CSUMB Internships

I am really disappointed in the way this particular University Administrators and Staff perceive students who are not deemed the norm--what I mean by that they are not the traditional student--for one they are over 25 yrs of age and they made the conscience choice to return back to school to either finish their degree or to update it because their job's demanded it. The Administrators on this campus say that any student can apply for any internship position but in fact sure they can that doesn't necessarily mean they will get it--mostly because we are not the type of student that CSUMB wants representing it. In other words we have very strong opinions on how school systems and even on how government should or should not be run by our government leaders. We've experienced things that most 20-30 yrs olds have not yet imagined and considering that we are on our last leg--meaning that we don't have as many good years ahead of us as a 20 yr old does and considering that the traditional students are seen as our future leaders they are the only ones chosen for these prestigous internships.
I have numerous of years of experience in both leadership, volunteer and work, but aside from all that I am quite eager to take on any task asked of me. Sure I'm 52 but my age should not be a factor nor should the fact that I am married, my children are all grown and married and my husband is very supportive of any decision I make to futher my educational dreams.
So why is it year after year that I have applied for the Panetta Congressional Internship it has always gone to a student who by their own account has had no past leadership, and not much volunteer or work experience get the position. You guys might find it hard to believe it really itsn't what you know or do but more on the line of who you know that will get you into the internships or jobs of your choice in life.
This invaluable lesson has been a hard one for me to learn, simply because I try to believe that all people have some good in them and they see the person who they are and what they have accomplished and not based upon their age or how it will appear to the outside world if they sent a much older student to represent CSUMB.
But we will see how this process proceeds this year, considering some of the people that I have interviewed with in the past are no longer here, will I again get selected from all the applicants as one of the final three to be interviewed or will I not be selected to the final three and if I am selected as one of the final three--will I be selected as next year's 09-10 Panetta Congressional Intern to represent CSUMB--I doubt it!

Obama orders review of New York City flyover

The other day some idiot from or within the military decided it would be a good idea to have Air Force One fly extremely low over New York City and while they were at it to have the plane followed by a jet--supposedly to do a photo op in regards to the Presidential aircraft. If I was a citizen of New York--my first thoughts would be that some other high rise building was going to be hit like the Twin Towers had been in 2001. According to the story the director of the White House Military office, Louis Caldera on Monday had official taken responsibility for the incident.
You guys will forgive me for calling this person an idiot, but what would ever make this person think this idea was a good idea to do, considering how we as Americans feel about 9/11--in regards to low-flying airplanes. So how did this story affect you or how did it make you feel about lack of respect for those families who lost loved ones in 9/11. In a time where there is a very real lack of economic security, was it especially a good idea to spend money so wastefully by a low-flying photo op with Air Force One.
In the story one person stated this "Gibbs said that the review would likely take about a week or so to complete. He said he would have to confer with White House lawyers before answering a question about whether the results would be made public." What I want to know is how you guys feel about why it necessarily needs to take a week to find out why this occurred and do you all feel that the report for the reasons should or should not be made public. Isn't this one of those cases in which our Federal Government should not be allowed to use some guise as not to report why these kinds of mistakes are made by public officials? Also, why do they need to ask an attorney if they can report such incidents to the general population especially the population of New York City, where the incident occurred?

Autism Awareness

So how many of you are aware that April 2nd was Autism Awareness Day and April is Autism Awareness Month! This subject is very dear to my heart as I have two grandchildren with Autism. My youngest granddaughter has some form of Asperger Autism and my oldest grandson has the characteristics of Asperger Autism. Doctors believe that in some instances where there are more than one child showing signs of having this particular type of Autism it is genetic. We have yet to find the link that connects the genetics from either me or one of my parents to my grandchildren.

Here is some basic information about Asperger syndrome that I thought might interest you guys and did you know that 1 out of every 150 children will be diagnosed with some form of Autism or will be Autistic. Down below I have included several sites one can go to get more information or to volunteer at an Autism event.

Asperger syndrome (also called Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's disorder, Asperger's or AS) is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and people with AS therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction and restricted, stereotyped patterns of behavior and interests. AS differs from other ASDs by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development. Although not mentioned in standard diagnostic criteria, physical clumsiness and atypical use of language are frequently reported.[1][2]
Asperger syndrome is named after Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger who, in 1944, described children in his practice who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy
Resources/Links
· Wikipedia Entry
· Autism Society of America
· Autism Research Institute

Obama's and Cuba

I was really glad to see that President Obama was keeping in part to his word about lifting some of the travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans who wanted to travel back and forth from the US to Cuba more than once every three years. The Bush administration as the well as the previous administrations have not allowed Cuban-Americans to visit their family members much less send American dollars home to help their love ones their.
I am glad to see that we finally have a President in office that has some brains (and that's not the word I wanted to use) and has figured out that Cuba and Fidel and Raul Castro are not out to destroy or bomb the US and that the Cuban people should not be punished for what Fidel Castro did in the very beginning of his Presidency in Cuba and 50 years have passed and President Obama realizes that if we are to rebuild the United States to it's rightful glory as the #1 super power country we must be willing to build bridges between those countries that according to past leaders would be willing to do the US harm. Cuba has not shown in the past 50 years that it was going to every bomb the United States, no I'm not saying that if they had not had the assistance of other countries and the necessary equipment that it wouldn't have made an attempt to bomb us and I'm sure they tried when Fidel was President, but realise I don't believe Fidel ever got his ideas off the planning stages into the development stages. Of course I haven't done the entire research--I'm just basing my assumptions on what I have read so far and what I haven't seen Castro and Cuba do in the last 50 years--realize I am 52 years old so I have been around while.
Again, I am just glad that the travel restrictions have been lifted in regards to American, Cuban-Americans traveling back and forth to Cuba is now gone.

pornography!!!!

Last week we discussed a very heated topic PORNOGRAPHY! We discussed and debated whether or not this should be protected under the 1st Amendment right. Again maybe it's just because I am much older that I have a different view point than everyone else in class did. I just don't get it, why men in general and somewhere studies show that men are usually the culprits who develop and go to see adult/child pornography. I poised that particular question to all three of my brothers-two of my brothers are in their mid-forties and the other is nearly 60; they all had the same view point--that as long as what they were viewing had or did no physical impact upon the two consent adults this type of porn should be protected under the 1st Amendment, but they all agreed that when it came to anyone abusing a child no matter the child's age, because as one of my brother's put it-even a teenager under the age of 18 his/her mental cognitive understanding is still developing and any type of porn having to do with children/teenagers up to age 18 should not be protected under the 1st Amendment.
I don't know how many of you ever watch the Oprah show, but on Monday's show they had a segment about child pornography in Florida and they raid the home of man they believed to not only be distributing but also downloading child pornography, after the police and the ATF had gone in and raid the home they realized the man was not the one downloading the porn but it was his 17 or 18 year old high school son. But that alone is not distubing what brothered me was that they released the young man--told him he'd be schooled in other location away from other children, but they allowed him to go back home in which he had younger brothers and sisters living in the home--that makes no sense to whatever. Believe me if I had been this boy's parent I certainly would not have allowed him back into my home, especially if I had younger children--considering the degree of the pornography they found on this young man's computers and he had several computers and the porn was not only graphic but very explicit and disgusting even to listen to. The police described on the Oprah show what this man was viewing and downloading to sell--but I don't know about you--I wouldn't want to see a child of age 10 girl or boy having sex with animal of anykind --that's the kind of stuff he had on his computers.
My question to you--is since doctors, psychartist and others say that the brain of child does not finish developing until after he turns age 18 and since I'm not sure if he was 17 or 18 when arrested. Should this young man be held accountable for his actions--since in today's society doctors like Dr. Phil say that the brain does not complete it's cognitive development until after age 18--I believe that's what I heard him say on his show one day. Should he be protected under the 1st amendment because technically his is not really an adult or should he be found guilty and be labeled a sex offender?

WalMart Crisis!

Well at least according to some students on campus there seems to some type of crisis concerning how the employees of Walmart are or are not being treated. I for one who just happens to shop at Walmart out of necessity, have spoken to several of Walmarts employees and just like any retail employee their are things that corporation/executives do that will not agree with every employee, even the one's I talked to and with whom I am friends with. Don't get me wrong I am in no favor of the practices Walmart has in regards to it's overseas employment practices but K-mart, Sears, Khols and every other major retail dept store use the same practices its just not so wildly heard about.
You must also take with a grain of salt--everything that it written over the net--look deeper at why the person is on the net complaining about Walmart--what happened to make this person so disagreeable with Walmart. Did this employee do something he/she wasn't suppose to do and they got caught and then fired. There's always two sides to every story written on the net.
According to my friends that work for walmart they don't dislike walmart or its practices but in today's economy having a job with some health benefits is better than having no job with no health benefits at all.

Giving the LIFE of Blood!

I don't know if you all watched the show called, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" episode featuring Lizzie when it aired on SUNDAY, MARCH 22, on the ABC Television Network. The story line was about a young fourteen year old girl named Lizzie Bell and she depends on these regular blood transfusions for her survival. The show worked with the American Red Cross across America to raise awareness about the need for people to donate blood, because according to the stats on average, 39,000 blood donations are needed each day across the United States to treat injuries and illnesses. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" chose Lizzie and her family to be the lucky recipients of a brand new home to honor the young hero and to shine a spotlight on the importance of ongoing blood donation.

Some general information about blood donations that you might not know and then of course there's the info on how to get in touch with the Red Cross and so that if you decide to donate you can do so.
About the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization -- not a government agency -- and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at www.redcrosschat.org.


For more information or to make an appointment to give blood, please call
1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543) or visit givelife.org.