The citizens of the United States are taking things for granted

The citizens of the United States are taking things for granted. When I said this, you probably thought "we're lucky to have fresh water","we're lucky top have electricity" blah blah blah. That's not what I'm talking about. We take for granted our Primary Education. How?? Read On.

Because of the risk of fraud "The British governments said it will stop funding Kenya's Free Primary Education Program through the country's ministry of education...The United States earlier this year suspended about $7 million in funding to Kenya’s Primary Education Program [also] because of allegations of fraud." Many including Musau Ndunda "hopes the British decision will force the Kenyan government to aggressively deal with the issue of corruption within the education ministry" and that Kenya's government will hopefully take charge of the whole situation.

Anit-Whaling Ship vs. Japanese Boat

(To make sure everybody understands, this article was from January 2010, so yes its "old news" but i still thought it was important)

"The anti-whaling ship Bob Barker, and a Japanese harpoon boat collided in the icy waters off Antarctica on Saturday" (but wait, wasn't Bob Barker the host of the game show "the Prrice Is Right"? Yes! He donated millions of dollars to buy the Bob Barker ship for the Sea Shepherds). Although no injuries were reported4d, the activist group Sea Shepherd said "a small hole was torn in the hull of its ship...[but] the vessel was not in danger of sinking. For the past few years, the Japanese whaling ships and the Sea Shepherds have been accusing each other of "acting in increasingly dangerous ways." What I think is that we are not being dangerous enough yet, because the Japanese whalers have not stopped killing the whales for their profit. It's like they aren't thinking to the future, and what the consequences of their actions might be not only to themselves, but the whole world, and the sea life. If whales become extinct we can only imagine what might happen to the sea life. It might go all out of whack because of the non stop growing of the krill population which unbalances the rest of the food chain/web what whales, and krill are in.
There are three main tactics that Sea Shepherd activists. The first is trying to "block the whalrers from firing harpoons" at the whales in the water. If the Sea Shepherds donot succeed at these first two tactics, they deal with the possibility of seeing a whale get harpooned and dragged onto the dekc of the Japanese whaling ship. The third tactic that the Sea Shepherd activists do , is "hurling packets of stinking rancid butter" onto the dock of the ships and "the whalers have responded [most of the time] by firing water cannons and sonar devices meant to disorient the activists." Shooting the water guns also make it harder for the smaller boats, that throw the packets, to get close enough to the sides of the boats to throw them onboard the whaling ships.

"Double Atomic bomb survivor dies in Japan"

"Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only person officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings at the end of World War II, has died at age 93." How does this happen you wonder?

Yamaguchi was sent on a business trip to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, where he "suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city." After the bombing, and his business trip was over, he made his way back home to the city of Nagasaki, where the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, just three days after the first. Luckily on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, stopping any more atomic bombs from occuring on its homeland.

After the war, Yamaguchi worked as a translator for American forces in Nagasaki and later as a junior high school teacher. Here are some things that Yamaguchi has done in effect to the bombings that he was in:

"Yamaguchi gave talks about his experiences as an atomic bomb survivor and often expressed his hope that such weapons would be abolished.
He spoke at the United Nations in 2006, wrote books and songs about his experiences, and appeared in a documentary about survivors of both attacks."

El Dorado dreamers have been proven right

(El Dorado also known as City of Z.) For those who haven't heard or seen the animated movie El Dorado, it was "an ancient empire of citadels and treasure hidden deep in the Amazon Jungle." The famous empire has also been known for its riches and its 'golden king'.

As many explorers have searched for this famous city, most have gotten lost in the vast Amazon jungle, and were never to be seen again.

"Now, however, the doomed dreamers have been proven right: there was a great civilisation. New satellite imagery and fly-overs have revealed [in an area spanning 155 miles] more than 200 huge geometric earthworks carved in the upper Amazon basin near Brazil's border with Bolivia. [These] circles, squares and other geometric shapes form a network of avenues, ditches and enclosures built long before Christopher Columbus set foot in the new world. Some date to as early as 200 AD, others to 1283. Scientists... believe there may be another 2,000 structures beneath the jungle canopy. [Many of these structures] have been revealed by the clearance of forest for agriculture... Many scientists saw the jungle as too harsh to sustain anything but small nomadic tribes. Now it seems the conquistadors who spoke of 'cities that glistened in white' were telling the truth. They, however, probably also introduced the diseases that wiped out the native people, leaving the jungle to claim – and hide – all trace of their civilisation."

Watching the movie growing up always gave me hope that El Dorado really was out there. Now that there is scientific proof that the city was real, my inner child is happy to know that believing can lead to truth.

1:5 released from Guantanamo join militant groups?

Detainees released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay have gotten into trouble. "One in five detainees released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay has joined or is suspected of joining militant groups like al Qaeda". On what terms have they been released? Are these terms not strict enough to weed out those who are most likely to join "militant groups like al Qaeda?" As the Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell says "the vetting process for releasing detainees was an 'inexact science,' adding: 'You know, we are making subjective calls based upon judgment, intelligence. And so there is no foolproof answer in this realm. That's what makes this so difficult.'"

Anybody happen to hear about the two attempts to blow up a U.S. passenger plane over Christmas break? If you did you probably didn't know this.

"Former Guantanamo detainees... are believed to be behind a failed plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on Christmas Day."

As a result of the belief stated above, President Obama chose to "suspend the transfer of additional Guantanamo detainees to Yemen, citing the deteriorating security situation in the country." Of course delaying the release of detainees will not stop Obama's task of closing down the Guantanamo Bay prison. "are 198 detainees left at Guantanamo,... [including] roughly 91 Yemenis." And what is the reason for Obama having to close the prison? Here's the main reason: "detainees were denied due process for years and for harsh interrogations conducted there."

Investigator Maj. Hachim fatally shot in Baghdad

In Baghdad, a man suspected of having a connection to the October 25th bombings targeting Iraqi ministries, "grabbed a gun from a guard and fatally shot a senior investigator (Maj. Arkan Hachim)". Ministry officials vowed to "investigate the matters behind this incident," because it showed a deliberate neglect for security. The statement taken about the incident states that the suspect wounded the guard, who he took the gun from, "before barging into Hachiim's office and shooting him."

"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the United Nations to investigate the bombings... By crippling key government agencies, the bombings appear to represent a shift in tactics by a weakened insurgency, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. Rather than targeting civilians at places such as markets and mosques in hopes of inflaming sectarian tension, the organizers of the latest attacks appear to be motivated by a desire to weaken the government and discredit Iraq's security forces, as the U.S. military pulls out and Iraqi politicians gear up for an election scheduled for January."

Iraqs first DNA Lab

In Iraqs First DNA Lab "they have collected nearly 4,000 samples from unidentified bodies and relatives of people missing after explosions". The year old DNA lab plans to use its resources to "solve new and old mysteries in a country [Iraq] where war and sectarian conflict have created legions of them." Iraq plans on opening "two more labs in the coming years that would work exclusively on mass grave cases... and [can] chine a light on some of the darkest chapters of Iraq's bloody history." Since the opening of the new lab, the scientists have been able to "help out in court cases, by providing scientific evidence into a justice system... [that] has relied almost exclusively on confessions and uncorroborated accusations."

What is the reason for not having a DNA lab earlier? "Sanctions and bans... have obstructed [us] from using this technology," says the Baghdad morgue director Munjid Salahadin.

"the central Baghdad morgue built in the 1930's by the British," until recently has been run by the Shiite militias since the 2003 US-led invasion. Since there was no DNA lab to figure out who the dead decapitated, burned or tortured beyond recognition were, "Thousands were buried in unmarked graves, and morgue officials could do little other than photograph corpses and try to keep track of burial places."


"Iraqi judges, many of whom have been slow to accept the reliability of DNA evidence, increasingly call on morgue officials to help solve crimes and disputes."

Here are some of the cases where the new DNA lab has helped in Iraq's Justice System.

"DNA evidence vindicated a man who took his wife to court accusing her of bearing another man's child.
"Another recent case caught the attention of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who got an aide to call the morgue and demand that the case be given priority because two tribes were about to go to war."
"In another incident, relatives of an inmate in a Baghdad prison killed her when she became pregnant, allegedly after being raped by a guard. Two guards became suspects, but both denied the allegation. The woman's body was brought to the morgue, where scientists obtained a DNA sample from her fetus. The guards were forced to submit samples. One came back as a match."

I think that the creation of Iraqs first DNA lab was one of the best ideas. It will bring closure to many families, and help solve cases which would have been seen and unsolvable in the past.

Whoever figured out how to test DNA and stuff was a genius!!

Russian Miracle Baby

For Russia's mostly Muslim southern fringe, a new "miracle" has occurred. This miracle is a 9-month-old baby named Ali Yakubov. He is seen as a "miracle" by Muslims, grandmas to schoolboys, because "verses [which first appeared two weeks after birth] from the Koran appear and fade every few days". And his mother Madina has no doubt the verses were connected to extremism. This week the Koranic verse "Be thankful or grateful to Allah" was printed clearly legible in Arabic script, on the boys right leg. Showing that Muslims believe this infant child is a "miracle", "Up to 2,000 pilgrims from Russia's 20 million Muslim population come daily to see the docile, blue-eyed baby." Green satin flags to mark the way to Ali's pink brick house in the small town named Kizlyar.

The one thing that I got confused about in the article was when Makhachkala's influential mayor, Sayid Amirov said "What happened here is indeed a miracle, but this should also be a message to not take religion too far,". This confused me because I didn't understand how believing the child was a "miracle" would be a message to not take religion too far.

Here is a video of the story...

Lake Chad Shrinking?!?!

From a satellite image taken in 1963, Lake Chad was the size of Maryland, which is bigger than Israel or Kuwait. As of 2003, the size of Lake Chad has decreased to less than one-fifth of the original 1963 size. Lake Chad, that was once one of the "biggest bodies of water in the world, could disappear entirely in about 20 years. Parviz Koohafkan says that "The Lake Chad basin is 'one of the most important agriculture heritage sites in the world -- the biodiversity, the migratory birds, not to mention more than 20 million people living out of Lake Chad -- fisherpeople, farmers. [And] 'It would be a human disaster, a tragedy'". The decrease in the size of Lake Chad has been caused by many things, including climate change (global warming), and population pressuring the lakes water supply. Another factor to the decreased size is that the "Two rivers which feed the lake, the Chari and Logone, have been significantly reduced in the past 40 years, the agency said."

First off, I must admit that even though Lake Chad is widley known, I never knew where Lake Chad was located, let alone how much its surrounding area depended on its water. Knowing the fact that there are over 20 million people living from Lake Chads resources, and that Lake Chad is "one of the most important agriculture heritage sites in the world -- the biodiversity, the migratory birds..." is just mind boggling. And knowing these facts I feel like there should be something that not only I, but the rest of the world could do to help the life that depends off of the shrinking lake.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP???

Econimic crisis & World Hunger

"The global economic crisis has caused a spike in world hunger that has left more than a billion undernourished, United Nations agencies said in a new report." For this world to be in the 21at century "almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry" said Josette Sheeran. According to a report by the WFP and the Food Agriculture Organization, "Nearly all the world's undernourished live in developing countries." For example 642 million from Asia and the Pacific suffer from chronic hunger and "an additional 265 million live in sub-Saharan Africa while 95 million come from Latin America...". "The report calls for greater investment in agriculture to tackle long and short-term hunger by making farmers productive and more resilient to crises. 'We know what is needed to meet urgent hunger needs -- we just need the resources and the international commitment to do the job,' Sheeran said."

This article made me feel angry with the world because we are not doing all we can to help these developing countries with their hunger issues. I feel that although countries are donating to developing areas, we are not doing all we can and really taking a serious look at what the world can do to help control, save, or even stop the world hunger that is occuring.

Can a Chinese/African-American Contestant Become a Chinese Idol?

Lou Jing is a typical young 20-year-old woman from Shanghai who speaks Mandarin with a heavy accent, and a hint of the lilting tones of the Shanghai dialect. She was born from an unmarried couple with a Chinese mother, and a father of African- American descent whom she has never met. As a girl of mixed race, brought up by a single Chinese mother, struggling to gain acceptance in a deeply conservative, some would say racist, society. "When she took part in an American Idol–esque TV show, Go! Oriental Angel, last August, Lou's appearance on the show not only boosted viewer numbers but also sparked an intense nationwide debate about the essential meaning of being Chinese." Many believe because she is not Full Chinese, she should not be "allowed to compete on a Chinese show, or at least not selected to represent Shanghai in the National competition." Because she doesn't have the "usual Chinese" fair skin, which is one of the most important factors for Chinese beauty and "her mother and her biological father were never married; morally, the argument goes, this kind of behavior shouldn't be publicized". And that she shouldn't have been put on TV as a young "idol." One of the most popular posts about Lou Jing on the KDS Life forum asked in mock seriousness, "Is it possible that she is Obama's daughter?" Another poster said, "I can't believe she's so shameless that she would go on TV." Most of the critics are agreed on one point: that this black woman cannot be regarded as a "real" Chinese. "Through this competition, it's really scary to find out how the color of my skin can cause such a big controversy" said Jing. "When I meet somebody for the first time, they'd often ask me how I can speak Chinese so well, and I tell them, 'Because I'm a Chinese — of course I can speak my mother tongue well,' " To show that this is not a new issue here is another example of these racism and society problems. "Last year, Ding Hui, a young man of African-Chinese ethnicity, caused a stir when he was called up to the national volleyball team, prompting much soul-searching about whether the athlete should be allowed to represent China alongside pure-blooded Chinese competitors. Eventually, Ding Hui did go on to play for the national team."

I believe that the quotes "Is it possible that she is Obama's Daughter?" and "I can't believe she's so shameless that she would go on TV" from KDS Life forum, are very racist and show the flaws of the Chinese society, where children must have married parents, who are both Chinese, and because of her race, she and her mother were not accepted lightly in the Chinese Society. I also think that just because her father was of black decent does not allow for people to judge her and call her a "black woman [and that she should not] be regarded as a "real" Chinese.

Women climbing up in the Indonesian Islamic World

In Yogyakarta, with the death of the Indonesian Islamic boarding schools head Islamic scholar, the school was expected to close. The now widowed wife, Nyai Yu Masriya, decided "that she would run the school. 'If men can do it, then why can't I?...' If you, Allah, are the source of all power, then why do I have to find someone else to run it? Just give me the power. I know that I can do it.'" Many, now and in the past, used to say "Power to the People". I say "Power to the women", and good luck Nyai, one of the firsts for Islamic Women.

Devastating Earthquake in Padang,Sumatra,Indonesia

On Semptember 30, local time, the Indonesian city of Padang experienced a7.6 magnitude earthquake. This city, on the island of Sumatra, contains over 900,000 citizens. Padang is one of the world's most vulnerable areas to seismic activity because the islands lay ontop of the Volatile Fault Zone. The nation's Social Affairs Ministry says that "This disaster has taken atleast 529 innocent lives". And Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency stated that "500 buildings collapsed during the disaster with thousands trapped under rubble". Some of these buildings that collapsed include Hospitals, mosques, and schools. Areas closer the the earthquakes epicenter endured landslides that have cut the areas off and have left the areas without power and fighting rain. "The Indonesian Governemnt has commited $10 million to the relief effort.


The Volatile Fault Zone has created other Natural Disasters of the past including the 2004 incident in Aceh that killed 130,000, the 2006 disaster that took more than 5,000 citizens in Yogyakarta. And the recent 2009 earthquake in the South Pacific Samoan islands that took over 100 people.

As Hannah Beech stated in her article

Earlier this year, Padang mayor Fauzi Bahar told al-Jazeera television that he had asked for funds for potential earthquake relief and management given his city's precarious position on a tectonic fault line. His request, he said, was turned down by national authorities. In retrospect, the denial may look unwise. But Indonesia is a cash-strapped country with many cities located in unstable geological sites. As Padang digs out from this latest devastation, other Indonesians are no doubt wondering who will be the next target of nature's wrath.

Why was Fauzi Bahar's request for potential earthquake relief and management turned down? Doesn't the National Authorities want to help out the cities, and try to help in disaster relief?

Tsunami Hits Samoa

In the early morning, an 8.2 magnitude earthqauke struck the South Pacific between the islands of Somoa and American Samoa. These islands contain about a quarter of a million people that were just starting their days when the quakes and tsunami occured. The "violent earthquakes" lasted for about 3 minutes, and were later followed by "4 massive waves" that reached the heights of 15 to 20 ft tall. So far, on these islands, there has been a recorded 19 deaths.

What I want to know is how the world can help out these islands in the South Pacific, and other areas that can be affected by these and other Natural Disasters. Is there a way to help advance our knowledge in Natural Disasters to help prevent or understand why they happen? Is there a way (in all) to prevent them? Is there a way to advance the worlds Warning Systems so that more people can be evacuated?

New Nuke Site near Tehran, Iran

In Iran, a new Nuke Site has been created in the Arid Mountains near the city of Qom, which is near Tehran, Iran. Iran has now allowed access to the U.N. inspectors so they may inspect the Uranium enriched facility.

We're not out of Guantanamo Bay yet...

The President has only four months left to close down the Guantanamo Bay Military Prison. Obama's administration after working to recover from mishaps are putting officials behin schedule. They may not finish within four months. If we don't get outin four months will anything go wrong? or will cuba just let us finish up what is needed.

Post 9/11 Security measures for U.S. embassies

A Federal Times article from 2005 states that in the post 9/11 world the U.S. embassies decided to upgrade their security. The new U.S. embassies are now required to "have protective walls that are at least 100 feet away from the embassies... [that] must protect against explosions and ramming attacks from vehicles, and they must be difficult to climb, [their] windows and doors are bulletproof...The new buildings are strong enough to resist most earthquakes and bombs".

I understand the fact that the United States Embassies want to be secure and safe but this seems to be going a little far. It's like the United States is being paranoid. As Thomas L. Friedman said, the new ebassies are so secure that they are a place "where no birds fly"

Turkey And Armenia

Turkey And Armenia are trying to become Allys after trust issues that. Effects: Exchanging of ambassadors,border betweent the two countries will be opened for the first time since 1993 , arrival of a new Turkish foreign minister. BBC World Service Radio.