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?
COMMENTARY
A rewarding return
Having worked here long enough to qualify for tuition assistance, I'm going to be an MSU student again in May.
COMMENTARY
Ruling should spur new auto standard
In a long overdue decision that will greatly impact the future of the automotive industry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Environmental Protection Agency has the ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under its authority. The 5-4 decision on April 2 aims to correct negligence by the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, of regulation of carbon dioxide emissions and provides one of the first governmental actions toward recognizing global warming. It would follow from its moniker that the EPA would be the nation's leader in promoting the movement away from dangerously high carbon emissions. But this has not been the case.
COMMENTARY
Webmail does not filter spam e-mails effectively
The major issue concerning MSU Webmail for me is that I have to spend most of my time deleting so many spam e-mails.
COMMENTARY
Self-awareness present in at least some animals
In response to Jay Timmerman's letter "Slant on vegetarianism is a liberal 'cliché'" (SN 4/6), I would like to thank him for pointing out the flaws in Drew Winter's column "Meatless alternative" (SN 4/4). I did have one problem with Timmerman's letter, and that was the line "Self-awareness is something uniquely human." Humans have been trying to separate themselves from "the animals" for a long time.