Women’s Rights
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
I usually don’t write or blog about political issues, but I felt that this one was important enough to be discussed. I hope it will at least make a few people Google the issue.
The House of Representatives recently voted to cut all funding to Planned Parenthood. Some politicians are defaming the organization, which provides health services for women, as a place where women go for abortions.
The reality is that the organization has not, and cannot use federal funds for abortions.
So what do they do? Planned Parenthood offers millions of low-income women and men with birth control, STD testing, prenatal care, pap smears etc. Millions of women who can’t regularly afford medical check-ups or pay for birth control, go to Planned Parenthood for their services. Now where will they go? The republican led congress needs to explain where its logic is leading us.
This should not be an issue of pro-life vs. pro-choice, it should be an issue of women’s health. People understand fiscal responsibilities, but attempting to cut funding entirely for a service that is providing women with basic health care needs is a step in the wrong direction. The same people that are attempting to reduce a budget in spending voted down a measure proposed to stop the federal funding for advertisement on race cars. Congress thought that it is perfectly fine to spend 7 million dollars a year to promote the military on the hood of a car. So it is ok to spend money for an expensive paint job on a racing car, but not ok to spend money on the health of women and children?
Opponents to Planned Parenthood hate the organization, they say it is because it leads to abortions. Yet they are creating a dangerous scenario where people that can’t afford the basic services of a health check up or ultrasound will be forced to look for services in other places. This can lead to unsafe medical practices and ignorance of sexually transmitted diseases.
Lets look on the bright side, yes America’s women are loosing health care rights but at least we will be able to see the ARMY race car go round and round and round and…wait, what were we talking about?
If all the All Star games were played on the same day and at the same time, what would you, the seasoned sports fan, watch?
From his explosive debut on Untold’s Hessle, to his string of genre-defying EPs, and finally his amazing debut album, James Blake was undoubtedly one of the most innovative artists of of 2010. He used to perform live with Mount Kimbie but now he’s selling out shows across the Atlantic and all over the US. When I heard through fellow UCLA Radio DJs about his Los Angeles tour dates in May, one at the Hollwood Forever Cemetery and one at the Troubadour, I waited like patient turd for the public sale since I was unaware of the presale that had occurred earlier on Thursday. However, promptly at 1 PM when I logged onto Ticketfly to add those tickets in my shopping cart, it said that the tickets were unavailable. I couldn’t accept this so I tried for ten minutes to change my browser, refresh the page, change the ticket amount, all to no avail. Both of the LA dates sold out within a minute of being released on Saturday. I just wanted to let y’all know about it before you get your dreams crushed so you can save up your dough and buy it from an asshole who’s going to charge you triple the face value for these tickets. We can always try to coax Mr. Blake into adding twenty more LA dates…. Who’s with me?
Following Bright Like Neon Love and In Ghost Colours, Cut Copy’s highly anticipated third album, Zonoscope, does not disappoint. The Australian group starts off with a simultaneously mellow and upbeat electro-synthpop beat in “Need You Now” and ends with a 15-minute dance marathon with “Sun God.” Zonoscope has the same feel as their previously albums, although it definitely shows their musical maturity. The album is best listened to all at once; you’ll notice their carefully (and flawlessly) planned transitions that set you on a sixty two minute space-electro-dance journey. You’ll be trancing on and “Hanging Onto Every Beat” with Zonoscope. They’ll be playing at Coachella on April 15th and they will also be at The Grand Ballroom In San Francisco on April 16th and 17th if you want to see them live.
When asking people around campus which forms of music they like you generally get some assortment of the same answer that leans to a single side of the spectrum of music from Folk over to Blues inspired music. People since the blues was first recorded on the front porches of at home singers in the Mississippi Delta at the beginnings of popular music, have always preferred either blues inspired songs are hillbilly folk music. Existing at the base of origin of most forms of popular music today both folk and blues share similar characteristics and song form however the two were rarely considered as likeable music to audiences at the time which I feel is still true today. Out of the beginning folk took on newer forms into Country and Rockabilly music as well as the blues turning into Tin Pan Alley, there on into Rhythm and Blues and Jazz.
Back in December of 2010, Above & Beyond along with DJs Super8 & Tab, Cosmic Gate, Jaytech, and Boom Jinx threw what was known to be one of the most epic trance parties in the LA area. Tickets to the celebration of their 350th episode of their Trance Around the World radio show sold out in less than 24 hours and became the worlds #1 trending topic on Twitter the night of the concert. With such a large amount of positive feedback, Above & Beyond and Insomniac are teaming up once again to repeat the process at the Palladium, only this time to celebrate the release of their 2nd studio album “Group Therapy”.