Saturday, January 11, 2025

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Development good for city, more rentals wanted

More East Lansing residents soon could be calling downtown home. On Tuesday, East Lansing City Council members approved plans for new apartments and condominiums to be built on Grand River and Albert avenues. While these condos, and probably the apartments too, aren't cost effective for most students, they could bring more permanent residents into East Lansing. The new building on Grand River Avenue will have nine two-bedroom apartments for rent, and the building on Albert Avenue will have three one-bedroom apartments and 33 two-bedroom apartments, all of which will be inhabited by owner occupants. Plans like this could help to keep MSU graduates in East Lansing after their four years are done.

COMMENTARY

Obama would make great candidate in '08

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is finally starting to make a move toward running in the upcoming 2008 presidential race — and it's about time. For some time now, Obama has been evasive when asked if he would run in '08, laughing at the question or dodging it altogether.

COMMENTARY

Association should leave peace sign wreath alone

In Pagosa Springs, Colo., last week, a couple was told by their neighborhood homeowners association that they must take down a four-foot wreath shaped like a peace symbol and pay a penalty of $25. The official reason behind the decision?

COMMENTARY

YAF student group doesn't want freedom for anyone

I can no longer bottle up my disdain for Kyle Bristow or the "Young Americans for Freedom." This unpatriotic group claims to promote freedom — heck, it's in their title — but every time I read "gay," "transgender" or "immigrants," sure enough, Bristow and these "Young Americans" are soon to follow in protest. They endorse such activities as the infamous "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" and now protest a Lansing ordinance that recognizes gender and sexual identity as nondiscriminatory clauses, as discussed in "Lansing ordinance prompts protest" (SN 11/21). Take a quote from Bristow himself from the aforementioned article: "The whole part where (transsexuals) are identified as a special group and deserve special privileges is just wrong.

COMMENTARY

Byrom wrong: Groups are supportive, not racist

Jessica Byrom is sick and tired of hearing about Proposal 2, evidenced in "Affirmative action discriminates, not Proposal 2; move on already" (SN 11/21). I would ask Byrom to venture out of her lily-white world and imagine, just for a moment, how it might feel to be sick and tired every day. She wonders why she can't have her own organization for white students.

COMMENTARY

Ethnic-specific student groups for everyone

I find it particularly funny when people use the card "there's a black group; why can't there be a white group?" Many of the Black Caucuses have been removing the "black" in the title and have been named their residence hall's Caucus. Culturas de las Razas Unidas is one of the most racially unbiased groups on campus.

COMMENTARY

Tasers shouldn't be used excessively

No form of power should be abused, and that goes for Taser guns, too. According to a recent State News article, East Lansing police officers have used Taser guns an average of twice each month this past year.

COMMENTARY

Forgiveness doesn't just mend fences, also improves health

"Pass the turkey, please," my voice carried anything other than holiday bliss as I watched my older brother smear gravy on his face for the pure pleasure of watching me bite my tongue. I sat there, staring straight ahead and fighting the little voice urging me to revert back to my 12-year-old conflict resolution plan: the karate chop. I took a breath while assuring myself it had never really resulted in much more than my body in some variation of the human pretzel and giving my brother the satisfaction that he had pushed the right button. Leave it to the holidays to thrust us back into the family setting where we all learned how to deal with conflict and forgiveness in the first place. Here I am, age 21, and still hashing it out with my 24-year-old brother, confirming that conflict isn't something one can outgrow; rather, it's a human problem. Most of us can dig up some family grudge, but often we don't stop to think about implications of these daily conflicts, especially when we drag them out for weeks, months and even years. A study by the University of Michigan showed that in those 45 and older, forgiveness was linked to better mental and physical health.

COMMENTARY

Civil war in Iraq leaves U.S. helpless

In a turn that should surprise no one, violence erupted in Iraq during the weekend. Sunni gunmen killed 21 Shiite men in front of their families, while elsewhere in the war-torn country, car bombs erupted killing 200 and further wounding 250. As the situation in Iraq steadily crumbles, U.S.

COMMENTARY

Richards' rant shows racism still occurs

I would like to direct Jessica Byrom, "Affirmative action discriminates, not Proposal 2; move on already" (SN 11/21), toward the recent furor surrounding Michael Richards' (Cosmo Kramer from TV's "Seinfeld") tirade onstage at The Laugh Factory against a rowdy crowd member.

COMMENTARY

Anti-war groups don't warrant spying

Be careful what you say or do — the Pentagon just might be watching you, especially if you're a member of an anti-war group. There have been numerous cases of our government unwarrantedly spying on U.S.