What is causing our recession?

A lot of things have led up to our current recession. A huge impact has been our ongoing war for the last 8 years in Iraq. We are borrowing money every day to fund our ongoing war. Each day we are getting more and more into debt. The American dollar has also hit an all time low. States have had to draw back on state and federal services because of the crunch and this results in more poverty, homelessness, and more people being without adequate medical care. Where I live in California we are spending over $3 at the pump. Buying gas on my student budget has become more and more difficult. I wonder about people that are having a worse time. How can they even afford gas to go to work. This is not a healthy economy! It is darkely amusing that Republicans blame Democrats for increased taxes and debt but it has been both Bush's who have done us the worst harm.

I just sent off a letter to the L.A. Times through Moveon.org. It is a great site if you are not subscribed to it. It makes being politically active much more easy.

This is the letter I'm sending:

We don't need to find people in need across the world. The poor, the disenfranchised, the sick, and starvation are here in the US! Do you think anyone will come running to our aid after the foreign policy that we have created in the world? Other countries will enjoy seeing us weakened and no longer considered the most powerful country in the world. I know it is hard to admit we were wrong but how much will our pride cost?

We need to leave Iraq now before it’s too late. Take care of the people at home.

Passion versus Experience

In Obama speeches we hear about the country we wish we lived in. We want to have the passion and pride in this country as he does. We want to unite what has divided us and see opportunity where none has been seen before. I believe Obama has the vision and passion to awaken the American people from their numb sleep filled with American Idol, and whatever distraction holds our attention for a moment. Agree on many of his policies but even more importantly I believe him when he speaks I think that is the first time I can say that in relation to a politician What he speaks is full of his conviction and his truth. During the Democratic debate tonight in California, the camps for both Obama and Clinton were about equal according to reporters. They were speculating which candidate the supporters of John Edwards would support. I had been up to very recently, focused on Edwards' campaign. I did because it felt like more than a campaign of one person. We were equal in our power to create change. I feel the people that supported Edwards could become great supporters of Obama but Edwards's mission might not end with his campaign as his cause has become thousands of peoples' cause. I am more excited about this coming voting day as I have ever really been except when I thought perhaps we had a chance of yanking Bush out of the White House.

Torn on Upcoming Vote to Amend Gaming Compact

How I wish this was a neat black and white issue but as usual both sides have their points.

A YES vote on this measure means:
The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians--a tribe that owns a casino in Riverside County with about 2,000 slot machines--could operate up to 7,500 slot machines. The tribe would make increased payments to the state annually through 2030.


Translation: This would highly benefit the four wealthiest tribes but would could be financially devasting to other tribes. With gaming, tribes had finally raised up from living in very poor conditions. If this goes through than these tribes could face those horrors again. On the other side, this would bring revenue to the state which desperately needs it after the recent California fires which has resulted in a 10% budget cut across all services in the state. Many services are being cut due to this and some Medi-cal services could be cut completely leaving thousands of people without care.

Either way I feel we will loose something.


For more information which I got from www.smartvoter.org

Contact FOR Proposition 94:
Coalition to Protect California's Budget and Economy
(800) 827-1267
info@YESforCalifornia.com
http://www.YESforCalifornia.com

Contact AGAINST Proposition 94:
Californians Against Unfair Deals--No on 94, 95, 96, 97, A coalition of tribes, educators, taxpayers, public safety officials, labor, seniors, environmentalists.
(310) 996-2676
http://www.NoUnfairDeals.com

Sign this Petition

Congress is making a decision as early as this week about a short-term economic stimulus plan. But Bush is pushing a plan that gives even more tax breaks to the wealthy--and leaves middle-class and poor families out in the cold.

I signed a petition urging Congress to pass an economic stimulus plan that gets money into the hands of those who need it most, and that includes public investments to move us toward a 21st century, clean energy economy. Can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/fairstimulus/?r_by=11947-5815024-3SV.WS&rc=comment_paste

Thanks!

Dream achieved?

Clinton's interview with Major Garrett brought some racial issues to the table. There has been some sparring back and forth between Clinton and Obama regarding this issue. In the interview Clinton stated that she believes that Mr. King's dream has been achieved.

In retrospect we can review our history and see how far we have come but it is dangerous and detrimental to our further actions to abolish racial hate to think that we can smack our hands together and say we've done a good job and move on. There is still so much that is unconscious on many levels. It is sublimated and in someways that is more dangerous because it doesn't give us a platform in which to speak about the issue.

It is an ugly thing to admit that racism still permeates almost all areas of our life. Discrimination for jobs, protions, politics, renting, etc. I have a friend that is in a biracial relationship and she continues to feel that she has to constantly defend her relationship to the rest of the world. Does this sound like we are living in a world where race is not longer an issue?

Get on the soapbox with me, what do you think?

Truth from the lips of politicians?

Here are some videos of the candidates for presidency laying out how they truly think. I'm going to view each video and comment soon. The comment section under the video are really worth checking out too.


http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/?id=183-21993-ZKx32A&t=3

I'll huff and puff, and blow the forest down

Kleenex and how it’s destroying virgin forests:

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one box of 85 sheet virgin fiber facial tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

* 87,700 trees
* 226,500 cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 330 full garbage trucks
* 31 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 240 families of four
* and avoid 5,300 pounds of pollution!

Unfortunately my husband's nose might be responsible for half of the deforestation happening in the world then. Tissues made from recycled paper can sometimes be difficult to find. Your local Trader Joes or Whole Foods should have it. I would recommend Trader Joes who also carries paper towels and tissue paper from recycled paper.
Seventh Generation is a great company which also provides paper towels and toilet paper made from recycled paper.

Cleaning made greener and more fun?

Method – "Sells cleaning products, soaps, and fragrances that are biodegradable, comes in yummy flavors like grapefruit, cucumber, and lavender. All recycled and recyclable packaging, and not tested on animals. "

I initially thought about getting method because I have cats and I wanted something safe to spray that wouldn't be toxic to them. I ordered online some products until I realized that Target now sells them. They smell great, are in really interesting packaging, and actually good on your sink. The prices are really reasonable which is one of the major reasons it seems that people hesitate to make changes in their products. Some people rave about the mop but I don't like it. It falls apart too easily. I had it after a couple of months and it broke. Instead of going back to the evil Swifter I bought a mop from Real Simple brand. I use the method ginger-lemon floor cleaner and just rewash the mop sponge that detaches.

http://www.methodhome.com/

Here's a reason to like Coffee Bean a latte more than Starbucks

Since May 07 Coffee Bean is part of Green Restaurant association. They recycle pretty much everything at the store. All lights have been changed to high efficiency bulbs. Napkins, paper towels, are all post consumer recycled. They have low water pressure valves and reusable mugs available.

Check more out about Green restaurant association at www.dinegreen.com. GRA is a nonprofit organization which helps to reduce restaurants impact on the environment by instituting environmental and cost effective changes.

Here are some of their main focuses:

1. Use a comprehensive recycling system for all products that are accepted by local recycling companies.
2. Free of polystyrene foam ("Styrofoam") products.
3. Commit to completing four Environmental Steps per year of membership. (refer to Environmental Guidelines)
4. Complete at least one Environmental Step after joining the GRA.

Small Steps to Change

People seem to view the world's problems in a few ways. One option is to become so enraged and overwhelmed from the horrors of the world that as one of my teachers says, you end up on the couch watching survivor drinking a beer. Another option is to become avoidant and embittered to prevent from becoming entrenched in the horrors of the world. This also results in sitting with a beer watching survivor but with no emotional pains before. It is quite easy to just feel like shutting down when we try to ingest all the world's problems. The Secret is not so enlightening:


Change has to come in very small steps and is much stronger when it has the strength of a community behind it. We don't need to wait for a charismatic leader to step forward. Change can't hinge on the actions of one man.

Here I am dedicating this blog to outlining small steps to change.