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Story by Katrina Van Loan

To the observant, it seems that there are some serious issues with the current trend of cutting funding to social programs in order to whittle down America’s bloated budget deficit.

One of these issues is continuing homelessness, and the shameful abandonment of our mentally ill citizens on the streets. When Ronald Reagan de-institutionalized thousands of mentally ill patients, he essentially abandoned them to wander the streets or eke out an existence in subsidized housing without the care their illness demanded. Regardless of the gravity and the utter wrongness of this situation, mentally ill people are still not receiving the care they need, not only in California, but across the entire country.

Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported hundreds of sick mental patients living in squalor in the city, largely ignored by the community and authority figures.

Despite continued media coverage of this disgraceful matter, one of the largest problems with the way San Francisco (and indeed, the entire Bay Area) treats its homeless population and mentally ill continues to be the lack of care available for them. Although Gavin Newsom’s “Care not Cash” program has a few good points, it’s still just another bandage on an open wound. To treat this open wound, we need to addess the underlying problems, not the symptoms. This means ponying up the necessary cash for social programs designed to help homeless people get back on track, it means building a few less bombs in order to build a few more shelters, and it requires looking inward at our own social problems rather than concentrating fearfully on foreign events.

As citizens, we need to continue to inform ourselves of current issues and we need to have the critical reasoning to look at all sides of every problem, as well as maintaining a balance between “what’s current” and “what’s not.” This means taking a good hard look at domestic issues, and it means not putting the image of that drooling, vacant bag woman you just passed out of your mind in favor of worrying about whatever foreign issue is on the newspaper’s front page today.

While I have nothing against supporting our troops, what about supporting our homeless? What about supporting the unsupervised mentally ill? Why are there no special ribbons on display to raise awareness of the lack of funding for abandoned mentally sick people, for families living on the streets? With this week marking the third anniversary of the Iraq war, it’s embarassing that our country spends so much money on foreign issues and so little on helping its own citizens.

Story by Belinda Wong

Why should gay couples be allowed to adopt?

The real question is: WHY THE HELL NOT?

George Niederauer , the new archbishop of San Francisco, announced that "placing children with gay couples conflicted with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church," following a statement by former SF archbishop William Levada who said he "does not believe Catholic organizations should place children for adoption in gay households."

Those Catholics have gone nuts. Or should I say, us Catholics.

Yes - I'm a "Catholic," but more in title than in actual practice. I went to Catholic school, wore my horrid green plaid jumper, prayed before meals and went to church every Sunday - the whole nine yards. But that definitely does not mean that I condone or accept its beliefs and rules whole-heartedly…especially when it comes to things like this.

For a religion based on the principles of love and respect, we sure do have a lot of hate. We hate abortion, birth control and premarital sex. Heck - we even hate rock and roll.

But the big "no-no"? Homosexuality. An even bigger "no-no"? Homosexuals having children.

But what makes a good parent? Trust, patience, compassion? I don't believe any of those are gender or orientation-specific.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously condemned Levada’s statement as “discriminatory and defamatory.” There is nothing inherently superior about the ability of straight couples to raise children. Good parenting is not dependent on sexual orientation, but on the ability to maintain a loving and supportive environment.

Some may argue that homosexual partners simply cannot provide the stability that married heterosexual couples can give, and that such an upbringing can subject the child to ridicule by his or her peers, leading to lifelong detrimental effects on their self-esteem and worth. But that can be said about almost anything: the kid who had glasses, or the kid who had an alcoholic father, or the kid who dressed differently, or the kid with the retarded sibling.

We need to get our priorities straight.

According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 127,000 children in the public child welfare system are waiting to be adopted. With a shortage of adoptive and foster parents in the United States, isn't it more important that we find these children loving homes than to waste our time and energy trying to prevent able couples from having a family?

Maybe our society just isn't ready for this kind of unconventionalism. In an ideal situation, people would be more accepting and could abide by the standards of equality that our country apparently prides itself on. But just because we don't live in a perfect world doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for it.

See The Examiner Article

Story by Mark Howell

A huge part of San Francisco's Japantown is up for sale and it already has a potential buyer. The buyer is an family-run company based out of Southern California called 3D Investments. After 40 years of ownership, Kintetsu Enterprises of America is finally calling it quits and selling its properties to an American Industry. A deal between these two industries can happen in the next two months.

The plan to sell the properties, which is two hotels and the only two malls in Japantown, does not go well with the Japantown community. In a story I did for my news bureau class, many of the residents of Japantown had some trust issues with the new buyers. Residents were told by the city of San Francisco that the potential buyers will keep the Japanese culture theme going around the community, but the residents aren't buying it. During my interviews with some residents, I was told that this same situation happend 60 years ago before the Japanese were interned at the concentration camps. Redevelopers told residents that when they get back, their community will be as good as new. But when WWII was over, the Japanese came home to find their community completly sold off to American Industries, which made Japantown residents not trust what redevelopers say.

Now it looks like it is happening again and Japantown might lose it's cultural identity. The community wants this deal to be stopped and they want to be the ones to decide should be done with the properties that are up for sale. San Francisco's Japantown is one of three J-towns left in the country, the others being L.A. and San Jose. Now there might not be a J-town in San Francisco anymore because residents believe that redevelopers, like 3D Investments, are going to come in and change everything. They might not even care what the community wants and it seems like they don't because they have not disclosed any plans of what they want to do with the properties once they purchase them. I guess it's going to be a surprise for the community when one day they are going to wake up and their community will not be "their" community anymore.

Atleast some city officials are trying to be more involved with this deal between 3D Investments and Kintetsu Enterprises. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has proposed a legislature to make Japantown a special-use-district. This legislature basically says that if anybody wants to buy a district, like Japantown, will have to go through the city first and present to them their ideas on what they plan on doing with the property. In other words, this legislature will help preserve Japantown communtiy and help keeps the Japanese tradition alive in San Francisco.

I feel that this is a good idea because the city is saving a community that is a shadow of what it once was. This six-square-block community is all that is left after WWII, and now after the potential buyers close in on deal, there might be nothing left. Japantown is slowly being eaten away and if nobody trys to stop it, there is only going to be two J-Towns left in the county.

Save Japantown Rally

Story by Allison Bloch

Starbucks is known as one of the largest coffee companies in the world. Perhaps it is not the best cup of joe you can get, but it is definitely everywhere you look. Starbucks prides itself on its six “guiding” principles and attached mission statement. Number one is “provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.” But is this always true?

Recently, Starbucks announced that they will install high-tech sensors to detect tampering with its cargo containers that are filled with coffee beans when shipped from Guatemala to Europe or to the United States. But do they provide security and safety for their partners in stores that are in high risk areas?

How do I know this or even question it? Because I work there.

I work at the Starbucks on Market, next to a Methadone clinic and on the cusp of being considered in the Tenderloin. Every day, various incidents happen. Take for example the day when a homeless man in a wheelchair came in, stole the tips off the counter and tried to get a few sandwiches in the process. Me and my two other co-workers stopped him, but where was our security?

How about the time when a man demanded free coffee and when a co-worker of mine said 'we can’t do that' he refused to leave and proceeded to follow him around the store? And what about the time a homeless man came into the store, screamed he needed an ambulance and then threw up all over the condiment bar and window?

Where was our security then? And who was going to clean that mess up--- you guessed it, yours truly.

I have worked for Starbucks for almost four years, obviously I like something about this company. But now, as I work 5 days a week in the TL, I wonder how is Starbucks going to protect me.

Starbucks explained to me and my manager that we could not be offered security because we are attached to an apartment complex who has security in the building, but these rent-a-cops aren’t available to our store 24 hours a day- heck when we need them they aren’t even at their security desk most of the time.

What I find odd is the two Starbucks down the street from us (one just a block away and the other 3 blocks away) both have a security system up in place. One has a security guard in the store at all times and the other has cops patrol the store every hour. So where is our security guard?

I hate to think that Starbucks would really risk their workers safety just because they don’t want to shell out some more money to protect those who sling coffee for them every day, seven days a week. I guess only time- or crazy people- will tell.

Story by Phil De La Cruz

This past weekend wasn’t particularly short on festivities. You had St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, replete with all the parades, parties and pubs your merry little heart could enjoy.

On the other hand and for the activist in you, there was Saturday’s Anti-war protest to yet again voice your displeasure with the U.S. invasion of Iraq – three years later and counting.

But for fanatics of the baseball world, Friday marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Congressional hearing against steroid use in Major League Baseball, which set the wheels in motion to implement strict laws that now govern the sport.

Talk about voicing your displeasure.

On March 17, 2005, the tenacious lawmakers of Capitol Hill weren’t celebrating St. Patties or even the color green. In fact, the color of choice was red – as in the red-faced baseball players and flustered MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who were lambasted by Congress for their roles in the steroid scandal that rocked the baseball community.

One year later, Selig again finds himself in the vortex of a black cloud that hangs over America’s pastime.

This time, however, the cloud of doubt is cast over none other than San Francisco Giants’ star slugger Barry Bonds, after two major books: "Game of Shadows," by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, and "Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero," by former Sports Illustrated reporter Jeff Pearlman, are set to release in the coming weeks.

According to excerpts distributed to ESPN and Sports Illustrated, both publications will outline Bonds’ purported steroid use and illuminate his motivations for crossing over to the “dark side.”

Bonds, who already despises the media, is now being vilified in almost every news outlet in the nation for his alleged steroid use. The backlash is so strong that Commissioner Bud Selig is being pressured into conducting an independent investigation on Bonds.

This is where the issue becomes even more problematic.

Where does Major League Baseball draw the line? How far does the investigation have to probe before it becomes counter-productive for – gasp! – MLB’s own self-interest?

Any half-assed investigation would uncover that not only Barry Bonds was linked to performance-enhancing drugs (PED), but a slew of other players as well. On the Giants team alone, names like Benito Santiago, Marvin Benard and Armando Rios have already been implicated to the Bay Area Lab Co-Operative (BALCO). Those names don’t even begin to scratch the surface.

Let’s assume that all the big names who have been documented in the media are guilty of some form of steroid use. That would include Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro. Shouldn’t they be investigated as well?

And let’s not forget that sluggers aren’t the only suspected steroid users. Last year when MLB finally instituted a drug policy against performance-enhancers, names like speedy outfielder Alex Sanchez and relief pitcher Juan Rincon were suspended 10 games each for a failed drug test.

Read that again. A light-hitting outfielder – all 5-foot-10, 180 pounds of Sanchez – tested positive for steroids. And Rincon? He’s proof that even pitchers are looking for an edge in today’s “juiced” game.

Both Sanchez and Rincon failed their tests after Major League Baseball announced to the world that they would finally test for steroids… and those two bozos were still caught. Imagine the number of players who would have been caught before the new laws were implemented?

Again, this brings us to the fine line that Bud Selig needs to cross and rid baseball of all the doubt surrounding steroids. He needs to clean out the closet and expose all the skeletons – not just Barry Bonds. It will be baseball’s version of Watergate.

However, does Bud have the necessary wherewithal and integrity to launch such an investigation?

Of course not. Especially not when, as we mentioned, it will turn out to be counter-productive.

You see, the commissioner and the majority of Major League Baseball are part of the problem, not the solution. This is an establishment that turned the other way when critics questioned the veracity of McGwire and Sosa’s accomplishments during their great 1998 homerun chase.

This is the same establishment that did not institute a drug policy and stringent penalties until Congress basically put a gun to their heads last year, issuing an ultimatum - seven years later!

Now the media and fans alike are pressuring Selig to call for Bonds head? That Bonds be suspended, or worse, be banned from baseball and consequently erase all his records?

Ridiculous.

Not only is that cruel and unusual punishment, it’s scapegoating at its truest form. To pin all that troubles Major League Baseball on its star is weak and irrational. It solves nothing and would only open the door to a major lawsuit from Bonds and a trickle-down effect not worth getting into.

To be fair, Bonds in all likelihood may have used performance-enhancing drugs. He cheated. He cheated the fans, his teammates and the sport itself, which has withstood many trials and tribulations for decades.

But Bonds isn’t the only one who cheated and since we’re all adults here who know there is no Santa Claus, let’s all agree that over the past decade, steroid use is as much pervasive to the sport as owners and investors profiting from these “juiced-out” sluggers, who draw a massive following of fans to the ballpark.

And therein lies the real problem.

Baseball is a business first and therefore this steroid scandal is as deeply-rooted into the powers-that-be as it is to the players they employ. Everyone in the sport has benefited from the past decade or so – from the executives in the luxury suites to the fans crossing the turnstiles to witness records being broken.

If Bud Selig opts to launch an independent investigation on Barry Bonds, he may just as well be opening Pandora’s Box, bringing the entire sport down with him.

What a sight that would be, though. The pressures from protesters against an administration’s inability to prove its real agenda will finally consume its leader to do what is right.

I’ll drink to that.

Wait, never mind, we’re talking about baseball. For a minute there, it seemed too good to be true.

Story by Mark Howell

I was watching ESPN today and on the bottom of the screen they were showing news from around the sports world. And across the screen there is news about Barry Bonds and the steroid issue again. Is it just me, or is this getting old.

Major League Baseball(MLB) and the media has been on Barry Bonds'case about the whole steroid issue. They still bother the guy even when he said he did not take steroids. The problem with this is that they have no evidence of Barry Bonds taking steroids, except for that BALCO case. But that case did not prove anything and they still bother him. There are plenty guys in the MLB that already tested positive for steroids and the media never bothers them. All you hear is about Barry Bonds and the steroid issue which is giving me a headache.

The media can't leave it alone and they always have some source saying that they seen Barry Bonds taking steroids. I think the latest news is some guy has some book saying Barry Bonds admited to taking steroids. They even had Bonds' ex-girlfriend say he took steroids. People will say anything to make a buck these days and using steroids and Barry Bonds in the same sentence can definetly buy you that new car you always wanted. For example, Jose Canseco, the former Bash Brother, had to run his mouth off and come out with his book "Juiced", which not only said he took steroids, but also other MLB players. And of course he mentioned Barry Bonds's name so his book can actually get some readers. I guess Canseco needed some camera time so he used Bonds' name to get people to remember him again.

Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player period and I guess the MLB believes he had to use a drug enhancement to get to achieve that status. Can't a guy have good work ethics and be good without suspecting him of using steroids? I mean the guy is the grandson of the "Say Hey Kid" Willie Mays. He might have been getting a few pointers on how to hit the ball from him. Jerry Rice was the greatest football player ever, and the media never bothered him about taking steroids. The media even pushed Bonds to the edge and almost forced him into retirment because he was so tired of hearing all the BS the media was asking him. They always asked the same question, "Did you take steroids," even though they were going to get the same answer.

I guess bringing up old news on a great athelete is the only way sports reporters can get published. And I guess if the MLB really believes that Bonds took steroids, then why dont they keep testing him. I know why; it is because Bonds brings in the money. Thousands of fans pack AT&T Park to see Barry Bonds hit one into MCovey Cove. Without Barry Bonds in the MLB, those thousands of fans will be gone and the MLB will lose out a pretty good amount of money coming out the San Francisco Giants organization.

I think I and the rest of the world can agree that we are never going to stop hearing about Barry Bonds and the whole steroid issue even after he retires. I am going to feel sorry for Bonds when he breaks the homerun record because everybody is going to think that he used performance enhancers to achieve that goal. And the media is going to be right there with same steroid question. Even though, the issue can be about something different, the media is going to be repeating the same thing over and over again; just remember, they are doing it just to make a name for themselves.

Story by Mike Wille

“EXTRA, EXTRA Get it while it’s HOT!” Or perhaps just get it at room temperature and go. Fortunately, the SFSU Lobby Shop is now carrying something conveniently found elsewhere on campus, hot coffee. The five campus outlets I frequent seem to have plenty of the liquid perk to support my habit, so why is the not-so-hot stuff being pushed at the registers as well?

For a mere $2.99 I can buy a Wolfgang Puck Instant Hot Latte. Now I can have my coffee made by a world-class chef without having to deal with the “baristitude” I get for not tipping. No more standing in line at the slow-as-molasses Caffe Rosso across from the humanities building, waiting for the execution of technical culinary touches like the spooning of frothed milk or swirling of whipped cream. Now I can pick up a can, press a button and fire up 10 oz. of torrid 140˚F coffee in less than 8 minutes. And I can do this while waiting for the elevator in the humanities building – which just happens to take an average travel time of 8 minutes to get me to my third floor class.

We have the folks of OnTech to thank for this brilliant technology "http://www.ontech.com/Technology/technology.asp" . Development only took seven years and 20 million dollars, in which the company rammed what looks like a plastic black dildo into an aluminum can and filled it with calcium oxide and a water capsule. When the H2O packet is ruptured the water mixes with the calcium oxide creating an exothermic reaction, conducting heat to the beverage in contact with the polypropylene dildo.

The coffee would be great for someone on safari in Kenya, who wouldn’t want to scour a lion-laden savanna for felled acacia trees to start a fire and heat a kettle. Or perhaps someone in Sri Lanka, cold and wet without a pot to piss in right after the 2004 Tsunami disaster could appreciate a hot rich caramel, espresso, mocha or French vanilla flavored latte; and there are only 100 calories and 9 grams of fat which seem so little for a something that weighs nearly two pounds. The thermal can seems a bit excessive for someone stranded in the middle of campus, no more than 40 feet from the nearest joe stand or a dorm room away from the closest illegal hot plate or microwave.

The product manufacturer claims the cans are classified as #7 recyclable, but where the hell am I supposed to put this thing when I’m done drinking it? Does the plastic dildo classify it as a plastic or does the outer aluminum coating qualify it for the can bin. Calcium oxide is a substance used to make porcelain and glass, since there is about a cup of this stuff in it maybe it should go to glass? And just how much manpower will it take to dismantle this thing? We may be better off shipping the empties over to Sri Lanka and using them for landfill. We can rebuild the coast one can at a time and have Wolfgang Puck to thank for it.

Story by Mike Wille

SF State’s Holistic Health Learning Center is promoting a concept that deserves a chance: A 64-day season of peace. The 9th annual non-violent season began on January 30 and will last until April 4, recognized by the memorial dates of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. respectively. Both of these men were murdered for merely speaking their ideologies.

A daily journal outlining the principles of love and action for social and personal change at http://www.sfsu.edu/~holistic/ is inspired by the lives of the two celebrated profits – a guideline to remind us that we recognize, yet continuously fail as a society to practice their teachings. Each day of the season sets forth a task for the practitioner that focuses on personal, interpersonal or communal change. An example would be: Day 16 – begin the day by writing down five things you are grateful for. Day 29 – write a letter of forgiveness to someone and move on with your life (fortunately you do not have to mail the letter). Day 35, LOVE – focus on what you appreciate most about the person you like the least.

Because I believe in the ideology of the season but know darn well that I could never maintain the capacity to carry out such daily tasks, I have regressed to what I know best, which is food, in search of 64 days of peas. My research, although not complete, has uncovered remarkable similarities that reach far beyond the pronunciation of pease and peace – yes, "pease" as they were once known in the English language as derived from the anlgo-saxon word "pise."

By adding the number of days in the growing season of the most common varietals such as Little Marvels, Petite Pois, Sugar Ann Snap Peas and Lincoln Shelling Peas and dividing by the number of varietals, I was able to come up with a mean score of 64. Coincidence or not, this was one of many common threads between the two homophones.

Peas were one of the first crops to ever be cultivated by man. An archeological dig at Jarmo in northwestern Iraq revealed pea carbon that was estimated to date back to 7,000 B.C. (give or take a thousand years). With 2,500 dead soldiers in the last two years and an estimated 30,000 dead Iraqi civilians, it is safe to say that Iraq is long overdue for a resurgence of pease.

Catherine de Medici introduced piselli nouvella, a tiny sweet pea that is still popular in today’s French cuisine. The fresh sweet peas were so different from the dried split peas of peasant fare that they became a part of the French culinary renaissance among the elite and were dubbed petite pois or "little peas." Oddly enough, you never hear anyone asking for a lot of peace. Often a little peace seems to be just enough. The French tried to achieve their "pease" by refusing to take part in Iraq war, although they will have to cook up some new schemes with the Iranian uranium issue being brought to the dinner table.

And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had a dream that one day, "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." If that day ever comes, I would be willing to bet those sons will be breaking cornbread over a traditional southern meal of slow cooked pork, collard greens and Hoppin’ John – a dish of black eyed peas and rice.
Although dried, frozen, and canned peas are available throughout the year, the season for the fresh pea harvest is short, similar to our brief season of peace. The pods must be pulp and shiny without being over-ripened, as their sugars begin to convert to starches. Peace, as well, seems to loose some of its impact when it spends more time as an idea and less time as a practice. Perhaps sooner, rather than later, we will all have an opportunity to taste a little bit of fresh peace.

Story by Marcelina Blea

Parents and internet users are complaining over safety issues with MySpace due to underage kids being kidnapped. But countless networking sites have been around long before MySpace. The first female kidnapped met her attacker almost 10 years before MySpace existed.

Surprise! These type of crimes are not new at all.

MySpace is marketed as “a place for friends.” Whereas other networking websites and services, specifically make it known their users are there to meet new people, not to reconnect with old friends. This makes the user more aware of the possible dangers.

The main difference with MySpace is the way they place everything on one page with its user-friendly features. Finding a user on MySpace is no problem, anyone can search a person by their name or email. The cure doesn't lie with banning MySpace but educating teenagers.

People lie. This fact becomes believable with age. How many times have you heard "I'm going to make you a star!" or something similar? Maybe people are telling the truth and just are into paper mache. Maybe I can still make a bid on the London Bridge. Internet users have seemed to drop their own personal boundaries. I have met people first on the internet. However, I shared friends (in real life) with the two people and I knew both for at least two years before meeting either one in person. If you meet someone from the internet in person, do so in at a busy coffee shop. Also, examine the purpose of meeting the person and the friendship between you and them.

MySpace is geared towards that bored younger generation who don't have after school activities. Preventing teenagers from logging into myspace is not the answer. There are plenty of other websites to replace MySpace. While I was in highschool in the mid-nineties, my friends used ICQ, Yahoo! Chat and hyperterminal.

The possibility anyone may read your personal page is known. There are basic rules, even listed in the "safetytips," on myspace. A main rule to know is anyone can see what you post on your page. A big attraction to myspace is thier easy navigation. Chat, groups, blog, calendar, classifieds, bulletins, music and customizing your page are all within clicks. Myspace uses simple applications, which almost every computer has already, such as flash. Meanwhile, with other websites you have to download or update your programs, such as Yahoo! Or AOL.

Teenagers need to be educated about internet safety. Believe me, I don't put it past my own mom to look me up on MySpace. I only hope she doesn't find my Las Vegas photos on it.