images, there are also people who will take these images and make something out of them, and not always something good. People should be able to go out their daily rituals without having to worry about shots of them being posted on the web. Who knows when you might get caught at a bad moment and then have it displayed for the world to see? Should Google keep Google Spy active, or is this concept too much of a privacy concern?

Group 2 (Jimmy Luccas on Illegal Music)

In the article, Illegal music is costly for UW, Heather Laroi talks about the financial problems that many schools are having because of the illegal sharing and downloading of music in their networks. Sharing and downloading music is a serious crime. The RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, has a big problem with this issue and they say that schools need to be proactive and the problems with stop. If all the students in the universities network were notified about this then it would be easier to stop. But there is a big problem with getting the word out. In the last few years, UW-Madison has spent more than $300,000 to prevent the illegal downloading and sharing of music. It is very expensive for schools to go through the process of identifying individuals and verifying their identity.

This is a big problem for the University of Wisconsin and many other schools because there are a lot of people that are not aware of the downloading and sharing being a problem. Many people attend college not knowing the seriousness of this issue. There are some individuals who know it is illegal and some who do not, so sorting out the true criminals is difficult. Wisconsin is ranked in the top 10 for the copyright issues probably because it is such a large school and it is harder for the ones committing the crimes to get caught.

If it is such a big problem, I do not understand why they would not do more to get this known. If we are throwing away $330,000 on this then something is going wrong. We are just giving Madison a bad name to the RIAA and other big associations.

Group 1 (Tyler Tiede on the Tragedy in Crandon)

In the morning hours of Sunday morning, 3:00 a.m. to be specific, a 20-year-old Forest County deputy and part-time Crandon police officer by the name of Tyler Peterson went on a shooting rampage in the small town of Crandon, WI. Details are still unclear because the only survivor is in serious condition at St. Joseph’s hospital. At this time, it is known that Peterson showed up at his ex-girlfriend Jordan Murray’s house at 3 a.m., at which point he got into an argument with someone and left. Shortly afterward he forced his way back into the house and fired 30 shots from a SWAT team assault rifle called a R15. Six people were tragically killed in the shooting, and another was seriously wounded. Among the victims was three Crandon High School seniors, two 2005 Crandon High graduates, a student at UW-Milwaukee, and a 14-year-old girl. The only survivor is a 21-year-old man named Charlie Neitzel. The incident ended in a small town about six miles north of Crandon, where Peterso
n was killed in a shootout with the Crandon SWAT team. The rest, including the exact motive of the shooting, is still unclear.
Peterson’s parents were both questioned to try and gain insight on the cause of the rampage, but they were equally as baffled. “Like us, many of you are asking why and looking for answers," the Peterson's (Tyler Peterson parents) statement said. "There is nothing that happened before or after yesterday's events that has given any insight into why. We may never receive the answers we all seek. Like those close to Tyler, we are in shock and disbelief he would so such terrible things. This was not the Tyler we knew and loved." (Taken from the article “Parents feel ‘guilt and shame’ for young deputy's rampage”) The obvious question that I ask is: what could possibly be the cause that would make a seemingly “normal” person commit such a horrendous crime?

Group 2 (Erin Banco on Free Speech)

Washington Post, Monday, October 8, 2007. Anne Applebaum.
A Dutch Retreat on Speech? discusses the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch-Somali politician and writer who voiced her opinions about the harsh treatment of women in the Muslim world. Her words led to death threats by the Dutch
Muslim community and forced her under Dutch protection in 2002. The murder of Theo Van Gogh intensified the threat toward Hirisi. A Dutch Muslim extremist murdered Van Gogh, director of a film about the oppression of Muslim. When Van Gogh was murdered, the knife stabbed in his heart had a letter with Hirsi’s name attached to it.

Many of Hirsi’s followers were in a sense inspired and wanted to address the mistreatment of women in the Dutch Muslim community. Others view Hirsi as a threat to the rest of the Dutch community and simply want her and her words gone. Hirsi
eventually moved to the United States after continuous battling with neighbors and other Dutch citizens who wanted her gone. Although she moved away, the Dutch Government cut off her security funding.

This week the Dutch leaders are set to talk about Hirsi’s status. Hirsi is still a Dutch citizen and most of the threats she faces come from Holland. Since she lives in the U.S. she has become somewhat of an international threat.

But what is there to say about the Dutch detachment and non-support of citizen Hirsi? Now the US has to support Hirsi through private security and financial grants. What is there to say about a country abandoning their citizen even though he/she presents
a threat to the country? The Greek word “phuego” means to flee and is considered to represent cowardice. Has the Dutch country become a coward? Or are the leaders just trying to protect their people?

Group 4 (Dylan Van Lith on Jobs for Ex-convicts)

S.E. Ruckman’s article,Program aids newly released inmates, in Indian Country Today details a new program in which inmates can locate a job after they are released. This article starts off with an Indian inmate who applied for a reintegration program that set him up with a case lawyer who helped him out with the process of finding a job. After working within this program many months before his sentence was served, the case worker found him a job. This job consisted of working with food at Oral Roberts University as a kitchen employee. This man is now saving up in order to reinstate his license.

This program is only for tribal men and women. It has many positive effects such as setting up the members with bus passes, rent, and job referrals. Also, the program focuses on helping people adjust to life out of prison. They show the prisoners how to live in everyday society, so they do not end up in jail again. My question would be whether or not there are programs like this that help all different kinds of people. Are there programs that focus on Caucasians, Hispanics, and African Americans? This program seems that it would need a financial backer and I was wondering whether or not the government would back a program like this or if this was backed by a personal buyer? When I first read the article, I found it difficult to understand how only 5 percent of the people being helped in this program are women. After reading a little further into the article this quote came up, “women inmates mostly have children waiting for them on the outside.” I was confused at first because don’t women need to work to help support their family as well or does the program think that only men are supposed to be working. It seems a little biased to me because what are the women doing with their children while they are in jail. The children are in homes or with other family members and in order to give your children a good life you need to have some sort of financial status. So far only 250 have gone through this process, but the program is hoping to help many people through their rehabilitation process in the future.

Group 3 (Whitney Spahn on Hunting Case)

Hunter guilty; spared life term
The Capital Times

James Nichols, of Peshtigo, was found guilty of second degree intentional homicide in a Marinette court room on Saturday. Nichols was convicted of killing Cha Vang while squirrel hunting in a wildlife area in northern Wisconsin. Although sentencing has yet to be scheduled the sentence carries a prison term of 60 years. The victim’s brother, Yee Vang, and other family members feel Nichols should have been given life in prison. This case has renewed racial tension in northern Wisconsin. Three years ago a Hmong man shot and killed six hunters. These cases have further separated the two races. Tou Ger Xiong, spokesman for the Coalition for Community Relations, believes, “the message sent to the Hmong community is that someone can shoot a Hmong hunter and not get the maximum sentence.”

I feel these two cases should not be related. They both revolved around totally different circumstances (one victim in the Nichols case versus six victims in the previous case). I think the race of the people involved is irrelevant and the case details should be examined without regards to race. In the Nichols case, I believe a 60 year sentence is worthy punishment.

Group 5 (Carmen Coats on School Food)

The Capital Times
Sour sweets: Schools' health push ends fruitful candy sales by Susan Troller
10-6-2007

A Wellness Policy was put into place last year for the Madison School District that affects students from elementary through high school. This Wellness policy forbids the sale of soda, candy, and other unhealthy snacks at schools in Madison. The policy has made it hard for clubs who used candy as there main source of fundraising. AJ Lenz said sales have dropped incredibly from the candy ban. This means a decrease in donations to charity as well as a drop in the amount of money given out to student for scholarships. There is a high demand for these unhealthy snacks. If the kids are not getting these snacks in school it is not very hard to get them other places.
I feel that this Wellness Policy that was put into place is pointless, especially for those in high school. I think it is important for students to learn about health and nutrition, but students in high school should be able to make up their own minds. If they do not get these unhealthy snack in school they will get the outside of school because it is not that hard with stores so close by. I also feel that it does put clubs in an extremely bad position. They are used to raising a lot of money by the sale of candy and they helped a lot of people, but now they unable to do that.

Group 1 (Josh Gauger on Duke Lacrosse)

Duke Lacrosse Players File Law Suite

These articles in the New York Times reveals that three former NCAA athletes falsely accused of rape have decided to press charges against the man who handled the case. For those who are unfamiliar with this issue, last spring a woman claimed that she was raped at a lacrosse team party in Durham, North Carolina. The woman was hired as a stripper for the men’s annual pre-season get together in the spring of 2006. Almost one year later this woman reported that she had been raped by several of the team members. Mike Nifong was the prosecutor in the case.
The men were eventually found not guilty of the crimes and now they wish to seek punitive of compensatory damages. The three men were released from the team and were slandered in the media when these charges first came out. Mr. Nifong was eventually released from the case because of poor judgment and withholding of evidence. The woman’s story changed from the time of the charges throughout the prosecution and her credibility was found to be lacking. She had previously charged rape against another man only to settle out of court for a sum of money. DNA tests, the evidence Mr. Nifong withheld, eventually proved these men innocent.

These former lacrosse players simply want to be compensated for their losses that were directly caused by Mr. Nifong’s faulty prosecution. The question I have is whether these men deserve this money or is it enough that Mr. Nifong was relieved of his duties and subsequently spent 30 days in jail.

Group 5 (Casey Christian on Poisonous Toothpaste)

The article, The Everyman Who Exposed Tainted Toothpaste written by Walt Bogdanich (New York Times, October 1, 2007), describes an interesting situation in which 51-year-old Eduardo Arias of Panama discovered a poisonous ingredient in his toothpaste. The toothpaste contained diethylene glycol, an ingredient that had been responsible for over 100 deaths in Panama last year in a similar incident involving cough syrup. Health alerts have been reported in 34 countries and Japan discovered 20 million tubes containing diethylene glycol. The toothpaste had been imported from China.

I cannot believe the fatal levels of the ingredient in this product went unnoticed and was sold on the open market. This is poor on China’s part, as there was clearly no regulation from any national administration. This is scary as we import so many items from China, and simple things such as toothpaste can pose a severe health hazard. China has ordered the manufactures to stop including the diethylene glycol. Nonetheless, serious oversights were made on China’s part. A country with exporting on such a massive scale should have harsher regulations on what they can ship all over the world. Mistakes such as this cannot be made.

Group 2 (Cydni Chapman on Darfur)

According to the article Darfur Rebels Kill 10 in Peace Force, by Jeffery Gettleman (New York Times, October 1st, 2007.), things in Darfur, although hard to believe, have just gotten worse. Over the weekend ten rebels violently raided a peace camp in the town of Haskanita. It was reported that the rebels stole all camp supplies, weapons, killed at least seven soldiers, and 50 people are still missing. Officials are still not sure who is responsible for the destruction as the fighting has spread to numerous groups. The two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, are now not only fighting against the government but each other. Although some have linked the attack to the Justice and Equality Movement group they denied it blaming it on the government, while the government said they would not interfere with the peacekeepers because they are just trying to help the people of Darfur. It is true that about 7,000 peacekeepers are trying to bring help to the people through food and medicine, but their job is becoming more and more difficult. Many have abandoned areas such as Haskanita, where the fighting is perhaps the worst, because the fighting has become too intense. Every day peacekeepers are robbed and killed for their efforts. There are so many groups in Darfur fighting against each other it is hard to say if peace will ever come.

Owing to the recent surge of fighting, African peacekeepers are hoping that the Union Nations will still send troops that are due later this year to help stop the fighting. However they know that many are skeptical and worried because the fighting is no longer rebel groups versus the government. Darfur has taken over 200,000 lives and left over 2.5 million people homeless. I’m not sure how the United Nations cannot be willing to give the people of Darfur help. This is a serious problem of our generation that has been completely overlooked and I worry what will happen if the U.N. does not get involved. It is hard to see this genocide happening while the rest of the world sits by to watch it happen. Will things in Darfur change and why are we not getting involved to help them change?