Category: general news

Stuff having to do with the news in general.

Fast Food.

YourcupateaLeave a comment

in-n-out

Fast food, in the eyes of many, means bad food.  I am going to stand up against the masses and say this is not always the case. Ok it’s greasy, fatty and is often a heart attack wrapped in a piece of paper but it can, and often does, taste good.

The one thing with fast food is that if your going to eat it you have to go all out and eat it properly.  Eat it properly what do you mean? I hear you ask. No this does not mean supersize your meal, instead it means go to the right place.

Fast food does not have to be fake food. Today as I waited for my In-N-Out Burger I admired the chef’s making fries from peeled potatoes. Yes there were real vegetables in a fast food kitchen. I know, a miracle right? Not all fast food is made from frozen fries and flesh; instead some is made extremely fresh.

Although fast food is full of fat, and a lot of the time you don’t want to know what’s inside what you’re eating, there are some times when what you’re eating is not as sinister as you believe. Fast food tastes good and can sometimes be better than you think.

Adios Iraq

therightliberalLeave a comment

This past week, President Obama announced that all troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011, just months away.

What fantastic news! It was not our place to go in to Iraq for oil in the first place and we are finally getting out of there.

Hopefully our role as the World Police is fading. Unfortunately the fact that it is fading has more to do with our financial situation than our realization that our invasions of other countries is unethical.

So for a celebration and a little fun, let’s look back at some of our idiotic invasions.

Chile: A CIA led coup to overthrow the government of Chile in 1973. We went in because we did not agree with Marxism, which when you think about it is a really stupid reason. It shouldn’t matter what we think of another countries government, it should matter what the people think about it.

Cambodia: Really the whole invasion of Southern Asia but Cambodia was the most ridiculous in my mind. We had no right to be there and yet our bombings and war tactics lead to the deaths of over 2 million people. Not soldiers, not corrupt leaders, just people.

Lebanon: Our military actions against the Shi’a “rebels” was just ridiculous. They were not killing their own people and they were not going after other countries. And even if there were some questions regarding their positions on social issues, what authority was given to us to go in and invade?

Saudi Arabia/Iraq: 1990 saw some of the most obvious forms of the World Police. We took sides in the Kuwait and Iraq conflict. We killed over 200,000 people in Iraq (yes that is people again, not just soldiers and leaders, people) because we felt Kuwait needed some protection. This spelled a huge turning point in the US’s foreign policy in the Middle East, it all went down hill from there.

There are many that I did not include, many other very important instances of the US overstepping their authority. Now spells the end of another chapter of these, frankly stupid, invasions.

I hope that we have learned, that we realize that all these invasions do is cause death and debt. But history tells me there is no point in having hope, that our need to dictate the “proper” forms of government and social treatment outweighs our common sense.

So just try, try to realize the lack of progress each one of these invasions spells. Let’s learn something.

A Blazing Issue

therightliberalLeave a comment

Marijuana; such a taboo to many and such an addiction to many more.

About a week ago, The Federal Government stepped into California’s legal system, going through the state telling medical marijuana dispensaries to close. This came after the Obama administration formerly stated that it would not waste it’s time on prosecuting the medical marijuana industry in California.

I guess now they have so much free time that they can afford to do this. But really, it is just not necessary. I am not upset about a states rights issue here, I have always believed that the Federal Government should have overriding power.

But now we are just battling ignorance. I am not justifying the use of marijuana, nor condemning those who use it. It is a minor drug that should be treated as such. It is no more dangerous than alcohol and quite less dangerous than cigarettes. But the hippies smoked weed so it is obviously bad.

Instead of wasting tax payer money on throwing people in jail for smoking a native plant that just makes you hungry and giggly, how about we go and educate the general population in the hopes that they do not feel the need to use drugs on a regular basis.

America is a prude society and this just shows it. Instead of making millions off of the potential taxes of legalization of marijuana, we throw thousands in jail because they smoke the Devil‘s lettuce.

Open your eyes people. Prohibition does not work! Let us learn from that handy thing called history and realize that we will be a lot better off as a society if we just roll with our capitalist ways and tax the hell out of all sales of permits and paraphernalia.

We as a country should move beyond our fears and judgements and make a rational choice. I say this not because I want to be able to smoke weed, I say this because I want a country which makes smart choices.

We need to at least leave the medical marijuana industry alone. Plus think of this; if we legalize marijuana, imagine what it would do for our food industry!

Middle Land

Yourcupatea1 Comment

Midland
Midland or Middle Land, a small school that is defined by its name. It is literally a school that is in the middle of nowhere. Built up of rustic buildings and open grassland, the campus is like walking into a time warp with a few unique changes.

It is a campus that defines the school and it’s principles, seen because it’s battered ancient façade but filled with knowledge and wisdom. As they say with age comes great wisdom and this is definitely the case with this school.

Filled with pride, the school is about teaching who you are. With no personal technology accessible to the students they are really taught to explore who they really are and what the world is really about.

Comparable to a Waldolf Steiner School, Midland really is unique. Although not suitable for everyone it is a place of insight and reflection where one can think about their values and lives.

9-9-9 = 6-6-6

therightliberalLeave a comment

Herman Cain thinks he has found the solution to all of America’s economic problems; it’s called the 9-9-9 plan.

I guess Herman has not listened to those thousands of people protesting across the country, complaining about the low taxation of the rich and all the corporate tax breaks they receive.

The premise of his plan is fairly simple, a 9% tax on business income, a 9% tax on wages and a 9% Federal income tax.

Estimates by people who understand tax law (which are few) say that this would mean raising taxes for 90% of Americans. Ironically it would also decrease the amount of money that the Federal government takes in from taxes.

Oh that makes so much sense! Lets tax the lower and middle class more, decrease taxes on the wealthy and on businesses and bring in less money.

The 9-9-9 plan is a publicity stunt, and quite a sad one. It sure sounds great until you realize what it would actually be accomplishing (or failing to accomplish). Cain is getting a lot of air time out of this plan, just because of its simplicity.

But there is no such thing as a simple tax policy. The tax codes take up thousands of pages filled with tiny print nowadays and it will not work to just toss those books out the window and just print out a page that says 9-9-9 on it.

Under Cain’s plan, over 23,000 millionaires would be freed from paying taxes. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT?

GOP: Spread the wealth to the wealthy

Cain’s plan is quite frankly stupid. It shows just what a weak candidate he is. At the beginning of the GOP race he was one of the most obscure candidates and it is only due to his boldness that he has gained attention.

If the GOP want to nominate him, go right ahead. I highly doubt he could stand up to Obama, a man who is both intelligent AND possess common sense.

If you are set on putting America in a worse economic position than it is in now (yes it is possible) and ruining all that we have built as a country, vote Herman Cain in 2012!

White Rocks and Moonlight Walks

rangerthecat2 Comments

I had never been to the infamous White Rocks in the Los Padres National Forest before a few days ago on Tuesday night.

Our head lamps and flashlights were turned off as we ascended up the mountain on our short hike, which took about 20 or 30 minutes. It was dark, but the full moon hovered overhead, lighting our paths. We were not talking; it was silent except for the sounds of bugs and our footsteps on the ground.

After crossing a few areas of water and unfortunately tripping over some big rocks, we had made it to a big white plateau surrounded by 3 towering white rock masses. It was so beautiful to see the white surface illuminated by the full moon.

And so we sat – Coop, Floyd, 15 other student leaders, and myself. We talked about issues at school, had a debate, and took a beautiful group photograph. (Thank you Max, it turned out so amazing!)

AND THEN WE PLAYED HIDE AND SEEK.
It was extremely epic and fun. There were so many good hiding spots too.

I was skeptical at first about this moonlight hike that Coop had planned for us, but I ended up having such a great time. I really did. I did not want the night to end! We have such a fun and interesting group of student leaders this year and I am so proud do be one of them.

Consumerism.

Yourcupatea1 Comment

monopoly man

I am a victim of consumerism. Yes, I admit it I love to shop, spend and snap up those sales. Shamefully I am a greedy, lustful consumer. But you know what, that’s what a lot of the world is shaped around these days. Ok, so I’ve always been a keen consumer but today I really realized the error of my ways.

The simple scenario that mapped out my sinful deeds began with a fast food shop they like to call McDonalds and the simple game of monopoly. Yes that time of year is back, Monopoly at McDonalds.

The sinful time when you are encouraged to buy fatty goodies in order to win cars, holidays and spa days has returned and I have been its first victim. Today I bought two McDonalds. Yes I repeat two McDonalds, breakfast and dinner. The concept of winning a prize from a meal was just too much, but no I did not win.

So whilst I counted the individual monopoly tickets I realized how I had become a victim. I had become a victim to games and consumerism. Now it’s time for me to change.

Taste your tears.

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

If you don’t know why you’re crying, taste your tears!

When was your last time you cried? What did it taste like?

According to a Japanese trivia website, I found an amazing fact about tears.
The taste of a tear depends on the situation. This is something to do with tear secretion. When you’re angry or feeling remorseful, you would be in a highly wrought-up state that makes the sympathetic nervous system active. This nervous system makes the tears contain more sodium and makes it more salty than usual. On the other hand, when you’re happy or just sad, the parasympathetic nervous system would be active to calm yourself, so it would contain more potassium that makes the tear watery and less salty. Moreover, when the parasympathetic nervous system is active, the tears would contain stress hormones so it releases your stress.

Such an interesting fact isn’t it!? When I cry, I mostly taste really salty tears! I thought there was only one kind of taste!

Climate Change

therightliberalLeave a comment

In a time where the word “change” is constantly being used as a positive, climate change is sneaking up from behind.

It could just be me, but it seems as though all the talk about how quickly we are changing our climate has quickly died off. This worries me.

I am not a radical in my environmental thinking. I feel that people should do what they can to reduce their personal effect of the environment. I am not one to say that we all need to ride bikes and never buy a product that does not contain recycled material.

However, there are so many simple things we can do to prevent our home from becoming a lot less nice than it is now.

We can recycle at every possible moment. It really is not that difficult to put things in the right bin and purchase products that can easily be recycled. We can make conscious choices throughout our day that are little yet make a difference.

I am lazy so I understand that making these changes can be tedious at times. But in the long run it seems worth it. We can work now to slow the damage that we are increasingly doing to the earth.

From a political standpoint this is a prime example of what is wrong with our political system. By far the majority of the people of the US realize we need to change. And yet, there is hardly any political movement because of sticking to party lines.

How about we all just admit we need to change the way we live. Remember how change can be used as a powerful and great word? Lets change our path to avoid extreme climate change. Let us change the little things to achieve the big things.

RIP Steve Jobs

rangerthecatLeave a comment

OH MY GOD WHAT THE @*^%?

I look at my Facebook page and the first thing I see is basically “1 billion friends posted about Steve Jobs.”

Well, not really 1 billion, but about 30. And I just couldn’t believe that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, had passed away.

I remember my first iPod that I ever owned. I remember walking into the store, getting out all my money from my piggy bank that I had saved up, and paying for my white iPod video, my new prized possession.

At that time, I did not think about the iPod itself. Someone had taken the time to invent and perfect this marvelous creation that a majority of people around the world now own and use on a daily basis. But, I do remember thinking that it was the coolest thing EVER.

Then the iPhone became popular along with Mac computers, and Apple had officially become one of the most popular electronic s companies on the market. And so a legend was born, Steve Jobs, who continued to create new things and improve already top-notch electronic devices.

He was a huge influence in the world of technology. I am sure most of these advancements we have today would not exist without him.

I don’t own an iPhone or a Mac, but I do have an iPod and I’d say it is one of the best devices I own. Too bad he won’t be around to invent more.

RIP Steve Jobs. Obviously I didn’t know you personally, but you were pretty kick-ass.