Needing some fresh air
Living in a smog-ridden area such as Houston or Dallas, which both made the American Lung Association's top-10 list for smogginess, can increase an individual's lifetime cancer risk by 1,000 chances in one million, according to the Association for Smog Prevention. Tightening smog standards, which the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would do about a month ago, seems like a measure that anyone would welcome with open arms - especially someone who cares anything about the people of Houston and Dallas.
Gov. Rick Perry, however, doesn't fit that description. Our state leader is actually considering suing the EPA for trying to protect our lungs, and he's argued before that smog standards are burdensome for business.
Perry's office has not said whether it will join such a suit. "We always keep our options open," a Perry spokeswoman told the Austin American-Statesman.
In a country that spends more money on health care than anything - including the military - the biggest burden on U.S. citizens is staying healthy, regardless of Perry's loyalty to big business. In addition to decreasing the risk of cancer, the new smog standards would prevent cases of bronchitis, aggravated asthma, premature deaths and hospital visits. The EPA estimates this would save between $2 billion and $19 billion in health care costs. But since relieving our lungs and pocketbooks means burdening pharmaceutical companies or oil refineries, we need leaders who fight for citizens' interests, and Rick Perry is burdensome.
Ph.Doping
If you're an average college student, you're probably familiar with the scenario - it's 2 a.m., you've got a paper due at 9 and a test at 11, and caffeine just isn't cutting it. Enter Ritalin, Adderall or any other widely-prescribed and easily-obtained study drugs meant to calm attention deficit disorder. But you and your friends may not be the only ones popping pills to stay on top of your workload. A controversial survey in Nature Magazine revealed that 20 percent of 1,400 respondents - mostly science, education and engineering professionals - admitted to using prescription drugs for "non-medical purposes." The Chronicle of Higher Education has similarly looked into the dilated pupils of America's academics. According to their interviews with professors across the country, Provigil, a stimulant usually prescribed to those with narcolepsy and related sleep disorders, is the drug of choice among the academic elite. And on top of using stimulants to get work done, some professors also seek out anti-anxiety medications to cope with the stress of giving lectures. Now you know why your geology professor gets so excited about rocks.
Mountains for sale
While the battle over who will lay claim to the Christmas Mountains meanders on, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has ordered that they remain open to hikers, campers and weapon-carriers for the time being. Currently, no one owns the mountains - they were donated to the land office in 1991 by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and have been in a veritable state of limbo ever since. Patterson is working to sell the mountains, located near Big Bend National Park, to a private bidder so the land can continue to be used by hunters. If the mountains were to be in the hands of the state park service, it is likely that hunting would be forbidden, which, to gun-enthusiast Patterson, would be a nightmare.
Not surprisingly, some deep-pocketed Texans are willing to pay big money to own a few chunks of the earth. In a September auction for the mountains, Louis Waters, the former chairmain of waste management company Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., bid $652,000. The second-highest bidder, businessman and Houstonite John Poindexter, gave the Big Bend Gazette some eloquent words as to why he wanted own the mountains: "All anyone can do is own it and brag about owning it. It gives you Texas bragging rights; there are no commercial purposes." Unfortunately for Waters, Poindexter and Patterson, the auction was ruled void due to a technicality. Talks concerning the ownership of the mountains have since moved to Washington.
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