Sunday, December 22, 2024

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Look forward to seeing 'zipsters' on campus

Playing vertical Twister on a Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA, bus or trucking through the snow this winter might not be the only option for getting around campus if Zipcar comes to MSU’s campus this January.

COMMENTARY

Regulation isn't a partisan Issue

It is a politician’s job to get elected every two to four years. Once elected, constituents re-elect incumbents overwhelmingly. Given that narrative in American politics, our politicians have very little incentive to take a detailed look at policy measures.

COMMENTARY

Time to embrace real learnedness

I love to write. It’s what I want to do with my life, although I’m not sure what or who I want to become; a professor in academia, a journalist, a starving poet, an aspiring novelist?

COMMENTARY

Antibacterial soap increases chance of antibiotic resistance

A popular trend in hygiene during the past 10 years has been the use of antibacterial hand soap. Most people use antibacterial hand soap on a daily basis. It can be found in households, hospitals, food establishments and schools. People are concerned with spreading flus and other viruses, so they believe using antibacterial hand soap will kill the “germs.”

COMMENTARY

An East Lansing resident extends thanks to students

On Oct. 27, my wallet went missing. Fearing the worst, I immediately had all of my cards cancelled and then headed to the Secretary of State office to get another driver’s license. I did all of this at once, within about two hours, without going home.

COMMENTARY

Readers can keep discussions alive

It wasn’t too long ago that I sat down and wrote a piece lamenting the lack of letters to the editor. My exact words were, “Unfortunately, no one writes letters anymore. I don’t only mean in the traditional pen-and-paper way, I mean letters to the editor in general.”

COMMENTARY

Michigan commission's reactive ban misses point

Nicknamed “black out in a can,” Four Loko and other alcoholic energy drinks have been banned from Michigan vendor’s shelves. Like other recent Michigan bans, it does little to address the problems in a community with an entrenched binge drinking culture.

COMMENTARY

Graduate needs to get his agricultural facts straight

In his response to a recent letter on the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, MSU alumnus Phil Letten makes statements about his view of animal agriculture — statements that are biased, have no factual background and are untrue (“The plight of farm animals extends far beyond antibiotics,” SN 11/3).

COMMENTARY

Political mood swings should not sway Board

The Republican tsunami swelled through Michigan on Tuesday, and cost the Democrats at least one seat on the MSU Board of Trustees. Although we welcome our new Trustees Mitch Lyons and Brian Breslin with a big “Go green, go white,” it’s a shame that Colleen McNamara cannot return for another term

COMMENTARY

Republicans must deliver promised results

Tuesday’s results should come as a surprise to no one. Republicans firmly are in the driver’s seat in Michigan. If one is a Democrat, Tuesday’s result probably stung more than a little, but really it should be an anger tempered by inevitability. The bad economy had “backlash” written all over it.

COMMENTARY

Time to stand up and ask for help

For some, asking for help produces the most demeaning and vulnerable feeling possible. It’s difficult to admit we might not know everything, that we aren’t experts in all subjects and to admit fully and publicly that sometimes we simply do not know.

COMMENTARY

Group seeks to end silence surrounding sexual assault

Last week, The State News published a letter written by Dan Schmidt in which he criticized the protestors at the Izzone Campout for “ignor(ing) facts in the attempt to prove a point” (“Protestors at Friday’s Izzone Campout were in the wrong,” SN 10/26).

COMMENTARY

The plight of farm animals extends far beyond antibiotics

Joel Sparks did make some good points in his article, “Zoology students’ letter was misleading, accusatory” (SN 11/1). However, he never mentioned why farm animals need antibiotics to stay alive. Virtually all farm animals live out their lives on what are considered factory farms.

COMMENTARY

Columnist misrepresented the role of zoos in society

I was deeply saddened and shocked to read Mitch Goldsmith’s rail against our local public zoo in Tuesday’s paper (“Vote ‘no’ on zoo millage extension” SN 11/2). As a zoology student — with the goal of becoming a zookeeper in just such a zoo — I hate to think this is the image the general public holds about these facilities.

COMMENTARY

Arizona's law should worry us

Arizona’s infamous new immigration law was written and paid for by private prison corporations. The law — SB 1070 — requires law enforcement officials in Arizona to detain anyone who cannot prove his or her citizenship.

COMMENTARY

Vote 'no' on zoo millage extension

Today voters will decide whether to support a millage for Lansing’s Potter Park Zoo. The proposed millage would extend the current Ingham County property tax and raise millions for the local zoo. Without those millions “the Potter Park Zoo cannot survive,” according to Potter Park Zoo Board President Rick Kibbey.