Mad China

Simon Elegant is a foreign journalist who is stationed in China. He has been receiving extremely mean criticism on his blogs concerning the subject of the Olympics and the torch and pro-Tibet protesters. There is a lot of nationalist anger by the Chinese people. Someone actually wrote, “Simon, you will be hated by 1.3 billion Chinese” . This response came after the journalist posted a blog about the chaotic progress of the Olympic torch through London.

The Chinese are angry because they think there was biased international coverage of the riots in Tibet on March 14. They also are mad about the crackdown by Chinese security forces that happened after the bloody riots.

When the Olympic torch relay was greeted by pro-Tibet demonstrations in London, Paris and San Francisco the Chinese people really got upset. They felt like the honor of their country was in jeopardy. The Chinese are mainly taking their frustrations out on the French. In fact, on April 19th there was a convoy of a dozen cars which all bore banners condemning France and opposing the independence of Tibet. This convoy drove slowly past a French school while the students were there taking tests. This act gave this journalist the chills as it is more than just an angry blog. It is a form of terror.

Polygamist

There has been a lot of controversy over the Polygamist sect in Texas. Some of the Polygamist sects have been found to break the law by forcing young girls to marry older men. Their leader, Jeffs, is in jail for directing celestial marriages. He taught that no man with fewer than 3 wives can enter Heaven. He has been accused by the courts in Utah of being an accomplice to rape. Jeffs ordered a young girl to marry an older man against her wishes.

The members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints also do things differently than most Americans besides the whole more than one wife thing. The men also often marry a sister to a wife they already have. The families become so interbred by all the intermarriages that no one quite knows who is related to whom. Your stepmother could also be your step grandmother. That is out of control. Author Jon Krakauer has even said that you need a flowchart to make sense of all the various relationships.

CANADA

“Woe, Canada!” concerns the fact that most Canadians are losing faith in the war in Afghanistan. This could be a problem for NATO. Canada is one of 26 NATO countries in the International Security Assistance Force. This force tries to stabilize Afghanistan and stop any al-Qaeda and Taliban problems. Of all the countries Canada is one who has actually fought in Iraq. The U.S. cannot help or handle problems in Afghanistan by themselves. Other countries involved with NATO must step forward and help. Being a part of NATO requires certain responsibilities. At least after a long debate, Canada voted to keep its soldiers in Afghanistan until 2011.

Dems on the web

Who will be our next president? The vote could well be determined by the people of the United States getting their information from the Web. The article called “Why Dems Rule the Web” discusses how the Democrats got more information out quicker and sooner than the Republicans with the use of the computer and the internet. All this information could help swing the vote for a Democratic candidate. There have even been small groups of people who got together on line to discuss their support of Obama and these small groups have grown into large groups. Now presidential politics have turned into an interactive event on the Internet. It certainly is true that if you work to support something and you give your time you are more likely to really get into it. The Democratic candidates are receiving more sponsors with money than the Republicans are. It should be an interesting fall.

big test

What is “Cap and Trade”? I am trying to figure that out by reading “The First Big Test”. This article concerns our environment and why our presidential candidates have neglected to talk about mandatory reductions in carbon emissions. The article says to think of cap and trade as a carbon diet. Utilities and oil refiners have to be put on a diet. Their carbon emissions are measured each year. They then get some pollution allowances which permit them to put out so much carbon. The amount of carbon the utilities and oil refiners are allowed to emit is reduced year by year. This is a hard and expensive process. There is a bill on Capitol Hill which is co-sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman and Senator John Warner which is a cap and trade proposal. This bill is a popular one but it may not pass because of where the majority of power plants are located. Most of the coal plants are located in 25 states. If only these states have to pay for the right to pollute this will drive up the cost of electricity in those states. Those states would then shift to using natural gas…and the coal companies do not like this. It is one big vicious cycle.

Orogen

I liked the article entitled “Postcard: Inner Mongolia”. It makes me think about what our Native Americans must have felt like when the early explorers and settlers started taking over their land and changing their lifestyle. The Oroqen people of northern China are losing their ancient way of life just as our Native Americans lost theirs. The Oroqen of the past have led lives of hunting and gathering. They would roam the forests of China’s Greater and Lesser Xing’an Mountains. They would live in hide-covered dwellings like teepees. Now the land they live on is being overrun by many people and the animals they hunt are gone. The traditions of the Oroqen people are having to change. The Chinese keep expanding and there is no room. The life of the Oroqen is based on hunting. The deer they need to hunt is disappearing. This is like taking a truck from a truck driver. Some Oroqen still hunt illegally. That is cool how they are sticking it to the man. China needs to chill out and just let people be who they want to be. The Chinese are trying to help in a small way with giving the Oroqen free housing and teaching them how to farm.

GDP

The article entitled “Totally Gross” concerns the use of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a means to see whether the U.S. has fallen into a recession. I think the article is saying that the GDP is necessary even though it may have faults. It has been in use since the Great Depression and World War II. In the 1930’s it was used to track the ups and downs of the business cycle. The military needed a way to find out production capacity so the gross national product was created. It was then called the GNP. Much later in 1991 the GNP was changed to GDP. The GDP measures production in the U.S.; it does not measure production by Americans. Soon this first quarter of 2008 will be over and the GDP will help determine if our country is falling into a recession. It will be interesting to see what the prediction is. The GDP is usually accurate in it’s predictions.

Bonobo

“Eden for the Peaceful Apes” is a very nice article about the bonobo apes. This ape is similar to a chimpanzee and is an endangered species. The bonobo only lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. It is amazing that the Congolese government set aside land for the peaceful bonobo apes. This land is about the size of Massachusetts and is a sanctuary for the bonobo. The bonobo ape is very peaceful and compassionate. They live in communities with other bonobo and they resolve their differences through sex. The bonobo are not aggressive like the chimps nor do they beat on their chests like gorillas do. The article insinuates that our human population could learn a lot from these apes as we need to show love and compassion for others. It is interesting too that this area of conservation was created in the Congo. A man by the name of Tusumba raised a small female bonobo as a part of his family when her family was killed. She so impressed him that he then worked to push for an area of conservation for these apes.

Torch

China has been preparing fro the Olympics for years by they missed just not being liked. The torch on its journey has been protested at every major city. In San Francisco people hung Free Tibet. sings on the Golden gate bridge. The torch has been so badly protested against that it had to be transported by a bus. Some people thing that the U.S. should not go to the Olympics. you can not do that. The athletes have been training there whole life for this one shot and thats maybe all they will every get so you just can't go. The Olympic committee should have done some thing about this a long time ago.

Big man

Zimbabwe's current leader is a dictator in the 2002 Robert Mugabe the president would not step down. Some think that Mugabe cheated. The race was between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai. Morgan is now running again. this time hoping that Mugabe dose not cheat. Mugabe has not done real good things in office inflation is at 100.00% with an 80% unemployment rate. Mugabe has also used violence to campaign across the country.This guy is out of control. Talk about Power hungry. Morgan dose not know how to fix the country but it will be better and the people of Zimbabwe think it is time for a change. Hopefully Mugabe dose not rig the vote and Morgan can win.

Choices

People will eat more from lager plates, care twice as much about losing money instead of make it worry about thing that have a small chance of happing like plane crashes and not about one that happen a lot like car wrecks. Thaler has documented things like this for over 30 years. He has done studies showing that if you just change the question a little bit but still ask the same thing you will get really different answers. Like to get more organ donors in stead of asking check if you want to be an organ donor they asked check no not to be a donor. Donors increased a lot. That is crazy. How you can guide people choices.

Pope

The Pope seems like a very inserting person. The most compelling piece of the article is that how he is still grateful when the United States helped Germany rebuild after World War Two. How America could have let Germany suffer but they did not so he is grateful. He even likes our culture and how divers we are. We he came to New York he loved the Bustle of the big city. His car even brook down. The Pope has even used America in his speeches on divers religions. The pope also loves the United States because our country has the third largest Catholic congregation in the world. He has not criticized America. The United States like that. He also knows that there is enough Catholic in America to swing the vote. He understands how important that is. He was Eighteen When he first came to America. He is planning to return April 15 through the 20. Can’t wait.

Back In Baghdad

Iraqis are trying to come back to Baghdad and live. They do not want to live as refugees. A Baghdad school bus driver and his wife and two children left their refuge in Syria to return home. They returned last summer. It had been two years since they had fled their home of al-Dora. This family had left because the al-Qaeda terrorists had killed the wife and son of Hammadi’s brother. Hammadi is the bus driver who returned to the city.
Hammadi works for $10 per day. His wife, Shada, helps by baking bread. They have two children named Ibrahim and Sajda.
The author of this report had lived in Baghdad for five years. He returned for a period of two weeks to witness the changes in the city.
There are several signs of change in Iraq but even though things seem positive there is a lot of tension in the country. The first sign of change the author sees is that he arrives on a big Airbus A320 plane. This must mean that the threat of a missile attack is less than before. While driving through the city he sees more changes. There are more shops and businesses open than there were one year ago. There are no lines at gas stations. Generators do not have to be used as much for electricity because 4-6 hours a day electricity is provided. There are several new restaurants and there are now murals painted on the protective walls that have been built around neighborhoods.
The biggest change is how the Baghdadis view the U.S. military presence. A year ago most Baghdadis saw the Americans as the source of their problem. Now they view Americans as those who are stopping the violence. “People think the Americans are like Superman, who can do anything.”
The worry now is what will happen when the Americans leave. Will the peace survive?

Lion

After 28 years of being Zimbabwe’s political leader, Robert Mugabe, has not won a majority of votes for the presidency. This is a great change for Zimbabwe and the article states that it is a change for the better. Mugabe is the last of the old type of rule and he is one of the many leaders who helped their country out of colonial rule only to push it back into being poorer than it was before. There has been graffiti out through the capital city of Harare that says “Zuakwana” which simply means “Enough”. This graffiti has been seen on and around political posters for Robert Mugabe. The people are tired of Mugabe’s policies. Inflation in Zimbabwe is running at an annual rate of more than 100,000%. Many people of Zimbabwe are leaving the country because of the political problems there. The leadership is ruining the country.

Biofuel

After reading the article I don't like biofuels. The biofuel industry is growing with Iowa in the United States leading the way with more than 50,000 jobs for turning corn into fuel. Brazil is the leading country it produces enough biofuel to supply 45% of it transportation fuel. One SUV tank of fuel could feed a person for 365 days. By taking food the price of food is rising. In Brazil the main problem is deforestation. The reason why trees are being cut down is that farmes can have more to farm. "Deforestation accounts for 20% of all current carbon emissions. Sugarcane is tghe best biofuel. I dont see much good coming out of this.

The Ghost Of Memphis

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential people. He change the United state by fighting for black rights. After 40 years of his assassination people still remember him. I think that if he would not have gotten shot than he would not be remembered by so many. He wanted to live along life. It must have been hard always knowing that you had a good change of dying cause of all the rights you pushed for and the people you did not want change. I never knew how young he was and that he had a pillow fight just before getting shot. He was a good man.

Patriot Games

To boycotts the Olympics would be plan stupid. You would get nothing out of it. China is doing wrong things with the games coming up but to not go would hurt the athletes and lessen the glory of the Olympics. When the games come each country should stop what ever war, battle, and or problem they are in. Just like when the Greeks did it. The athletes work hard to get there and to not go do to a boycott and make them wait until next time were they will probably be slower. Jesse Owens did one of the coolest things every. If people are mad about the china is treating its people than get the Olympic board to do something.

Postcard Bhutan

We take major advantage over what we have. The people in that country could not vote for a really long time. I think it is funny that when there king told them to vote they did not want to cause they were afraid of change. The country dose not even have one stop light. I have never heard of that. They got the important things like Internet that all that matters. They really get into campaigning. It's cool how the king just told them that from now on the people will pick the governments.