The DA 04-29-11 by The Daily Athenaeum

OPINION

Friday April 29, 2011

Stay on task for finals over the weekend The recent spring of warm weather has been a great mood-booster for us all. But don’t let the thought of the upcoming summer become a distraction from studying for finals. The key to a successful finals week is getting a balanced amount of study time and rest. Weekend warriors of High Street should tone it down for a few days - don’t cram everything on Sunday night.

While most West Virginia University students will have a full plate over the next week, it is counterproductive to study through all hours of the night, get little to no sleep and then take an exam that will make or break a hard-earned GPA. It is understandable to do what is necessary, but using the weekend for studying will allow for a more relaxed finals week. True, many friends will be departing from Morgantown

directly after their finals are finished, and this may be the last weekend to spend with them. But remember – the point of college is to get an education, so put finals before anything else. Utilize resources the University has to offer. As it was during dead week, the Downtown and Evansdale libraries will be open 24 hours next week, so if late night-studying is a must, there

will be an appropriate place. Again, concentrating with having little sleep is difficult for anyone, so keep the allnighters at a minimum. The Weather Channel is calling for a beautiful Saturday, 70 degrees with plenty of sunshine. Use the day to have a relaxing study session outdoors. Whether it’s indoor or outdoor, make sure to choose a destination that is not only

comfortable, but distraction free. Plans for study time can be broken very easily when around the wrong company. Make sure to be surrounded by others with similar a goal – ones who want A’s. If that can’t be arranged, then go solo. Just have priorities in line. Stay focused all weekend; crunch time is now.

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Republican-appointed justices only care about corporations michael levy columnist

American consumers hold too much power over corporations. Big businesses are being swindled by middle-class Americans. If justice is your goal, you should fight for the rights of multinational companies. Ridiculous, right? Not according to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the contracts we have to sign to do business with corporations can prohibit us from filing class action lawsuits against those corporations if they do us harm. Furthermore, the court ruled state law cannot prohibit such clauses. In another twisted perversion of conservative ideals versus modern American Republicanism, all five Republican-appointed justices ruled for the augmentation of federal power over states’ rights. The vote was 5-4, with all five justices appointed by Republican presidents ruling in favor of the corporations, and the four justices appointed by Democrats dissenting. The case at hand concerned a couple from California against AT&T. When the couple signed their cell phone contract, they thought they were getting a free phone. It turns out AT&T led them to believe the phone was free but later charged them $30.22 for it - shocking, isn’t it? So the couple hired a lawyer to bring a class-action lawsuit against AT&T for false advertising on behalf of all the people who were similarly deceived. But, in the contract AT&T made each of them sign to get the phones, there was a clause

that said they couldn’t bring complaints to the court as a “class.” Instead, they would each have to arbitrate their complaints individually. I think lawyers commonly get around 40 percent of damages in a case like this. So, if the couple won, their lawyers would be sitting on a sweet payday of around $12. If their firm bills services at $240 an hour, that would give one lawyer three minutes for the case. The power of the class-action suit is it provides consumers an avenue to band together to make pursuing claims like this a reasonable proposition. The Supreme Court just took that power away from us, which will encourage companies to be more negligent and deceptive. The fundamental problem is an imbalance of size and power. Let’s say I’m sick and tired of being pushed around by big businesses, so I start thinking about how I can protect my rights. I take play from the companies’ playbooks and decide to make a contract of my own. Of course, I’m not a lawyer, so I head over to Student Legal Services and they help me draw up a contract that says in order to do business with me, my right to bring class-action lawsuits must be preserved. Of course, there are some other protections I want to hang on to, so by the time we’re done we have 20 dense pages of legalese. Then I call Comcast Cable and say, “Hey, I’d really like broadband internet in my apartment, and you’re the only provider in town, so could you come over and hook it up?” Their technician shows up a couple of days later and, as he comes into my living room, we exchange pleasantries, he hands me Comcast’s contract and I hand him mine. Is there any doubt what would happen?

First, he’d laugh at me. Then, on the off chance he took me seriously and didn’t just take off, he would eventually acknowledge that he’s not authorized to sign a contract on Comcast’s behalf. Who would be? The contract would have to go through the company’s legal department to be reconciled with their own contracts. Perhaps there are a few ex-

ecutives who could sign such a document, but that would never happen. I belabor the story to demonstrate how futile it would be to try to preserve my rights in dealing with a big corporation. Every time we request the services of a large organization – whether it’s an internet or phone company with a near-monopoly on the market, an emergency health care provider with ser-

vices we need or a business for which we want to work – we sign away our rights. We have to, because they insist upon it, and they hold all the cards. Comcast is the only broadband provider in town. I am just one of their thousands of clients. They can easily tell me to get lost, but it doesn’t work the other way. Class-action lawsuits provide

a way to remedy that asymmetry when something goes wrong. The Supreme Court, specifically the Republican appointees to the Supreme Court, just took that protection from us. We all know corporate influence is corrupting Washington. If we are serious about meaningful democracy in America, limiting corporate influence in Washington should be our first step.

Charlie Sheen is snorting his drugs in, who Suri Cruise is wearing – and I want to read the newest obnoxious quote from Gwyneth Paltrow on why we should all be rich. And I don’t want to have to search for those articles. I should be able to just go straight to the Yahoo! homepage and see them as headlines. Don’t the editors know what is important? If I see another italicized or pastel-colored royal wedding headline, I am going to dump all of my English Breakfast tea into Lake Houston. I might even do the same with all of my commonwealth teas. Regina Spektor provides a perfect critique of the royal wedding hysteria on her Facebook

page. Since her name means “Queen,” she is a credible source on these matter. “Perhaps royal people everywhere should apologize for the years of pretending they were somehow chosen by a higher power to rule, enslave and colonize,” Spektor said on her Facebook page. “Instead of holding a deja vu wedding – a strange costly neurosis playing out on the world’s psyche, they could just admit they aren’t any closer to the top. They can’t pull some strings where it matters.” Amen. I will love Regina Spektor until the day I die – until her glottal stops become a natural result of her senility and inability to remember words, and are no lon-

ger just a part of her singing style. She makes a valid point. The British royal family doesn’t have any real power anymore – and this is rightfully so. Their chief jobs are waving, wearing hats, collecting flowers from well-wishers and looking approachable at pancake-flipping marathons. Apparently Prince William and Kate Middleton are very promising in these areas, especially in the area of waving. They have decided to use an open palm wave – how progressive of them. According to The Mirror, an English online publication, “The open palm display signals openness and approachability that is only slightly tempered by the fact

it is very similar to the signal for ‘Stop.’” Do we really need articles published about the body language of these people? There has even been a phenomenon lately of people finding the likeness of Middleton in random objects. A British couple apparently found her face on a jellybean and is trying to sell it online. I’m sure they will fetch quite a few pounds for it. I found myself a victim of this subliminal royal wedding advertising the other day as I was unconsciously finding Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales’ face in lattes, sidewalks, dirty napkin, and ashtrays. Fortunately, after getting a solid eight hours of sleep I was healed

of my royal wedding psychosis. If there comes a time when it is impossible to fight the royal propaganda, maybe UH could just cash in on the neurosis. Maybe we could “accidentally” incorporate Kate Middleton’s face into a new sidewalk, or possibly into the layout of an entire building. We would have people transferring in from all over the country to see, not only James Franco, but Kate’s likeness as well. Let us hope all of this dies down soon, and the royals go back to their charity work and walking their Corgis. I hope this happens sooner rather than later, because I’m not sure how long I can go without a cup of Twinings tea.

A detail of the West Facade of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, March 7.

Royal wedding is causing unnecessary global hysteria DANIEL RENFROW THE DAILY COUGAR UWIRE

Are you waking up at 4 a.m. on Friday to watch the royal wedding? I’m not. I am experiencing royal wedding burnout that is rapidly developing into British culture burnout. I yearn for the days when I could procrastinate for hours online and not be assaulted by endless side-by-side pictures comparing the style of Princess Diana and Kate. I’m sorry, “Catherine.” I want to hear more about Snooki’s weight loss, what bathroom

Letter to the editor Thank you to those with big hearts On April 25, my husband and I were driving on University Avenue. going through Sunnyside. There were a lot of college kids on the street and sidewalk, as they were returning from Easter vacation. I was not going fast, but I lost my brakes and could not stop the car. I knew I didn’t want to hit any of the students, or anyone else. I didn’t panic, even though this was my very first accident. I knew I had to go over into the other lane where there was a tele-

phone pole, and I headed for it knowing that my husband and I would probably be hurt – better us than anyone else. Of course we crashed into the pole and totaled the car. We had some pretty good injuries, but we live to tell about them. However, there was a guy in a yellow car coming up the road, and several college guys got out and came to help us. They called 911, and the one young man said he would stay with us until the ambulance arrived. My husband was bleeding very badly, but the young man took care of him. I want to thanks those young

men, and especially the one who stayed with us. I know his parents would have been proud – he was great. They could have driven off like a lot of other people, but instead chose to help an elderly couple who was in real need. I just want them to know they did a very good deed and it was so much appreciated. I do not know their names, but they know who they are. Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

NOW HIRING OPINION COLUMNISTS

All applications should include three writing samples, at least one of which should be opinion-related. Stop by 284 Prospect Street and pick an application.

Betty and John Yoke are residents of Morgantown.

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