COMMENTARY

Attacks by Christians on other Christians wrong

I'd like to respond to Jessica Byrom's "Getting thick skin" (SN 4/10). Ms. Byrom says that the "fear" pastors in Canada have of being able to preach hate is to that of "Christian persecution in countries like China and Muslim countries." Whether or not this is true, I'll leave up to those who don't get their facts from FOXNews.com. How about the persecution of Christians by Christians in this country?

COMMENTARY

Housing increases seem exaggerated

College is a pretty bittersweet pill. On the one hand, you've got your classes, your friends and your social life.

COMMENTARY

State documents are not required to be translated

After reading "English-only Mich. could trim deficit" (SN 4/10), I have a feeling Michigan may be able to finally get back on the right track if only people would stop rejecting ideas just because they come from conservatives.

COMMENTARY

iPods for K-12 students unnecessary

When addressing the actions of Michigan's legislature, one has to sometimes step back and just wonder how any of these people got elected. Case in point: Michigan finds itself facing a debt — which comes to roughly $644 million for the current fiscal year alone, for those of you keeping track at home — and rather than the two parties working together to come up with a solution to the mounting crisis, each side just keeps wasting time. The latest example?

COMMENTARY

Counteractive steps

If there is one overarching theme of all social studies classes, it's the idea that the study of history serves as a guide for the future.

COMMENTARY

More funding needed for educational technology

Much has been said recently about the so-called "iPod proposal" being debated in the Michigan House of Representatives.

COMMENTARY

Free speech column has many flaws in argument

In response to "Getting thick skin" (SN 4/10), I would borrow from White House press secretary Tony Snow in describing Jessica Byrom's argument: "It melts on contact." First, she cannot assume people "were not outraged" at the vandalizing of a congressman's office during the anti-war protest.

COMMENTARY

Unborn male children also affected by abortion

I'm writing in response to Kate Lester's column "Anonymous voices" (SN 4/5), in which she claims that abortions only affect women.

COMMENTARY

Parking tickets unfairly pre-written at meters

Has anybody else noticed the dishonest way that parking tickets are being given out on campus? On April 4, my wife parked on West Circle Drive at a meter.

COMMENTARY

Mich. shouldn't have official language

To help alleviate the state's budget deficit, Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo, has introduced a bill to declare English as Michigan's official language. The designation, according to Hoogendyk, would save the state millions of dollars currently allocated to translating governmental documents from departments such as the Secretary of State. The state currently is facing a combined $3 billion deficit. While Gov.

COMMENTARY

Gay hate perpetuated by use of derogatory word

I think Jessica Byrom, in her column "Getting thick skin" (SN 4/10), underestimates the effects language can have and the ways in which it shapes our perceptions of people.

COMMENTARY

Capitalist society allows for economic freedoms

As is typical with Mike Ramsey's cartoons, his Laissez-faire Pizzeria cartoon grossly oversimplifies a complicated issue to the detriment of the truth.

COMMENTARY

Fundamentalism is not associated in 2 religions

In her column "Getting Thick Skin" (SN 4/10), Jessica Byrom implies that calling a Baptist a fundamentalist is tantamount to calling him a terrorist. Christian fundamentalism refers to a specific movement within Christianity that stresses the infallibility and literal truth of the Bible, and is not a disparaging term.

COMMENTARY

Leasing nightmare

The dorms are a lot like your parents. They provide food and shelter, wash your clothes and monitor your guests.

COMMENTARY

Problems can be solved by consuming less meat

I love meat. But I don't eat meat every day. Drew Winter's column "Meatless alternative" (SN 4/4), is right; it can be quite bad for the body for many reasons, as with many food items eaten in extreme amounts.

COMMENTARY

Do not renew No Child Left Behind

Like some kind of ill-conceived, legislative zombie, No Child Left Behind is back on the plate, and it refuses to die. Pressed by both the president and the legislators who supported it the first time around (oh, Teddy Kennedy — what were you thinking?), No Child Left Behind is now being considered for renewal in Congress. It's time to break out the shotguns (to stick with the zombie analogy) and destroy this thing before it can do any more damage. When it was initially conceived in 2001, it seemed like a good idea: Pass a law that requires schools to be held accountable for educating their students.

COMMENTARY

A living-giving gift

How very lucky we are to live in an era of advanced medicine and longer lives. It is incredible to think of how many people are alive today because of the advances in medical technology and treatments that have been made in the past 50 years. In one such example, a friend of my family found out nine years ago she had chronic emphysema, which rapidly depleted her already thin lung tissue.

COMMENTARY

Terms used in column not equally comparable

After reading Jessica Byrom's column, "Getting thick skin" (SN 4/10), one particular comparison stood out to me with stomach-wrenching clarity: The better-forgotten incident of Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot" and Ms. Byrom's following introduction of the term "fundamentalist." The difference between these examples are as vivid as night and day. Ann Coulter, having laughed at her comment immediately afterward, had written that very comment as a deliberate, vicious personal attack on John Edwards.

COMMENTARY

Hate slurs are not part of 'playground politics'

After reading the column "Getting thick skin" (SN 4/10), I would suggest Jessica Byrom take a leaf out of her own book.

COMMENTARY

Host's remark degrades women, not just blacks

Talk-show host Don Imus claimed the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team were a bunch of "nappy-headed hos." This put the black community up in arms: "How dare this white man call our people nappy-headed?