Japan

I always get this feeling inside of sorrow and pain after a natural disaster, whether it affects me directly or not. The death and devastation of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami, the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, or Hurricane Katrina gets to you. But this one is different for me. I have a connection to country. In 1996, I had the opportunity to study there for three months as a part of an exchange program while at North Side High School in Fort Wayne. Although the city we stayed in, Takaoka, was not directly affected by the quake, the bond the was developed between the people there and the country as a whole is undeniable. Many friends I met now live in Tokyo, which received substantial, but not devastating damage.

Me, Taku, and Shinya chumming it up

I've e-mailed with them, but have not heard anything back. As they were in Tokyo, I'm assuming all is okay as power and internet availability is scarce, if not completely out. I went back to visit in 2006, almost 5 years ago to date. I met up with my friend, Shinya Yamada, who stayed with my family when he was in Indiana as a part of his exchange program. He has become a good friend who I regularly write and chat with through the internet. I have not had the opportunity to make it back there to visit, as I now have a family. One day, I'd like to take my family there to share the wonderful experiences, culture, and people of Japan I have grown fond of.

This disaster will wear on them, but the Japanese show great resolve. With the country on the brink of nuclear disaster, something they have unfortunately have experienced before, they will fight back. The ingenuity, the smarts, and drive to succeed to become better will shine through and the rest of the world will truly be envious of how they come back on top.

God bless Japan.

The Answer May Not Be Shocking!

Snowpocylpse is Coming, West Coast Style

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, snow could even fall in the City. Up here in the foothills, 4 to 8 inches could fall above 2000 feet, where I'm at.

Get ready!

Public Employee Unions - Supporting Workers Rights

States across the country are trying to balance budgets, make up for declining revenue. In some states, such as Wisconsin, the lagging revenue is caused by tax cuts as well as economical impacts. In order to balance the budget, public employees that are members of unions are being targeted. That is fine, everyone needs to make sacrifices. In Wisconsin, however, the union being targeted is the teachers union. Not the police, the fire fighters. So, is everybody sacrificing? Education seems to be the sacrificial lamb for state Republican leaders. Look at New Jersey, California under Arnold, Indiana, Ohio, and so on.

There are two key issues at play. Cutting education and eliminating unions. How on God's green earth does cutting education, a system that is completely underfunded compared to top counties of this world, going to help our economy? Since the Republicans have help shipped jobs oversees for cheap labor, the only type of livable wage jobs that are left are in professions and skilled trades, where one needs highly skilled and specialized training. AN EDUCATION! The real goals of the GOP is to create an uneducation population, so they can be easily manipulated to say and do whatever they are told. The rich getting richer, the middle class being eliminated, and the poor getting poorer.

This whole plan starts with eliminating unions. By eliminating unions, workers rights will be slowly a thing of the past. Hell, we're almost already there. The unions have answered the call in Wisconsin and have agreed to the cuts that will help resolve the budget woes facing the state. But for Gov. Scott Walker, that's just not enough. They want any resemblance of a voice for the worker to be squashed. This proves that this whole conundrum is about power, not money.

God help our Country, because eventually the poor and meek will be the greatest majority this Country has ever seen. A revolution will be inevitable.

Happy New Year

As we are well into the new year, I'm deciding how I would like to reinvent my blog, so that somebody might read it.

Andy Staples, Whiner

Oh, Andy Staples, why are you so moronic? He's trying to be Mr. Sarcastic, Mr. Whitty, or whatever. In his article, regarding the suspension of the OSU players, Andy suggests that fans should sympathize with student athletes' plight of not being able to get paid for work while playing collegiate athletics:

"Just the ones who think you should take your scholarship and shut up. Those people fail to understand that you are asked to work a full-time job as a full-time student. The difference is the guy who works 40 hours a week as a waiter at Chili's can afford tuition, room and board and still take his girlfriend to a movie on the weekend. And he doesn't make millions for Chili's. You do make millions for the athletic department at The Ohio State University. Let those fans get mad. You don't need friends like them."

Are we supposed to feel sorry for Terrelle Prior for getting a full ride to Ohio State University, getting a world class education, because he doesn't get paid as an athlete or is not allowed to get a job? This is the most asinine thing I have ever heard of. First off, Mr. Chili's is only working 40-hours a week so he can get his education at Ohio State. He will end up with $30,000 or more in student loan debt despite his full time Chili's job. If athletes would rather not get the full ride to play sports, just so they can get a job while being a student, then they don't have to play the sport. He's more than welcome to take the SATs or ACTs and be like the majority of students on campus. Heck, maybe he'd get a full ride academic scholarship, which would allow him to get a job and not have the student loan debt at graduation. Andy's whining for college athletes' "unfairness" just makes him look silly and pompous.

Welcome to Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria

The Guardian (UK) is now reporting that Shell has embedded employees in the Nigerian government. There is a wealth of oil reserves in Nigeria. This stuff is real.