COMMENTARY

Hopeful vow

In a victory for the minority, the California Legislature is the first state-governed body in the nation to approve a bill that could legalize gay marriage. Massachusetts is the only state that currently permits gay marriage, and Vermont allows civil unions. The bill, passed 41-35, stipulates that marriage is the union between two people and does not specify sex. All of the Republicans in the Assembly voted against the bill, defending Proposition 22, a ballot initiative against same-sex marriage that was passed by a statewide vote in 2000. Democrats passed the bill through and await Gov.

COMMENTARY

Bice takes Bible out of context in column

Bice portrays the Bible as a discriminatory book that promotes gender and ethnic inequality. He does this by selecting solitary quotes, taken out of context, that support his writing motifs.

COMMENTARY

Faculty member upset about Sparty being segregated from fans

The view from Spartan Stadium's upper deck was spectacular. Sun shone on Beaumont Tower. It was warm, but not so warm that you couldn't feel chills when the band exploded through the tunnel. The Spartan offense was potent; the opponent overmatched.

COMMENTARY

Student angry about Welcome Week attack

In the few years of being here I have experienced a wide array of racism - mostly indications of ignorance. While walking down Albert Avenue on Saturday night (8/27) during Welcome Weekend, my friend was stopped by a white male in FUBU clothes.

COMMENTARY

Residents need to accept E.L. partying

In response to Tali Hylen's letter "Students, city need better relationship" (SN 8/31), it is unacceptable that fellow students are vandalizing residents' homes. On behalf of the majority of MSU students, I would like to offer an apology to those East Lansing residents that have dealt with this embarrassing problem. What residents need to remember is that East Lansing is a "college town." If it makes you feel better to view East Lansing as more of a city and less of a college town, then feel free.

COMMENTARY

Still sharing

Is the battle over file sharing and copyright laws going to end soon? Absolutely not. The never-ending argument was reopened yet again with the Australian court deciding that Kazaa - a popular downloading program used for file sharing - has violated copyright laws.

COMMENTARY

SN Plan B editorial ignores hard facts

The editorial on Plan B emergency contraception, "Backup plan" (SN 8/30), was so remarkably ill-informed that I am led to believe that there was political motivation behind it.

COMMENTARY

Like father

Kids do the darnedest things. Apparently, if they see their parents buying liquor and alcohol, when given a chance to go imaginary grocery shopping, they'll come back with a pack of Marlboros and some Colt 45. At least this is what a recently released study conducted by Dartmouth Medical College in New Hampshire says. The study found adolescent children whose parents drink and smoke were more likely to have children who emulate these behaviors. According to the study, children were 3.9 times as likely to buy cigarettes if their parents smoked and three times as likely to choose wine or beer if their parents drank alcohol at least once a month. Using dolls in a role-playing game with children 2 to 6 years old, the kids were asked to take the dolls shopping because there was no food in the dollhouse.

COMMENTARY

Traffic trap

Like it or not, it's against the law to drive without wearing a seat belt. And on Sept. 12, Sept.

COMMENTARY

FBI snooping has long history at MSU

It is a disgusting revelation that the FBI is spending time investigating activist groups rather than chasing actual threats to national security.

COMMENTARY

Bush incompetence bad for disaster aid

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as "among the three likeliest most catastrophic disasters facing this country," directly behind a terrorist strike on New York City. So what was done after that assessment?

COMMENTARY

Conserving gas will help hurricane relief

As the southern states affected by Hurricane Katrina begin to try to recover from the disaster, the MSU community should take the government's advice and conserve energy.

COMMENTARY

Global warming not creator of Katrina

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, certain interest groups have decided not to wait in order to allow people to absorb the impact of this natural disaster. Instead, environmental groups are out screaming that global warming is responsible for this tragedy, from leftist political parties in Germany to know-it-all liberals such as Robert F.

COMMENTARY

Media silence after Schiavo case signals hiding of control structure

The cameras have gone, the newspaper articles have stopped and the debacle that was the Terri Schiavo right-to-death case has ended.

COMMENTARY

Paper praised for printing FBI story

On the front page of The State News for Aug. 30 was the story "Local terrorist activity suspected" (SN 8/30). I want to thank The State News for having the courage to print this story. It helps us all to know that police abuse happens under our very noses.

COMMENTARY

Aging senior finds university, students change faster than him

I turned 23 today. That's right, as 17 and 18-year-olds clock another year and search for the biggest, craziest party, and as 21-year-olds drown themselves in alcohol, I'm bursting the East Lansing bubble - the one that keeps young kids and old people out of our college lifestyle. I'm skewing the average age on campus. I'm searching for familiar faces and spending a lot of time reliving memories from the past. I'm trying to keep up with the latest styles, but refuse to spend any money on new clothes.

COMMENTARY

Police succeed with Welcome Week plan

I would like to commend the East Lansing Police Department concerning its actions on Friday during Welcome Week.

COMMENTARY

Blame game

Something is wrong with homeland security. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, residents of New Orleans and surrounding areas have lost practically everything.

COMMENTARY

SN article incites fear in community

As a member of the activist group Direct Action, which was slandered in The State News on Tuesday, "Local terrorist activity suspected" (SN 8/30), I am deeply disturbed by the terrible journalism that went into the article. The State News completely missed the point of the story. The FBI is using counterterrorism powers given to them since the Sept.

COMMENTARY

Student requests investigation into FBI activities

In response to the article "Local terrorist activity suspected" (SN 8/30), the contents of and response by the FBI to the American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act request show that the FBI is now infringing on the sprits of people to question our government's political and military decisions. For a government agency to even dangle an association of the dangerous words of "terrorist" to nonviolent peace, animal rights and affirmative action organizations is reprehensible.