Opinions

Get your last Big Gulp while you still can New Yorkers, for on Mar.12, New York City will take the term “nanny state” to a whole new level when it begins its ban on all sugary beverage containers that exceed 16 oz. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decree, enforced on all eating establishments that receive a health letter grade, is another attempt to make his city a healthier place to live. The City health department began sending brochures to affected businesses last week, informing them of the new regulations and fines that...

In November 2008, California passed Proposition 8, an amendment that officially banned same-sex marriage in the state. Prop. 8 has been viewed by many as unfair and discriminatory, and on Feb. 28, the White House issued a brief to the Supreme Court urging them to overturn the controversial law. The brief presents the question of “whether Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” President Obama’s stance on same-sex marriage has recently become more pronounced, even more so now that the administration has decided to play an...

Everybody has heard of it, or see it for themselves, or even sent an anonymous confession to upsconfessions@yahoo.com. That little thing that keeps popping up on your Facebook feed is full of juicy gossip, random venting and sometimes stories of tragedy. I am sure that the original creater of the page did not expect to post stories about suicide and depression, but it seems that students have used this as an outlet. I think the Confessions page is a fun way to use social media and confess things that are...

This week I’m dialing it back a little bit.  Instead of offering analysis of something that bothers me, I’d like to take a moment to discuss something I’m really pleased about.  That is, in honor of the Oscars, I’d like to use this article as a celebration of the group of truly rad female role models my generation has to look up to. I’ll start with the most predictable celebrity—nay, the most necessary—I could choose.  Ladies and gentleman, I give you Jennifer Lawrence.  It took me longer to jump on...

Less than a month from today, the Supreme Court will hear argument in  United States v. Windsor, currently scheduled for March 27. The votes of many of the justices are relatively easy to predict: Justice Scalia will likely vote against marriage equality, Justices Ginsberg and Sotomayor are more likely than not to support it. Justice Kennedy, however, remains more of an enigma: Seen by many reporters as a moderate swing vote, he has voted in the past to expand gay rights (such as in the landmark cases of Romer v....

Obama said what? I was watching the State of the Union address last week with my usual hopeful yet suspicious attitude with which I treat most political presentations. I watched as Obama, just like all those before him, painted a lovely image of our nation on the path to recovery and on the verge of something better. The overplayed rhetoric aside, I thought it was a solid speech. That was until he said this, “…and raise the federal minimum wage to nine dollars an hour” I was shocked. It was...

Christopher Dorner, the former LAPD officer accused of murdering retired police captain Randal Quan’s daughter, Monica Quan and her fiancé, Keith Lawrence, was confirmed to have died  in a cabin in Big Bear, CA. A fire was started in the cabin on Tuesday presumably when police officers threw tear gas grenades inside. CNN reported on Friday that he remains of a body found inside were confirmed to be those of Dorner by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Dorner’s manifesto has received large amounts of attention and is available in...

This semester, I’m enrolled in two gender studies courses.  As a result, gender issues permeate every space of my mind, more so than ever before.  I am in a constant state of thinking about gender.  Needless to say, this week when I read an article in the New York Times about a new “men’s television channel,” I was again bombarded by my own thoughts of gender. I will say that I was ashamed of myself at first – reading the title and first few sentences, which boasted the initiative of...

Much has been made of Michigan’s recent “right to work” legislation, as they became the 24th state to support this law. But the true meaning and reasoning behind the bill can get muddied in the waters of the media and emotions. Politics and partisan lines are overshadowing a significant change in employee and employer relationships. I want to first acknowledge the facts, the aim of this law, and the effects that are seen in states where the law is in practice. Dispelling misconceptions is the key to understanding, and developing...

The online non-profit organization WikiLeaks has been the source of much controversy over the past several years. Founded by Julian Assange in 2006, the website is a collection of information of a classified nature that is “leaked” by anonymous individuals. Two years ago, Bradley Manning was arrested in Baghdad due to his alleged involvement with WikiLeaks including leaking classified documents as well as footage of a 2007 U.S. airstrike in Baghdad. On Nov. 29 he testified for the first time since his arrest. Manning’s detention has lasted for 921 days...

Every year nearly 38 thousand people die by suicide (AFSP). That’s about 105 people every day that will be losing their lives (AFSP). Among people between ages 15 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death (AFSP). According to a study performed by Yale University, bulling victims are two to nine times more likely to consider suicide; a study in Britain showed that half the suicides in young people are caused by bullying; and 160,000 people stay home from school every day to avoid being bullied in school...

27,790,000 animals are killed for fur world-wide every year (animalliberationfront.com). That’s 76,137 animals per day. It takes thirty to forty rabbits to make one fur coat, thirty to two hundred chinchillas, or twenty five to forty five lambs (animalliberationfront.com). Why should we kill so many innocent animals when we can recreate the fur using our own man-made materials? Animals have rights too. Look at it this way: genocide. Killing so many animals for one reason is essentially the Holocaust all over again, only it never ends. We are killing animals...