Jasmine on the Issues

We've Moved

2011-12-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

...But don't worry. This site will be left up for you to go back and read old posts and to share my articles with your friends. I just won't be updating this particular site anymore.

New posts on this blog are moving over to my blog on Wordpress. Jazzed About Stuff will always post music on Mondays, and will try posting other stuff on Wednesdays and Fridays as well. So if you've ever found this blog interesting and you want to read more, click on this link: http://jazzedaboutstuff.wordpress.com/, and subscribe for more more blog posts on the issues as well as other interesting things.

Thanks,

Jasmine

The Talk of Strange Culture

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Imagine; one day you wake up and the love of your life is gone forever. Death takes her away and leaves you with a terrible sense of grief and loneliness. You’re hearts heavy, and when you pick up the phone to call the paramedics, the FBI show up at your door.

This is the story of Steve Kurtz, an associate professor of art at the State University of New York, Buffalo. Kurtz woke to find that his wife had died in her sleep due to heart failure, but instead of being able to grieve over the sudden loss of his wife of 27 years, Kurtz’s project full of harmless Petri dishes preparing an art exhibition on genetically modified food for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art was confiscated by the FBI.

Within hours of their arrival, the FBI whisked Kurtz away under the suspicion of bioterrorism, his wife’s body was confiscated for autopsy twice, and his home quarantined with his cat locked away inside without food or water.

Even now, seven years after the incident and two years after the final trial verdict, the public still doesn’t know how easily an innocent civilian behavior can become a suspicious act, how sneaky labels aren’t telling anyone what they are actually consuming, or the amount of restriction the government’s placed against the public’s first Amendment right.

It’s scary to think that this has all happened, that this situation turned into as big of an issue as it did, and that people are even frightened for being detained for sharing information and saying what’s really on their minds.

Below is a film done by Lynn Hershman-Leeson, who artistically “bends the nonfiction form to her own unconventional will” and pieces together a series of re-enactment, news clips, interviews that retell the story that everyone should have been told.

And here is the link for the updates on Mr. Kurtz’s trial. http://caedefensefund.org/

Are Bloggers Journalists?

2011-12-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

It’s a new question that has been brought up in the wake of new and faster technology. Are online bloggers who have adapted to the growing trend of social media actually journalists? Or better yet, are they protected by the same laws that protect journalists from losing their jobs or from being physically harmed? Well that’s something that blogger, Crystal Cox, found out in an Oregon court case this week.

Cox had managed to uncover huge findings on an investment firm and its co-founder from an unnamed source. The court judge ruled in the libel case that her “attack” on the firm was defamatory and that she was in no way protected under the state’s shield law that is in place to protect journalists.

The judge concluded that the law made no mention of digital media despite it mentioning a wide range of forms of communication, and demanded that she would reveal her secret source. The judge mentioned that she didn’t meet any of his criteria for journalistic credentials and practices, and was there for not a part of the news media.

Not a part of the news media? The majority of today’s major publications have gone the way of the internet with blogs like Tumblr and Wordpress, and the frequent use of micro-blogging in Twitter posts. Freelance journalists who have lost jobs, and sadly enough, hope for print media are on the internet right now as we speak. They report the news faster than any print or televised media can, and they so with more of an audience.

You want to know where I first heard that Osama Bin Laden was dead—the internet. Would you like to know where I watched the last few Presidential addresses? It was the internet. I wake up in the morning and know I can catch everything that happened in the last two minutes on Twitter from credible sources, and U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez is saying that stories that break first online aren’t protected by the law?

Crystal Cox shouldn’t have to pay $2.5 million dollars for defamation because of an out of date law. Eventually (there is a strong possibility) there may be no forms of print media. Obviously there are more people getting their news online with print media slowing down since the internet was popularized, and I think the judge’s ruling was a low blow to everyone who writes, reads, listens, and watches anything on the internet.

It’s definitely terrible news for all bloggers and other media solely publishing via the internet who have decided to grab a laptop and punch out a thoughtful, well organized, and truthful news story. This case now unnecessarily diminishes any digital work and puts all people in Cox’s situation in extreme danger.

Below is popular YouTube vlogger, or video blogger, Phillip Defranco’s take on the case.

Another Bullet in the Government’s Gun

2011-12-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something I wrote for a class. I think it's appropriate in sight of the recent passing holiday.

(Tom Toslino, Navajo, as he arrived at Carlisle and-after 3 years)

The House Concurrent Resolution 108: Another Bullet in the Government’s Gun

When one thinks of America they often think of the “American dream” and the “land of opportunity” where individuals young and old, and of every shape, color, and creed can make a name for themselves. They envision a wonderful life with all the joys and perks of a middle class standard family in a proper first world setting, but what many individuals have quickly learned throughout the existence of this mixed up melting pot of a country we call the United States is that this dream doesn’t happen for everyone, and that equality in this young country isn’t always seen. The House Concurrent Resolution 108, is really just one example of the years of scrutiny that one minority group in particular are subjected to, and it’s only one piece of the puzzle that almost killed an entire diverse culture and loaded another bullet in the government’s gun.

The House Concurrent Resolution 108 was actually passed August 1, 1953, and it declared that the U.S. Congress should enact a policy that would abolish Federal supervision over American Indian tribes. The American Indians were subjected to the same laws, privileges, and responsibilities as other U.S. citizens. The crucial point of the matter is that it actually led to the beginning of an era of termination policy, in which the federally recognized status of many Native American tribes was revoked. This “resolution” ended government responsibility to tribe members and withdrew legal protection to territory, culture, and religion. The decision opened the flood gates for states with large Indigenous populations like California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Nebraska, to do whatever they wanted to the Native Americans. But the sad fact is that this wasn’t the first time the Native Americans were mistreated and pushed around by government.

This all actually stated when the first early English settlers landed on the big hunk of rock that we now call America. The “Americanization” of the Native Americans from 1790 to 1920 was the era where these new non-native people tried to “civilize” the Indians. Unfortunately though, during the process, the helping hands from the missionaries destroyed their culture by subjecting the native people to attend their churches, study and only speak English (and on the other side of the continent, Spanish) and leave their tribal traditions behind. And it was the Dawes Act of 1887 that officially offered less of the land that they already owned to the Native Americans if they became U.S. citizens and gave up their traditions.

After the Act, ninety-three million acres of land was hashed up and redistributed, mostly going to single individuals and not the original tribes, but losing their land wasn’t their biggest problem. From the year 1857 to the year 1920, assimilation had taken children from their families, killed individuals, and nearly destroyed the Native American culture. Tribes fought in the Supreme Court during the assimilation era of 1890 to 1928, but were instead just ignored, forced to relocate in smaller sections of land, and the children taken away and locked up in boarding schools where they were taught English and were not allowed to ever use or teach their native tongue.

The assimilation continued throughout the centuries and later led to the Indian Termination policy that lasted from the mid 1940’s to the 1960’s. The termination policy was the government’s belief that the Native Americans were better off further assimilated into mainstream America. The Native American Indians ultimately were no longer exempt from federal or state taxes and, as a result, the education, health care, and economy suffered tremendously due to the lack of government funding. By 1972 there was a seventy-five percent dropout rate for the Menominee Tribe, and students who did graduate and wanted to go to college couldn’t receive any scholarships under the new laws. There was really no health care and many of the Native American people fell into poverty before constant protest and cases fought in court finally allowed the Native Americans to regain their sovereignty. But after centuries of the incessant raping of the Native American Indians culture and land no amount of sovereignty could piece back together all that they had lost after the American government shot its gun.

Works Cited

Americanization of Native Americans, Wikipedia. November 27, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americanization_of_Native_Americans

Indian Termination Policy, Wikipedia. November 11, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_termination_policy

The House Concurrent Resolution 108, Wikipedia. July 22, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_concurrent_resolution_108

Occupy Protesters: Lazy or Just Fed Up?

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

The unemployment rate is currently at 9 percent according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and monthly job growth has slowed to an average of just 90,000 new jobs a month over the past six months, a pace at which growth in the working-age population will always exceed the number of new jobs being created. All something that can’t be fixed by dumping McDonald’s application on protesters. That was exactly what The Chicago Board of Trade did to Occupy protesters in Chicago, and this wasn’t their first stunt.

The Chicago Board of Trade also plastered “We Are the One Percent” on their windows last month right in front of all the people general fed up with the way unemployment is heading or just those who previously felt alone in their belief that the current economic system is broken.

Dumping McDonald’s applications on protesters can’t solve everything. McDonald's has already declared their plans to hire 50,000 new employees in a single day in April, but the restaurant was consequently swamped with more than one million applications. There are simply not enough jobs for the 13.9 million unemployed people in America as of October, a McDonald's spokeswoman told the Huffington Post in April.

And even though people are aggravated by the unemployment rate, government corruption, collapsing environment, labor standards, World Bank lending practices, housing policy, and the increasing wealth disparity, and are trying to do something about it by voicing their opinion, people like The Chicago Board of Trade and other people populating the one percent are calling these protesters lazy college dropouts.

The thing is there are not just teens and college students out there protesting. There are people out there married with kids who are out of a job and are desperate to find another one despite there not being enough. There are also elderly people slipping into poverty and college kids graduating into piles of debt with no way to enter into the competitive job force.

This contagion called the 99 percent force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business because as members of a democratic country, they are entitled to do so, even though we appear to be falling away from democracy with the way giant corporations run things. The protesting against corporate greed and the social and economic inequality shouldn’t just be kicked to the side and covered up with photocopied McDonald’s applications.

The one percent populated by the banks, the mortgage industry, the insurance industry who happily take bailouts from the federal government, but who look down on programs helping the rest of the population, and the uninformed individuals oblivious to the happenings of the state and causes of the economy who call these protesters lazy and throw McDonald’s applications on top of them are incredibly ignorant and rude. They are just forcing the gap between the 99 and one percent further and ignoring the many rising inequalities presented today.

Flip-Flopping in the GOP

2011-11-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a lot of confusion going among the Republican presidential candidates. Front running official in the national polls seem to have trouble pinning down what they actually believe in and what constitutes as a decent joke.

Take for instance Herman Cain. On Saturday, Oct. 15, Cain had made a comment curbing illegal immigration with a giant man-killing electric fence in Tennessee. The next day he apologized for his statements saying that his proposal for zapping Mexican immigrants crossing the border was all a very terrible joke on NBC's "Meet the Press,” but by Monday, Oct. 17, Cain took back his apology and changed his mind again in Arizona, home of Sheriff Joe Arpaio who is well known to put securing the border at the top of his list, and said that the fence joke wasn’t actually a joke.

Not only is Cain’s man-slaughtering fence idea making every sane person worry about the expenses coming out of their own pockets, but the majority of the population isn’t too keen of electrocuting people, or the fact that Cain can’t make up his mind on the issue.

With constantly flip-flopping views like that, how is it that anyone can trust his opinions on anything else? It’s as if he’s just trying to give the people what they want to hear and then secretly do what he wants if he gets elected to office.

"Words have consequences, both in shaping ideas and inspiring actions,” said the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in a statement made in ‘The Hill.’ “Whether or not he made his comments in jest, Mr. Cain's words show a lack of understanding of the immigration issues our country is facing and a staggering lack of sensitivity. Surely, Mr. Cain understands the duty that candidates have to offer responsible policy proposals."

If Cain does finally get to push his own secret agenda, the 2,000 mile long stretch of land would be covered with a fence that can cost anywhere from $2 million to $70 million per mile depending on the terrain and the style, according to an article by Mother Jones. This is of course not piecing in the finances of maintaining the fence running enough electricity in it to kill someone.

"When I'm in charge of the fence, we going to have a fence.” Cain said during his speech in Tennessee. “It's going to be 20 feet high. It's going to have barbed wire on the top. It's going to be electrocuted, electrified. And there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you."

Perhaps flip-flopping Cain is just confused about the issue in the first place. It seems fairly common place to do so with Republican presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney’s views on abortion.

During his 2002 campaign for governor, Romney supported abortion rights saying “I will preserve and protect a women’s right to choose,” during a debate against his Democratic opponent Shannon O’Brien. Then during his term as governor, Romney vetoed a bill in 2005 that would expand access to emergency contraception. In an op-ed explaining his veto he wrote that he was "pro-life" and also wrote that while he didn’t favor abortion, that he would not change the state's abortion laws. Then six years later, Romney made clear is current anti-abortion stance, writing in a National Journal op-ed, that he supports overturning Roe v. Wade and defunding Planned Parenthood, "If I have the opportunity to serve as our nation's next president, I commit to doing everything in my power to cultivate, promote, and support a culture of life in America."

Romney recently flip-flopped on an amendment that would define life as beginning at conception which would outlaw most forms of birth control and throw women back into the dark ages.

At a campaign stop in Iowa last week, Romney said "life beings at conception, birth control prevents conception," but said he was "not campaigning for an amendment of some kind."

Even though, naturally, two weeks earlier Romney told Fox News host Mike Huckabee that he would "absolutely" support such an amendment. Certainly a statement, like Cain’s border control proposal, which leaves everyone standing on the fence about these presidential hopefuls and voters confused on what promises and opinions coming out of the mouths of the GOP candidates that they can believe in.

Obama: 'Long War in Iraq' Will Finish by End of 2011

2011-10-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

"President Barack Obama announced Friday afternoon an end to the Iraq war, declaring that all American troops will leave the country by the end of the year."As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," the president told reporters in the White House Briefing Room after a video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.President Obama said offered assurances that the two leaders agreed on the decision and that the nations will establish a normal relationship and a "strong and enduring partnership" after troops leave.The two nations agreed to the U.S. withdrawal by the end of 2011 during George W. Bush's presidency. President Obama declared the end of the combat mission earlier this year.The Iraq war was one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in American history." -PBS NewsHour

Is the Plastic Bag Ban in Pasadena Taking it Too Far?

2011-10-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

“No civilization in human history has collapsed for a lack of a means to convey small goods to their abodes,” Ellis Sterling said in an article for the Los Angeles Times. “However, civilizations have failed for abusing their environment and depleting their resources.”

Is it really going to kill people to remember to grab a few reusable bags into a grocery store when they go out and shop? Reusable bags not only cut out the 130 non-biodegradable plastic bags that one uses during a year, according to the Earth Resource Foundation, but they save you five cents per bag every time they’re presented at the register. The question shouldn’t be, is the plastic bag ban in Pasadena taking it too far, but it should be, why didn’t anyone think about banning plastic bags sooner?

There is absolutely no benefit to using plastic bags other than the mild convenience of not having to take bags with you into the store. It’s complete and utter laziness compared to the fact that plastic bags are continuing to demolish the availability of our natural resources, and the damage the environment from the extraction of petroleum used to make in the hazardous production and pollution.

Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to decompose on land and 450 years in the water, which someone who isn’t probably going to last more than 100 years, should be ashamed of. So many marine animals and birds end up dying from being entangled or chocked with the chemical ridden plastic bags because people somehow convinced themselves that magic plastic fairies whisk the 500 billion plastic bags used each year and hide it in some other realm.

Plastic bags aren’t helping anyone. They’re reused by some as small trash can liners or lunch-pails a few times, but then they get a few holes in them and they stay buried in the ever growing landfills for the rest of our and our many future descendants’ natural born lives.

All it takes is to grab a few reusable shopping bags the next time anyone needs to buy beer and an emergency bag of Oreos to help save our planet from being overrun with trash. And the ban, which will take place within 60 days, and that requires grocers, convenience stores and vendors to stop offering plastic bags and to charge 10 cents for paper bags isn’t cruel and unusual punishment. It’s taking initiative on something that should have been done a long time ago.

Amanda Knox Leaving Italy

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Shouts of joy from Italian prisoners and family members were heard as 24-year-old, Amanda Knox, was taken away from her jail cell and sent back to the United States. Plenty of “Welcome Home Amanda” signs filled her home town of Seattle, Washington and half priced drinks were served in celebration for Knox’s overturned murder conviction, but all the merriment in the world will never ease the pain of murder victim, 21-year-old-Meredith Kercher’s, family or help find the other people responsible for Kercher’s death.

“If those two are not the guilty parties, then who are the guilty people?” Lyle Kercher, a brother of the victim, asked.

The Italian appeals court threw out Knox’s conviction on Monday in the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate under the international spotlight due to doubts over compromised DNA evidence. The court’s decision to remove the conviction that placed Knox as one of three people who killed Kercher stunned the victim’s family and angered the prosecution leaving everyone following the trial with no sure way of knowing what actually happened.

The victim’s family, at one point, was all certainly convinced that Knox, her former boyfriend, Raffael Sollecito, 27, and Rudy Herman Guede, a drug dealer, were all guilty of the crime. The family had answers and was ready to put the trial behind them, but they were left with daunting questions when Knox and her ex were exonerated by the appellate panel.

The original trial was so watered down with uncertainty that such things like Knox telling police that she was there in the room when her roommate was murdered and then retracting her statement and saying that she was never there will keep your head spinning. The way the fickle trials took place only adds to the opinions of the Italian justice system being not at all as it is cracked up to be.

It leaves everyone but Knox, Sollecito, and Guede only speculating as to what really happened. Everyone can cogitate as to what might have happened but they weren't there to see it come to pass and anything at the crime scene possibly pointing to any one individual had to be thrown out because it was mismanaged.

Knox’s home town is also populated with individuals that trust the Italian justice system and believe that she is innocent. They assume that she was just a young college student caught up in a difficult situation. But there are many people who have followed the case and still think that Knox is guilty like after the first trial had proved and think that she should have served the 25 years in prison she was originally ordered to do, but because all of the evidence and testimony were compromised there is no way of knowing who’s right.

Without concrete evidence no one can ever know if Knox, Sollecito, or Guede was telling the truth, and with that, the realization of not knowing who else was really involved in the sexual assault and murder Merideth Kercher will haunt her family for years to come. No one will quite ever know if Knox was really innocent of the heinous crimes committed and it’s partially the fault of the sloppy police work used to collect the evidence to blame.

Why An Eye For An Eye Leaves The Whole World Blind

2011-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Capital Punishment; it’s a life or death situation that people have been debating about for years. Does it make sense to end someone’s life because they have at one point ended someone else’s? My answer has always pretty much been no. Even if all of the evidence in the world pointed to one single person, you still can end up with a situation like in the movie, The Life of David Gale.

The scenario that ends with the death of a possibly innocent man isn’t just for the movie screen though. The recent execution of Georgian inmate, Troy Davis, has caught the attention of everyone from the Pope to former president, Jimmy Carter.

Citizens who believed that Davis was really an innocent man on death row, the anti-death penalty activists, and the Human Rights Group Amnesty International all gathered in the streets to push for an appeal in case that left a lot of questions unanswered, but after over 20 years of waiting in a jail cell for a crime that he might have not actually committed Davis was executed by lethal injection on September 21, 2011 anyway.

“If I knew then what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row,” juror, Brenda Davis, told CNN regarding the 1989 case in 2009. The then 19 year old was arrested for killing off duty policeman, Mark MacPhail, with the help of questionable witness statements that have since withdrawn their statement saying that police forced them into accusing the 41 year old. People protested also knowing that no murder weapon was found and that there was no DNA evidence.

The thing is Troy Davis isn’t the only possibly innocent man who have been put to death or left praying to get off death row. Newly available DNA evidence has exonerated and released more than 15 death row inmates since 1992 in the U.S., but it’s only available in a fraction of capital cases. Who’s to say how many more inmates are just sitting in a jail cell waiting to die for a crime that they haven’t committed?

According to the Death Penalty Information Center a list of 8 inmates “executed but possibly innocent,” and at least 39 executions are claimed to have been carried out in the U.S. despite the knowledge of possible innocence or serious doubt about guilt. How many more times will an innocent person be put to death before we realize that maybe killing people as a punishment isn’t really fool-proof?

Putting aside the argument that all life, whether it is a cute little rabbit or a crazed and deranged serial killer shouldn’t be left up to anyone else but fate or what have you, many people still seem to find a flaw in the idea that it makes sense to kill a person because that person killed another person. In the end it all just sounds like a bloodied revenge and not of the supposedly fair justice system that is in place today. Instead, people continue to die because of the archaic thinking that an “eye for an eye” is the best way to live their lives, when in fact it just leaves the whole world blind.

Whole Earth Packaging Helps Children Go Back to School While staying Environmentally Friendly

2011-09-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

“Whether you’re looking for renewable and sustainable products, or the finest herbal incense, you’ll be able to find it at Whole Earth Packaging.” Here’s what some of the people from the environmentally-friendly group has to say about keeping green while heading back to school.

Back to school is a great time to teach kids about taking care of our planet! It’s easier to teach kids earth friendly habits while they’re young. Since many grade school children usually follow along with what their friends are doing, teaching your child about saving our planet might rub off on their friends, too! Here are some of the ways you can show your child how to be environmentally friendly at school.

· Make sure they know why it’s important that they turn off the lights when leaving a room, both at home and at school (if they’re allowed to, of course).

· Tell them to use both sides of the notebook paper whenever they can, and explain that in doing so they’re saving trees.

· Instead of packing brown bag lunches, use a lunch box.

· Avoid purchasing plastic silverware to pack in lunches. Whole Earth Packaging has spoons, forks and knives made of biodegradable corn material. You can also provide them with eco-friendly straws to use in their school lunches. They can share these fun tips with their friends.

· Find out if the school has a recycling program. If they do, teach your child about the importance of recycling.

· Always buy organic school supplies, or supplies that don’t have a lot of packaging. Teach your child to use the supplies until they’re not good anymore.

Teaching your child these few simple things can help save our planet, and will instill earth friendly values that will last a lifetime. You can find more renewable and sustainable products at WholeEarthPackaging.com, your number one source for eco-friendly products!

The Diet Book For Toddlers

2011-08-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Imagine tucking in your 6 year old daughter into bed, you grab a short children’s book and you begin to clear your throat to start reading, but instead of light-hearted story about pink ponies or courageous princesses you start reading a story about an overweight teen wishing to lose weight.

Would you read this to your young and impressionable child? I probably wouldn’t. The book, 'Maggie Goes on a Diet,' by author Paul Kramer isn’t your typical children’s book. Maggie’s diet journey, meant to encourage teens to make healthier choices, actually isn’t really going over so well.

The book starts off with Maggie being teased in school for her weight, she has no friends and she eats to cope with all of the taunting. It’s only after Maggie looses the weight that she starts making new friends and becomes popular—great message right?

This picture book targets young readers from the ages of 2 through 8, and with the way the story is written, it’s easier for children to misinterpret the original message and obtain a negative body image or major eating disorders.

I think the author of this book really did have good intentions when writing Maggie’s story, but after reviewing the book it seems as though there could have been another way to go about this. What do you think?

Killed by Fresh Water Parasites

2011-08-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is sad to hear even though it's rare. The parasite, also known as the brain eating amoeba, enters through the nose, travels through the sinuses and infects the brain and cerebrospinal fluid. The parasite tends to grow in stagnant freshwater during high summer temperatures.

There are nose clips people can wear to reduce risk, but someone who doesn't want any risk needs to stay out of freshwater ponds and streams, especially those that are stagnant. Symptoms of this parasitic infection include fever, nausea, stiff neck and a frontal headache and should seek medical attention.

Health Food Only For The Rich

2011-08-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go to the store and try to buy healthier food options I always feel as though the cashier is secretly robbing me of all my money. I begin wondering why I have to sell my first born to pay for a couple of carrots and for a brief moment I even consider just rushing through the drive through, and my suspicion of being robbed is pretty much justified by a recent study.

According to the Journal Health Affairs, it costs at least an extra $7.28 a week to eat healthy and an extra $380 a year for those darn carrots. With the latest update of U.S. nutritional guidelines "My Plate," formally known as the food pyramid, calling on Americans to eat more fresh foods containing potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D and calcium, even more frustrated shoppers will be tacking on hundreds more dollars to their annual grocery bill.

So what’s an angry shopper to do? Well, the frustration can be relieved somewhat with visiting the local farmer’s market, buying more locally and getting involved with the new trend of growing your own food if you can find the time. The $400 bill made up of organic carrots usually only gets that high when you’re shopping at grocery stores that ship and truck their food long distances. The angry shoppers dropping top dollar at the register isn’t just paying for the lack of chemicals soaking into your fruit, but the gas, time and extra money it took to get it from the farm to the store.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Job Experience Vs. Higher Education

2011-07-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

I had just come home from a long day at work at my minimum wage paying department store job when I was confronted with this question on a website that I had happened to stumble upon:

Considering the ever-increasing cost of higher education, and the student loans which many college kids amass while working for their various degrees, do you feel the economy actually turned the tide and made job experience just as or more valuable than higher education?

It’s true. The economy is in the crapper and there are millions of students out there drowning in college debt. Is it worth it? I still think so, but I do think having a bit of experience under your belt is also an incredibly smart thing to do.

I wrote in an earlier blog post about whether it was worth it or not to go to college and obtain a degree:

“People with a college education tend to be unemployed or a shorter amount of time than people with just a high school degree, said professor Sandra Emerson, MPA Director of Political Science at Cal Poly Pomona. “When the economy went south in 2008 there was a tendency for individuals with only high school diplomas to be the ones who were unemployed first and stayed unemployed longer. Those people went back to school because they realized their options were limited. It doesn’t mean people with a college education don’t go back to school, but you path is clearer during economic downturns.”

Regardless of how much more you would make as a college graduate, actually having a degree is far more beneficial to anyone dabbling in the job force than anyone just trying to reach, and keep that success, without it.

Having both job experience and a college education is obviously key, but if you had to choose between the two I would still put my foot down and claim that it is more beneficial to have a degree in your back pocket.

It’s a widely accepted notion that college gives future job seekers that extra boost when trying to break into the “real world.” Students not only receive the added skills necessary to think and communicate in a clear and intelligible way, but they have something that can be used to better themselves and their chances for success in life, and it’s something that nobody can ever take away from you.

Relieving Stress Through Yoga

2011-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stress happens to all of us. We become overwhelmed with our hectic schedules and often can’t find the time to just sit down and take a breather. But too much stress can wreak havoc on our health if we don’t manage it properly.

Poorly managed stress can manifest itself in a variety of symptoms like sleep disturbances, muscle tension, headaches, anxiety, fatigue and lack of energy. And many people under stress have a greater tendency to engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as excessive use or abuse of alcohol and drugs as well as poor nutritional choices than their less-stressed counterparts.

So how can you deal with stress?

Obviously avoiding stressful situations altogether would be the best option. But for those of us who can’t just up-and-quit our jobs and steer clear of the things that make our heads spin, we can relax in other ways.

Time management, setting priorities and sleep are just some of the ways we can deal with stress. Avoiding drugs and alcohol as well as thinking positive and exercising are even better ways to combat stress. A great way to relax with exercise is restorative yoga. Not only do take your mind away from your fast-paced life for a moment, you can also unwind from the stress and strengthen your body at the same time.

What do you get out of taking a restorative yoga class?

To answer some of my questions, I spoke with Gloria Escover who is a yoga instructor at Inner Body Works again. The studio is located downtown between “H” and “Eye,” one block from the Fox Theater. Inner Bodyworks is Bakersfield’s oldest, full-service, dedicated yoga studio who welcomes the community to the tradition of yoga.

By taking a restorative yoga class you learn how to relax and de-stress with simple poses. The class helps you restore your body whether you’re recovering from an illness or a surgery. It helps you stretch and strengthen your body with gentle exercises that can include the use of blankets, comfortable blocks and bolsters used like pillows.

Who is the class for?

Anyone can take this class. It doesn’t matter if you’re out-of-shape or you’re an experienced yogi looking for a way to manage your stress. The class is a great way to dip into yoga as a beginner. It’s a non intense class that gently restores your body over time.

How do I sign up?

You can sign up for the class by calling the studio at 661.324.1808. And for more information, you can email them at info@innerbodyworks.com. You can also keep up with Inner Body Works on their blog.

And just remember that stress can really hinder your body from being healthy. But with the right tools you can manage stress with ease and perform at your optimum level of fitness.

Yoga During Pregnancy

2011-07-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

During pregnancy a woman’s body goes though many changes in order accommodate and carry a child. Her baby relies on the vitamins and nutrients that she consumes from during her term and benefits from the healthy choices that are made.

Along with visiting your doctor, taking prenatal vitamins and eating a healthy well-balanced diet, pregnant women are also recommended that they exercise during their pregnancy. Exercising during pregnancy has been shown to be extremely beneficial as it can help with preventing excess weight gain, reducing pregnancy related problems like back pain and swelling, but it can also lessen the amount of recovery time after you give birth. But if you choose to exercise during your pregnancy, a low-impact and less intense exercise activity should be your best choice.

What’s considered low impact exercise?

Activities such as walking and swimming can do the trick. But an even better way to work on strength, flexibility and relaxation is to opt for a yoga class tailored specifically for pregnant women. And I was actually able to sit down with someone who teaches prenatal yoga at a studio here in town.

To answer some of my questions, I spoke with Gloria Escover who is a yoga instructor at Inner Body Works. The studio is located downtown between “H” and “Eye,” one block from the Fox Theater. Inner Bodyworks is Bakersfield’s oldest, full-service, dedicated yoga studio who welcomes the community to the tradition of yoga.

What’s the focus of a prenatal yoga class?

A prenatal yoga class is designed for pregnant women anywhere in their pregnancy from 8 weeks up till the time they give birth. The class teaches the women how to relax during pregnancy and labor as well as the actually birthing process. The class incorporates strengthening exercises for the body as well as tips on nutrition and how to eat properly.

The class is a great way to keep fit and to meet other pregnant women in the area. And although it’s not a Lamaze class, women are educated in how to stay healthy while carrying a baby.

How do I sign up?

You can sign up for the class either the first day or prior. The class is once a week and lasts for 6 weeks and you only pay $10 per week. And for more information you can call the studio at 661.324.1808 or email them at info@innerbodyworks.com. You can also keep up with Inner Body Works at their blog.

Multivitamins: Do You Really Need To Take Them?

2011-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

As a kid I remember being told to take my Flintstones vitamins every morning after I ate breakfast. My mom would say that I would grow up to be healthy and strong if I did. But as I got older I questioned the advice that my mom used to give me about those chew-able fruit-flavored supplements. Do you really need to take multivitamins?

Well to answer that question, it’s actually yes and no.

For those of you out there who actually follow the recommended food guide pyramid the answer is no. If you are eating a wide range of foods in moderation then you are already receiving the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of specific vitamins and minerals.

Why take a daily multivitamin when you are already receiving the vitamins and minerals needed? As for the majority of Americans, the answer of whether or not you should consume a daily multivitamin is yes.

According to the most recent Healthy Eating Index survey conducted by the USDA, most Americans do not eat a healthy balanced diet on a daily basis. The typical American diet does not include all of the vitamins and minerals that are needed to stay healthy.

Taking a daily supplement is like swallowing a nutritional insurance policy. The majority of the U.S. population usually grabs a hamburger and soda every week at In-n-Out and rarely picks up in vegetables from the grocery store. And when we do go shopping for a snack, wandering eyes look for the quick and easy-to-prepare processed foods in the vibrantly colored packages. And although we do at times try our best to stay healthy, a pill filled with everything that you would need for the entire day can be taken after a meal. So why not reinsure your health?

Being deficient in vitamins by eating poorly and not taking a multivitamin can lead to major illnesses like cancer, heart disease, kidney and liver disease, osteoporosis, stroke and diabetes. People who are pregnant, over the age of 50, on special diets, on weight-loss regimens, smokers, anyone who drinks an abundance of alcohol and people with poor appetite are really recommended to take a multivitamin because of the lack of vitamins that they are more likely to receive.

So when eating right and exercising just doesn’t give you a full reassurance in your health or you know you may not be as healthy as you would like to be, taking a multivitamin supplement could be a great choice in becoming a little bit healthier.

Look, Smoking Does Kill

2011-06-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but if I saw a picture of a guy with a hole in his neck and holding a cigarette on my own pack of smokes I would probably quit right there.

That’s exactly the reaction the Food and Drug Administration is trying to stir up since they released nine new labels for cigarette packs that aim to show the dangers of smoking. The intense images show such things as a diseased lung, a smoker wearing an oxygen mask and an emaciated cancer patient. But more than 40 countries around the world already require warnings as graphic as the new U.S. labels, if not more so.

The circulating images are causing a bit of anger and a lot of disgust among American smokers. The truth is, according to the FDA, smoking kills 1200 people a day in the United States alone and many people aren’t aware of that.

"We are so far behind," says Michael Cummings, chair of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute's Department of Health Behavior. "We're a third world nation when it comes to educating the public on the risks of smoking."

Smoking literally damages nearly every organ of the body. Tobacco has caused more deaths each year than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

For the kids who are thinking about starting to smoke, first know that it isn’t cute, it doesn’t make you look cooler, and it just kills. I don’t mean to sound like Nancy Reagan right now, but when it comes to smoking tobacco just say no.

Saving Face Over Saving Lives

2011-06-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Given the chance to prevent AIDS and save lives, some people would rather just throw a hissy fit and condemn the UN’s battle against AIDS.

The three day UN summit, that lasted from June 8-10, for the “30th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS set the target of more than doubling the number of people on retroviral treatment to 15 million by 2015. It said mother-to-child AIDS transmissions should also be eliminated by then,” but instead of supporting the UN’s efforts toward eradicating AIDS, protests sparked by the Vatican and some Muslim nations over its endorsement of condoms erupted.

Those in opposition of the UN at the summit voiced their anger over “endorsement of condoms and calls to help prostitutes, gays and drug users.”

Because HIV can be transmitted by having sex, through someone’s blood, or from a mother to child, the best ways to reduce your risk is abstain from sex and wearing condoms consistently and correctly.

About 34 million people around the world have the disease, 1.8 million die from it each year and there are 7,000 new infections each day. Obviously people are disregarding abstinence and continuing to have sex. Shouldn’t there be a worldwide concern about making sure the most reasonable way of preventing the spread of a deadly disease is taught to everyone?

To be honest, I don’t think it was necessary for anyone to express that much apprehension over the beneficial and life saving condoms. According to the UN Population Fund, the global need for condoms to combat HIV and for family planning has shot up from an estimated 13 billion in 2004 to about 19 billion in 2010.

It’s estimated that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after contracting AIDS, clearly speaking for itself that we need to continue to stress the use of condoms.

Weird Home Remedies

2011-06-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

And you thought you ran in to some weird home remedies.

CNN's Nadia Bilchik talks to T.J. Holmes about some of the world's most unusual cures.

Meet Your Meat and Drop the Torture

2011-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I read an article, Zuckerberg: Just go Vegetarian Already, the other day about Mark Zuckerberg and meat-eaters. The author, Jake Richardson, talked about Mark Zuckerberg and his personal challenge that led him to kill animals by himself for meat, instead of letting a slaughterhouse or butcher do it. “CNN quoted him as saying he has learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising animals,” which I believe great.

Richardson, however, pointed out although some articles have indicated this approach is more honest, when it comes to “ending an animal’s life to make it into dinner that there is no ‘kindest’ way to do it.”

That’s where I would have to disagree.

You can talk to people about the many health and environmental reasons of why people should go vegetarian, but no matter how hard you try, not everyone will give up meat.

To be honest, even though I’m a vegetarian, I have to agree with what Zuckerberg is doing. Like the many other individuals living around the world, Zuckerberg is taking the time to find out where his meat is coming from.

I admire the fact that he is eating locally (which avoids the leveling 55 square feet of rain forest for a single meal or dumping 2,400 gallons of water down the drain) and that he knows that what he is actually consuming was once a living creature.

Now I’m not going to go a “crazy-Avatar-fangirl” on you but James Cameron explained my standpoint in such a poetic way. The majority of meat-eaters in America aren’t very sure of where their meat comes from. “Animals are abused, mistreated, and slaughtered every day so we can eat meat. They suffer so we can have a cheese burger from McDonalds; chickens are treated inhumanely so we can have chicken nuggets although we don’t have to.”

We take more than they need, never really acknowledge where it comes from, and we never give enough back to the environment to help sustain ourselves for the future.

Don’t get me wrong though, people have eaten meat for thousands of years whether they were designed to eat meat or not. You’re not going to convince Mark Zuckerberg or a simple farmer living up in the mountains of Tibet to stop eating meat, because they’re not torturing any of the animals that they eat.

I don’t have a problem with meat-eaters. I just have a problem with meat-eaters who know exactly where their meat comes from (or chooses to be in the dark on the issues) and continue with their poor environmental/ethical choices by doing nothing about it.

Knowing where your food comes from and eating locally raised meat is a great start to get on my nice list. Avoid factory farming and eat sustainably, not just because it’s great for the animals and the environment, but because it’s also healthier for you.

Who should take on Obama in 2012?

2011-05-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

I really love pogobat's serious take on this topic.

You can follow pogobat on Twitter or Squarespace.

A College Conspiracy?

2011-05-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

A growing number of people are claiming the belief that Americans with college degrees earn $1 million more in lifetime income compared to high school graduates without a college degree is just a myth as talk surrounding the rising cost of college tuition bubble up.

The documentary, “College Conspiracy,” presented by the National Inflation Association calls for students at the University to drop out because it “just isn’t worth it” despite the majority of the population, with and without a college degree, believing otherwise.

“Many folks without degrees have high salaries, but on average, the opportunities available to degree holders are substantially, experientially (if not quantifiably) much greater,” said Professor David Speak, Chair of Political Science Department Cal Poly Pomona in an email

According to a report done by the U.S. Census Bureau entitled “The Big Pay Off: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings, a college master’s degree is worth $1.3 million more in lifetime earnings than a high school diploma, but that extra value of having a degree is worth far more than just the extra $1.3 million.

“Whether that [$1 million] figure is 'accurate' or not seems to miss the point,” said Speak. “You might luck out and have an uncle who will hire you without a degree—or a complete stranger, for that matter. But your own first person experience could probably corroborate the advantage that having a degree gives you in seeking employment in the first place.”

You can essential do any number of things with a college degree, but if you happened to enter the job force as a plumber you’re only limited to plumbing. In an economic downturn, having a degree opens you up to more options better marketing your own self.

“The purpose of college is to invest in students’ human capital and to advance their own innate potential,” said Emerson. “The problem is giving you a better opportunity is not guaranteeing too make a $1 million. It’s an opportunity to invest human capital in the hopes that greater investment will result in greater productivity.”

What A Great Reason to Call CPS

2011-05-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

According to WebMD, Botox is the brand name of a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. In large amounts, this toxin can cause botulism, which you probably associate with food poisoning. Despite the fact that one of the most serious complications of botulism is paralysis, scientists have discovered a way to use it to human advantage. Small, diluted amounts can be directly injected into specific muscles causing controlled weakening of the muscles.

Why the hell would you put that in an 8-year-old’s face? You have to be completely brain dead to believe that it was a good idea to purposely inject a highly toxic substance, that will in no doubt ruin anyone’s face, just because you mistaken your daughter’s dimples for wrinkles.

Well good thing this nutter took pictures of her stupidity. Kerry Campbell admitted on national television to injecting her eight-year-old daughter with Botox and eve showed the pictures of her pricking her child, IN THE FACE, with huge needle full of crap.

The beautician from Birmingham, England, who lives in San Francisco, declined to tell "Good Morning America" where she got the drug but said it was a trusted source (because that just sounds safe).

"My friends think it's cool I have all the treatments and they want to be like me” said 8-year-old Britney. “I check every night for wrinkles, and when I see some I want more injections…the injections used to hurt, but now I don't cry much."

Her saint of a mother even convinced her into wanting a breast and nose job so she can "be a star." Great job on the parenting Kerry.

Botox shots are already known to be painful and any person with an ounce of common sense knows that this procedure isn’t recommended for anyone under 18 for COSMETIC purposes.

Now, apparently, the girl is no longer living with her—thank God.

A source close to the girl told ABC News that she is not living with her mother, and she is doing well. According to ABC News' Good Morning America, Campbell has lost custody of her child and is under investigation (for very good reasons mind you).

I hope this story shows other parents who may be thinking about pumping up their children with toxins to just lay off it and let kids be kids.

School Is Too Expensive, Just Drop Out Now

2011-05-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Wait? What? According to Billionaire libertarian businessman Peter Thiel, the founder and former CEO of PayPal, all college should just drop out by the age of 20.

But Jasmine, won’t we have a growing population of uneducated individuals floating around in our nation further effecting the American economy? Yes, yes we will.

This is all saying that students at the University level actually follow Thiel’s suggestion and take his money.

Last year, the billionaire launched the Thiel fellowship, which gives grants as large as $100,000 to 20 tech entrepreneurs who drop out of college by age 20 to pursue their own ideas.

Earlier this year, Thiel was reported in a National Review interview saying that higher education is a "bubble in the classic sense," because education is "overpriced," something people have "an intense belief in," and an investment that's unlikely, in the majority of cases, to have a positive return. He even stated his opinion again in April at TechCrunch blaming the "financial disaster" of student loan debt surpassing credit card debt. But this shouldn’t be a reason to just drop out right?

I get it; people are frustrated that they have to pay an arm and a leg to go to college. Heck, I’m frustrated that I have to pay an arm and a leg to attend a University, but I’m probably not going to just drop out.

Education was never meant to be a sure fire deal that said you were going to make loads of cash. It was put in place to actually educate anyone who was willing to learn. It’s called a place for higher learning not a place to obtain a higher stack of cash in your wallet.

What Thiel could have done was used the money that he wanted to give to college dropouts to help finance vocational schools or other programs that those people who graduate after high school can attend to quickly learn much needed skills for a lifelong trade.

Simply handing out money without is somewhat irresponsible on Thiel’s part. There’s a skills gap growing in our nation because the future generation is just brushing off all forms of education beyond high school.

A four year University isn’t the only option for learning, but if you develop the mindset that school equals money then you will be disappointed. School is for learning.

Now obviously it would be nice to end up making bank at Bill Gates status, but shouldn’t you be going to college because you want to learn? If your soul purpose in life was simple just to get rich quick, then maybe you should let someone else take your spot in college and take Thiel up on his offer.

Would You Eat Bugs?

2011-05-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Would you eat bugs? There’s a question that you wouldn’t ask someone during normal conversation. In a YouTube video titled by the same name, video blogger, pogobat, does just that.

The question stems from a question sent in by a user who brings up the topic of the growing demand for food (mainly meat products in general).

As the world grows in population and a greater number of nations accept a more Western diet, meat is rising to the top of the high-in-demand list.

Hillary Clinton on food prices (Article): http://bloom.bg/ma56P1

The solution to this problem, if the world ever fell into this predicament where they were not able to supply the world with its demand in meat, was to eat bugs.

The crunchy critters are known to be nutritional and compacted with protein, fatty acids, and for some vitamins and minerals, they cost less to farm than other animal products, and they’re better for the environment, so why not bite into a bug?

The cost of food is nearing the point of being out of hand, but will the world of burgers and fries shift over to cockroach filled sandwiches?

“We must act now cooperatively and collaboratively to blunt the impact of rising food prices,” Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State said, speaking to about 400 international delegates at the FAO, an arm of the United Nations in Rome.

Already prices for staples such as corn and rice this year surged to the highest level in more than two years. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s index of 55 commodities rose to 232.1 points in April, down from an all-time high of 237.2 in February. You even see the meat industry struggling as companies like Tyson Foods, who said on May 9, that its second-quarter earnings were flat compared to last year, and higher feed costs offset demand and raised meat prices.

It’s an issue that will need to be solved, whether we immediately change our diets to something like vegetarianism or not, before we’re pushed to the point where those grasshoppers that are outside your window really start to sound good.

President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden

2011-05-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

If you missed the President's address to the nation last night, you can watch it down below.

Another Reason To Go Vegetarian

2011-04-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Why should you go vegetarian?

There are many reasons why people all over the world become vegetarian. Whether it’s for health, environmental, religious or ethical reasons, people of all ages, races, religions and social statuses find a preference in the compassionate lifestyle. And being a vegetarian isn’t just for the hippies anymore, as it is becoming more popular with the main stream.

Watch the “Forks Over Knives” trailer that will be in theaters next week:

It’s Getting Heated

2011-04-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the most talked about subjects, especially around “Earth Day,” is the environment and the problems that face it. The discussion is generally divided into two major sections, the people who believe that we should actively do something in order to take care of our planet and the people who say it’s better to just leave well enough alone.

The question I have is how did these two groups come to be? Obviously, no one wishes to end the earth and eradicate all living things as quickly as possible. Being able to live is something that everyone generally agrees upon. So why has the environment become a worldwide issue?

Let’s take a look at the debate from the standpoint of the founder and creator of Earth Day, John McConnell. McConnell has demonstrated a major passion for peace, religion, and science throughout his life and has made efforts to relieve human suffering and promote the common good.

It was John McConnell's concern for the environment in the late 1960s and early 1970s that led to his push to create a holiday to celebrate the Earth's life and beauty. McConnell intended Earth Day to alert earthlings about the need for preserving and renewing the threatened ecological balances upon which all life on Earth depends. The Earth Day Proclamation stated how humanity living on Earth is all responsible for caring and keeping the Earth clean.

"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure." -John McConnell

McConnell had witnessed firsthand the man-made problems that contributed to things like hunger, poverty and global warming. A heaping handful of individuals agree with McConnell believing that humans had a major impact on the things that surrounded us. To the founder of Earth Day and to countless others, only we humans had the responsibility to protect the earth because we humans were the ones that made our earth to be this way today. But what about the people who do not agree that it are solely our responsibility to take care of the earth?

"The authors identify and describe the following global forces of nature driving the Earth’s climate: (1) solar radiation ..., (2) out-gassing as a major supplier of gases to the World Ocean and the atmosphere, and, possibly, (3) microbial activities ... . The writers provide quantitative estimates of the scope and extent of their corresponding effects on the Earth’s climate [and] show that the human-induced climatic changes are negligible." -George V. Chilingar, Professor of Civil and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California

George V. Chilingarian is a Professor of Civil and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California. Chilingarian is one of the best-known petroleum geologists in the world and the founder of several prominent journals in the oil and gas industry. With 61 books and hundreds of articles on geology, petroleum engineering and environmental engineering published under his belt, the fact that he serves as president of the U.S. branch of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, 17 of his books have been translated into Russian and on top of all that, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences has honored him as a Knight of Arts and Sciences, it’s hard to say that he doesn’t know anything about the world we live in today.

The thing is Chilingarian is on the opposite spectrum of the global warming debate and the views of John McConnell and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Chilingarian believes that the earth behaves the way it does regardless of the human activity that is acted upon it. Chilingarian, people unaware of global warming in developing nations, people unsure of the findings in already developed and those companies and people associated with making a profit off of the human activity that is believed to be the cause for global warming all disagree that global warming is actually occurring.

What made this a world issue wasn’t really a debate. According to the discussions that are going on today most scientists accept that humans are contributing to observed climate change. National science academies have called on world leaders for policies to cut global emissions. However, some scientists and non-scientists still question aspects of climate-change science.

The way I see it this “questioning” is either a lack of understanding about the situation and people in the pursuit of wealth and their own personal gains. I just worry that if we as a species continue to only focus on the here and now and not on the entirety of our survival and don’t do something about our global situation soon that it will be too late. The planet earth is the only habitable planet that we can reside on at the moment, and if this weren’t the case in the future and we had a “backup planet” to fall on, we would eventually need to figure out a way to stop the damaging effects that we have on our environment before we messed that planet up too.

How To Save A Life

2011-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

“Don't take your organs to heaven with you. Heaven knows we need them here.” Author unknown, attributed to both Dan and Barbara Hladio and Thomas Boyadjis, Sr.

One of the most beneficial and selfless things a person can do is help save a life, and since not everyone is able to become a medical doctor working in a hospital setting, donating blood, tissue and organs can easily help.

The entire month of April is recognized as “National Donate Life Month.” It was first instituted in 2003 by Donate Life America, in the hopes of raising awareness concerning organ donation and encouraging Americans to become donors.

Donate Life America is a not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States dedicated to increasing organ, tissue and eye donation. The organization administers and sponsors the national brand for donation, “Donate Life,” and lends a hand to Donate Life State Teams and national partners in facilitating high-performing donor registries and motivating the American public to register now as organ, eye and tissue donors.

Donate Life America explains the need for continued education, because although “Transplantation is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine… the need for organs and tissue is vastly greater than the number available for transplantation.” The United Network of Organ Sharing clarifies that donations may be limited due to myths about the process.

Despite continuing efforts with trying to educate the public, misconceptions and inaccuracies about donation persist.

“Some people think that if I have a pink dot on my driver’s license that they won’t think that will work as hard on me, and that’s not true,” said Donate Life California spokesperson, Elena de la Cruz.

These common myths hurt the people on the waiting list for organs, eyes and tissue. The trends according to United Network for Organ Sharing show that there are simply just not enough people willing to donate and save other people.

“California has the longest waiting list in the nation,” said de la Cruz. “We have about 20,000 people on the list out of the around 110,000 in the nation.”

Volunteering is also another way people can pitch in and do their part. If you’re interested in volunteering year round, you can contact Erika Ospina Awad, who coordinates the Ambassadors of Donate Life California program, at eospinaawad@onelegacy.org.

Donate Life America asks for everyone to either register online or in person at the DMV to avoid the statistic of an average of 18 people dying each day from the lack of available organs for transplant. 90 percent of Americans say they support donation, but only 30 percent know the essential steps to take to be a donor.

Five Foods For Splendor

2011-04-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Forget the makeup and hit the grocery store because some of the best beauty tools are edible.

There is a variety of foods out there that can have an effect on your appearance. Just try boosting your good looks by adding more of these items to your cart.

Dark chocolate

Notice that I said “dark” chocolate and not a half pound bag of milk chocolate M&M’s. Chocolate by itself isn’t bad for you. It’s the tons of sugar and extra additives that do you in.

Chocolate contains high levels of flavonoids which are potent antioxidants that can help protect your skin from sun damage and amp up blood flow to your tissues keeping skin nourished and glowing.

Look for chocolate that’s at least 70 percent cacao (it has more antioxidants), and instead of a giant candy bar buy individually wrapped nuggets and stick to one or two (about one ounce) a day.

Spinach

Popeye was up to something when he practically fist pounded those leafy greens, but the benefits go far beyond bulging biceps.

Spinach is nearly calorie free and is loaded with vital nutrients and antioxidants that help fight inflammation and free-radical damage—precursors to fine lines and wrinkles. One cup of raw spinach has just seven calories and 55 percent of your RDA of vitamin A (700 IU).

He green stuff is also loaded with a kind of antioxidant called lutein, which helps eyes stay healthy and bright. Most important, spinach is an all-star source of vitamin A (beta-carotene), which helps speed up skin cell turnover and keeps skin supple.

Yogurt

It’s rich in calcium and eating one cup of plain low-fat yogurt strengthens nails and teeth.

Eight ounces of yogurt is packed with two grams of zinc (25 percent of the RDA), which helps calm skin inflammation, treat rosacea, and prompt regeneration of cells.

Edamame

Want to know about another super food that helps skin? Experience the magical properties of soy.

Research shows that the isolavones in soy foods, such as tofu, soy milk, and edamame, can ease inflammation and stave off collagen breakdown, leaving skin with a more even tone and fewer wrinkles.

Just add soy milk to your morning cup of coffee and toss half a cup of boiled edamame into a salad or pasta dish.

Green tea

Green tea is a wonderful thing. Just warm up to this soothing brew’s antioxidants, called catechins, which can help prevent certain skin cancers and stave off sunburns.

Drink two cups a day or try sprinkling green matcha powder (available at health-food stores) into a yogurt parfait or homemade smoothie if you’re not a tea drinker

It’s just all the more reason to eat and drink a little healthier.

Why Every School Should Think About Early College

2011-04-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

It’s pretty much common knowledge that higher education can get expensive, and with recent budget cuts, tuition is skyrocketing even higher, but the public schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma seem have part of that solution.

The “Early College” program is a partnership of Tulsa Public Schools and Tulsa Community College. Hey cater to individuals like 15-year-old Sandra Escalante who has a dream to go off to college in the future.

“I was going to go to Booker T. Washington but I got a call one week before school started. What drew me in is well; I want to be a lawyer. That we could leave here with two years’ of college credits would get me that much closer,” said Escalante, a high school freshman to Tulsa World News.

The Early College program hopes to bring the opportunity for students to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree cutting out two years of tuition and focusing on the upper division courses after graduation.

A postsecondary education is pretty much essential for financial and personal freedom in today’s economy. A four-year college graduate earns two-thirds more than a high school graduate does, and an Associate’s degree translates into earnings significantly higher than those earned by an individual with a high school diploma alone.

For every 100 low-income students who start high school, only 65 will get a high school diploma and only 45 will enroll in college. Only 11 will complete a postsecondary degree according to a National Educational Longitudinal Study.

Such data calls for essential interventions to increase the number of low-income young people obtaining postsecondary credentials. A change in education policies and practices are needed to ensure that more young people earn the postsecondary credentials that are crucial to their individual economic security as well.

Why not guarantee a necessary education for the future of America, cut costs and save time for growth and progress in our society and ensure these students viability of our nation’s economy?

Yoga For the Mind, Body and Spirit

2011-03-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

Our daily lives are constantly plagued with mounds with stress. The majority of us find ourselves working ourselves to the grave just trying to become successful and please everyone. We spend our days running around in pure panic like a chicken with its head cut off when we really should take some time out for ourselves.

In comes the ancient practice of yoga. It has been around for more than 5,000 years, and currently, close to 11 million Americans are enjoying its health benefits and making yoga far from some hipster trend.

Most Westernized yoga classes focus on learning physical poses, which are called asanas. They include some form of breathing technique and meditation techniques as well. Some yoga classes are designed purely for relaxation, but there are styles of yoga that teach you how to move your body in new ways. Choosing one of these styles of yoga offers the greatest health benefits by enabling you to develop your flexibility, strength, and balance.

Strength

Styles of yoga, such as ashtanga and power yoga are more vigorous and helps improve muscle tone. Iyengar yoga, which focuses on less movement and more precise alignment in poses, can provide strength and endurance benefits. The diversity of asanas can strengthen a variety of muscles throughout the body.

Flexibility

Contrary to belief, you don’t have to be able to stretch like a gymnast to take a yoga class. The whole point of yoga is for you to learn about your body and how you can become more flexible over time. Participants of all ages can improve their flexibility just by safely stretching your muscles with asanas.

Stretching releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and that causes stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue. It increases the range of motion and the lubrication in the joints and provides a sense of ease and fluidity throughout your body.

Posture

Slouching or hunching over causes bad backs and unsightly seating positions. With increased flexibility and strength in yoga comes the fix for better posture. Most of the standing and sitting poses develop core strength because you're counting on your deep abdominals to support and maintain each pose. With a stronger core, you're more likely to sit and stand correctly by increasing your body’s awareness.

Concentration and mood

Breathing exercises help calm and relieve all of the added stress that you accumulate throughout the day and you can practice deep breathing exercises anywhere at any time. Deep breathing boosts oxygen levels to the brain and ultimately puts you in a better mood.

You can essentially practice yoga anywhere. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself after a stressful situation is just one of the many ways to squeeze in a little extra yoga throughout your day. It’s amazing to find out just how much better your mind, body and spirit will feel after practicing yoga every day.

Japan Limited on Water, Food, and Supplies

2011-03-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

The death toll rises as more people are being found after the devastating events that took place in Japan. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and countless aftershocks that caused a shoreline-crushing tsunami and an evolving crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has also left many survivors without the necessary supplies for survival.

The Japanese government is doing its best to rush doctors and aid supplies to thousands of people left without food, water and shelter in the aftermath of a catastrophe that hit northeast Japan.

Images online and various news programs show people lined up for water, canned food, and some stores rationing food sales to 10 items per person. In other areas, the 100,000 personnel deployed by the government are attempting to rescue survivors stranded by the flood waters and mountains of debris.

The leaking radiation from Koriyama in the Fukushima area where the crippled nuclear power plant is located has forced people out of the region. According to Japan’s NHK television on Tuesday, already over 3,000 are confirmed dead and more than 10,000 are missing and feared dead.

Supplies of gasoline are also running low and expressways have been closed off to all vehicles except for emergency traffic. There is a definite need for clean water, food and blankets, and for those who have lost everything, basic things like soap and toothbrushes.

Millions of people are in need of food, water and electricity, while relief efforts are complicated by the widespread destruction of infrastructure, but people can still contribute efforts to help.

Here are just some of the ways you can help provide the basics necessary for those effected by the tragedy in Japan.

American Red Cross: Emergency Operation Centers are opened in the affected areas and staffed by the chapters. This disaster is on a scale larger than the Japanese Red Cross can typically manage. Donations to the American Red Cross can be allocated for the International Disaster Relief Fund, which then deploys to the region to help. Donate here. You can also donate by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 toward relief efforts.

Globalgiving: Established a fund to disburse donations to organizations providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Donate here.

Save The Children: Mobilizing to provide immediate humanitarian relief in the shape of emergency health care and provision of non-food items and shelter. Donate here.

Salvation Army: The Salvation Army has been in Japan since 1895 and is currently providing emergency assistance to those in need. Donate here.

Americares: Emergency team is on full alert, mobilizing resources and dispatching an emergency response manager to the region. Donate here.

Convoy Of Hope: Disaster Response team established connection with in-country partners who have been impacted by the damage and are identifying the needs and areas where Convoy of Hope may be of the greatest assistance. Donate here.

International Medical Corps: Putting together relief teams, as well as supplies, and is in contact with partners in Japan and other affected countries to assess needs and coordinate our activities. Donate here.

Shelter Box: The first team is mobilizing to head to Japan and begin the response effort. Donate here.

Keeping Japan in your thoughts and prayers is also needed. The Japanese government says 15,000 people have already been rescued and 450,000 have been evacuated nationwide. Of the missing, many may have been washed out to sea by the 10-meter tsunami.

Reposted from Surf Bakersfield Magazine.

Focusing On What Is Pertinent

2011-03-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

What was once the great equalizer that opened doors for anyone wanting to better themselves and that bridged racial, social, economic, and geographic divides is now waning in its availability for the masses.

College tuition in many states is on the rise lately, and if further cuts to education take place, every college bound student should just get ready to kiss their shot at financing their education goodbye.

Young students attempting to chasing their dreams and trying to reach their goals primarily depend on the cost of higher education, but when tuition keeps rising every year, how can anyone afford to go to school.

Combining loans, grants, income from family members and hoping that they can pay for some of their college costs are the tactics that students have to go through every year, and it’s just getting worse all of the time.

The Institutional Research Program at the University of California in Los Angeles reported in their annual Freshman Survey that of the 62 percent whose choice was affected by the economy, 55 percent are at their first-choice college, compared with 69 percent of those not affected by the economy. The affected students are more likely to be living at home or attending college close to home. Fourteen percent of them report major concerns about financing their education.

As a college student today, I hear the stories about how everyone is just trying to make it from semester to semester. Students end up picking up part time jobs at fast food stops and commercial retailers in the attempt to pay for expensive books and the ever increasing insanely high tuition.

Many other students end up at two-year colleges or no college at all, because of concerns about costs. Two-thirds of the students who do happen to get into four-year universities collect debt up to their eyeballs and spend years after graduation trying to pay it all off.

We tell our youth that education is the way to go all the time, because for the most part it’s completely true if you want to achieve some sort of success. The problem is that we give them advice that is leading to a steadily unobtainable goal.

My full concern isn’t about whether or not I’m on the waitlist for half of my classes, although class unavailability due to budget cuts in the education department are impeding on graduation rates, but that the majority of the American population can’t even get into the colleges in the first place solely because of financial problems.

You might say that financial aid would cover the costs for college if you don’t have enough money, but that isn’t always so for the middle class. The middle class often suffers the most suffering from an average $30,000 upon graduation from loan collection.

A lot of middle class families haven’t been told that The American Opportunity Tax Credit, a recently renewed item in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Art, allows Illinois families a credit of up to $2,500 per student on their 2009 and 2010 tax returns. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, less than half of eligible Illinois families claimed the credit on their 2009 taxes. As for the rest of the middle class in America, we’re just screwed.

Our government is not helping anyone out by making it so the future generation can’t take care of themselves let alone the aging part of the population. The last time I checked, you need a college degree to become a physician. I wouldn’t want to completely run out of those.

Reposted via So Educated.

The Most Important Start to Your Day

2011-03-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

When you’re running late in the morning, the last thing on your mind is eating a proper breakfast, but just taking a few extra minutes to pour a bowl of Cheerios would benefit you more than you think.

Here are some of the reasons why eating breakfast is valuable to your health.

You get your essential nutrients.

Skipping meals only guarantees that you will not get all the necessary nutrients that you will need to function throughout the day. Many of us already do not meet the essential vitamins and minerals needed daily, and skipping breakfast surely doesn’t help.

Eating Breakfast gives you a better attention span.

If you find yourself zoning out in class or at work, a small breakfast can help you focus on the task at hand. You gain more strength and endurance, and studies on those who do not eat breakfast before work are unable to work as hard until lunchtime. Studies on children reveal that they are unable to complete school work. Eating a healthy breakfast has also been linked to better learning ability and memory functions.

You can maintain a healthy weight.

Skipping meals is always a no-no if you are ever trying to lose or maintain healthy weight. People who skip breakfast are shown to choose less nutritious and convenience foods to curb their ravenous appetite by the time lunch creeps around. Poor eating habits lead to eating at awkward times, like throughout the evening. Those people end up storing extra calories during the evening hours as the metabolism slows down and end up weighing more because of it.

It puts you in a better mood.

Eating breakfast can reverse the effects of fasting, which are irritability and fatigue, which hints the name “break-fast.” Being in a crappy mood can last up to 16 hours, and no one really wants to feel bad all day or be around someone that feels like they want to rip your head off.

It helps you maintain good health.

Eating breakfast in the morning can lower cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease, increase your metabolic rate, and prevent obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Research has shown that people who eat breakfast consume less dietary cholesterol than people who don’t eat breakfast. The people who skip breakfast also have a metabolic rate four to five percent below normal, which may lead to an expected weight gain of eight pounds per year (one pound every seven weeks).

As long as you avoid the processed and fatty foods at breakfast you’ll be good to go. Omit the breakfast sandwiches and you will prevent yourself from consuming 560 calories and an extra 32 grams of fat. Oatmeal, cereal, fruit, eggs or even a natural smoothie would suffice for a great tasting breakfast. You’re just better off in the long run if you choose to participate in the most important meal of the day.

Growing Fuel in Our Backyard

2011-03-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Imagine producing fuel that powers planes, trains and automobiles with the same elements that makes your lawn grow. Well in Cambridge Massachusetts, a biotechnology company says it can do just that.

A genetically engineered organism, invented by Joule Unlimited, secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide. The company claims that it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels at extraordinary rates, and can do it in both larger and smaller facilities at costs equivalent to the most economical fossil fuels.

This is a great short-term solution until we find something more “green” that lowers our energy emissions even more so after it’s used. This is a positive step in the right direction toward being energy independent.

According to Joule Unlimited’s website, the company claims to be able to produce 15,000 gallons/diesel and 25,000 gallons/ethanol per acre per year. The company claims that the diesel that they produce is different from biodiesel, but that they have “developed and patented a highly-efficient process for converting waste CO2 directly into liquid hydrocarbons, requiring no processing, cracking or refining.”

The company says by doing this they “cut out the middle man” of having to derive their fuel from vegetable, animal or algal oils and fats that depend on raw material feed stocks, costly harvesting and downstream processing making everything more affordable.

Obviously many are skeptical of Joule Unlimited’s claims, but further research into this subject can iron out all of the details. I’m also usually not a fan of synthetic biology or genetically engineered products, but if these claims are true and further research and development is done to further this technology, we can solve so many of our problems and stop the constant worry over severing ties with foreign oil.

On Feb 23 oil prices rose to their highest levels since September 2008 due to worries from traders that protests in Egypt and Libyan unrest could spread across the Middle East.

The rise in prices has been driven by violence in Libya, where rebels and forces loyal to the North African nation's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, continued to escalate.

Even the most recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by B.P. has had U.S. citizens and government officials crying out for alternative energy plans.

The Deepwater Horizon Spill that was a result from failed safety measures from BP had an estimated 62,000 barrels per day, and later a tapered spill with 53,000 barrels, of oil flowing from the sea floor for three months after a wellhead explosion.

Images of tar balls washing up on the shores of the Gulf, oil sheen trails seen in the wake of fishing boats, wetlands marsh grass remains fouled and dying along with oil covered marine life and speculations that the recently dead baby dolphins washing on shore in the same area also had something to do with the devastating spill plagued the minds of America and started to make us think about other possible energy sources.

Even if this Mass. based company’s idea falls short of what it says it could be, I think that it’s at least worth a shot to look into it.

The Benefits of Drinking Coffee

2011-03-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Put a pot of coffee on and grab your favorite mug. That cup of Joe in the morning isn’t as bad for you as you think. Here’s something to combat those comments that say coffee is harmful to your health.

If you’re anything like me, taking a thermos of the good stuff to work in the morning is almost essential for your day. In fact more than half of adults in the U.S., or 54 percent, are habitual coffee drinkers, according to the National Coffee Association. 146 billion cups of coffee are actually consumed in the U.S. each year. That’s nearly three times more than tea.

According to an issue of the Harvard Health Letter, coffee drinkers may be at lower risk for blood pressure, cancer, cholesterol, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.

Coffee also contains antioxidants and in 2009, two coffee studies suggested that coffee-drinking men seemed to have a lower risk of advanced or lethal prostate cancer than other men. Middle-aged people who drank moderate amounts of coffee — three to five cups a day — had the lowest risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease later in life compared to less (or more) frequent drinkers.

Sadly with all of these benefits that come along with sipping that steaming cup of java, there are still some downsides to coffee

According to the web site myfoodapedia.gov, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, adding the extra trimmings will really cost you. A 6-ounce cup of black coffee contains just 7 calories, but dare I say add some half & half and you’ll get 46 calories.

If you favor your cup of Joe with a liquid nondairy creamer, that will set you back 48 calories. A teaspoon of sugar will add about 23 calories, and I don’t even want to get started about the extra calories in your favorite Frappuccino from Starbucks.

If you consume a lot of coffee, you may head to the bathroom more often. Caffeine is actually a mild diuretic which make you urinate a little more than you would without it. Coffee also contains acids that can make heartburn worse.

Unless you are caffeine sensitive, and you don’t mind the extra bathroom trip, drinking two or three cups of coffee a day is fine. It stimulates mental alertness, it has become a big part of American life, and to be honest, I just think it tastes good.

Reposted via Surf Bakersfield Magazine.

Baby Dolphins Killed By Oil Spill?

2011-02-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

Scientists trying to determine the death of baby dolphins

60 baby Bottlenose dolphins have been found dead along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and because the average gestational period for the bottlenose dolphin correlates with the massively devastating BP oil spill in the same area, it’s easy to assume 185 million gallons of toxic oil spilled into the ocean had something to do with it.

The decomposing dolphin fetuses have been washing up along the coast since Jan. 1, and some scientists are expecting this trend through May.

It’s also not just the dolphins that have possibly suffered from the tidal wave of spewing oil from BP’s offshore drilling, a recent study of the area around the spill by University of Georgia scientist Samantha Joye found dead corals, found dead crabs and sea stars scattered on the sea floor, along with strings of bacterial slime that created what she called an "invertebrate graveyard."

Research is obviously still being conducted to find out if BP is to blame for the horrific graveyard scene scattered along the Gulf’s beaches, but the shear unusually large amount of dead baby dolphins located where the oil spilt pushes me to guess that maybe BP did have something to do with this situation.

Surely more than four months of oil spilling into the ocean will do some type of damage to the oceanic life in the Gulf of Mexico, and although federal officials and BP have scaled back the cleanup, Louisiana officials say they're still seeing oil washing ashore.

There are a number of people who were exposed to the toxic chemicals in the Gulf that have ended up seriously ill. Some of those people will also suffer long term affects from their contact with the oil during the spill. Further research is being conducted on this subject too, but all of these deaths and illnesses can’t all be coincidence can they?

Cutting Planned Parenthood

2011-02-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

On Feb. 17 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care.

Why should you care?

Planned Parenthood works to advance women's reproductive health and rights. If they cut the funding to Planned Parenthood, three million women, men, and teens will be at risk of losing access to basic care.

This issue is not an abortion debate as abortions account for only a small fraction of the services provided by Planned Parenthood and no tax payer money goes toward abortions. The organization mainly provides contraception, screening for cancer and testing for sexually transmitted diseases. Many of the clients are low-income women with few other options for non-emergency health care.

The majority of the services provided by the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate are spent on contraception. In 2008, it was reported that contraception constituted 35 percent of total services, STI/STD testing and treatment constituted 34 percent, cancer testing and screening constituted 17 percent; and other women's health procedures, including pregnancy, prenatal, midlife, and infertility were 10 percent.Two percent to three percent of visits involve abortions.

Planned Parenthood loosing federal funding would be devastating for many families. Other clinics are already overflowing with lower income families that have no other way besides Planned Parenthood for health care and contraception. They have no doctor of their own to go to, and they often go without any knowledge about their sexual health.

Cutting federal funding to this organization will not help any conservative pro-life cause, but it will wreck havoc on the people who depend on Planned Parenthood for health care and sex education.

Watch the video from ABC about Congresswoman Jackie Speier sharing her experience with abortion.

Click this link and sign the open letter if you stand with Planned Parenthood.

Protests That Inspired The World

2011-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Eighteen days of angry protests from the citizens of Egypt did more than just earn a few tweets and clips on the internet. The determined people of the most populous country in the Arab world, decided to end decades worth of fiery grievances against the 30 year autocratic rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

The people of Egypt not only toppled the power of Mubarak, but on Feb. 11, 2011 they have transformed politics in Egypt and around the Arab world. The Egyptian people braved tear gas, rubber bullets and security police officers notorious for torture and despite restrictions placed on the Internet, Egyptian bloggers managed to report new unrest, posting accounts and images of fresh demonstrations on the streets of Cairo online throughout the course of the protests.

As a result of the successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, the people of Egypt have not only victoriously overthrown their government leader, but they have also enthralled dissidents and activists around the world who have campaigned for radical change.

The social media networking that played a huge part in distributing information from the people to other parts of the world has even spread to Djibouti, a city-state across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, where protesters reportedly clashed with security forces on Feb.18.

Protesters in Egypt and the surrounding region used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to organize, and benefited from pan-Arab media outlets such as Al-Jazeera television that spread word of the uprisings.

Gradually other countries in similar situations are seeing Egypt’s victory as a possibility for them as well. The protests in Tunisia and Egypt were a testament to what the power of the people can do.

"Tears welled in my eyes when I watched the Egyptians, overjoyed after Mubarak left. I want to tell them that your fight has paid off but we don't know where our future lies," said a 53-year-old private tutor in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. The tutor spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the authorities in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Let’s Talk About Sex

2011-02-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

So you feel guilty for all of the chocolate that you ate on Valentine’s Day and now you’re looking for a way to get back on track and stay in shape. Why not have sex?

Seriously, a special jaunt with your significant other to the bedroom can benefit your health in so many ways. Here are some excuses for bringing sexy back all over again.

It relieves stress.

Make up sex anyone? There’s a reason why you end up on cloud nine after a special rendezvous. That extra pep in your step is the brain releasing endorphins during and after sex. The neurotransmitters create a feeling of euphoria while masking all of that stress you completely just forgot about.

It helps you lose weight.

Thirty minutes of exercise a day can burn off 85 calories and that exercise can also include sex. Like any other form of exercise, sex can help you lose weight and stay in shape.

It’s actually good for the heart.

Intercourse is a great form of cardio-exercise. It gets your heart pumping faster and helps it stay in shape. Research has also found that sex can lower your blood pressure and help keep your heart healthy.

It can boost your immune system.

Setting aside the possibilities of contracting a few sexually transmitted diseases, sex between healthy partners can actually boost your immune system. Research has shown that sex, two times a week can increase the levels of immunoglobulin A or IgA, an antibody which helps protect you from respiratory diseases like the cold and flu, in our body. Sex three or more times a week on the other hand showed results of the lowest levels of antibodies though.
It helps you sleep.

During that crazy work out your body generates oxytocin which actually helps you sleep better. Sex definitely relaxes you, promoting deeper and more restful sleep.

Just remember to be safe while engaging in sex. You can reduce your risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease by using condoms regardless of if it’s vaginal or anal intercourse.

Reposted via Surf Bakersfield Magazine.

What Will It Be, Taxes Or Cuts?

2011-02-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

Ted Rall / For the L.A. Times

I was reading an article on Mercury News about Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to extend taxes and the $1.4 billion in higher education cuts that he also proposed when I came across this line within the text,

“Before a hearing at the Capitol Monday, California State University Chancellor Charles Reed said Brown told him and UC President Mark Yudoff ‘if this doesn't pass, we'll come back and cut more.’”

Right now, even before the proposed $1.4 billion cut, higher education in California is already struggling to keep afloat with what little they have. It took me two years to get into a pre-requisite English class at Cal Poly Pomona and I have met so many sixth and seventh year students on campus that my current intension of graduating in four years seems a little farfetched.

We have a $25 billion deficit sitting on our shoulders in California and smiles, confetti and wishing it all away won’t fix this problem.

There is a need for a two-thirds vote from both legislative houses to put the revenues up for a vote in June. If this doesn’t pass, the cuts would double, and anyone looking for that pre-requisite English class at Cal Poly Pomona should just give up hope of ever being able to get in.

Both Reed and Yudoff tried to avoid tuition increases for this year, but if the tax extension fails, students will have to fork up another arm and a leg to cover the costs.

I just really hope that the people of California can get to the point where we can accept the raising of taxes and leave higher education alone. California's colleges have suffered more than enough already.

Where’s the Beef?

2011-02-05T14:11:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in the country a scientist is growing meat in a laboratory. No, this is not the opening line to a popular science fiction novel. Vladimir Mironov, a scientist at the Medical University of South Carolina, has been working for about a decade to grow meat artificially.

First off, I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t have a problem with this at all. Mironov wanted to solve world hunger in an energy efficient way that didn't involve harm to any animals. Other non-vegetarians on the other hand, are disgusted at the idea that their meat has went from the Petri dish to their plates.

The thing about the non-vegetarian’s opinion is that they shouldn’t be disgusted with artificially grown meat because of all the unnatural and genetically modified foods that the majority of them already consume.

This idea of artificially growing meat seems a little weird at first, but after thinking about it, I’m not really surprised that it has come to this. To put it simply, the majority of people in America do not care what they eat as long as it’s cheap and it tastes good. Why else would people deliberately munch on fast food despite all of the constant warnings from nutritionists and the FDA not to?

Genetically modified food isn’t a new concept. The majority of the population eats genetically altered food already. Typically, soybean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil have been genetically modified since the early 1990’s. So eating genetically modified meat wouldn’t be such a big deal, right?

Various organizations such as “Climate Crisis,” “Hungry For Change,” and “Take Part” have tried to inform the public through different films, websites, books, and even A-List celebrities for years about the side of the food industry that everyone knows about but doesn’t really want to hear.

Different organizations have warned people for years about the negative effects that genetically modified and fast food had on their bodies, but the majority of the population doesn’t want to hear it.

Films like, “Fast Food Nation,” “Super Size Me,” “Food Inc.,” and “Our Daily Bread” have been shown to people of all ages, races and creeds across the country, and McDonalds still serves 47 million customers every day around the world. They have more than 32,000 restaurants in 117 countries. In the United States, there are more than 14,000 restaurants according to their website.

The majority of the American population doesn’t bother to care what they are eating or if it bad for them. People are not waiting in the drive thru at Taco Bell for high quality food. They eat fast food because it’s cheap and it’s quick. They rather risk their health for convenience.

Recently a lawsuit involving Taco Bell and its "taco meat filling," which is how the lawsuit says Taco Bell should advertise its “seasoned beef,” alleges that the product contains mostly substances other than beef.

The “other than beef” part of that statement is what has me wondering what’s actually in it, but sales of Yum Brands, the owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell fast-food chains, are still growing and lines at Taco Bell haven’t diminished since the claims.

"Obviously you know it's not 100% organic food," said Taco Bell customer Bethany Weis, 23, of Chicago in an article printed in the L.A. Times. "I know it's not good for me. I still like it."

If people were really opposed to the idea of artificially grown food more people would protest it, buy locally grown organic food at their farmer’s market, question where they are actually getting their food sources from, and actually read the labels on the back of their food products. It really isn’t difficult to do, but the majority of the popularity doesn’t want to put in the small bit of extra effort. They rather sit back, learn all about the problem, and then do nothing about it.

Would you?

Watch the Food Inc. trailer here.

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

February Is American Heart Month

2011-02-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

The month of February is used to spread awareness about your heart as well as the problems that can associate with it. Events like National Wear Red Day on February 4, and other Go Red For Women campaigns helps fund-raise to save lives and gets people to start thinking about their heart health.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States as of 2007. Every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event, and every minute one person will die from one. Heart disease accounts for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States, but the majority of those deaths can be prevented.

You can reduce your chances of developing coronary heart disease by taking the necessary precautions in your health, and you can help reduce heart disease related deaths by knowing the signs and symptoms of heart attack.

Here are some symptoms that you should look for when identifying a heart attack or a stroke.

Heart attack symptoms:

· Chest Discomfort

· Discomfort in other areas of the upper body

· Shortness of breath

· Breaking out into cold sweat

· Nausea

· Lightheadedness

Stroke symptoms:

· Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body)

· Confusion

· Trouble speaking or understanding

· Trouble seeing in one or both eyes

· Trouble walking, dizziness

· Loss of balance or coordination

· Severe headache with no known cause

These symptoms can occur in both men and women, and although heart disease is sometimes thought of as a "man's disease," it is the leading cause of death for both women and men in the United States, as women account for nearly 50% of heart disease deaths.

Heart disease is often perceived as an "older woman's disease," because it is the leading cause of death among women aged 65 years and older. However, in reality, heart disease is the third leading cause of death among women aged 25–44 years and the second leading cause of death among women aged 45–64 years.

You can prevent heart disease in both men and women by opting to not smoke or use tobacco, eating healthy, exercise for 30 minutes, maintain a healthy weight, and get regular health screenings.

Heart disease may be a leading cause of death, but it doesn't mean that you have to accept it as your fate. Some risk factors such as family history, sex or age will always affect your chances of contracting heart disease, but there are always ways to lower your risk and stay healthy.

Reprinted via Surf Bakersfield Magazine.

The Internet, For Better Or For Worse

2011-01-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

The Internet has been used as a tool to connect the people all over the world. Every corner of the earth has been tied together, and the world seems just a little bit smaller because of it.

The global system of interconnecting computers has transformed the way we think, learn, and live in our society today. And like with any other advancement in technology, the Internet has both benefited and impaired every person on this planet.

Its origins, which reach back to the 1960’s, up till now has propelled the world into the digital age, and it isn’t disappearing anytime soon.

During President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address to Congress and the American public on Tuesday, Jan. 25, Obama mentioned that we are a nation of Google and Facebook.

"We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook,” said Obama. “In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It's how we make a living.

It's about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It's about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device; a student who can take classes with a digital textbook; or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor.”

The birth of the Internet has created an entirely new category of jobs such as online journalism, professional blogging, web graphic design and development and professional vlogging, or video blogging, which you see on Web sites such as YouTube.

Billions of individuals can upload and download information instantaneously with the push of a button, and it has helped people like those who have participated in the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen that began last week.

The citizen activists there used social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to protest their retrospective governments and countered government disinformation.

But the Internet has also stirred trouble by ruining careers, ending lives and starting debates on whether or not it should be restricted.

Net neutrality, the principle proposed for users' access to networks participating in the Internet, is now the subject of debate. On the one hand, there are advocates who believe that there should be no restrictions by Internet service providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication.

Opponents believe the Internet should be regulated and controlled. They also believe that Internet providers can determine the quality of Internet service you can receive by what the individual pays. The belief that the age of equally accessing whatever Web site you wanted regardless of the Internet provider should be terminated for profitable gain.

Supporters of net neutrality are currently fighting the FCC’s decision that took place on Dec. 21 to approve new broadband regulations covering Web site blocking, traffic discrimination, and network management transparency.

The Internet has also challenged the definition of the First Amendment’s right of the freedom of speech.

Individuals like Simon Singh, who decided to tell the chiropractic community just exactly what he thought of it in an article demoting the entire profession. His comments only add to the disruption in how we can determine what we can say on the Internet.

Singh had targeted chiropractors' claims that their services could help children with asthma or colic, causing the chiropractic community to sue the man for libel and take him to court. When the courts began to investigate Singh they found his accusers didn't have a case. Attention was turned back to the chiropractors and as a result, about 1 in 4 chiropractors in the UK went under investigation by regulators for making backless claims back in March.

Issues such as cyber bullying and anonymous hate speech on forum chats that at times lead to suicide get added to the long list of crimes that could be committed as well.

Arguments about how the Internet has hurt students academically have also come up. The days of searching for information in large encyclopedias located at local libraries have been replaced by Wikipedia and Google.

Plagiarism has plagued the universities as it now has become easier to just copy and paste someone else’s work onto a word document, type your name at the top and just hit print, and yet at the same time people can access information and educate themselves whenever or wherever they wanted to.

The Internet has become an endless frontier of vast capabilities and endless problems. We have changed as species because of it and continue to change along with it. In the social and economic globalization, that primarily took place in the 21st Century, we have “flattened” the world because of the Internet, according to international bestselling author, Thomas Friedman, and for now we will continue to use the Internet for better or for worse.

U.S. Aims to Make School Lunches Healthier

2011-01-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

Sloppy Joe Fridays and tater tot Tuesdays could be a thing of the past as more attention gets drawn toward school lunches. Studies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have revealed that school lunches are leading kids on the path towards obesity. The USDA now wants to chuck 15 years of mystery meat Mondays and start cutting salt and fat and adding more fruits and vegetables to the cafeteria menu.

New guidelines have been proposed recently in the attempt of making school lunches healthier and fight the growing child obesity epidemic.

The new guidelines would give school meals calorie limits and salt would be cut by half over the course of 10 years. Most trans fats would be banned and more fruits and vegetables would be incorporated in each meal. Other guidelines such as only serving low-fat or nonfat milk, and increasing the amount of whole grains in each meal would also be seen in the cafeterias across America.

The USDA study, which was published in the Journal of Human Resources, followed more than 13,500 students and found that participation in the national school lunch program. It found that a there was a significant increase in the probability of a child becoming obese by the third grade.

According to the CDC, obesity in children ages 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008. And obesity is adolescence ages 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0 percent to 18.1 percent.

The guidelines at this point remain a proposal. It could take several years before schools are really required to make changes to the lunches, but there is hope that schools will start making the necessary changes now.

Recently President Barack Obama has signed the child nutrition bill, which will help schools pay for the healthier foods, and while the president helps fight the obesity epidemic through the signing of a bill, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Lets Move initiative, is also attempting to fight the rapid spread of obesity. The campaign advocates eating healthy and being physically active, both of which also help stop the rapid spread of obesity.

Obesity has already been known to cause increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and breathing problems. It is possible to slow down and eventually reverse the trend of childhood obesity.

By changing the eating habits of our nation’s children during school lunch, we are giving the next generation a better chance at a healthier life. It’s not only the children’s future that we are worried about, but ours as well. For the first time in 200 years, the current generation may have shorter life expectancies than their parents, and we can change this. All we have to do is continue to make the small changes like providing healthier school lunches.

Reposted via Surf Bakersfield Magazine.

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The $1.4 Billion Budget Cut For Higher Education

2011-01-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

Monday, Jan. 10, Governor Jerry Brown released his proposed budget calling for a $1.4 billion reduction in state funding for California’s higher education system to help combat the $25.4 billion budget gap for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

The plan also includes a $1 billion cut for the UC and CSU system as well as $432.5 million in cuts to the state's community college system while increasing the price per unit from $26 to $36.

The California State University system has experienced severe cuts in recent years. Brown believes that these budget cuts to our state’s higher education system will be fully sustained on his plan.

Brown believes higher education, unlike health care services, is an easy place to cut because it's not tied up in federal mandates, but history seems to be repeating itself from Brown’s first governorship, from 1975 to 1983, where he cut funding for California’s Universities before.

The situation makes it difficult for lawmakers to both fix the deficit and keep all of the state’s programs funded without added revenue from increased taxes. Many California citizens want the lawmakers to pull money from where it doesn’t exist and fix the deficit, but we can't keep cutting higher education.

For many decades California was the state envied by others for its three-tiered system of higher education as a model for affordability and academic excellence. The Master Plan for Higher Education opened college to all state residents and helped the state grow both technologically and economically. But the devastating economic downturn has forced California to make harsh cuts to services such as education to resolve a large budget deficit.

I just hope that the people of California can get to the point where we can accept the raising of taxes and leave higher education alone. California's colleges has suffered enough already.

Kill The Stress Before It Kills You

2011-01-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

You procrastinated and you have a 20 page report on Shakespeare due tomorrow, you just realized that they don’t serve the espresso truffle anymore at Starbucks and you’re pulling out your hair because you think your dog may have the flu. Just calm down and count to three. Hyperventilating over your barfing puppy won’t make the poor thing any better.

Stress usually creeps up on us when the going gets tough. But what no one considers while they’re yelling at the barista behind the counter is what that high level of stress can do to your health.

Stress can cause painful headaches, sleep problems, decreased immunity and even heart problems if you really let the stress get to you. It’s a silent killer and it wrecks havoc on your life which is why it’s best to nip it in the bud before it becomes out-of-hand.

Here are some tips on how to tackle some of the stress that is piling up in your life.

Exercise

Exercising is probably the best way to relieve stress from a hard day’s work. Walking, biking or taking fun classes such as Yoga and Pilates has been proven to have beneficial effects on a person’s mental and physical state.

Cut down on the caffeine.

I’m notorious for over doing it on the caffeine. No matter how bad you think that you need it, instead of the 3 extra shots of espresso in your mocha, why not cut it down to a regular cup of Joe. It probably won’t make you twitch anymore and your friends and family will thank you.

Just say no.

Don’t say yes to everything. Volunteering at the shelter and hanging out with the cats is a wonderful thing to do when you have time. But when Fluffy comes before sleep it’s probably best to just say no and start cutting your hours.

Try delegating your responsibilities at work, or sharing them if you can. It’s better to have a less stressed worker than one who is slowly becoming neurotic because of all the extra duties that you took on at the office.

Take a breather

Take a deep breath and slow down. Setting aside time for you to relax and catch your breath does wonders in relieving stress. Try picking up a book, reading an article online or something else that’s entertaining. You could even try talking with your friends or colleagues after work just to vent and talk about your day.

Always keep in mind that it is better to take some time out for yourself than to let the evils of stress tear you down. Relieving that stress can only help you in the long run.

Reposted from Surf Bakersfield Magazine

Do the Women Of Wal-Mart Stand A Chance In The Sex-Discrimination Based Lawsuit?

2011-01-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider tackling a sex-discrimination lawsuit filed in 2001 against the retailer, Wal-Mart.

If Wal-Mart gets away with discrimination this time, I really do believe that it will be years down the road before women get another chance to fight for their rights in the workforce again.

The Dukes v. Wal-Mart. lawsuit began when a 54 year old California female Wal-Mart employee decided to sue her employer claiming discrimination. The discrimination, according to the employee, was in terms of pay and promotion on the basis of her gender.

Wal-Mart was accused of preventing the employee, and other females working for the retailer, from getting training that would allow them to get higher paying jobs.

But over the ten years since the lawsuit was filed, the conflict between the single employee and the large retailer grew to include more than 1.5 million women who were working for Wal-Mart across 3,400 stores in the US.

Today, these women are still being paid less than men for similar jobs and are suffering with the lack of promotions. The allegations against Wal-Mart have yet to be put to a trial but the issues are left to the justices of the Supreme Court to decide whether the hundreds of thousands of female employees working at Wal-Mart can join together as a "class" to be represented by a handful of named plaintiffs.

Class-action suits are pretty much the only way for workers to receive justice. The women of Wal-Mart could never really win the lawsuit if they proceed with the anti-discrimination claims individually.

It’s really all left in the court’s hands to decide whether they can stand a chance against the retailing giant. And this case is so important because if the conservative Supreme Court dramatically narrows the criteria for determining what a class is, Wal-Mart will succeed and the victims of discrimination in future cases will find it even more difficult to find justice.

Protecting Wal-Mart in this particular case will only hold women back in the fight for women to be treated equally to their male counterparts in the workforce.

As of today, there is still a wage gap between genders in the workplace as a whole and there really shouldn’t be.

Women perform their duties just as well as their male counterparts do in the same positions. They pay the same amount for housing, utilities and food as men do, and women are no less inferior to men.

And while single mothers get screwed over with less pay than single fathers, our “first world” country is completely fine with the fact that women earn only 77 cents for every dollar men make according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The fight for equality should start right now with this case.

Right now there is currently no limit on the size of a class, and I agree that there really shouldn’t be a limit. The case involving the women of Wal-Mart follow Rule 23 stating that there is no conflict of interest among the group and that there is a commonality in their complaints.

It’s not just a feminist idea that there shouldn’t be a wage gap between the genders but a civil rights idea. There needs to be equality in the labor force regardless of gender, religion, race, sexual orientation or creed—and to be honest—I’m disappointed that we haven’t reached equality in 21^st Century America.

Five Tips To Kick A Cold

2011-01-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

Someone sneezes and three days later you’re trying to stop the fountain on your face that was once your nose. You have to go to work hacking up a lung and you know that you can never remember to take that Dayquil at lunch.

So how do you get over a cold quickly without the use of medications? It’s possible. All you have to do is follow these few tips.

1. Blow your nose.

I know that you’re not five, and I shouldn’t have to say this, but blowing your nose rather than just sniffing that nasty mucus back into head is, not only disgusting, but it’s the easiest way to re-infect your system with the germs that your body was trying to get rid of.

You should make sure that you don’t blow too hard because pressure can cause earaches. The best way to blow your nose is to press a finger over one nostril while you blow gently to clear the other. And remember to wash your hands after blowing your nose. No one wants to shake hands with someone who looked like they just high fived Flubber.

2. Get some sleep.

Want to kick that cold’s butt? Your body’s immune system does a great job on its own to search and destroy the invading cold virus. Just grab a blanket and hit the snooze button because resting is the best way to direct your body’s energy toward fighting that annoying cold.

3. Drink hot liquids.

This is a great excuse to drink some hot green tea. Just add a little honey and you could knock that cold out of the park. Drinking hot liquids relieve nasal congestion, help prevent dehydration, and can soothe the uncomfortably inflamed membranes that line your nose and throat.

4. Take a steamy shower.

Steamy showers moisturize your nasal passages and relax you and they’re a great way to unwind after a day battling that cold. Just remember not to fall asleep in there, because that wouldn’t be as relaxing to deal with when you do wake up hours later.

5. Don’t fly unless necessary.

Flying is not very much fun to have to deal with in the first place, but when your nose is threatening to go over the 3-ounce liquid limit that you’re allowed onto the plane then you should really just think about rescheduling that trip to Acapulco.

Added stress to your respiratory system and the change in air pressure can hurt your eardrums during takeoff and landing. But if you must fly, use a decongestant and carry a nasal spray with you to use just before takeoff and landing. Chewing gum and swallowing (not the gum) frequently can also help relieve pressure.

Just take it easy and give your body what it needs. And that goes the same for the flu as well. There may not be a cure for the common cold, but you don’t have to keep the same cold for a month. And remember that staying healthy is far more beneficial to you than deliriously talking to inanimate objects because you running a high fever. It’s funny for everyone else watching, but sparking a nervous chuckle from a friend shouldn’t substitute your health and well being.

Reposted from Surf Bakersfield Magazine.

How Do We Fund Higher Education?

2011-01-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

If you ask recently appointed chair of the House Higher Education Subcommittee, North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, about how we should fund higher education, she would say that it shouldn’t be publicly funded.

“If it can’t prove the worth of a program, then it needs to examine itself,” Foxx told the Chronicle of Higher Education. “Wherever taxpayer dollars are being spent, there has to be accountability.”

This view on education is actually a surprise for me. How can someone who actual received her education credentials, taught English and sociology before leaving the classroom for a career as a college administrator and then eventually head of a community college suddenly sweep the problems concerning education under the rug?

In 2009, Foxx was known for making other extremely shocking comments. “I don’t think the measure of success of a community college is always graduation. Many times, all people need to learn is a skill and perhaps get certification in an area.” Come on, really Virginia?

Foxx also opposes to student loan reform, which the Obama administration passed last year and is obviously not on board for Obama’s plan for community colleges to produce five million more graduates with degrees or certificates by 2020.

This woman is in love with for-profit colleges, has denied in the past that Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming who was killed in 1998, was the victim of a hate crime, and sometime between years of encouraging students to graduate and become successful individuals and not caring if the generation of tomorrow knows how to read, she apparently lost her mind and only thought about money.

But now that we have entered into a world where a college education is the key for survival, a semi-non-profit view on the way we fund and provide higher education for the masses should be looked into. Educating the future leaders of America will only help in the long run.