State Budget Cuts

Although the states have already suffered greatly from the recent budget cuts, we are going to be suffering even more. Apparently this is the year that hits bottom, as our economy is also grim right now. California, with it's phenomenal governor of Schwarzennegger, has had to suffer greatly. The republicans are all for taking money from the schools and keeping it to themselves. It's most likely not challenging to figure out where I stand on this matter. Although part of me is reserved and wants the money in my family's pocket to stay in our pocket, I know how important education is. I go to one of the best high schools in the state of California and have learned more in these last three years than ever before in my life. My school is a public school and we are funded by the government. Although most republicans have no need for public schools considering they have the money to send their children to private schools, the lower income families need the same chance at education. By putting less and less funding into our schools just makes the future of America look grim. If only a select few are educated, there will be a heavy bias, and knowledge waiting to be unearthed will remain hidden.

Hippie Dems?

As a Democrat there are of course more pros than cons in my opinion. Democrats seem to be a freer, more worldly driven party than the republicans. Although they often have the rap that they are hippies that only care about world peace and smoking weed, these myths are not true.

Pros for me about the Democratic party are: liberal, supportive of gay marriage, oppose the death penalty, pro-choice, community based, decrease military spending, and increase tax on wealthy.

Cons for me about the democratic party are too romantic at points, not realistic enough, that government has the right to teach specific values in schools and that "all whom oppose them are to be treated as enemies".

"Debunking Dems"

As to all things, there are more sides than the one we tend to side with. Of course as goes with our political opinions. There are pros and cons to each party, but as a democrat it hard to decipher which is my own personal critiques and was is truly flawed. From the few sites I have visited, some have impressed me and some have just added to the disrespectful and hate-filled stereotype that right wing republicans have.

Tendencies of a republican: Conservative, Oppose Same-sex marriage, support death penalty, pro-life, taxes should not be increased, increased spending on military issues, and wages should reflect free market.

Pros for me: Out of all these tendencies I probably only relate minimally to the conservative part.
Cons for me: I disagree fairly strongly on all the points.
It's not that I am a democrat that can only see that one way, it's more like the morals I've grown up with that direct me towards the less selfish path. When I say selfish I do mean the republicans, but in my mind selfish is not always a bad thing. It's the way we as humans survive in this world; we look out for ourselves and therefore thrive. However, the strong presence of selfishness might allude to the idea that those on the far right wing are less evolved as the blues. Saying the republicans are less evolved than the democrats is also not a complete insult. The republicans have the capability to evolve just as we do, but they have found the system that works for them and cognitively choose not to risk the chance of trying a new system and having it severely flawed.

Years of Trouble

Some interesting statistics over the course of these last 23 months:

• 1 in 6 (17%) of Americans are unemployed
• 25 million unemployed
• recession wiped out 15% of manufacturing workforce
• 2 million of those jobs will never come back

These are hard stats to look at now that we are several years into this deep recession. This great recession has annihilated a decade's worth of job expansion. We just created less than half a million jobs. In the previous four decades the economy created 18 million jobs.

Now there might be reasoning that the job market was just slowing down, but that seems like a large jump from nearly 5 million jobs a decade to less than 1/2 jobs per decade.

Nation Really Adds 162,000 Jobs?

Recently, it seems that the nation will be able to breathe a little easier due to the 162,000 new jobs. But in reality, only 114,000 of these jobs are actually permanent. The 50,000 odd jobs that were not permanent were actually just census jobs where people worked for only twenty hours a week. That's barely minimum wage for the week. I don't mean to be cynical here but, in time like these we can't afford to give the illusion that we are more generous than we actually are. Too many lives are at stake.

U.S. Census jobs are very temporary, mostly part-time, and there are a lot of them. They obviously don't count for as much as a real, private-sector job, so you have to look at them separately," says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's. "On the other hand, I suspect people who are taking those jobs are probably getting paid 20 hours per week for a couple months."

Unemployment's Effects on the Nation

At this point in time, America is struggling with a record-breaking amount of job losses. These jobs losses are affecting multiple fractions of America. These effects include: higher percentage of homelessness, rising consumer product prices, fewer establishments, stagnant or even declining realty market and elimination of small, private businesses. There are definitely more affects than are listed here, but these are the ones that seem to be affecting our community and nation the most. Although the most daunting of these affected areas is the exorbitant amount of homelessness, which has never been higher in history, unemployment has affected each and every one of these areas in some way. The importance of this situation displays itself when it’s understood that when unemployment increases so rapidly, it could predispose our country to an early downfall.

Generally in a person’s life, the world seems to expand only to where they see and feel, depending on the situation. Of course the newspaper divulges more of what’s going on in the world outside of a person’s bubble, but it’s still hard to imagine how other people are living unless we can see it with our own eyes. And even after seeing how it affects their world, some are still impervious to how it might affect them personally. Currently in California the situation has worsened from the start of the year; in the middle of the 2009 the state was hovering around a 9.7% unemployment rate but once we entered January 2010, the unemployment rate e href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_14519962">scalated to 12.5%. After realizing just how serious the situation of unemployment is in California, it’s fair to say one might jump to the conclusion about soaring homelessness. Just in California 1.6 million people are living on the streets and shelters. At this point, living in shelter seems to be the silver lining of the matter, but the sad fact of this situation is that after 1.6 million people are homeless, there is just simply no more room to fit any more people in the shelters; and with the country’s deficit, there is no money to spend on building more shelters. It is a paradoxical situation in which we seem to be stuck.

Another strain that unemployment rates indirectly effect is that it puts a high demand of government specified facilities. “The more people we have on the streets, the more they are making demands of our emergency shelter system, emergency rooms, detox centers and jails”, says Mr. Marx, the executive director of Common Ground (nonprofit shelter organization). So not only are our shelters overbooked, now our government facilities that help people in even worse shape are now becoming full. However, this unemployment issue reaches farther than just California. In our nation, the job losses have reached over 8.4 million and are still continuing to expand. In California, we might think that our percentage of homeless people is high, but in New York the percentage of homelessness has just reached over 34%. Even more surprising about this fact is, “New York officials said the city still had a relatively small population of homeless people on the streets when compared with other large American cities. There is one homeless person for every 2,688 people in the general New York population, compared with 1 in 154 for Los Angeles, 1 in 1,810 for Chicago and 1 in 1,844 for Washington.”Obviously the larger cities seem to be affected by this deep recession more than any other type of county subsection. In our nation, now that the number of unemployed people has now surpassed 8.4 million and conditions have worsened drastically, we are now competing with the scars of the Great Depression. How could we as a nation, who went through an awesome event like the Great Depression, have not learned from our mistakes, and how could we even be going through a depression that matches the immensities of the last one? This is shocking and because of our current mistakes, we might fall as a country.

The housing market has also been greatly affected because of the recession, and naturally the amount of homeless people has risen. We seem to be at an impasse; to have over 20 million empty homes, completely uninhabited, and to have over 8 million people in need of homes, there seems like an easy solution to me. Apparently the government believes otherwise. On one hand, understanding why the government does not take advantage of this situation is not hard; they hope that by some miracle people will suddenly start buying these houses, which in turn will help us rise from this recession and once again become the most powerful country in the world. If not give the people these houses, which would not help us out of the recession, why not make these houses into shelters then, why not make these houses into shelters. Still, the government does not make use of these houses. Tending to the needs of the citizens of our country should preside over our reputation; and since the realty market is currently slow, we can afford to spare a few of these empty homes for the needy. In fact, many homeless people who were turned away from the already filled shelters began to squat in these empty homes.

As of right now, the government is grasping for any ground they have on this situation. For a while the unemployment rates were just shooting up too fast for the government to take any action and have it be immediately effective. Although, while jobs were still being cut, Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary states, “The U.S. unemployment rate may not peak until the second half of 2010, even as the broader economy shows signs of improvement” . Even, though Geithner forecasts this, his peers do not completely agree with his statement. Alan Greenspan makes a statement which eases the countries mind as he says, “collapse, I think, is now off the table…I’m pretty sure we’ve seen already seen the bottom". Some might say that Greenspan and Geithner are on the same page, it’s clear that although they agree on some levels, their views on the sustenance of the unemployment run are different. For our country’s sake let us hope that Greenspan has the truer vision of what’s to come.

Overall, 17% of our nation is unemployed and over 15% of the manufacturing business jobs have been wiped our, plus non-manufacturing jobs; each of these factors contribute the mess our country is in because of our phenomenal deficit. Over the past two years, America has been exterminating jobs at an alarming rate. At least 2 million of these jobs in the manufacturing business will never be able to be reinstated; therefore our nation is going to have to come up with new opportunities for jobs. However, our government did not completely fail us. In March of 2010, an additional 162,000 jobs were added to nonfarm payrolls. This was substantially different from the prior month of February when 14,000 jobs were lost. Although it may seem like the 162,000 is a great addition, only 114,000 were actually permanent jobs. “ ‘U.S. Census jobs are very temporary, mostly part-time, and there are a lot of them. They obviously don't count for as much as a real, private-sector job, so you have to look at them separately," says David Wyss, the chief economist at Standard & Poor's. "On the other hand, I suspect people who are taking those jobs are probably getting paid 20 hours per week for a couple months."’

Those 20,000 jobs working for the census were only temporary, so really the number of permanent jobs is less than the public might assume. But, really over the past year the nation has added quite a few jobs summative. A small number of jobs were added both in November of 2009 and in January of 2010.

The community service I aided with wasn’t governmentally financed or controlled. For the first year, the Mount Diable Unitarian Universalist Church of Walnut Creek hosted the Winter Nights Program. This program allows for homeless families to come and stay at churches for an eight month span. Winter Nights is a program shared throughout many different churches. Each church signs up for a two-week span and the guests move from haven to haven. Our stop was second to last in the eight-month durations, so by the time the guests got to our church we had hoped that most of them would be gone, able to get jobs/homes, but this year that was not true. We still had over half the adults and three-fifths the amount of children. It’s hard to talk to these people who have nothing, they carry boxes of their possessions, unable to add any unnecessary item to their box and only being able to live out of that box. They sleep in tents in our church, they can’t even have their own rooms. We do what can to help these people in need, but however much we do it always seems like its just not enough to satisfy. The guests probably feel a huge amount of gratification towards us, and are happy just to have a roof over their heads, but to those who are in better condition, their living conditions seem bare. The program is more extensive than just having people reside on our campus. In fact we prepare all the meals for them, with the exception of lunch (we give them the materials to make their own lunches). I was in charge of a dinner; I had to plan the entire meal, who prepared each piece and I had to make sure the meal came together and was consumable. I also was the milk and juice runner for the prior week. These jobs seem minute compared to the problems at hand, but the true experience was the actual interacting with the guests. The volunteers eat and talk with the guests. Since the guests are all parts of a family, most of them have children. I helped tutor and play with the younger ones. Actually, we had eight adults and twelve children, so the number of children was greater and the need for help was also greater. Talking to these people who are living in such bare conditions was very personal and greatly affected me. I can in no way say that I know how they feel, but after my experience with them, I know more how they feel than the average person. And by being able to associate more with these homeless people, I feel like I have more of a responsibility to help them survive through this. This has also expanded my view on just California’s unemployment issue. Being able to connect with homeless people and how they see it, gives more of a worldly view on the whole issue in itself.

Although the Winter Nights program is in no way associated with the government, the government still holds responsibility over many shelters and care centers. The government also is responsible for helping create new jobs for these 27 million people. There is in no way that we can easily recover from this disaster, emotionally and physically. Many people have been cast out on their own, in a way they might have felt as if their country was not supportive. Although there is no quick recovery, there is the long process of just creating more and more jobs, as the government has been doing. The true key to this matter will be time, of course many other factors are included in that such as spending more money (whether or not we feel we have it), taking larger risks and taking the jobs that are available.

This unemployment issue not only strikes a note within me for a national anger, its also very personal. A member of my family has been unable to get a job for almost a year now. Although, he/she has been applying for unemployment and receiving it, it’s emotionally hard to just have to stand by and watch. I can do all I can to hunt for jobs and find openings, but I too feel the struggle to find a job in this world, not for my own sake, but for a loved one’s.

Wrong Destination

On this site I found all these funny comments and events:

Wrong destination

Having a common name like "Smith" must cause some difficulties at times, especially when you also have a popular Christian name. In one street there were two Smith families where the husband was named "Bill". The Rev.Bill Smith had just passed away. The businessman Bill Smith, however, went on a business trip to India. His plane was diverted to a different airport. He sent a telegram to his wife, but it was delivered to the wrong Mrs. Smith. It read:

Arrived safely, but not where I thought I was going. Terribly hot here. All my love, Bill.

Homelessness Soaring this Year

Nationwide, families are suffering. In New York the number of homeless people on the streets has risen to 34%. An all time high for this state. Many people have no resorted to staying in subway stations, train stations, under the overpasses, on the streets; it seems like everywhere we walk there is a homeless person. Men, women, children; all of these people are affected. I don't think the public understands that it's not only the people we see asking for money by the freeways; so many more people are suffering, so many people in worse off conditions.

So many people are homeless now, the hospitals are filling up, the police stations are full, the shelters are full too

It just says that we have to keep up our efforts and intensify them,” Mr. Marx said. “The more people we have on the streets, the more they are making demands of our emergency shelter system, emergency rooms, detox centers and jails.”

With all these efforts being put forth, it seems like conditions should be lightening a little. Instead it just seems like conditions are growing worse and more and more people are homeless. Every time I get on the freeway in Walnut Creek, there is a person begging for money, its hard to drive by in my 2008 car with my designer sunglasses and music blaring, and not feel like I have so much and he/she has so little. I don't know what to do in cases like this, I give money sometimes, but I can't give money every time I stumble upon a homeless person. If I did I would be out there next to them pretty quickly.

Tea Party Activists Give Bad Name to Right Wing, But there are those Democrats who are also an Embarrassment

Now that the health care bill has passed, the Tea Party Activists are going crazy. We already know that in front of the health care bill signing, an activist was outside with a confederate flag. On this radio blog, the host definitely has some points where he makes sense about the absurdity of the activists, but on some levels, assuming he's a left wing, he is just embarrassing his party. He is saying that the tea party activists are going to kill everyone and their families. We all know that is a lie, there might be some violent acts, but I don't think it's correct to spread the slander about murder attempts. He also makes a connection between John McCain and the activists, saying they are in cohoots, saying that they are racists. How is any of this better than what Glen Beck on Fox News lies about. I am calling this radio host out, he is allowed to bash the right wing, but he should at least have accurate facts.

I don't think the left wing democrats are able to be taken seriously if they are unable to call out the slander that occurs on the "fringe" as we like to call it.

At one point he even states that we need to get rid of "these republicans..because they are, they are nothing but destruction". Maybe this man does not realize this, but if were to eliminate the right wing, which is impossible, the morals and values of the democrats would just morph and split into right wing and left wing all over again.

Realty Rates: Affordable?

This chart seems to explain that even though the nation's deficit is at an all-time high and that the unemployment rates are continually rising, buying a house is affordable. I find this confusing; I know that at this point some families are able to buy homes, but many families, most families, are struggling to make the bills and buy school supplies. This chart is saying that the best time to buy a house is definitely in the last year. I'm not sure I believe this, but I can definitely take this into consideration. My community service is helping people who have been evicted from their homes, it's hard to hear that now is the best time to buy a home when the people I am around don't have any home to go to, much less the money to buy one.

Health Care and It's Personal Effects

This past weekend an old mentor, and friend of mine passed away due to an unknown cause (as of now). She was struggling to find a job for the past two years; without a job she did not have any health insurance. At one point she became ill and went to the county hospital to look for help. Unfortunately, county was unable to help her, eventually she started to internally bleeding and county was forced by the hand of the law to operate on her. Six days after she came home from the hospital she passed away in her home.

The ordeal that I am tortured by is that went she went for help, she did not receive the care her body obviously needed. This was a day before the health care vote was taken and I immediately understood why the left wing people are so adamant about passing this bill. Now that the bill has passed, I can take a small token of relief because I cannot stand to let this healthy, strong woman just perish.

With the new health care bill, I hope that people will be able to walk into a hospital and receive the care they need when they feel need it.

The Latest Graphics Show No Improvement

It seems that many different stories of the bouncing, or decreasing, unemployment rates. These valid graphs seem to display the sad, yet true truths. It helps to see how much our unemployment rates have increased on a visual scale.

Jon Stewart Never Fails to Get His Man

Although everyone loves to see Jon Stewert eviscerate a conservative on air, I must admit, Mr. Kristol must either misunderstand Mr. Stewert's question or he just made a nation full of enemies.

Unemployment Collapse 2010

The unemployment issue should be coming up from the slums, but apparently some in this country believe that our country will quite literally continue to be devoured by unemployment. In California, we feel the effects, but when a model of the country is shown, it's tragic to watch which other states are in the same, or worse, condition as we are.

Megan McArdle: View on the Current Health Care Situation

As of now the health care issue and it resolve seems to be up in the air. Many people believe that Ms. Pelosi has the votes in the bag and that the bill will indeed pass. The controversy between the Democrats and the Republicans is still heated however. If the bill does pass, as many people it will, the Democrats will be satisfied but the Republicans will "go into the meltdown mode" (Megan McArdle).

Ms. McArdle's point is that she also does not know where the chips will fall in the health care matter and that if the bill is passed hell will break loose on the Republicans side of the Senate. She does however have an interesting take on what will happen if the bill does pass.

Assume this passes; what happens afterward? I don't think that many people believe that the answer is "Nothing: the bill becomes law, and we sing happy smurf songs all the way to the longest life expectancy in the Western world!" Even the bill's proponents expect it will need some follow-up work. But what will that follow-up work look like?

Although I, personally, hope the health care bill passes for personal reasons, Ms. McArdle does prove a valid point. What will happen in the long-term sense if the bill passes? Yes, it will immediately help those in need of health care, but the long-term effects seem to be ominously unknown.

Go to the Prom with the Opposite Gender or We Will Just Cancel It: Not Flying with Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan replies in quite the defensive matter when he is informed about the two girls in Mississippi who wanted to go to their prom in tuxedos. The school district decided that it would be easier to cancel the whole prom than to let two girls in tuxedos escort each other. I agree with Mr. Sullivan, I believe that since it seems that parts of California appear to be ashamed of diversity, we should shove diversity right back.

Why are they so afraid of how cute girls look in menswear?...We have a feeling, even though we are old, that some girls are bringing girls to homecoming/prom/fancy-wear day dances these days...Are you one of those girls/boys? Well let’s celebrate those photos everyone is so f*cking afraid of!

This nation needs to take the whole sexuality thing under its wing and not only protect the differences but also flaunt them. Since when do we shun difference, when did being unique become taboo?

Bad News for California

Recently the unemployment rates for the nation are remaining at around 9.7%, this is good news considering the last two years of progressive downfall. Unfortunately, for California, the rates are still sinking. As of January 2010 the unemployment rates rose to a startling 12.5 %; this sets a new unemployment record for the state of California. The jobs that were let go in these few short months were: profession and personal business industries. The unemployment rate in California in December of 2009 was 12.3 %; at the rate of this unemployment rise we will have more unemployed people than employed in just a couple years. Our country has to fix itself; how to do it is the question on everyone's lips.

Good news for California, like the light at the end of a very long road; there are jobs opening everyday.

Despite the increase in unemployment in January, the state added 32,500 jobs. The construction industry saw the largest increase with an additional 16,200 jobs.

Unemployment Holds Steady

First of all the negative parts are clearly affecting the U.S. and all the residents that are without jobs. The positive edge for March of 2010 is that unemployment seems to be holding steady. The current rate seems to be holding around 9.7% although not great for the country, at least it's no longer falling. The main losses in jobs around this time of year are in construction so the only dips around that area. Fortunately there were 2.7 million job openings on the last day of January 2010. This opening in jobs has been the highest since the previous February. It doesn't seem like much, but hopefully, these job openings will begin to help the stress of the unemployment rates a little. At this stage, any help and relief is needed.

A Mother's Take On Medicinal Marijuana

Out of Denver, Colorado a mother and a son run a medicinal marijuana business together. Prior to the business the son was first a serious marijuana smoker and then a dealer. His mother does not deny that she knew about her son's illegal dealings. In fact she states, "we tell each other everything, we are very close". It is pleasing to hear that a mother, a guardian is well aware of her son's illegal activities and at most giving him a stern look.

To this day they both have medicinal marijuana cards that allow them to smoke every single day, in fact sometimes they get high together. Apparently, the new family activity is to be under the influence of drugs together.

There are some new parenting techniques that are a little unconventional, but the allowance of the use of drugs seems like its pushing the line a bit. In fact it was stated that "he feels good about coming out of the closet, the illegal drug closet. I feel like we've set a good model".

Well, under no circumstances I do not think selling drugs illegally and then selling drugs legally, while all the time high, is setting a good example.

Interesting bit.

Psychological Disorders are a Part of Health Care Too

As this country is well aware of, we are suffering from a major crisis: the cost of health care. Many people have been struggling with just being able to pay for health care, many have no coverage at all. Just because the cost of coverage is high does not mean that less illnesses, disorders and accidents don't happen everyday. Because of this problem, most lower class families are unable to see a physician.
Carlos, a second grade boy living in Los Angeles, suffers from ADHD and anxiety. Both of these are treatable problems, yet their family is unable to get Carlos the care he needs because the free clinic they were previously attending cut there psychiatric funding.
Many people without health care only visit the doctor's office when they have a major emergency and they have a small sum of money they can use. Most of these families still owe money after these visits. Unfortunately, Carlos would need to visit the doctor's office more than once and their family is just unable to scrape up that sum of money.
Fortunately, Carlos will get the medications he needs.

Carlos’ therapist says taxpayers will pay the price for Carlos either now while he's is in treatment or later on if he doesn't get help.

The Enlightening Excuse from Sarah Palin

Sometimes the things that Sarah Palin has to say just really make my day.

Obama Keeping the Peace

The health care issue for President Obama must be an incredibly stressful experience. Not only is he trying to satisfy both political parties, neither party seems willing to make any exceptions. Instead of understanding that the President is trying to lessen the problem of health care by lowering premiums and blocking insurance rip offs, it seems as though America wishes for the health care issue to add more problems to our already suffering country. President Obama even obliged to give the Republicans 4 of their own initiatives. It seems as though the conservative party was ungrateful towards the Presidents gesture as they seem to want it their way or the high way. Of course the more liberal party is not the easiest to deal with either. They seem to be able to be a little more loose with their demands, but the attitude towards the Republican's ideas is unsettled. Hopefully at the conference the two sides will be able to come to some sort of conclusion and the probability of reconciliation is likely.

A New Take On Helping Deal with Health Care

Barbara Kiviat recently wrote a blog post about the cost of health care and and what she thinks could help us deal with the debate. She has the idea that if everything, (x-ray scans, doctor visits, MRI scans, etc.) had a price tag on it then the public can know how much everything is costing and if there is a cheaper way to deal with the problem.

My colleague Kate Pickert tells me that some 30% of health-care costs are attributable to waste. I am happy to know I am now doing my part to cut down on that.

If the public were able to price everything on the spot and decide whether or not their issue is worth it, the cost of health care could possibly be helped, at least for every individual. This idea formed when Ms. Kiviat had a change in her health insurance, prior to the change she paid a flat fee every time for any type of visit; with her new plan, she now pays 10% of whatever the treatment costs. Although she now pays more for her visits, she decides what is truly an urgent matter, and what can simply be fixed with a little ice and rest.

Of course, this is a controversial view, on one hand this can be useful and certainly money-wise; but what about the people who have serious issues, such as internal bleeding, and make the decision to forgo the X-ray because of the cost but in reality need medical assistance? It seems to me that either decision is going to be easily debatable and hopefully President Obama will help to alleviate the health care stress.

It Seems More Daunting Now that the Facts Seem More Solid

As of the late, I have been blogging about the rough economy and its consequences of a tough housing market, rising food prices and of course the effect on the populace of the nation. At first in my last community service post, it seemed like the housing market would dip a little more over the next year but rise again in the following years to come. Now the new predictions are predisposing the nation to continue falling through 2011. Though California is not doing well to say in the least, Florida is having an even rougher time.

The worst performing market will be Miami, Fla. Moody's projects prices there to drop a heart-stopping 29.2% by Sept. 30. That follows a 47.7% decline the metro area recorded in the past three years. Grand total: 64% drop.

This is a terrible devastation for the nation to hear, not only will we not be rising out of this economic disaster relatively quickly but the nation as a whole is predicted to fall even more after the three year span where the home rates fell over 27%. It seems like this ordeal is endless and impossible to overcome. There are people out on the streets now, but will a time come where more people are homeless than there are living in homes?

An Interesting View

Sometimes it feels like this is the way people really feel. It's exhausting and seemingly impossible to try to keep everyone happy. At some point we are stepping on someone's toes.

Some are Forced to Lose Hope

Once one's house is bank owned, life is looking tough and nearing uncontrollable. We count on our country to provide us with a little help when we seem to be trapped. The people of America are counting on the government to take care of them when times get tough (how much tougher will they get?). Once the home is lost after the income stops, people are forced out onto the streets. Once on the streets many start to beg near freeways, sleep under overhangs in the dead of winter and many take refuge in shelters. Those shelters seem to be the silver lining in the grim situation. But after 1.6 million are homeless, the shelters are running out of room. In fact, they are now having to turn away people. What do you do when the proposed safe place will not take you in? Nothing makes me feel like this situation is tainted by prejudice except when Latinos are singled out in an article about turning away the homeless.

especially for families, women, children, Latinos and men seeking help for the first time. Some have to be turned away.

An idea that could possibly help this dark situation might be to use some of the empty homes, (not all of course, some might sell), and make more shelters. A problem that people my rebut this proposition with might be the funding. But it seems possible to scrounge up money to help the people of America have a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs if we can continue to pay people such as professional athletes, actors, CEOs, and bank workers who mysteriously seem to get extravagant bonuses.

Worst of Unemployment Yet to Come- Geithner Says

Apparently, after all these job losses (over 8 million) and Geithner says that the unemployment rate will still rise and more will suffer. An action currently being adjusted to help the unemployed is an extension in unemployment benefits. However, some still hold out on these unemployment benefits and some are toeing the line, "[unemployment benefits] is something that the administration and Congress are going to look at very carefully at as we get closer to the end of this year". (Geithner) At least the public can take a little comfort in knowing that the government is pondering this problem. While Geithner says that the highest unemployment rates are yet to come, at least, "collapse, I think, is now off the table". I personally take no comfort in what he saying, at least not until I get hard proof that our empire is not falling. I also have a personal interest with the unemployment issue, and although the benefits are being reviewed, I have yet to see the benefit part of the "benefit". It's understood that the government pays for people to live for a year (possibly two in the upcoming years) with a small sum of money to allow the unemployed citizen to job hunt. I have no problem with this, the problem I see is the hiring rates are lower than ever, and all a person has is one year to find a job in this dried up economy.

However, not to worry, some of us, at least the movie stars, are still living like queens. Recently Eva Longoria Parker recently just bought a dress for just over 3,000 dollars. At least while the rest of us are suffering these hard times, we can look at Eva in her paid-for beauty and have something to hope for.

Most Jobs Lost Since World War II

This is not surprising over the last months; America is in a deep recession. One that is competing with the scars of the Great Depression. The consequences of this recession are just as harsh as they were the last time we had this large of a deficit. Over 8.4 million jobs have been lost, over 20 million homes remain empty and there are more people out on the streets than ever before. Right now, most people, especially middle class, are being frugal with their money, but since the last time we were in a recession the key was to spend spend spend, why will that not work now? Are we too far in over our heads, is there any way our country will fully recover from this devastating blow? One of my greatest questions is asking, "What is the government doing about this?", but my second question, equal in importance, is "What can the people of America do about this?". Is it possible that we can take on the role of the leader and start to save our country group by group? If we feel like the government is not doing enough, nevertheless how much they are actually doing, can we, the people, take control of our country and fix our own mistakes? Ads are always asking about what you can do to save the planet and how we can help to save energy, help haiti etc. But what if we had more ads that pushed saving our economy, and by extension, saving lives?

Destroying our Planet Piece by Piece

The myth about the trash pile the size of Texas floating in the middle of the ocean is no longer just a myth. It is fact. And this is a fact that should become common knowledge; knowledge which should be understood and acted on. When I first imagined this trash pile, I literally thought a clump of trash was somehow bound together and just made up it's own little county, or something of those sorts. In reality, the "Trash Island" is actually less of a land mass and more of a soup. Instead of the clear, light water we are all used to, the water in the area of the "Trash Island" is actually denser, murkier, and contains bits of plastic in every gallon. From an airplane view, the water must just look a little darker, but when right up close, perhaps on a boat, the water is a whole different texture. Some might even describe it as stickier. What a thought that is; we are so lucky to live so close to fresh ocean water, imagine what it might be like to live one day near an untouchable, ocean. Not only are we sacrificing our planet's land, we are now also sacrificing our oceans. Our beautiful, natural oceans are becoming unclean and that thought terrifies me. Where will we go once we have piled up our trash on every square inch of the planet?

There are Enough Empty Houses in the U.S. to House at Least All the Homeless

In "USA Today", there was an article depicting the severity of the recession in the United States economy. In this article it was announced that over 18 million houses are bank owned and 9.4 million are still trying to be sold. That is over 27 million homes that remain empty throughout the Unites States.
Another problem the United States currently houses is the number of homeless people; many have been cast out buried in debts, others have not been able to make the payments they previously could before. In all of this destruction, the economy has not only taken jobs, its also consequently taken homes. Just one year ago, right in the middle of the recession there was an average of 672,000 people homeless every night. That is 22 in every 10,000. It may not seem like an extravagant number, but in this last year times have worsened and more people have been forced out of their homes.
Since more people are losing their homes than there are buying homes, it would be the country's duty to act, to if not fix, at least alleviate the problem. One way I see fit to handle this issue is to use some of these bank-owned homes to house the homeless people. We have more than one house for every homeless person so why not put these people in homes?
America needs to solve the problems of the economy, homelessness, food shortages and more; but America should tackle one problem at a time so as not to divert our energy. If we could just make a way in order to get people off the streets and into houses, we could potentially move on to the many other problems.

Bay Area- More Affected than You Might Think

All those pictures of hungry, third-world country children and food drives we have contributed to are no longer just pictures and cans sent to other countries. Many people in California, the Bay Area are losing their jobs and becoming homeless every minute. The economy is not only affecting those third-world countries in need because right now, we are becoming a county in desperate need of help.

When I was younger and would bring in cans and top ramen packages to donate to the needy I never suspected that one day the needy would be down the street. The failing economy has affected many people I know and love; the father of a friend, a fellow church goer, even a family member. Right now all they have lost are their jobs, but in a few months will food become a problem too?

It is especially hard to drive though Walnut Creek, an affluent area rich in many ways, and see homeless people, on my left, begging for money; and on my right a stream of Lexus's, Cadillac's and other gas-guzzling luxury cars rumbling past me. Its a hard picture to witness, that my friends and family are struggling while some people are still toting the latest in-style.

Homosexuality in Uganda

A new law in Uganda has banned homosexuality from its borders. In fact if one is found to have had same-sex relations they are not only thrown in jail, but sentenced to death. How can people in this nation be supportive of a minority governed by different laws? On the other hand, maybe people in this state wouldn't even care given that they voted down marriage equality. It's hard to imagine how America could possibly help in this situation; an even scarier thought is that the new laws in Uganda might be a prophesy of what's to come in America. It's already bad enough that people find relationships that have nothing to do with them important, what happens if some go as far to make laws against being gay and then even to the death penalty. It's an interesting thought to imagine the death row in a high security prison lined up with murderers, rapists, serial killers and then your overflow of gay people. Those homosexuals, dangerous in all their capacity they are. What is Uganda thinking, it has larger issues then homosexuality to deal with, such as famine, disease and probably a failing economy. As I elaborate more on Uganda, it is beginning to sound more and more like California.

Counciman Bob Kellar- "The Proud Racist"

Bob Kellar, a former two-time mayor of Santa Clarita, states at an anti-immigration rally that, "the US has room for only one flag and one language".

To start off, what kind of arrogant patriot of America now led by an African American, makes that kind of snide comment. I know it might have been in the heat of the moment, but there is just no excuse for that kind of hatred. In fact, if he wants this country to be all American, there would be no one left. Everyone came to America at some point in time. As for the part about one language; that was just unintelligent to say. In this educated world, knowing and speaking more than one language is qualified as an aid to this world. It is this kind of comment that gives America a bad name; this just fortifies the stereotypical country that wants nothing to do with the outside world. How can a person so cavalierly say such a thing when so many of us, so many of us in high powered positions, matter in this country.

Today I was thinking about America's past reputation involving slavery and the hatred that accompanied it, and how far we had come to even express our equality to elect an African American president. It's thoughts like these that make many patriots proud; America can play nice. It's one of those thoughts that makes the US seem a little more respectable; and it is those thoughts of hatred and prejudice that drag us back to our ugly, tainted views.

The Shock from Haiti Keeps Devastating

As of right now, the terror and destruction in Haiti seems to keep creating more and more distress. Now it is becoming clear to family members that the chances of finding their loved ones is becoming smaller. It's now been 15 days since the natural disaster and the likelihood of people surviving under the remains of buildings without food or water is slim to none. I know that our country has been helping send food, water, resources and more over to Haiti to assist them in all of their problems; but to me, it seems like we are not doing enough. I know that at our schools we fundraise and send money, online there are adds to send money, more and more schemes to send money are popping up. And as helpful as money is, it's going to take a lot more to help this country overcome this disaster. I feel as if addition to sending money we should help in different ways, and by this I mean send more people. America may not be thriving right now, but where we are is a lot better then where the people in Haiti are. I don't know how we can send more support, possibly use paid vacation time to assist over there, or get paid leave to keep helping. I know that our country is in a great deficit but I can't help but think that, somehow if we manage to help a struggling country restore itself, then possibly we too, as a country, might come through.

But on the brighter side of things, the people of Haiti have not given up hope. They continue to search for people in the rubble. One man, Hector Mendez persists with hope as his power, and possibly this power of hope, love and strength will be able to emotionally heal this country. In fact, he travels from natural disaster to natural disaster instilling hope and help. We need more people with this attitude; the attitude that we will not give up and we will make things right. Something tells me America, as powerful as it is, has a lot more to give than its currently giving.

Is a Crime Still a Crime When it Seems Morally Correct?

In September 2008, Li Shiming was stabbed through the heart by a 19 year-old Chinese boy, Zhang Xuping. Generally, this case would be classified as morally and legally wrong; but many people have come forward to say that Li was a terrible communist official. On many accounts he was said to have taken land by force. Some 20,000 people came forward to defend the assassination of the greedy official.

My question is simple. Should this boy be pardoned for excecuting an overenforcer? One man came forward and even said "I wanted to kill Li myself, but I was too weak." In fact Zhang was hired by another farmer whos land was stolen from by Li. It is clear that this official was hated and deserved some time of punishment for his actions. But my moral compass just can't let go that Li had to die. Perhaps another method of punishment could have been taken. Yet, I also don't think that Zhang should suffer the death penalty. We will have two murders on our hands instead of just the one.

Drunk With Power! Oxymoron and Bad Influence Rolled into One!

Windows is now soliciting a new kind of "Cool". By buying this program, you can participate in the world by getting "Drunk with Power!"

Two problems, when your drunk, isn't the first thing to fly out the window your Power? Seems a little like an oxymoron to me.

And, this is on the internet. This is basically soliciting alcohol to young, impressionable, underage, minds who are looking for any excuse to down some booze.

Community Service for the Homeless

For a community service project I am interested in, I chose to help the homeless. For two weeks, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Mount Diablo will be hosting a refuge for the homeless to stay. At this event there will be food, water, shelter and friendship offered and I am prepared to assist with all four. It is a non-profitable event in all ways and will do more good than harm. However, I am still waiting to hear back for the go-ahead from the supervisor. Chances are that I will be able to help in one way or another.

The 2010 Deficit is Still Astronomical, Estimating 1.5 Trillion Debt

So for the new year, instead of new jobs and a better outlook on life, the rate of unemployment is still expected to rise from 9.5% to 10% (Bernanke) even though it's said the U.S. is coming out of the longest recession in 50 years (Geithner). Unfortunately for those unemployed Americans, it just means more long months with little to no income.

So the big question is: How do we get out of this hole? And by that 'we' I mean the United States as a whole; not just the middle class. Because as of now, the main victims of this recession are the middle class. The low income population is voided from most taxes, as is living on a low income in America is near impossible. The wealthy population donates little of their income to the matter; even though they make the most money, they use it to buy middle-life crisis cars instead of putting their 'hard-earned' money to a real benefit for the country. Well all I can say to these wealthy folks, good luck in the future when the American Empire has fallen and we all have to move to a foreign country where we are scoffed at for being such 'materialistic, unpatriotic Americans'. Because that's really what it is, not giving aid to your country when it most needs your help, and you have the cash to flash, is unpatriotic.

But what if the American country came up with a new part to the system. What if we installed a flat tax to those who are financially stable. Perhaps, a 7% income tax for all the middle to upper classes. I mean, 7% of a seventy-thousand dollar income is smaller than 7% of a one-million dollar income; the numbers might not be the same, but the proportion is. And if I remember correctly in the Declaration of Independence it states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". Well if the middle and upper class each take a 7% hit, that sounds equal to me.

Relating the idea of a flat tax to the current United States problem is simple. If we simply installed the low tax rate to anyone with a stable income, America could rise out of this recession like smoke rises in the sky.

In any case, if I haven't given you enough facts to make you think then let's relate it more close to home. In my house close to 50% of the income never makes it to the house because of the taxes. Now if both upper classes were charged a 50% rate there wouldn't be a problem, but it's not so. The middle class pays more when they have less, and the upper class pays less when they have more.

An Attack is an Attack, Isn't It?

On Christmas Day a terrorist bent on blowing up yet again another plane snuck on to a U.S. bound plane. The controversial topic in this article is whether or not this terrorist attack was of that similar to the memorable attacks of 9/11. I find this only semi-relevant to the situation at hand. It's understandable that for future safety measures it's important to compare and contrast terrorist attacks; but in this can, the concern I hold first and foremost would be for the present time. In the time after the 9/11 attacks many civilians were terrified that a terrorist could somehow get onto a plane an commit another horrible attack. In response to declining flights (declining income) and the general pride and safety of America, airports became some of the most secure and safe places in the U.S. Everyone that boarded a plane was searched thoroughly. And after a few years, the people of America began to feel safe once again. Until now the thought of a terrorist even being able to board a plane seemed impossible. So it now not only surprises me but also scares me to know that any terrorist is boarding a plane.

Cartooning Has Turned out to be a Dangerous Job

On Friday the first of the New Year, a Danish cartoonist was forced to conceal himself and his granddaughter into a panic room because of a threatening terrorist outside his home. The Danish political cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, is known for his political depictions about the Prophet Muhammad. The attacker was a member of the terrorist group al-Shabaab also a known al Qaeda ally; the spokesman of al-Shabaab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, tells the news conference:

We are very happy with the Somali national who attacked the house of the Danish cartoonist who previously insulted our prophet Mohammed. This is an honor for the Somali people. We are telling that we are glad that anyone who insults Islam should be attacked wherever they are.

And because of that, I question where the right to freedom of speech comes in.

The ironically interesting part that stands out from this event is that this was a Danish cartoonist al-Shabaab attacked. Cartoonists don't have the strongest influence in the world, so his cartoons involving the Prophet Muhammad have little effect. But the strength of the response to these cartoons was at a lethal level. Here is when the irony sets in, the controversial cartoons have much more publicity now, when an attack on the Cartoonist has happened. If the al-Shabaab would have swallowed their pride and turned their heads, these cartoons would never have been publicized and the value the cartoons carried would have remained small.