uconn free press oct. 2006, 2

8/21/2019 UConn Free Press Oct. 2006, 2

1/12

Ah, Halloween. It’s that time o year when

jack-o-lanterns flicker in the cool night air,

eerie ghosts hang rom willow trees, and

children blithely nag their parents intoshelling out millions o dollars so they

can dress up as paganistic monsters and

Freudian archetypes in order to perpetuate

a commercial corruption o a Catholic cor-

ruption o the Celtic estival o amhain.

Wait, what?

Alright, let’s go back. Te end o October:

he time o the year when the weather

begins to get cold and plants start to die.

It’d make perect sense or a primitive

people intimately tied up in their climate

and geography to want to commemoratethis turning point in the annual cycle. Te

Celts were a primitive people, they liked

to have estivals with meteorological im-

plications, and they had a big estival in

October to mark the end o summer and

called it Samhain. It all makes sense.

hen along came the Catholics. heCatholics liked to convert primitive peo-

ple, and they liked to do so by moving

Christian holidays to coincide with pa-

gan ones. (Christ had an excellent grasp

o astronomy or his time, to be born on

the Winter Solstice and die on the Ver-

nal Equinox). Introducing All-Saint’s Day

– a time to commemorate all those Saints

too uncool to be celebrated individually.

Originally held on May 13th, the holiday

was moved to November 1st in the 8th

century by Pope Gregory III. Why the

move? o mark the papal dedication o a

newly built church honoring the Saints,obviously. Definitely not to compete with

amhain.

And what better way to show the Catho-

lic saints you care than by dressing up as a

sexy devil or Richard Nixon and going out

to gorge yoursel on refined sugar?

All-right, all-right: So Halloween is abastardized celebration and big uckin’

deal. We’re used to it. Look at Valentine’s

Day, look at Christmas. Tis is America

and holidays boost the economy, pino.

Te National Conectioners’ Association

recognizes Halloween as the number-one

holiday or candy sales, with over 85% o

American households handing out sweets

and cumulative sales in excess o $2 billion.

What’re a handul o dead saints next to a

ew hundred million dead presidents?

In act, what’s the United States govern-

ment next to a ew hundred million dead

presidents? Really, once you’ve reachedthe loty economic stratosphere inhab-

ited by today’s commercial sugar produc-

ers and soda-pop manuacturers, nothing

inside issueinside issue

16

the issue is not the issue Issue 16. October 23, 2006

Halloween UndercoverTe White Granular Stuff

by Bryan Murphy

IntelligentDesign andyou.pg. 09

N. Koreaand theatmoicoopspg. 05

SongReview:Sufjanpg. 0716

Katy Refus-es to weara costume.pg. 11


2/12

2

Get Tee Behind Me, Satan, and into the Halloween Store

Down on my luck, back to the wall.All the odds are against me. I knew,

one more lousy effort and I was surely

going to get canned. So I perked up,

summoned all o my strength and,

with the will o God behind me, I set

out on the most important quest o

my lie, a quest… to the Halloween

store, in Manchester, off exit 62 some-

where.

Preparations had begun some

weeks back, and it was, like, uesday

or Wednesday when we actually de-

cided to go. We were going to go that

previous Tursday, but, you know howit is, and so we decided to go on what-

ever day it was that we actually went.

Te Yankee game was on, I remember,

game two, the one that bum Mussina

ended up blowing. Anyway, things

happen and it was too nice o a day to

let the shitty Yankees interere with my

Halloween store obligations. Plus that

piece o shit Rogers was pitching game

three or Detroit, so I wasn’t worried.

In retrospect I should’ve been,

but not because the Yankees ended

up blowing it in our games, oh no,

oooooooooohhhh no. No, I should

have been worried because we were

about to conront perhaps the largest

black market supplier o psilocybin

mushrooms and human traicking

this side o the Mississippi. And beore

it was all over, we would come ace to

ace with death itsel.

First o all, it took the photographer

and I about 50 minutes to ind the

ucking place off the highway. Have

you ever been down to the Manches-

ter mall? It’s ucking ridiculous! I’ve

been to that movie theater literally five

times and I still don’t have the oggiest

idea where it is. Put up a ucking sign,

you piece o shit town! We drove by

the Dick’s sporting goods twice. How

in the hell is that possible, we were

stone sober. But Jesus was with us, in

the orm o that really riendly Jesus

rom Dogma, you know, the one giv-

ing the thumbs up, so this calmed us

down a bunch. Plus, as I remarked to

the photographer at the time, “don’t

worry, i we can’t find it we’ll just go

into the Dick’s or something and make

the story about that,” or something

along those lines. In act, I was start-

ing to get a little anxious about actu-ally even making it to the Halloween

store. I figured, at that point we would

either uncover a huge drug running

operation, at which point I would have

to go into witness protection in some

by James Randall

shithole suburb outside o Kansas Citywhere hal the population rides rascal

scooters to get to the barbeque joints

because they’re too large to move un-

der their own power, or nothing at

all would happen and it would end

up being really a boring story and a

real chore to write. Plus I heard tale

that there was a pirate. So when the

photographer yelled out “there’s the

Petco,” the Petco being next to the Hal-

loween store, I couldn’t help but eel

a bit, well, ambivalent. Ambivalence

being, o course, I bit lower than, say,

sheer excitement, or jubilation, as onemight normally expect rom such an

interesting, dare I say captivating as-

signment.

Right rom the get go I knew this

place was trouble. We were greeted at

the door by some floor monster, who

lunged at us and blinked red lights out

o his eyes or a ew seconds, and then

when the door closed he stopped. I

waved into his eyes or a solid 15

seconds, but he was done. Probably

$49.99 plus tax.

Tey had a bunch o shit there, man,and i any o it was made on this hemi-

sphere I’d eat my hat, which is now,

by the way, a purple edora pimp hat

($14.99). It’s really pretty nice. Tey

had some solid canes there, too, but

what with the skulls and all I figured

most ladies o the night would be, per-

haps, turned off a bit i I strolled up

with them at my side. I don’t know.

Weird place. Only about a third

o the huge, cavernous, warehousian

buiding was used or the fly-by-night

Halloween setup. he rest was like

something out o one o those terribleSaw movies. I hate that guy. I can’t wait

or them to kill him off, he’s such a son

o a bitch. And he was there, too! Sell-

ing mushrooms, as it turned out.

Oh, and we, uh, saw a bunch o grim

reaper costumes, too.

Oh, and a og machine, and we

couldn’t figure out how in the world

it worked. It was like magic. I put a

chestnut in it!

On the way out, I told the photogra-

pher to slow down when we passed thepirate. I wanted to interview him.

As we approached, he waved his

sword mightily into the air, slashing

it down with a heroes might at the big

yellow sign he was holding. He had a

big hat, and a patch, real piratey.

“Excuse me,” I said to him, “we’re

doing a story or the UConn Free

Press, do you have a quote?”

He looked back bashully, shoulder’s

shrugged and smiling, “No.”

“Oh.” No ucking way, I need this

ucking pirate or this story, dammit.

Tink, James, think. “Uh, do you havea name or your pirate?”

He laughed a little. “No, uh, nope.”

Success! Suc-ucking-cess! hat’s

or damn sure a quote. I can definitely

use that.

So, in the end, the photographer

and I rode off into the sunset, on the

majestic hillside o the Manchester

mall area, back to 84. All was right

with the world.

O W E D .


3/12

on Heaven or Earth is going to stop

you rom getting what you want. Te

orld ealth rganization? Pshhhh.

When an independent team o 30 o

the world’s top nutritionists gets to-

gether and releases a study advocating

that added sugar should account orno more than 10% o a healthy diet,

the orld ugar rganization has 40

ambassadors write to the W.H.O de-

manding the report be removed on the

basis that it is doing irreparable harm

to the developing world. Who would

win in a fight between 30 nutritionists

and 40 ambassadors?

Tat was not a rhetorical question.

Ten you have the U.S. Council or In-

ternational Business, comprising more

than 300 companies (predominantly

among which are Coca-Cola and

Pepsico.), threatening to strong-armCongress into cutting off the United

States’ $406 million annual cash flow

to the W.H.O. Ten the W.H.O. pulls

their study. Health: 0. Sugar: 1.

But to be air, the World Sugar

Organization has some data on their

side; their trump card is insisting an

Institute o Medicine report claims a

healthy diet can consist o 25% add-

ed sugars. And again, to be air, the

president o the Institute has gone on

record stating that the W.S.O. is mis-

interpreting their data. So remember,

223,675,000 metric tons o raw sugar

produced annually. Tat’s somewhere

around 493 billion pounds at about

10.5 cents per pound, and that’s what’s

really important.

Te most remarkable thing about

this entire debate is that there’s such a

controversy over restricting what was

once an incredibly rare and expensive

spice to only 10% of our total diet .

(Have you ever thought o sugar as a

spice?) Sugar used to be well-nigh im-

possible to come by and the exclusive

domain o the rich and luxurious. Q:

What the hell happened? A: Disease

and slavery.

ake one set o Caribbean islands.

Add in smallpox, cholera, typhoid e-

ver, tuberculosis, a disease-susceptible

native population, and the realization

that the Caribbean has the perect cli-

mate or sugarcane production. Mix

rapidly, and as the native population

quickly dies o replace with a ew

million Arican slaves (to work the

burgeoning sugarcane plantations).

By the 18th century, the Europeans

were firmly addicted to sweet tea and

biscuits with jam, and sugar was here

to stay.When you think “Jamaican”, do you

think Bob Marley? But remember that

there weren’t any blacks in the Carib-

bean only 400 years ago. Bob Marley

is an anachronistic relic of an impe-

rial history - with a sweet tooth. Te

next time you think “Jamaican,” think

cholera-ridden Arawak and aino In-

dians.

But the past is the past, man, and

onto the bright future! In our mod-

ern era, workers on a sugar plantation

in the Dominican Republic need not

ear the slave master’s whip – not when

they can look orward to 12 hour work

days at just under 17 cents an hour!

rogress!

So here we’ve got all this sugar be-

ing produced under brutally inhu-mane conditions, and we’re lovin’ it.

‘Cuz that sugar has to go somewhere,

and the leading suspect is Americans’

wide, slavering maws. U.S. Depart-

ment o Agriculture numbers indi-

cate we all gulp down over 64 pounds

o the white, granular stuff per year.

And why not? We can get more sugar

in more ways now than ever beore.

Gone are the bad old days of bland

boring white sugar. Why not some

Demerara sugar? Why not some ur-

binado sugar? Why not some high

ructose corn syrup? I mean, corn isa vegetable, right? Te stuff is practi-

cally good or you! Show your riends

that you can uel your addiction more

ashionably and expensively than they

can!

Because sugar is addictive, aer all.

Not an “I really like sugar” addictive,

but more o a, “I’m going through

physiological withdrawal because I’m

not getting enough sugar” addictive.

remors, depression, headaches – all

sorts o lovely withdrawal symptoms. I

mean, did you think Americans derive

more o their calories rom soda than

any other single ood product simply

because soda tastes good? Most soda

is nothing more than high-ructose

corn syrup and caffeine (another ad-

dictive substance), with a little flavor-

ing thrown in to give us a pretext or

wanting it.

One shouldn’t be too hard on refined

sugar, though. A lot o perectly natu-

ral substances can become addictive

when they’re highly processed. Sugar-

cane goes through a lot of shit to end

up in those white packets at South. In

order to produce refined white sugar,

sugarcane is first crushed to bits to ex-

tract its juices. Te resultant juices are

filtered, treated with lime to remove

impurities, and then neutralized with

sulur dioxide. Te juice is boiled, with

sedimentary impurities sinking to the

bottom and scum rising to the surace

to be skimmed off. Next, the syrupy

liquid is cooled while being stirred,

crystallizing into those brown sugar

granules we all know and love, while

uncrystallized syrup is removed by a

centriuge. Tis raw, brown sugar is

precipitated by a mixture o calcium

hydroxide beore being passed througha bed o activated charcoal to achieve

that desirable, pearly white color.

Hell, what wouldn’t be addictive

aer being put through such a grind?

ake a harmless little flower. Crush

it up filter the juices. reat the juices

with lime to remove impurities be-

ore neutralizing them with ammo-

nia, and then filter them again. Cook

the resultant liquid or six hours with

an equivalent weight o acetic anhy-

dride, then treat it with a mixture o

water and hydrochloric acid to puriy

the product. Add sodium carbonate

to induce precipitation o particulate

matter in the liquid, and finally, pass

the end product through a mixture o

alcohol and activated charcoal. Tat

procedure remind you o anything?Juices? Lime? Activated charcoal?

Processing sugarcane yields refined

white sugar. Processing poppy flow-

ers yields heroin.

O course, the difference between

these two highly addictive, psychoac-

tive drugs is that only one o them is

directly marketed to children by super-

subtle advertising executives through

bright and cheery cartoon. Start with

Pixie Stics, then work your way up

to a line or two, kids.

In act, maybe Little Johnny bet-

ter just start with the line. You know,heroin causes no ongoing toxicity to

the tissues or organs o the body – that

is, i you don’t drop dead rom an O.D.

outright. Sugar, on the other hand…

we all know sugar can promote obe-

sity, especially because it causes a

rapid rise in insulin levels which tells

the body to store consumed calories

directly as at. But how many o the

ultra-tanned O.C. Princesses order-

ing their sweetened iced teas at Star-

bucks are aware that sugar can also

promote the growth o kidney stones

and gallstones, while leading to os-

teoporosis, heart disease, personality

changes and mood swings? Oh, and

did you know glucose and Vitamin

C have extremely similar chemical

structures? In act, your body can re-

ally only metabolize one at a time – a

blood sugar level o 120, considered

perectly average or a healthy person,

can nonetheless reduce the number o

bacteria your body’s phagocytes caneliminate by 75%.

And don’t even mention diabetes.

So bac to Halloween. We’ve got

clean, modern, liberated Christian

parents rushing their kids off to Wal-

Mart and arget to snap up poorly-

made pint-size costumes o satanic

monsters and sexually repressed Cin-

derallas in order that their children

might enjoy a night o pagan celebra-

tion while snapping up pure refined

sugar produced through the efforts o

Dominican slave laborers. Perhaps the

sugar’s cut with a bit o ood coloringand cocoa butter, maybe packaged

in a shiny plastic wrapper. Perhaps it

isn’t. At any rate, it’s a sight to make

a comic-book supervillain weep tears

o envy.

So i you want to know what I’ll be

doing this Halloween, I’m dressing up

as the Joker. It only seemed appropri-

ate. (Currently accepting applications

rom hot babes to be my Harley Quinn.

Lithe figures, anti-social personalities,

psychiatric training all a plus.)

Bryan Murphy is a first semester reshman. I

this article has induced you to love or hate him

– or you’re an attractive, criminally insane psy-

chiatrist – drop him a line at cormano.wild@

gmail.com

Halloween Undercovercontinued from page 1

3

Orange leaves and autumn spices are

on the changing winds. Soon, we will

have one last hurrah at Halloween, be-

ore winter creeps in. Long ago, the

ancient Celts also celebrated this time

o year. Te Celtic calendar’s equiva-

lent to November was Samhain (pron.

SOW-wen), popularly translated as

“summer’s end.” A holiday by the

same name marked the month’s an-

nual beginning around Oct. 31 or Nov.

1, when Celts would hold a estival or

the dead and or the final harvest.

Present-day Pagans have embracedthis holiday as one o eight in their

Wheel o the Year. Usually, Samhain

is observed around Oct. 31 or Nov. 1.

It is a time when the veil separating

the world o the living and world o

the dead is so thin that the spirits o

the dead may easily cross between the

two worlds, in order to socialize with

the living. Samhain is also a time to

honor ancestors and other departed

souls, and to ask or their blessings.

Moreover, the seasonal shi reminds

us that here, Earth is moving toward

darkness and winter, themselves

symbolic o death. As part o a cycle,

though, there is always the promise o

a orthcoming rebirth. But or now,

we greet the coming winter and shi-

ing sunlight, the beginning o a new

cycle. Because o this, you might soon

hear “Happy New Year!”

Want to learn more, or just chill

with Pagans and people rom other

aiths? Visit PODS, the Pagan Or-

ganization or Diverse Spirituality!

PODS meets hursdays at 6:30 PM

in Student Union Room 410.

Darkness, Our Dearly Departed, and the New Year

Here’s to Samhain!by Olivia Von Kohorn


4/12

Jailing Pregnant Women Raises Health Risks

4

In recent months, pregnant women

have been arrested and jailed in South

Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Ala-bama, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri,

North Dakota and New Hampshire,

among other states, based on the claim

that pregnant women can be consid-

ered child abusers even beore they

have given birth.

Women targeted or these arrests

are usually those with untreated drug

or alcohol problems.

Other women have also been ar-

rested or endangering the etus by

not getting to the hospital quickly

enough on the day o delivery and by

not ollowing doctor’s advice to getbed rest. One woman who suered

a stillbirth was arrested or murder

based on the claim that by exercising

her right to medical decision-making

and postponing a Caesarean section,

she caused the death o her child.

Law enorcement officials oen jus-

tiy the application o criminal laws

to pregnant women by claiming that

the arrest and imprisonment o preg-

nant women will protect etuses and

advance children’s health.

“We have to look at each act to de-

termine what the right thing is to doto protect the children,” Jerry Peace,

a South Carolina prosecutor, said re-

cently.

But every leading medical organiza-

tion to address this issue--including

the American Medical Association,

the American College o Obstetri-

cians and Gynecologists, the Ameri-

can College o Nurse Midwives, the

American Academy o Pediatrics and

the March o Dimes--has concluded

that the problem o alcohol and drug

use during pregnancy is a health issue

best addressed through education andcommunity-based amily treatment,

not through the criminal justice sys-

tem.

As leading public health and child

welare groups have long noted, preg-

nant women do not experience alco-

holism and other drug dependencies

because they want to harm their e-

tuses or because they don’t care about

their children.

Treats Don’t Wor

Medical knowledge about addiction

and dependency treatment demon-strates that patients do not, and cannot,

simply stop their drug use as a result

o threats o arrest or other negative

consequences. Tis is one reason why

threat-based approaches do not work

to stop drug use or to protect chil-

dren. Such approaches have, in act,

been shown to deter pregnant women

not rom using drugs but rather rom

seeking prenatal care and what little

drug and alcohol treatment may be

available to them.

Health risks to women, etuses and

children--whether arising rom pov-

erty, inadequate nutrition, exposure toalcohol, drugs or other actors--can be

mitigated through prenatal and con-

tinuing medical care and counseling.

For this to be eective, however,

the woman must trust her health care

providers to saeguard her confidences

and to stand by her while she attempts

to improve her health, even i those e-

orts are not always successul. rans-

orming health care encounters into

grounds or prosecution and turning

health care proessionals into agents

o law enorcement destroys this all-

important trust.Not only does the threat o arrest

deter women rom seeking care that

could urther both maternal and etal

health, but the imprisonment o preg-

nant women itsel also poses signifi-

cant dangers.

A 2005 Maryland case belies any

claim that arresting pregnant women

protects etuses, children or amilies.

Kari Parsons was imprisoned spe-

cifically to protect the health o her

etus.

She was arrested when she was sev-

en months pregnant because a drugtest mandated as part o her proba-

tion or shopliing returned a positive

result. Tough standard practice is to

release people arrested or probation

violations on their own recognizance

until their later court dates, the judge

in Parsons’ case sent her to jail, citing

his interest in protecting the etus’s

health.

Born in a Jail Cell

Yet three weeks later, because o the

judge’s ostensible concern or the e-

tus, Parsons’ son was born in condi-tions that put both his and his mother’s

health and lie at risk.

Parsons gave birth to her son alone

in a dirty Maryland jail cell urnished

only with a toilet and a bed with no

sheets. She had been in labor or sev-

eral hours and had countless times

pleaded or help and medical atten-

tion. Te requests were denied.

Te Jennier Road Detention Cen-

ter, where she was incarcerated, re-

peatedly ignored her cries that she

was well into labor and needed to goto the hospital. Other inmates, hearing

Parsons’ cries, implored guards to take

her to the hospital.

Instead, guards took her out o a

holding area with other inmates--

who had helped to time her contrac-

tions--and put her in a cell by hersel.

A ew hours later, Parsons gave birth

completely alone, without health care

or support o any kind. According to

press reports, although completely

healthy when he was b orn, Parsons’

son soon developed an inection due

to the unsanitary conditions o hisbirth.

Only last week, a woman gave birth

in a Harris County, exas, jail cell. An-

other inmate who witnessed the birth

told local television news reporters that

despite the pregnant woman’s pleas or

medical attention, guards reused to

help her. She gave birth in a jail cell

without medical assistance.

Te argument that arresting preg-

nant women protects etal or maternal

health is squarely contradicted by an-

other typical prison condition.

Prisons throughout the UnitedStates restrain and shackle women

throughout pregnancy and during

labor, even though international hu-

man rights law bans restraints under

these circumstances.

reaties Ban Shacling

When Kari Parsons began to have

labor pains a ew days beore giving

birth, she was taken to a medical a-

cility and later returned to the deten-

tion center. She was transported in

handcus and shackles. Although

international law and treaties signedby the United States prohibit the

shackling o pregnant and birthing

women, Amnesty International USA

reports that only two states--Illinois

and Caliornia--have banned the bar-

baric practice throughout pregnancy

and childbirth.

Besides being dehumanizing and

totally unnecessary or public saety,

the use o shackles and handcuffs dur-

ing pregnancy and childbirth is dan-

gerous to maternal and etal health.Pregnant women in their third

trimesters may already have balance

problems; shackling their legs height-

ens the risk that a woman will all,

potentially injuring them and their

etuses. Also troubling is that the use

o restraints during labor can, accord-

ing to Amnesty International USA,

“compromise the ability to manipu-

late (the pregnant woman’s) legs into

the proper position or the necessary

treatment.”

Furthermore, when doctors need to

remove the restraints to provide ad-equate care--such as perorming an

emergency Caesarean--it can take five

or 10 minutes to locate the keys, un-

lock the shackles and ree the woman’s

legs. Tis delay can be the difference

between lie and death or a woman

or her child.

In 2005 Regina Kilmon and Kelly

Lynn Cruz in albot County, Md.,

were arrested and charged with child

abuse and reckless endangerment

when they gave birth in spite o a

drug problem. Te local social services

director, Cathy Mols, said that suchprosecutions were “helpul in protect-

ing children and amilies.”

Recently, Maryland’s highest court

unanimously overturned the convic-

tions, concluding that the state leg-

islature never intended its child en-

dangerment law to be used as a basis

or policing pregnancy. Such a ruling,

however, should not have been nec-

essary to persuade prosecutors and

other state officials that arresting and

imprisoning women is no way to pro-

tect pregnant women and their chil-

dren.

Tis article first appeared in Women’s eNews,

and is reprinted here with the permission.

http://www.womensenews.org/

by Ehrlich and Paltrow


5/12

5

About Women’s eNewsby Women’s eNews

Women’s eNews is the deinitive

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able anywhere else--covering issues

o particular concern to women and

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Women’s eNews became indepen-

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tion and hosted by the NOW Legal

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additional research on the need or a

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Check out Women’s eNews at http://

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Nuclear Boogie-ManEmpty Costume

Recently North Korea announced that

it has detonated its first nuclear weap-

on. Tis is the announcement rom the

North Korean News Agency website.

“Pyongyang, October 9 (KCNA) -

- Te Korean Central News Agency

released the ollowing report: Te field

o scientific research in the DPRK suc-cessully conducted an underground

nuclear test under secure conditions

on October 9, Juche 95 (2006) at a

stirring time when all the people o

the country are making a great leap

orward in the building o a great pros-

perous powerul socialist nation.

It has been confirmed that there was

no such danger as radioactive emission

in the course o the nuclear test as it

was carried out under a scientific con-

sideration and careul calculation.

Te nuclear test was conducted with

indigenous wisdom and technology100 percent. It marks a historic event

as it greatly encouraged and pleased

the KPA and people that have wished

to have powerul sel-reliant deense

capability.

It will contribute to deending the

peace and stability on the Korean Pen-

insula and in the area around it.”

While the Uconn Worker’s Deense

Collective would like to commend

worker’s states, even degenerated

worker’s states, or their work to build

deenses against western capitalist im-

perialism we deplore the North Kore-ans or their ineffective weapons con-

struction. While there is little doubt

that amidst great adversity the DPRK

indeed detonated a nuclear device it

was hardly a success.

As many o you know, nuclear

weapons require extensive technol-

ogy to develop. However, you may

underestimate the scientific research

necessary to actually put the raw ma-

terials together into a device that not

only will create an awesome explosion

but also be useul in deterring western

imperialist aggression. You may have

seen that 80s movie “Te Manhattan

Project”. In this cult classic, John Lith-

gow develops “99.9% pure plutonium”

which zany iconoclastic boy-genius

Christopher Collet then steals with

a remote controlled car and uses to

build a super bomb. Well, North Ko-

rea ain’t got John Lithgow even i theymight have super-genius types at their

disposal.

North Korea’s bomb was by most

expert opinion very much a issile

fizzle. It is very likely that the DPRK

had plutonium which was close to

“99.9% pure” but sadly or North Ko-

rea it should have done more research

than watching “Te Manhattan Proj-

ect”. We know it did – Kim Jung-il’s

love or decadent bourgeoisie cinema

is another reason that we denounce

North Korea as a degenerated worker’s

state. What it needs to build its inde-pendent nuclear deterrent is not only

pure plutonium but a very speciic

type o plutonium – o atomic weight

239 and not the heavier PU- 241 and

PU 242 which will stifle the explosion.

It is likely Kim Jung-il was expecting

5-15 kilotons o yield, however due to

the incompetence and corruption that

is endemic in totalitarian degenerated

workers’ states, he got one-hal kilo-

ton. Oops. Tis is like buying a 30 rack

and finding a can o O’doul’s inside.

o quote the arms control

wonk[1],“o close this discourse about op-

erational conidence by noting that

the United States has built a missile

deense that does not work, to deend

against a North Korean missile that

does not work, that would carry a

nuclear warhead that does not work.

Tis is all very postmodern”

I only capitalism understood irony.

[1] http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1233/

so-like-why-didnt-it-work

by UConn Worker’s Deence Collective


6/12

6

wants YOUwants YOU5000 copies o your work

distributed to the public, ree.

weekly meeting Tues. 6pm - Student Union Room 324

[email protected]

WritersWriters ArtistsArtists

.


7/12

Song Review:Sufan’sby Chad “Bourner” Denton

Tere was a period o two-or-so years,ollowing the 2003 Greetings romMichigan album release, when SufanStevens was the single most prolificmusician in the independent realmand simultaneously one o the mostrevered. Having therein begun anopenly-declared mission to producean album or each o the fiy states,Sufan moved on to Illinois (Come On!Feel the Illinoise,) and all the while

nursed a number o unrelated albumsinto fine orm. Most remarkably, themass o b-sides he accumulated alongthe way included some o his most pro-ound work, which he elt warrantedreleasing the entire collection in albumorm. Tis, however, is where Sufan’sluck with the public eye took a turn orthe worse. Upon airing Te Avalanche(outtakes rom Michigan) Sufan cameunder critical fire, and in the ace odisapproval he seemed unconvincedo his own readiness to capture theessence o each state. While Te Ava-lanche earned song-by-song praise inthe online blog networks, publishedmusic writers generally considered itsrelease an indiscriminate use o excessmaterial on the artist’s part. While TeAvalanche was valuable as, i nothingelse, a respectably sincere and riskydisclosure o the artistic process, itsdamaged reputation raised doubt as toSufan’s ability to build on early successin the ace o criticism. For some timeSufan made no gesture to signal hewas moving orward, until he unveiledan as-o-yet unpublished masterpiecein live orm on September 29 – “Maj-

esty Snowbird.”Reportedly the song is the end-

result o a concept Sujan has beenchurning in his head or several years,and the sheer volume o considerationhe has given to it is reflected in its ull-ness throughout an epic span (aboutten minutes.) Tough the basic themerepeats, there is no weak point in theperormance and the oundationalmelody grows ever-more intenselybeautiul as it resuraces. Sufan haslong perormed with a small orches-tra at his side, and “Majesty Snowbird”allows every acet o the company toshine as rarely beore, with the hornand percussion sections highlightedparticularly brightly. “riumph” is thefirst word that comes to mind as thesong picks up, and I find mysel pictur-

ing Sufan as a tuxedo-clad conductorperorming in glory or the first timesince a stint o creative stagnation.he classical-composer image allsaway in the final two minutes, how-ever, when he steps orward with anelectric guitar; in trademark Stevensashion he spikes his steadily-pacedmarch through identifiable musicaltraditions with a fierce cry or indi- viduality, this time by driving a line odistortion into the heart o the melody.Te ultimate effect is timelessness, asSujan pushes classical themes andnostalgic olk-Americana to indie’scutting edge.

Much o the circumstance sur-rounding “Majesty Snowbird” is amystery, and it is sae to say that noone who witnessed the perormance

saw it coming. Sufan’s next scheduledstudio release is a Christmas EP, whichseems an unlikely fit or the song. Tepossibility o its appearance on thenext installation o the Fity StatesProject has led ans to speculate overwhat U.S. territory might be home to

this elusive snowbird and all its maj-esty, but the man in charge has kepthis peace on the matter. What is clear,however, is that Sufan Stevens is back- i he was ever gone - and he wants usto know it. You should find this songonline at the Hype Machine (hype.non-standard.net,) and i you are bysome chance new to Sufan’s work besure to look up “Chicago” and “For theWidows in Paradise, For the Fatherlessin Ypsilanti” as well – the triple crown,i you will. Enjoy the odyssey.

moving like mind motor light,

this 3 am eeling is eeling right!

im in deeep wrist thinker fink in articulate

endocrine modulators o shower curtain stall

moving like he was moving books down the halli cant move

the stink bug on the bug screen hunting with pride

as time just slides on by

its no longer july

mists and skinny trunks reaching reaching

im slender will somebody pull me off?

the ender’s tender buffed and scoffed

retouched with the cloth, o her

weeping as a well o rose petals,

and my mother’s old drawing stares out rom

rames o black and red, people on fishooks

and the fish rowning...

ridicululous

like nothing

eeling bliss

ollowing light with physical maniests

spaceships to sun, and gardens to glass to mars

o destiny, souls cryingor we orbit ourselves with dying o the light,

the borne creation made

or love, here and now

flexing back into a ramework

o names places and things

and a billions strings stretching rom

butterflies to sun evolving into the perect rom the perect

(aint it eeling just so)anonymous


8/12

Murky Water

Te continuing popularity o bottled

water has created a $100 billion dol-

lar a year industry, but very ew in-

dividuals know exactly what they are

drinking. Is it really just pure, crisp,

natural, water?

Tere seems to be a small revolu-

tion taking place where soda and

other high ructose beverages are

being replaced by a healthier alterna-

tive: bott led water. It’s cheap, easy, and

everyone’s doing it.

It is clear that brands such Coca-

Cola and Fiji “Natural Artesian Wa-

ter” use packaging tactics to make

bottled water more appealing. Tere

are blue tinted plastics, enticing pic-

tures o tropical settings, and o course

the picturesque enchanted orest and

mountain streams.

Te water in all o these bottles are

not the same, nor are they as clean,

pure, and healthy as you are led to

believe.

In 1992, as Poland Spring was be-

coming a household name, there were

suspicions o whether or not their wa-

ter was really spring water. o settle

the critics, the company sent six ge-

ologists into the pond that was ed by

Poland Spring and confirmed that the

source was spring ed.

It wasn’t until 1995 however, thatthe Food and Drug Administration

agreed that water rom boreholes

(holes drilled that tap into the ground-

water as it’s flowing toward the spring’s

opening) were acceptable sources and

could be called “spring water.”

In 2002, to investigate a class-action

suit against Poland Spring and their

claim as “natural spring water,” our

geologists were hired to bore holes

into the pond o Poland Spring, still

not convinced that the 1992 study the

company did was credible. All our o

the geologists stated that the boreholeswere not providing “natural spring

water,” according to FDA definitions.

Additionally, another source used by

Poland Spring five miles away—Gar-

den Spring—was determined to be

manmade.

Again in 2003, the Connecticut

Superior Court filed a lawsuit against

Nestle, the owners o Poland Spring.

Te plaintiffs contended that Nestle

was using alse advertising, stating

that the original Poland Spring hadn’t

flowed since 1967. Tey claimed that

the water was coming rom sources

up to 30 miles away, including an area

surrounded by asphalt parking lots.

Additionally, the two plaintiffs were

concerned about Poland Spring us-

ing groundwater and a source near a

ormer garbage dump. Poland Spring

settled by handing out discount cou-

pons.

Similar cases were filed in New Jer-

sey and Massachusetts.

A our-year study by the Natu-

ral Resources Deense Council that

looked at 103 different brands, ound

that one-third o the water did not

meet state or industry saety stan-

dards. Some o the samples contained

traces o contaminants like arsenic

and carcinogenic compounds. he

World Health Organization says that

“some micro-organisms, which are

normally o little or no public healthsignificance, may grow to higher levels

in bottled waters,” as they are gener-

ally stored or longer periods and are

at higher temperatures compared to

water distributed in pipe systems.

In hopes o making huge proits

o Mother Nature, many bottling

companies look to over sea sources,

where many countries do not have the

resources or the expertise or sae wa-

ter standards and guidelines. Many o

these countries may be prone to water

contaminated with hazards such lead,

arsenic, benzene, bacteria, viruses,parasites, Vibrio cholera, hepatitis A,

and even trace amounts o glass chips

or metal ragments.

In 2004, nearly 200 bottling plants

were shut down in India, due to plants

not submitting water test reports.

Many o these plants were operated

by the Coca-Cola Company, which

bottles under the label Dasani. Ad-

ditionally, as many as fiy nearby vil-

lages complained o water shortages.

While there are international guide-

lines, which are recommendations and

not mandatory, set orth by the Codex

Alimentarius Commission or natu-

ral mineral water, there are currently

no universally accepted standards or

bottled and packaged waters other

than mineral water, which comes

rom a strict source and has no urther

treatment. Te WHO, which recog-

nizes Codex, is seen “as representing

the international consensus or con-

sumer protection.”

Furthermore, according the NRDC,

many o the FDA’s rules regarding bot-

tled water in the United States exempts

nearly 60 to 70% o the bottled water

sold. he guidelines, which can be

ound in section 165.110 in the Code

o Federal Regulations, leave many

loopholes or bottling companies to

pass on potentially unsae water to

consumers.

Te marketing strategies that bot-tling companies use to sell their prod-

uct as a healthy alternative to tap water

is clearly a myth. For example, many

city water plants must test or E. coli

bacteria 100 times or more a month,

while bottling plants can get by with

only once a week. City tap water must

also meet strict standards or certain

toxic and cancer-causing chemicals

such as phthalates (a compound used

in the plastic bottling that has been

shown to cause damage to the liver,

kidneys, lungs, and testes); bottled wa-

ter is exempt rom these regulations.City water supplies must also be tested

by government certified labs, some-

by David Huck

8

thing bottlers are not required to do.

Cities also required to release annual

reports to citizens telling consumers

what is in their water, while bottlers

do no such service.

We are part o a global community

in which 14,000 people a day die due

to water-related diseases, the leading

cause o death in the world. As Ameri-

cans who have become subjected to

a trendy bottled water culture, we

should become more conscious o the

products we buy and who they have

affected.

SOURCES

Parloff, Roger. “SPRINGIME FOR POLAND.”

Fortune 149.3 (2004): 42-44. Academic Search

Premier. 9 October 2006. http://search.ebsco-host.com.

21 Code o Federal Regulations. Section165.110(a)(3)(ii) 8 Oct. 2006

Aslam, Abid. “Bottled Water: Nectar o the

Frauds?” Project Censored. 3 Oct. 2006.

< http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm#20>

“Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?”Natural Resources Deense Council.

5 Mar. 1999. 24 Sept. 2006. < http://nrdc.org/

water/drinking/bw/chap2.asp>

Klessing, Lance. “Bottled Water Industry.”

Spring 2004. 5 Oct. 2006.< http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/

KLESSILL/>

World Health Organization. Bottled Drinking

Water Fact sheet No. 256 October 2000.4 Oct. 2006. < http://www.who.int/mediacen-

tre/actsheets/s256/en/>

Sherri Day. “Suit Disputes Integrity o Poland

Spring Water. “ New York imes [New York,

N.Y.] 20 Jun 2003, Late E dition (East Coast):C.2. New York imes. ProQuest. University o

Connecticut Libraries.

I . N E D .


9/12

9

Intelligent Design Isn’t by Bryan Murphy

One might have hoped that the dead

horse o Intelligent Design had finally

taken out the plastic angs, dropped

the ransylvanian accent, and decidedto stay down. But nope, no way, and

especially not with mid-term elections

coming up. Republican candidate or

the Governor’s office o Michigan, Mr.

Dick DeVos, has brought Intelligent

Design back into the spotlight by say-

ing that he thinks it should at least be

given a air airing in the classroom.

Now, this is somewhat tiring. How

many times must the courts rule that

Intelligent Design, Creationism, and

the like cannot be taught in public

schools beore our putative elected

officials get the message? Darwinistsmay need to try a whole new strain

o garlic to vanquish Intelligent De-

sign. While we’re at it, let’s be rank:

Intelligent Design is Creationism with

a make-over. You fight one, you fight

both; both must be disproved simulta-

neously. We’re gonna need garlic and

a stake or this affair.

he story thus ar is that most

Darwinists have been largely con-

tent to concede that creation is pretty

complex – but not so complex that it

could not have arisen through natural

selection. Yet why not play that recordbackwards?

Backmask Warning, Intelligent De-

signers: Instead o arguing that cre-

ation could have arisen randomly, why

not argue that it couldn’t have arisen

intelligently? Creation is oen pretty

sadistic, evil, and, rankly, stupid. It

seems the overriding theme o our

world is a cacophony o nonsensical

pain and misery, unavoidably punctu-

ated by the terrible rimshot o mortal-

ity. Tis isn’t a newsflash. You’ve got

John Stuart Mill saying, “I there are

any marks at all o special design increation, one o the things most evi-

dently designed is that a large propor-

tion o all animals should pass their

existence in tormenting and devour-

ing other animals.” It’s hard to imagine

our schizoid world was deliberately

designed, least o all intelligently – and

i it was, the designer was pretty sa-

distic.

o be air, one can’t deny that nature

has its moments. Te human body has

at least 25,000 genes, 206 bones, and

over 60,000 miles o veins, arteries,

and capillaries, and it seems hard to

think all o that could have been put

together at random. o trot out an old

Creationist analogy, imagine shaking

a box containing a jumbled up 25,000

piece jigsaw puzzle –what’re the odds

you’d ever assemble the puzzle?

Excepts whoops, evolution is actu-

ally nothing at all like a jigsaw puzzle,

because the current human orm is no

more preerred by nature than any

other random iteration o 25,000 jig-

saw pieces. A more accurate question

to ask would be, i you shook a box

containing 25,000 Legos, what are the

odds you would get any random as-

sortment o Legos? Pretty good, prob-

ably. Sure, some o the random assem-blies would be ugly, but in Darwinian

terms, those ugly assemblies would die

out - in much the same way 99% o

all species which have ever lived have

gone extinct. I there is an intelligent

designer, it apparently does like to play

dice, though it preers playing or the

ates o entire species over our mere

mortal chips.

And even when a species doesn’t

go extinct, there’s no guarantee every-

thing will be coming up roses or its

individual members. Lie can be, and

or most creatures, is, nasty, brutish,and short. Ask your next hamburger i

it thinks the world was designed intel-

ligently by a benevolent being. Ask the

one in our European peasants struck

dead at random by the Black Plague

i they thought the world was put to-

gether in a sensible manner. Next time

you catch the flu, ask yoursel between

sniffles i an intelligent designer would

strike his own creations down at ran-

dom – it doesn’t seem very intelligent

to me. When oyota designs robots to

weld doors on cars, you can be sure

they aren’t programmed to arbitrarilylie in bed or a week every now and

then slurping chicken soup and drink-

ing orange juice. Does oyota know

something our intelligent designer

doesn’t?

Pain serves a useul purpose when it

tells you to pull your hand away rom

that open flame, or lie down because

your leg is bleeding and broken; in

short, when it offers some prospect

o useul remedy. But when pain can

serve no purpose, that’s simple sadism.

ake the case o a cancer victim with

a brain tumor in the middle o theircerebral cortex. What purpose does

their pain serve then, other to insure

that their last days on earth are spent

in unending, incurable agony? Dar-

win noted this quandary o suffering,

the seeming incompatibility between

an intelligent creator and a vicious

world. “I cannot persuade mysel,” he

said, “that a beneficent and omnipo-

tent God would have designedly cre-

ated the Ichneumonidae [a species o

parasitic wasp] with the express inten-

tion o their eeding within the living

bodies o caterpillars”. Our intelligent

designer is shaping up to be quite the

capricious ellow.

And somewhat silly ellow, too.

Men have nipples but don’t lactate;

whales have hip-bones but not legs;

emus have wings but can’t fly. Silly, sa-

distic; sitting at his drawing board, our

intelligent designer must have decided

to spontaneously abort 2/3rds o all

homo sapiens ever conceived. Con-

ception being the resource-intensive

process that it is, our designer certainly

didn’t have economy in mind when he

green-lighted our flawed reproductive

system. Nor was he apparently think-

ing o theology, or i babies that die

beore baptism float about in Limboor all eternity, then it seems Limbo

has twice the population o Heaven

and Hell combined.

However, to be air, Intelligent

Design advocates are careul never

to mention God in their arguments.

he intelligent designer, thereore,

could be anyone. From our evidence,

it seems quite likely that the intel-

ligent designer might well be some

unreliable evil alien struggling to get

his G.E.D.

hough the thought isn’t exactly

comorting. Me, I’d rather not be theplaything o a designer who gives hip-

bones to whales and breast cancer to

old women. I’d rather be the product

o my ancestors, the sublimation o

millennia o evolution, standing on

my own two legs and making my way

through the mutable world o my own

accord. Tere’s something downright

American in that.

Sources:

http://www.classbrain.com/artaskcb/publish/article_145.shtml

http://www.fi.edu/biosci/vessels/vessels.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/magazine/20WWLN.html?pagewanted=2&

ei=5090&en=dc8de9614e932be&ex=1266642000&partner=rssuserland?NY_REG_

SUCKS_ROCKS

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5446777&nav=0Rce

Te Bible

M S. .


10/12

10

Reusing to Wear the Costume on Halloween

Halloween is a time o disguises and

trick playing, o secretly toilet-pa-

pering houses and smashing amily

jack-o-lanterns: in short, a un t imeor everyone. Surprisingly, the govern-

ment o the United States has decided

not to celebrate Halloween this year.

Instead o wrapping itsel in a color-

ul costume, it is taking the opposite

route by publicly unveiling itsel o the

disguise adopted shortly aer the ter-

rorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

his unveiling process is a com-

plicated one, and is not being done

entirely willingly by the government.

In November 2005, news came out

that the CIA was using government

approved “enhanced interrogationtechniques” to question the detainees

in the War on error. A rather ina-

mous list describing the six enhanced

techniques was circulated through the

media; some defined them as consti-

tuting torture. People began to won-

der: is the United States government

really supporting the use o torture as

a valid interrogation technique? Te

government said no.

hen, in December 2005, John

Bellinger, a state department legal

advisor, admitted to the press that

the Red Cross does not have access toall detainees in U.S. custody—a right

that is guaranteed internationally to all

detainees. Te assumption was then

logically made that the United States

was keeping a number o detainees in

secret prisons across the world. People

began to wonder: is the United States

government really supporting the use

o secret prisons about which even

reputable international aid agencies

are uninormed? he government,

again, said no.

People are, by nature, nosy and per-

sistent creatures, and within the span

o a year, the unveiling was well under-

way. Te President recently gave pub-lic acknowledgement to the existence

o both the “alternative set o proce-

dures” used to interrogate detainees,

and the secret prisons which are now

no longer secret or in operation.

his raises questions, however,

about government accountability.

Who determines what constitutes

torture in detainee prisons? Who de-

termines what inormation should

remain secret, and or how long? Bill

aer bill is being passed through Con-

gress addressing these very issues. Tis

is now a very public debate.

Te Geneva Conventions prohibit

torture and inhuman treatment, in-

cluding the humiliation or degra-

dation o prisoners. It also provides

access to the Red Cross—or all pris-

oners. It does not require a debate to

realize that the United States, in its

recent treatment o detainees, has vio-

lated these Conventions. Te Geneva

Conventions, however, reer only to

prisoners o war. Interestingly enough,

its fiy-year old definition o “prison-

ers o war” does not apply to terrorist

groups. According to the Conven-

tions, and to the government o the

United States, prisoners o war must

be a group affiliated with a State—ter-

rorists may or may not ulfill this re-

quirement— and must wear a “distinc-

tive sign recognizable at a distance.”

Since terrorists generally rely on

anonymity to carry out their attacks,

they do not openly mark themselves

or wear uniorms. Te Conventions

urther speciy that prisoners o war

must “carry arms openly”; in short, the

Geneva Conventions apply only to the

conventional sort o warare that oc-

curred at the time o its creation, and

not to modern terrorism.

oday, times are different and warsare different. Especially the War on

error—which is not so much a war

on a state or even on a group, but on a

broadly interpreted state o being. Ac-

cording to the Military Commission

Act o 2006 (which is a new bill await-

ing approval rom the White House),

a captured terrorist is not a prisoner

o war. errorists all into the group o

“unlawul enemy combatants,” mean-

ing that they do not belong to a state,

they do not clearly mark themselves

as a group, and they do not ollow the

laws o war. Te only problem with

this label is that there is no pre-estab-

lished law in the United States that ap-

plies to the treatment and legal status

o “unlawul enemy combatants.”

Te government o the United States

is currently making a public effort to

create such laws. Te Detainee reat-

ment Act o 2005 is one such law. It

states that no one should be subject

to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treat-

ment and punishment, and specifies

that detainees who are not citizens o

the United States have no claim to the

rights provided by the United States

Constitution. Te Military Commis-

sions Act o 2006 goes more in depth,

providing detainees with the right to

be deemed innocent beore proven

guilty, and the right against compulso-

ry sel-incrimination. It also specifies

that any inormation drawn rom the

detainee under unlawul treatment (as

Secretary o State Condoleezza Rice

said to the press, no one is perect)

cannot be used against him or her in

trial.

rials o the accused detainees will

be under newly established military

commissions, which will be convened

by the Secretary o Deense. Te ac-

cused will be inormed o his or hercharges “as soon as practicable”—else-

where in the bill it states that “unlaw-

ul enemy combatants” do not have

the right to a speedy trial—it is there-

ore unclear what eect this aspect

o the bill will have. he records o

these trials may or may not be made

public out o respect or national se-

curity. Te bill also leaves the Presi-

dent and the Secretary o Deense a

certain amount o room to interpret

“cruel and unusual” and gives them

the power to determine the maximum

punishment o the guilty.

In short, what has been a well-

kept government secret is now being

brought into the public atmosphere,

becoming a topic o public discussion.

In times like this, it is important to

participate. Democracies do not exist

without dialogue, and especially with

the current War on error, it is crucial

that democracy—true democracy, o

and or the people—be upheld.

he Detainee reatment Act o

2005 and the Military Commissions

Act o 2006 can be read at the Library

o Congress’ website: http://thomas.

loc.gov/.

SOURCES:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releas-

es/2006/09/20060906-3.html

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.

htm

http://rwebgate.access.gpo.gov

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4512192.

stm

by Katy Laguzza


11/12

I think I first saw “GOV” used dur-ing the 2004 elections on some pro-gressive blog. I was mystified until Istupidly put it together: “Get Out theVote”. Our party bosses, blogosphereautocrats and co-conspiratorial com-rades have spoken. We letists havebeen given our standing orders intheir execution o the vast le wingconspiracy to take back control othe US government. It’s all lovely andmakes you eel warm and uzzy insideuntil you look at who they’re not only

asking us to vote or but asking us toget other people to vote or. I’m sorrybut it is very hard or an idealistic per-son to campaign or the less-than-evilDemocrat Party line without lookinglike a complete jerk. I say, uck evil,even less-than-evil. I you are a leistin the United States, voting or any-one’s party line is utile because there’sno coherent le party line anymore.I think the best we can do is to lookbeyond the Democrat Party, to Greensand the most green-socialist wing oDemocrats. Tere are rare, rare cas-es where anyone else is worthwhile.Personally, I hate taking orders romany o those pushy Democrat partymachine sellouts who are paid to tryto get you to canvass or them. I youare a progressive please look at all thecandidates and make up your mindabout who reflects your socialist val-ues. Hell, vote Republican i they’re themost progressive candidate.

So, what are the progressive choicesthis time around? Sadly, this electionyou don’t have too many candidates tochoose rom. I’ve got to assume that

almost all o you are like me and live orat least vote somewhere in Connect-icut’s second congressional distr ict.You’ve got a choice or the US Houseo Representatives between the Demo-crat Joe Courtney and Republican RobSimmons, nobody else. Given thateach candidate is a liberal on socialissues and fiscally conservative I’d saydon’t even bother even voting or thisone. Leave the lever be.

I you live anywhere in Connecti-cut you can vote or some slightly

more exciting races. One example isthe race or Governor or whom youcan select Democrat John Desteano,Republican Jodi Rell, or my avorite,Green Clifford Tornton. It’s really sadthat Desteano is such an ass that heconspired to keep Tornton out o thegubernatorial debates. Tornton hasa lot o articulate messages and hasgreat appeal, especially to students.Examples o his awesomeness includehis passionate arguments or endingthe current drug prohibition that killsso many and wastes so much moneyevery year, ully unding state tuitionor Connecticut residents, and ullUniversal health care to name a ew. Ithink it’s clear that to the vast major-ity o Uconn students Tornton is theonly reasonable option. Let’s not kidourselves: it’s in our interest to elimi-nate tuition and legalize drugs!

Te green party is also running can-didates or other elected positions inConnecticut that get lamentably lessmedia coverage than they deserve.I you are a an o our radio stationWHUS, then you’re probably amil-

iar with Mike DeRosa’s “New Focus”.Well, DeRosa is running or Secretaryo State as the Green Candidate. SusanBysiewicz, the Democrat incumbent,has had this job orever and let’s aceit, our state’s business community isnot exactly the most well regulated.Nancy Burton’s Green candidacy orAttorney general should be supportedor the same reason: Richard Blumen-thal has been in FOREVER. Also, Bur-ton would go aer polluters with argreater zeal. As students, we have a

duty to make sure our state is sae notonly rom Islamists abroad but romcancer causing pollution at home.

Another more interesting race is orsenate. I know that you probably haveread a lot about it already and alreadyknow that it’s the most interestingrace ever in the history o Connecti-cut politics. Te main candidates areDemocrat Ned Lamont, RepublicanAlan Schlesinger, Green Ralph Fer-rucci, and Connecticut or LiebermanParty (a one man party – lame ass!)Joe Lieberman. For college studentsthe only really good choice is Ferrucci,not only because the Green Party plat-orm is most in line with our interestsbut also the senate is supposed to beespecially concerned with US oreignpolicy. Ferrucci takes a ar more even-handed approach to oreign policythan any others, especially in solvingthe Middle East conflicts and is theonly candidate who says he would doso – thus he almost earns my vote.I wish I could say that Lamont waspretty decent too but I’m araid he’sgot some terrible status-quo moder-

GOV: A Scary Acronym that Subverts Democracy

ate ideas except that he’s opposed tothe war in Iraq. Because Liebermanis ahead in the polls and since out oall the candidates Lieberman is theonly one to support continued mili-tary involvement in Iraq and every-where else, I’d say this is the one othose rare times progressives shouldsuck it up and vote or a lame-o. ohave the sensible vote split betweenthe three other non-evil candidateswould be a shame. Hold your noseor whatever, but you should probably

pull the Lamont lever.Come November 7th, election day,I say go out and vote but don’t get outthe vote. Electoral politics are not areasonable way to reorm the system– that’s something you need to doevery day, least o all on election day.Realize that party bosses are bossesall the same and are out or their ownpower and benefit. Sure they’ll offeryou concessions to work or ‘em andall but don’t sell-out. You’re subvertingdemocracy when you do and hurtingyourselves, America, and the idealsyou stand or. I’m voting this time orsome moderates because some veryscary people will be elected other-wise. However, I hope you will join mein making plans now or what to donext time. We should lay the ground-work now to kick out these moder-ates and throw a wrench in the partymachines, finally making progressivechanges possible or our country andthe world.

11

Te Bitterness Behind Each Bite

Children think o Halloween as a sweetand scary holiday. Tis is the one timeo the year that they are allowed to in-dulge in all o the chocolate that theywant. Pretty much every Americanamily buys at least one bag o candy

during this holiday, which amounts tohuge profits by the chocolate corpora-tions. While these American childrenare busy filling their bodies with sugarand scaring each other with witch andghost costumes, children in the IvoryCoast are acing a situation ar morebitter and ar more scary. Te choco-late that American children are enjoy-ing has come at the cost o the paino the child slave laborers on cocoaplantations. Something that is reallyrightul is seeing your riends beingbeaten, seeing your own blood leakrom your innocent flesh, seeing nouture.

he University o Connecticutbrought a speaker and photographer,Robin Romano, to speak about thehuman rights abuses on cocoa plan-tations in the Ivory Coast. Te IvoryCoast produces 43% o the world’s co-coa. It is a country that is highly in-debted due to structural adjustmentpolicies. In recent years its povertyhas doubled and its literacy rates have

been cut in hal. Spending on socialservices have been greatly reduced.Its economy depends on the chocolateindustry, and the cheap labor o thechildren. All powers are against theseinnocent ones. Both the government

and chocolate corporations want tosuppress any protest.Te poor economic situation o the

Ivory Coast and surrounding coun-tries sends children out o the homein search or work since their parentscannot support them, and since edu-cation is an expensive option that ewcan afford. Te child is oen lured inby a trafficker who offers them the op-portunity or lots o money. Te naïvechild and oen amily are encouragedby this prospect, and do not suspectnegative consequences. Children areoten taken across the border romMali into the Ivory Coast by traffick-ers, who then sell the child to the co-coa plantations or a low price. Techildren find themselves ar away romhome, in a strange place tucked intothe woods, where there are no roadsout, and no opportunity o escape.

One o the first things that they areshown are the sights where they will beburied i they try to escape or protest.I the child reuses to work they may

be beaten to death or have their eetsliced off. One child had his eet cutoff simply because the overseers elthe looked too strong and needed to bedebilitated in some way. Te childrenare let in hopeless situations. hey

have very little ood, and no clothes.I they are sick, they won’t be treated.Yet even while they are malnourishedand ill, they are expected to have theenergy to work all day long. o keepthem passive, they are drugged upwith ermented cocoa juice.

While the corporations are mak-ing huge profits off o the slave laboro these children, the armers are still just getting by, and the country is all-ing deeper and deeper into despair.o prevent this exploitation, Romanourged us all to avoid buying choco-late rom major corporations such asNestlé, Hershey, and Mars. Insteadyou should buy air trade chocolate.Tis sets a minimum wage that labor-ers must be given as well as standardsor treatment. One o the most wellknown air trade companies is EqualExchange, and it can be ound at manylocal stores such as the WillimanticFood Coop. U.S. consumers have alot o economic power. Corporationsonly stay alive through our purchas-

ing o their products. Tereore, I urgeanyone who cares about human rightsto boycott products made by abusivecorporations, and support ones thatare trying to promote human rights.

Te Univerity o Connecticut indi-

rectly supports child slavery by sellingonly Hershey’s chocolate in the caes.As an institution that boasts its greathuman rights department and ide-ology, it ought to not be supportingcompanies that do not adhere to suchpractices. Students can do their part bypressuring the administration to breaktheir ties with corrupt corporations.

On top o this, as Halloween is ap-proaching, when you go out to thestore to stock up on sweets or yourparties, please think about more thanthe instant gratification o the taste,the allure o the packaging, and theprice. Always think about the story be-hind the products you buy. What wentinto the production o this product?What social and environmental rami-fications are involved? Uconn studentsare privileged Americans and can a-ord moral consumption. Halloweendoesn’t have to be as bitter and scary asit is or the anonymous children whosuffer to satisy our sweet cravings.

by tara kurland

by Damon Yakovleff


12/12

8:30-9:30 pm

7pm

12 - 1 pm

6 - 7:30 pm

All Day

4 - 5 pm

7 - 8 pm

6 - 7:30 pm

6 pm

All Day

5pm

6:30 pm

Mondays

Mondays

Oct 16

Oct 17

Oct 18

Oct 19

Oct 19

Oct 24

Nov 1

Nov 7

Nov 7

Nov 7

Between Women - or women who love women.

Movie Mondays

Conronting the Myths o Domestic Violence

SOS – Massage

9th Annual Love Your Body Day

Hidden Narratives: Te Black Freedom Movement ...

Movie – CHISHOLM ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed

SOS - Guided Meditation

Charmain White Face, and others.

Election Day

“How Black Public Intellectuals are Failing Black America”

Fundraiser or the Willimantic Radical Lending Library

Women’s Center

Rainbow Center

CUE Building, Storrs Campus

Women’s Center

Everywhere

Class o 1947 Room, Babbidge Library

Women’s Center

Women’s Center

Student Union Ballroom

Everywhere

Dodd Center, room 162

Oobah’s Deli. Willimantic

events

CO N TR I B U TOR S

Andrew BaconJoelle CohnDavid F. CrouseChad “Bourner” DentonEric Drooker

Joshua FaucherGaping Voidim GorinKatie Gregory Dan HammondDavid Huck Salmun KazerounianAlexander Kobulnicky ara KurlandKaty Laguzza

Married to the SeaBryan Murphy John SchreiberCassie UptonAmy Vanheuverzwyn

Ashley WidteldtDora WilkeneldDamon Yakovleff

UConn Free Press is an alternative student-run newspaper. We arean anti-profit weekly publication serving the university and local

community. We are dedicated to carrying out the tradition o partici-patory democracy through staff consensus in all matters concerningthe paper. Open meeting times are available on the website.We welcome article and art submissions via www.uconnreepress.orgor [email protected]. Consider, criticize, and debate.

uconn free press oct. 2006, 2

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