Editorial: Choose neutrality for license plates

Lawmakers in the past have avoided the urge to insert political messaging into Michigan’s lineup of specialized vehicle license plates, but it looks like that could change during this legislative session. A Senate committee has passed a “Choose Life” license plate bill that would raise money for Right to Life of Michigan, an anti-abortion lobby group. This measure would use state resources to promote a special-interest cause and should be rejected.

Commentary: Mitt Romney needs a translator

Really, you’d think with all their money, vaunted organization skills and control-freak machinery, Mitt Romney’s people could get someone to translate for us when he talks off the cuff.

Commentary: New patent office signals region’s role in innovation

“Patent pending” has a whole new meaning for Michigan. The recent announcement by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that it will open a satellite office in downtown Detroit is the latest indicator of our state’s economic resurgence.

Cornelius suicide shows the urgency of treatment

The death of Don Cornelius, creator and host of “Soul Train,” brought two conflicting memories to mind: the weekly joy of that iconic program as a defining feature of black American pop culture and the terrible pain inflicted on the surviving family and friends of those who commit suicide.

U.S. should aid in toppling Syrian president and Iran ally Assad

Imperial regimes can crack when they are driven out of their major foreign outposts. The fall of the Berlin Wall did not just signal the liberation of Eastern Europe from Moscow. It prefigured the collapse of the Soviet Union itself just two years later.

Letter: Safelite honors consumer choice

In the Feb. 2 editorial, “Let auto insurers compete on repair choice,” consumers were led to believe that policyholder choice isn’t honored by our company. Safelite Solutions absolutely informs policyholders of their right to select an auto glass shop of their choice, we honor that preference and we record 100 percent of telephone calls to validate that fact.

Letters: Electric car controversies

Mark Perry got it right in his article advocating stopping the electric car subsidies (“Unplug electric car subsidies,” Jan. 19).

Editorial: Pull back on union legislation

Proposed new legislation affecting union members in Michigan is a combination of reasonable rules protecting their rights and unnecessary overreach that lawmakers probably should bypass. Union leaders protesting the package of bills should be thankful they're not facing the harsher measures adopted in Indiana and Wisconsin. Indiana also just became a right-to-work state.

Plan in place for better Ecorse

After spending the last two decades submerged in debt and controversies over corruption, our City of Friendship is finally making a fresh start. Now it is up to our elected officials to continue on that path by implementing the desires of more than 150 community members who spent the last several months shaping a dream of what form a vivified Ecorse should take.

Regulations are muzzling free speech

Fountain Hills, Ariz. -- Dina Galassini does not seemto pose a threat to Arizona's civic integrity. But the government of this desert community believes you cannot be too careful. And state law empowers local governments to be vigilant against the lurking danger that political speech might occur before the speakers notify the government and comply with all the speech rules.

Finley: If life’s cheap, murder’s not news

Everybody agrees that there's something wrong when the horrific murder of a 12-year-old black girl in Detroit gets far less newspaper ink and television footage than the slaying of a white Grosse Pointe matron.

Editorial: Romney risks talking his way out of race

The rap against Mitt Romney is that the only thing conservative about him is his business suit. And the more he yaps off the cuff, the more he reinforces that impression. At the rate he's going, he'll talk himself out of the presidency, and perhaps even the Republican nomination.

Letters

Inadequate concessions; Fighting part of hockey; Expensive mandate

Editorial Quick Hits: Tax vote limit too severe

Lawmakers’ desire to limit how often a municipality can come at its residents for tax increases is understandable, maybe even commendable, but the latest effort to do that goes a little too far.

Editorial Quick Hits: Other views

Firestorm on birth control

Should Super Bowl game be moved to Saturday?

Editorial: Union deal doesn’t alter Detroit’s course

Commentary: Immigration reform would help spur economic growth

Editorial: U.S. should act quickly to block Asian carp

Granholm show unlikely to dwell on failed policies

Letters: Is contraception rule fair?

Letters

Today’s shout-out ... goes to Woody the Woodchuck

Commentary: Crushing the dream

Meddling Dems urge a vote for Paul

Pythons are overrunning Everglades

Editorial: Michigan schools should keep kindergarten choices

Editorial: Let auto insurers compete on repair choice