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I traveled outside of the US for my first time to Japan last year. I went to study abroad for 5 months in Tokyo by myself. I arrived a week before school started and before I could move into the dorms. I met a person through couchsurfing.org about a month before I left for Japan. The person I stayed with was a great host. I felt as if I was at home even though I was going through culture shock halfway around the world from my real home. Later in my stay in Japan I used couchsurfing again to stay with someone in Kyoto. It was a great way to find cool local spots to eat/drink and find out how the real locals live rather than being the typical tourist staying at an expensive hotel. I hope to host some people in the future when my housing is more stable. Great program and I'm thankful it exist.

posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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I'm glad Kitzhaber won as I voted for him, but really I doubt things would've been much different with Dudley.

This entire election cycle has shown me how carried away people get with politics. Everyone thinks it will be the end of the world if their candidate doesn't win. America is such a battlefield now that we forget we all live here and have to work together. This whole democracy thing has led Americas to the mindset "If we get 51% then we win and it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks" Then 4 years later the next person/measure comes along and undoes what the old majority did. Back and forth with no progress.

We need to work together and do it respectfully to move forward as a society, country and planet. Otherwise we are doomed to extinction by our own ignorance.

posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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I think the safe families program is a good idea. It shows that we as a society and government are trying to find solutions to some of our problems rather than exacerbate them. We need to find ways to help the people that have problems rather than punish them, which would make society only worse. Some may think punishment is the best way to teach people how to not make mistakes, but i disagree and think new programs are proving so.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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Tom Bergin's suggestion of using marinol is absurd. If he would have actually done some research and talked with doctors and patients he would have dsicovered marinol is often not as effective as cannabis.

Marinol only contains a ONE of the beneficial cannabinoids that cannabis flowers have. There some 20 odd cannabinoids that interact with the body each having different effects. Unfourtunately not enough research has been done to see what they all do because the plant is illegal.

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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 In some ways I agree with you. I wish cannabis could be legalized outright, but I doubt that would happen easily. Most of the public would flat out refuse.

The way I see it, if cannabis is legal for medical reasons, maybe more medical research will be done. Through this research the truth will eventually come out (cannabis is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol and probably not even harmful at all). With more studies and truthful research the public will finally begin to see that it should be legalized. Maybe some people will even start to use it for a headache instead of advil (which you can overdose on, but you CAN'T overdose on cannabis.) Time will only tell...

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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Anti-cannabis activist have no right to deny medicine to patients, nor deny a recreational substance to users. Smoking, eating and vaporizing cannabis has no effect on anyone, but the individual using cannabis. Is it not a constitutional right that we may do what we like with our bodies?

I will be sure to spread the word against the 2010 ballot measure to keep safe access open to medical patients. Hopefully I will also be able to vote for legalization of cannabis in the state of oregon sometime in the near future.

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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Also could you guys start archiving your shows online, or podcasting them? I hate missing the show and I often do, so it would be awesome if i could download it. At the vary least keep a weeks worth of shows downloadable if your tight for disk space.

Thanks! Curtis

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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I would like to hear a show on composting, worm composting, etc. to reduce the waste that each household sends to the dump.

Another idea, taken from oregon field guide, would be the gap between rural and urban people. In a recent episode some portland kids went to a rural city for a week or so to understand the people. I would like to hear about rural people coming to the city to understand urbanites.

Thanks-Curtis

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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I agree with the fact that society needs to accept education funding as something required to keep the united states competitive on the global stage. One of the problems I have with funding the education is though, is that it is fairly broken and uneffective. Why would I want to pay for a service that isn't teaching the kids in our country in an effective way?

Not to mention the waste and unfairness that goes on in the education system. Things like pointless standardized testing that takes away from learning, doesn't prove what kids have learned, and waste taxpayers dollars to do all that. What about rural schools or schools outside of portland getting more money than schools in portland? My highschool, Benson Polytechnic in the heart of portland, was falling apart at the seams. Yet you go out to a school in beaverton, corvallis, etc. and their schools are all brand new, new computers, plenty of textbooks, adequite class size. Why do portlanders get the crappy end of the stick?

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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Why can't we tax out of state beer/alcohol, and either tax the instate stuff less or not at all? Is this such a ridiculous idea?

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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That's the problem, they aren't preserving "essential" services. Overall the government should not be a huge part of our lives, we should be able to provide almost everything between ourselves, but we've begun to rely on the government too much. As far as i'm concerned helathcare and education should be the two main things the government runs, almost everything else being run by the people. We know this will not happen though...

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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This is ridiculous. The State should not be taking money from a program in which it was DONATED for a specific purpose. The license plates are NOT a charge to support arts, they are a donation point blank. By suggesting otherwise Ms. Nolan is simply playing buericratic games. Some wonder why so many people aren't involved in their government? This is a clear example of why we the people don't trust our own government.

If they want to save some money then realease non-violent offenders from prison. Legalize and tax cannabis. There are plenty of far better options than stealing from donations.

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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Why should a coach be punished harder than anyone else? I don't think the crime is any worse just because they are a coach.

Also coaches are NOT the only motivational people in a child's life, actually far from it. Most kids have some other figure in their life that they look up to whether it's a parent, teacher, mentor, counselor, or older friend. These people have just as much power over the child as a coach would.

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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I think the real problem is the fact that americans in general eat too much beef. A more sustainable solution would be to raise elk and other mammals native to oregon for meat. While there would probably still be negative effects with the large amounts of elk raised it probably wouldn't be nearly as bad as the effects of the cattle and wild horses.

I wouldn't mind eating elk instead of beef, but i'm sure most couldn't give up their beloved cow meat.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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