N. Korean escapees

Freedom.


Such a bittersweet story. It's amazing how this family of four managed to survive a six day, 900 km (roughly 560 mi) journey in a small boat.

"It took a week for us to come here for freedom," they said. "We headed for Japan since South Korea and North Korea have strong security on their borders. We planned to kill ourselves with the poison if we were caught by the North. We want to go to South Korea."

Dude. That's what you call determination. I can't imagine...floating in a teeny boat on the sea for six days straight, with no real guarantee that I'd even make it to any safe shore. And then to carry a bottle of poison with me, in case I decided that my trip had failed.

Bittersweet.

Sweet because it makes me more grateful that I live here, where I have so many freedoms...even if my every action online is being watched, recorded, analyzed. That's so miniscule compared to fleeing for my life, compared to floating aimlessly in a small boat, not knowing if the rest of my family or I would make it out alive.

Bitter because the reality is that there are so many people left behind on the northern half of the Korean peninsula, so many more who will never live to see anything outside of North Korea, so many more who will die miserable deaths after having lived miserable lives.

Yet all I do is sit here and type away at my laptop...

Chinese journalist wins press freedom award

Yay for Shi Tao!


At least some good came of this whole issue. It's kind of ridiculous how the Chinese government claimed that "that the Chinese constitution protected press freedom." Haha. Hahaha. Good one.

We are not impressed by this argument," Brock said. "Such freedoms do not exist in China today. If they did, Shi Tao would not be in prison, nor would dozens of others."

-George Brock, World Editors Forum (WEF) president

Apparently "the WAN (World Association of Newspapers) and WEF would start a public campaign pressing for Shi's release." =)

He's already served two years--let's get him out of there ASAP.

Study Says Youth Less Interested in Politics

So this is in Russia.

But I've a feeling that it's applicable to the U.S. as well. Why is it that youth is so apathetic? Perhaps it's because we have been taught to be individualistic, to work for our own gain, to zero in on how to improve our own lives. I guess what we fail to realize is that politics, the government, plays a huge role in influencing our standard of living.

I have to admit, I'm guilty of this political apathy as well. I guess that's why I'm "politically clueless" in the first place. For a while there I'd forgotten that I'm of age now--I can actually vote. Thank goodness for this assignment, for this blog. Else I would probably have stayed in my state of political ignorance and complacency for a while longer.

Time to take a stand and actually start caring.

The Cost of Education...

U.S. Puts Limits on Lenders’ Ties to Universities

I wish the government was more active in helping students get through school. It's so darn expensive...and there are plenty of us who have loans that we do need to pay off--not all of us can afford to pay for our education up front. The UK seem to be a lot more in tune with the students' financial shortcomings and consequential needs.

The Government is reversing years of under-investment with an increase in funding for higher education averaging more than 6 per cent – over and above inflation – for the next three years. Funding for student support will rise sharply – including new grants for students from lower income families – and the science settlement is the most generous for a decade. This extra investment will boost access and enable universities to tackle many of their immediate problems.

It'd be great if the U.S. government was the same way.

Then again, maybe they are. Maybe I just haven't researched it enough...hm.

We learn from our mistakes, no?

Romney’s Political Fortunes Tied to Riches He Gained in Business

Mitt Romney owes his nearly $350 million fortune and his political career to a delicate negotiation with his boss in the summer of 1983.

Okay. So Romney can do what he's doing because he made bank back in the day. Nothing wrong with that, right? He used his skills of persuasion and logic to succeed in the business world--granted, he did make a couple of mistakes, as are pointed out in the article. But the article focuses in on two incidents--that's two incidents out of about fifteen years. If those are the only two screw ups that can really be picked at, I say Romney did a pretty dang good job. He's human, and people make mistakes. I think too often we forget that politicians were normal people before they became what we view them as today. Though...that's not to say that politicians aren't normal people. Actually, I guess they really aren't. But that's an entirely different story...

Does wealth really "breed violence and export terror?"

According to Bush...

"When we help lift societies out of poverty, we create new markets for American goods and new jobs for American workers. When we help reduce chaos and suffering, we make America safer, because prosperous nations are less likely to breed violence and export terror."

I don't think wealth is necessarily a good way to measure how likely a nation is to "breed violence and export terror." Going back to an earlier an entry, It seems that the UK and US are breeding grounds for rebellious, crime mongering youth. From the article from that entry...

While an ageing, ever more crowded Europe looks on anxiously at the stress behaviour currently being exhibited by its own dysfunctional young – be it Parisian car barbeques or riots in Denmark and Germany – our continental cousins can’t help but notice that many of these behaviours debuted in Anglo-American cultures.

The US and UK are among the wealthiest, the most developed...yet

According to the Unicef report, which measured 40 indicators of quality of life – including the strength of relationships with friends and family, educational achievements and personal aspirations, and exposure to drinking, drug taking and other risky behaviour – British children have the most miserable upbringing in the developed world. American children come next, second from the bottom.

Lovely.

"Prosperous nations are less likely to breed violence and export terror."

Hardly. We need to look past just wealth. Judging from personal observations, it seems that those with the most money and free time are the ones who cause the most trouble. Violence and terror don't stem from poverty; violence and terror stem from issues much deeper than just financial stability.

This is not to say that wealth and poverty have nothing to do with this issue at all--just to say thta they are not the only contributing factors.

Sex Sells

Porn Tycoon Offers $1M For Sex Scandal

Dude. Are you freaking serious? The article is short enough for me to post it here...

Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt is offering $1 million to anyone who can provide proof of an illicit sexual encounter with a high-ranking government official.

In a full-page ad in The Washington Post, Flynt asked for "documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with a congressperson, senator or other prominent officeholder."

He said he would pay up to $1 million for material that could be verified and published in Hustler.

Flynt ran a similar ad in October 1998, during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

The publisher took credit for the resignation of House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston, who admitted he'd had extramarital affairs after word got out that Flynt was investigating him.

Is this what politics boils down to? I guess sex really does sell. Maybe this is what it'll take for some people to gain an interest in anything even slightly politically related.

What's the point of this, anyway? Oh dear...

Silent Graduation

Diplomas Denied Over Graduation Cheers



The student eagerly rises from his seat, anticipating his turn to walk across the stage to shake the hand of his principal for the past four years, then to feel the smooth paper of his diploma settle into his hand--the piece of paper that declares he has struggled and succeeded through four years of high school madness. He wears a huge grin on his face, eager yet patiently waiting for his name to be called--and then he hears it. His name is called, and you can hear it reverberate through the auditorium as he proudly and confidently strides toward the principal to receive his certificate. But the reverberations of his name are swallowed by his equally excited family and friends, and along with the reverberations go his diploma.

How depressing.

Can you imagine what that student felt? The feeling of his heart dropping into the pits of his stomach, the feeling of rejection, the knowledge of a diploma denied.

It's understandable that adminstrators would want to keep this ceremony quiet enough for parents to hear the names of their children called out. But what is worth more: the sound of the student's name being called as a declaration of his success, or the tangible evidence of said success in the form of a diploma? Really now...can't we all just be happy for each other? Their children all struggled through four years of the same high school--let them all rejoice collectively, as the one body that they truly represent.

Another student who was denied a diploma, Nadia Trent, said: “It’s not fair. Somebody could not like me and just decide to yell to get me in trouble. I can’t control everyone, just the ones I gave tickets to.”

Good point. What if those cheering had malicious intents at heart? No good, no good.

Assisted Suicides

Kevorkian Speaks After His Release From Prison

I must admit, I admire the man for his persistence, even after eight years of imprisonment. At the same time, it's just a little unnerving once I take into consideration what it is he's being persistent about.

Assisted suicides? It's almost like putting dogs to sleep. Is that what we have been reduced to? God made us the way we are for a reason--we actually are on a different level than mere animals, contrary to what people may want to believe. Though I don't understand why they would want to equate themselves to the likes of animals in the first place...

The guy may be a little extreme, but at least he has a passion for something. And he cares about the government that guides the country--even if he cares about it in a negative light. Too many people stumble through their lives, clueless as to what it is the government is doing to alter their very lives. So many people today lack passion; they have no motivation, no direction, no desire to do anything anymore. It seems that people like to settle for the mediocre, the lukewarm, the comfortable.

If only people like Kevorkian were passionate about the right things...if only.

California on Iraq

California Primary Ballot May Include Iraq Question

“He grew up during the Vietnam War and saw all those young people take to the streets,” Ms. Trost said. “He said, ‘Now they can go to the ballot box.’ ”

Too bad it seems like "young people" really don't care. In comparison to "young people" during the Vietnam War, at least.

I can't say that I've actively taken a stand on the war. Yet I can name four people off the top of my head who were relatively close to me who either fought or are fighting in the war. Why is it that we don't care anymore? I digress.

What does this mean for presidential campaigns?

Win or lose, the measure would be toothless, but pollsters and political scientists said it could change the dynamics of the primary race here, in part by making it difficult for presidential candidates to avoid the subject while campaigning in the state.

Good luck, potential Presidents.