Monday, January 5, 2026

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Tragic ritual

Sometimes there's a fine line between fun and foolishness - other times, there's no question that an incident should have never happened.

COMMENTARY

Ticket policy will ruin school spirit

I believe that the new student ID football vouchers are a big mistake and will not only financially disturb our beloved school, but will damage the spirit and energy of the student section.

COMMENTARY

Initiative is a step back for equality

I must take issue with columnist John Knowles' characterization of affirmative action as "offensive," and the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or MCRI, as an "inevitable impending victory for justice" (SN 8/11). As we all know, for roughly 400 years, Europeans uprooted and enslaved Africans by bringing them to the colonies and eventually portions of the United States, forcing them into atrocious conditions and attempting to instill in them an attitude of racial inferiority.

COMMENTARY

Student view

The city of East Lansing is a divided city - half is students and the other half residents. Cliché as this might be, many problems result from this simple fact.

COMMENTARY

Live movie

Like white, there are different shades of black. In many movies, blacks are portrayed in prisons and ghettos, with boisterous attitudes, slick motives and other most commonly associated situations. "Barbershop," "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Bad Boys," to name a few, all have a limited view of blacks. MSU Assistant Professor Jeff Wray, who is directing a film called "The Soul Searchers" this summer, is trying to move away from such hackneyed roles in the movie. "We rarely see black folks depicted in a way that's expansive about humanity," Wray said in Thursday's story in The State News.

COMMENTARY

Seat belt campaign waste of resources

This letter is in response to "Police launch 2-week safety-belt campaign" (SN 8/9). Michigan State police Trooper Tom Tucker said the area chosen is highly traveled. I wonder how many lives they save by enforcing in a 45 mph zone?

COMMENTARY

Test case

Many students at MSU have been at a party that's gotten broken up by the police, or at least have heard stories about one from a friend.

COMMENTARY

CAFTA will result in job loss like NAFTA

Call me a nerd, but the night the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA went to the House, I sat up watching C-SPAN intently, waiting and waiting for the result I had been hoping for - for logic, for sensibility, for the best interest of Average Joe living and working in Every Town, USA.

COMMENTARY

Future fuel

A responsible energy policy backed by the White House - can it be true? In light of such things as Vice President Dick Cheney's closed-door meetings with energy company executives, and the Bush administration's suggestion to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it would come as a surprise if the White House walked the straight and narrow path on energy policy. On Monday, President Bush signed energy legislation that purports to take a long-term approach to solving problems such as reliance on foreign oil, high gas prices and the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels. Some of the main points of the plan include $14.5 billion in tax breaks for energy companies in hopes they will work to further development of renewable energy sources and the promotion of efficiency, an extension of daylight-savings time, new efficiency standards for commercial appliances, $1 billion for coastal environmental management for states where there is offshore oil drilling and a $1.8 billion program to promote clean coal research and development. At 1,724 pages, the bill is quite complicated.

COMMENTARY

Tough love

She might just be one mother, but she's got the opportunity to represent thousands of them. Californian Cindy Sheehan showed up at President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch with one goal in mind - getting some answers.

COMMENTARY

Bush's comments often misconstrued

This letter is in response to "Keep it out" (SN 8/8). Contrary to The State News' assertion, President Bush's statement was not an attempt to indoctrinate the youth of our country with religious beliefs.