Beautiful People are Funny

Am I supposed to be somewhat sympathetic?  I don't know.  From images to plastic surgery people are constantly slammed with "I'm not good enough".


All you need is diet and exercise, this isn't always true, especially if you have a genetic disposition.  I think men have forgotten to make love with their hands, no their eyes.  Porn is great for a fantasy shot, but as for real sex, having a little fat cushions you for better longer sex.


I don't think America is sex obsessed, but I think America is image perfection obsessed, even when models are being air brushed everyday to meet this illusion of perfection.

Did you know this a Skin Firming cream?

The most terrifying cosmetic surgery is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and I'm not talking just about the back alley tie a six year old down and use a piece of glass, I'm speaking to women, who aren't culturally obligated, who want a "perfect" vagina.  I thought women were trying to stop FGM?


It's so culturally backwards I become shocked every time I hear it.  Unless I have a STI my vagina is just fine thank you very much.  I will openly admit my boyfriend enjoys eating me out and loves to squeeze every part of me.


Who told women the vulva they were born with is not attractive?  It comes down to money, how can the beauty industry make women feel so insecure about their bodies where they pay for a Playboy vulva?  This is the nightmare, we are living it as women, today, not 100 years ago, today.


I love this next video:

Love your tree, bush, breasts, feet, legs nose, down to your ten toes.  Margaret Cho faces this issue daily and she is skinny, but not because she obsesses, but she let go.  I try to just eat to live, enjoy what I'm eating and not just eat a Hershey's bar when I want chocolate. 


Even though I do not listen, even though I try to eat healthy, even though I have a loving boyfriend who loves every part of me in his way it still hurts me when I see the grotesque advertising to women about how they are not a woman unless you are whatever they are advertising.  I don't wear makeup, I'm about 15 lb. "overweight", I don't care to shop but I'm still a woman, just one not interested in feeling horrible about myself.

Abortion: Rewinding Time

by Ceridwen

I feel the American mind is going back to the 1950s when I hear Rush Limbaugh call Sandra Fluke a slut and again when Lisa Brown, a Michigan representative, uttered the offensive word vagina.

I don't like the word vagina, it sounds like a dirty word to say, I think my sexual organ should be called electra, but I forgetting the main issue, America, stop acting like the abortion issue is a political one.

An abortion is between a woman and a doctor; it's private, sensitive and a choice, not a political issue.  Even when people make it a political issue just think, how are my medical records any of your business?  The only reason this issue came up again is because of the medical advances available for premature babies.  I honestly believe life begins when a baby is born, until then, the life is just potential.

Unwanted children are a tragedy, but on a very strange note, aborting unwanted children did have a positive effect on the crime rates between 1985-1997.  Freakonomics has fascinating articles and a few podcasts on this topics pointing out how abortion reduces crime.  This is not just a policy for crack whores, but level headed college students who don't want a child now, but later have one.  Most women who have an abortion have children later, when their ready.

by David Roseborough

Doesn't a girl have a right to have a child when she is ready?  I think so, but with America still in the dark ages on sex education, abstinence please, is there any wonder why girls become pregnant as teens?  The rest of the modern world is laughing at America, why is America so scared of sex?  I blame the Puritans and their anti-sex ways.

American's do not want to admit women are having casual sex, abortion makes people confront the issue of woman's causal sex and American's do not like it.  It is an issue dealt with already, Roe vs Wade, learn from the past and move on.  Improve sex education for goddess sakes, teenagers are already having sex, make sure they are educated and have access to check ups and condoms.  Please stop this time travel nonsense and deal with the now issues of Americas sex education.

Educating for the Future

by Southbanksteve

I am a product of the education system here in the United States and I listen to program after program on NPR only to realize the system does not benefit the children anymore.


Billions of dollars go into the US school system and unless a student is from a wealthy family or apart of a wealthy school, chances are he/she will have a severe lack in basic education.


California spends, on average, about $8,887 per student, this is about $260,000 going into the class room, $68,000, on average, goes to the teacher where is the rest of the money going?


When teachers buy their own supplies, work 70+ work weeks, have to pay off a master's degree where is the money to help they be paid for their time and energy in the classroom?  


Even though California is one of the lowest in paying per student in the public schools, a quarter of a million is still a huge chunk of change and if the teachers aren't getting it who is?


Obviously it's the infrastructure filled with janitors, secretaries, administrators, who take up most of the funding.  I'm not saying schools do not need infrastructure, however, it is far from streamlined considering how teachers have to buy simple school supplies like paper.


This is a monstrous problem in the system and I truly believe no one wants to deal with it.  charter schools can be better, but not always, however the greatest difference between a charter school and a public one is if the charter fails it's shut down, but if the public school is failing it receives more money.


How does that make any sense?  It sounds like an absent father who throws money at problems rather than go to the root of the issue.  I'm not saying looking into the school system will be easy, but it looks like the whole body needs a therapist.

by Stroble, David

Root causes for the issues pop up everywhere; teachers, money, parents, students the government, but I think we need to dig deeper to an older issue.  Placing similar age groups together, learning the same subject at the same time, different classrooms or no, has not  proven to be an effective teaching practice, honestly it is an experiment.  


To go to a more recent time, the 1950s, schools trained college bound students and blue collar workers on different tracks, but with the manufacturing leaving the US to countries like China this system is no longer valid.


The roots of the educational system are flawed and unless we rip out the old dying roots the system will just try to grow again leaving the education of the future no better than before.

My Problem with Health Care

I'm all for health care, especially for the poor and people with pre-existing conditions.  I read article after article about how it will turn America into a socialized country, how it will raise taxes, how it will raise health care prices and how America cannot afford the health plan.  

Honestly, most of the arguments are shallow and invalid after a few researching clicks on the Internet.  Medicare is a form of a socialized health care system along with social security and welfare.  I have no issue with paying higher taxes because I want to support Americans and the health care system.  Also, I understand health care prices will go up in the short run, but fall once everyone is on.

Source: http://rochecoach.tumblr.com/post/20024335660

The last argument can be the strongest if there were no examples of successful health care systems from around the world.  America is one of the only first world countries not to have a healthcare system in place.  America spends about 15 percent of their GDP on health care, compared to most nations, we spend more.  

Frontline has an excellent report about countries like Japan, England, Canada, Germany and Taiwan who do not spend enough on their health care, Japan spends about 8 percent GDP, and they continuously work on it, every few years the prices change and they examine policies.  

Americans cannot afford not to regulate healthcare, but the system is so vast and broken where do we begin, some would even say not to start.  However, if everyone is covered costs will go down and there will be no more bankrupt families because of health care. 

by Pass3456

As for how it helps me personally Washington Post does a simple article and questionnaire to help the common American see and understand how the plan will help.  For me, because I only earn about $14,000 and single my insurance premium would be no more than $560 a year and my out of pocket pay could only be 6 percent of my income.

The only issue I see for health care is if the government is too slow of inflexible to fix the issues coming up.  Taiwan and Germany are doing fine in this economic climate, including their health care system.  The warnings on how health care can bankrupt a country are true only if the country decides to miss manage their funds and refuse to change policies with the times.

I can only hope the people, yes us, come up with a well thought out plan for our politicians about health care, because the less we make government think, the better we can run it ourselves.

What do you expect a positive or negative change in the American health care system when the reform is in full force?

  

Mixing Politics with Religion and Instant Gatification

I was thinking about my old friend and the cruelest words he ever said to me, ‘A liberal-Christian is a Christian who doesn't have any beliefs.’ The fact was I did believe in God but I interpreted the Bible differently, because I realized most of it was just opinion written down, an age ago, by men. I don’t mean to bash men, in fact I think they are the luckiest beings in existence, especially when they have to deal with an intelligent woman.

My question is why is there so much attention on mixing religion and politics? Not all Christians are Republican and not all Pagans are Democrat, that is political stereotyping and it’s wrong. I just wanted to worship God and believe prostitution and drugs should be legalized, but when most Christians heard my views they labeled me as a radical feminist-liberal-Democrat-wiener and attempted to right my beliefs to the proper order.

In reality I don’t consider myself as a real liberal, I want people to own guns, I want the government to butt out of private affairs, I want politicians to vote for the good of the whole and not themselves, but I want health care, I want to legalize illegal substances to pay off Americas deficit, I want my car to run on a dream, I want my freedoms damnit and that’s that.

Honestly, I don’t know what category I fit into, you could say I’m Libertarian, a very enlightened concept, but like Communism, when people are involved it fails horribly. People are greedy and selfish, I don’t blame this on an evil force, but American upbringing has gone to a very dark place, where everything is met with instant gratification and a whine.

I’m bad, I want instant gratification too, but working in retail has altered my thoughts quite a bit because I have seen a side of humanity, the IwantthisnowexactlyhowIwantitandthecustomerisalwaysright! side. Instant doesn’t exist, it takes time for things to grow, like my garden, and I am so lucky I learned the lessons of using my hands and smashing my fingers with tolls through the blood and dirt of shoveling.

This instant quick satisfaction also affects politics because we the people don’t see much into the future beyond four years, especially young people, if they vote at all. I’ve voted in every election from presidential to local, except for California’s May thing, and I’m proud. But when I speak to others my age, they blow it off with an anarchist attitude and then complain about their government…stupid. Not all of my age group is like this, but holy-flying-monkey-farts, if you want to change something, google it and then vote on it please!

Nobody wants to do anything anymore and it frustrated me to no end because I’m a natural fighter for my beliefs and rights to a bitter end. This instant gratification is ruining our humanity, nature is, humans are, everything runs on its own schedule, but we humans keep on trying to alter things, speed up, got to school, work and die, that’s it! I don’t want to live life for instant then I’m done with it, I want to live life like a Native American, but with air conditioning and good health care, where the sun is the clock and the seasons move slowly and effortlessly, where everything blends like a beautiful painting.

Whose with me? Who wants to live life to the seasons and not seconds? Who wants to think a head and learn from the past? Who wants to change this world for the better?

Blessed be.