Thank goodness it’s over. General Motors Corp. is back in business after the employee strike ended early Wednesday. The automotive company saw about 73,000 employees walk out of automotive plants Monday in the first nationwide United Auto Workers strike against GM since 1970.
I started as an MSU freshman in the fall of 1999, right after the fabled Duke Final Four riots. I remember the insane police presence on campus. We had National Guard tanks in Cedar Village during the Michigan game. I got tear gassed trying to cross the street near my apartment my junior year (I was sober, for the record). Along with most students, I found the police efforts to curb drinking insulting and barbaric. It’s good to see that not much has changed since I graduated in 2003.
Michigan lost 16,000 workers in August alone. While the unemployment rate in the rest of the nation decreased in August, Michigan’s jobless rate increased from 7 to 7.4 percent. Whether by preference or force, students are racing across state borders as soon as they get a diploma in their hands, and the decaying automobile industry – once the bread-and-butter of the state’s economy – continues to haunt us.
The conduct at the football games this year is abysmal. I don’t see how threading a curse word into every chant gives our team leverage, or anything, for that matter, besides a bad reputation. Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio, two of the most esteemed figures at this university, have asked us to show respect and class, yet our chants grow more vulgar and disrepectful every year. Even the band, who prelude our first down chant, is changing up the music just to keep our mouths shut.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said that illegal immigrants killed 12 Americans daily, not 25. This of course doesn’t make either statistic any better. We should definitely address the issue of illegal immigration in America, but I don’t think building a wall to keep immigrants out or denying some amnesty will do it. If someone wants to get over that wall, they’ll find a way.
The other day I turned on the TV to find it on CNN. Before I turned the channel to check on the score of the latest Tigers meltdown, I saw something that disgusted me just as much as the Tigers game.
Racism, while still classified as behavior based on the belief that the differences between individual people is governed by the color of their skin, manifests itself today very differently than it did 40 years ago.
MSU’s MBA program dropped in ranking for regional schools, from fifth last year to 18th this year, in the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Business School Survey. But does the drop mean anything significant for the Eli Broad College of Business?
The editorial Increasing taxes will not solve budget crisis (SN 9/17) suggests an overly simplistic analysis and response to Michigan’s current financial catastrophe. Any self-respecting college student would like to see the state make up for revenue shortfalls by allowing bars to stay open later. This cannot be taken as a serious suggestion.
The recent use of a Taser on a University of Florida student should put local police on notice.
Eric Thieleman’s recent column on illegal immigration, Undocumented people a problem (SN 9/20) contained multiple inaccurate statements.
In an effort to battle the scourge that is alcohol consumption on college campuses, some universities have considered scheduling more classes early Friday mornings. University of Missouri-Columbia professor Phillip K. Wood co-authored a study concluding college students enrolled in early morning Friday classes consumed about half as much alcohol on Thursdays as those without Friday classes.
Do gun grabbers just live in some fantasy world where nobody is out to commit rape, steal your property or even murder you and others? Gun-free zones and gun bans have done nothing but empower criminals who will possess firearms anywhere, regardless of the law. Why would a criminal with intent to murder be discouraged to terrorize a place that is deemed a gun-free zone when all that means is that law-abiding citizens will be unarmed?
Democracy is one of the most progressive, modern government systems. In a world of monarchies and oppressive theocracies, the democratic system gave equal voice to everybody, regardless of social class, gender or race. Granted, it took quite a while for many people to legally gain that equality in the U.S., but nonetheless, our country was designed to give the power to the people.
Thank you, Eric Thieleman, for bringing the topic of illegal immigration to the attention of the public with your article Undocumented people a problem (SN 9/19). I applaud your fearmongering tactics, such as tying this issue to terrorism, our economy and even the survival of our culture. Can I suggest communism for your next article?
After reading Gun legislation illogical, flawed (SN 9/20) I’m left unable to reach Mr. Stevenson’s conclusions. First of all, “schoolhouse violence?” Getting your knuckles rapped by a stern-faced nun or wearing a dunce cap in the corner is hardly violence – at the time, it would have been called proper measures, and even now it’s still called discipline.
We’ve all heard the stories from our grandparents about how tough school was in the good ol’ days, whether it was Sister Mary Ellen smacking kids with a ruler or Father Paul forcing someone to wear the dunce cap. If you think those stories were unbelievable, fast forward to 2007 where, if Michigan House Republicans have their way, chalk in the hands of teachers may soon be replaced with handguns of their choice.
Zap! Regardless of how bullheaded and rude the offender might be, there is absolutely no excuse for police officers to use a Taser on an unarmed man after they already have him pinned on the ground.
In his column Western culture worth the fight (SN 9/13), Nate Sherman readily invokes the Founding Fathers, arguing that our society has strayed to a dangerous degree from “the dream that the Founding Fathers had when they risked everything to sever our ties with Britain over 200 years ago” and calls for Americans to “return to Christendom.”
As an immigrant to Michigan by way of California, and as a Mexican, I was a little worried that Eric Thieleman was serious when I read his column Undocumented people a problem (SN 9/20). Was his beef with illegals or immigrants or both? More importantly, does he even see a difference?