Fast food chains: Follow the King

“”The other, other white meat”” in the article “”Pass/Fail,”” printed Friday, discussed Burger King’s recent decisions to have 2 percent of their eggs be cage-free, 10 percent of their pork from farms without gestation crates and favor suppliers who gas chickens before slaughter. They have also have had the BK Veggie for quite time, which while not vegan, is vegetarian.

Granted the recent changes BK has made are quite meager by all standards, but something is always better than nothing – maybe notoriously unethical chains like Kentucky Fried Chicken should follow suit. The supplier that they get their some 850 million chickens from annually tortures its chickens in ways that would result in felony animal cruelty charges if cats or dogs were the victims. Excruciating de-beaking, crippling from induced exponential weight gain and live scalding all occur in the slaughterhouses of its suppliers – yet KFC continues to turn a blind eye.

But I digress. Props to Burger King, but still I hope those percentages increase, and that other fast food chains/restaurants follow its example, recognizing that consumers are becoming more aware of the sources of animal-based products. Still, the best way to end the excessive cruelty that goes on in the animal agricultural industry is to stop supporting it. Research your food sources to find out their ethical policies, but more importantly, go vegetarian. Your conscience will thank you.

Colleen Dugan computer science senior

Time is ripe to stand up to tyrannical Iran

And so it begins. While I admit that I am no political activist nor an intrepid observer of everything political, nor do I trump or denounce one party over another (as some students are keen to do), I am an observer of human rights and of history.

We have now entered the delicate state wherein we, as the world’s strongest nation, sit back and allow a threatening and tyrannical government to dictate our policy. With Iran capturing the 15 British sailors, it has now only added to its list of reasons that diplomacy should be executed for only a short while longer. Let us review why Iran is a potential danger:

It has captured 15 British military personnel that were operating in Iraqi waters. It has demonstrated with relative consistency a habit of flexing its military muscle. It continues to pursue nuclear technologies, despite U.N. sanctions and its own ally (Russia) becoming increasingly annoyed at its refusal to cooperate (while I don’t support one country telling another whether it can join the nuclear club, a country is supposed to listen to the collaborative “”warnings”” of the U.N., weak and empty though they may be). Said nuclear hopeful country has said multiple times that the Holocaust did not happen, and that the true Holocaust is yet to come (if that is not a threat, then please enlighten me on what is). Ties between Iranian financing have been relatively well-established between Iran and several terrorist organizations. Said country also continues to oppress its citizens, especially women, denying them basic human rights (admittedly, this is a Western concept).

In short, Iran has continued to push all the right buttons to indicate that it is definitely trying to push us around. Sadly, Iran has succeeded. We have become weak in dealing with threats, and a country that denounces the Holocaust has no business having this clout.

Where are the days when we would not stand for this, like the Wilsons, FDRs and JFKs as the Democrats who stood against tyrants and aggressors in the likes of Wilhelm II, Hitler and Khrushchev? This current Democratic Party is a poor reflection of their beliefs, and enough foolish war efforts have occurred under the previous Republicans.

However, it is time to deal with Iran, strictly and promptly, and prevent another major potential global conflict. And if you disagree with my discourse, please, by all means, instead of ripping it, give a better solution, a skill both our current parties lack.

Matt Winter classics senior

Patents don’t undermine capitalism

This is in response to Allison Dumka’s “”Price caps not enough”” article. To say that people are “”powerless in the face of pharmaceutical companies”” is absurd, but to say that this industry undermines capitalism is an insult to thousands of scientists and whoever was your economics professor.

Patents do not give drug companies a monopoly. Instead, they temporarily protect the hard-earned intellectual property of groups that successfully develop a new drug while competing (capitalism!) with others. Because they can’t sell the exact medication someone else just discovered, other drug companies can find new ways of treating an illness, or they can go out of business.

It takes a lot of dollars, manpower, time and let’s not forget the rats and bunnies, to give us the drugs we have today. All moral defense of the pharmaceutical industry aside, its CEOs are not altruistic. They’re in the drug game to make money, with side effects of lawsuits and improving people’s lives in ways that others can’t.

The FDA and clinical trials represent a significant chunk of change the pharmaceutical companies pay to get a drug to market. Believe it or not, the list of adverse effects at the end of every drug commercial would be much more serious than diarrhea and nausea if no regulation existed, but the consumers and taxpayers foot the bill.

While I am not debating the legitimacy of price caps, they inherently pose a much greater threat to capitalism than do the competitors. It would totally suck to pay $50,000 for a given medication, but that doesn’t necessarily give people the right to pay what they think is fair. Still, a more serious problem I have with the drug industry is clouding of doctors’ judgment with incentive to prescribe certain drugs over others.

Marc Bingaman junior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biophysics

Gardner event an inspiration to all

I would like to commend UApresents for its exceptional selection of Thursday’s performance. Writer of the memoir and inspiration for the film “”The Pursuit of Happyness”” Chris Gardner blew me away with his motivational words and stories at Centennial Hall.

I am not sure how to describe the show other than to say that it was incredible and significantly surpassed my expectations. Gardner spoke of his struggles in taking care of his baby boy while homeless, seeking out a stoke brokerage position with no college degree and making it in the world with absolutely no assistance from anyone. His way of overcoming adversity was amazing, and the fact that he is owner and CEO of Chris Gardner International Holdings and has generated millions is an inspiration to all.

Another positive aspect of the performance was Gardner’s willingness to genuinely engage with the audience. After wrapping up his speech, Gardner spent over a half-hour answering questions from audience members, and then proceeded to sign autographs.

Initially, I assumed Gardner would not have the time to do so, which really impressed me because he allowed audience members to take advantage of their experience and devoted more time to them than most visiting performers.

The only thing that would have improved the event would have been if it had been better advertised. More people would have attended, and the profits went toward The Primavera Foundation. I saw nothing about Gardner’s performance in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, and because of this, a lot of people missed out on the great experience I had. With that, go see the film and read the book, and be on the lookout for the next UApresents event since this one was so valuable!

Laura Donovan creative writing freshman