MInd Your Own Beeswax!

I love political cartoons and I love them for a reason. We need to stop taking everything so seriously and figure out what really needs to be focused on in the nation. In my opinion, the government needs to stay out of our business. Stances on abortion should not determine whether or not a politician is a viable canidate. In my honest opinion, politics should be about just how laws and the government works. It should definetly not be about peoples personal lives (key word being personal). Especially not about abortion.

Abortion is a woman's choice and nobody should have any influence over that decision. Government is not around to judge people or make people feel bad about things they choose or how they live their lives, but yet it seems thats what some politicians are going for. Doesn't the first amendment protect the right to the "pursuit of happiness"? Or are we just completely ignoring the parts of the document this nation was founded on?

Eliminate Hate

Yesterday, I was able to attend a conference where our Congressman Mike Honda as well as three other speakers talked with the audience. This event is rare because the targeted audience was teenagers and young people who were interested in combating intolerence in their school and community.
The first speaker was a women who was a leader of a womens empowerment organization. She helped young girls get through the everyday challanges of society. Something very interesting that she read to us that i believe every person should be familiar with is the "Girl's Bill of Rights." This document was not as demanding as it may seem. It just plainly showed that girls everywhere want what society automatically grants men.
The second speaker was a worker at the local LGBTQ center, called the Billy DeFrank center. She talked about things like the free counseling services they provided for anyone who needed to talk for any reason. That really struck me as amazing ad like something more organizations need to be doing for young teens. Especially teens of minorities.
The third speaker was a representative from a local Islamic organization. She talked about how just because she wears a head scarf, she gets judged before peole even truly know what it means. She also said that it is okay to be curious about things you don't fully understand but it is not okay to judge.
Finally Congressman Mike Honda came up to speak and he was very inspiring. The thing that surprised me the most is how for gay rights he was. In my experience in high school if you take a strong stance in gay rights, you are automaticaly presumed gay. But he didn't care about that. he knew what felt right to him and he wasnt afraid to talk about those problems.

Overall, all these people were very inspiring and I feel that as a community we need to have more events like this where teens are able to get together and learn as well as get involved. And anyone who is quick to make judgements about someone, get to know that person first. :)

Save the Tigers!

I find it sad that in this day and age we still want fur so much that we would risk completely wiping all the tiger species off the face of the earth. Illegal poaching is a huge problem threatening the lives of all tigers. Unfortunately, because of the illegal poaching and people encroaching on the tigers land, there are now only an estimated 3,200 tigers left in the wild according to the World Wildlife Fund.

In fact, the Wild tiger population has decreased by about 95% over the past 100 years and because of all the development in Asia, tigers now only have 40% of the land they once had to roam free on. Most of them now live in captivity, which although does some good to help rebuild the population size, that is no way for a tiger to live.

So to all you animal lovers out there like me, this is an issue that needs to be brought to the attention of politicians everywhere. There needs to be harsher restrictions and punishments for those who poach illegally. If we want this majestic, beautiful animal around for much longer, we need to take action now. One of the big steps regular people can take is adopting a tiger or donate to a great organization like the WWF.

Here is the link to the WWF website if you are interested in helping: http://www.worldwildlife.org

Who Cares?

Okay, so this week I am going to talk about the controversial topic of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

This law basically allows the military to kick out any people in the military that is found out to be gay, bisexual, or lesbian.

So just to be clear, gay people are allowed into the military only if they are silent and don't reveal there sexuality to anyone. If they do, they are immediately discharged.

This law plainly makes no sense to me.

A soldier is an honorable person who risks his/her own life in order to protect our way of life back home in America. Why is it that as soon as a person admits the gender they love, something as simple as that, they are no longer respected enough to be a soldier and protect America?

To me, that just says, "you are not worthy to fight for your country," As if being gay effects your fighting ability.

It doesn't make any sense to discharge thousands of people just the military has a bias. They are discharging valuable soldiers because of who they love. In my opinion, WHO CARES? Instead of forcing silence upon gay soldiers, the military needs to allow them to be out and confident and not constantly on eggshells that something they say will get them fired.

As the cartoon shows above, they fought just as hard and honorably, but because of one small thing they are now not respected as much. This truly just points out the stupidity of this law.

Harvey Milk

Okay, so one of my biggest inspirations and possibly my favorite person that has ever existed is none other than Harvey Milk.

For those who don't know of him, he was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. He was elected during the late 70's. Unfortunately, Harvey Milk's time in office was cut short when on November 27, 1978 Dan White assassinated Milk and the mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone. His most famous and greatest accomplishment was his formation of Castro Street as a highly accepting place where gays were accepted. To this day, San Fransisco is known as a very accepting place.

^^^ In the picture above, Harvey Milk is in front of his store, Castro Camera, on Castro Street. This is a great depiction of him because when people describe him, they say he was always smiling and just a happy person.

Milk is the man who inspired people to take a stand against unfair treatment and today America continues the fight for equal human rights. Hopefully, next time you think of Prop 8 or any other gay rights problems, you realize that Harvey Milk is truly a hero and that if it wasn't for him, gay people could not possibly live as freely as they do now.

A Win for Canada

I was browsing a blog I check frequently and noticed this headline: Cannabis Electric Cars.

In all seriousness, who wouldn't get intrigued by that headline?

Upon further reading, I discovered that in fact in Canada they have come up with a car that runs solely on marijuana. Although just in its prototype stages, the Kestrel is set to run on a "biocomposite partly derived from local hemp."

This sounds cool to a so-called hippie like me, but there are downfalls:

• Since Marijuana is illegal in the United States, it will obviously not be possible to have cars that run on this substance legally here either.
• The cars are as of now, only in Canada.
• They are only expected to go about 60 mph maximum.

Unfortunately, if these marijuana restricting laws in the U.S. were not around, this car could be helpful. It is no secret that America's Auto Industry is in crisis mode and this car would certainly help. Not to mention this car is very eco-friendly.

All in all, it seems like America is missing out on a good thing.

Oh, and if you want to check out a prototype of this car, here is a link:

http://www.foxnews.com/static/managed/img/Leisure/2009/switch_397x224.jpg

Resources used:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/08/24/canada-driving-electric-cars-in-new-direction-cannabis/

http://environment.change.org/blog/view/cannabis_electric_cars_canada_1_us_0

Call Me a Hippie...

Dictionary.com states that a hippie is:

a person, esp. of the late 1960s, who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness, often expressed externally in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and of beads, headbands, used garments, etc.

Well, that doesn't sound like me... but yet why do I get called a hippie all the time?

Urbandictionary.com says hippies are:

"One who believes in values such as peace, love, and happiness. However, the rest of the world can not seem to grasp these concepts and choose war, hate, and misery. Thus, they despise the ways of the hippies."

That does sound more like me and also explains why I get called a hippie in the first place. Ordinary people don't understand why people (like me) choose to live these peaceful lives when it just seems SO much easier to live hateful lives. So they choose to call me a hippie. Well I don't see what is so abnormal about the way I aspire to live my life.

Just because I don't eat meat, support gay marriage, want our troops home, and insist the products I use aren't tested on animals doesn't mean I am abnormal. It just means I believe in taking a stand, and if that's what being a hippie is all about...

then call me a hippie. :)