Mediaopoly

We watched this in my gov't class. It's funny.

Youth Vote in California

Young voters making a difference!

McCain is a Citizen and thus can be President

Hopefully this will kill the story that just seems to never die...has John McCain been a citizen his whole life? Okay, so the back story to this is: Senator McCain was not born in America. He was born on a U.S. naval base in the Pama Canal Zone in 1936. Due to this some people have come to the conclusion that McCain has not been a citizen his whole life and thus can not be President.
(Believe me I get phone calls concerning this issue at my internship all the time...)

This potential problem for Senator McCain was reviewed my former Solicitor General Ted Olson (a McCain supporter) and a Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe (a Obama supporter). They found that the phrase "natural born citizen" is an unclear term in the Constitution. Though only a "natural born citizen" can become president it is unclear what the founding fathers meant by that term. The Panama Canal Zone was a U.S. territory when McCain was born, his was stationed while serving in the Navy and his mother was an U.S. citizen. Thus the two person panel found that Senator McCain can serve as President if elected.

So now can we please get back to issues? Like how McCain has said on several occasions that Iran is training Al-Qaeda or that he thinks we should stay in Iraq 100 years...

CA Flunks Computer Access Test

California school received a D+ in the new "Technology Counts" survey. The survey was conducted by the nonprofit magazine Education Week. West Virginia was the only state that earned an A in the whole country and the country as a whole got a grade of a C+.
Each state was graded on three points: "access" (do we have enough computers?), "use" (do states expect and require students to use computers?), and "capacity" (do teachers know how to use computers themselves?). The data was collected from fourth through eight grade classrooms.
California did well in the area of "capacity." We are only one of 19 states to require that teacher have some knowledge of computers to get a teaching credential. California got a B- in this area.
However "use" and "access" are different stories. California got a D+ in the "use" category. This is because though the state has technology expectations for students, it does not follow through and test them on that knowledge. The state got an F in "capacity." 93% of California fourth graders had access to a computer, yet 95% do nationwide. Access to a computer shrinks to 72% in the eighth grade in California and 83% nationwide.
Even better news for the children of this state...with all the budget cuts coming down from Sacramento it doesn't look like California's computer access grade will be going up any time soon.

Deborah Shank on CNN

Shame on WalMart!!!

CBS Exposes Hillary Clinton Bosnia Trip.

ophs...her bad...

Nancy Reagan Endorses McCain

Today Nancy Reagan came out and publicly endorsed the Republican candidate for President Senator John McCain. Nancy Reagan was the wife of former President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan reputation in Republican political circles is still very important, in fact this last primary cycle near every Republican candidate tried to prove that they where true Reagan follower and thus a true Republican.

Senator McCain has had a few problems proving his Republican credentials to members in his party. (Senator McCain has a reputation for being a "maverick" and recently a story surfaced that McCain thought about changing to the Democratic party twice. Once after he lost the race for the Republican nomination in 2000 and in 2004 and becoming Senator John Kerry's running mate. Senator McCain "maverick" reputation scores him points with ordinary Americans but not with the Republican party faithful...so the McCain camp is hoping Mrs. Reagan endorsement will go a long way with "Reagan Conservatives"

Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' (Full Speech)

Barack Obama's speech on race has been called "the most important speech on race in the nations history." Its something everyone should see.

4,000 Americans have died in Iraq

We reached a sad mile stone in the Iraq war today. 4,000 of our brave men and women have been killed in this war.

Debra Bowen will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award

California's Secretary of State Debra Bowen's controversial decision last year to curtail use of electronic voting machines after security flaws were discovered has earned her a national award for political courage.

She will be awarded the JFK Profile in Courage Award. The award was created in 1989 by the Kennedy family. The title of the award comes from President Kennedy's book "Profiles in Courage" which recounts the stories of eight courageous Senators who stood up for what they believe in and thus risked their jobs. In tribute to that book the Kennedy family presents a current elected offical who stood a political stand and risked their job by doing so. The Profile in Courage Award has been named the most prestigious award an elected official can be presented with.

Secretary Bowen will be presented the award by Former President Kennedy only surving child and brother, Caroline and Edward Kennedy.

Looking for New Bloggers

I am currently on the look out for new bloggers to come on board and post things on the blog. So if you are a young mind that can think and you want to voice your thoughts leave a message on this post and we will try and set it up. I'm looking for a lot of different perspectives.

Poll Results

Here are the results of last weeks poll:
Obama 87%
Clinton 12%
Readers made the comments that they supported Obama because of his ability to get elected and his ability to reach independents. Another reader made the point that I did not list the Republican candidate in this poll. This is true, I did not do that. That is because the Republican candidate has been chosen. Once the Democrats get around to choosing their nominee I will have a poll putting John McCain against whomever the democratic candidate is.

Be on the look out for next weeks poll!!! and thank for for all the great comments!!!

Girl Scouts Stand Up to the Governor

One of the best stories I've read in the Contra Costa Times has to be todays article about Walnut Creek Girls Scouts who are passing around a petition against the education budget cuts.

Girl Scout troop 2543 is currently passing around a petition for everone to sign (even kids). The petition is special, it mimics the preamble of the Consistution: "We the people of Walnut Creek Intermediate School, in order to have a more perfect education, urge you to establish an adequate budget for our education ... Please don't leave the students of California behind."

The girls plan on delivering thier petition to local law makers. So far they have collected over 1000 signtures.

You go Girls!!!

Northgate Tries to Leave the MDUSD

Parents of Northgate High school have collected the nessarsy amount of signtures to file their petishion to leave the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. They would like to become part of the Walnut Creek and Acalanes school districts. A district meeting has been schedualed on the issue on 6 p.m. April 9 at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. Public comments will be limited to two minutes per person. School board members are asking people to come to this meeting and voice their opinion on the matter. If you don't want to speak then you are allowed to have signs.

New Poll

A lot has changed since the last time we had a poll...the Republicans have chosen their nominee and the Dems are still in a fight...

As young voters who do you think best represents our ideals? Put another way, who do you want to be the Democratic nominee?

Update: Oil Prices reached a New Record $111 a Barrel

I'm young and on a fixed income...can anyone afford the sky rocketing oil prices though? And how is Exxon Mobil doing so well when costs are so high???

California Sets New Sex Ed Guide Lines

The California State Board of Education has decided that 5^th graders should start learning about STD’s. This decision comes just days after a new study was released saying that 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 13 and 19 have an STD in this country. The past California standards for sex education were that all info had to be “medically accurate, objective and respectful of gay and lesbian youth.” The new standards will not only present information but teach our states 6 million students necessary information for safe behavior.

The guidelines are quite clear: fifth graders will learn about STDs, and middle school teachers will talk about rape and sexual assault, and in high school the curriculum includes information about condoms and the morning after pill.

This decision by the state school board did not come lightly, for it came after two years of discussion on the topic. The new education curriculum will be rolled into already exciting classes on health, drugs, and violence.

Given the new study that reported that 25% of teenage girls in this country have an SDT, are these new sex ed guide lines a good thing? Are they going to teach kids ways to protect themselves from getting hurt? Or are we giving kids bad ideas?...where young...what do we think? All comments on the issue are welcome!

Back to the Drawing Board for Lawmakers

Its time to go back to the drawing board for state lawmakers, who still haven’t passed a plan to save our states education. For a Democratic proposal to raise taxes on oil companies was shot down by Republicans in the Assembly yesterday. Under the proposed tax oil companies would have been taxed an additional 6% on all oil extracted in California and an additional 2% tax on windfall profits. The tax would have made $1.2 billion a year for education.

This plan to help fund our education was fiercely fought by state Republicans who don’t want to raise any taxes to help solve California’s budget problem---even if that means cutting our education. Speaker of the Assembly Febian Nunez (D) Los Angeles had this to say about the Republicans "The Republicans are basically standing with the oil companies. It's a very simple vote, you are either for public education or you with the gas companies who have been making record profit for the last three consecutive years."

Republican Assemblymember Chuck DeVore (R) from Irvine responded by saying "Its bad tax policy, because we already have the highest oil tax or gas tax in the country, our consumers are already paying the most."

However several news agencies have pointed out that this tax on oil companies would not have been passed on the consumer since the bill was written specifically to block such a thing from happening. Also oil companies continue to report record profits, so it’s not like this tax would have hurt the industry. Exxon Mobil reported the largest annual profit by a U.S. company last year- $39.5 billion. The previous record was also held by Exxon Mobil when in 2005 they reported making $36.13 billion. Many teachers and students across the state where hoping that this tax would help solve California education funding problem.

A Time to Run, A Time for Change

I started this blog so there would be a voice for young people, something that I believe is sorely lacking in our community. There is no place for young people to have their opinions heard, though I hope this blog has helped fill the void a bit.

There are so many issues that affect young people today that are being ignored by people in power. So many people don’t think that we as young voters can have any valuable opinions of our own…or at least none worth listening too.

Yet during this election cycle I am proud to say young people are voicing their opinion, despite older people telling them that their voice is irrelevant. Young people are going to the polls in droves and are participating in campaigns like never before. I am really proud of my generation’s accomplishments so far, and I know more are to come. I really want to continue fighting for young people and their ideals, that is way I am official running for Democratic Central Committee of Contra Costa County. I hope I have all of your support…and votes. This election will not be easy for me. I am running aganist four incumbents. Yet if my campaign energises more young people to go to polls, be political active, or at least political aware...then me running is worth it.

CA Budget Crisis- - - Leads to Cuts in Education

As many of you might know California is in another budget crisis. This Governor, who was swept into office on the promises to fix this states budget, has proven that he is no better at handling the budget than his Democratic predecessor. Governor Schwarzenegger’s actions of cutting taxes and failing to get this states spending under control has helped lead this state into a $14.5 billion deficit. --- That’s right, BILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT.

So what is our Governor solution to get us out of this mess? A 10% cut of everything across the board, including to education. A 10% cut in education comes to about $4.8 billion dollars cut from this states education funding, this state that is already ranked 47^th by Education Week in per student spending (and that number took into account regional cost differences!). California is spending $1,900 less per student than the national average. West Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi all out spend California in education.

The $4.8 billion cut is being passed on to school districts that have been told to cut programs in order to save money. My school district, Mt. Diablo Unified School District has proposed cutting 4^th and 5^th grade music, Freshman sports, Liberians and library budgets, High School VP’s, Special Education services and much much more. It wasn’t until a virtual student uproar did the school board decide to keep 4^th and 5^th grade band and freshman sports, yet many of the before mentioned programs have been cuts, and it is the children of my school district that are left to suffer.

When will the government stop scarifying the needs of child for their own political gain? It is time that we as young voters stood up for our needs and tell the government that a 10% cut in education is outrageous! It’s time for us as young people to fight for our needs, if we don’t fight for them, no one will.

I'm a woman so all issues are my issues!!!

So I'm a "Good Ol' Girl". What does that mean? Well, it means I'm part of a womens organization that is designed as a social networking group (think, the "Good Ol' Boys Culb" but for girls). So as a member of this group I go to meetings, the latest of which was a Presidential candidate forum. So basically representatives from the Clinton, Obama, and Edwards campaigns where all there trying to sell us on their candidates. It was a great event with about 60 women in attendance there was even an LA Times reporter there and I got interviewed!
I talked about how I was supporting John Edwards and I was doing so because of his stance on college education, the two Americas and health care. The reporter turns around to me and say "so, your supporting him on national issues not womens issues." After that I could help but think, "what the hell, what do you mean not womens issues?"
If I'm a women doesn't that mean that all my issues are "womens issues"? What did that reporter expect for me to just talk about abortion and pay equity? To me that point of view hurts women. Women are capable of thinking about more than two issues. We can think about Iraq, education, health care, global warming...women can think about anything we want. Women can make any issue they want "their" issue...I find the implication that I can only think about abortion and pay equity offensive. Education is MY issue! First of all getting more women into the work place and into high ranking jobs is very much a womens issue...and how do we do that...by going to college. I can't go to college if I can't pay for it.
All issues are my issues! All issues are womens issues!!!

The Grinch

SCHIP was the bill that would provide healthcare to millions of Americas poorest children and it was vetoed. I know that the President vetoed SCHIP (twice for those who are keeping count) a while ago but I just found this video and thought it was neat.