COMMENTARY

Genetics more complex than columnist believes

Evan Rondeau's understanding of science is as muddled as his logic in his piece "Infidelity runs rampant in nature." (SN 8/10). When Rondeau states that "(humans) are much more evolved ? than voles," he is actually saying that his understanding of natural selection is so poor that he really has no business commenting on the issue. Natural selection does not result in creatures more or less evolved, but rather varying levels of complexity in response to different selection pressures. Articles by ill-informed journalists like Evan Rondeau are much of the reason people are mislead about the role of genes, and the impact of genetic technology.

COMMENTARY

Spirit of Olympics crushed by media

After turning off my TV in disgust every day of the Olympics, I wish to lodge this rant of complaint to officials, sportscasters, and sportswriters.

COMMENTARY

Local bookstores need to halt practice of putting screws to 'U'

Reckless capitalism is a system grounded only in profit. It is a selfish pursuit of a bottom line inflated beyond what is necessary, and more importantly, what is just.

COMMENTARY

Michigan voters at loss for being denied right to vote

Recent action by the Board of State Canvassers is an appalling slap in the face to voters. Two Democrats on the board decided voters should not have a chance to vote on the marriage amendment simply because they do not agree with the amendment.

COMMENTARY

Marching on

There has always been the notion that suggests many Americans hold a nonchalant attitude about political issues.

COMMENTARY

RNC in NYC

The Republican Party has assembled the right team of speakers for its national convention. The party is poised to bring home its ideology with a prime-time lineup that includes politicians who are influential both inside and outside the party line, such as U.S.

COMMENTARY

Rap moguls on right track, columnist missing point

It's great to see hip-hop moguls Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Russell Simmons trying to get young people to vote.

COMMENTARY

Sexual assaults more common earlier in semester; know how to stay safe

Welcome to MSU. According to a 2000 study by the U.S. Department of Justice titled "The Sexual Victimization of College Women," nearly 5 percent of college women are victims of sexual violence each year.

COMMENTARY

'Pro-Bush' photo needed to have Kerry counterpart

I'm extremely disappointed at the two photos accompanying the presidential election story on the front page of the Welcome Week Edition of The State News. The reader's eye is naturally drawn to the largest color photo on the page where we clearly read "Bush Country" or other pro-President Bush messages.

COMMENTARY

Reluctance to intervene in Sudan reveals policy flaws

Wednesday was the Day of Conscience for the Darfur genocide. I participated by fasting as a way to lend my voice to urge the leaders of the world to stop the massacre that is taking place. We swore the Holocaust would never happen again, but it is.

COMMENTARY

Education plan loses sight of individual

Education, in its broadest sense, is the most important element in a child's life. Our educational system is the milieu in which our children swim until they find the shores of adulthood.

COMMENTARY

Unawareness

Before reading this editorial, challenge yourself to list the criteria of a transgender person. A transgender person isn't necessarily a transvestite, for transvestites don't necessarily feel they were born as the wrong sex, but do choose to dress as such.

COMMENTARY

Battle state

When political candidates stop in Michigan as much as Sen. John Kerry and President Bush have, it's irresponsible not to go out and see them - both of them. Regardless of which political party you swear allegiance to, it's imperative to see the whole picture going into any election.

COMMENTARY

Apathy toward reading, self-education promotes ignorance to world

About 89 million American adults - somewhere between 46 and 51 percent - are essentially illiterate, according to a survey conducted by the National Institute for Literacy.

COMMENTARY

U.S. intimidation of free speech extends to small island nation's media

Recently the Cyprus IndyMedia Collective published a statement regarding the collaboration between the CIA and the Cyprus police to "investigate and intimidate Cyprus IndyMedia and (independent journalist) Petros Evdokas." His crime?

COMMENTARY

Uniting folk

The Great Lakes Folk Festival can't be labeled anything other than good. It brings world folk culture to Mid-Michigan.

COMMENTARY

Google database endangers privacy

As Google prepares to go public with an initial stock offering of 25 million shares, some long-held concerns about the company's immense power and questionable policies still float in the air.

COMMENTARY

Terror alert: Gold

After American swimmer Mark Spitz broke seven world records en route to his record seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, he was flown home to America for being Jewish in Germany.

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.