POINT: Reusing, not recycling, provides most benefits to society

"Americans have embraced recycling as a transcendental experience, an act of moral redemption ... we're performing a rite of atonement for the sin of excess." This is how John Tierney, a reporter for The New York Times Magazine, characterized the fervor surrounding recycling in 1996.

Recycling programs have the best of intentions, and indeed any development of a "conservation ethic" is constructive. The problem: Solely developing a recycling ethic is not tantamount to developing a conservation ethic. Too much emphasis on recycling versus the other two R's - renewal and reuse - can be dangerous. [Read article]

Through all of the clapping, grinning, and hand-wringing during the 2005 State of the Union address, I wondered whether anyone else would see something obvious: the speech was a powerful weapon of mass distraction.

The new weapon of mass distraction is rhetoric. Its victims are everyone who unquestioningly accepts it. The State of the Union is its latest tour de force onslaught by this administration. [Read article]

Column should have mentioned other insurance options

Although Mr. Fishman's comments about SHIP's non-existing drug program are true, he does not include other options that students can take in order to bypass the high cost of medical drugs. Before students decide not to pay for the student insurance program (or not sign up in the case of TAs) or cut back on the amount of hours they take, I urge students to talk to their doctors. [Read article]