Letters to the Editor

>Gay marriage stance

In its Sept. 6 editorial "No time for moderation," the Daily editorial board announced that this year would not be like those of the past " this year, the opinion pages wouldn't be "handcuffed by politeness," because when things are not going right, "we all better damn well do something about it."

For, "moderate times call for moderate measures. But these times are by no means for the moderate."

I am left wondering where that editorial board was when it wrote the Nov. 18 editorial, "Promoting rainbows."

This editorial fails to even take a position on the issue of gay marriage, instead opting to discuss how we should brace ourselves for the imminent debate on this issue.

I urge the editorial board to actually take a stand on an issue. This is an important issue " but it is more important to the thousands of GLBTQ Minnesotans who will be directly affected by a constitutional ban than it is to conservative Christians that are pushing for a ban.

I encourage everyone to visit the Queer Student Cultural Center on the second floor of Coffman Union, or attend its weekly "friends and allies" meetings at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Hopefully you will have the opportunity to visit with fellow GLBTQ students and realize they are just like you.

Perhaps if everyone stopped for a minute to think about whom they were talking about, we would all realize just how much we have in common.

After all, gay marriage isn't about trying to break down the family unit " it's about legally recognizing the relationship between two loving people who happen to be of the same sex.

John Schrom

University undergraduate

Habeas corpus

I am writing in response to Darren Bernard's Nov. 17 column, "Check this balance." It's good to know someone has taken Marty Andrade's torch as right-wing mouthpiece. Like his predecessor, Bernard has chosen to spread the Fox News brand of propaganda rather than actually addressing the merits of the issues at hand in the habeas corpus debate.

Bernard claims that suspected terrorists shouldn't have the right to habeas corpus because the United States has never given it to prisoners of war in earlier wars.

Of course, Mr. Bernard fails to consider the fact that we are not in a traditional war. Traditional wars have an end. If we classify captured terrorists as prisoners of war, will we release them at the end of the war in Iraq? I don't know that anyone would want that. Yet is it fair to imprison someone for a lifetime if they had a minor role or no role at all in the insurgency?

In addition, should we treat all insurgents in Iraq the same way we treat members of al-Qaida? How do we ensure that someone we have captured is actually a terrorist? After all, even the best of law enforcement makes mistakes.

I am not necessarily saying Bernard is wrong in his conclusion, but I am troubled by his methods. Instead of examining any of the above issues he chose to say or imply that "Senate Democrats and liberal Republicans" are political opportunists, shameful, dishonest and even "lily-livers." If I wanted that I would have picked up a Michael Moore or Ann Coulter book.

It is people like Bernard who are responsible for the horrible rift that this country has. Bernard, you should be ashamed.

Matthew Johnson

University staff member and alumnus

Cage-free eggs

Jason Ketola's Nov. 21 column, "Beyond turkeys, ban battery-cage eggs," drew sympathy from many readers as they learned about the routine abuse that egg-laying hens endure on modern factory farms before they are slaughtered.

As Ketola mentioned, we as consumers have a very important part in this picture every time we make food purchases.

Indeed, not all egg farms employ the same cruel practices as the factory farms that supply the overwhelming majority of eggs on today's market.

In light of those farms that still raise hens in a much more humane way and due to recent student concern over the cruel conditions on egg factory farms, Compassionate Action for Animals has recently launched a campuswide "No Battery Eggs" campaign to compel the University Dining Services to carry eggs only from certified cage-free hens.

With minimal differences in pricing and a world of difference for the hundreds of thousands of battery-caged hens suffering to produce the University's eggs, the choice appears to be a simple one.

Already, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly has passed a resolution in support of this initiative as outlined in Tuesday's article "GAPSA asks for cage-free eggs at U."

As students and patrons of UDS establishments, it is essential to make your opposition to battery cages known and encourage the University to join more than 70 other colleges across the nation in going cage-free.

Gilbert Schwartz

campaign coordinator for

Compassionate Action for Animals