page 04-the bulls eye-28september2011

7/31/2019 Page 04-The Bulls Eye-28September2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/page-04-the-bulls-eye-28september2011 1/1

EditorialTHE BULL’S EYE4 Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Editorial

Over the past few years,

the demand for shark n soup,a Chinese delicacy, has grownfrom a dull roar to a chaoticclamor in California. However,

the controversy that comes withshark nning has grown in directproportion to that noisy demand.

Those who support the huntingof sharks for their ns arguethat the traditional dish is a part

of Chinese culture, and to banit would be to undermine thevery culture itself. In contrast,others claim that shark nningis inhumane and will some daylead to the extinction of sharks.

Instead of taking the side of 

either of these extremists, thebest solution would simplybe to restrict the number of sharks that can be hunted per year. Ideally, a cap limit wouldbe placed on shark nning toreduce the approximately 73million sharks killed every year by half. Chinese culture cannotbe completely sacriced, so acap on hunting sharks wouldmoderate the sharks’ decline in

population and greatly reducethe risk of their extinction withouthurting Chinese life.

Limiting the number of sharks that can be hunted per year would be highly effective inkeeping the population levels atnormal numbers, as they havealready fallen by over 90 percent

in certain species of sharks inthe past few years. Fishermen

report that the sharks they arecatching seem to be gettingsmaller, as the sharks are nolonger being given enough timeto fully mature before they arehunted. If fewer sharks werehunted each year, they would beallowed to mature. Furthermore,ocean ecosystems as a whole

would be able to functionmore effectively with the sharkpopulation kept intact. Althoughshark nning needs to beregulated, environmentalists,however, cannot disregard

Chinese culture and sacred

Lea ChangFeature Editor 

practices like traditionalweddings. California has asimilar limit for hunting blackbears—a cap was establishedin 2009 so that only 1700 bearscould be hunted per year. Sincethis restriction has provedviable for black bears, the sameprinciple should be adopted for shark hunting as well.

It is of the utmost importancethat a solution is found for this problem, but extremistson both sides of this situationhave been slowing the processdown to an irresponsible pace.For example, the California

State Senate recently passed Assembly Bill 376, which willban the possession of sharkns if signed by Governor Jerry

Brown. This bill will include afew compromises that allowshermen who catch sharksto keep ns for personal useand also permit taxidermiststo have them in possession.

Despite these paltry provisions,however, the bill is not practicalbecause it only addresses oneside of the situation. A bill thatis written with the interests of Chinese culture at heart needsto be implemented; bills like376 severely limit the ability topartake in a dish that is suchan integral part of Chinese

life. When the members of theCalifornia Senate and Brownnally realize this, they willamble back to their desks andsettle in for another number 

of months spent arguing andrevising before they turn outanother bill, months that couldhave been more wisely spent onthe right kind of bill exercising acap limit.

The looming ban on sharknning in California is extremelydamaging to Chinese culture,but allowing the hunting of sharks to go on unrestrictedwill cause equal harm to theenvironment. Introducing alimit to the number of sharksthat can be hunted is the onlysolution that satises both thesupporters of Chinese cultureand environmentalists as well.

Fin of the Shark Tale

Blazing Trails of Satire

Child abuse has a newname and it is a rather large

one: Childhood Obesity. Thiscrime is horrifying; parentsare purposely stuffing their children full of saturated fats. Tomake things worse, the problemis growing rapidly and hasswelled to large proportions. Infact, the number of overweightadolescents has tripled in thelast two decades. This increase

in size is simply unacceptableand the problem must be

nipped at the bud. It demandsall of our efforts, time, and focusto slim down the predicamentso that we can begin to takeobese children out of harm’sway. Negligent parents do not

deserve to feed their children if they cannot do so responsibly.

Childhood tubbiness ischildhood abuse. It is withouta doubt that between starving achild and overfeeding one, theformer is better. Overfeeding isplugging hundreds of children’svulnerable digestive tracts withchocolate and grease. EveryBig Mac, although tasty, is likea ruthless kick to the ribs. Thephysical abuse does not par upto the psychological issues thata kid’s meal imposes.

 After all, a black eye or abroken rib pales in comparisonto 600 pounds of blubber. Or rather it is lost in the shade of a very large shadow. Truly,fast food is the most sickening

Oh Please, Stop the Obese!Sarah Cho

 Asst. A&E Editor 

and appalling abuse in thisworld! Parents are intentionallyseizing their children’s chance athappiness with hamburgers andfrench-fries.

The children are not toblame for their wide silhouettes—the guilty party is the cruel,sadistic parents! It is the parentswho stuff their children full of saturated fats, cholesterol, and

high fructose corn syrup. Whilesuch a crime may be pardonableif it were only for the low cost and

convenience of fast food, suchis not the case! These parentsare feeding their children fried

chicken wings and chocolatecake out of vengeance and spite,punishing their children with bothsugary and fattening foods.

These parents should beswiftly served prison time. Weshould take vengeance againstthem on behalf of their plumpvictims. If not the government,no one will intervene on behalf 

of the stout casualties. No onewill defend the hefty sufferers of outrageous mutilations. No onewill speak for the portly, silentwounded.

These parents must be heldaccountable for their flagrantheart lessness and malice.

 Al re ad y, st at es ac ro ss th ecountry have recognized this andhave begun to take immediate

steps, in order to punish theseruthless parents. One shiningexample is the case of Alexander Draper, a 14-year-old boy fromSouth Carolina who was seizedfrom his parents’ custody andput directly into foster care. It isa revolutionary action that hassparked a wave of reform.

 Atkins™, South Beach Diet

™, and the Lap Band®, though allchildren should use these plansto ensure proper health, shouldbe replaced by the infinitelymore effective alternate for moresevere cases like Draper’s:

foster care. In fact, millions of children across the country arealready enjoying the benets of foster care. Studies show that57 percent of children placedin foster homes are at high riskof receiving abuse and neglect.That is a 57 percent highchance that children can nallyshed that weight they havebeen worried about! Stressfrom a foreign environment,

homesickness, misery, andunceasing humiliation haveproved to be the perfect formulafor weight loss.

The government’s role is

to control every fraction of aperson’s life to ensure that

 America is a nation embodyinga perfect and ideal image. After all, one can never be too skinny.

Those parents who have

raised the anorex ic andbulimic masses are the leadingexamples for aspiring parents.

 Any problems those childrenhave are much too slight andslender to be seen. The realdi lemma l ies with the bigproblems: the big sizes. Ignorethose small ones about themalnourished; you can’t evensee them!

Obesity is an epidemic of hefty proportions. It is abuseof the worst sort and the people

of this country must raise their 

voices and armaments againstsuch a heinous crime. Andhopefully, one day in the future,all of America can raise their arms without a wiggle of adiposetissue jiggling under it.

Hundreds of protestersbegan rallying in July in order to pin six Fullerton policeofcers as the murderers of Kelly Thomas, who died vedays after he was beatenunconscious in what startedout as a routine arrest. Thebeating, while grotesque andunwarranted, is only bringingabout the trial of two out of thesix ofcers responsible, despitecountless testimonials andsurveillance videos that depictan outnumbered homeless manbeaten beyond recognition.Two months later, FullertonPolice Chief Michael Sellers

is extending his stress-relatedmedical leave of absence,allowing him to maintain his$228,576 annual paycheck,while four of the six ofcersinvolved in the arrest remain

on paid administrative leave.Conveniently, Sellers was not

able to provide a timely narrativeon what occurred that nightwhen Thomas was arrested, nor 

did he offer condolences to the

Thomas family. Meanwhile, theDistrict Attorney took even moretime to wrap up the investigationwhich will determine whether or not the broken bones, braininjuries, and internal bleedingmight have been the result of excessive force. Rather than

provide these murderers with

protected identities, criminalcharges need to be placed onall of the ofcers involved in thearrest

The ofcers did not usereasonable force to apprehend

Marcel BoubionEditorial Editor 

their suspect yet, the D.A.’sshockingly slow response timeand Fullerton City council’s lackof concern allows these men towalk freely. Judging from thereactions of eye witnesses, it is

clear that arresting K. Thomas

was not the only intention of the six men who beat him. Onewitness frantically describedthe scene to a local bus driver 

 just moments after it happened:“they caught him, pound[ed]his face, pound[ed] his faceagainst the curb ... and theybeat him up.” On September 3,Ron Thomas released his son’s

medical records revealing thathis death was caused by braindamage received during theincident. It should not take the

D.A. over two months to realizethat K. Thomas’ life was placedin the hands of all six ofcerswho beat him excessively.

This is a criminal case andevery ofcer involved should behandled as such. The FullertonPolice department is allowing

four men involved in whatshould be an on-going murder investigation to take leave with

pay along with their protectedidentities—regardless of their ranking as ofcers, this isunacceptable. The D.A. needsto continue their investigationso that these policemen are

removed from administrativeleave and tried for the wrongfuldeath of K. Thomas. Protestors

must keep pressuring the

Fullerton City council andthe D.A. so that they are nolonger provided the immunitythat allows them to avoidresponsibility for Thomas’swrongful death.

Homeless to Lifeless

Many would say that thehackneyed principle of “equalopportunity for everyone”has been well establishedin the United States for over 

decades, specically in its realmof education. Thousands of undocumented high schoolstudents around the nation,however, would beg to differ.Before implement ing the

California Development, Relief,and Education for Alien Minors

 Ac t, th es e un de rp ri vi le ge dstudents had been constantlyneglected from their fair shareof educational benefits andopportunities, all which were

once offered exclusively to American citizens and residents.The passage of Cal. DREAM

 Act now enables undocumentedstudents to qualify for loweredtuition and nancial aid benets,therefore stopping thousandsof potentially successful youthsfrom being brutally stripped of their chance of attending college.

The state government’s longoverdue decision to pass the actwas a prudent act of decencyaimed for the betterment of thestate and its people.

In essence, the Cal. DREAM Act proposes a two-part planthat is directly designed toalleviate the financial burden

 A DREAM Come TrueJustin Park

 Asst. Editorial Editor of underprivileged immigrantsenrolling in college. Under AB130, any individual, regardless of his or her lawful stay in the U.S.,who has attended high school in

California for three or more yearsand has attained a graduatestatus will become eligible for in-state tuition at various publiccolleges in California. In addition,

 AB 131 , wh ich is yet to bepassed, wouldallow those of equal cri teriato be el igiblefor addit ionalf inanc ial a id

p r o g r a m sadministered bythe state.

P r i o r  

t o t h i s a c t ,undocumentedstudents werediscriminated

from receivingthe most basic nancial benetsoffered by the government,regardless of their potentialproductivity in America. A majorityof the undocumented studentswere brought to the U.S. illegallyas children, seeking for a better life. Regardless of the strugglessurrounding their residencein the U.S., these guiltlessyouths strive daily for academicsuccess, only to realize that theentrance to college is too steepfor a disadvantaged immigrant

to overcome. Although thesestudents have lived in Californiafor years, they are forced to payan average of $20,000 more thanother students because theyare ineligible for in-state tuition.This bill is the rst of many stepswe must take in order to stopdiscouraging young studentsfrom working toward their dream,simply because they were not

born American.These studentswork equallyhard, i f not

harder, thandocumenteds t uden t s t oachieve their d r e a m s ,

and it is the

state’s duty toacknowledgetheir efforts,

T h e

l e a d i n gopposition of Cal. DREAM Actasserts that taxpayers’ moneyshould not be spent towardsillegal immigrants, especially at

this time of dire economic crisis.However, the act offers benecialeffects that are guaranteed tobring positive changes to thestate in the long run. Accordingto a research conducted bythe College Board, a college

gradua t e w i t h adv anc eddegrees earns two or threetimes as much as a regular high

school graduate. As a result, if California were to produce morecollege graduates with larger income, the state would amassmuch higher tax revenue, thusrelieving the financial deficit.For example, a study by theImmigrat ion Policy Center states that when compared toan undocumented high schooldropout, an immigrant with acollege degree will pay around$5,000 more in taxes, but willspend $4,000 less in governmentexpenses each year. Theresults may seem insignicantat first, however, one cannot

ignore its potential benefits.In order to take advantage of this, the government must rstobliterate all barriers that are

hindering youths to pursuetheir journey in achieving their college degrees. The passage

of this act accomplishes exactlythat, by successfully eliminatingour state’s most conspicuousproblem in providing an equaleducational benet to everyone.

The purpose of Cal. DREAM Act is nothing short of its name;to help students’ dreams cometrue. Every student deserves tobe awarded with the opportunityto pursue his education withthe help of the government.Fortunately, undocumentedstudents statewide can nowchase their goals more freelywith their newfound benets.

“These underprivileged

students had been

constantly neglected

from their fair share of 

educational benetsand opportunities...”