Friday, December 30, 2011

UH football coaching changes

This month, the head coach position for the University of Hawaii football team switched from Gregg McMackin (aka Coach Mack) to Norm Chow!


1) Coach Mack

Coach Mack was hired as the head coach back in January 2008.

Previous coach June Jones left UH for Southern Methodist University (SMU)

Jones was the coach from 1999-2007. Back in 1999, Jones took an almost dying program to greatness! It was followed by many great teams, ending with the 2007 team which was undefeated during the regular season, but lost the Sugar Bowl!

For more on June Jones, check out
 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2008/01/end-of-june-jones-era-uh.html

When Jones left, the people wanted some continuity! They wanted someone who already know Jones' system, knew the players, and just continue the success the team was having!

Coach Mack just happened to be 2nd in command, being the team's defensive coordinator!

He had previous success in other places including college (Miami, Texas Tech) and NFL (San Francisco, Seattle)

He also seemed more media-friendly than June Jones who usually sounded grumpy in interviews. (though people who do know Jones say he's a nice guy)

What was not to like about Coach Mack?

Being that Jones (who was paid $800,000 at UH) left for SMU's $2million position, we better pay Coach Mack some big money too!

Coach Mack got a contract for $1.1 million annually for the following 5 years.

2008 was a rebuilding season for UH, being that Jones as well as many 2007 offense stars were no longer there! But the team had a winning season (7-6) but lost the bowl game to Notre Dame!

The following summer, at a press conference, Coach Mack taunted Notre Dame's chant as a "faggot dance" then ask the reporters to not report what he just said! It all went downhill from there!

(for more on that issue, check out:
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009/08/coach-mack-controversy.html

While no wanted to admit it, the issue was a distraction for the 2009 season.  Also, the QB Gregg Alexander had a season-ending injury, forcing Bryant Moniz to be the starter! The season ended with a 6-7 reason. An average record, with no bowl game!

2010 was much, much better! Bryant Moniz showed some serious improvement! The receivers Greg Salas and Kealoha Pilares were on a roll! So was running back Alex Green!  The team shared the WAC title with Boise State and Nevada!  The  team was 10-4, and played the Hawaii Bowl against Tulsa. Unfortunately, Tulsa was the most under-rated team of the year, and we lost!

2011 expected great things. Sure, offense lost Salas, Pilares and Green! But this was to be Moniz's senior season! Plus, the defense had some great returning starters like Corey Paredes, Aaron Brown, Richard Toress, Vaugh Meatoga and Kaniela Tuipolotu!

However, the 2011 started with some serious distractions with Aaron Brown and Darius Bright getting arrested and suspended over a bar fight!

That didn't stop the team from winning the opening game against Colorado! Little did we know, that Colorado would go on to have an extremely junk season!

We lost to Washington ( a very good team). That was expected!

But we also lost to junk teams like UNLV and San Jose State! We also lost to Utah State! Sure, Utah State was better than usual this year!  But those 3 loses really PISSED OFF many UH fans!

We got lucky against Idaho, which missed their last minute field goal!

Those things added up! People were ANGRY!

Apathy set in!

It got to the point when I was at Varsity Bar to watch Hawaii play Fresno State ( a usually heated rivalry that nobody wanted to miss), there were more patrons watching the mainland games on TV instead!

That in itself is an insult to the UH program! Especially in years past, when bars were filled with UH fans when they were playing LESSER KNOWN OPPONENTS!

(and we lost that game to a junker-than-usual Fresno! How in the hell????? We could've tied that game with a field goal and go into over-time! But noooooo, they tried to make a touchdown from 40 yards with seconds left!)

THe following week, UH beat a junk Tulane team. 1 more win and we could've at least barely make it a winning season.

But the next opponent was BYU! That used to be the hated rivals back in 1980s-90s!  We haven't played them since 2002, so that was supposed to be exciting!

UH did fine in the 1st half of the game! In the 2nd half of the game, UH fell apart! Dropped balls and our QBs taking too many sacks! Season over, no bowl game!

To add insult to injury, the stadium was only about 60% full!  Only 60% ? In the past, games against BYU used to FILL THE ALOHA STADIUM!

Apathy had gone too far!

UH fans could no longer take it!


Fans not showing up to the stadium, fans angry at the losing team, fans angry that the top local players choosing other college teams  ............

........ and fans angry that Coach Mack was making about a $1 million but not only losing, but losing to crappy teams like UNLV and San Jose State!

[add to this: the hard economic times, when universities are cutting budgets. There is a lower tolerance for paying big money to football coaches in general, but more so when they're not living up to expectations]

Jim Donovan , the UH Athletic Director, had to do something!

But he also didn't want to look like some kind of bad guy that enjoys firing people!

So, there was the press conference announcing the retirement of Coach Mack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x_Oxf67xTE


2) Transition


But then what?

The UH football coaching job isn't like all other college coaching jobs!

Sure, you still got to coach the players into becoming winners! You also got to make sure the players are taking care of academics AND not acting irresponsibly out in the community!

But in Hawaii, you're 2,500 miles away from everyone else!   You can't just drive to the next state! You can't even drive to the next island!

Also, Hawaii is culturally different from the other states!  Not anyone can fit in easily! You don't have to be from Hawaii to fit in, but you have to be culturally flexible if you're not!  June Jones and Coach Mack were good at that! But other mainlanders have a more difficult time with adjusting to Hawaii!

Hawaii does have a great population for finding college football players! That's the good news for UH!

Bad news for UH? Many other college football teams want those players too!

And just like anywhere else, not every high school athlete want to play for their local college!  Some want to play somewhere else!

UH also tries to recruit players from other places! Problem is ...... those other places are 2,500+ miles away!  Hawaii might sound like fun, but not every player from the continental US wants to go so far away from their families while playing college football!

So UH had to find someone who can coach football, recruit local players AND recruit mainland players!

Not so many people can do that!

Rich Miano, a former assistant with June Jones and Coach Mack, was one candidate for the head coaching position! He was a very charismatic guy who was popular in the community! He had NFL playing experience!  Problem was  ......... he was coaching under Coach Mack and many fans wanted someone different!

The other names being spread around were Duane Akina and Norm Chow! Both grew up in Hawaii, went to Punahou, then played & coached at mainland colleges!

Akina played college football at Washington and was a defensive coach at the very successful University of Texas program!

But Chow got the job

3) Norm Chow

Norm Chow is now the new head UH football coach!

Here's the press conference!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee1xoie-f4c&feature=share

I was surprised to see Chow having such a relaxed, funny personality! The reason why I said that, because before, when I saw him on TV, he seemed so serious!

Anyways, it's great to see Norm Chow is now the head coach, after so many years on the continental US!

Chow grow up in Palolo, and went to Punahou!

But he left the islands to play college football at Utah! He did return to the islands to teach & coach at Waialua High School back in the early 1970's.

But afterwards, Chow spent the next few years on the continental US! He spend 27 years as an assistant coach at BYU, which was once UH's most hated rival!

Afterwards, he spent a few years as an offensive coordinator at North Carolina State, Southern California, UCLA, and Utah! He even spent a few years coaching in the NFL, with the Tennessee Titans.

During those years, he was responsible for the success of many great players like Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Phillip Rivers, Reggie Bush, Vince Young and many others!

His offense style will different from the ones used by June Jones and Coach Mack! Jones & Mack used the "run &shoot" with emphasize lots of passing, using 4 recievers and 1 running back!   Chow's pro-style still emphasizes the passing game, but uses 2 running backs, 1 tight end and 3 receivers!

I did enjoy certain parts of the "run & shoot" especially since it highlighted some smaller players that can dodge tackles like Chad Owens and Davone Bess! But too much emphasis on "run & shoot" meant not having a Tight-End (TE) or a Full-Back (FB) on the field! Those tend to be big guys that can move around! They can run or catch the ball! But when they don't have the ball, they can provide extra protection for their quarterback!   UH  lost too many games without having such guys on the field!

Also, because UH's version of  "run & shoot" offense didn't have TEs or FBs, that hurt our defense too!  It left the defense UNPREPARED against opponents that used TEs and FBs!

I know Norm Chow is going to fix that!  He should able to implement such systems, since he's done it so many times before!

Sure, Norm Chow might not have the easy access to California players like he did at USC and UCLA! But his system is designed to suceed with the many players we can get from Kahuku, Kamehameha and similar schools, as well as from American Samoa! He could still get some players from California, Utah, Texas and other places, though it will be more challenging to do so than from his previous colleges!

But I think Norm Chow can do it! Times will be challenging, but I see great things ahead for UH! I think UH can finally the gain the kind of success Boise State, Texas Christian, and yes ...... Utah and BYU!

Norm Chow .... WELCOME HOME

4) Our other rival - Fresno State

I usually view Fresno State as the enemy!

I viewed their previous coach Pat Hill as the Leader Of The Enemy for the last 15 years!

Sure, he might've beaten us this year (and got Coach Mack into retirement) but his teams were also declining the past few years.

And like Coach Mack,  Pat Hill was let go from the university that he loved!

Like Coach Mack's press conference,  Pat Hill had a press conference after he got fired! Even though what he experienced could make any person angry  & bitter, Pat Hill handled the situation with honor and class!

That is why I just want to end this blog post with a link to the article & video on his press conference!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee1xoie-f4c&feature=share

While I never wanted Pat Hill to feel happy after a game against UH, I do have to honor everything he said in that press conference! I will miss seeing him in the opponent's sidelines next year!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

deaths in 2011

It's almost the end of 2011, and the start of 2012!

And so much unfisnished business on my blog!

Now that I got time, I can finally blog on the stuff I wish I had time to write about earlier

1) Those who have Passed Away

I already wrote about the passing of Steve Jobs, possibly the most popular guy to pass away this year

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/12/steve-jobs-occuppy-wall-street-and.html




And I wrote about the death of one of my favorite singers from my teenage years - Nate Dogg
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-memory-of-nate-dogg.html


But there's more that I want to cover

----

Andy Rooney  - this was the guy who had his few minutes of commentary at the end of "60 Minutes".

"60 Minutes"  usually 3 stories on serious topics (ie. war, disease, politics, racism, etc) for the first 50 minutes.

Then, at the end of the show, we had Andy Rooney!

Rooney usually made some humorous observations about things like shoes, cars, time, bag of potato chips, or whatever else he felt like complaining about that day!

Ocassionally, Rooney got serious at times, especially when recounting his memories working for the Army's newspaper during World War 2!

I didn't always agree with Rooney, but either way, he was funny as hell!

Though at times, Rooney did go too far! The worst was after rock singer Kurt Cobain killed himself! Rooney didn't think it was right that Cobain being honored after his death, and he insulted Cobain's fashion sense! Very bad timing!

The very next week, Rooney apologized.

Some people did react the same after Rooney died, if you read some internet commentary.

But I won't go there!

But I will end the topic with this -- Rooney's last commentary on "60 Minutes"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKvRPh5QXUg

---------------


Heavy D -- he was a popular rapper back in the 1990's. His songs had an R&B flavor and focused on the funner side of life.

His most popular song was "Now that We Found Love" from 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNEgUPKxk7A&feature=relmfu


But my favorite was from 1995 "Nuttin but Love" with a very funny video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEbfeG2oAE&ob=av2e
yes that was Chris Tucker and Busta Rhymes in the video, but they weren't that famous back then! It was about 1 or 2 years before they became famous pop icons! And "Nozcema girl" in the video? Totally forgot about her, until I saw the video again this year. She was always in the ads for a famous skin care lotion!


Heavy D also appeared on Micheal Jackson's "Jam"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbHI1yI1Ndk&ob=av2e
ype, MJ the singer, with MJ the basketballer in the video!


and on Soul for Real's "Candy Rain"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAyCyETLT1o&feature=related

----------

Christopher Hitchens -- an author, a frequent talk show guest famous for his controversial, provocative comments.

As with many other pundits, sometimes I agreed with him, sometimes I didn't.

Though he was mostly a far-left liberal,Hitchens didn't hestitate to protest the  hypocrisy of  many  Radical left-wingers. Many Radical Left-wingers were QUICK to call Republican presidents "fascists", but too many of  those same people were either SILENT or  TOO MIDLY CRITICAL about serious human right abuses committed by communist governmnents and Islamic Fascists!

However, Hitchens did go way too far at times! His book title "God is Not Great" was totally unneccessary! I mean, if you're an atheist, fine!  But insulting many good people of faith, and comparing them to violent religious fanatics is ridiculous!

I also remember writing a blog post criticizing Hitchen's hatred of sports. Hitchens basically blamed sports for all the ills of society, and stereotyped all athletes as being like Micheal Vick or Mike Tyson!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/02/attack-of-sports-haters.html
--

Vaclav Havel  -- started out as a playwrighter, but became a pro-democracy activist in the communist dictatorship of Czechoslovakia from the 1950s to 1980s!

After the communists gave up control in 1989, Czechoslovakia split into 2 countries - Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Havel became the president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003!

Havel passed away earlier this month from lung cancer.

To learn Havel's insipiring story , check out http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/vaclav-havel-dissident-playwright-and-former-czech-president-dies/2010/09/21/gIQATAeD2O_print.html

--

Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong Il  ---- Terrorist leader and a dictator  dead this year! Good riddance!



-------------

Obviously, there's more who passed away this past year! However, these are the ones I have commentary for!

No offense towards those I didn't comment on!


However,  feel free to share your list with everyone!

crime and poverty

The same group of women have been arrested for 2 separate thefts, one from a Toys R Us, another from WalMart!

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/136396208.html?id=136396208

Members of a group suspected of hauling items out of a Kaneohe toy store who claim they stole the toys as gifts for their children are also suspects in a theft two days prior of two flat-screen televisions, Honolulu police said Thursday.
Five women and a man were seen on surveillance footage carrying out boxes of merchandise on Dec. 1 at a Toys R Us at Windward Mall in Kaneohe. Several of the women contacted an attorney after police released the footage, claiming they're unemployed, single moms who stole for their kids. Four of them surrendered Tuesday and the man is expected to turn himself in on Thursday. A fifth woman is expected to surrender in the coming days.


(skipped paragraphs)


Myles Breiner, the attorney who is representing one of the women and arranged for the five others to get representation, could not immediately be reached Thursday. He has said all the women are down-on-their luck single moms desperate to "meet their kids' expectations." They're remorseful and took the toys to his office, Breiner said, and that he has since turned over to police.



----------

OK, good news is they turned themselves in!

But this stuff about being "down-on-their luck single moms desperate to meet their kids' expectations." ?


My grandma raised 8 kids in a public housing project in Kalihi (Lanakila Housing aka Puahala Homes)!

Some of those years, she was a divorced mother!

How would she react if any of her kids bought home a toy they have found at a park?

She would YELL at them to "PUT THAT TOY BACK, IT ISN'T YOURS!"If that kid refused, she would've given them a couple slaps!

(note:I'm NOT trying to glorify using corporal punishment, I'm just telling you what actually happened)

The whole point, is that even though my grandma was raising multiple kids in a ghetto neighborhood, she NEVER thought it was OK to take stuff that isn't yours!

True words of wisdom!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Part 2 of me vs Scrooge : GOOD NEWS

Earlier today, I posted the blog post concerning the rude, arrogant, Scrooge-like mid-level manager at Ala Moana Macy's who goes by the name of Michelle Range (aka Scrooge).

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-stood-up-to-scrooge-of-macys.html


Well, I did email a few media outlets.  What they did with the info is up to them!

But I did get a call from Malia Zimmerman, the head of Hawaii Reporter, a news-oriented website! She posted an edited version of my blog on Hawaii Reporter!

Check it out at

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/i-stood-up-to-the-scrooge-of-macys/123

----------

I also left a voice message to the REAL store manager of Ala Moana Macy's. That would be Mimi!

I finally was able to talk to her about this issue!

She agreed that Scrooge (aka Michelle Range) was out of line! While Macy's usually prefer their workers not wear hats on the job, THE POLICY IS FLEXIBLE ON CHRISTMAS RELATED HATS!

Yep, the Santa hat is back on tonight :)

As for Scrooge (aka Michelle Range), she is going to have a meeting with her direct supervisor (Lavina Wong) on her diva-like attitude! 

Justice is about to happen :)

If Scrooge (aka Michelle Range) still want to start static with me, I'll let you guys know!  But if she's smart, she'll just leave the issue alone already! She lost, she might as well as accept defeat with dignity!

I stood up to the Scrooge of Macy's

I am a part-time employee at Macy's! I work at the store in Ala Moana, the biggest mall in Honolulu, Hawaii!

Macy's is a famous retail store with a strong connection to the Christmas holiday. From the "Miracle on 34th Street", the Thanksgiving parade, holiday seasonal workers, long store hours for the customers and all the Christmas dcorations in the store, it's a fun and magical place.

Of course, whenever there is fun, there is always someone who wants to ruin the fun.

The Scrooge I will discuss is Michelle Range, one of the mid-level managers who runs some of the women's clothing departments on the 3rd floor of the store!

(and yes, I am using REAL NAMES HERE! None of this BS "phony names to protect the guilty" crap from me!)

She has a problem with me wearing a (oh my god....... noooooooo!) Santa hat on the job!

Who in their right mind would have a problem with someone wearing a Santa hat  at MACY'S ?

This letter was written on 12/18/11 concerning what happened the night before!

--------
From : Pablo Wegesend (recovery associate)

To: Mimi (my note: this person is the head manager of the store)
Subject : Santa hats

I am writing this letter because it has come to my attention that Michelle (the 3rd floor manager) was telling Patricia Carrera [my direct supervisor] that I wasn’t supposed to be wearing a Santa hat because the dress code for store associates supposedly prohibits the wearing of hats!
When I was working the last holiday season at the Macy’s in Kahala Mall, the Santa hat was never an issue. I wore it the week before Christmas, and I have not heard anyone having a problem with it. Because it was never an issue when I was working at the Kahala Macy’s, it is my gut feeling that this prohibition on Santa hats is not coming from Macy’s headquarters. I am not sure who is the person who decided to prohibit Santa hats, and I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, as I am guessing Michelle was just being unflexible in enforcing a “no hats policy”.

Macy’s is known by many as a great place to come during Christmas holiday season. From the “Miracle on 34th Street” to the Thanksgiving parades to the long hours on the week before Christmas, it is very shocking that anyone within the Macy’s organization would have a problem with me wearing a Santa hat!

When I wear the Santa hat on the job, many children and adults smile and greet me! In fact, their reactions lift up my spirits just when I’m about to feel tired. It gives me the energy and motivation to keep going.

It would be a tragedy if Macy’s associates are banned from wearing Santa hats. If that issue was ever to be made public, either through Facebook, Twitter, the local news, CNN, Fox News, YouTube or talk radio, it is guaranteed to be a public relations disaster at a time when Macy’s can least afford one. 

I hope that the store associates can continue wearing the Santa hats with pride this holiday season. I am also hoping that you can clarify this issue to all managers and staff, in order to protect us from mid-level managers who enforce rules that defy common sense. And then we can all move on and provide exceptional service with a Christmas spirit for the rest of the holiday season. 
Mahalo,
Pablo Wegesend


-------
 
I was going to give this letter to Mimi personally on 12/18/11!  I was off that day! I saw my direct supervisor that day, and she said she didn't see Mimi that day!  (And yes, I walked in with that Santa hat) I left that note, and was hoping that Mimi was going to handle the issue internally!
 
Well, yesterday Tuesday, Scrooge (aka Michelle Range) saw me on the 3rd floor with the Santa hat!
 
Though she is normally just the manager of some women's clothing section, she was the substitute manager of the store that night!
 
She thought she was going to intimidate me into taking off the Santa hat! She tried to tell me repeatedly to take off that hat!
 
I quietly reminded her of the Christmas spirit that Macy's was known for!
 
She didn't want to hear it!
 
I told her I will come and talk to Mimi tomorrow about this! Scrooge( aka Michelle Range) said "you can wear it tomorrow, but I'm the EIC of tonight, so take it off now!" (imagine her saying that with a diva voice)
(also, notice that it sounds like she's making up her own rules! Otherwise, she wouldn't say "you can wear it tomorrow" when she's not scheduled to be the substitute store manager aka EIC)
 
I also told her that issue can bring bad publicity and I WILL SPREAD IT!
 
She got interrupted by the company's cell phone! And I walked away with my Santa hat on!
 
She didn't bother me for the rest of the night! I went on with my Santa hat on, acting like nothing happened!
 
One of the 3rd floor sales associate saw that happened, and told me that is how Michelle Range operates! I that sales associate "you're a witness, I'll bring it up to Mimi tomorrow". And I wrote down that sales associate's name!  (that's right Michelle Range, someone else might finally have the guts to testify against you! Your diva act has its limits)
 
I didn't talk about the issue with anyone else that night! They saw me smiling as usual!  They thought I was just smiling because I can be the lovable fun guy! They didn't realize that Scrooge (aka Michelle Range) tried to get tough with me and LOST THE BATTLE!
 
I'm not the type of guy who goes the nearest person to whine about my problems! I just don't operate that way! I just operate like nothing happened!
 
( a good skill for salesperson anyways : angry customer got on your nerves? We still greet the next customer like NOTHING HAPPENED)
 
But I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
 
SANTA WILL NOT BE DISRESPECTED LIKE THAT!
 
No, I dont whine to my co-workers about it! They got nothing to do with it! I just want to distract myself and enjoy their company!
 
But I WILL bring this up to Mimi and the higher-ups at Macy's!
 
And I WILL contact as media outlets as possible!
 
That's right, Michelle Range, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WERE MESSING WITH!
 
I might have a soft personality at times, I might be conflict-avoidant at times, BUT DO NOT LET THAT FOOL YOU!
 
No, I'm NOT interested in physical threats.
 
I'm interested in having ALL the fans of Christmas, Santa, and ALL the Macy's shoppers to stand up for me!
 
But MORE IMPORTANTLY,  I want all the fans of Christmas, Santa and Macy's TO STAND UP FOR THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!
 
Tell the world how much the Santa hat inspires you! Tell the world how happy it feels to see a Macy's store associate wear a Santa hat! Tell the world that the Christmas tradition shall not be disrespected!
 
What will happen next, I don't know!
 
Some would prefer I handle this internally! I understand such concerns! 
 
BUT I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
 
Some say "just do what your boss says". I've been honoring my boss's requests 99% of the time! But I am NOT an ass kisser!
 
The USA  was NOT founded by ass kissers!  
 
I'm taking a stand!

---
PS: Here is the contact information for Ala Moana Macy's

1450 Moana Boulevard

Honolulu, HI 96814
808/941-2345

I do encourage you to let them know how you feel, but PLEASE KEEP IT CIVIL! I want the store to know how hurt the customers are in hearing this news, NOT voices of loud rage!

 

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Pearl Harbor - 7 decades ; plus APEC

7 decades ago, Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor and other military sites in Hawaii.

Japan was an imperialist power that wanted large territories of colonies, just like many European countries like France and the U.K.

While the European powers that held Asian territories (ie. French owning Vietnam, Dutch owning Indonesia, British owning Malaysia and Hong Kong) were too distracted by their fight with Germany, Japan chose the wrong country to mess with when they attacked Pearl Harbor!

America had a strong industrial sector, and large amounts of people to draft into the military!  Even worse for Japan, the Americans were developing a nuclear bomb!

---------

One of my close friend had an interest in Pearl Harbor, and posted some interesting blog posts related to the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Here are the links!


http://wiileecoolstuff.blogspot.com/2011/01/trapped-at-pearl-harbor-escape-from.html

http://wiileecoolstuff.blogspot.com/2010/12/dec-7-1941.html

http://wiileecoolstuff.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-is-uss-utah-forgotten.html

------------------------

Back in 1991, which was the 50 year anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, then US President George Bush Sr came to Hawaii for the commemoration ceremony.

After the 9/11 attacks of 2001, I was really expecting the younger Bush to come to Hawaii for the 60th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor. It would've been the perfect time for him to do so, since the US had just experience a similar attack. Too bad he didn't come.

Now this is the 70th anniversary, Barack Obama should have come here again! I know he was just here for APEC last month, but even so, why not come here to commemorate a major historical event for his country and his home state?

People might complain about the traffic jams associated with the President and the Secret Service. Look, Washington DC face this all the time. We just deal with this for a few days! We have to make sacrifices sometimes.

People in Hawaii need to see the big picture! We are in the middle of the Pacific. We may be small in land and population, but that's no excuse for small-time thinking. 

Hawaii was the PERFECT place for APEC, being that APEC is Asia-PACIFIC Economic Cooperation! Notice the Pacific part of APEC? It was about time we had an APEC conference in the middle of the PACIFIC!

APEC showed the world that Hawaii is not just a place of fun & sun, but also a place for serious business!

The APEC forum went well. Unlike other places, we didn't have violent protests here!

The Iolani Palace was locked for the duration of the conference. That was disappointing, since APEC visitors had booked trips there! This was their Once In A Lifetime Opportunity for them.

Though I do think the real reason Iolani Palace was locked because some Native Hawaiian sovereignty activists have previously barged in there as an attempted takeover. The state government didn't want such publicity stunts happening during APEC when all the world's cameras were watching! It would've been humiliating for Hawaii if the Iolani Palace was barged in and taken over by activists when the whole world was watching!


---------
 I really wanted to see their group photo with all the participating nation's leaders in Aloha shirts!

In previous APEC photos, all the leaders were the native attire of the country the conference took place. For example, I still remember seeing ex-US president Bush and ex-Russian president wearing traditional Chinese attire for the group photo when APEC conference  was in China. 

Popular Aloha shirt company Tori Richards even made a special Aloha shirt for the APEC group photo!

However, Obama preferred that the leaders all wear business suits. He didn't want political opponents from the continental US to make a big fuss of "look at Obama wearing Aloha print as if everything's all fun &  games during hard economic times".  I would've just told them  "Screw off! This is Hawaii, Aloha shirts are part of our culture! Get over it!"

Here is the APEC group photo taken by Ko Olina resort



courtesy of http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-14/apec-leaders-pose-for-a-group-photo-in-honolulu---palm-trees-an/3665040

Very nice scenery, good advertisement for Hawaii!

Too bad they just didn't have their Aloha shirts on!

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Steve Jobs, Occuppy Wall Street, and other related issues

So much to say, so little time to say them.

1) Steve Jobs

On October 5 of this year,  Steve Jobs, the founder & CEO of Apple Computers, has passed away.!
The younger generation know Jobs as the i-guy whose company gave us the iMac, iTunes, iPods, iPads and iPhones!

But his innovations go way back, before today's young adults were born!


Steve Jobs was known for his many innovative ideas for 4 decades.  He was never one who was just satisfied with his achievements. He was willing to create the next big thing, making things people never thought of using before that ended up being things people don't want to live without!

Back in the 1970's, computers were just things used in government agencies and in business. People laughed at the idea of a personal computer existing in middle class homes. However, Steve Jobs came up with computers that were small enough, inexpensive enough and simple enough for the average middle class home. Other existing computer companies (ie. IBM) took notice and made their own versions of the personal computer.

If Steve Jobs stopped there, he would've already been a business and technology legend! However, Steve Jobs wasn't done yet!

Back in the early 1990's, computer animation was just a fringe art form that only appeared in obscure short-film clips. Most animation was still hand drawn. However, Steve Jobs started Pixar, with the idea that computer-animated films can become box-office hits! The 1st major film from Pixar, Toy Story, was a big box-office hit, which paved the way for other hit films like Shrek and Ice Age!

If Steve Jobs stopped there, he would've already been a business and technology legend! However, Steve Jobs wasn't done yet!


Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, there were fears within the music business that they would soon be out of business. Customers who were tired of paying $12 for a CD with 12 junk songs, just so they could hear 1 or 2 good songs,  started getting songs online for free. Artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre started filing lawsuits against file-sharing networks like Napster, while alienating music fans in the process!

Steve Jobs had a solution. He started  a website called iTunes where people can pay 99 cents for a song, which can transfer into different formats.  And Steve Jobs had a new format for playing music. It was the iPod portable music player that was more convenient to carry around than the boombox, walkman or the portable CD player. And to input songs into your iPod, you need to download them from iTunes! Smart business move from Steve Jobs!

And like the iPod and iTunes, Steve Jobs came up with more stuff with names starting with lower-case i! There was the iMac, which was a popular personal computer of the early 2000's. There was the iPad, which was a portable wireless computer. There was the iMovie, a program that amateurs can use make and edit their own independent films.  And there was the iPhone, which was a cell phone with internet access!

This was the work of staying ahead of everyone for 4 decades. That's not easy!

Just coming up with 1 popular idea is hard. But that popular idea can be outshined by your competitors, even ones you didn't see coming!

Sony was once a technology leader in music players. They came up with compact discs and Walkmans in the 1980s. But Apple outshined all that with the iPods!

Myspace was once the largest social network out there! It was so big that NewsCorp (owner of the Fox media programs) spent $100 million to buy it! But all that money and fame wasn't enough to save MySpace from being outshined by newer competitors like Facebook and Twitter.

2) Economic systems

While Steve Jobs was a technology innovator, his success doesn't just come out of nowhere! It doesn't just happen in any economic system! 

His ideas might never gotten far in a country where the government makes all the economic decisions!

His ideas and his success happened because he lived in a country that has an economic system that allows individuals to risk their own money to start their own business.

This economic system is called capitalism.

 Even if others laugh at their ideas, if they make a good product that people are willing to buy, they can become very wealthy.

This is not an economic system that guarantees success to everyone! Some business succeed, others fail!

Because of the idea that some might take risks and fail, capitalism has gotten a bad reputation, especially the last few years.

Because success isn't guaranteed, some will fail and suffer economically! Because success isn't guaranteed, those who start with disadvantages in life (ie. ghetto childhood, abusive parents, learning disabilities, physical impairments, etc) have a tougher time climbing the economic ladder than those who were born into a rich family!  Because success isn't guaranteed, those who don't make it sometimes give up and become very resentful!

The last few years have seen people getting laid off, homes being foreclosed, and people ruined by debt. Recent college graduates who once thought prosperity would be guaranteed by their degrees are not getting the opportunities that once existed! People are having a harder time finding jobs that match their skill set. The older laid-off workers are finding it hard to find a job that paid as well as the ones they once had!

And to add insult to injury, CEOs of many failed corporate got bailed out by taxpayer's money!

3) Occupy Wall Street


This had inspired the Occupy Wall Street movement, which intended to embarrass the corporate executives by camping out in front of their corporate headquarters!

Their grievances are real and heart-felt by millions.

However, many of their solutions are totally unrealistic!

I'll go over the most unrealistic solutions listed from the link below

http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-for-occupy-wall-st-moveme/


Demand one: Restoration of the living wage.
Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment

Raising the minimum wage will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to improve the lives of minimum wage earners!  OK, it will give them one week of euphoria! Yay, I'm making $8.75 instead of $7.25!

But euphoria wont last! In order to pay the higher wages, business will have to charge higher prices! So what was once $7.25 will now cost $8.75!

Just imagine if the minimum wage becomes $20! Everything that is now $7.25 will cost $20!

And the low-earners are still suffering from higher-prices! Even worse, many low-earners get laid off since businesses can no longer afford them!

With all the outsourcing going on, and layoffs occuring, we might as well re-legalize cheap labor! Sure, making $4 an hour isn't the grand life! But it's better than making 75 cents a week begging on the streets!

Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system

YIKES! A government-run health care monopoly?

Meaning, if you don't like your government clinic, you have NO alternate routes! That is the reality in Canada and the UK, and that is what many people don't want to see in the U.S.


From Robert Tracinskihttp://jewishworldreview.com/0709/tracinski.php3

Anyone can have a family doctor who makes a wrong diagnosis — but in America, you're not stuck with him. I'm a fan of the TV show "Mystery Diagnosis," which tells the real stories of people with very rare medical conditions who spend years trying to get a proper diagnosis and treatment. One of the things these patients talk about is how you have to "be your own advocate," and most of the cases are solved when the patient himself searches for information on the Internet and finds a specialist who is an expert in his disease.

But how can you be your own advocate under socialized medicine? It is outlawed, because you are no longer in control of your own health care. You have no freedom to choose a physician, or to seek out a specialist on your own, or to decide what medical tests you will pay for.

(To those who buy the hype of "single-payer health care", READ THAT PARAGRAPH AGAIN!)

And also read this from John Stosell
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3580676&page=1  ( an written outline of Stossell's documentary on health care systems)


Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.


Nothing is done "fast track" unless you're Usain Bolt!

But all kidding aside, changing energy sources requires techonological innovation! Government has been attempting this for decades with no results!

Instead of hating on big business, those occupiers could start their own business in making new sources of fuel!

If Steve Jobs could come up with personal computers and all his iStuff, someone who could make a more efficient energy source than what we got now could easily become rich!

Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now!

I am paying back my college loans, and it would be nice if it all went away!

However, that money I borrowed for college didn't come for free!

It was a loan, which means the lending agencies lended me the money in hopes of getting the money back!

Let's put it this way - if you loaned your friend some $$$, but he/she didn't pay you back, would you lend it again?

HELL NO!

And that's how banks, credit unions and other lending agencies operate! If they didn't expect that money back, they wouldn't have EVER loaned the money! 

Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies

Yeah, and do away with criminal background checks too yah!

I mean, if you got a history of not paying the money back, why should the banks loan you some more? The banks have to protect themselves!



4) Advantages of CapitalismAgain, we go back to capitalism. It is the system that produced many great things, but is resented by many! It is a flawed system, but in an imperfect world, it's the best one available.

Rich Lowry from the National Reviewhttp://www.nationalreview.com/articles/279453/jobs-rule-rich-lowry

In the form of the market, Jobs had a more exacting master than any government agency could ever devise. There was no guarantee that his genius would be rewarded. When he made missteps, he failed. The misbegotten Lisa desktop computer is a mere footnote in the obituaries. It didn’t live on in perpetuity, bailed out and propped up. When sales were disappointing in the 1980s, Jobs got ousted for a time from his own company.


Jobs wouldn’t be remembered if he hadn’t connected with customers, knowing what they’d want and caring about their needs. The difference between the private and public sectors couldn’t be captured more starkly than in the difference between Apple Stores and the post office — one sleek, up-to-date, and solicitous, the other charmless, antiquated, and sullen.

(skipped paragraphs)
The government can care for the needy; it can field a military and do much else besides. But it can’t dream. It can’t let its imagination run wild and pursue an individual vision with a ruthless determination. It can’t conjure new and profitable industries out of nothing. What we need to revive the economy over the long term is what the government can never create: Not just more jobs, but more people like Steve Jobs.

-----

Another tribute to Steve Jobs and capitalism


This one from Kevin D. Williamson
http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/279321


I don’t know what Steve Jobs’s politics were, I don’t much care, and in any case they are beside the point. The late Mr. Jobs stood for something considerably better than politics. He stood for the model of the world that works.



(skipped over the images)
That old Motorola cinderblock would cost about $10,000 in 2011 dollars, and you couldn’t play Angry Birds on it or watch Fox News or trade a stock. Once you figure out why your cell phone gets better and cheaper every year but your public schools get more expensive and less effective, you can apply that model to answer a great many questions about public policy. Not all of them, but a great many.

my comments : Cell phones get smaller, cheaper, and more efficient because the business who make them want to continue being profitable!



Government bureacracies don't have any real incentives to be more efficient! Why should they? They're already paid for by taxpayers no matter what! And even if there's budget cuts, they'll just blame it on the "low taxes for the wealthiest 1%" instead of trying to be more cost-efficient



Anyways, back to Kevin D. Williamson's comments


Jobs was sometimes criticized for not being a philanthropist along the lines of Bill Gates.

(skipped paragraphs)



CNN, being CNN, misses the point. Mr. Jobs’s contribution to the world is Apple and its products, along with Pixar and his other enterprises, his 338 patented inventions — his work — not some Steve Jobs Memorial Foundation for Giving Stuff to Poor People in Exotic Lands and Making Me Feel Good About Myself. Because he already did that: He gave them better computers, better telephones, better music players, etc. In a lot of cases, he gave them better jobs, too. Did he do it because he was a nice guy, or because he was greedy, or because he was a maniacally single-minded competitor who got up every morning possessed by an unspeakable rage to strangle his rivals? The beauty of capitalism — the beauty of the iPhone world as opposed to the world of politics — is that that question does not matter one little bit.

My comments: It reminds me of this one time I was posting comments on a left-wing article that wanted higher taxes on oil. I pointed out higher taxes on oil will make it harder for families like mine. I mentioned that higher gas prices will make it harder for people like mother to drive my grandma around to buy neccessary supplies!

The other commenters said stuff like "so, the oil companies don't care about your grandma"

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THE OIL COMPANIES CARE ABOUT MY FAMILY! 

THIS SO-CALLED CARING IS OVER-RATED ANYWAYS! If oil products makes it easier for people like my mother to take my grandma places, then that's good! EVEN IF THE OIL COMPANIES CARED MORE ABOUT PROFITS THAN HELPING FAMILIES!

This is not meant to defend everything oil companies do! 

It's meant to say that big businesses do contribute by making our lives convenient, even if they're doing so to make a quick buck!

--------
Back to Richardson:
Whatever drove Jobs, it drove him to create superior products, better stuff at better prices. Profits are not deductions from the sum of the public good, but the real measure of the social value a firm creates. Those who talk about the horror of putting profits over people make no sense at all. The phrase is without intellectual content. Perhaps you do not think that Apple, or Goldman Sachs, or a professional sports enterprise, or an Internet pornographer actually creates much social value; but markets are very democratic — everybody gets to decide for himself what he values. That is not the final answer to every question, because economic answers can satisfy only economic questions. But the range of questions requiring economic answers is very broad

My comments:

This is why I think's crazy for people to talk about "unaccountable corporations" and "we need a more democratic economic system".

Look, we have to wait 4 years to pick a president. Better than not having a choice!

But when it comes to choosing to buy products, you don't have to wait 4 years! You can make a choice now!

No one is forcing  you to buy an iPod! I still don't have one! But lot of people get great joy from iPods, so Steve Jobs make lot of money!

There's a Starbucks almost everywhere! I haven't been in one for YEARS! And the last time I did, I think I just bought a bottle of water! Coffee, expressos, cappuccinos, whatevers, DOESN'T appeal to me AT ALL!   I don't have to buy from Starbucks if I don't want to, even if they're on every corner!  And no, I don't buy from Starbuck's sister chain Jamba Juice either! I like Hawaiian Sun canned juices better!


So yes, it's EASY to avoid paying certain companies! Companies are accountable to their customers! If someone doesn't like McDonalds, they could easily switch to Burger King! No need to wait 4 years to do that!

Remember, it was only a few years ago when MySpace was the hottest thing! Sony was once the hottest thing in entertainment items! They got outshined! Their declining revenues are a way of being held accountable by the customers!

That is something the new CEO running Apple has to be aware of too! It's enough to have the hottest thing now! Someone can come up with something hotter! Only time will tell if Apple can continue strong in post-Jobs era!

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More Articles on Captialism and Steve Jobs
 
Capitalism has gotten a bad rep when it comes to health care! Rising insurance costs has gotten lower-income people worried!
 
But a more socialistic system does NOT live up to the hype!
 
There's tons of articles on that, but here's one relating to Steve Jobs
  http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2011/10/08/thank_us_health_care_for_the_life_of_steve_jobs
 
On the very day that Steve Jobs died a new report suggests that the U.S. health care system is spending too much money on people near the end of their lives. The timing of the two events could not have been more ironic.



Had Jobs been under the care of the British National Health Service (NHS) or the Canadian Medicare system, he almost certainly would have died two years earlier. That would have been a major loss for the world, by anyone’s reckoning.


Here’s the back story. In 2004 Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He reportedly underwent successful surgery. Then, in 2009 he received a liver transplant. He died on Wednesday.


I haven’t seen Jobs’ medical records and I have made no real attempt to get the details about his medical condition. But for the point I want to make here, none of that really matters. Jobs’ case is interesting because of the issues it raises.


In most places in the world today a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer would be considered a death sentence. Aggressive treatment of the condition would be considered a poor use of medical resources — one involving considerable expense in return for only a few extra months of life. Perhaps Jobs’ cancer was of a rare variety that could be removed by surgery.


Even so, almost nowhere else in the world would a pancreatic cancer survivor be considered an appropriate candidate for a liver transplant. In Jobs’ case, the transplant apparently bought him only about two more years of life. In no other developed country would a patient get a liver transplant in order to live two more years.

(skipped paragraphs)
Plus, Jobs’ end-of-life care enabled him to keep pushing the envelope. Because of his never-ending devotion to innovation, we got the iPhone after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and the iPad after his liver transplant.




(in other words, in the supposedly "humane" systems of Canada and the UK, Steve Jobs would've been refused treatment, he would've died, we wouldn't have the iPad or iPhone)



----The policies that indirectly helped Steve Jobs (and many other entrepreneurs of his era)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576628900383779840.html

The article mentioned captial gains tax cuts, changes in pension laws, and protections for intellectual property


-----On why economic freedom and capitalism is important for economic growth, written by John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577032442153911170.html


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"Wealth isn't a Civil Right" by Larry Elder
http://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2011/11/24/hey,_occupy_wall_street_wealth_isnt_a_civil_right

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And this one is critical about Steve Jobs, about the way he mis-treated his employees. Just because he got away with it, doesn't mean you will. Learn more at
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/be-a-jerk-the-worst-business-lesson-from-the-steve-jobs-biography/249136/

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Coming soon

1) My thoughts on Steve Jobs, Occuppy Wall Street and other similar issues!

2) My thoughts on the recently deceased stars like Andy Rooney and Heavy D!

Monday, November 14, 2011

My 1st try adding visuals to my blog



These weren't my images, I just copied these images. I was taking a workshop on power-points, and I applied some of my new knowledge (copying & pasting images) to this blog!

So I'll have to go find who own the copyright to these images later on!

But I won't take credit for the creation of such images!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Make the Rich Pay?

The Occuppy Wall Street demand that the rich pay their "fair share". (I'll go over more about Occupy Wall Street in another blog post)

But we don't need more taxes.

We need the rich of OTHER NATIONS to PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE of their country's defense.

Here's what I got in the email from Downsize DC


=========

The U.S. has around 865 overseas bases, NOT counting Iraq and Afghanistan


They cost $102 billion per year, according to Miriam Pemberton of the Institute for Policy Studies http://tinyurl.com/aqq4zu

The bulk of them are in wealthy countries such as Germany, South Korea, and Japan that are capable of defending themselves

But we also have no business stationing troops to help defend the wealthy, corrupt dictators of impoverished countries

Bringing our troops home will force wealthy nations, and dictators, to pay the full cost of their own defense

The savings to the U.S. could well be over $1 trillion over ten years, more money than "taxing the rich" would raise. And, bringing the troops home will be in our national interest...





========
 
I'm all for paying for paying for the defense of this country! I'm all sending troops to hunt down Al Quaida, who have declared war on the USA!
 
But it's also time for other countries to pay more of their fair share of their own military defense, INSTEAD OF FREE-LOADING off of USA TAXPAYERS!
 
It's time for the rich folks of Japan, South Korea, Germany, and other nations to PAY FOR THEIR OWN DEFENSE, instead of free-loading off of US taxpayers?

Saturday, October 15, 2011

31 years and still living!

Today is my 31st birthday, and that means it's time for my annual birthday blog post, giving my readers an update on my life!

Within the last 12 months there has been some changes in my life!


1) Professional Changes

 Last year, at this time, I was working 2 positions in the education systems. I was working a part-time para-professional tutor (PPT) position (2-3 times a week) at Niu Valley Middle School (NVMS). On the other days, I continued working as a substitute teacher!

I am no longer working the tutor position at NVMS. However, I'm currently working the same position at Palolo Elementary School (PES).  I'm still eligible to continue working as a substitute teacher on the other days I'm not at PES.

While I do enjoy my work as a PPT and a substitute teacher, I only get paid for the days I'm able to work! While that works out great during the school year, it's totally non-revenue during school vacations!

Let's put it this way - I spent 7 weeks during the summer as totally unemployed! Toward the last month of the summer vacation, I did some temporary labor work for Labor Ready,  basically as a legal day-laborer!

-----

I also re-applied to work at Macy's!

A year ago, I had absolute zero-experience with retail work!  

Wanting some extra-income during last year's winter vacation, I applied and got hired for a holiday seasonal job at Kahala Mall! I was a recovery associate, meaning that I fold clothes, put stuff away, and assisted customers.  It was a fun job, but it was only temporary.

At the end of January 2011, I had my exit interview! I was also informed that Macy's  headquarters had eliminated all recovery associate positions!

In the summer, I did apply again for various jobs within the Macy's organization. I got hired for  part-time sales associate position at a different Macy's store! Now, this time, I'm working the cash register!

2) Finally starting on my Master's!

I want to continue working in the school system, but I'm tired of the non-paid vacations associated with being a PPT and a substitute  teacher. I want a job within the system that comes with a higher salary and  benefits!  It's also time that I take on a job with more responsibilities!

So, I'm about to started my Masters degree program at the University of Phoenix! This program will be in Elementary Education. My goal is to eventually become a full-time elementary teacher, hopefully with upper-elementary students!

This program involves 1 night-class a week! That might sound easy, but it also involves writing papers and doing research.

And doing all this with while still being employed in my current jobs.

But in order to get ahead in life, sacrifices need to be made! You don't get something for nothing!

But if everything goes to plan, in a few years, I'll get my master's and will be  working as a full-time teacher!  I'll be getting paid better than I do now, and also have vacation benefits! :)

3) Another sign I'm getting old

I'm starting to lose hair. I got a mini-bald spot, and you can see my hair thinning up front!

I still got my hair long, but that's because I won't be able to do so much longer.

My older brothers already lost their hair!

It's gotta be from the European side of the family.

Hair-loss is said to be inherited from the mother's side of the family tree!

And my mother's side of the family has more European DNA than my father's side.

While my mother is Puerto Rican (with Spanish and native DNA), she's also Portuguese and German. A lot lighter skin than me! Her brothers all experience hair-loss!

My father has some European DNA from his father, a Mexican soldier with Spanish ancestry! But my father's mother is purely of Native Mexican ancestry (Zapotec tribe to be more specific). And my dad has no sign of hair loss! More evidence of hair-loss being inherited from the mom's side! After all, there isn't much hair loss if your mom isn't of European ancestry!

My dad did once said "too much shampoo can bring hair loss, just use regular soap on your hair". Well, don't mind getting rid of my chest and back hairs (more inheritance from the European DNA) so I decided to experiment with using shampoo on my body hair, and use regular soap on my head hairs!

The way things are working out, "shampoo vs regular soap" got nothing to do with it! I'm stuck with European hair traits (ie too much on the front & back, but not enough on top). My father just happened to have less European DNA than me!

Enjoy my long hair while it lasts!

4) Birthdays vs the Party Poopers

I've recently heard a former classmate say something like "Who celebrates their 31st birthday!? Seriously though, I'm not much of a birthday person past thirty........... I'm also not sure if I'm up for celebrating birthdays anymore, other than for, you know, kids"

Well, that guy is entitled to his opinion!

Here's mine!

Birthdays are a reminder to celebrate life!


If you want to spend your birthday home alone, wallowing in self-pity, grievances and insecurities, you have the right to do so! I also have the right to think that's very pathetic!


Look, anyone who read my more personal blog posts knows I didn't always have it easy! (see http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html   for examples)   But I also realize other people have it worse!


Look, even in Haiti, with all its disasters, poverty and violence, people still find the time to celebrate fesitivites. Most of the greatest US party jams comes from the urban ghettos.  The Israelis don't stop partying, even though nearly all of them have been traumatized by terrorism!


If they can celebrate life, WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR ALWAYS ACTING LIKE A PROFESSIONAL VICTIM? 


WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR YOUR "EVERYTHING SUCKS" ATTITUDE?  


WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR BEING AN ENERGY VAMPIRE? (meaning someone who sucks up everyone else's energy by constantly having long depressing conversations about the negative things in life!Or even worse, constantly asking YOU about your problems!)


WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR NOT CELEBRATING LIFE AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR?


==
Also, that guy's attitude of  "I'm also not sure if I'm up for celebrating birthdays anymore, other than for, you know, kids" shows that he has an attitude of "birthdays are for kids".


Well, ever notice that kids (even though they don't have much control of life) ARE NOT ASHAMED TO ENJOY LIFE? That they can play around and smile at ease?


Too many adults have been so traumatized (or at least irritated) by so much of their life, that they forget to celebrate the joys that life can bring!


A few friends, great food, fun activities are what birthdays are all about! That's what life should be about!


Birthdays are a reminder to celebrate!  Even if they happen to be an odd # birthday like 31!


So yeah, you can be all cynical about life!


As for me, I AM READY TO PARTY! :)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

My letter to Congress on the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

I do use several online services to send e-mails to Congress and other  organizations. Though I rarely do post those letters to my blog, though I think I should do so more often.

This is a letter I sent via Downsize DC (http://downsizedc.org/) on the Food & Drug Administration and it's approval policies on medications. I wrote that the FDA should be more of an advisory agency instead of being the over-managing agency it is now.


============

Make the FDA advisory, not mandatory.


I want to control what medicines I use.

I DON'T want the government to micro-manage those choices!
While I do believe there's a place for the FDA, the FDA should make advisory recommendations only. It should NOT have the power to mandate which drugs I can buy, and which I cannot.

* If pharmaceutical companies value the FDA seal of approval, then they can pay the FDA to evaluate their drugs.
* If consumers value FDA approval, then they can decide to only buy FDA-approved medications.

If the FDA's seal of approval is really so valuable, then it does NOT need to be mandatory. No coercion is necessary. Instead, the FDA should be able to sell its services through voluntary means, just like Underwriter's Laboratory does.

Consumers and doctors should be free to consult available science, and make their own decisions about which treatments to try.

All human beings are unique. Treatments that might be dangerous for one person, could be the only possible solution for another. There is zero chance that one-size-fits-all dictates can possibly account for the vastness of human variability. Patients and doctors must have the flexibility to deal with individual human uniqueness.

The FDA should serve, not rule. And Congress should do the same. Stop trying to rule me. Instead, serve me. You can do this now by introducing legislation to make the FDA advisory, NOT mandatory.

Pablo Wegesend


==============

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11 - 10 years later

Today, it's been 10 years since the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked by hijacked planes.


1) Me on 9/11/2001

The common question that will be asked will probably be "where were you on 9/11?"

I was at University of Hawaii that time, living at the dorms!

Because of the time difference between NY and Hawaii, I was asleep when the attacks happened!

I first found out about it when my mom called me at 5:45. She mentioned that the World Trade Center blew up. At the moment, I was thinking it would've been similar to the bombing that occurred in the World Trade Center in 1993.

Only when I listened to the radio (the TV in my dorm room was screwed up at the time), when I found out it was actually airplanes that hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Later that morning, I was in the cafeteria, when a student was concerned that a class I had with him was going to be cancelled. He also fear that Pearl Harbor might get hit again.

I had 2 classes that day. In the 1st class, the professor mentioned about the 9/11 attacks, then went on with the lesson of the day. I think it was the appropriate way to deal with it.

Acknowledge what happen, but don't let it stop everything.The 2nd class that day, the teacher just cut it short.

In that semester, I was working at the UH dorms, both the Lokelani and Lehua buildings. Coincidentally, 9/11/2001 was the 1st day I was working at the Lehua building. Hectic circumstances.

3 days after the 9/11 attacks, I was hanging out with a long-time friend. We were talking about the week's events, plus all the racist hate crimes committed against Arab Americans occurring in the mainland. Then the friend said that I better shave (at that point I didn't shave for a whole week) or someone might look at me the wrong way. (Though I am Latino, some have said I look like I'm from the Middle East, especially if I didn't shave) Needless to say, I shaved my face that night (though I kept my infamous mustache).

2) American unity after 9/11

 After the 9/11 attacks, there was a big wave of patriotism. There were American flags on everyday! Tons of new flags were bought! Same for any merchandise with the USA flag on it!

It was like the stories our grandparents told us about how the nation came together during World War 2! After all the divisiveness and bitterness surrounding the Vietnam War, there was a feeling like Americans would never go back to the unity expressed during World War 2! But it happened right after 9/11!

Of course, some Radical Left wing writers and professors  basically blamed America for being attacked! They got a whole bunch of hate coming at them that they didn't see coming! It was like those Radical Left wing writers and professors were stuck in 1968!  But we had no patience with those whose minds were stuck in 1968! 

This isn't the Vietnam War where we just but in to someone else's conflicts! Those who attacked us were based in Afghanistan! Our involvement there is totally different than our involvement in Vietnam! Most Americans understood, and those Radical Left wingers stuck in 1968 got the ridicule they deserve!

---

However, American unity seemed to decline since 9/11.

Part of it was disagreement over whether the US troops should've gone into Iraq! Iraq had zero involvement in 9/11, just like China has zero involvement in Pearl Harbor!  Many felt it was a distraction from the war in Afghanistan! However, there were concerns that Iraq might still want to retaliate against the USA over our defending Kuwait from Iraqi troops back in 1991!

Other factors also caused the decline in American unity! Part of it was the anger over the slow action taken after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans! Part of it was the economic decline since the 2008 stock market crash! Part of was just war fatigue and 9/11 fatigue!

3) Anti-Muslim paranoia in Europe and North America

While the Radical Muslims have a very dangerous agenda, I still think there is too much anti-Muslim paranoia out there!

In Europe, where there are many immigrants from Muslim countries, many native Europeans are paranoid about a "Muslim takeover".

This fear has inspired Norway's white supremacist Anders Breivik to go on a shooting spree earlier this year, against those he felt were too tolerant on non-white immigrants.


Here, Gary Younge sets the record straight

http://www.thenation.com/article/162270/europes-homegrown-terrorists




The general framing goes like this. Europe is being overrun by Muslims and other non-white immigrants, who are outbreeding non-Muslims at a terrifying rate. Unwilling to integrate culturally and unable to compete intellectually, Muslim populations have become hotbeds of terrorist sympathy and activity. Their presence threatens not only security but the liberal consensus regarding women’s rights and gay rights that Western Europe has so painstakingly established; and overall, this state of affairs represents a fracturing of society that is losing its common values. This has been allowed to happen in the name of not offending specific ethnic groups, otherwise known as multiculturalism.

One could spend all day ripping these arguments to shreds, but for now let’s just deal with the facts.

There have been predictions that the Muslim population of Europe will almost double by 2015 (Oner Taspiner, the Brookings Institution); double by 2020 (Don Melvin, the Associated Press); and be 20 percent of the continent by 2050 (Esther Pan, Council on Foreign Relations). Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches: “The number I heard is every 32 years the population, the European population of Europe will be reduced by 50 percent. That’s how bad their birthrates are. This is in many respects a dying continent from the standpoint of European-Europeans.”

This is nonsense. The projections are way off. While Muslims in Europe do have higher birthrates than non-Muslims, their birthrates are falling. A Pew Forum study, published in January 2011, forecast an increase of Muslims in European population from 6 percent in 2010 to 8 percent in 2030.

The Norwegian terrorist Breivik feared a Muslim takeover. But Muslims make up 3 percent of Norway. Black Americans have a greater presence in Alaska.



[my note: that reminds me: when Sarah Palin ran for VP, she was mocked for being from a state with "hardly any black people", nevermind the same was true about "the 1st black president"! But yet, some fear a "Muslim takeover of Norway", when their presence is VERY TINY, even tinier than the presence of African-descendants in Alaska]

[When I posted a link to that article on facebook, a right-winger on my list mentioned some mullah saying
"we will take over Europe because we breed like mosquitoes."

My response was : yeah, but from the 3% they are today? 3%! Some mullah talks about "breeding like mosquitoes" but it's all talk! As the article said, even the Muslim birth-rate WITHIN Europe has been declining! So much for "breeding like mosquitoes"! And even if the jihadis in Europe do have many kids, let's remember, a lot of kids either rebel or ignore their parents! ]

More from Younge's article:
Nor do immigrants struggle to integrate. In Britain, Asian Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus all marry outside of their own groups at the same rates as whites. For most ethnic minorities in Britain, roughly half or more of their friends are white. Only 20 percent of those born in Britain have friends only from their own group. According to a Pew Research Center survey, the principal concerns of Muslims in France, Germany and Spain are unemployment and Islamic extremism.

In most of Europe the official politics of multiculturalism that the likes of Breivik and more mainstream politicians rail against—a liberal, state-led policy of encouraging and supporting cultural difference at the expense of national cohesion—is an absolute fiction. Last year German chancellor Angela Merkel claimed the “multikulti” experiment had failed. Earlier this year, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the same thing. The truth is that neither country ever tried such an experiment. “We never had a policy of multiculturalism,” explains Mekonnen Mesghena, head of migration and intercultural management at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. “We had a policy of denial: denial of immigration and of diversity. Now it’s like we are waking up from a long trance.”

The real object of their ire is the existence of “other”—meaning non-white—cultures and races in Europe: the fact of “other” cultures, not the promotion of them. The single greatest obstacle to integration in most of Europe is not Islam or multiculturalism but racism and the economic and academic disadvantage that comes with it.

And, finally, Muslims are nowhere near the greatest terrorist threat. According to Europol, between 2006 and 2008 only .4 percent of terrorist plots (including attempts and fully executed attacks) in Europe were from Islamists. The lion’s share (85 percent) were related to separatism. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. But it’s not on the scale or of the nature that those first out of the gate on Friday claimed it was. Put bluntly, if you have to assume anything when a bomb goes off in Europe, think region, not religion.

[
in other words, most terrorism in Europe has more to do with folks like the IRA who want Northern Ireland to separate from the UK. Or the Basque separatists who want their land to be separate from Spain. And similar folks in other European nations]


=======
And on the Muslim population in the USA, Steve Chapman sets the record straight!

http://reason.com/archives/2011/09/08/who-really-kept-us-safe-after



This surprising record has been attributed to excellent work by the FBI, CIA, and other law enforcement agencies, the war in Afghanistan, and the Bush administration's aggressive treatment of suspected terrorists. But on the list of those deserving credit, the first is a group hardly anyone would have predicted: American Muslims.

(skipped paragraphs,)



There are too many targets to secure them all. It would have been a simple task for a handful of minimally trained volunteers to keep us in a constant state of fear.

But the volunteers, with rare exceptions, didn't come forward. Charles Kurzman, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writes in Foreign Policy magazine that "approximately a dozen people in the country were convicted in the five years after 9/11 for having links with al-Qaida" and "fewer than 40 Muslim Americans planned or carried out acts of domestic terrorism."

That may sound like a lot, until you remember that there are 15,000 murders a year in this country. A report from the Rand Corp., a national security think tank, noted that of 83 terrorist attacks that took place between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only three "were clearly connected with the jihadist cause." Three!

We hear a lot of allegations of radical American imams preaching jihad. If so, they are not getting through. The simple fact is that most American Muslims don't sympathize with religious extremism and almost none are willing to practice it.


And why should they be? According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, "They are overwhelmingly satisfied with the way things are going in their lives (82 percent) and continue to rate their communities very positively as places to live (79 percent excellent or good)."

In other words, despite the fear-mongering from the likes of Jerry Coffee, Michelle Maglalang Malkin, Pamela Geller and other losers, the amount of US Muslims involved in terrorism is VERY TINY! 

The ones most likely to kill you are those of the same race as you! And since, most of the US population is of European ancestry, most of them are in danger of being killed by another European-American, NOT by some North African or Middle Eastern dude screaming jihad!


But it's just easier to scare people about those from a different culture!


-------
Last year, there was a debate over having a mosque being built near Ground Zero.


People claimed having a mosque near Ground Zero is "an insult" to the victims. That's bull-stuff!

For one thing, some of the victims were Muslims. In fact, in BOTH the World Trade Center AND the Pentagon, there was a prayer room for Muslim employees!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html

Did that surprise you? If you're over 18 years old and that article surprised you, then you are an EXTREMELY ignorant person!

A mosque near Ground Zero is only an insult to extremely ignorant people who think in stereotypes!

It is NOT an insult to the victims! The people who were working and visiting the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 were of many faiths! There were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and yes, Muslims!

If that shocks you, you are mega-ignorant! Are you really that lacking in brains that you didn't know there were employees within World Trade Center that are from Islamic cultures? Are you really that lacking in brains that you really thought only Christians, Jews and atheists were employed in the World Trade Center?

New York is an immigrant city, where people come from all over the world! Even Muslim countries! Get over it already!

4) The Decline of Islamic terrorism

After the last 10 years of the War on Terror, it seems to me that radical Muslim terrorism has been in serious decline!
 
Part of that is Al Quaida being chased off their bases in Afghanistan, drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen, crackdowns on terror cells worldwide. And off course, Osama bin Laden being killed and dumped in the ocean!
 
But also, many in the Muslim countries are turning more of their anger at their own country's leaders. Already, the dictators of 3 North African countries have been chased out of power this year! And there are increasing anti-dictator protests in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and Iran! In all those cases, the protesters are less concerned about past interference from the US, Europe or Israel. They're more concerned about their everyday reality, which has less to do with foreign powers and more to do with their national leadership!
 
Some are concerned about radical Muslims taking advantage of the chaos that comes with the transfer of power when a dictator loses power. But every country has such chaotic transitions.
 
Do you think the USA transition to freedom was easy? Even though the Founding Fathers were writing beautiful words about freedom, it was followed by multiple decades of conflict over whether slavery should exist in the USA! It took a  bloody civil war to resolve the issue! And even that was followed by a century or racist segregation! It was only in the 1960's that all racial groups had their official civil rights intact! That didn't stop all unofficial racism that continued!
 
I dont' write that stuff to bash the USA! In fact today,  the USA is WAY AHEAD OF MOST OF THE WORLD when it comes to personal freedom, religious freedom, economic freedom and racial integration! I mentioned USA's stuggles over slavery  to point that the transition to a freer, more liberalized society in the Muslim world WILL NOT BE EASY! There will be decades of conflict with ultra-conservative Muslims and the more Westernized liberals!   We have to give them time to get their act together! We can't do it for them, real change has to come from within!

5) Soulja Boy's insult to the troops

Today's anniversary of 9/11 gives it very bad timing for Soulja Boy's controversial lyrics.

While Soulja Boy couldn't be destroyed by rap rivals like Ice-T, Soulja Boy destroyed himself with his lyrics to "Let's Be Real".

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/09/06/soulja-boy-apologizes-after-members-armed-forces-slam-his-anti-military-song/#ixzz1XOWi2ZO3

In that song, most likely just meant to be a freestyle in which rappers just say whatever rhymes comes to mind, regardless of whether it makes sense, Soulja Boy said "F**k the FBI and the army troops ... fighting for what? Be your own man "

Yep, this being the anniversary year of 9/11, and 10 years of the War on Terror, Soulja Boy really screwed it up this time!

And real soldier tells "soulja boy" off at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsSTKqzrIYk&feature=share

And he told DeAndre Way (Soulja Boy's real name) to "change his name".

I always thought it was bizzarre for DeAndre Way to call himself a "soulja boy" since he's NEVER been in the military!  You want soldier status (even if you mispell soldier as "soulja)? It has to be earned!   It's NOT earned by swagger and boastful lyrics! It's earned by fighting real battles in real dangerous conditions where real death is a risk!  Verbal battles with other rappers don't count! Real battles with real bullets and real explosives in Iraq and Afghanistan count!