Suicide and Children

Its always a tragedy when someone dies but when someone takes their own life it effects so many people. In this article it follows a woman who's mother killed herself and her journey of discovery and recovery. This woman being a psychologist herself she self examines herself to discover how to help children through a parents suicide. You can't really tell a child how to deal with a suicide because there is really no good way to deal with it, its that lack of communication between an adult and a child that leads to a child's depression. Children automatically feel like they are to be blamed when a parent commits suicide. Its a very sad but interesting article.

Katrina Children Still Suffering

Its kinda weird how I totally forgot about Katrina, just because it effected so many people one of those people being a really good friend of mine. Obviously my friend is safe in California now but so many are still there especially the ones bellow the poverty line. In this article it just gives the statistics of how the children who went through Katrina are still in need of help. Obama was scheduled to visit for only one day and took a bashing in the press. I guess its what he does during the next three years that really matters. I'm just so surprised that they still haven't gotten the necessary help from the government.

Oaksterdam

In Oakland, California many medical marijuana dispensaries have been set up. This is not something very new but what is new is that Oakland is the only place where a school to grow marijuana has been functioning. Not that i have anything against marijuana in fact I think it should be legalized due to the financial benefits but right now I think its completely illegal to have a school teaching people how to grow and illegal substance. It doesn't make sense why its illegal but if its going to be illegal then don't have all these weird laws and degrees of punishment for the selling and purchasing of marijuana. Our state needs to pick a side.

Three Year College

I found this article pretty interesting to me just because I'm a senior in high school and i still don't really understand the way colleges work. The article is actually really cool because it says that we can save time and money buy reforming the college education scheme by making it three years. A year less of school and not losing tens of thousands sounds like a great deal. Our student loans won't be as much so we won't be in such heavy debt when we graduate. Its a dope article, people who don't like the education system right now should check it out.

Prime Sinister

So when I was in Italy I had heard about Silvio Berlusconi in the Italian news and when I watched BBC which was the only english speaking channel that I had in my hotel and I only heard bad things about this guy. He basically the comic book version of a corrupt politician, he been caught with prostitutes, changing laws to suit him, bullying politicians who oppose him. I don't know how he can still be in power but I'm glad that America doesn't have such an obviously corrupt person in power.

Cluster Headache Cure???

I found this article on accident when I was on newsweek.com looking for something to blog about but it was relevant to a movie we watched in my psychology class. The movie was based on a guy who had cluster headaches, which are super intense and painful headaches that can draw you to suicide. There hasn't been any real cures for these headaches and some of the medication is in fact dangerous to your body. In this article however, one person who suffers from cluster headaches found that LSD or the chemical in it, psilocybin, can stop cluster headaches. Its an interesting article, read it.

Drug Court Reform

Before January, Judge Wendell P. Gardner Jr. had never been hugged by a defendant. But he had to get into a different mindset when he took over as the District of Columbia's adult-drug-court judge at the beginning of the year. Now, each month when nonviolent drug offenders "graduate" from the five to 18 months of judge-supervised treatment, he steps off the bench and interacts with the users he helps keep out of jail. For the George H.W. Bush appointee, drug courts are not about politics, they are about treatment and results. "You get a sense you're really helping someone," he says.

Personally I support rehab over jail idea because I know a lot of people who are ex users who are in the NA and AA and they really aren't the type of people who need to be in jail. It seems like theres more justice in that system because non-violent drug abusers aren't dangerous they just have drug problems, they aren't a danger to society or those around them. The statistics show that going to jail does not keep you sober and you have a higher chance of sobriety in rehab.

Pro Gay Rights Evangelicist

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans are a diverse, extraordinary, resilient, and passionate group of forgiving men and women. I wouldn't be standing beside them demanding full and equal treatment under the law and speaking out against the harm caused by religion-based bigotry at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11 if I thought they were not created in God's image the same as myself, same as my family, as we all are—we are all God's children.

These are the words of Brent Childers, an evangelicist, who is for gay rights. Hes basically one of a kind. In his article he talks about how he changed from a bigot to an open minded individual. Its really uplifting to see that people can change and for once someone has seen that the bible has positive values that have been used in politics on both sides.

Cartoon time!

I don't disagree with this cartoon but at the same time I don't agree which seems to be my opinion in everything politics. I don't think that America can handle that big of a change with such an unstable economy and the war going on. However it seems that on capital its a war and all they seem to is prevent each other from completing their goals.

Steven Colbert Is Not Serious

The thing about this video is its completely true. I know that its a huge mockery of hard core republicans but I have family members who believe hes being serious. I personally think that the Colbert Report is funnier than the Daily Show just because of Stevens ridiculous behavior.

Senator Sanders and Michael Moore

This video is really enlightening and it applies to my studies in econ and gov as well so I found it particularly interesting. I knew the parts about the "cowboy capitalism" and health care because I don't think we'll ever stop hearing about health care. Senator Sanders made some really good points about college which I vaguely knew about, but now am better informed. I don't want to say that I think he's a creditable source just because Michael Moore is asking him questions but that is what turned me on to the video in the first place

Jerk

So I read the newsweek interview with Richard Dawkins, who for those who don't know him, hes a evolutionary biologist and the author of "The God Delusion". What I got from this interview was that this guy is a jerk. He tells people that their opinions are stupid and ignorant. He was being quite rude to his interviewer. I just hate guys like Richard Dawkins, really grinds my gears!

The Olympics Will Not Be Held In Chicago

Chicago was turned down in the first round of voting which probably made President Obama pretty mad because that was his home town. I think that he just wanted the Olympics to be in Chicago so it would boost Chicagos wealth through the tourism that the Olympics bring.

here is the article

Germany's New Foreign Minister

Guido Westerwelle is Germany's new foreign minister and just happens to be openly gay. People think that its a big step for Germany mainly due to the Holocaust and what happened to the gays at that time. Personally I don't think its not fair that people are holding everyone in the country for what happened seventy years ago under a totalitarian government. There are worries for the foreign minister when he goes to anti-homophobic countries like Iran where they deny that there are any gays within the country. I'm seriously getting sick of the gay rights debate. Why do people even care people have been gay as long as people have been straight. Its not something that should affect his political views, except for the view on gay rights obviously.

Al Qaeda in America

In the past nine years support of Al Qaeda has gone up a lot since the Iraq war and the invasion of Afghanistan. The real worry is the growing support and new recruits in America. The FBI stopped a potential terrorist by the name of Najibullah Zazi who was going to blow up the Boston Bridge. I know we can't stop terrorism completely but how can we slow down the flow of support towards Al Qaeda? I think that if we were to pull our troops out it would give Al Qaeda the thrill of victory and they would come back to power again so its pointless to just leave. I think we need to do something for the Afghan community and the country that will get them to be on our good side because I don't know how much longer we as a country can be in this war.

Here the article

People Are Messed Up

So this guy in Virginia with the last name of Stevens, has been taken to court because he was caught with videos of him setting up fights with bull dogs and pigs and trying to sell them. The issue of videos and images of animal cruelty should be outlawed like child pornography was brought up to the supreme court but they turned it down because the distribution of the videos will not harm the animals. I think that you shouldn't be able to sell that kind of trash because we shouldn't support it. If we let animal abuse become a market it will make animal abuse happen more frequently

interesting article right here