Last Thursday, the House approved a plan to finance the Iraq war through midsummer. Hours before the plan was approved, President Bush made his first concession.
As the 2008 presidential election approaches, political stories are dominating the news. This election stands apart from those in the past with a truly diverse group of candidates.
This is to those involved in the Chris Simcox event. Before I begin, I want to make it clear who is saying this.
Since January, we have heard almost weekly about Michigan's budget deficit and the ways our government is trying to fix it. The state is facing a roughly combined $2.5 billion deficit.
It's the end of the semester. It is almost over. Just a week left of finals or a few projects to wrap up. Many of us will be running out of here.
I am outraged by the way protesters were treated during a speech by Chris Simcox, founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, on April 19.
Recent statements by The Pierce Company president Fred Pierce in "Company's mock-up gets mixed reactions" (SN 4/18), indicate that Pierce does not understand the area of East Lansing his company seeks to redevelop, and confirms concerns that East Lansing will move students out of the prime student rental location in East Lansing.
As a student in attendance of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps lecture, I feel obliged to inform the student body of the atrocious violation of students' rights, overt exhibition of racial profiling and unnecessarily excessive use of police force that occurred.
The stories on the April 19 speech of Minuteman President Chris Simcox, "YAF-sponsored event draws 5 arrests" (SN 4/20), and "Students express anger, concern over conduct of administrators, police with YAF-sponsored event" (SN 4/20), focused on disruptions by protesters.
When it comes to issues like gun control and carrying firearms, it's safest to take a moderate standpoint with room for compromise. General statements like "no one should carry a gun" and "everyone should carry a gun" lack both balance and reason.
The phrase "Breaking news" doesn't even have meaning anymore. It's like the boy who cried wolf. It seems like every time I turn on the news, it says "Breaking news" across the bottom of the screen.
While reading the article titled "YAF-sponsored event draws 5 arrests" (SN 4/20), I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows progressively higher as I read farther down the page.
Since I am an owner of several different firearms and am an avid sportswoman, I firmly believe in my privilege to own and use them.
As Gov. Jennifer Granholm is stopped at every turn in her efforts to fight Michigan's budget deficit, it seems any program receiving state funds is fair game. Next up on the chopping block? The arts. On April 18, 200 people showed up at the Capitol Building in Lansing to protest Granholm's executive directive to freeze $7.5 million in grants promised to arts and cultural organizations.
While I commend Meredith Leake for wanting to make the campus safer, her suggestions for building access are a little too impractical, "MSU administration must take preventive action" (SN 4/18). At several other schools, dorms are simply just that: dorms.
Whether it was Don Imus' slur of "nappy-headed hos" or former Sen. George Allen's reference to an Indian man as a "macaca," a slip of the tongue in recent times has never been more controversial.
The group of protesters at The Minuteman Project speech April 19 amazes me, along with its response to what police did. First, the protesters who tried to shut down Chris Simcox's speech are hypocrites.
As a youngster, I followed politics and news more than most my age. My first Breaking News Alert was a yellow sticky note my mom placed on my bathroom sink when the '92 election results came in. But as we witnessed last week, there are some events that touch us all.
Like the student protesters of the Young Americans for Freedom-sponsored event on campus last week, I am strongly opposed to the organization's beliefs and values.
Sometimes this country really leaves me deflated. Earlier this month, Chris Matus pointed out the beauty of free speech in "It goes both ways" (SN 4/10), but based upon the arrests April 19, it seems that fascism is a one-way street.