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The Eastern Echo Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 | Print Archive
The Eastern Echo

Alison Basley

The Eastern Echo
Column

Bernie Sanders is wrong about income inequality

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said that, “The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time,” and “for the last 40 years the great middle class of our country—once the envy of the world—has been disappearing.” Sympathy for this kind of outrage is reflecting in the polls, showing Sanders to be a legitimate threat to Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and Iowa.

The Eastern Echo
Column

Michigan should legalize marijuana

As support for recreational marijuana legalization in Michigan increases, the likelihood of a ballot proposal to enact the necessary legislation is becoming a reality. According to MLive, a new poll conducted by EPIC-MRA of Lansing reports that 50 percent of Michigan voters would be likely to support a future ballot proposal to legalize the possession or cultivation of marijuana by adults 21 years of age or older and allow taxable sales at state-licensed stores. The Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee plans to start its fundraising drive by May using both paid and volunteer workers to collect the needed 250,000 petition signatures. I believe that ending marijuana prohibition in Michigan would reduce violent crime and drug-related crime, while keeping the millions currently spent on incarceration and enforcement in the pockets of taxpayers. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, since Colorado stores started selling recreational pot in January of 2014 after voters chose to legalize it, drug-related crimes remained steady or dropped statewide. In addition, there has been no spike in traffic fatalities from drugged driving, according to the Washington Post. And the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting data shows that violent crime is down 5.2 percent statewide.

The Eastern Echo
Column

Why Email Scandal Matters

“How stupid do they think we are?” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough asked the most important question we should be asking of 2016 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and her former president spouse in the wake of the newest 21st century Clinton scandal.

The Eastern Echo
Column

Is free education really free?

On Jan. 20, President Obama will announce in his State of the Union address a seemingly grand plan to make two years of community college “free” for American students everywhere, as long as they maintain a “C” or better average.

The Eastern Echo
Column

Is "free" education really free?

On Jan. 20, President Obama will announce in his State of the Union address a seemingly grand plan to make two years of community college “free” for American students everywhere, as long as they maintain a “C” or better average.

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