Affirmative In-Action

It's not often that I find myself on Fox News' website. It's even less often that I find myself intrigued and in agreement with a given opinion article featured on Fox News. From my opening, I bet you could guess what I'm about to say next: I found myself on Fox News' website, and found myself agreeing with an intriguing article. I didn't surprise you there, did I?

This such article, Why I Approve of Berkeley's 'Racist' Bake Sale by John Stossel, is about a group of UC Berkeley republican students holding a "racist" bake sale as a demonstration against affirmative action in colleges in California. Stossel is a journalist that writes for several papers, including ABC and Fox. He writes to get his opinion out there to anyone that would listen. He makes an argument, and backs it with rationale behind that argument.

Stossel opens his article by stating that affirmative action is theoretically good, "a way to compensate for past discrimination," but we're in a new day-and-age where racism is relatively irrelevant. In California, especially, the races are pretty well integrated in any given community. Stossel then goes on to say, "Useful or not, affirmative action is a form of racism," and I completely agree with this. A person should be sized up by their efforts, abilities, and disabilities in life, not the color of their skin. A woman that came by Stossel's own racist bake sale was quoted saying "No race of people is worth more than another. Or less." Stossel's and the woman's lines completely embody my argument against affirmative action.

College admissions should not attempt to fill a quota of certain races in schools, but grant admission based the old fashioned way: grades, extracurriculars, etc. It's the financial aid committees that would be better suited for affirmative action efforts, not college admissions.

Army Green: Armed Forces Turning to Sustainable Energy

While living in Marin County, California, I had been brought up under the impression that the government is evil. I had been taught that an individual can make a difference in this county by going along with governmental structure, but keeping the entire concept of democracy at arms length. This is ironic because everyone in Marin are either Democrat, Green Party, or independent. As I've grown into the free thinking woman that I am becoming, I have learned that our government is run by people, and therefore imperfect. It's an ever-changing structure that molds to the societal needs. The question is not wether or not to trust our government, or wether or not it's evil, but how you can get the ball rolling to make changes that need to be made. Everyone has a voice. Women got the right to vote by coming together and demanding it. Homosexuals are getting the right to marry in several states by doing the same thing: coming together and demanding it. When it comes to "going green", however, it's much more complicated to change power structures on a large scale. On this subject, we need governmental interjections to make any difference. Our reliance on fossil fuel is extremely profitable, but in no way realistic for a sustainable future. In California, many counties are building wind turbines and writing a sustainable energy quota for any new homes being built, or even old ones remodeled. This is a good start, but larger scale operations must begin sooner than later.

So who is on the forefront of green energy in a large scale? Think about who needs consistent energy and fuel: the military. Under high pressure environments like fighting in the middle east, it's unrealistic and even dangerous to rely on fossil fuels for vehicles, equipment, and structures. According to Michael Brune's article "The Military's Clean-Energy Mission" in the Huffington Post, the Department of Energy is granting a loan to install solar panels on as many as 160,000 military housing facilities. Back in California, the Los Angeles Air Force Base will be the "first federal facility to replace 100% of its general purpose fleet with plug-in electric vehicles." LA AFB, like much of the greater LA area, is implementing a solar panel grid, and cutting energy usage by staggering amounts, so even in recharging electric vehicles, "dirty energy" can and will be avoided. Electric vehicles, solar power, wind-turbines, and water power were all concepts I grew up with and got to know well as a child. Though I'm thrilled these alternatives are beginning to hit the mainstream, I also can't help but think, so what? This should have happened a long time ago. One thing I've always been uncomfortable with is the fuel usage by airplanes. The Air Force and Navy have got this covered (almost): some planes are already running on 50% biofules. These biofules, camelina seed and algea, are nonfood crops, so they wouldn't displace farming food crops.

The US armed forces aren't switching to alternatives just for an image adjustment. The change is entirely necessary for them, and will soon become direly necessary for the rest of us. Electricity prices will rise - my house of 3 people just got an electric bill of $240, and I'm not sure I can afford to pay that each month. We need more availability of solar panels; we're in Texas, for goodness sake. Today was the first day since I've moved here that I've seen a cloud in the sky. Fuel prices will rise. We need solar powered fuel stations with electric vehicle plug-in availability. We need more universal public transportation. There's a stigma for riding the bus in Austin that needs to stop. It can be a money saver for any income, but we need better route coverage and a more user-friendly scheduling. We need all these things and more to finally rid ourselves of fossil fuel usage.

I've been spoiled by California.