The Cornell Review The Conservative Voice on Campus
an independent publication vol. xxix, no. vii
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February 16th, 2011
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The Enemies of Democracy Joseph Bonica Executive Editor
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n the past month or so, the notion of democracy has taken center stage in political news and thought. Successful revolutions in Tunisia and now Egypt have expanded the base of democracy, exposing millions more people to the potential for free elections and individual responsibility. That being said, there still exist global forces which are hostile to democracy, some of which are gaining power in very sensitive regions of the world. To explain these forces, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Affairs hosted professor Ian Buruma, a Dutch author and winner of the prestigious Erasmus prize. Addressing a packed crowd of students, professors, and curious
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Interview Visiting Professor Geoffrey Herman speaks on life and work in Israel
onlookers, Buruma identified three main opponents of liberal democracy. He made pains to differentiate “liberal democracy” from other kinds of democracy, citing the Muslim Brotherhood as an example of a movement where democracy can become theocratic. First among these enemies are religious radicals, epitomized by radical Islamists in the Middle East and, increasingly, in Europe. Religion, he properly said, becomes very dangerous when it becomes a tool of politics. Whenever this happens, as demonstrated recently with radical Islam, its followers become irreconcilable with democracy. This does not mean that religion itself is radical; rather, it simply means that democracy is threatened when religious authority becomes political authority. This becomes a potential problem when
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Editorial Reporting back from the Conservative Political Action Conference
a religion, like Islam, is used as a rallying point for protesters against secular dictatorships, as we saw in Iran and potentially in Egypt. The next adversary of the democratic process is the rise of populism, which he said differs in Europe and America. The recent rise of American populism, in reference to the Tea Party, is a philosophy that is almost entirely distrustful of the state and desires less government power and individual liberty. In Europe, a different type of right-wing populism is gaining hold, one that wants more government involvement in the protection of the rights of native Europeans against immigrants. Either way, Please turn to page 4
NEWS FROM ABROAD
The Unpredictable Middle East Rob Morrissey Guest Writer
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MMAN – If I had a Dinar every
time a journalist has named the “next Egypt” or the “next Tunisia” over the last month (or every time one predicted Egypt would not be the next Tunisia), I could take advantage of studying abroad to buy that pyramid I’ve always wanted and drop out of Cornell. The internet may have given marginalized Arab youth a voice, but it has done the same for the simplified narratives and speculation of mainstream news media, including suddenly omnipresent “Middle East experts”. As events continue to play out on the ground in the Middle East, I see danger in trying to fit them into a clear framework of cause and effect
immediately. We can be fooled by trying to make things make sense. In Jordan, for example, where I am studying this semester, the idea that the same people marching for democratic reforms often vigorously support the Hashemite King Abdullah II, as well, seems to befuddle journalists. It doesn’t match their narrative for the region. It doesn’t make sense. And yet most of the Jordanians I have spoken to in the last month have exhibited similarly nuanced views. Two of my professors, both EastBank Jordanians married to WestBank Palestinians, have spent time in prison for political reasons. I braced myself for gloomy accounts of Jordan’s political turmoil in the 1960s and 1970s, but received a description
of Al Jafr prison—a Mecca for artists, intellectuals, and political activists at the time—that was nothing short of enchanting. If such contradiction exists in individuals, why do journalists continue to explain events in various countries with simple, linear narratives? And why do we listen? Inbetween reassuring family and friends that, despite what the New York Times may say, my safety is not threatened by an imminent Jordanian-Palestinian civil war, I've come up with this answer: as humans, we prefer coherent stories to the Twitter-feed of history. We also like certainty. A few hundred Jordanians marched in Amman last week. Most represented smaller individual
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Special Comment
Red Africa
What's the Big Idea?
The rebellious genius that is Olbermann ’79 will go unmatched
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China sets up shop in the Dark Continent
Junior wants to help you learn how to count – calories.
Humor page We don't know wot it means, but you have to see ot.
Please turn to page 4 Page 8
The Fracking Truth
Schlumberger oil man reveals the science of fracking
ROB MORRISSEY
ARE EVERYWHERE.
Cornell Chronicle: Under Cover of Diversity Karim Lakhani Staff Writer
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t the end of each year, the Cornell Chronicle profiles graduating seniors in their May pre-Commencement issue. Each year, about twenty seniors are honored because of their great academic successes and unique interests. The Review recently received an email sent to faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences last month regarding student suggestions. Unlike previous years, this year the faculty were asked to indicate if the students they were recommending were part of an ethnic minority so the Chronicle could “make good choices when winnowing down the list” of potential students. By wanting to add further diversity to the students chosen, one would imagine that the Chronicle has been struggling to obtain a diverse group of profiled seniors. That is not the case. In last year’s issue, at least eight of the twenty seniors were of an ethnic minority, equal to the school’s forty percent minority population. Asking faculty members to provide ethnicities when recommending students could be a violation of Please turn to page 2
Campus
February 16, 2011
SPECIAL COMMENT
Looking Back at the Edward R. Murrow of Our Time One student’s take on MSNBC’s decision to replace CALS alum with Shake Weight infomercials and more repeats of “Lockup”
“C
ongressman with Guts” Alan Grayson wasn’t the only martyr to fall at the hands of teabagger hate these last few months. Just three weeks ago, Cornell’s most intelligent alumnus ( just ask him!) and modern day muckraker Keith Olbermann ’79 announced that he was leaving the 8 PM timeslot on MSNBC. While socalled industry “experts” suggested the move had something to do with “ratings,” “making the network look bad,” or “being an insufferable jerk,” this is clearly Bush’s fault. Mr. Olbermann kept that redneck Jesus freak war criminal honest every single night. Only stellar, committed journalism like Mr. Olbermann’s would have revealed that, even in his Dallas home, years after he had left the White House, Bush was singlehandedly responsible for all of the world’s problems, including President Obama’s--praise be upon Him-smoking habit. Naturally Dubya would want Mr. Olbermann, an effective critic of his who issued such sharp, biting shots at the former President as “Bushitler,” “Nazi,” and “stupid Nazi liar,” gone. Now if you’re wondering how the trust fund monkey boy managed to, in addition to stealing the presidency, pull off a feat as great as getting a powerful basic cable host pulled off of the air, you’re not alone. After all, while those teabagger bigots at Fox “News” consistently beat Countdown in the ratings (obviously rigged), Mr. Olbermann had a loyal following of enlightened students,
CHRONICLE Continued from the front page Cornell’s Equal Education and Employment Opportunity statement: “Association with Cornell, either as a student, faculty, or staff member, involves participation in a free community where all people are recognized and rewarded on the basis of individual performance rather than personal convictions, appearance, preferences (including sexual or affectional orientation), or happenstance of birth.”
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baristas, professional peace activists, and people who couldn’t find the remote, watching him yell at America and ask the tough questions, though not to the guests on his show (they always, in a testament to how articulate and charismatic Mr. Olbermann is, seemed to agree with him), on a nightly basis. With only every other remaining MSNBC host holding Mr. Olbermann’s political views, we can only hope that there will still be somebody holding the Right accountable. Like those times Mr. Olbermann called Sarah Palin an idiot or made fun of John “McShame” (good one, Keith!) for being old. After all, Organizing for America can only send out so many mass
neighbor, my other neighbor has a satellite with all the movie channels and stuff (Taxi Cab Confessions, baby!), so you can be sure I will tune in daily to hear Mr. Olbermann’s take on the news. I encourage you to find similar means to circumvent the Orwellian eyes of the capitalist pigs that run your television provider and get access to Mr. Olbermann’s new show by any means necessary. How else could you find out when Sarah Palin orchestrates another massacre? Or when Mitt Romney finally decides to unfire the fourteen million Americans whose jobs he took away? These are the pressing questions of our time that deserve answers. Answers you’ll now be able
While so-called industry “experts” suggested the move had something to do with “ratings,” “making the network look bad,” or “being an insufferable jerk,” this is clearly Bush’s fault. and his new show will join Kill It, Cook It, Eat It, a reality show where contestants attempt to slaughter an animal humanely and, in the process, learn something about their evil omnivore ways, and repeats of This American Life (wait, isn’t that a radio show?) on the cable network’s lineup. While I may not get Current TV on the cable I steal from my
to find just as soon as you listen to a very important message about Manbearpig.
Ephram Smith is a sixth-year senior studying Communications and Women’s Studies. He can be reached in the Eco House basement probably “not inhaling” some questionable substances.
SOUTH PARK STUDIOS
Ephram Smith Guest Writer
text messages about the benefits of health care reform and, with messaging mastermind Robert Gibbs on his way out, we’re going to need a strong voice for truth on television. But let’s be honest, Ed Schultz’s arteries aren’t going to get less clogged and Rachel Maddow has this silly preoccupation with things like “facts” and “integrity.” So, when the news broke last Wednesday that Mr. Olbermann would be joining Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV, you can imagine my relief that we’d still have somebody to tell us who the worst people in the world are. Mr. Olbermann will be coming to Current TV as “Chief News Officer”
MSNBC
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Keith Olbermann ‘79 will be joining the world’s only channel dedicated to exposing Manbearpig, Al Gore’s Current TV.
When asked about the potential breach, Susan Lang, the Managing Editor of the Cornell Chronicle, said: “We ask for ethnicities so that we will have a diverse group of students to showcase. We want the profiles to reflect the diversity of our student population.” Ms. Lang did not address the fact that the Chronicle’s last pre-Commencement issue properly reflected Cornell’s minority population without including such a clause. Maybe more troubling was her neglect to consider that requiring faculty members to include ethnicities on their recommendations of students
could potentially violate Cornell’s Equal Education statement. Changing the system to give minorities an advantage is both unfair and unnecessary. On their own, ethnic minorities obtain great academic success and were equally represented in the Chronicle’s previous pre-Commencement issue. The addition of race to the criteria distracts the Chronicle from focusing on choosing the best and most unique students to profile and instead forces the editors to potentially deny qualified students because of some “happenstance of birth.”
Under the cover of diversity, the Cornell Chronicle is instituting affirmative action measures to create not only unreasonable, but also unwarranted advantages for ethnic minorities. Regardless of ethnicity, twenty dynamic members of the senior class should have equal opportunities to “reflect on life and learning at Cornell and on the future.”
Karim Lakhani is a freshman in the School of Hotel Administration. He can be reached at kml248@cornell.edu.
The Cornell Review Founded 1984 r Incorporated 1986 Ann Coulter Jim Keller Jerome D. Pinn Anthony Santelli, Jr. Founders
Oliver Renick Editor-in-Chief
Dennis Shiraev Editor-at-Large
Joseph Bonica Executive Editor
Lucas Policastro Managing Editor
Raza Hoda President
Hannah MacLean News Editor
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National News Editor
Anthony Longo
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Contributors
Michael Alan Rob Morrissey Peter Bouris Alfonse Muglia Brendan P. Devine Sam Pell John Farragut Chris Slijk Noah Kantro Gregory Stein Karim Lakhani William Wagner Tianye Liu Zach Waller
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meh26@cornell.edu The Cornell Review is an independent biweekly journal published by students of Cornell University for the benefit of students, faculty, administrators, and alumni of the Cornell community. The Cornell Review is a thoughtful review of campus and national politics from a broad conservative perspective. The Cornell Review, an independent student organization located at Cornell University, produced and is responsible for the content of this publication. This publication was not reviewed or approved by, nor does it necessarily express or reflect the policies or opinions of, Cornell University or its designated representatives. The Cornell Review is published by The Ithaca Review, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The opinions stated in The Cornell Review are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the staff of The Cornell Review. Editorial opinions are those of the responsible editor. The opinions herein are not necessarily those of the board of directors, officers, or staff of The Ithaca Review, Inc. The Cornell Review is distributed free, limited to one issue per person, on campus as well as to local businesses in Ithaca. Additional copies beyond the first free issue are available for $1.00 each. The Cornell Review is a member of the Collegiate Network. The Cornell Review prides itself on letting its writers speak for themselves, and on open discourse. We do not all agree on every issue, and readers should be aware that pieces represent the views of their authors, and not necessarily those of the entire staff. If you have a wellreasoned conservative opinion piece, please send it to thecornell.review@ gmail.com for consideration. The Cornell Review meets regularly on Mondays at 5:00 pm in GS 162. E-mail messages should be sent to
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Editorial
February 16, 2011
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CPAC in Review By Kathleen McCaffrey Trump (hey, at least he knows offstage for condemning the presFrom February 10th to the how to fire people and declare ence of the gay conservative group. 12th, the Conservative Political bankruptcy!). Regardless, it cast another odd Action Conference (CPAC) gathlight on the gathering. Rep. Ron Paul, a fixture at the ered 11,000 of the most influential conference for many years due to Though CPAC isn’t solely about right-wing politicians and their his trusty fiscal conservative posiabout the sport of politics and legfans in Washington, DC. Whereas tions, and libertarian presidential islation. Commentators and jourlast years conference was charged hopeful, Governor Gary Johnson, nalists from across the spectrum by the prospect of winning back contributed to another odd fact were in attendance to rally around the House and the Senate, this of the 2011 CPAC. In years past, their issues and recount the events year was all about the impendlibertarians were a fringe on the of the past year. Andrew Breitbart ing Republican nomination for CPAC radar, usually referred to had the crowd in stitches with a President in 2012. This was even as “Goldwater conservatives” for humorous retelling of his encounmore complicated by the presthe late Arizona Senator. Last year, ters exposing the hatred and psyence of more openly libertarian chotic nature of leftist community organizations, and the controversy though, Ron Paul was the unlikely winner of the annual straw poll organizers like the SEIU, ACORN, surrounding the participation of openly-gay groups. In short, it was the most uncouth gathering in recent CPAC history. The myriad of potential presidential candidates cast a shadow over the conference. Nearly every prospective Republican candi- Ann Coulter ‘84 and Andrew Breitbart were highlights of the recent Conservative Political Action date made a speech Conference. in the main ballthat asked which candidate atand Code Pink. Historian Tom room, from dark horses like Sen. tendees would like to see as the Woods was there to discuss cutting John Thune to assumed frontrunRepublican candidate. As a conseback big government. Wall Street ner Mitt Romney. There was a con- quence, more libertarians showed Journal columnist John Fund pretrast between the speeches from up, amplifying the foreign policy sented the most recent information this year and those from last year, disputes between the ideologies about voter fraud. Ann Coulter, which had focused on differentiat- and leading to yet anther straw poll Cornell ‘84 and a founder of our esteemed publication, wrapped up the conference with a speech that harnessed her acerbic wit and conservative analysis, noting events within the past year, like how President Barack Obama has turned “our entire health care system to the DMV.” The journalists and coming “us” from “them” in anticipawin for Texas congressman. mentators may have been more tion of the midterm election. Most Another oddity between this endearing than the politicians attendees were camped out among years CPAC and those of the past making their pitches for 2012 several different politicians instead was the unusually abrasive schism and the sexual preference-crazed of being united under a handful over issues that have never even groups, but the conference is about of candidates. There were mulbeen immediately at the forefront more than that. As J.P. Freire ‘04, tiple factors at play that left the at a conference that has always associate editor of commentary sentiment so peculiar. First and been about rallying the base. For at the Washington Examiner and foremost, the past two years have instance, there was early controformer writer for the Cornell been a dramatic revision of the versy from conservative family Review, noted, “CPAC isn’t about Republican party, particularly with groups boycotting CPAC because the speeches, those can be found the rise of the grassroots-based Tea of GOProud, the conservative online anyway. It’s about meetParty, leaving the floor open to a gay rights group, having a role as ing people, making a conservation number of leaders within the dea “participating organization.” with the person sitting next to you centralized movement. Second, the These associations, including and being exposed to other like“traditional” Presidential nomithe American Family Association minds.” Freire has the right idea, nee would have been either John and National Organization for after all, in two years Rep. Allen McCain, the last GOP candidate, or Marriage, even had some supportWest went from being a concerned his prospective Vice, Sarah Palin, ers waiting outside and around citizen to the 2011 keynote speaker. who are both unlikely nominees. the conference area with cards This wide open field led to even alleging the fall of society if gays Kathleen McCaffrey is a junior in the most unlikely prospects hintare allowed to marry. Arguably the College of Arts and Sciences. She ing at tossing their hat in the ring, this abrasiveness originated last can be reached at kam424@ from Michele Bachmann to Donald year after Ryan Sorba was booed cornell.edu.
Whereas last years conference was charged by the prospect of winning back the House and the Senate, this year was all about the impending Republican nomination for President in 2012.
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February 16, 2011
Privacy 2.0 Kathleen McCaffrey Campus News Editor
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n February third, Cornell hosted George Washington University law professor Daniel Solove to discuss the future of reputation on the Internet. Solove was a good candidate for the job, as he has authored nine books and more than forty articles on privacy law, including the most widely used textbook on the subject. In addition to his academic accomplishments, he is the senior policy advisor at Hogan Lovells, blogs at Concurring Opinions, and is the cofounder
“[Laws] that govern privacy usually lack the nuanced language necessary to be applied to the odd “twilight” of the Internet.” of TeachPrivacy, an education consulting firm that helps schools with privacy issues. As Solove explained, his own fascination with the world of social engagement on the Internet was
Jordan Continued from the front page groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Communist Party of Jordan, and had different messages. Protestors have likely been encouraged by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, but, regardless of external events, now is a good time to protest in Jordan because the current cabinet has failed to address economic concerns and looks vulnerable. Relations between Jordanians and Palestinians seem good on the surface, yet if a Jordanian police officer were to accidentally kill or injure a Palestinian demonstrator, there would be a small, but non-negligible, chance of civil war. This description is unusual, and probably not satisfying. It lacks authority, a clear explanation of causes, and conclusive predictions. It would probably also result in my firing from any major news publication. The main thing I have learned attending protests in Jordan, in addition to some nifty phrases
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Campus piqued in 2005 when he started these types of defamation episodes. to participate in the blogosphere. This is because, as he stated, laws Since authors of blogs can see in- that govern privacy usually lack stant feedback to know that people the nuanced language necessary to are reading their work, the medium be applied to the odd “twilight” of has become wildly popular. In fact, the Internet. Strangely, the result over the past seven years, the num- is that they protect corporations’ ber of blogs have gone from a hand- more often than individuals’ privaful to well over fifty million. cy. Furthermore, the concept of a Yet the Internet has a dark side, “breach of confidence” when spillregarding privacy, about which Solove writes. In his talk, he made a few key points about how lives have been destroyed because of incidents on the Internet. One of his examples was the wildly popular ‘Star Wars Kid’, who was parodied all over the net and on ‘Arrested Development.’ So- Daniel Solove of George Washington University Law School love points out, and rightfully so, that these sorts of ing someone’s personal secrets on missteps and faux pas are amplified the Internet is not culpable in the a thousand times over in the age of United States, unlike Britain. Predictably, Mr. Solove’s solution the Internet, and very few people look to find out “more” about a per- was law-based. His ideal comproson being teased on the web. Solove mise would not restrict speech, but also mentioned the impact sites like would keep episodes like the Tyler JuicyCampus have had on the col- Clementi incident, where a young lege ethos. Solove considers them man committed suicide after havdestructive since these gossip sites ing a homosexual episode broadcreate hearsay in a vein that can- cast via webcam, at bay through not really be managed or combat- the looming threat of a lawsuit for ted reasonably. He characterized such violations of personal privathis type of technological infamy as cy. That, of course, would require rewriting much of the privacy law “permanent digital damage.” It wouldn’t have been a presen- today, adapting it to include contation worth attending, though, if siderations of the Internet. Solove Solove had no solutions to combat made good use of examples to corthe fragility of reputation on the In- roborate the idea that loopholes ternet. He explained succinctly that in the law have led to individuals the law is too antiquated to fight in Arabic, is that events and opinions unfold much more randomly in the real world than popular narratives allow. One radical conclusion would be to avoid these misleading narratives all together and ignore
the news, but I think critical reading and a wariness of predictions can suffice. Some measure of self-deception is necessary to feel comfortable understanding the world around us; if we are aware of this, it is unlikely to harm us.
Democracy Continued from the front page however, the democratic process is interrupted by those who demand too much of the government, as Buruma describes. The final, and the most powerful adversary of democracy, are what Buruma calls the followers of the “Chinese model”. The Chinese model is defined as an authoritarian government operating a rather liberal economy, which Buruma says is so frightening because of its apparent success. The fact that China has, through market liberalization but with minimal state cessions of power, bettered its economy and the standard of living of its people can encourage certain radical governments to embrace the model. This would be an obvious blow to democratic movements in these nations, as the Chinese model is anything but democratic. It binds the people together through a common belief in certain ethics and spiritualism that would be difficult to usurp democratically once begun.
experiencing personal harm with no hope to procure damages. Sadly, the lecture seemed to neglect the popular theory that our generation is in the middle of a transition period that may be selfrefining. Maybe the answer to preserving reputation in the age of the Internet will lie in a revival of personal responsibility. Maybe our generation has to be far more careful and conscious of what is recorded and posted to the web. It is not fair that we can be held culpable for our actions long after we grow out of them or regret them. Sometimes people act as their own worst enemies; consider the Streisand effect, or the unintended consequence of perversely causing information to be publicized more widely and to a greater extent than would have occurred if no contrary action had been attempted to mask it. (The Star Wars Kid did just that.) As long as we understand that we have never owned our reputations, perhaps we can all start to become more responsible on the web, or at least begin to grasp what an inaccurate picture it can paint. Our generation is due to learn new habits; one cannot think that the “bad parts” of web-oriented globalization can be controlled or undone through courtrooms. C-SPAN
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Kathleen McCaffrey is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at kam424@cornell. edu. The way around this, according to Buruma, is to define liberal democracy in three solid terms: compromise, tolerance, and individual liberty. Any democracy must be willing to compromise, as long as these compromises do not go back on principles. Tolerance is important as long as violent intolerance is appropriately combated so as to not disrupt the views of the majority. Finally, individual liberty is well and good so long as it does not lead to a total dissolution of state power. The speech was overall well received and people largely agreed with the professor’s sentiments. Though few were able or willing to talk at the end of the assembly, most discussion focused on the positive reaction to the talk. Sales of his book that day, according to those working the table, were very solid after the speech’s conclusion.
Joseph Bonica is a junior in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and can be reached at jmb582@cornell.edu.
Campus
Investor or Invader? China's growing influence in Africa Christopher Slijk Staff Writer
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he explosive growth and expansion of the Chinese economy has dominated the headlines for the past decade, and now it seems that China has begun to project its influence far beyond the confines of East Asia or the shelves of Wal-Mart. The last two decades have seen a massive expansion of Chinese investment and development in Zambia, Mozambique, Sudan, and other resource-rich Sub-Saharan African countries. From buying 25% ownership in Standard Bank, the largest commercial bank in Africa, to spending billions of dollars on infrastructure, to accumulating a net investment value which is now believed to outstrip World Bank aid, it is clear that China is racing to establish itself as a significant presence in Africa. Could this be a new race for resources? Perhaps an imperialistic power-grab in the mold of the “Scramble for Africa” of the late 19th century’? Or could this simply be an attempt to open up new markets and encourage additional trade for the benefit of all? Though many are alarmed by this rapid expansion of Chinese investment, the more immediate concern for native Africans and human rights champions alike is what these new developments mean for the Africans who will be living amongst new foreign businesses and reaping the benefits – or suffering the misfortunes – that they bring. On February 3rd, Professor Muna Ndulo of the Cornell Law School spoke on the changing business dynamics that Chinese investment has brought to Africa, and the problems that it exposed in terms of worker safety and treatment. Professor Continued from page 8 but still thinks that it is too early to tell for sure. “There are very few examples [of revolutions] that have ended in chaos,” she said, noting that the protests must end either in a democracy or in a regime incorporating some democratic ideas. While this optimism in a democratic future
Ndulo holds the optimistic view that the massive influx of Chinese investment has been a net positive, offering impoverished African nations an alternative to the long-standing practice of accepting handouts, which characterize much of the Western
conditions of those in the employ of Chinese businesses, he assuages these concerns somewhat by pointing out that the Chinese workers are working alongside them in the same conditions and, as time goes on and infrastructure improvements take
aid to Africa. This new wave of investment has given African countries the opportunity to build lasting infrastructure, industrial capacity, and other improvements that will ben-
hold, these conditions will gradually improve. Yet this idealistic notion has not been reflected by the reality of China’s human rights violations thus far. An example was presented this past October, when a particularly gruesome incident took place wherein the Chinese executives of a Zambian mine fired upon and wounded 11 miners after their protestations of poor pay and working conditions. Are such incidents exceptions to the rule, or do they point to a larger underlying problem in the way the Chinese treat their workers and, more broadly, their role in Africa? Are they acting as an exploiter rather than as a trading partner? While not absolving the Chinese of blame in incidents such as these, Professor Ndulo believes that worker safety is not ultimately the responsibility of the Chinese businesses; they are, after all, simply looking
China has begun to project its influence far beyond the confines of East Asia or the shelves of Wal-Mart. efit more than just the ruling classes. While Professor Ndulo does recognize the poor living and working was shared by all the panelists, they predicted a less rosy future in the short term. Professor Fahmy thinks that after the protests have calmed down, the organizers will start disappearing. Patel had envisioned some sort of transitional government led by newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman, but Suleiman has already handed the country
to the military, demonstrating just how unpredictable the future of the Egyptian revolution will be. However, their optimism in a stable democratic government was not shared by many students in the audience. Lena Halabi, a graduate student from Lebanon, was more doubtful about the future of Egypt. In response to the panelists high hopes, she observed,
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out for their own interests as any business would. Amidst all of the criticism of China, he proclaimed his belief that “...the first line of defense of human rights is not international, it is domestic.” While China is doing business in Africa, it is the job of local governments to protect its citizens and uphold the human rights they have recognized in their respective constitutions. It is they, not the international community, that have the foremost responsibility to hold Chinese businesses accountable to whatever work and safety standards they have agreed upon. Overall, Professor Ndulo laments the unwillingness of African nations to articulate their own interests, saying that they must determine how they wish to benefit from trade with China and that ultimately “...it is up to Africa to control [the] relationship.” Ultigravesen.info mately, it must be African governments that take up the responsibility of managing their relationships with this ever-growing trade and investment partner. Professor Ndulo closed with the comment that, despite the wealth of resources in Africa, these nations are “drowning in [their] own copper.” What China’s expanding influence over Africa means for the future geopolitical landscape and the resource security of the West is unclear, but for Africans it is certain to bring sweeping changes, both in revitalized infrastructure and in growing tensions between local workers and their Chinese managers. Yet, this investment might just be what the continent needs to open the door to substantive changes from decades of squandered foreign aid and corrupt, inefficient governance. Christopher Slijk is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at cps95@cornell.edu. “I know how hard it is to get things done in the Arab world…people have to pay for what politicians want to do with the country.”
Noah Kantro is a freshman in the College of Engineering. He can be reached at nk366@cornell.edu.
The Review welcomes and encourages letters to the editor. Long, gaseous letters that seem to go on forever are best suited for publication in the Cornell Daily Sun. The Review requests that all letters to the editor be limited to 350 words. Please send all questions, comments, and concerns to thecornell.review@gmail.com
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Campus
February 16, 2011
Living in Zion Sam Pell Staff Writer
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his week, I had the honor of interviewing Prof. Geoffrey Herman. Prof. Herman is a Jewish studies professor who specializes in ancient Jewish history – particularly the Jews in Babylonia. Trained at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he has taught both there and in America. He is spending this year as a visiting professor at Cornell. Last semester, I took a course from him on the Jewish Galilee in Late Antiquity. CR: You were raised in England? Prof. Herman: I grew up in London and moved to Israel when I was 18. CR: Why did you move to Israel? Prof. Herman: It was a combination of reasons. Partially religious reasons. I thought it was the right place to practice my religion. CR: Why would that be, for those who aren’t as familiar with the Jewish religion? Prof Herman: Firstly, it’s a more comfortable place to practice one’s religion. It’s easier. Being Jewish there is normal. Judaism is more public. There’s a better feeling about practicing one’s religion. There’s a saying that comes out of the German Jewish Enlightenment that says, “One should be a Jew in his home and a mensch on the street.” I didn’t identify with that. I felt that [being a Jew] should be one’s whole life, not a separation like that. So Israel felt like the right place in that sense. And it’s the "promised land": the place where the Jewish people are supposed to be by Biblical promise. And that was important to me. I also believed in it from a nationalist perspective. I’m a Zionist. I wanted to be part of a Jewish homeland, a Jewish country. There was also something about going back to one’s roots. My mother was from Israel. CR: When did she move to England? Prof. Herman: She moved to England when she was 19. She married. She moved as part of that stage in her life . . . My grandfather had come to Israel in the 1920’s. So I had a large family there from that side. CR: Normally you hear about Jews moving to Israel in the ‘40’s. So there was a mass migration in the twenties as well? Prof. Herman: Not a mass migration, in the ‘20’s it was a trickle. The story is that my grandfather came from Russia by foot by himself. He ran away from home. There was a stream of people coming, settling. My grandmother, whom I never knew – she had come. Her father had
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brought the whole family over, also in the 20’s., 11 children. They’d come from Poland . . . CR: Were they coming for religious reasons? Prof. Herman: In this period many people were coming for religious reasons. Also idealistic reasons. CR: Yeah, Herzl had been published by this point. Prof. Herman: . . . It wasn’t just during the Holocaust when Jews were feeling uncomfortable in Europe, there was a long period. Life certainly wasn’t easy at that time . . . CR: What’s it like raising a family in Israel now? Prof. Herman: It’s pretty much like anywhere else. I live in Jerusalem in a very quaint neighborhood. Life is pretty regular. School and the usual concerns of a family. CR: Is there much conflict in your area between Jews and Palestinians? Prof. Herman: No. Jerusalem is a mixed city. One third of the population is Arab, generally the populations are divided geographically. There isn’t much conflict generally. During times of particular tension there can be a little bit of trouble in areas other than Jerusalem. In my student days when I went to the [Hebrew] university on Mt. Scopus - one travels through a part of town which is Arab - the bus would be stoned sometimes but that didn’t really affect my day-today life. CR: So for the most part Jews and Arabs are living side-by-side and there’s only tension in periods of conflict? Prof. Herman: Tension happens in areas where – side-by-side isn’t exactly right. Neighborhood-byneighborhood is how they do it. That’s more or less the situation in Israel and Jerusalem. Everybody works together – that kind of division doesn’t exist in the workplace, but Jews and Arabs tend to live in separate neighborhoods. But during the intifadas you would have tension, or if there was a terrorist attack, and there was a period when Jews were targeted. Then there was more concern. They targeted buses, places of entertainment. You think a little bit about where you’re going. But otherwise things are pretty calm, in recent years much more than before. CR: Why did you choose to come to Cornell? Prof. Herman: I was offered the opportunity to teach here for a year and I jumped at the opportunity. It’s a wonderful institution, I’m very happy here. The department is excellent, the students very impressive. I feel very fortunate. CR: What was the most surprising
a chat with Professor Geo¤rey Herman thing you discovered about the American university? How is the American university different from the Israeli universities in which you taught? Prof. Herman: I can talk more about [my] department; it might not be true for other departments. But it’s more intimate. Also, the attitude toward grad students [at Cornell] is much more inclusive than universities in Israel – valuing each one individually and training them. While I was at grad school I hardly knew the different students who were studying the same things I was. Here you can count and you can name each one – they’re all on the website. Each one I think is given a lot more consideration. CR: Do you have any idea about why this isn’t the case in Israel? Does this arise from different ideas about the university? Prof. Herman: I don’t think it’s ideology. I think it’s a little bit about the lifestyle. In Israel my field – for better or for worse- is very popular. There are a lot of students, a lot of graduate students. But it’s a different atmosphere. University is something you fit in between the rest of your life. Students in Israel are older. They start college at age 22 after serving in the army. And they’re typically holding down a job at the same time. And they come and go from lectures. It’s a different feeling on the whole than an American college. CR: What inspired you to study ancient Babylonia? Mainly religious reasons? Prof. Herman: No, I loved history from childhood. As a kid I liked the Romans, then I slowly moved Eastward in my interests. And I was very interested in Jewish history and ancient history. I think ultimately my choice of ancient history had to do with the teachers who were lecturing in that meaningful first year or two at the Hebrew University. CR: Were classes taught in Hebrew? Prof. Herman: Everything was in Hebrew. But I came to Israel with Hebrew when I was 18. I learned it from synagogue, school, and I had worked on it myself. Well, at least I thought I knew it well until I got my first reading assignments in academic Hebrew.. CR: Yep. Prof. Herman: Yes, you can imagine. But also I came to Israel when I was 18 and didn’t start university until I was 21. I served in the Army, but that had also been a time to brush up on
one’s language skills. CR: How was the Army? Prof. Herman: For me it was –well first of all the military isn’t something you do once and then you’re finished with. You have reserve duty for another 10-15 years after initial service. Initial service was very meaningful. It was very important to do my part. It was important to go through it in order to feel like a full citizen. And it was eye-opening because one is thrown into Israeli society. And one learns a lot more, one serves with people from different socioeconomic circumstances and different cultures. You meet different kinds of people, both Jews and Arabs – Arabs can serve – certain Arab ethnic groups, like the Bedouin and Druze, can serve. So you meet all these people from very different backgrounds. On the other hand it was a bit of a disappointment. I had asthma. I wasn’t able to be a combat soldier. I was in the education corps . . . It was very unglamorous, really. CR: How knowledgeable do you think the average American is when it comes to the situation in Israel today? Prof. Herman: Oh! That’s not an area I specialize in. My sense is that Americans have some kind of an idea about what’s going on, but it’s not that important to most of them. Since 9/11 I’m sure there’s been a lot more interest in the region as a whole.. CR: Have you been able to talk to anyone on campus about Israel and the Middle East, or does it not come up? Prof. Herman: On campus it doesn’t come up but on the street people are very friendly. I say I’m from Israel, they’re very interested. I get a positive response on the whole. That’s a good feeling. It’s the way it should be. It’s just one other country in the world. CR: How has living in Israel affected your scholarly work? Prof. Herman: The reason why I initially chose to study at [the Hebrew University was] because it was the best place for what I wanted to study. We heard lectures on Mt. Scopus, but through the window of the lecture hall we could see in the distance Herodion – Herodion is an ancient historical site where Herod is supposed to be buried. We were studying topics, and they were within reach. You could go for a walk in the university grounds and see the Jewish catacombs that also would come up in lectures. There was an exciting sense of being in Continued on the right
Campus
Junior's big idea is to solve obesity with technology Dan Green ’12 believes automated calorie counting is the first step toward healthy diets Oliver Renick Editor-in-Chief
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hen Dan Green ’12 woke up for class in high school, his first order of business was food. But not quite in the conventional sense. Instead of groggily overfilling a bowl with Cinnamon Toast Crunch or tossing slabs of bacon in a pile of grease, he’d carefully count out 28 almonds. Why? Because that’s the serving size listed on the box and Dan Green knows numbers don’t lie. The problem, Green says, is that people’s eyes lie. That’s why the applied nutrition and psychology major began DANI, Dynamic Automated Nutrition Innovations, a start-up company that aims to solve America’s big problem—obesity—by creating technology that provides people with a way to accurately and effortlessly monitor their consumption habits. “If you look at it from kind of a macro perspective, obesity is America’s #1 public health crisis,” he told The Review. “Everyone thinks we’re just lazy, but if you look at the data in the last 40 years when obesity spiked, it came from this environment where we always eat these huge portions, and there weren’t really any tools to help these people measure how much they eat.” DANI’s headline product is a wireless food scale that connects with mobile applications to provide users with smarter information about their food. It is currently entering the semi-final round of Cornell’s Big Idea competition. The hardware pairs with smartphones, tablets, and computers so that the user has a simple and convenient way to measure the amount of food that they consume. It then records the information, storing it the place where the events we were studying occurred. And that was very inspiring. Eventually my interests moved to places I couldn’t go to: Babylonia and Iran. But that feeling of being able to study a topic like Jerusalem and explore was very exciting. [In Jewish history] the level is very high . . . I’m just looking now at one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. [The Hebrew University] was one place where a class of freshmen could find themselves reading them in the original and be able to discuss them – which is quite unique. The university has a very large and wonderful department in Jewish studies. Imagine this, just for ancient Jewish History (not including
for data tracking and real-time information analysis. With the weight loss product industry reaching an estimated $44 million, the demand for various types of diet supplements and technologies is surging. Almost 77% of Americans are trying to lose or maintain weight, Green says, but 88% can’t correctly measure how many calories they take in on a daily basis. “There’s a thing called energy balance: change in body weight equals energy in minus energy out;
serving. But it could be two or three servings.” With DANI, the consumer puts the bowl on a wireless scale, which tares to zero and then weighs the input. By scaling each serving, the consumer no longer relies on inaccurate visual measurements for what needs to be a precise quantitative assessment. “DANI is a platform. Every time you hear about a weight loss diet there’s some degree of portion control, whether its low carbs or high protein, and you need a way to
it’s a basic law of thermodynamics,” says Green. The seemingly simple equation breaks down, however, when one can’t measure the input variables. Green says the nutrition facts you see on the back of your food packages are hard for consumers to gauge and sometimes downright confusing. Without knowing how much is enough, any diet plan or healthy eating efforts fall apart quickly. DANI wants to fill that gap. “People see one bowl of cereal, one piece of fruit, and since they see it as one unit, they think it’s one
quantify that. So we serve as that middle person.” DANI also helps the user obtain useful information about the food they’re consuming, as well. The person can scan a product’s barcode UPC with their smartphone, recording that meal’s information so that as the bowl fills with food, the application displays real-time nutrition information about the contents. That’s everything you’re used to seeing on the box: saturated fat, sugar, vitamins, and of course, serving sizes. For the competitive dieter, the information compiled by
Bible) there were 6 full professors, as well as 3 or 4 adjuncts.
They’ve made friends, and they’re excited about being here and also about the snow.
You expect that because it’s Israel, but nevertheless it provides great opportunities, and that was what I wanted to do. CR: So how do your kids like Israel? Prof. Herman: They love it. Israel’s what they know and they’re very happy there. Here – they’ve integrated very nicely in the school system. That was a concern for me. I have 5 kids from 10 to 2 years old. They’ve joined schools here. They knew some English before, since my wife is originally from the States and we have always spoken English at home, but not what you need for school. But the kids, they’ve fallen in nicely.
CR: Bet you don’t get much of that in Israel. CR: How did you meet your wife? She visited Israel and we met there. She’s originally a New Yorker, so being in Ithaca she’s finding there might actually be other parts of New York state besides NYC that are worth living in. CR: Thanks so much for your time, Prof. Herman.
Sam Pell is a sophomore in the College of Arts &Sciences. He can be reached at sep87@cornell.edu.
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DANI can then be shared through social media like Facebook or Twitter, creating what Green sees as a potential ‘FourSquare for food.’ Green isn’t intimidated by the 100s of different calorie counters and diet apps on the smartphone market, or the fact that the weight loss industry generated $3.9 billion in revenue in 2010. He believes that the dependence of these products on the consumer’s measuring abilities greatly deters them from effectively improving the user’s habits. “It’s really hard for people just to eat less; it’s like me telling you to study more to get your grades up. But if I tell you to study half an hour more in calculus or a half an hour more in computer science, it’s
smarter information – that’s what we call it. It’s not just standard advice, it’s a way for you to see what exactly you’re doing.” DANI’s very personal, user-focused interface may be a product of Green’s time as a student at Cornell. Originally a biology major, he instead created a course of study that focuses on the psychology underpinning the way people eat, and the way one’s social surroundings affect their diet. The idea for an advanced diet monitoring technology first came when Green worked on an experiment with acclaimed Cornell professor Dr. Brian Wansink. Wansink, a former Executive Director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, is the author of Mindless Eating and has directed all kinds of wacky and revealing studies, from self-refilling soup bowls to examining the serving sizes in paintings of The Last Supper. While observing how students serve themselves at a buffet, Green realized the potential uses for a wireless scale. As students approached the table and slapped food on their plates, Green and other researchers at Cornell Food and Brand Lab were closely following the measurements on a hidden scale. What they found was that overweight students drastically Please turn to page 9
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February 16, 2011
The Science of Fracking Greg Stein Staff Writer On Thursday, February 3rd, Dr. Robert L. Kleinberg of Schlumberger-Doll Research gave a talk entitled “The Marcellus Shale: Science & Technology” in the main lecture hall of the new Physical Sciences Building. As this year’s speaker in the Moses Passer lecture series, Dr. Kleinberg presented his take on the “shale gas” reserves in the Marcellus Shale that currently exists over thirty-five hundred feet below Cornell University and a large portion of New England. The lecture began with a talk about energy. Natural gas is the most versatile of the fossil fuels; not only can it be used for transit, as oil is, but it can also be used for heating homes and operating factories. Additionally, it is easier to transport in large quantities and releases less of those dreade d
A few years ago, geologists discovered a literal gold mine of natural gas trapped within the Marcellus Shale totaling to a reserve that could provide enough energy to last thirty years. Most people assume that this natural gas is contained within large open spaces that by some geologic miracle managed to hold enormous pockets of the energy source, but Dr. Kleinberg informed his crowd that this is not the case. The reason the shale in this area still contains so much gas is that it contains many tiny microscopic pockets. The gas, instead of moving to special wells, like oil, has stayed in
to arise once large corporations start trying to extract the resource, and local residents have begun to wonder if the most effective and popular technique, known as hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking, is actually safe. Hydrofracking has become a frightening term for people in this
hydraulicfracturing.com
CO2 molecules when it is consumed. While Dr. Kleinberg, like many who are concerned about energy, believes that the planet needs to cut back its addiction on fossil fuels, he recognizes that the transition will take a long time and, in the interim, feels that natural gas is the way to go.
place since it formed. Unlike oil reserves, which require sophisticated technology locate, the shale gas is ubiquitous. Contained within tiny pores in most of the rock, the gas can be found almost anywhere in the Marcellus Shale. The questions and concerns really begin
Egypt in Turmoil Professors optimistic about democracy Noah Kantro Staff Writer
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or the past several weeks, news of the Egyptian uprising against president Hosni Mubarak has been the headline story of almost every news report around the globe. Cornell’s response to this crisis came as – you guessed it – a discussion panel, consisting of both government and Middle Eastern Studies professors. This group of political insiders tried to shed some light on a revolution that has already seen the political landscape of Egypt change more in a fortnight than it has in the last half century. To better understand the origins of the mass protests, Professor Zaid Fahmy provided a brief overview of modern Egyptian
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politics, which are dominated by the ruling party of President Mubarak. “People are not really allowed to express their political opinions openly,” he said, linking this to the policestate nature of the society. According to the professor, it is a society where “police torture is endemic” and everyone knows someone who has been abused by the police. The police presence in Egypt is immense, with the Fahmy reporting that “Internal Security” forces, responsible for overseeing the population, number close to 1.5 million agents, while the national army, responsible for overseeing the safety of the population, is only half a million strong. “When in Cairo,” he said, “almost every few meters you will see a uniformed officer.” As for the revolution, Fahmy believes its origins can be traced to
While it has come to be known as some type of “blasting” or “shooting”, hydrofracking is actually quite the opposite. Over the course of multiple hours, a large volume of water, mixed with some salts (often mostly table salt), is pumped down a carefully drilled well. This process eventually provides the approximately two thousand pounds per square inch of pressure one needs to open up the pores containing the gas, and is stopped. Much of the water is sucked back out of the well and the high-pressured gas, which can now escape, is collected. After explaining this, Dr. Kleinberg addressed the various safety concerns of audience members from the community. He pointed out that the water table, which goes down only about eight hundred fifty feet, is nowhere near even the very top of the shale (at thirty-five hundred feet). He asserted that the vast majority of problems that arise from the drilling are a consequence of one very basic and well-reported issue: lack of integrity in the concrete surrounding the well’s foundation. While Dr. Kleinberg pointed out that nothing like the “Deepwater Horizon” could ever happen in Ithaca, he did say that he and his colleagues believe the laying of this concrete is the only part of the hydraulic Fracturing process that could really benefit from government regulation. While some skeptics will continue to remain unconvinced, Dr. Robert Kleinberg left his audience with a series of cogent reasons why hydraulic fracturing is a great idea.
area. Many are worried that the process could upset the environment and damage crops, which they need Greg Stein is a sophomore in the to make a living. Contrary to popular belief, however, hydraulic frac- College of Engineering and can be turing is a relatively slow process. reached at gjs58@cornell.edu. popular outrage over the government’s suppression of a labor strike on April 6th, 2008, which was recorded by citizens with mobile phones and marked the beginning of a series of protests against the rulers of the country. For the past several years, these demonstrations have largely been kept from becoming regimethreatening by the internal security forces. Public anger grew after it was revealed that the police covered up the death of a man they had beaten, but the spark that ignited the current round of protests was the successful revolt in Tunisia, which served as an example for the Egyptians. Fahmy emphasized the critical role the internet and social media played in what he called the “Facebook revolution”. Support for the protests was gained through YouTube channels and Facebook pages, and Twitter was the tool of choice for communicating during the protests after the government shut down internet and phone service. The second panelist, Professor David Patel of the Government department, addressed the future of Egyptian government. While much has been made of the possibility of the Muslim Brotherhood coming
to power and implementing oppressive Islamic law in Egypt, Patel does not see them as a strong contender for control of the country. He noted that for years the Muslim Brotherhood has been the only organized alternative to Mubarak’s ruling party, and has gained support not from the poor or the rural, but mostly from educated young professionals. However, he observes that, “It is really hard to know how support for the Muslim Brotherhood [under Mubarak] is going to translate into support for the Muslim Brotherhood afterwards in a democracy.” Another reason for this is the powerful military, who Patel believes would never allow the Muslim Brotherhood to take outright control of the country. Still, the speakers all agreed that if a democracy forms in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood will be a powerful voice within it, and as Patel succinctly stated, “The Muslim Brothers don’t think in years; they think in decades.” The third and final speaker, International Studies professor Valerie Bunce, voiced her optimism in the possibility of a democratic Egypt, Please turn to page 5
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February 16, 2011
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Continued from page 7 underserved themselves for their size, a concept known as social facilitation. Green decided that if people could just accurately measure what they were eating, such drastic measures wouldn’t have to take place. As a child who fought and overcame obesity, Green believes that conventional weight-loss programs, and even exercising, don’t isolate the real problem. His career goal is to shift the paradigm for
weight-loss from exercise-centric to diet related. “Nowadays if you want to lose weight, most people join a gym and spend up to 800 dollars a year, and get nowhere, and get discouraged and quit. We know what you eat has more of an impact on body weight. Exercise is great – it’s great psychologically, it’s great overall for you well-being, but losing weight should be all about diet.” Right now Green’s top priority is beating the other 24 finalists to win the Big Idea Competition’s $4,000
so he can get a team of engineers to begin creating the actual streamlined devices. Down the road, he has aspirations for an IPO. With the American healthcare system expected to spend over $300 billion per year by 2018 solely on obesity-related care, Green wants to fill the need for tools and strategies for national weight loss. Although Green sees enormous potential for profitability, there is also a bigger picture. “With over 200 million Americans being overweight or obese,
obesity is now the nation’s largest preventable health crisis,” Green says in his Big Idea introduction. “With just a 10% reduction in weight loss, a system like DANI can help eliminate type II diabetes, drastically decrease blood pressure, and even reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Oliver Renick is a junior in the College of Engineering. He may be reached at ojr5@cornell.edu.
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National
February 16, 2011
Shocking: Radio Satirist Uses Satire
Limbaugh joins the ranks of lefties Rosie O’Donnell, Janeane Garofalo, and nearly every other comedian in managing to rile up people with no sense of humor
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ou know it’s bad when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes a nonbinding resolution about how racist you are. That’s what happened to the talk radio mogul with the self-described “talent on loan from God,” Rush Limbaugh, when he briefly imitated the Mandarin language of Communist Chinese President Hu Jintao. Using a cheap variation of the “ching chong” mocking of the nearly eight hundred year old language usually reserved for the deleted scenes on a DVD set of Mad TV, Limbaugh lampooned the leader’s speech at the White House state dinner put on for the totalitarian state holding nearly a trillion dollars in American debt. Limbaugh had intended to poke fun at the sound of Jintao’s stern delivery of the White House speech, which was originally presented without an English translation. Limbaugh is famous for creating controversy surrounding his top rated radio show. While he is most well-known for irking liberals, the afternoon talker with a four hundred million dollar contract got on the bad side of some social conservatives last year when he invited Elton John to sing at his wedding at the luxurious Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. In addition to welcoming the famously homosexual singer to his nuptials, Limbaugh professed his affinity for civil unions for same sex couples, a position shared by President Obama and Elton John himself. However, the Jintao impression has received much more attention in the press. The “controversy” started when a San Francisco politician, State
You know it’s bad when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes a nonbinding resolution about how racist you are. Senator Leland Yee, heard about the impressions on the website of “Media Matters for America,” a liberal watchdog concentrating on figures like Limbaugh, and led an attempt to boycott sponsors of Limbaugh’s show, including
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Pro Flowers and Domino’s Pizza. Asian-American politicians and interest groups across the country seized on the opportunity to grab
In fact, Limbaugh’s peers on the left haven’t exactly been angels in the offensive jokes department. Comedienne Rosie O’Donnell found
PREMIERE RADIO
Michael Alan Staff Writer
His formerly nicotine stained fingers: Rush Limbaugh under fire for being Rush Limbaugh.
a headline in their local paper and joined Yee’s condemnation of Limbaugh. The day after the kerfuffle erupted, Limbaugh, true to form, commended himself for doing a “remarkable job” imitating the Chinese language and compared himself to Sid Caesar, the comic actor of Grease fame known for his impressions of languages he didn’t speak. The fact that Limbaugh compared himself to Sid Caesar and laughed off the boycott attempt suggests a serious disconnect between Limbaugh and his regular listeners and the general public. Limbaugh and the people who listen to his show on a regular basis see him as a satirist who comments on current events. He doesn’t see himself as having “talent on loan from God” any more than Howard Stern sees himself as the “King of All Media” and his impression of Hu Jintao’s loud, fragmented style of speaking should be no more offensive (although, admittedly, a lot less funny) than when Bill Hader does the same thing on Saturday Night Live.
herself in similarly hot water in 2006 when she imitated Chinese newscasters using a similar “ching chong” bit on ABC’s The View. Others, however, like Janeane Garofalo, who headlined the failed “progressive alternative” to conservative talk radio, Air America, have made far more personal and actually offensive jokes. One of Garofalo’s most infamous controversies surrounds her coining of the term “tea bagger,” referring to a sex act, to describe tea party activists. Lefty comedian Stephen Colbert brought the faux-controversy full circle, playing a clip of the twenty seconds of Limbaugh’s show featuring the impression and shrugging it off whilst mocking Limbaugh’s manner of speech himself and claiming that when the host gets up, “his chair smells like a box of cat litter.” Michael Alan is a freshman in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He can be reached at mja93@ cornell.edu.
The State of Nationalism Alfonse Muglia Staff Writer
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resident Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, January 25, in his annual State of the Union address. In the course of the roughly hour long speech, Obama laid out his agenda for the upcoming year in the typical, over-the-top fashion that has become a trademark of the State of the Union. “We are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea,” raved President Obama to a chorus of bipartisan applause. “America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world,” he went on to say. “No workers, no workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs.” Through quotes like these and inspiration tales of ordinary, yet heroic Americans who epitomize the American dream, the president attempted to instill feelings of optimism in the legislators in attendance and the millions of Americans watching at home. He tried to spark feelings of American pride, while ignoring the partisan feuds that have evolved in the first two years of his administration. “We need to out-innovate, outeducate, and out-build the rest of the world,” Obama continued. The plan for how to do so, however, will come behind closed doors, stirring partisan debates and becoming drawn out by the legislative process. The physical possibility of President Obama addressing this large of an audience throughout the year is slim, so when he and all the presidents before him get their night to shine, they have repeatedly constructed their speeches with the themes of nationalism and optimism. This sense of promoting optimism and togetherness was highlighted especially this year by the fact that both chambers broke tradition by not sitting along party lines. In the agreement, originally proposed by Colorado Sen. Mark Udall in the aftermath of the January 8th shootings in Tucson, Arizona that killed six and wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, ’96, senators and representatives were allowed to sit wherever they wished. Senators John McCain and John Kerry, the last two men to lose in presidential elections, sat shoulder to shoulder. This year’s address was also marked by the removal of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from her chair behind President Obama, with John Boehner now awkwardly sitting and fidgeting with Vice President Joe Biden as Continued on the next page
National
Nebraska Follows Arizona’s Lead on Immigration Lucia Rafanelli National News Editor
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n recent months, the landscape of national immigration debates has changed dramatically due to Arizona’s bold new immigration legislation. Now, another group of state legislators have entered the fray with two new immigration laws of their own. Fremont, Nebraska recently passed a law prohibiting landlords from renting to illegal immigrants and prohibiting businesses from hiring them. Not surprisingly, the measure has sparked controversy and come under attack from, among others, the ACLU. More surprisingly, though, such organizations are not without legitimate ground: Similar laws in Pennsylvania and Texas were recently ruled unconstitu-
State-level anti-illegal immigration movements will not go anywhere quietly. tional in federal courts, the general argument for their rejection being that they violated the 14th Amendment and that immigration policy is the duty of the federal government, not the states. These are indeed curious objections, as Fremont’s new policy is, from a legal standpoint, essentially a prohibition against aiding and abetting those who have broken existing (federal) immigration laws.
However, perhaps the more disturbing reaction to Fremont’s reforms came from a local organization called One Fremont– One Future, which, according to a CNN online article, asserted after the bill’s passage that “the passage of this ordinance shows that we have
people have the confidence to enter into contracts, agreements, the activities of civil society, and any number of other relations critical to everyday life as we know it. Further, this life and these relationships are protected most effectively when the nation and its peo-
Alfonse Muglia is a freshman in the ILR school. He can be reached at arm267@cornell.edu.
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conditions prerequisite to the formation of healthy “community relationships.” The story, though, does not end there. Nebraska State Senator Charlie Janssen, himself from Fremont, has introduced another immigration bill to the Nebraska state legislature. According to the Nebraska Journal Star, this bill, if passed, would require police officers to ask everyone they stopped or arrested about his immigration status if they had “reasonable suspicion” to believe the person was in the country illegally.
Protesters gather at the state capital to rally against Nebraska’s proposed new immigration law.
much to do in our community to educate, break down barriers, and build relationships.” It seems, however, that attempting to discourage complete disregard for the nation’s immigration laws is hardly indicative of a lack of education or of relationship-building skills. Indeed, the very foundation of societal and communal relationships is a mutual trust among members. In modern states such as ours, a key element of this trust is the knowledge that one’s fellows will obey the country’s laws. It is largely through this belief that
ple are secure from physical threats. And while the economic advantages and disadvantages of hosting a growing population of illegal immigrants could be weighed and debated for hours on end, it can hardly be denied that it is a security risk to house thousands of people of whom the government has no record and therefore cannot effectively track. Thus, proposals such as Fremont’s, which ultimately constitute attempts to compel businesses to enforce standing immigration policies, could in fact be promoting
Continued from the left they looked at the president’s back for the hour. “The world has changed,” Obama concluded, while wrapping up his first two years in office and one of his biggest campaign promises. “And for many, the change has been painful.” The effects of the speech and the president’s idealist promises of nonpartisan politics are yet to be seen, but the president did not shy from using perhaps his biggest night of the year as a chance to start over. In this sense, he has continued the recent precedent of our commanders in chief to use the night as an opportunity to instill motivation and optimism in the nation.
February 16, 2011
26 years young and better than ever.
If the person in question then failed to prove his legal status, he would be detained and the police would notify federal immigration agents. One major concern about this proposal is that it, like Arizona’s new legislation, could involve racial profiling of Hispanics. Therefore, the just enforcement of the new law would depend largely on the discretion of each individual police officer, rendering it difficult to ensure. Such concerns have caused an outcry among some Nebraskans. Despite its problems, though, no less than ten other states are considering similar proposals, and it appears that, at least for now, statelevel anti-illegal immigration movements will not go anywhere quietly. Lucia Rafanelli is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at lmr93@cornell.edu.
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February 16, 2011
Wisemen & Fools I started out mopping floors, waiting tables, and tending bar at my dad's tavern. I put myself through school working odd jobs and night shifts. I poured my heart and soul into a small business. And when I saw how outof-touch Washington had become with the core values of this great nation, I put my name forward and ran for office. John Boehner The future does not belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. Ronald Reagan The Muslim Brotherhood is a fairly secular
organization. James Clapper Director of National Intelligence Take me now, Jesus! Glenn Beck on hearing the above I am an Arab warrior, not a community organizer. Hosni Mubarak To my mind, the single essential element on which all discoveries will be made is human freedom. Barry Goldwater Governments never learn. Only people learn. Milton Friedman
We have a Republic, if we choose to keep it. Benjamin Franklin In the eyes of the government, we are just one race here: It is American. Justice Antonin Scalia There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corn. (1977) They've compared me to Julius Caesar, Napoleon
Bonaparte and all those great leaders of the past that I love. Chris Christie In politics, an absurdity is not an impediment. Napoleon
It will be years—not in my time—before a woman will become Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher Change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change Barack Obama
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