Thursday, March 6, 2025

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Weight problems

The United States is the fattest nation in the world. Diabetes affects more than 20 million Americans, 90-95 percent of whom have Type 2 diabetes, which is preventable through healthy diet and exercise. The most economical alternatives for a meal are usually fast food franchises which are, by anyone's standards, incredibly unhealthy.

COMMENTARY

SAF should stay out of student cheer sections

My hopes for future generations of MSU students were lifted when I read "SAF to play smaller role without Corner Blitz" (SN 7/30). I always laughed at the name Student Alumni Foundation because anyone involved with the organization knows it is run by its dictator and adviser, Bev VandenBerg. It's been this organization that has systematically taken the spirit out of MSU's spirit sections.

COMMENTARY

Breaking alcohol myths a good plan

An MSU group recently received a $175,000 grant to publicize its findings regarding alcohol consumption by college students. The idea behind the group's research is that students enter college with misconceptions about their peers' drinking habits.

COMMENTARY

Special treatment for coaches waste of money

On Friday, The Detroit News reported that not only does MSU pay for courtesy cars for athletic coaches and athletic administrators, but "Michigan State hands out another perk reserved for the highest echelons of private business - a country club membership." According to the report, the memberships cost the school around $35,000 a year.

COMMENTARY

Tyranny of faith

For a very long time now, Christianity has been marketed as a religion of love. Not only is it a religion of love, we're told, but also it is a religion of redemption and forgiveness.

COMMENTARY

Change in gasoline tax unnecessary

In a state as dependent on automobiles as Michigan, the price of gas will always be an issue of large public concern. Two Michigan representatives are attempting to change the way the state taxes citizens at the pumps.

COMMENTARY

Cost of school should be same for all

Many students will soon pay more for choosing a certain major at public universities across the country. High professorial salaries in certain fields, expensive specialized equipment and waning state funding for public universities are driving some state schools to charge higher tuition to students in fields like business, engineering and journalism. Such majors focus on learning a task, and students paying more for a certain major may focus on taking classes only within that major to get their money's worth.

COMMENTARY

Everyone should be tested for hepatitis C

As a representative of virtually all the facilities nationwide that collect blood and 80 percent of those that transfuse blood and blood components, I wanted to bring to your attention inaccurate information included in "Mich.

COMMENTARY

Farming changes

Despite veto threats from the president, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new and improved version of the multibillion-dollar farm bill, the core of the country's government farm program that sends subsidies to U.S.

COMMENTARY

BP's pollution of lakes must be put to an end

Enjoy a dive into Lake Michigan this summer. Before I do, I'd like to thank Richard Librizzi for pointing our attention toward British Petroleum Co. Ltd.'s attempts at increasing the daily garbage it heaps into Lake Michigan in "Corporations polluting Michigan's water sources" (SN 7/26). BP wants to increase its daily ammonia discharge by about 1,600 pounds, while it would bump up its daily release of suspended solids, like lead, by about 5,000 pounds, according to The Chicago Tribune. This is all while BP advertises it actually gives a damn about the environment.

COMMENTARY

Focus on tests hurting U.S. students

Because of No Child Left Behind laws, schools are spending less time teaching history, science and art to focus on reading and arithmetic for annual tests. Since the 2001-02 school year, when NCLB was enacted, 44 percent of U.S.

COMMENTARY

Tragedy remembered

The summer of 1967 - some remember it as the Summer of Love. For others, the thoughts of a carefree, idealistic summer are pushed aside by thoughts of a more somber nature. Those thoughts center around burning buildings, police brutality and violence based primarily on race. This week marks the anniversary of the civil disturbance in Detroit. The flash point of the riot occurred when police shut down an after hours club, or a "blind pig." But the reasons for the riots run much deeper than that. Racial discrimination, segregation, poor housing and disenfranchisement all played important parts in the city's explosion that July. For years before the riot, Detroit was undergoing a drastic change.

COMMENTARY

Bible passages show signs of immoral actions

This is in response to "Non-Christian teachings cause of world tragedies" (SN 7/26). Apparently, John Hayden lacks the ability to look critically at what really serves as the root of all evil. Want to know where the justified evil comes from?

COMMENTARY

Gouging residents for sports coverage unfair

Shame on Comcast for wanting to bump up Big Ten Network games to a higher tier. They already charge too much because they have a lock on cable in East Lansing, Lansing and Meridian Township. It's too late, but this is an example of what happens when you are the only cable provider and have a contract with the local unit of government.

COMMENTARY

Non-Christian teachings cause of world tragedies

John Bice devotes nearly half of "Benefits of faith" (SN 7/13), to the proposition that life has no evident meaning beyond "biological reproduction." The "unique benefit" of religion, he asserts, is to soothe the resulting anxiety by supplying a "human-centered" master scheme in which our endeavors may find purpose.