Gung-ho cowboys shoot from the hip with a freshly-rolled cigarette seeping from the corner of their mouths. Barrels are loaded and heads covered with a ten-gallon hat.

The lassoing of big business, Christian extremists screaming anti-gay remarks and fracking things up.

Children sit at the same podium preaching peace, love and progression. They sway back and forth with tambourines, flutes and ukuleles.

“Relent your guns,” they say, “and your 32 oz. sodas.”

This is in accordance with the New York ban on the 32 oz. soda, a staple of the American diet.

For years, I’ve regurgitated the same “vote or die” bulls— spiel to my mother.

“The founders of this country fought for our rights, you unpatriotic jerk,” I’ve told her.

However, at the all-knowing age of 19 and with a presidential election coming up, I’ve finally realized my lack of enthusiasm in democracy.

The democratic process may be filled with educated and intuitive voters, but I’ve met very few people in general who fit this description.

In reality—and to the demise of my sanity—the same people, who can’t get my order right at the drive-thru are also given the right to vote. People I wouldn’t trust with a turd…» Read More

“Football is back, you bet.” – Al Michaels.

As many know, the NFL has returned for its 2012 season. Let’s look ahead to the upcoming season. I’ll start with the division represented by the Lombardi Trophy winners from last season.

The NFC East consists of defending champions New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles. My favorite to win this division, even after an ugly loss to rival Cowboys, is the Giants. I like their defense and think Eli Manning has proven to be a top five quarterback. I see this division being very close, and although Dallas added a couple top-notch cornerbacks, they aren’t the headline here.

What to Watch:  Redskins starting quarterback and former Heisman trophy winner from Baylor, Robert Griffin III.

Now I’ll move to the AFC East. This division contains the New England Patriots, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. I, as well as many others have a clear-cut favorite: the Patriots. The opposition pretty much consists of Jets fans, Jets players and Jets’ head coach Rex Ryan. With Tom Brady still playing and Bill Belichick still coaching, it sounds like the ninth AFC East title in 10 years to me.

What…» Read More

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On Sept. 11, 2001 many of us woke up with not much on our minds except what our plans were for that day or what we would eat for breakfast. Yet no one knew that the country would forever be changed.

In the coming weeks, months and years—it’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years since the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the plane that went down in Pennsylvania.

The weeks, months and years to come have proved a difference in the way people think, interact with one another, and view America as a country. For many of us, fears of further attacks turned into sadness, sadness turned into anger and anger turned into a desire for revenge. Regardless, of the feelings people hold for those who committed the attacks, one thing is for sure, America became a closer nation on that tragic day.

A lot of Americans learned the true meaning behind the word: freedom. The most important thing to remember today and forever is to honor those who gave their lives to uphold that meaning. We should honor and remember not only the victims, but the brave men and women of the New York…» Read More

During an interview for The Jaco Report on Fox 2 (KTVI) on Aug. 19 in St. Louis Mo., Republican Congressman Todd Akin uttered one of the most ignorant and insensitive statements by a politician and set off a national media frenzy.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [rape related pregnancy] is really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

What is most disheartening about Akin’s beliefs on rape is that his use of the word “legitimate” to characterize rape reveals that he, like many others, is quick to attack the victim and question the validity of their claim.

According to a study performed by the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology in 1996, an estimated 5 percent of rape victims, or 32,101 women, will end up pregnant as a result of being raped in the United States of America.

It is hard to decide which is more disgusting: that an estimated 32,201 women are victims of rape-related pregnancies each year, or that this number represents only 5 percent of the total number of women victimized by rape in the US annually.

Not only…» Read More

I have spent the past two-and-one-half years at City College, and though I truly treasure my experiences here, friendships I’ve made, teachers I’ve gotten to know and the plethora of knowledge I’ve obtained, it’s time to move on.

It’s a mixture of excitement and dread all at once, every ounce of work you’ve put into obtaining that AA degree or getting good grades has led up to this one defining moment: transferring.

I applied to several schools and was accepted as a double major in psychology and journalism at several schools. Many schools were impacted, didn’t suit me financially or didn’t have all the elements I was looking for in both learning departments. Believe it or not, I settled on Sacramento State University and will be attending in the fall of this year with an AA degree in psychology in hand.

The last time I made an appointment with a random City College counselor was over a year ago. I made sure that we had a game plan of what I needed to do to before I transferred. I didn’t want to keep going back.

The following are suggestions I gathered from my experience for those of you who plan…» Read More

A few points of contention regarding the May 1st editorial:  So, what this article is glossing over is the fact that since Obama took office, funding for education has decreased. There are no sharp barbs for the president and democrats who allowed this to happen while they held power with two out of three government branches for two years (2008-10). What was mentioned is that Republicans have a majority in the house of reps, which would lead me to believe that the GOP was complicit in the education cuts and that they forced Obama’s hand in making them. There is blame to go around for our government’s failing, to omit the Democrats while naming Republicans as part of this problem’s genesis is a little depressing to me. Its not hard to imagine why though, Republicans are such an easy target for California college students with leftist sympathies. In the same paragraph you say that its important for the less fortunate to obtain a higher education to compete in the workforce. This is true, however, how much would the value of higher education be worth if everyone took part? Its the exclusivity of the club that brings on the perks. I…» Read More

City College students have seen fees almost double in the last two years while financial aid has become increasingly more difficult to obtain, forcing many more students to turn to student loans to struggle even more to pay their way through college.

According to Robert Applebaum, founder of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com, student loan debt has fi nally exceeded $1 trillion, while the cost of higher education has grown more than 800 percent since 1980 and continues to do so. This is why Applebaum is advocating for the government to pass legislation—HR 4170: Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012—to forgive student loan debt for qualified individuals and to cap interest rates at 3.4 percent.

Last week President Barack Obama went on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to “slow jam the news” and inform the public that interest rates are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, burdening an already overextended portion of the populous.

“I’ve called on Congress to prevent this from happening,” slow-jammed Obama. “Now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people.”

Why shouldn’t the government pass legislation that will put more money back in the hands of hardworking people struggling to pay back…» Read More

My boyfriend and I were throwing away our old vacuum a couple of weeks ago, and he had to coax me into not putting it out on the street with the trash. He said, “Why don’t you let me take it to the Goodwill for donation?” I had to think before I said okay. I assumed someone would come along and pick it up, someone who needed a vacuum. Sometimes I forget everyone doesn’t go through garbage like I do. Though my boyfriend convinced me to donate it, some part of me thinks the vacuum would have disappeared had we left it out on the curb, in the hours before the trash-men came.

My favorite Teflon-coated purple pans came from the trash. I look around the apartment and note everything I see that came from a Dumpster: the glass Corningware, two of the four lamps, the art on the wall, one of the potted plants, one of the pots, a table, hangers, the rugs, the cat’s litter box, the garbage can with a swinging lid, the Walkman and radio, the manila folders used to file paperwork in the accordion binder, the various pens, sticky notes, paper clips and rubber bands…» Read More

When it comes to getting your daily dose of veggies and fruit, do you go to the standard grocery store or the musty, crowded encampment of Wal-mart? What about one-of-a-kind arts, crafts, and knick-knacks made from local artists and antique collectors?

Why, I must ask then, would you go anywhere else in Sacramento when we have such a diverse, colorful and abundant number of farmers’ and flea markets where you can get servings of all kinds of healthy, cultural and affordable food, among many other things?

There are more than 10 farmer’s markets in Sacramento alone, not including the gigantic Denio’s Farmers Market and Swap Meet in Roseville. Being surrounded by farmland is a plus for us Sacramentans, for we have true green-thumbed beings just down the road that bring their products to us. So why not take advantage of this, especially since we’re poor, struggling college students?

If you live downtown, on Wednesdays you can mosey on over to Caesar Chavez Park (10th and J streets) for an early morning roundup of farm fresh products that will leave your pocket full and your stomach even fuller. Between May and October from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. around the fountain…» Read More