Opinions

Black Friday: Why not shop until you drop?

By John G. Fike · Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013

Are you not amazed at the Black Friday mobs of anxious, competitive, occasionally even violent shoppers rushing to crowd into the discount stores the day after Thanksgiving? It seems to me they’ve got more anger than cash, more vulnerability than good sense. Maybe we should take a closer look.

Libertarian Republican could earn a city council seat

By James Tatum · Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013

“This is Jack Kemp’s enterprise zones on steroids,” said Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, in his speech before the Detroit Economic Club.

Westboro Baptist Christians are the real deal

By Anthony Alaniz · Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013

“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be out to death; blood shall be upon them.” This is the common passage thrown about by some within the Christian community to justify their stance against homosexuality and gay marriage in America.

Find your spot on the Medicine Wheel

By Jumanah Saadeh · Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013

At some point or another, most of us have longed for circumstances other than our own. Whether we admire someone’s wealth, status, education or relationship, the feeling of desire is the same.

Capitalism’s principles will always lead to crashes

By John G. Fike · Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013

We can now see capitalism’s last crash, and indications are that it will be a spectacular disaster.

EMU needs students, students need money

By James Tatum · Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013

Mayor Paul Schreiber of Ypsilanti has said the city needs to make the transition from a locale that relied on manufacturers to a college town. Many times over I have raised the question of whether or not the city has the money to make the transition. The debt from a real estate purchase that went badly has left the city unable to pay for capital improvements and public services like parks and recreation have been cut. But another important question is what it means to be a college town.

Citizens need protection from police corruption

By Anthony Alaniz · Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013

My column is simply an effort to improve three things in this world; truth, justice and equality. If a police officer can openly lie to a citizen, that is not truth. If a police officer has special protections that are unavailable to a civilian, that is not equality. If a police officer can fire 16 rounds into an unarmed man without consequence, that is not justice.

No Black Friday deal is worth fighting over

By Jess J. Salisbury · Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013

Like many Americans, I indulged in that beloved tradition of Black Friday shopping over the past weekend. Before the sun even peeked out over the horizon, I was running frantically from shop to shop trying to find the best deals on sweatpants and whatever else I needed to stock up on for winter.

Modern hip-hop no longer motivational but racist, sexist

By Olivia Jackson · Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013

Before Lil Wayne and Rick Ross made a big deal of hustling the streets of ghettos and slinging rocks, Afrika Bambaataa made our planet rock with his crew Soul Force. In the 1980s, hip-hop was a way for musical artist to connect with people who mutually understood the struggles of living in the ghetto and who had dreams of making a way out.

Muslim students need prayer space on EMU campus

By Fatma Jaber · Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013

A designated space for prayer, meditation and reflection is an essential aspect of any well recognized and highly regarded university. This room is intended not only for Muslim students, but for all members of EMU, and its purpose is to give everyone a safe place to pray, reflect inwardly and meditate.

Veterans and Swiss cheese; rethinking tax code

By James Tatum · Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013

Gov. Rick Snyder, Republican of the Great Lakes State, recently made law a bill that offers property tax relief to veterans. More specifically the law now allows former members of the armed services who are fully disabled to qualify for an exemption from state and local property taxes.

Human sexuality just part of nature

By Anthony Alaniz · Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

Everyone has experienced nights where our drive to do some homework succumbs to the wonders of the Internet. We are all fallible and can fall victim to the most adorable of cat videos and BuzzFeed.

Household spending looks promising, evidence suggests

By Tommy Barker · Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

Money is such a crucial variable for both survival and leisure, though it always appears as though there’s never enough. However, in recent years we have seen a drop in how much we need to spend, namely in the household.

Ypsilanti needs more heavy industry jobs

By James Tatum · Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

“More than 2 million manufacturing jobs disappeared during the 2007-09 recession,” said a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. A fraction of those jobs disappeared from the city of Ypsilanti when the ACH (Visteon) auto-plant owned by Ford Motor Company closed in 2008.

Bin Laden isn’t America’s only terrorist

By John G. Fike · Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

In September 2001 Osama bin Laden launched a terrorist attack on the heart of capitalism, when al-Qaida operatives flew passenger airliners into the World Trade Center. That horrendous disaster stunned Americans with more than 3,000 deaths, allowing George W. Bush to grab his chance to start the “War on Terror.”

Eastern Michigan’s art, music need attention too

By Jess J. Salisbury · Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013

Did you know that I have the approximate athletic ability of a tree stump? If you’ve read pretty much any of my editorials, you do. I tend to rant about that a lot.

America and the war on everything: a love story

By Anthony Alaniz · Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013

America loves war. We may complain about the costs, why we are putting soldiers in harm’s way and even the reasons why we are going, but in the end, our country’s policies enjoy showering the disenfranchised with democracy bombs. Nothing screams freedom like blowing up a country.

As auto industry crumbles, Ypsi must find a new ‘castle’

By James Tatum · Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013

The World Bank has devised a way to assess the urban competitiveness of a city, a rubric that uses four elements: economic structure, territorial endowment, human resources and institutional milieu.

Al Willman can be heard every week on the Eastern Echo Sports Podcast with Sports Editor Eugene Evans. The podcast can be found on SoundCloud or by searching for the podcast on iTunes.

COLUMN: EMU football will rise again

By Al Willman · Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013

The Eastern Michigan University football team just fired its head coach, the last thing the fans need are people calling for the team to drop down a division or, even worse, cut the program altogether.

COLUMN: Eastern should drop its football program

By Eugene Evans · Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013

There comes a time in life where one must realize when a situation is so inoperable that you have to pull the plug on even if you do not want to.

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