Today is a historic day for Americans, as our 44th President, an African American, is sworn into office on the day after Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday. Never before has America made such a progressive choice in electing a President as they have all before this been white men from rural areas.
This is something that I feel has not been covered enough by traditional media sources. More than being an African American, Barack Obama is from the city, giving him a view that no previous President has had. Most Americans live in a somewhat urban environment today and I feel it is important to have someone representing us from this background. People from the countryside typically do not have as much experience dealing with people from different backgrounds as people who were raised in a city do.
Living in the city not only gives you more experiences as you come across more people, it also creates a better respect for your neighbors and other citizens as you are allowed to see deeper into their lives and make a more informed guess at exactly where they are coming from. People from more rural areas are generally more simple people with less of an understanding for what is going on in the world around them.
Not to say people from the country aren’t just as likely to be great leaders, it’s simply time for a change in our national point of view. After 8 years of dealing with Bush and his Texas cowboy vibe, the exact opposite is what a lot of people are needing and hoping for. Personally, I can almost not even remember a world without President Bush due to my age. There are tidbits of Clinton left in my memory, but most of it has been washed away by the torrent of filth that Bush has managed to spew in the past two terms.
It will be interesting to see if Obama can live up to the massive expectations that people have come to have for him. It’s extremely doubtful that he will do a worse job than George Bush Jr. did, but as the saying goes, “never say never.” In the coming months we will be able to gauge just how honest and compassionate Obama was about all the stuff he’s been talking up for the past year. I’ll hope for the best, but with politics I find it’s best to expect the worst.

Here’s to a great four(or eight) years!

ABC/Extreme Makeover Home Edition are doing a wonderful thing in Fresno, helping a local single mother by building her a home that fits her handicapped needs and makes her hard life more bearable. This woman is missing several limbs and has still managed to raise four kids, complete an associate’s degree, and buy her own house. ABC even went as far as to have an auction to help her pay off her old mortgage; now that’s community!
Unfortunately, it looks as though ABC/De Young Properties overlooked one major point when building this house. The new house looks like a tract home from a generic North Fresno suburban community and does not fit well at all with the style of the old neighborhood it was built in. They say they were going for a Tuscan look, at the request of the person receiving the house, but there really isn’t anything Tuscan about it.
I think they could have done a much better job if they would have made an attempt to fit the house in with the rest of the neighborhood, instead of building a modern monstrosity in its’ place. The rest of the neighborhood is one-story ranch-style homes, and this contemporary home built by EMHE simply looks out of place.
First, I think they should have put the bulk of the house on the rear of the lot, instead of putting the massive two-story section right in the front above the garage. Secondly, they should have chosen materials and colors similar to those used for the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. Right now it is painted a horrible yellow shade, and supposedly they will be changing it (most likely at the request of the offended neighbors).
What ABC/Extreme Makeover Home Edition is doing is no doubt a great thing, but with a little bit more planning on how the house would look in the neighborhood, things could have been a lot better. If I had a home on that street I would be worried, because it can only hurt the value of their homes in an already terrible housing market. Hopefully in the future they will take this into consideration and build houses that fit into their surroundings.

So it appears recently that California law was changed to require cigarettes to be “fire safe”. I found this out recently when I was wondering why I’ve had a sore throat for several weeks. After some simple google searching, it seems I am not the only one being cause health problems by these cigarettes.

All over the internet there are reports of these new cigarettes causing sore throats, headaches, fainting, nausea, stomach problems, dizziness, eye problems, and so on. This is because a new chemical was introduced into cigarettes in order to help them self-extinguish more quickly.

Unfortunately, the exact opposite effect was achieved and these new cigarettes are even more of a fire hazard than before! Lots of cigarette smokers have been burned in the past few weeks (literally and figuratively), and there are reports online of many people dropping hot embers from their cigarettes all over the place. This is primarily due to the fact that the new cigarettes are made to extinguish at a certain point, and also because this chemical causes uneven burning (canoeing/boating), turning cigarettes into a MUCH more dangerous activity(including for non smokers).

This new chemical is also said to have raised the levels of several chemicals found in cigarettes, including Carbon Monoxide, by as much as 15%. Not only is this worse for the people smoking them, but also for any second hand smokers that may be around!

It seems to be that this law was passed with almost no hindsight or followup (gee you don’t say) and the general populace is going to be the ones feeling the effects. Personally, I’ve quit smoking almost altogether because of this. I’ve been trying to quit for a while recently, but I did not want to do so after smoking a torrent of chemically enhanced cigarettes. Nothing that causes this much additional pain to the lungs/throat can be anything but horrible for the human body. Congratulations lawmakers, another fine fumble.

[DISCLAIMER: It's well known that cigarettes are unhealthy, but smoking them is a personal choice, and the government/tobacco companies should be trying to make them less unhealthy if anything, not more unhealthy.]

Fresno, CA – Prescription drugs have become a major problem in Fresno, as many valley teens turn to their parents medicine cabinets during tough economic and social times. Never has there been a time in recent history where access to prescription medications has been so easy for teenagers.

Most people think of drug abuse as something that happens on the streets and in the alleyways of the inner city, but this rash of prescription drug abuse is deeply engrained in the Northern Suburbs of Fresno.

Finding a teenager in North Fresno who doesn’t know what drugs like Oxycontin or Xanax are is somewhat of a challenge in today’s prescription drug climate, as many of them have lost friends to addiction or overdoses.

At a time when many Valley teenagers are just beginning to understand the harm that methamphetamine can bring to their lives, many feel safe abusing prescription drugs because they were made professionally and prescribed by a doctor. This unfortunately isn’t the case, as not even methamphetamine can match the addictive qualities found in high power opiates and benzodiazepines such as Oxycontin, Fentanyl, and Xanax.

The Oxycontin plight has taken the most victims recently, with hordes of valley teenagers trying to come up with ways to support this expensive habit. A single Oxycontin pill can fetch as much as $50 on the streets of North Fresno, and maintaining a daily habit at those prices has many teens turning to crime. Unfortunately, the people feeling the effects of this crime are often the addicts’ friends and family, usually the most accessible people to steal from.

Furthermore, these teens are learning terrible economic values as they try to raise their daily $50. The value of money is going down in the eyes of these individuals, and it’s easy to see why when their daily habit costs as much as a part time worker would make in a day. Instead of getting and keeping jobs, which can be hard for a drug addict, they turn to other more convenient sources of money, such as pawning family members belongings.

It’s the sad truth that many of these individuals will probably not make it to adulthood, but those that do are going to face incredible hardships trying to come back into the economic reality of things. The City of Fresno and Mayor Alan Autry have started Addicted.com to help valley teens experiencing addiction, but many believe that more is needed.

If these people’s lifestyles and morals cannot be corrected early on in the progress, we will be dealing with a wave of adult criminals in the coming years that will do anything to support their expensive habits.

The bottom line: Parents, please keep your prescription meds locked up. Your children are curious and you need to fight that curiosity through drug education (not scare tactics, actual education) and by taking precautions to keep prescription medications unavailable to your children. This is a plague affecting our lovely city, and everyone must do their part to put an end to it.  

Fresno, CA – The City of Fresno has been working hard to breathe some life into the downtown area, but with the recent failure of the Fresno Falcons the future is uncertain. The faltering economy has put a hold on much of the downtown revitalization. The 2009 Book of Lists released by the Business Journal lists the Falcons as the #6 attraction in the Fresno area, but even that was not enough to save the team.

Attendance has been somewhat limited to only the biggest fans and people who received tickets through promotions or other free means. This crowd is far from what is required for a team to be successful in a city the size of Fresno. Many local hockey fans are hoping that the Falcons will make a return, but less than a season after their return to Selland Arena, the Falcons cease to exist in Fresno.

Another hot topic is the many downtown buildings that are in the middle of restoration, including the iconic Security Bank building, which was up for sale recently for a meager $6-million. A lot of these buildings have a lot of potential, and many agree that downtown Fresno can one day be something great. Unfortunately, right now it’s looking like the economy will need to make a recovery before anymore progress is made.

Right now Fresnans, and Americans, need to be focusing more on making through the tough economic times than trying to find new ways to revitalize cities. Until Americans have money to spend and the credit crisis is relieved, getting money into the downtown area will be a task too great for the current buying power of the city of Fresno.

Many college-aged people spend their weekends and nights relaxing in the Tower District, but most of the newer trendy clubs and locations exist only in North Fresno. By bringing some more clubs to the downtown area and creating a nightlife, downtown could see a rejuvenation as people are still spending money on alcohol in times of economic distress.

The bottom line is, right now only young people are really spending money, as spending has tapered off drastically in demographics that rely on investments to provide spending power. Many local businesses have shifted their marketing model to be more hip and in touch with today’s youth. Gottschalks has especially gone this way, as traditionally many of their shoppers have been from the elderly demographic. But grandma is holding onto her pennies until this storm blows over, and the younger generation holds the key to spending through this crisis.

Hopefully the young people of Fresno can help to reunite and reinvigorate the city of Fresno.