Republicans in the state House of Representatives have committed themselves to assisting Michigan employers and in late August passed a $1 billion relief plan.

Organizations like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Businesses and Small Business Association of Michigan have backed the measure.

Governor, wake up! We have the worst unemployment rate in the country!

Your plan shifts hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes from one sector of the economy to another. Estimates have it raising taxes of companies like Spartan Stores of Grand Rapids some 50 percent!

Governor, please, drop the politicking and help our economy.

Dennis Lennox II
Midland freshman

Miers not qualified for Supreme Court

President Bush has not learned from his past mistakes in another stunning example of cronyism with the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court on Monday.

As we saw with former FEMA director Michael Brown, the President does not always pick the most qualified person for appointed positions.

Mr. Bush has said that Miers, a long-time personal friend of his, is the most qualified person to take over for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; yet, she has never served as a judge before, nor considered significant constitutional issues.

Very little is known about Miers’ judicial philosophy.

During her upcoming confirmation hearings senators must demand answers to how she stands on many important issues, including, among others, abortion, the right to privacy and the separation of church and state.

The American people have the right to know where Miers stands before giving her a lifetime appointment to the court.

Through the presentation of hard facts, we must see that she is indeed qualified for the position and that she is not just another crony for the President being rewarded for her loyalty to his cause.

Mike Horace
Highland freshman

Protesters don’t change minds, just turn stomachs

People who hold up signs of aborted fetuses are jerks; that’s right, I said it: J-E-R-K-S.

I wonder often what is going on in this fine land of ours that I can’t walk down the street without seeing a towering image of an aborted fetus looming above my head while some person is shouting at me about how “terrorists” kill 20 million babies a year.

It really boggles my mind that these people actually expect this to help their cause - in all reality, it just makes them and their supporters seem like mean old so-and-so’s.

I am personally pro-choice, I’m not going to lie, but I don’t by any means hate pro-lifers.

I believe that anyone in the world has the right to say what they want; I don’t think these people should be censored or stopped in any way. I just really wish people would have the common decency not to do things like this.

Abortion protesters: I know you guys are passionate, I know you care deeply about your cause, but all you are doing is making a lot of people unhappy; and really, is your personal satisfaction over getting attention more important than making others unhappy, physically ill and angered at you?

If so, I think you are far, far more selfish than a poor, confused teenage girl with a problem, who is just trying to find a solution.

I guess I’m not so much angry as I am disappointed.

No, I’m actually pretty angry, too.

Daniel Joseph McDuff
Mount Pleasant freshman