Minimum wage hike leads to higher prices

I just wanted to comment on one of your front-page headlines from Thursday’s paper: “”New minimum wage may increase prices in student union.”” May increase prices? Of course prices will increase. I did not go to college, and I am a simple custodial manager, but even I am smart enough to know that when the cost of operating a business increases those costs are passed along to the customer.

When people voted to raise the minimum wage this past November, I guess no one took the time to consider this one basic economic factor. Seems simple enough to me, but whatever.

Marc Roszler
custodial services supervisor

Punishment for Wildcat pride ‘ridiculous’

I am writing this letter because of an incident that occurred at the home basketball game against Oregon State University. About midway through the first half, I noticed a fan in the section adjacent to ours being accosted by security and police and later taken out of the game in handcuffs.

I turned my attention towards the incident out of curiosity and learned that a fan was being ejected for simply standing and cheering. In disbelief, I asked the closest security officer whether something more serious had happened, if he had been yelling profanities or been in a fight, or (jokingly) if cheering for your home team had become illegal. Sadly for Wildcat fans it wasn’t a joke; the only thing this fan was guilty of was having the Arizona pride we should all strive for.

This is ridiculous; I was so taken aback that I had to voice my opinions. All I have to say is if you’re going to an Arizona basketball game, expect to stand! You know something needs to change when fans are being thrown out for standing and not sitting.

Joel Childers
creative writing sophomore

Organic agriculture attack loaded with problems

Matt Stone (“”Organic nonsense””) has so many problems in his column I don’t know where to begin.ÿSeriously, he needs to do a little more research before he gets up on his soapbox and starts telling people about things he obviously knows very little about.ÿ

Plants creating natural poison toxins because they can’t defend themselves? While this may be true, I don’t think he mentioned the fact that there are many natural organic insecticides available. Not to mention, have you ever heard ofÿcorn plants and tomato plants killing people or poisoning them?ÿ

Stone also seems to baseÿhis argument strictly on farming, but what about livestock, poultry and fish?ÿDid he ever think to consider that for his argument?ÿNo. Why not?ÿPossibly because there is evidence that the unnatural hormones that we are pumping into these animals are causing higher cancer rates, the premature onset of puberty and who knows what else?ÿ

Things like this tend to make Stone’s column a bit weaker. Another thing he cites is a 300 percent increase in cereal production between 1950 and 2000 “”due to synthetic fertilizers.”” Have you ever heard of tractors?ÿPeople started using those increasingly during that time period; it made things more efficient.

What about advanced irrigation techniques, the process of genetic selection of better breeds of plants (an organic process), and other technological advancements?ÿDo you think that may have had a little to do with the increased production?ÿ

To top it all off, Stone says thatÿwe need fertilizers to sustain the current population growth, but there areÿstill billions of people whoÿdo not have enough food to eat, and the magical wonderful synthetic fertilizers haveÿnot solved the problem. ÿ

Toÿsay that organic farming is going to destroy the rainforests is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard in my life, a real leap of faith. Also, to make a blanket statement saying that organic foods and farming are bad for the environmentÿand bad for your health is misleading and wrong. If you’re going to make an argument towards something, and be a responsible journalist, research the facts, then say your piece.ÿ

Andrew Walanski
UA alumnus

American ‘military superiority’ sufficient to win Iraq

The Wildcat opinions board needs to peek out of their own secluded barrel every once in a while and observe reality (Friday’s “”Pass/Fail: Adding fish to the barrel””). Comparing the American soldiers in Iraq to fish in a barrel is so inaccurate and the reasoning behind it is so skewed that I can’t really assume anything but that they’ve all fallen prey to the anti-war propaganda hook, line and sinker.

Maybe for them it’s too late, but for the rest of the Wildcats out there who still have their minds intact: insurgents don’t reload when we come around-they get shot. The military superiority of American forces compared to the insurgent forces is so lopsided that for every American casualty, dozens upon dozens of insurgents are captured or otherwise incapacitated.

The problem thus far-according to many critics of Rumsfeld’s “”small footprint”” strategy-has been that, while there have been enough soldiers to clear out cities, there haven’t been enough soldiers to stay and secure those cities. Once the Americans are gone, then sectarian violence sets in.

Many have complained about America “”staying the course.”” The administration listened and decided to try a new strategy for victory, replacing the secretary of defense, the commander of U.S. Central Command, and the commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq.

If Congress wants America to lose, all it has to do is cut the funding. Of course, America is not nearly as ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as the pacifist left is, so it’s unlikely Congress will stop funding military operations in Iraq.

Dan Greenberg
political science sophomore

Organic foods can’t hurt

I would like to offer an alternative view to Matt Stone’s column highlighting the dangers of buying and consuming organic foods (“”Organic nonsense””). In the column, it was argued that organic foods are harmful to both the consumer and the environment, and I must disagree with this.

For one, organic foods are oftentimes fair-trade foods as well, and this “”fair-trade”” distinction helps to improve human rights and social situations in the regions where these foods are produced.

The “”Organic Revolution”” is not about hippies trying to change all farming practices to be organic and attempting to feed all six and a half billion of us with organic food; it’s about creating balance in our world that is quickly becoming overpopulated and stripped of its resources and our very life source. It is meant to wean developed nations like ours from our insatiable appetites and our unsustainable practices.

Eating organic foods can’t hurt, but it can help restore the balance that our planet so desperately needs. Natural toxins found in plants, such as tannins, are responsible for the bitter taste you’ll find in some vegetables, but it won’t kill you, or an entire ecosystem.

The issue of food production is one that will increase in importance in coming years, and as free, educated, young citizens of this world, we need to start making decisions to help improve our own future. Even if those decisions are as simple as what you eat.

Don’t take Stone’s word for it, and don’t take mine. I urge you to educate yourselves. Do some research and make your own decisions and don’t let such negative views dissuade you without doing some questioning of your own.

Ashley Campbell
ecology and evolutionary biology sophomore

Basketball line policy needs refining

“”Line starts 4 hours prior to the game”” is painted boldly on a sign above the Zona Zoo student entrance at McKale Center. But mostly, this is ignored. For the last two years, or since they implemented the new ticket policies, many fans have realized that in reality, the line starts when you want it to. This is because the first people in line get the best seats.

So sometimes, kids show up five , six, 10 hours early to games, and there has never been a problem. The students who hang out in the line respect each other, respect those who arrived first, and there has never been a fight, an altercation of notice, or anything. And when the security and police show up four hours prior to tip-off, nothing changes regarding the line except that there are now some hired people to look out for trouble.

However, it seems that now, police and security will be hired to watch the line starting up to seven hours prior to tip off. “”Great, what’s bad about that?”” most would ask.

Well, here’s the catch. In a ridiculous bureaucratic move that could only come from Arizona Athletics, these early-arriving police will not be there to look out for the safety of the students in line, but instead to kick them out of line and not let them back in until four hours prior.

This was first applied at the Oregon game, and the 20 or so kids who got kicked out simply moved up the stairs and mingled on the grass and concrete five feet away. Then, at the four-hour mark, they all assumed their previous place in line. With the North Carolina game looming, and this rule in place, it is not at all an exaggeration to think that upwards of 300 students could be waiting in that area five feet away from the line. And with such a large number of students all ready to charge in to line and get the best spot possible, the four-hour mark could signal a stampede of 2002-basketball-ticket-riot proportions.

Any person who cannot see the hypocrisy of kicking kids out of an organized line, and into a mob of anxious fans on the basis of safety concerns, needs to re-evaluate how they think. I, and many other fans alike, foresee one or more people getting hurt at the North Carolina game because of this policy.

It needs to be changed, and it needs to be changed fast. Otherwise, I think this town’s media outlets are going to have quite a field day with the “”Student gets trampled at McKale”” headline.

Nick Van Slyke
media arts sophomore

UA basketball not worthy of ‘blind faith’

I am writing to denounce the blind faith the student body has in its basketball team despite the fact that UA basketball disappoints year after year. My question is, “”Why?”” What have they done for you lately?

Let me play out the scenario for your precious Wildcats this year: They will dominate in the NCAA Tournament until the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight and then blow it to a team that has nowhere near the talent level.

UA basketball has always, and will always, lack the necessary moxie to win it all. So I urge the student body to do itself a favor and lower its expectations. Losing to the University of Oregon and Washington State University are just two losses in a long line of future embarrassments.

I, for one, hopped off the bandwagon a long time ago, and I suggest that everyone at the UA purchase a University of California at Los Angeles t-shirt because this is going to get ugly.

Niall O’Connor
UA alumnus