COMMENTARY

To maintain the sanctity of electoral college, Florida must sink

We are a nation in danger. Not from terrorist cells abroad or domestic, but from ourselves. Our political schisms and petty, partisan bickering - once the background noise to respectably-run campaigns - have coagulated together not unlike the T-1000 from "Terminator 2" to create a political rift in our nation so expansive that Evel Knievel himself dare not attempt to jump it on his motor bike. In a time of knee-jerk partisan retort to potshots that were never thrown, we still fail to realize how perilously close America is to forgetting that we all share the same hope for our country, no matter who its leader is.

COMMENTARY

Butting heads

When the MSU Board of Trustees had a padlock secured on their conference room doors last week in Petoskey to protect their key documents, their action was more symbolic of faculty unrest than it was indicative of a request for privacy. From the realignment of the liberal arts college last spring to last weekend's lock-up, the tension between some faculty and MSU administrators has approached a boiling point.

COMMENTARY

Wishful thinking

File sharing, while it might have started out illegally, has the potential to become legal and flourish through network services to universities, and contracts with the reformed Napster. If it can be done within the bounds of the law, file sharing doesn't present a problem. Many people were present for the illegal free-for-all downloading during the beginnings of Internet file sharing.

COMMENTARY

Islam misrepresented by terror, media

Recently the United Nations, the U.S. government and the Iraqi people have been discussing what to do with the Iraqi city of Najaf.

COMMENTARY

Kicking the habit

Ruined grades left and right, poor sleeping habits and subpar social skills - maybe Internet addiction still is a devastatingly widespread problem and not quite an absolute evil.

COMMENTARY

Infidelity runs rampant in nature

Here's a conundrum - how do you ensure your partner will remain faithful to you? If the answer to that isn't complex enough, consider if this was the follow-up question - how do you convince them to inject him or her with a gene that makes them more faithful? These sorts of outlandish questions - particularly the latter - don't simply come to my mind out of the blue.

COMMENTARY

Trustees' 'secrecy' invites speculation, distrust of 'U'

MSU is a public institution, not the private fiefdom of the MSU Board of Trustees. No weight of padlocks can obscure the pattern of secrecy and dissimulation that has characterized recent board actions, from their furtive handling of the potentially disastrous medical school move - to their inexplicable refusal to conduct a presidential search. The more secrecy that surrounds their deliberation of large policy matters for which they are answerable to the faculty and staff, students and the people of Michigan - the more the trustees invite the unavoidable conclusion that they have something to hide.

COMMENTARY

P. Diddy, Russell Simmons missing point of civic duty

In an election that has become less about voting for your particular candidate and more about voting against the other guy, Sean "P.

COMMENTARY

Legacy woes

In Monday's edition of The Contradiction Times, it was reported President George W. Bush is taking a hard line against the tradition of legacy in public universities.

COMMENTARY

Death of friend conjures thoughts of passing as mystery, equalizer

Death can take even the strongest away from us. Roman poet Publilius Syrus once wrote that it is in death that we are all equal.

COMMENTARY

Bice column rightly questions Bush's religious zealotry

John Bice summed it up nicely once again ("Bush's godspeak dangerous to country" SN 8/3). I have admit, it sends tingles down the old spinal column to think of the religious wars we are fighting these days.

COMMENTARY

Same-sex critical column easily refutable with fact

I commend Amber Morris for almost going beyond her initial beliefs through the use of science ("Same-sex parenting, lack of scientific support dangerous to children" SN 7/27). But in the end, her biases still prevailed.

COMMENTARY

Administration choices diminish value of degrees

My sincere congratulations to Dr. David Wright, the outgoing University Intellectual Integrity Officer, for telling it like it is.

COMMENTARY

Play it again

Six Saturdays a year, we treat our five senses to the unadulterated magic of college football. In East Lansing, college football Saturdays smell like someone is using sunscreen to extinguish a charcoal fire.

COMMENTARY

Closed session

When the MSU Board of Trustees closes itself away in a secret meeting at a yacht club in Petoskey and bars access to the press, it doesn't look good. It doesn't even matter what's on the table for discussion - either trivial or of vast importance - it looks underhanded and makes people distrust their elected public servants.

COMMENTARY

Enjoy summer, stop shaving your chest, bra

Ramble on … • The world's a pretty tense place right now. The terror alert has gone from Roy to G to Biv without much insight into why, how or what the hell each code level really indicates as it fluctuates here and there for no publicly known reason.

COMMENTARY

Campaign 'U'

Four years ago, then-presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush made MSU a priority stop on their respective campaign trails.

COMMENTARY

Czarist occupation

George Bush has asked Congress to create a brand new position of National Intelligence Director that would be the main advisor on countering terrorism. This new intelligence czar would try and coordinate all of the U.S.

COMMENTARY

August campaigning dull, Republicans have to push to outshine DNC

August. Finally. The hottest month of the year is also the hottest month of the presidential campaign.

COMMENTARY

Direct action progressive, should not be considered terrorist threat

With the Democratic National Convention having just passed, and the Republican version coming up, all eyes are fixed on the country's two political powerhouses and their over-the-top, self-patting-on-the-back get-togethers.