Indonesia death toll reaches 300 with more feared after twin disasters

Mother nature has not been kind to Indonesia recently. After two, not one, natural disasters, tsunami and earthquake, Indonesia have lost more than lives. The fear and anxiety in the nation rises as the emergency response is at the limit now.

Rescuers discovered 282 bodies in the remote Mentawai islands, which were inundated with a 3 metres (10ft) wave when the Pacific "ring of fire" fault line ruptured on Monday night causing a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. World Vision, an aid agency, estimated more than 500 people remain unaccounted for and 7,000 households have been affected.
Around 800 miles away on the island of Java, rescuers scouring Mount Merapi, which erupted on Tuesday, said they had so far discovered 30 bodies, including an 83-year-old man called Maridjan who watched over the volcano's spirits.
As the weather cleared over the Mentawai island chain the true scale of the devastation caused by Monday night's tsunami became apparent. The tectonic fault that caused the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 which killed more than 200,000 people had ruptured again, triggering a giant wave that devastated parts of the island chain and killed hundreds.
The break in the poor conditions that had prevented the remote islands being reached by boat allowed the first cargo plane loaded with tents, medicine, food and clothes to land, but it also bought grim news of the human cost.
The National Disaster Management Agency said most of the deaths occurred in Pagai Utara and Pagai Selatan districts. Officials said hundreds of wooden and bamboo homes were washed away in more than 20 villages, displacing more than 20,000 people. Many were seeking shelter in makeshift emergency camps or with family and friends.
Eight Australians, an American and a New Zealander arrived in the Sumatran city of Padang and told of the moment the wave struck their anchored boat.

As I posted an article about Haiti's cholera pandemic, it is depressing and fearful how two major natural disaster happened so quickly one after the other. Mother nature is something you can not tame, and all we can do as human beings is to clean up the mess after. This reminds me of the 2004 tsunami that killed numerous people. I hope Indonesia recovers soon, it is a beautiful country with no doubt. It seems like angry mother nature loves to visit poor or third world countries. I am now wondering what Indonesia could have done in order to lower the rate of death.

Myspace concedes to Facebook, changes focus

Social Networking, is one of the factor that makes the current generation unique. Facebook, the representative of the culture has changed the way of communication through out the world. We can not only see famous celebrities with facebook but also politicians as well. Until Facebook rise in power, Myspace was the way. Recently, Myspace has been showing many efforts to compete with Facebook, the king of soc
 ial network.
 

Myspace, once a leader in social networking before the ascendancy of Facebook, is trading its social networking focus to target the music, celebrities, movies, television, and games that Gen-Y'ers love the most. The company announced on Wednesday that it is launching a beta site that will be based on this shifted focus.
"This marks the beginning of an exciting turning point for Myspace. Our new strategy expands on Myspace’s existing strengths—a deep understanding of social, a wealth of entertainment content and the ability to surface emerging cultural trends in real time through our users," said Myspace CEO Mike Jones in a statement.
The new site design is certainly a major improvement aesthetically, as Myspace has adopted a Windows Phone-esque tile view in addition to a complete rebranding (including dropping the capital 'S'). The layout is designed to emphasize discovery and sharing of favorite bands, actors, and more. Highly active users will be designated as "curators"—Myspace's parlance for tween and teen arbiters of taste. Users can also earn Foursquare-like badges that are displayed on their homepage or along with the content they share.
Myspace was acquired by News Corp. at the height of its popularity, which plummeted in subsequent years as Facebook became the top social networking site. Last year it eliminated one-third of its US staff and two-thirds of its international staff in an attempt to keep money from bleeding out as it continued to lose users.
The change in focus hones in on the areas where Myspace has been most successful—promoting bands and other celebrities to an increasingly young membership. That strategy won't ever put Myspace in the same running as Facebook for a wide audience, but it could prove successful enough to keep News Corp. from further regretting its purchase. Ars readers as a whole may longer care one whit about Myspace, but chances are your kids still do.

The social networking culture is not a joke or an amusement. Today, it has become one of the most powerful influence to the society which is a surprising and fascinating fact. But it seems like social networking does not have its limit, becoming even more and more significant as more people from all over the world is being involved. At this rate, social networking will surely influence the government and politics. This article also shows that the social networking sites are becoming more and more competitive. Is this the start of the social network war? We can only question for now.

So Halloween is almost here

Happy Halloween :)

Rand Paul supporter apologizes for stepping on activist's head

 Tim Profitt, a supporter of Ran Paul, a Kentuky republican running for the U.S. senate, has blackened Paul's name. Profitt stepped on the head of a liberal activist, pinning her face to the sidewalk when she was on the ground out side the debate in Lexington. The story spread fast and it has effected the race, negatively for Paul.

However, soon Profitt apologized to the public.

A supporter of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul is apologizing after he was seen on video stepping on a liberal activist’s head.

Tim Profitt, a volunteer with the Republican’s U.S. Senate campaign, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night appear worse that it was. He criticized police for not stepping in and says other supporters warned authorities about the activist.
Paul has cut ties with Profitt, of Paris, Ky., who allegedly assaulted a liberal activist during a rally Monday night in Lexington, his campaign announced Tuesday afternoon.
Paul had been criticized earlier in the day for not denouncing the attack strongly enough, but the new statement said Paul is “extremely disappointed in, and condemns” the actions of what it called a supporter.
“The Paul campaign has disassociated itself from the volunteer who took part in this incident, and once again urges all activists — on both sides — to remember that their political passions should never manifest themselves in physical altercations of any kind,” the statement said.
The incident happened as Paul arrived at the Kentucky Educational Television studio on Cooper Drive in Lexington for a debate with Attorney General Jack Conway, his Democratic opponent.
Lauren Lizabeth Valle, 23, an activist with MoveOn.org, tried to get close to Paul to give him a fake award portraying him as a tool of big business, as the group has done elsewhere.
However, at least two men in the crowd grabbed her and pushed her down. Profitt put his foot on her shoulder and shoved down forcefully on her neck and head.
Police are investigating the incident as a fourth-degree assault

 Soon, Paul campaign removed Tim Profitt as one of the coordinators and take him off the events.
This was a huge disaster for Paul, because people know Profitt not by his name, but the fact that he is "the supporter of Rand Paul."  This shows how this election race is not at its peak of excitement. I wonder how bad this incident will affect Paul's position in the campaign.

U.S. campaign takes on anti-gay bullying in school

Recently, the hate crime against homosexuality has been the hottest topic; Many suicide cases caused by discrimination of homosexuality has been featured to the public, causing many attention to the issue. Obama administration is now launching a new campaign in order to prevent many discrimination and bullying at school, including gay bullying. The administration have advised the many educators that students are protected by the federal law from discrimination

The advisory from the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, to be made public Tuesday, does not break new legal ground, officials said. But the officials described it as the federal government's most comprehensive guidance to date on how civil rights law applies to the sort of campus situations that in some cases have led persecuted students to commit suicide. President Obama is expected to help promote the initiative.
"We've got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage," Obama said in a video posted last week on the White House Web site.
"Our goal here is to provide school districts, colleges and universities with details about when harassment can rise to the level of a civil rights violation and what they should be doing about it," Russlynn H. Ali, assistant education secretary for civil rights, said Monday. Ali wrote the advisory. As an example, Ali noted in the advisory that a gay student might withdraw from school activities after being subjected to anti-gay slurs and other intimidation. If the school reprimands the perpetrators to stop the bullying, her advisory said, that would not necessarily be enough to ensure that students are free from harassment based on gender stereotypes. "The school had an obligation to take immediate and effective action to eliminate the hostile environment," Ali wrote. 

It is good to see the federal taking a step to promote discrimination free zone, especially for the school. Considering public school as a miniature version of the society, this is a big win for not only the gay people, but everyone in the society. Every single students deserves a fair environment for their education and the minorities do not deserve any hate crimes or harassment. This made discrimination and bullying an illegal act against the federal power, and I hope this takes a positive influence on the education and the society as a whole.

Amid Cholera Outbreak in Haiti, Fear and Misery

Haiti is the country of sorrow and violence. Not only being one of the poorest country in the world, Haiti has gone through tremendous numbers of political violence. Haiti has experienced a great earthquake in the beginning of 2010. On top of that, Haiti is now facing the cholera pandemic. Cholera is an infection of small intestine that causes severe diarrhea; It is fatal.

The cholera outbreak, with 259 deaths and more than 3,300 confirmed cases counted as of Monday morning, has so far been contained to the region around the epicenter — the central rural areas around the Artibonite River.
But the capital, Port-au-Prince, is tensely preparing for its arrival in the densely populated slums and tent camps of earthquake survivors. Treatment centers are being established, soap and water purification tablets being distributed and public safety announcements stressing hygiene.
“It travels with the speed of lightning, I’ve heard, and it can kill a person in four hours,” said Jean Michel Maximilien, a camp leader, on Sunday. “So of course we are all on edge.”
The Haitian government reported optimistically on Monday that the epidemic might be leveling off.
"The situation is beginning to stabilize,” Gabriel Thimothee, director-general of the Health Ministry, said at a news conference. “Since yesterday we have registered only six new deaths."
Officials emphasized that no new cases have originated in the capital, according to Associated Press. But health experts cautioned that the danger remained high.

Although the epidemic could leave off, this could soon spread to other regions and even other countries. Also, many Americans spend their money and resources in order to help Haiti and now there is a new reason. Haiti is a country of hardships after hardships. It seems like mother nature is messing with Haiti. I hope the situation soothes as soon as possible before it spreads further and further. When a country faces a big problem of a disease that could spread fast, even America has to be alert.

Michelle Obama "The most important choice is to get involved"

     Michelle Obama, America's first lady is leading numerous supporters.

On Barack Obama's official youtube channel, she made a speech today, promoting democracy and people's involvement in this November's election.

This video makes me content the fact that Obama administration is making an approach like this.

This reminds me of Franklin Roosevelt, how he used radio as his way to talk to the people.

Obama is using Youtube, which is a prominent web community in America.

During the Roosevelt's time, America was going through a big hard ship, and today, America is also going through a similar hardship.

At least it shows that as a leader, Obama couple is trying to interact with us, in a way that many people do today.

Which Party Do I Belong to?

The following are your scores. They are based on a gradual range of 0 to 12. For instance, a Conservative/Progressive score of 3 and 0 will both yield a result of social conservative, yet 0 would be an extreme conservative and 3 a moderate conservative

Conservative/Progressive score: 5
You are a social moderate. You think the progressive movement is overall well meaning, but sometimes it goes too far. On issues like abortion and affirmative action, you see the negatives of both extremes on the issue. You probably value religion, but at the same time you think it should still stay separate from the government

Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 5
You are a Moderate Capitalist. You support an economy that is by and large a free market, but has public programs to help people who can't help themselves or need a little help. Pretty much you believe in the American economy how it currently is.

Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 5
You're a Moderate. You think that we all have certain inalienable rights that must be protected, but that sometimes laws need to be made to protect the majority's lives or quality of lives. You might think that the 2nd amendment isn't necessary anymore because letting everyone a gun is extremely dangerous to the community. You might also be against illegal drug use or public pornography because of its possible harmful effects to society.

Pacifist/Militarist score: 7
You're a Moderate. You think that in very rare occasions, the United States should invade a country in order to make the world better by spreading democracy or ending a tyrants rule. You also think that defense is very important, and we shouldn't lower the defense budget. You think that, while the Iraq War probably was a mistake, that we can make the world a better place by sticking with it and spreading democracy in the middle east.

Overall, you would most likely fit into the category of Republican

Currently, after 69449 submissions, the average Conservative/Progressive score is 5.98, the average Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score is 6.72, the average Libertarian/Authoritarian score is 5.51, and the average Pacifist/Militarist score is 4.58

Very interesting.

It's a bit unexpected.

Judge halts 'Don't ask don't tell' policy

     Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a military policies that enforces the military not to ask any service members to ask their sexualities. This article is about the latest change in that policy. The policy has been halted.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips in California marks the first time that the controversial policy - which forbids the military to ask about a service member's sexual orientation but retains a ban on gays serving openly - has been halted.
Leaders of the group that brought the suit celebrated the injunction, the latest in a series of recent court rulings that expand the rights of gay Americans to marry and serve in uniform.
"This decision is also a victory for all who support a strong national defense," said Christian Berle, acting executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans. "No longer will our military be compelled to discharge service members with valuable skills and experience because of an archaic policy mandating irrational discrimination."

This original policy originated from homophobia among the soldiers. Homophobia is caused by fear and ignorance that highly relies on conception that only women and men belong together. Homosexuality is natural, just rare. In the wild, homosexual animals are often found.
This is a good step for stronger gay rights. We are making progress.

Family Fight, Border Patrol Raid, Baby Deported

     Immigration; Probably the most talked about issue in America, especially in the north west coast. This article from the New York Times presents an unfortunate story of a mother and a daughter.

A few days before her daughter Rosa’s first birthday, Monica Castro and the girl’s father had a violent argument in the trailer they all shared near Lubbock, Tex. Ms. Castro fled, leaving her daughter behind.
Ms. Castro, a fourth-generation American citizen, went to the local Border Patrol station. She said she would give the agents there information about the girl’s father, a Mexican in the country illegally, in exchange for help recovering her daughter.
Ms. Castro lived up to her side of the deal. But the federal government ended up deporting little Rosa, an American citizen, along with her father, Omar Gallardo. Ms. Castro would not see her daughter again for three years.

“She was sent to Juárez, which is now the most dangerous city on the face of the planet,” said Susan L. Watson, one of Ms. Castro’s lawyers. 

The mother and child reunion, at the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juárez in 2006, was rocky. Rosa, then 4, did not recognize her mother and did not want to leave her other relatives.
“She was crying,” Ms. Castro recalled. “I started talking to her in Spanish, and she started yelling. She would hit me with her doll. She kicked me. She didn’t want anything to do with me. She wanted to be with her grandmother.”

 I do not understand how Ms. Castro could not keep her baby from being sent away. My father is a first generation American and my brother and I could stay in America with no problem although my mother is Korean.
I agree with Ms. Castro for the reasons why she sued the government. The agents had no legal rights to deport her daughter, a child of a fair American citizen.
When the daughter finally reunites with her mother, she does not even recognize her or want to be with her. It is a sad reality. I hope this never happens to any body.

A Fishing Paradise, Now With A Deadly Reputation..

     Falcon Lake, so called the "Fishing Paradise" of Texas, is also straddling the border with Mexico. This article reports the latest tragedy at the lake, involving an American's death by piracy.

As a prolonged conflict between drug dealers and the government has eroded civil order in Mexico, gangs of armed thugs in speedboats have begun robbing fishermen and tourists on the lake.

Last week, gunmen in three boats reportedly shot and killed an American as he and his wife toured the lake on Jet Skis.

The shooting has strained tense relations between the Texas authorities and the Mexican government. A week after David M. Hartley, 30, was reported shot in the head, the Mexican authorities have yet to find a body or any trace of his watercraft.

On Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican running for re-election, sharply criticized the Mexican government as being slow to investigate the episode. He also denounced the Obama administration as not having provided more National Guard troops to patrol the border.

“Frankly, these two presidents need to get together with their secretaries of state and say, ‘What are we going to do about this?’ ” Mr. Perry said.

This is not only Texas' problem, it is America's problem. America and Mexico already has a tricky relationship due to immigration problems. This will definitely ignite the problem and the friction between the two nations worse.

America was triggered by the American's death in the sinking of Lusitania, to enter the World War I. It is hard to relate those two facts but we can not deny the fact that America, as a country, can make bold decisions over few Americans' lives.

Also, piracy is a big problem all over the world, not only Falcon Lake. The piracy is spreading and the sea is becoming more and more unwelcoming.

Short film, City Paradise by Gaelle Denis (Mental Health Break)

This short film is called City Paradise by Gaelle Denis.

Since my last post was a bit depressing, I decided to have a mental break for the next post.

This short film was one of the finalist of 3rd Annual Now Film Festival.

I consider this film really good. I think the film did a great job on expressing a dream scape through out the film.

When ever I want to give up on becoming an artist, this is one of the stuff I go back to in order to be motivated again.