Opinion The Battalion Page 5 • Wednesday, June 12, 2002 ly in Hu 1 the sair,; r at leash Bricky® NASCAf. W pound ids. Kiianapoi; at 26 ind >t ready fe 1 arch grot; ) barrier; 'lit and re? ■s,”hesaic is and be | te, pads- tee to ben; ibjected vironmentalist community by writing a paper on jxactrea how man was causing global cooling. Global cooling the gf eJ! Wa8 the apocalypse predicted not long ago by today s global wanning zealots. For years, Americans have been told Styrofoam and aerosol cans would gouge is a the ozone layer, leaving everything on the surface of ism vnif the Earth baked to a crisp. There is a reason why this fear tactic is not used anymore: the ozone layer has grown, and life goes on. Little opposition exists in the scientific community that Earth’s climate has changed in the past and will 53-yeat change in the future. At the same time, there is little jrowned evidence that past ice ages or future warming trends >out the can be linked to human activity. Theories that humans Could impact the planet’s weather rely on extrapolated 50 mph forecasting and weak reasoning, ancel the The Kyoto Protocol targets carbon dioxide, jtes afte f niethane and other “greenhouse” gases as the main lutes int° culprits behind a supposed warming trend. While :eer sp°t' human activity is undoubtedly a source ot such mute- jtionless rials, its contribution to the overall picture is dwarfed was rest- by that of Mother Nature. Carbon dioxide, while a )ody was byproduct of manufacturing, is also a byproduct ot Bramble. decomposition. Studies have shown that more carbon and r ace dioxide comes from decay in the Amazon Basin alone >5 indujf 6 than from industrial emissions worldwide. Over a nnile bikUdecade ago Mount Pinatubo erupted, spewing billions of tons of green house gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Mt. Pinatubo’s contribution made decades of human activity pale by com parison, but environmentalists still cry wolf. The logical link to why the planet may warm lies in the sun itself. Rarely mentioned in the debate is the fact that the Earth’s oroit and angle to the sun changes in cycles that vary over eons. Defying common sense, U.N. members and a growing contention of American policy makers favor the Kyoto Protocol. If enacted, the impact on the U.S. economy would be devastating. American companies, burdened with skyrocketing energy and production costs, would flee to Mexico, China and other develop ing nations that are not restricted by Kyoto. Thousands upon thousands of American jobs would be lost, according to reports done by the respected Wharton Econometrics Forecasting Associates. Texas, the petroleum mecca of North America, would be one of the hardest hit. The Department of Energy has pre dicted that Kyoto might cause a four percent drop in the GDP at current levels. Since free-market incen tives for efficiency are the strongest driving force behind less consumption of fuels, once restricted countries would no longer be able to afford to develop efficient technologies, and third world countries left unrestricted will continue to pollute. If something appears questionable about the Kyoto Protocol, there is good reason. Those opposed to the treaty include liberal and conservative members of Congress, Clinton-Gore era white house officials, all sectors of American business, and the president. Its strongest supporters have been third world countries, environmental extremists, the Green Party and Socialists International. The Green Party’s website states that Kyoto does not go far enough, and the next steps should be the eradication of the internal com bustion engine, an end to nuclear power stations and no more suburbs. The reason the Kyoto should smell fishy is that it is simply a socialist ploy to redistribute the world’s wealth from the United States and other developed nations to third world countries. According to the Green Party’s statement on the Kyoto Treaty, “. . . Kyoto represent(s) a vital juncture in world affairs where humanity has a real opportuni ty to avert ecological, human, and economic disaster.” It could not be stated better. The Kyoto Protocol would be terrible for Texas, the United States, and the world. It must never be allowed to go into effect. Matthew Maddox is a junior management major. MATTHEW MADDOX King for a day Women should not he prom king P rom night is the highlight of many students’ high school careers. For Kristine Lester, the night may not be so magical. According to MSNBC, Lester, an open ly gay high school senior, wanted to run for prom king instead of prom queen. The school principal and school board refused to allow Lester the opportunity to compete for king. Encina High School made the best decision in decid ing not to let a female run for prom king. Every school and competition has rules that maintain order and organization. If rules do not exist, events such as a high school prom become chaos. A traditional male and female prom court is the norm in society. However, some people want to see these rules and laws amended for them and their specific instance. MSNBC said Lester wanted to run for king because she identifies more with the male role than the female. However, a competition is not based on how a candidate feels. It is based on the rules of the competition, in this case gender. With the many different opinions and ideas individuals have, if every person asks that the rules change for them, there is little point in establishing rules at all. Encina High School stands behind the principal’s decision not to allow Lester to run for prom king. Just because there are students who think differently, and there always will be, does not mean the whole system should be changed for their satisfaction. There are simply too many people in this world to please everyone. In a society where equality is deemed a top priority, the decision to stick to a traditional inale-female prom court is not limiting any students’ equality. Encina High School’s deci sion was a logical and fair response to a student’s request. Every student is offered the same opportunity to run for king or queen, based on their gender. No student is denied the opportunity to participate; however, there must be guidelines. Although Lester may disap prove, the guidelines for prom court include gender, placing her into the queen category. Students may not like how the system operates, but the argument that they are being dis criminated against does not hold water. According to MSNBC, Lester had over one hundred students sign a petition for her to run as prom king. If Lester was set on making the prom court, she could have easily run for queen. Every gender-related issue can be argued into the ground, but eventually some one must make the decision that enough is enough. There comes a point when society tries to make every issue so politically correct that something as simple as a high school prom becomes compared to a natural disaster. High school students should enjoy the fact that they have prom, not get caught up in meaningless details. Lester’s request to run for prom king is not the first of its kind. In our country’s mass confusion of sexuality, males are trying for female roles and females are running for male spots. According to Advocate magazine, a similar instance occurred at Ferndale High School, where a female student ran and won the title of homecoming king. Though it seemed like an equality victory to some, the Advocate said that even the female king thought she was elected as a joke. Encina High School made the best choice by not letting Lester run for prom king. Prom is one night of many in a student’s life. If people are set on changing the world for the better, they should reconsider the issue they are fighting for. ANDIBACA Andi Baca is a senior journalism major. , French book blaming U.S. for 9/11 an insult N egligence on behalf of the U.S. government concerning the Sept. 1 1 attacks has been in the spot light for weeks now, and many Americans are bothered by the lack of unity the finger point ing suggests. What may bother them even more, however, is a book that has been on the best seller list in France since its release March 11. Vhe book is entitled The Horrifying Fraud and was written by notorious French radical Thierry Meyssan. This book does not merely suggest that the U.S. government failed to protect its people, but it argues that the gov ernment actually carried out the attacks using remote controlled airplanes. Meyssan refers to the universally accepted version of the tragedy as a “loony fable” comprised of a series of lies perpetrated by the White House and Defense Department. The fact that Meyssan would write this novel is an insult. That the publisher would choose to release it just six months after the incident is despicable. What is frightening, however, is that the people of France are eating it up. Meyssan’s contention cites an actual desire for war with Iraq and Afghanistan as the reason why the government would risk such an act with such unpredictable domes tic repercussions. Any American who remembers, how it felt to watch the Twin Towers fall on television would dismiss the notion that such a book could be written in our homeland. The lessons being learned now are that these convoluted conspiracy theories regard ing the omniscient, evil U.S. government are far-fetched and sometimes ridiculous. American homeland security has been so entangled in bureaucratic red tape that the FBI could not even get permission to search the computer of Zacharias Moussaoui, a man they suspected of planning terrorist activity and who was later linked to the attacks. During his trial, Moussaoui represented himself and proceeded to denounce American society, American people and the government. His disdain for this country runs so deep that he stood in the courtroom and ranted to the judge for an hour about how force, even terror ist acts, must be used to change the despicable American system. This same system he detests allows peo ple like him to voice opinions and represent themselves freely in a court of law. Moussaoui’s admission of plotting to harm Americans proves, if only expost- facto, that the FBI was correct in pursuing him. It seems Meyssan overlooked all the Al-Qaida fighters who profess their hatred of America and their so called Islamic duty to destroy it when writing The Horrifying Fraud. Perhaps Meyssan even failed to look at himself as another anti-American radical, completely independent of the U.S. government’s puppet strings. The Horrifying Fraud has yet to be trans lated into English, but is projected to be in the near future. Not only will it be released in England and America once its translation is complete, but the publisher has sought its translation into 16 other languages for all the world to read. It is unclear what the publisher hopes to accomplish by releasing the book in America, but there will undoubtedly be severe backlash. While Americans will most likely dismiss Meyssan’s argument as an irresponsible attempt to profit off the Sept. 11 attack, a tragedy that killed thousands, the response of other countries is harder to predict. The reader patronization in France alone is alarming. Perhaps the French citizens read it for its outlandish entertainment value only. Regardless, Meyssan is getting rich for his utter disrespect towards all American people. Like it or not, when the U.S. govern ment is criticized on such an alarmingly large scale by a book written in another country, all of America suffers, even Americans who object to some of the gov ernment’s practices. Such is the justification used by terrorists for killing innocent peo ple. They make no distinction between the government and the people. Christy Ruth is a senior journalism major. CHRISTY RUTH