With the blast of media coverage from editorials, letters to the editor, opinion pieces and comments from every Tom, Dick and Harry voicing opinions from the far right to the radical left on affirmative action, I began to wonder what wool was being pulled over our eyes.
One of the unexpected benefits of writing an occasional opinion column is the feedback it generates.
About a week ago, I was making some phone calls to various businesses, banks and my dentist's office.
We often hear mantras about religion that illegitimize and condemn it for its part in the world's injustice.
While watching an episode of "The Simpsons," Marge Simpson, speaking in a futuristic vision from 2010, comments, "You know, Fox turned into a hard-core sex channel so gradually, I didn't even notice!" In a related story, last Thursday, the U.S.
Our government always is embarrassed to admit when it makes a mistake. The Vietnam War and the current Iraq War are prime examples of mistakes made by foolish intelligence.
Current projected budget deficit: about $500 billion. Cost of the lie-ridden Iraq war: about $100 billion.
Despite what breakfast cereals and a horrible Jennifer Aniston movie (pre-nose job) will tell you, leprechauns are not real. As a people, the Irish have had a rough go of it.
There has been much ado lately about a small Caribbean nation called Haiti. Perhaps you've read about the rebellion taking place and the president who has resigned (or was he "kidnapped"?). Admittedly, it would be difficult to altogether miss this, considering the amount of press coverage Haiti has received in recent weeks. What has proved disheartening to me, however, is that it took a revolution to put Haiti in the news.
No one expected President George W. Bush to protect a woman's right to choose - he's been explicitly anti-choice since 1994.
Over the past few weeks, there has been increased scrutiny on the whole issue of same-sex marriage. The country is fairly polarized for or against, and the issue will be a political football on both sides in the fall elections. But with all the hype about the sanctity of marriage and concern that the entire downfall of the known civilized world rests on preventing gays and lesbians from being granted something ordained from heaven, I wondered if something subtle is hidden in all this furor. I admit that I first wondered why the conservative community, which says marriage should not be tainted by these "other" kinds of unions, doesn't do something about the number of divorces that take place in the United States. With 50 percent of all marriages ending in divorce, something has a funny smell in this here country.
Provost Lou Anna Simon recently has released her vision for the reorganization of the liberal arts at MSU.
There are some rumors floating around that newspapers and the mass media at large are ravenously liberal and unapologetically Democrat.
Next week cannot come any sooner. Girlfriends wait with fear and trepidation while their boyfriends' hormones get revved up.
I'm thinking about creating a new film called "Sleepless in East Lansing." But, it wouldn't be a sappy romantic comedy.
Apparently, for reasons more ambiguous than Wayne Brady, The State News Opinion column has been renamed "Religion Sucks and Abortion Rules!" In the last few weeks alone, many of my beliefs have been called "cute," "unscientific" and about as realistic as an episode of "VIP." These articles also have labeled my beliefs as dangerous, and small disagreements between Christian sects have been blown way out of proportion. All of this has been done in order to depict religion as a naive, prude-infused, ugly people-only club that the world would be better off without. Ironically, while these opinions have been printed on a daily basis, they barely represent the views of anyone.
Mel "Holy-Ghost Inspired" Gibson is prominent in the news these days. Mel belongs to a religious faith called "Catholic Traditionalist," an ultra-orthodox sect that views the contemporary Catholic Church as an illegitimate sellout to liberals and heretics.
Usually, I do not respond to letters to the editor printed on The State News' Opinion page. On most controversial subjects, letters from both sides of the debate pour into my editor's e-mail box, and thus, I have no reason to continue the debates in my columns, leaving my opinionated ire free to focus on some other political controversy. However, after reading two separate letters that compare Michigan State University's mathematics requirements to monumental atrocities in history (including slavery, segregation and communism), I am going to join this debate.
Ralph Nader, you ignorant slut. Like the nerd at a party, he's done it once again. As announced Sunday morning, Nader is running as an independent candidate for the presidency.
When you discuss controversial issues in the newspaper, you get a wide range of emotions in return. Today's editorial cartoon is a good example of that. People will write letters or e-mail or call our newsroom wondering how I, as an editor, could print something like today's cartoon and how we could casually use a word as vulgar and offensive as "fags." I assure you, its use on today's Opinion page is anything but casual.