Columns - The Eastern Echo

Student loan rates set to double over summer

By Chris Hoitash · Sunday, April 21, 2013

College: spending tens of thousands of dollars to get a job to pay off those tens of thousands of dollars.

Michigan below average with organ donor percentage

By James Tatum · Sunday, April 21, 2013

We are all Homo sapiens, but for many economic theories and models we are also Homo economicus—the perfect economic men and women. All of our decisions with money are rational and we shop and sell with complete efficiency—or at least that is the theory.

Background checks needed for gun buyers

By Rose Carver · Sunday, April 21, 2013

Another gain was won for anti-gun control lobbyists when a compromise amendment that would expand background checks to cover Internet and gun show sales was rejected by the Senate this week.

Tan skin not worth the risk

By Rose Carver · Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Tanning your skin is a luxury that countless white women in the U.S. indulge in on almost a weekly basis to fit an arbitrary standard of beauty, but one should be careful. Overusing such powerful ultraviolet rays can turn the glamorous into cancerous.

Be ‘pro-law’ on abortion

By David Konarske · Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Last week, there was a pro-life exhibit on Eastern Michigan University’s campus. I could write an article about the intolerance that causes some people to call pro-life arguments anti-science. I could write about the idea that calling pro-life advocates “anti-woman” would be like calling “pro-choice” advocates “pro-death.” I could even write about the fact that abortions are disproportionally performed on people in poverty, but I will not.

Keep control of stress levels during finals

By Robert Uldricks · Wednesday, April 17, 2013

As we, the people of Eastern Michigan University, approach finals with minds poised for everlasting academic victory, stress becomes the dominant force in our lives. To an extent, this is a good thing. We sense the impending doom and work to prepare ourselves.

For-profit prison fails, is disgrace to humans

By Chris Hoitash · Sunday, April 14, 2013

Private enterprise has fully entered the criminal justice system, and in the process, undermined and ruined it in the name of profit and at the expense of human rights. In 2011, Ohio, facing the usual problem of being Ohio, sold one of its state prisons to the private prison corporation Corrections Corporation of America. Within the year that prison, Lake Erie Correctional Institute, has gone down the tubes.

If no helmets means more death, who is responsible?

By James Tatum · Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Mercatus Center, a conservative think-tank located at George Mason University, recently released its 2013 Freedom in the 50 States study.

Let sleeping dogs lie: When politicians die

By Leo Romyn Fabbri · Sunday, April 14, 2013

In the small hours of April 8, ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher drew her last breath. As an 87-year-old who had battled with ill health for some years, news of her last moments were cause for little surprise.

Economy falling short, government adds to problem

By David Konarske · Wednesday, April 10, 2013

According to an April 5 Reuters article, the Department of Labor reported the nation created 88,000 jobs in March, far short of the market’s prediction of 200,000 jobs. Another Reuters article from the same day said the economy has barely been able to keep up in creating jobs. The article said the unemployment rate would have gone up if so many people hadn’t dropped out of the labor force. This month may be a blessing in disguise, because it adds an exclamation point to the economic complaints present in the media for a while now.

Students fall for scams

By Robert Uldricks · Wednesday, April 10, 2013

We all need money for college. Most people try to get a job to relieve the financial pressure the nation’s exceptional education system places on their bank accounts. But too often, college students get roped into pyramid schemes and other get-rich-quick scams.

TV distorts reality

By Jumanah Saadeh · Wednesday, April 10, 2013

“I wish real life was a musical,” I lamented to my brother, who proceeded to look at me like I’d sprouted another head.

Boston College: Condoms violate policy

By Jodi F. Bullock · Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Since 2009, Boston College Students for Sexual Health—an unofficial student group at Boston College—has regularly distributed free condoms and sexual health information near campus. But according to an April 8 article in The New York Times, last month The BC administration sent the group a letter ordering it to stop distributing condoms as the act violates university policy and goes against the values of the Jesuit college.

America nothing like Greece

By James Tatum · Sunday, April 7, 2013

The U.S. federal government is approximately $16.8 trillion in debt, according to the Department of the Treasury.

States’ rights up for debate

By Chris Hoitash · Sunday, April 7, 2013

The battle for states’ rights is alive and well, and once again, the South is at the center of the debate.

Monsanto act stains Obama’s reputation

By Leo Romyn Fabbri · Sunday, April 7, 2013

While America’s media gaze was averted from the happenings of the Senate as our homosexual brothers and sisters argued their case for social equality at the Supreme Court, President Barack Obama inked his signature upon the spending bill H.R. 933.

Human Rights Campaign for some, not all

By Rose Carver · Sunday, April 7, 2013

A large amount of Facebook users showed their support for gay marriage last week by changing their profile picture to the Human Rights Campaign’s equal-sign logo, and the trend is slowly going out of style. One is stirred to wonder if people really knew the full truth about who was behind this movement that took our newsfeeds by storm.

Obama sets ‘dangerous precedent’ in law decisions

By David Konarske · Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Hill reported in a March 27 article that a number of conservative Supreme Court justices are questioning the Obama administration’s decision in 2011 to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA is a law that does not allow same sex couples to receive federal benefits contingent on marriage, such as survivor’s benefits and certain tax deductions. The Department of Justice, at the direction of President Barack Obama, has decided it will not defend the law on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

Letter to the Editor

By Paul A. Nucci · Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Dear Editor, There is no louder message in communications than silence. Saying (or doing) nothing when pressed for answers can lead to issues greater than simply answering the original inquiry.

The value of introversion

By Patrick Seick · Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Every weekday I have the pleasure of sitting in my various classes, simply listening to discussions. These conversations range from philosophy to political science to trivial gossip.