So, our representative in Jefferson City, Zach Wyatt, thinks people on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families should be subjected to drug testing "to make sure government funds are distributed to people who will not use the money to support a drug habit?" Really? You think farmers receiving subsidies, merchants receiving tax rollbacks, the officers of firms receiving abatements on utilities or other assessments the rest of us have to pay, all these people should have to pee in a bottle too? Would they be comfortable with the logic of "if you're clean, whatcha got to squawk about?" How about you, Zach? Every time you put one hand for that paycheck, you'll be handing over a warm yellow vial with the other? No need to answer — this is just something we do to remind the poor that we control them in the most intimate way, a not-really symbolic invasion of their very bodies as the price of assistance for the desperation originally created by the privatization of the commons. 1 comment

In response to the Jan. 20 column "Kirksville lacks restaurant variety," every decision we make is a trade-off between costs and benefits. Choosing to attend Truman is no exception. Hopefully as prospective students, we analyzed the costs and benefits of attending  a smaller liberal arts school in a rural town. 1 comment

As utterly, proper a detailed venue as the Student Union Building, advertisement has been bought this very same 20 of January for the first TSU book-signing event of this new year. I hope I will be allowed, as it were, to pen this update concerning my such new animal rights biography of its early last century two native British originator challengers and their associate feminist and peace causes.

Thanks to Connor Stangler for the column"Thought must precede climate change action" in the Dec. 1 edition of the Index. Choices among energy sources are important, along with achieving efficiency in our energy use. But the ultimate problem is relying on excess consumption to drive our economy.

Elizabeth Edwards passed away Dec. 7 after a long battle with cancer. This normally wouldn't affect me much — it's sad, as she has small children, but the wife of a politician dying easily could seem like just another news story. Elizabeth Edwards, though, was classy.

The Our View from the Dec. 9 edition of the Index painted a picture of the Truman campus persecuting smokers. You portrayed smokers as the victims of the Board of Governors gone wild, even going as far as stating you couldn't blame smokers for wanting to stand in front of doors during the cold winter months.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS affects about 70,000 people worldwide and an estimated 5,000 are diagnosed annually. Also, it is estimated that ALS is responsible for nearly two deaths per hundred thousand deaths annually.

Regarding the column "Thought must precede climate change action" in the Dec. 2 edition of the Index, Mr. Strangler is right on when he argues that confronting climate change will require significant effort. The changes that humanity will have to make on the macro-level of government will no doubt be enormous.

Before I am accused or assaulted using the U.S. First Amendment of free speech or the UK petition of right just because of my dislike of the Right of Center biases, let me state that I, categorically, welcome the Barnes and Noble TSU bookstore decision to slash 25 percent off the outrageous, greedy Bush and Blair autobiographies, "A Journey" and "Decision Points.

I have noticed a growing number of articles in the Index concerning the "green movement," in various forms. I think it's great that you are helping to educate the campus and the community about how we can interact better with our planet and nourish our bodies.