5 years after Columbine shooting

Today is 5 years after the infamous shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado!

We all know that the 2 shooters were outcasts who wanted revenge! We still haven't found out whether the murdered victims were the actual bullies, or were they innocent bystanders. Or were the killers so consumed with hate of everything that they didn't give a shit who they killed! No media outlet has bothered to find out!

Of course, if your son or daughter was a victim, you wouldn't want the media to expose that your child was a bully, even if it was true! That's basic parental psychology we're talking about here! Which is probably why the media still haven't investigated if the victims were the actual bullies!

Shooting at the whole school (like those Columbine kids did) is stupid and useless! All it did was alienate people who otherwise might've sympathized. Just like the LA riots. It came out of legit grievances over racism and police brutality! But the LA rioters ended up beating up white individuals who weren't involved in the Rodney King beating or other police brutality cases! That didn't help the cause one bit!

Being that I look as people as (gasp) individuals, I would just get revenge on bad individauls and leave everyone else out of it! Is that too much to ask?

For info on Columbine today, 5 years late, check out

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/20/4084cb4fc15b2?in_archive=1

Understandably some are tired of hearing about the school only associated with tragedy and not with positive aspects!

Red tape at UH

Red tape at UH

Yesterday, I had an editorial on Ka Leo criticizing some school policies!

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/19/408332326d12f?in_archive=1

If it ain't broke, don't fix it with irritating new policies

Pablo Wegesend
Ka Leo Staff Columnist
April 19, 2004


About a year ago, I had an editorial criticizing this university for making new changes that were not only unnecessary but made things worse! I criticized the new MyUH registration system which was more inefficient than the award-winning PA'E system and the cafeteria renovation that wasn't necessary and also made the cafeteria less appealing than it was before! I said that it was an example of the university doing something just for the sake of doing something new! And there's even more examples of that going on!

THE TUITION RECEIPT POLICY

Before the MyUH registration system was put into place, you could go to the tuition office, pay the tuition and get a receipt. While you can still pay the tuition at the tuition office, you won't get a receipt! One of the workers will tell you that you can copy the receipt off the computer. What a pathetic excuse!

What if you paid the tuition at the tuition office, and the system crashes 3 minutes after! You paid the tuition but you weren't able to go to the computer lab to print the receipt before the system crashing!

The record of your expensive payment is gone! How are you going to prove that you paid the tuition!

You don't have a receipt because the idiotic policy that this university put out was made only to say "Hey look at us everyone, we're doing something new." You might have to pay the tuition again!

Of course, the university officials are so confident that they can always recover from a computer glitch! But then again, people once said the Titanic will never sink!

In my case, there was no crash, but the "no receipt at the office" policy gave me other headaches! Because I am covered under my parents' insurance, I need to give the insurance company proof that I am a student at UH!

After all, anyone could just lie if no proof is demanded, but the receipt printed off the MyUH system isn't adequate proof according to the insurance company since there is no letterhead and anyone could just copy the MyUH format and pull a scam on the insurance company!

So I had to go to the Admissions Office to ask for a verification form. I applied for that form, but had to wait 5 business days.

I was able to get the verification form, but it would've been less hectic if the university bothered to give me a receipt at the tuition office right after I paid the tuition! Is that too much to ask?

WONG AV CENTER POLICY

Before, if you wanted to borrow a video at the Wong Audio-Visual Center, you would just fill out a little slip and give it to the employee. In three minutes, you got the video and you could go.

But no, the university wanted a new policy, just to say they have a new policy! Efficiency be damned!

Now, you must go the Voyager Web site to reserve a video! You can't fill out a simple slip anymore! And after you reserved on the computer, you have to wait 5-10 minutes for the employees to give you the video! Meanwhile, your valuable time has been wasted!

LIBRARY HOURS

Everyone is excited about the 24-hour policy at Hamilton Library! That's only on weekdays! But on Friday, Hamilton and Sinclair Library is closed at 7 p.m. On Saturdays, it's closed at 5 p.m.!

Why? Why can't Hamilton and Sinclair be opened longer on Friday and Saturday?

Of course, the stereotype is that college students do nothing but party on Friday and Saturday nights, but what about those who don't have time to party? What about those who work or do outdoor activities during the day?

Why can't they have a quiet place to study? Why can't they use the CLIC Lab on Friday or Saturday night instead of paying money to use an Internet cafe? That would doing something new that is efficient and smart!

Ventura in 2008?

I've read in the newspaper today that Jesse Ventura was considering a run for President in 2008.

If he runs, he got my support! I've read his books and I support about 75% of his positions. That's more than I can say about Bush or Kerry.

Everyone talks about Ventura as being the former pro-wrestler, the macho man who says what he thinks without giving a crap about what others think! He's not like those boring politicians, he is one of us - the blue collar folks!

But what I also support about Ventura is his positions on the economy, government bureaucracy, guns, crime, abortion, prostitution, war on drugs, and other issues!

And what can help Ventura is his pro-gun, pro-choice views! It can get votes from those who are alienated from the anti-abortion fanaticism of the Republicans and the anti-gun fanaticism of the Democrats! I wouldn't be surprised if those voters alone outnumber all the Democrats and Republicans in the US! But mainstream political pundits do not want to even analyze that!

So while mainstream pundits mock Ventura, he'll speak to the regular folks and if he get the right amount of campaign $$$, he can win!

To learn more about Jesse Ventura's political views, I STRONGLY recommend his 2 books

"I Aint Got Time to Bleed"
"Do I Stand Alone"

Boy not acting like a "typical boy"?

In a recent Salon editorial, Jill Storrey wrote about her dillema in raising a son who is not interesting in doing "typical boy stuff" like playing team sports, and does some "typical girl stuff" like play with dolls.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2004/04/09/sensitive_son/index.html

And here is a letter to Salon

Storrey's editorial on her son not acting like a "typical boy" was interesting!

I myself like "man things" like rap music, weight lifting, and girls in bikinis. But at the same time, I don't prosper in other "man things" like mechanics, or playing team sports.

So my advice to Storrey is to keep what you're doing and let your son be himself and let him figure out what he is interested in. As long as he continues learning self defense, then he'll be alright!

What I forgot to mention in that letter (though others might say so in their letters) is that forcing a kid to lose and/or gain interest in something just because it's not a "gender-appropriate" activity is going to backfire. The kid might become sucidal! But THE ONE THING IS SURE TO HAPPEN is the kid will be angry at you even in adulthood.

Some might scream at a boy "stop being a fag, stop playing with dolls and start being a tough guy." Be careful what you wish for. That boy might later over-compensate and either 1) beat the shit of you with a baseball bat or 2) shoot you fuckin head off!

Just let the kid figure out what he/she is interested in! Is that too hard to ask.

More responses to Hsiang

Another response to Nicole Hsiang's paranoid article

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/08/4074f72112a0f

First, when you said, "Stop making me feel guilty for being white," my jaw dropped. Not for one second in my life have I felt guilty because of the color of my skin. I may in my past have felt guilty for skipping class or lying to my parents, but not because of the color of my skin.

AMEN! There's no reason to feel unearned guilt for (gasp) being of a certain color!

The root of racism comes from people like you who can't accept the fact that a "white" person wants to be your friend because you're a good, honest person, not because we "want to make a political statement."

But in Hsiang's world, everything is about race

 The MEGA-response to Hsiang

In my previous post, I responded to the paranoid Nicole Hsiang's editorial

In today's Ka Leo, 3 editorials slammed Hsiang's diatribe

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/07/4073a92d09d1c

"Reverse discrimination" is a nonsensical term, discrimination is discrimination no matter who the target is, be it a white, black or purple person

AMEN

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http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/07/4073a9d713973

I am French-Canadian. I am Norwegian. I am Dutch. I am not white.

I am clumped into the majority and made a part of something I never wanted to be.

Yet I am forced to share the guilt of people that are related to me only through a physical characteristic

Mega-blasphemy according to Nicole Hsiang, but thanks for hitting the nail on its head.

and here the writer wrote about the incident I mentioned earlier, which is an incident Hsiang DOESNT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT!

Take for instance, in March of 2003, Edward Van Lier Ribbink who was enjoying a day at Waimanalo Beach Park watching his son and daughter paddling in a competition.

Van Lier Ribbink confronted a man punching a dog and holding it under the water. The man pushed Van Lier Ribbink and they wrestled in the sand until a spectator stopped them because the dog had died. Later in the parking lot a witness described the man as saying, "Where's that fucking haole?" and "a fucking haole is gonna die on this beach today."

Van Lier Ribbink was found with eight broken ribs and cuts to the face provided by the man, his son and nephew.

Van Lier Ribbink's case made the news because he's 51 years old, a father and the senior vice president, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Hawai'i Medical Service Association. Many stories like Van Lier Ribbink's don't get told though.

I have friends who have been hospitalized after taking the wrong side-street in Waikiki. I have been in situations where I was lucky to escape without beatings.

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http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/07/4073aa45e31c3

You took the color of my skin, erased all the deep-seated moral and spiritual reasons for the principles I live towards, and delegitimatized me by replacing them with a surface level, egotistical and pathetic reason for living. Congratulations author, in my opinion you are the epitome of a racist

Take that Hsiang

No. I refuse to accept this definition of racism because I refuse to allow anyone to hate, dislike or even be angry at another individual simply because he/she holds the same form of visual or cultural characteristics as a group of people. This definition may seem fine in academia, but in the real world where a Tutsi can get their head chopped off by a Hutu, or a Jew can get shot by a Palestinian, or a "haole" can get his ass kicked on "kill haole day," this definition endorses too much violence and hatred for me to call it anything but useless.

Or when Korean storeowners got brutalized by African American looters in the 1992 LA riots! (No, Hsiang, there were no rednecks looting those stores) Or when there were fights between Samoans and Asian immigrants in Farrington and McKinley High Schools! Racism isn't just white on non-white, it is black on white, Asian on Polynesian, Jew on Arab, Arab on Jew, Latino on Asian, etc, etc.

And about blacks not having power, that's nonsense. The National Security Advisor (Condaleeza Rice) and the Secretary of State (Collin Powell) are two African Americans trusted with our national security by our President. The mayors of Atlanta, Detroit, Washington DC, Houston, New Orleans are all African Americans, the mayors of Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and Miami are all Hispanics.

Of course, some might say I'm simplifying things, that "just because Collin Powell has power doesn't mean blacks aren't suffering." That is true! There are still a lot of blacks living in ghettoes! But let's also remember that even though all Presidents of the US are whites, doesn't erase the fact that there are still white people living in trailer parks, shacks, etc.

White guilt

I know Ka Leo (UH's newspaper) is known for printing ridiculous leftist junk! But very few are as pathetic as today's editorial by Nicole Hsiang which is filled with racial paranoia!

http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/05/4070f42939b9e

I know, I would have to run fast if I see a gang of neo-Nazis, but that doesn't excuse such racial paranoia from non-whites.

Where to begin, where to begin?

======

Can there even be such a thing as reverse discrimination? No my friends, that's called justice. To demand equality between the races is like asking a woman to forgive the man who raped her.

MY RESPONSE: That is so stupid! Why should I be mad at some white person who always show respect? How is that like asking a woman to forgive the rapist? Hsiang ISNT promoting racial reconciliation. She is calling for racial revenge!

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

They proclaim that they are not white, but a "human being". I laugh as I say this because they don't see that it is being white that allows them to forget they have a race, while others are forced to be reminded what their color is due to daily discrimination

MY RESPONSE: Try telling that to the white male who was beaten bloody at Waimanalo Beach Park by 3 native Hawaiians. The white man had BROKEN BONES as a result of that beating. Those Native Hawaiians yelled racial slurs to the white man before committing the assault.

Or what about Reginald Denny, the white guy who was dragged out of his truck and viciously assaulted by young black males during the 1992 LA riots? One of the black guys threw a ROCK in Denny's HEAD causing skull injuries. And while Radical Leftists make excuses for those racist black bullies, they NEVER praised the African Americans who saved Denny's life! At least Denny showed grattitude!

Or what about Eminem who was bullied by African American kids for being white while growing up in inner-city Detroit!

And though these were the most vicious incidents, I'm sure whites have been abused in other ways by non-whites. But Hsiang just assumes that all whites spend their whole lives in all white suburbs! Just because a lot of whites live in all-white suburbs doesn't mean all do.

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A black or native person cannot walk through an upper class neighborhood without being perceived as a criminal, but a white person can.

MY RESPONSE: That's true, but does anyone believe for a moment that a white kid can spend serious time in South Central LA, South Bronx, Waianae, Waimanalo, Kalihi or other non-white areas without sooner or later get rudely reminded what race he/she is? That ranges from brutal insults to brutal beatings! Racism is a 2 way street, Ms. Hsiang!

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As an Asian American woman I have tried to have discussions with white friends about our racist society and then I will have to explain exactly why and how racism works to my clueless friends

MY RESPONSE: I see it's obvious this person is not from Hawaii! Most local Asians I know are nowhere as race obsessed the Asians from the mainland. Of all the Asians in Hawaii, the most race-obsessed ones are immigrants who go to Honolulu public schools. And most of the conflicts they have are NOT with whites, they're conflicts against Polynesians. In the 1990's, there were Filipino vs. Samoan riots in Farrington High School, and Vietnamese vs. Samoan riots in McKinley High School. But in Hsiang's worldview, whites will get all the blame, even though both high schools have only 1% of it's students who are white!

Meanwhile, Asians from suburban Oahu and the Neighbor Islands are almost never race obsessed. I observe this even in all the social science classes I have been involved with! I assume that they live in a more sheltered world, but they shouldn't be punished for that!

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Everyone, including whites, can use their own experiences to fight racism. And nobody has to feel guilty for it, either.

MY RESPONSE: Hsiang just spent a whole editorial demanding that white INDIVIDUALS feel unearned guilt for injustices other whites have done! Hypocrisy anyone?

About affirmative action (aka Affirmative DISCRIMINATION), let's remember that Asians were victims! That's right, in the pre-Prop 209 Cali, Asians like Nicole Hsiang could get rejected from top Cali universities to make room for blacks and Latinos (even for those with lower academic record than the whites/Asians who got rejected). Me being Latino, I could thumb my noses at Hsiang and say "nanny-nanny boo boo, I got in to (Berkeley or UCLA)". But because I believe in everyone following the same standards, I have to risk being called "vendido" (Spanish for sellout) or "coconut" (brown on the outside, white on the inside). How dare I believe in everyone following the same rules!