Category: News

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A Story That Crossed an Ocean and Half a Decade

NY Times Article

Wow… this story definitely crossed several genres of walls for me.  A story of a US soldier who coincidentally picked up a drawing and a picture of a Japanese baby girl that transcended time to reunite them fifty+ years later.  That baby girl grew up not knowing her father at all but upon being reunited with the picture, she saw her father’s unspoken and unknown side:  that her father had adored her and carried her picture to his dying field.

War has never been pretty.  World War II was never an exception.  If anything, it seemed to bring that point out even more sharply with two big powers.  Iwo Jima was such a small island and losing several tens of thousands of soldiers seemed so tiny of a reason.  Yet, what this story was able to do was to make this war so much more personal for these 3 people involved.

I fought back a load of tears as I read this story.  Having allergies actually was a positive thing for once as it helped cover up the tears and the runny nose.  This story also softened my heart about wars because it showed that there’s always a personal side to something so tragic and terrible.

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Australia’s Small Town Starts a Trend (Hopefully)

NY Times

Small town in Australia decided to stop the sale of bottled water altogether!  Plastic bottled water has been infamous for at least two major reasons:

  • Making plastic bottles & transporting them has been detrimental to the environment
  • Drinking water from such bottles have been known to be harmful as bottled water is likely to have been stored fairly long time and thus contains plastic in some amount in the water

I hope it’s a worldwide trend to stop it.  On top of that, most of the bottled water comes from your local municipal water treatment centers!  So it’s nothing special.

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Sick sick world – Murder of a Couple

CNN News

What in the world is coming to?!!  In Florida recently, a couple was killed.  It would’ve been another killing except that this one is a crying shame… dang shame, really.  You see, this couple took in about 14 special-need children!

I am sooo mad!  I sure hope those 8 people get more than what they deserve!  Who’s gonna take care of these kids now?!  It’s a sad sad day…

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State of Iran Compared to S. Korea

As news of Iran’s popular unrest and demonstration against what seems like a rigged election spreads out more and more, one comparison thought came to mind.  This reminded me of South Korea in its ’60s through ’80s.

Mousavi’s wife says that it’s more like marshal law there.  And the reaction of Iran’s Republican Guards and other “security” forces that resulted in deaths like this woman here, reinforces my thoughts of the state of Iran.

It’s a rather graphic and unedited picture so be warned.  Bunches of mostly peaceful demonstration and the police start firing tear gas and beating down protesters and arresting them, and some eventually get killed.  Sounds familiar?  This is South Korea winded back to ’70s and ’80s era when martial law was the way things went, and coup d’etat was as frequent as your mail.

The Kwangju Massacre.  That alone says it all.  When the “government” sent in tanks to kill hundreds of civilians, the images are similar.  Iran’s reaction, in my humble opinion, is that of a marshall law.  If it wasn’t, the government would have just let them continue demonstrating.  But lashing out at them with violence is not a democratic way but rather that of dictatorship.

I empathize with the pro-democracy citizens of Iran… and pray for good changes to come and that the bloodshed would lessen…  But all democratic movements, including the likes of Tiananmen Square Massacre, comes at cost.  I sure hope the Iranian leadership realizes their follies…

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Two US Asian-American Reporters Imprisoned for 12 Years

Yahoo/AP Release

Two Asian-American reporters who snuck into North Korea were sentenced to twelve years(?!) of prison for allegedly spying on them.  Here are my thoughts…

1. What were they thinking to sneak into North Korea, aka. Not-just-communist-country-but-dictatorship country?!!  Common sense would dictate that they should’ve stayed well out of the border area.

2. North Korea sentenced them to 12 years?!!  WTH?!  Year or two may be somewhat distantly understandable… but TWELVE?!!

3. Let’s not forget that North Korea isn’t exactly known for being “understanding”.  56 years of dictatorship and strict rule doesn’t exactly cry fair.

4. I seriously hope & pray that these two get released but with other serious issues (like North Korea’s long-distance missile testing and nuclear armament), this may get buried…

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Pirates of the Somalia

Yahoo News

This is 21st century, right?  Or am I still living in the old days of yore when pirates with eye patches roamed free?!!  What in the blazes is going on here?  This problem of Somalian pirates goin further and further out to the Indian Sea to hijack ships and crews for ransom is beyond going out of control!  What the heck is everyone doing about it?!  NOTHING!!  NADA!!

This is ONE war that we can end quickly if anyone gave a crap!  Some people better wake up before the pirates become even bigger threat!