fl*,;.- .■, .a How do you feel the construction like eating in a walk-in closet. " Eric Dieter Sec. Ed Social Studies "Is that the thing down stairs?” Elly Fox Int. PL SC "It’s literally a lion's ‘den’, completely un aesthetically pleasing. I feel like I'm in a cave while eating there.” John Seasock Marketing "I have not even been down there." Raphael Christofidis Finance "There is not enough food, the food there is fattening and over priced." Got Beer? We may not see them in The Capital Times, but campus newspapers around the country are running advertisements from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which say, “Got Beer? Better than Milk. Find out more at www.MilkSucks.com.” As an avid milk-drinker (especially chocolate), I was shocked to see that there was a website whose very name rained down nega tivity on my favorite beverage. I needed to see what all the fuss was about. It appears there is cause for alarm I will not go into everything the website said (though I do sug gest you visit it), but it had two main purpos es: PETA is demonstrating that mass milk pro duction is harmful to cows and milk consump tion is harmful to humans. Some points they brought up include that cows are being abused and stretched beyond their own milk-produc ing capacity and that milk contains saturated fats which can lead to heart disease. Their argument is very convincing, con vincing enough that I went to the supermarket to buy a quart of soymilk. I found that choco late soymilk tastes very good. It costs slightly more than regular milk (it wouldn’t cost as much if they didn’t make the bottle so fancy looking) but you do get the same amount of nutrients with less fat and no cholesterol. Yes, I did some of my research for this story at the local grocery store, which brings me to the point I’m trying to make. PETA makes very valid arguments against the dairy industry on their website, but they go wrong when they suggest that people should drink beer instead of milk. Their initial argument is good. They claim that a cup of beer is more nutritious than a cup of 2% milk. You can see the comparison on the website. But their gross error is that these are the only stats they show. I could include statistics in this article about the dangers of alcohol consumption and abuse, but I didn’t find any on the website. One of the claims about the “Got Beer?” ads was that it got a rise out of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Was PETA shocked about this? Sure, we can find the facts about an eight ounce cup of beer on their site, but PSH Adds s New Four-Year Majors Penn State Harrisburg announced that it will add five new four-year degree programs next fall, therefore allowing more students to attend Capital Campus as a freshman. New degree programs will be offered in the fields of electrical engineering, environmental engineering, struc tural design and construction engineering technology, mathematical sciences and computer sci ence. The major goal of the program is to train the future engineers in hopes that they will stay in the region, said Omid Ansary, director of PSH’s School of Science, Engineering, and Technology in an article in Saturday’s Patriot-News. Ansary said that there is a local “brain drain” of engineers and these programs expect to attract an estimated 50 freshman next fall and up to 200 or more in the future. By Robert Trishman Capital Times Staff Writer why not any statistics about drunk driving accidents, alcoholism, or liver disease? If they are going to warn us about the harmful effects of milk, surely there should be at least one dis claimer about beer. The use of this ad is a direct shot at col lege students, which is why it is only run in college newspapers. The brains behind the ad apparently feel that “Got Soymilk?” or “Got Orange Juice with Extra Calcium?” just won’t get our attention, which is probably true, but this is bush headline like “Milk is Harmful to Humans and Cows!” would get our attention and then the ad could go on to sug gest more healthy alternatives than beer, specifically stuff that won’t impair your judg ment and that you can’t get addicted to. I scoured the newspapers and yellow pages but could not find a listing or meeting time for “Calcium Fortified Orange Juice Addicts Anonymous.” The national college student community, in this case, is being unfairly stereotyped as a demographic group whose main area of inter est is alcohol. Yes, PETA is concerned for the health of college students, which is why they brainstormed an ad campaign against milk in the first place. But like milk that has gone past its expiration date, it went sour. Penn State University Park sophomore Lisa Marusak summed it up best, “PETA is about promoting vegetarianism and veganism, not only because it protects animals but it pro motes healthy lifestyles for humans, and beer is not a healthy lifestyle.” The “Got Beer?” ads represent pure sen sationalism, as do the rest of the website which has other banners that say, “Got heart disease?” or “Got zits?” These warnings are well warranted, but the positive suggestions on the site are grossly understated, even though they are the most important aspect of the cam paign. Students are smarter than this. Milk may be harmful, but beer is not the answer. There are more healthy alternatives and they’re right down the aisle from the milk section. By Pete Streila, Assistant Layout Editor league I hope I speak for all students when I say that a simple
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