Letters to the Editor

I read the Feb. 27 letter to the editor, “Tobacco tax increase,” about the tobacco tax increase within Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget. The letter made a very inaccurate claim that increasing the price of tobacco does not encourage smokers to quit. Extensive research shows quite the opposite. Not only does increasing the price of these products lead to a decline in tobacco use, it’s proven to be one of the most effective ways to help people quit and to keep young people from starting.

In order to form a more perfect University of Minnesota, I have decided to create the “Free Lunch” Club. The “Free Lunch” Club is an all-inclusive student group. Due to our lack of fundraising skills, I will be seeking money from all of you paying your student services fees.

On Jan. 24, the Minnesota Daily published an article titled, “Profs to protest closing TCF student accounts.” This article detailed TCF Bank’s decision to close several Iranian students’ accounts, a decision which was described by a few professors as “textbook prejudice.”

I am writing this letter to the editor regarding a comment made by a representative from the Ayn Rand Study Group concerning the group’s Student Services Fees Committee recommendation of $0 for next year. The representative claimed that “groups that are conservative by nature ... are hit kind of hard,” and there is a change to “promote more liberal groups on campus.” 

The budget put forth by Gov. Mark Dayton will negatively impact students. His tobacco tax increase is a regressive tax, which will hurt students. I am not a smoker myself, but even I see how bad of an idea this is.

First of all, raising prices on cigarettes does not stop people from smoking. Instead, they just look for cheaper alternatives. Some may drive to other states, others might buy them online. Either way, all we are doing is stopping tax revenues from going to Minnesota and sending that money elsewhere.

You’ve probably never heard of Matt Forstie, and in all fairness, on a campus with 60,000 people, there are a lot of people you haven’t heard of.

However, I’d like to take this time to give him just a small piece of the recognition he truly
deserves.

In response to Luke Wolf’s Feb. 20 letter to the editor saying that those against same-sex marriage don’t necessarily hate gay people: Please, share your insight with the rest of us. I fail to see how it is possible to oppose same-sex marriage without looking down on gay people. Gay people are treated like second-class citizens; I honestly can’t understand why anyone would keep them from marrying the person they love. It is true, however, that you may not hate gay people. What is clear is that you don’t respect gay people, and there is no good reason for that.

In the midst of the Minnesota Student Association’s success in introducing a bill at the state level for medical amnesty, the University of Minnesota’s student government has taken the stage as a force to be reckoned with. It demonstrates the impact student government can have on serious issues, such as affordability of
education.

Whether you read it online, saw it on the news or your professor went on a rant about it, you have likely heard that Washington has an accountability problem. Our nation’s leaders — in Congress and in the White House — are often focused more on partisan politics than doing what’s right for our country. They’re focused on scoring points instead of solving problems — and the upcoming sequester is just one more example of it.

Several years ago there was a report that a driller had struck oil in southwestern Minnesota. Minnesota’s state geologist responded, simply asking whose pipeline they hit. Oil is rarely found in lands where basement rock is close to the surface, areas known in geology as shields. Minnesota is situated on the southern edge of the Canadian Shield.