Drinking Age

I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 16 years old. I think this because if you are able to buy cigarettes and porn magazines you should be able to drink. Not only because of this reason but because I feel like teens want to in a way "rebel" against the law and drink underage. If we allowed them to drink earlier then they would have no urge to drink. Take drugs for instance... people like that feeling of "rebelling" against the law and doing drugs. If we allowed them to start young then they wont care to drink as much as they would when they have to wait until 21.

Also, they will learn to handle their drinking and not even be able to drive drunk the years when they are beginning to drive.This will allow them to learn their alcohol tolerance by the time they do drive. I think this can be a solution to young teens dieing in car crashes from driving drunk. The main time for teens to drink is around 18 which will give plenty of time for the teens to learn when they are fine to drive and not or give them good judgment on if their driver is drunk or not. Teens die too much in these horrible accidents every year. Like my friend Steven Dankos from river hill. He was not able to get good judgment on whether or not he should of got into the back of that pick up truck or not because he was not given that time to learn. We must put a stop to it and I believe this is the best way.

The Bar Scene

If you ever get the chance to go to a fairly crowded bar (completely sober I may add) and just sit back to observe everything going on, it is quite a comedic experience. The effect of alcohol on people truly never ceases to amaze me. Now I have had my share of nights where there has been a little too much drinking involved, don't get me wrong. But thankfully those times have all been with close friends within our own homes. In the bar scene however this is not the case. You can take the most shy, quiet, reserved girl in the world, give her a few shots and bring her to a bar and suddenly she's on top of the bar, half naked, singing and dancing in front of everyone. Boys who wouldn't hurt a fly sober will find themselves in the middle of a fist fight after knocking a few back.

Being a bartender, I am able to see firsthand on a daily basis people's progression from one drink to the next. It is a fact that a person who has drank is able to do things that they would never do sober. Just the other night, I had this one guy come in and order a few beers with dinner. He was telling me how he was out of town for business and all about his serious girlfriend back home. About an hour later, a girl had come in after work and sat down next to him. She appeared very quiet and soft spoken and overall very shy and to herself. They got to talking and while talking had several drinks each. Their conversations got louder and louder and more strange as the night went on. Long story short, she ends up going back to his hotel with him. Had these two been sober, I am positive the night would have ended up very differently. With alcohol, especially heavy drinking, people's personalities do a complete 360. Girls will flirt, get on bars, remove clothes, hook-up with strangers, and tell any guy anything they want to hear. Guys can get angry and fight, or search out girls to "conquest" for the night. Overall, the drastic changes that alcohol brings out in people is amazing.

From this all, though, I question two different things. The first is why is a drug like alcohol legal when something like marijuana is not? Aside from it's severe health risks, it's ability to change people is alarming. And second, why is it that people continue to get trashed night after night, even after they've done something stupid the night before? It may sound a little strange coming from someone who serves the alcohol to people to make a living, but I just dont understand the point of people getting wasted.

Reality

I am ashamed to admit this, but I am one of those people that have been sucked into watching some "reality" television. Most of it seems too outrageous to be reality. I am not even sure how I get sucked in to watching. I never saw advertising and thought "oh, I really need to make sure I watch that show." I think it is just from flipping through the channel and catching a glimpse of some crazy drama, and I am unable to change the channel. Then, I end up watching wondering why I am still tuned in, and return the following week to see what is going to happen. Most of the time I sit there wondering, why in the world am I watching this insane show. I can't put my finger on why exactly I continue to watch. Sometimes, I become interested in the storyline, but most of the time I want to see what random and insane thing that will happen next. I know I am not the only person who gets sucked in, because new reality show keep popping up all over the place. There seems to be more "reality than "non reality" shows on these days. So, why do we keep tuning in each week. They offer no "Cosby show" endings. In fact, producers of these types of show encourage if not induce more drama to boost ratings. We all like to be voyeurs into other peoples worlds, otherwise these show would not make it for even one episode. I think we get some enjoyment seeing people fight, gossiping about each other, and getting into other sorts of trouble. We like to see how they get themselves in and out of trouble thy seem to bring upon themselves. It is definitely entertaining to watch. These shows will only escalate on the crazy behavior if we keep feeding into their drama and tuning in every week.

Racy Photos of Glee Cast Members

I am not completely appalled or hysterical with these pictures. Glee is a teen show with audiences ranging from age fifteen to fifty. From viewing the pictures it shows nothing offensive on my end as many more magazines have raunchier photos of younger celebrities. I think parents are upset because they expect or perceive the cast members on how they see them in television and not in real life. In the television they see the members as goal reaching teenagers that have a love for singing, but in reality the cast members are in their early to mid-20s (Finn Hudson is 28). People! They have a life of their own. A REAL life! Actors and actresses don’t act for free! We live in America and believe it or not it is a capitalist country! We make money where it can be made to support our spending habits and standard of living while standing by our moral codes. Stripping to my underwear and posing for a magazine making a few hundred thousand is not against my moral code. In my opinion if the parents who are complaining have the body and finesse as the Glee cast members they would probably do the same thing for a few hundred thousand dollars (they would probably do it for less). There are many controversial pictures I would agree with such as Miley Cyrus doing racy photos at the age of fifteen, at that age a person is still finding themselves and experiencing body changes and NOT LEGAL! Her audiences ranged from age eight to fifteen, parents definitely had the right to complain about that dilemma. As far as the glee cast complaints, sorry! Parents do not have the right to complain about any of it since the target audience is aimed at an older age group. If you don’t like it; turn off your DVR, cancel your cable, and donate your Glee CDs to me. Land of the free! It’s your choice, not your choice to choose theirs.

End Of The World!!!

Many people believe that the world is coming to an end, and very soon. Most christians believe that Jesus will be coming for a 2nd time and have the earth destroyed or "cleansed". Others believe the Mayan calender, which many believe it says that the earth will be destroyed in 2012, even though there are no predictions in the calender for the year 2012, the calender just ends. Many people believe in the Mayan calender because it predicted the date in which the they, the mayans, were going to be overrun by foreigners coming from overseas. As well as predicting both world wars. What is so special about 2012? and is the world really coming to an end in a couple of years?

According to astronomers " The sun will sit precisely on the heavenly crossroads between the Milky Way and the galactic equinox, forming a perfect alignment with the center of the galaxy. Any other scientific or astronomic predictions for 2012? Of course. Not only will the sun align precisely between the milky way and galactic equinox but its magnetic poles will reverse. This happens about every 11 years when its the solars maxim, but there is a possibility that the one in 2012 will cause a great solar flare or burst, an explosion, that would kill most living things on earth, according to the Nasa. To top all this off Astroid apophis will make his appearance once again around planet earth. The difference between 2012 and his previous appperances is that he'll be closer then ever before with great possibilities of impacting earth. If this happened NASA predicts the blast would be 1000 times stronger then the atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima. Not only that but if it hit the Atlantic Ocean, then the entire Estern United States, Western Europe, and Northwestern Africa would be flooded by an enormous tsunami.

Don't forget: there are many, many religions predicting some kind of end to the world. And the Maya prediction attracts a lot of attention now, because their end date is so well-defined, because the Maya Deadline is only a couple of time-ticks away, and because the accuracy of their previous predictions.

So, what are we to make of it all?

Will it be times up in 2012?

Stop and think...

There seems to be a lot of opinion today about the fate of the military and their policies, particularly about a gay person’s right to serve in the military. Congress and our judicial system are compelled to play partisan politics when it comes to this issue. Even artists are throwing their two cents into the arena. It should be noted that the vast majority of the above mentioned people have never served, and even a smaller component served in a combat element.

What I’m about to say may offend you, but it’s an honest glimpse into what the warrior mindset was, and still may be. Now, this is a story about what happened back in the States, not deployed in a combat zone... that’s a whole other blog post. Back in mid 2002, everyone in my battalion was ramping up for the inevitable. We all knew what was going down, and where we were going. Drills, live fire exercises, hand to hand combat... we were honing our craft, we were preparing for war. It was around that same time that we got a transfer from another unit. Everyone, including myself, in the battalion took one look at this man and knew he was gay. A couple of weeks later, a rumor was being spread about this person, about how he frequented a gay bar out in town. One weekend, a few junior enlisted decided to follow this person to see if in fact he went to the gay bar. As it turned out, he did go to that bar, and was dragged out of his car and beaten until the cops showed up. The group was arrested and charged with drunken disorderly, but never a hate crime. Also, the command element handed down the usual punishment to the group for the drunken disorderly charges, (slap on the wrist) and soon there after, processed the gay man out of the military on a hardship clause. (for being gay)

Now most of you, like I did at the time, wonder why something couldn’t have been done to prevent this... why our commanding officers can’t just pass down orders to stop this. A senior enlisted man told me, “You can’t expect a 19 year old with a hard on to kill someone not to go fag bashing”. My opinion is that everyone has a right to serve. Our all voluntary military should be an accurate representation of the best and brightest our country has to offer, sexual preference be damned... but, at the end of the day, I don’t think new and shiny laws proclaiming that a population can serve will quell the stigma attached... or make that 19 year old any more tolerant.

Chains on change

Liberalism and progress are under attack by the conservative right in this country, and liberals are doing nothing to stop it. In times where CEO's of giant corporations lay off more employees to preserve profits, conservative news outlets have managed to convince us that these are the same CEO's that would save the economy. After years of failed financial practice due to cut regulation, we would up in a recession which is seeming to never end. Yet talking heads such as Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly are calling every democrat a socialist and a nazi. The GOP has grown more extreme, with the emergence of pure free market supporting tea party candidates.
And what has the left done to protect their image? Well, they shifted their policies to the right. They stick to free-market rhetoric in fear of being called heathens on Fox News. Even though some progress has been made under the Obama administration, there is still a capitalist conservative choke hold on the change we need. The health care bill passed, but there is no public option. The financial reform bill passed, but it didn't break up to-big-to-fail banks. We took combat troops out of Iraq, but we still have 50,000 troops in Iraq combating. The situation in Afghanistan is getting more dangerous, more expensive, and less practical. No clean energy bill was passed.

WHY?

A concept that has always been hard for me to understand is poverty. There is so much money in the world, so why do we have such a hard time distributing it properly? America is a sad place to live because you can see the drastic difference between the filthy rich and the dirt poor. A value of most Americans is the idea of “rags to riches” and that “you can amount to anything as long as you work hard”. Ideas like these let me know that Americans are in denial. We would like to believe that life works out like that for everyone, but in reality; it doesn’t.

Our society place values on who should have money and who will never get it. There are contradictions to becoming rich that people don’t often tell you. For example, we all have a chance to go to school and receive a quality education. Wealthy people have unlimited resources to better schools, expensive tutors, and connections to a higher society. Poor families must struggle in low income communities with bad schools, limited resources, and often cannot afford any higher education. When they settle to becoming a product of their environment; the cycle continues.

Views on poverty can often be influenced by where you are in social class. That affects our judgments because we honestly can’t tell how the next person is living. I believe in having economic mobility. But it not fair when everyone doesn’t have an equal chance, or have the same staring place. When looking at the systems in America, they patronize impoverished people, and then complain that they can do so much more rather than helping them in the first place. In order to eliminate poverty we must ask ourselves first, are we even holding each other at the same level.

Dem interwebs

What happened to society where there was 1 band that everyone cared about? Did we lose something along the way? I can sit here and name bands that people used to care about: Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Journey, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses and Metallica. After that you did have Linkin Park but they were on the downward spiral. If you asked 10 people what the band or act that everyone was talking about right now you would get 11 different answers. Did society change or is it the internet that changed us? Maybe to me, since when I was born there was no internet, I feel that the internet has helped us in as many ways as it has harmed us. I used to get this feeling of excitement when a friend or I would get the new cd from whoever was popular at the time and that was a big deal. Hell I even remember having to camp out for concert tickets. What could be better than hanging out all night with a bunch of people you don’t know but having a common interest in say Metallica? To today’s youth waiting all night to run into Ticketmaster to be the first to get concert tickets might sound insane but if given the choice I would do it all over again. To me there is just something special about having to go out to experience a new band first. It’s a kind of intimacy that’s lacking today. Now you can go right on iTunes and buy whatever you want and it’s in your iPod instantly. But is it?

should parents discipline/hit their kids?

have you ever seen a kid in the street and though to yourself, if i was his/her parent i would smack that kid in the head? well i have.
some kids are really annoying, and i think its up to the parents to discipline their children so they would not act inappropriately. even though some parents consider themselves as good parents who would no lay one finger on their kid, however this is the opposite of being a good parent. a child should have some fear of their parents, and they should know the consequences of doing something wrong.
i don't mean beat down your children so they would fear you, i am suggesting that when your kids do something wrong, they should know that if they do it again, they will get in trouble for it. many parents these days use methods like grounding, or taking the fun away from the kids when they do something bad, but this has only short term affect, because they will eventually get their fun activities back, and they would eventually have their fun after they get grounded.
however instead of grounding a kid, or taking their video games away. if the parents would hit their kids, it would be much easier. and the kids would know not to do those things again.
hitting kids is very popular in the middles eastern countries, and believe me, it works. parents choose to discipline their child from the age that the child understand whats right and whats wrong. so roughly between the ages of 7 and 13 the child should get this kinds of punishment.
some people think that the child would hold grudges against their parents, but this is not true. i was raised this way, and i don't hold any grudges... because if my child did the stuff i did.. i would do the same thing as my parents did to me, and i would discipline my kid the right way...
so i believe the best way to raise your kids is to discipline them, so they would learn whats right and whats wrong.

Healthy vs. Unhealthy - Our Food Choices

The country's recent attention on child and adult obesity in this country has again put the conversation on our food choices.  A recent video online showed the aging process of McDonald's food over a 6 month period in open air.  The burger and fries showed no aging or molding like food usually age. Another example is last month egg scare, where several harmful bacteria was discovered in regular eggs, causing a sickness and a recall on eggs.  The food processing and fast food industry no longer take our families health in mind when preparing our food.  The bottom line is all that matters in many of the corporations responsible for feeding America.  A new sandwich at KFC raised eyebrows when it was introduced as a sandwich between two pieces of chicken instead of bread, along with strips of bacon and eggs.  This sandwich is a best seller at KFC.  The increase of heart disease, kidney failure and other illness claiming the lives of Americans are directly related to the food we choose to eat.

The other choice is Healthy foods ,the healthy food is more expensive but very good for our health. The availability of  Organic foods and healthier food options is  becoming more accessible.  Fast food restaurants such as Subway and Panara Bread is popular for it’s healthy choices.  Families are becoming more health wise about there kids school lunch and snacking options.  Even McDonalds are adding some healthy options to the adult and kids menu.  The first lady Michelle Obama primary initiative is battling childhood obesity.  The awareness in this country is becoming more health conscious. The cost in money and health of the two healthy and unhealthy foods can be seen as a pay now or pay later, the healthy organic cost more now but the unhealthy choice can cost you your life in the long run.

Trust: Our Story

I'm the kind of person who doesn't put anything past ANYONE. People these days are liable to do anything. Say one thing and do another. I cant stand people like that! Its often said "I'm real, I keep shit 100." Lies! Lets face it, we've all told a lie one way or another. I know Ive had my fair share of them. While I'm not proud it, Ive learned from my mistakes and its enabled me to grow as a person.

Here's a story. I met my boyfriend Derek three years ago. We didn't initially fall in love and have the fairy tale relationship. For a while, he just wanted what I could do for him it seems although he said he had always loved me. I knew I wasn't the only girl Derek was seeing but it was something about him the kept me involved with him. Although this made me uneasy, I had this huge respect for him because he was always honest and upfront about what he did when it came to another female and I admired that. Now, its obvious that I had the choice to stay involved or leave but the mystery of him kept me hanging on. About a year after we met, Derek started coming around more and eventually decided he wanted me for the rest of his life. I didn't commit to him right away because I knew of his past but I did. So, one morning when Derek got off work. he decided he wanted to come see me and he did. I cooked us breakfast and he went to sleep. That ole' thing called womans intuition came knocking and I let her in; I looked in Derek's cell phone and read his messages. Big mistake. They always say don't go looking for something if you don't want your feelings hurt. I saw messages that he sent one girl Crystal* and messages he sent his ex Jada*, the same ex he claim he left alone from me. Now you could imagine my shock because Derek pleaded with me to be with him. I woke his ass up and told him to get out. Now, I know I betrayed his trust by going through his phone but when that womans intuition came, she came full force. Besides, I already felt something was being said that was inappropriate. The trust I had in him was shot! Now I have a question for you and think carefully. If you know for sure that something wrong is being done by your bf or gf, can you really say that you don't trust them and get upset when you find out? My answer is no. If you already knew, then you obviously didn't trust them anyway. Especially if its early on in the relationship.

Prior to committing to Derek, I had been involved with a guy. Derek was well aware of this guy. He asked me time and time again if I had been with him and I always told him no. Eventually I would have to tell him the truth and I did. It hurt him and it hurt our relationship. Both of our credibility was shot as far as we were concerned. He didnt believe anything I said and I didnt believe shit that came out of his mouth. We broke up. Eventually we talked and decided we loved each other and wanted to make it work; that we were going to do everything we could to see it through and we did. Now, we have a relationship like no other. He did everything he could to make sure the same mistakes didnt happen again and so did I and Im working on loving him the way he deserves because he does the same exact for me. Im treated with respect and love everyday and that means the world to me. He's changed alot, not only for himself but for me as well. I didnt write this for you all to he critical of me or my relationship. I wrote it to prove a point and my point is this: Even after trust is broken, be it by one party or both, it can be healed and re-gained. You just have to put it in your mind and stick to the plan. After all, when you meet the person you want to spend your life with, love knows no boundries.

Too Young To Be A Parent

I remember as a teenager, my parents would talk to me about sex, getting pregnant and how I wasn’t ready for it. When I got married at the age of 18 their attitudes completely changed and there was a sudden need for them to have grandchildren immediately. Here I am, four years later and still without child, and my family makes it seem as if somehow I’ve been putting them through agonizing pain. Why is there so much pressure placed on young women to have children in their early 20’s? I understand that there’s a biological clock ticking away, but when I see a gossip magazines featuring another 40 year old actress that had just given birth, it makes me wonder why there is still so much pressure put on those who just aren’t ready yet.

Raising a child takes a lot of time, energy and money. It’s not surprising that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported 700,000 children being in foster care in 2009. Too many times do we hear of or see pregnant women who are struggling to pay for rent, smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, or can’t seem to make a relationship last for longer than a few weeks. Being ready doesn’t mean giving up on life, but raising a child takes a lot of hard work and discipline, so of course there should be many factors to consider. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child is close to a quarter of a million dollars up, until the age of 18. Most young women in their early 20’s are just starting to take on their own financial responsibilities and haven’t established a career at this point. Aside from financial stress, transitioning into adulthood can be stressful in itself and confusing. This should be the time to have fun, make mistakes and discover new things, including one’s true identity.

In my opinion, no woman should be rushed into such a huge commitment as having a child, until she feels she is financially, emotionally, and physically ready to have a child.

Muslim For 30 Days

Earlier this week, I watched a show called 30 Days. The show is made by someone named Morgan Spurlock. He put himself or other people, in an unfamiliar situation for 30 days to experience life from a difference perspective. The show that I saw was called Muslim for 30 days where a christian family man went to live with a Muslim family. Before he left for the airport, he had to dress like a Muslim man and follow every aspect of the culture including growing a beard and studying the Koran daily. He experienced discrimination starting at the airport where he was stopped and searched and had to endure constant stares during the whole experiment.

while watching this show, I realized that Americans have a lot of misconceptions about the Muslim culture. Some Americans have this preconceived notion that all Muslims are violent and hateful but that is far from the truth. In fact, the Muslim faith is based on five pillars which are: Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Pilgrim to Mecca and Charity. The terrorists that they are often associated with are only a small percentage of Muslims whose actions are not at all condoned by the majority.

I think it is both sad and wrong that it has somehow become ok in this country, for people of Middle Eastern decent to be prosecuted. Some Americans justify this behavior by using the unfortunate events of 9/11. Hitler along with his Army, persecuted Jews and killed hundreds of thousands of them. African Americans were used as slaved, lynched and discriminated against by White people for many years. Jews and African Americans realized that the unspeakable acts of the few are not a reflection of the race as a whole so why can't Americans do the same?

The aspect of religion has also been brought into the picture because the terrorist claim to do it in the name of Allah. There have been several people in the United States in the past that have killed supposedly in the name of religion. Saying that god told them to do it. In those instances, people saw the perpetrators as crazy and would never think to persecute all Christians because of it.

The fact of the matter is that we don't choose where we are born or what people from our country do. People should think a little more for themselves and think about how their actions effect others.

Dog Killer Police

Starting about two summers ago, I had a job at a law firm where my main responsibility was digitally archiving closed cases. Several of the cases involved police brutality. After reading several gruesome scenarios in which people had been beaten and beaten to death by police, I asked my boss more questions about the cases. He often noted that those were the hardest cases to win.

Incidents such as the Rodney King beating, the murder of Amadou Diallo, and several senselessly violent SWAT raids have brought the issue of police brutality to the table of discussion. While cases of police beating people absolutely still occur, police departments try to maintain good reputations by learning from the lessons because of well publicized mishaps. Citizen watchdog group Cop Watch serves as a way to report police misconduct. But one issue remains unchanged and largely unspoken: that police are killing dogs.

I first began to realize this problem in the summer of 2008 when the mayor of my neighboring town, Berwyn Height, MD, had his dogs killed in a SWAT raid. A package of marijuana was shipped to his address, but it was supposed to be intercepted by a drug dealer long before it had arrived in Maryland. Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson did a very poor investigation and ordered a no knock warrant for a raid of mayor Chavo's house. They did not realize that he was the mayor, they did not realize that his 80 year old mother was home, and they did not realize that the marijuana was not supposed to arrive at his house anyways. The first thing the officers did upon entering was gun down the mayors dog and throw his mother on the floor, in handcuffs.

Only a few short months ago, I read a story of a SWAT raid in Missouri that was all to similar. Police produced a search warrant for a man suspected of selling marijuana. They waited a week to carry out the operation and failed to do any further research before doing so. They busted in at night, when the mans 7 year old child was asleep in the house. They shot the family dog before searching the house, only to find "less than a gram" of marijuana.

And again, just last month a cop shot a woman's pitbull and threw it down a staircase because it had a minor altercation with another woman's dog. The department offered no apology. Why has our "tough-on-crime" trend in this country grown to the point that cops can bust into anyones house and kill their dogs? It is inhumane, it is unjust, and it happens more and more every year. Police departments and officers must be able to be held accountable for the murders they commit.

The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest covers billions of acres and is home to millions of species and resources that help shape the world as we know it. Thousands of acres are destroyed each year to make room for the expansion of farmland so Brazil can increase its beef export. For every 1/4 pound of meat that comes from the Amazon, 55 acres were destroyed. The Amazon used to be the biggest most vivacious rainforest in the world but has rapidly started losing its size and species due to many causes. Many farmers are poor and will do anything to expand their land to help export more meat and make a better living. They get land that is usually given to them by the government, then they strip the land of trees and burn the rest. Did you know there is a difference between a man made fire and one that occurs naturally and how it affects the rainforest? Natural fires do strip the ground, shrubbery and small trees, but they do not normally grow big enough to destroy the canopies and vines, which are home to several thousands of the Amazon species. Man made fires on the other hand are usually fueled with gas and other flammable things, and grow huge in size and typically get out of hand and burn more rainforest then necessary. What do you think we can do to help protect the rainforest?

Role Model?

Young teens always grow up with someone they look up to whether it being a good role model or bad. Unfortunately there are some bad role models out there.Vanessa Hudgens being humans and making dumb choices like sending naked pictures out to someone and them getting out for the world to view (which the world cares more about than anyone regular everyday person..because they are famous). Or like Micheal Philps smoking weed. These role models that americans want there children looking up to may not be the greatest thing.

The picture on the right is a picture of Miley Cyrus at one of her concert in a very provocative outfit. Allowing young teens to see this makes them want to dress like that. Young people have sponges for brains and so they take in everything. Teens wanting to fit in so much that they will do anything to fit in and they see that people liked how Miley dressed then they will want to dress like that. Espically if their role models made them want to dress like that. This is too young and they should not be exposed of this until they are mature and can have their own mind. If you want to dress provocative when you get older and more mature then go for it but I do not think children should dress less and show body parts that are not even there. I do not believe they should dress that way period.

Children are being exposed to things that should not yet even be a problem in life. They should be able to be kids and have friends and not have to dress a certain way in order to get friends. They should not be forced into wearing barely any clothes and have creepy old men or women stare at them when they are too young(This causes many other things like rape etc.). Not only is it the clothing it is how the role models act. Like the famous saying...Actions speak louder than words. If children see how one popular actor or actress is acting then they want to be just like them and be liked by all just like the actors are liked. This may be bad because of the certain actions and movies that are out for young adults now. Role models should be more aware of how they come off across kids.

Tattoos

I'm going to start off by saying I am not against tattoo's. In fact I love tattoo's. I have one on my back and planning on getting at least 2-3 more. I'm getting a frog jumping off a daisy flower. The frog will have a halo on it. This is to always remember my sister Daisy, she loved frogs, that passed away 2 years ago from a stroke. They are a great way to express yourself, or show the people around you something that is special to you. Jose or "Moreno" as everyone calls him is a tattoo artist.

He says that most people that come to the shop where he works get a tattoo because it means something special to them and because the person wants to express how they feel about life. Although all this can be true tattoos also carry consequences. Although tattoos are an artwork and most of the time have a special meaning to the person it also carries several risks. One of the risk are that the ink put into your body carry pigments. The pigments in the ink are carcinogens according to The Dangerous Art of the Tattoo by Bernadine Healy.

According to the Red Cross a person is unable to donate blood to anyone, if you have received a tattoo in the past 12 months. This doesn't affect you directly but can greatly hurt a love one that happens to have your same blood type and is in need of blood. Although this happens on rare occasions it is a possibility. There are also diseases such as hepatitis which can kill you according to Body Piercing and Tattooing: The Hidden Dangerous of Art Work.

If you ever decide to get a tattoo make sure they are using new needle's and unused ink. This will prevent you from Hepatitis, HIV and diseases that can be transmitted with needles according to Tattooing and Body Piercing.

Also you would like to make the following questions just to make sure you won't run too many risks. Do you have a license? Does the shop follow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Universal Precautions for blood disposal? Does the shop disinfect on the workspace before and after each client? Does each artist wash his/her hands before each and other patient?

Tattoos aren't bad. They are a great way to express yourself to all the people around you, but just like everything it carries consequences. These consequences include the possibilities to many diseases like hepatitis, cancer, and HIV. Be sure the artist uses new and sterilized equipment before he starts on your tattoo to avoid any serious infections and diseases, and overall make sure that your tattoo is worth or overweighs any of these consequences.

Moreno ( Tattoo Artist)

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/living-well-usn/2008/07/25/the-dangerous-art-of-the-tattoo.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a41:g26:r13:c0.002988:b20190283:z0&s_cid=loomia:if-youre-considering-a-tattoo-read-this----------Title: The Dangerous Art of the Tattoo by Bernadine Healy.

Body Piercing and Tattooing: The Hidden Dangerous of Art Work.

Tattooing and Body Piercing.

No, I won't check your box

Why is it that every time I fill out a form theses day it asks me to check certain boxes to complete the form? I really don’t understand why we all still need to check box for race and gender. It’s 2010 and it should not be a question asked of any of us. It’s on everything, job applications, college applications, home loans, car insurance, even to apply for a food shopping card. My getting a job should be only based on whether or not I am the best candidate t for the position being filled. To be accepted at a college should be measured by my ability to perform well at that school and my academic abilities. Home loans should be approved based on my credit history, and being able to handle the amount borrowed. Car insurance based off of statistic that say young male drive crazier than females. I really don’t know why Safeway cares what race and gender I am unless they are tracking my purchases for marketing. I understand that sometimes these questions are asked because the government has special grants, and programs in place for colleges and home loans. I don’t agree with it and if we are supposed to be treated “equally” as far as race and gender, these questions should not exist.

lol =)

I am officially in love with twitter! I love to chat and exchange things with my friends. It is so easy to let them know what I'm doing without actually calling and telling them. Twitter is the best way to communicate with the people you love because you can do it publicly and privately. In January 2010 tech crunch found that found that 75 million people have visited twitter since it was created in July 2006.

Twitter is these easiest way to publish information about you. Your section of the site is completely based on what you like and the things you may value and like to share. With tools like twitpic, retweets, and trending topics; it is easy to keep in touch with your friends and yourself. "Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers"(tweeternet.com).

Twitter is good for a person like me. In it is interchangeable and you can use it for what you want. You have complete control of what happens on the website; therefoe, it give you independence of not being violated. I rarely ever give out my phone number and using this website I do not ever have to. It is an easy can common way to share with my friends without getting annoyed by their text or instant messages. Sometimes I feel like too much communicating is uncomfortable, and breaks the boundaries we try to set up naturally.
When people consider giving away information to their lives they often hesitate. I personally don’t like the idea because you can trust everyone to have the best intentions for you. So when you long into a site like Twitter, you are saying that you are willing to put yourself out there for no particular reason besides entertainment. The idea seems absurd to people who are private and never really are interested in other peoples’ lives.