Obama's 1st year

It's been a year since Barack Obama became president. Here's my thoughts on it so far!


1) Foreign policy


The Radical Left claims that Barack Obama betrayed them by sending more troops to Afghanistan!

Weren't these people paying attention during his presidential campaign?


Obama said during his presidential campaign that he was going to reduce the amount of troops in Iraq, and increase them in Afghanistan.


He kept his promise!

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The goal of the US war in Afghanistan is to find remaining Al Qaida members there, and keep that nation from hosting that terrorist group again!


But that comes with a price. Now, many Al Qaida members are hiding in other unstable nations like Pakistan and Yemen!


We're definitely not going to send troops into Pakistan, since that nation got nuclear weapons. But it seems that country's military is taking it's war with Islamic fanatics more seriously. In fact, the military was more structured to defending itself from India. Come to find out that the Islamic fanatics hiding in its mountains are even more dangerous and more crazy than India could ever be!


As for Yemen, that country is so divided amongst its different tribes that the government is having a hard time keeping things stable. So it's an easy place for Al Qaida to hide, and a new training spots for terrorist wanabees!


Will Obama send troops there? Is the US ready to fight another war? Has the military been too strained?

Only time will tell!

2) Health Reform

In this past year, Obama's #1 priority was health care reform!

Look, I'm all for helping the less fortunate with health-related charity!

But, Obama missed the main issue behind all this trouble : increased unemployment! That should've been his main focus last year.


Wouldn't it be better if more people are employed so that less people are reliant on government for help with health care?


Obama kept saying during the campaign, "if you like your insurance policy, you can keep it?" So why is he putting excessive regulations on health insurance, if he promised to "let people keep their insurance policy if they like it"


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The protests against health-care reform caught Obama and his liberal allies by surprise!

First, the pro-Democrat pundits played the race card against Obama's opponents!

But they ignore the fact that even some African-American editorial writers like Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Walter Williams and Star Parker have criticized Obama's health care plans!

And there's probably more African-Americans that would like to publicly criticize Obama's health care plans, but fear being called "Uncle Toms". And some are probably reluctant to attend those protests fearing that other protesters would stereotype them as "Obama supporters".

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The Radical Left need to get over the fact that not everyone buys their hype surrounding slogans like "single payer health care", "free health care" or "universal health care"!

A lot of people already been exposed to the realities of this so-called "single payer health care", whether through John Stossell's specials on ABC (he since switched to Fox), Wall Street Journal or talk radio!

"Single payer health care" is just another term for "Government 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 Tracinski

http://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!)

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People are irritated by the fact that the health-care bill is 1,000 pages long! I mean, who the hell is going to read that? You can hide anything in there, and no one is going to know about it until it's too late!

Why can't laws have a maximum of (let's say 20 pages) 12-font, written in words an average high school graduate can understand!

That way, the general public can understand what laws we live under, and that lawmakers stop trying to confuse the general public!

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One possible way to reduce health care costs is tort reform. Tort Reform limits the amount of $$$ paid out in lawsuits. Lawsuits, while sometimes necessary, can cause health care costs to increase, to the point where less people can afford them!

But lawyers don't like Tort Reform because that will reduce their profits! And many trial lawyers give $$$ to Democrats.

Is Obama going to defy his own party on this one?
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Another health issue not covered lately is medical marijuana.

While marijuana does have its side effects, some say that smoking it has reduced pain & nausea!

Obviously, marijuana shouldn't be sold to minors! But can't adults be allowed to risk the side effects if they believe it can reduce pain & nausea?

While Obama has banned the DEA from raiding medical marijuana sellers in states that legalized it, he needs to go further. He needs to take a political risk and let adults chose whether they want to risk the side effects of medical marijuana!

And let's face it, alcohol is worse than marijuana.

Let's hear it from a drug rehab physician, Dr. David A Nathan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575001192775584982.html

In most of my substance-abuse patients, I am far more concerned about their consumption of booze than pot. Alcohol frequently induces violent or dangerous behavior and often-irreversible physiological dependence; marijuana does neither. Chronic use of cannabis raises the risk of lung cancer, weight gain, and lingering cognitive changes—but chronic use of alcohol can cause pancreatitis, cirrhosis and permanent dementia. In healthy but reckless teens and young adults, it is frighteningly easy to consume a lethal dose of alcohol, but it is almost impossible to do so with marijuana. Further, compared with cannabis, alcohol can cause severe impairment of judgment, which results in greater concurrent use of hard drugs.

3) Economics

While Obama is proposing more federal $$$ to reduce unemployment, that's not enough!

After all, most jobs are in the private sector!

While Obama mentions about tax cuts, there needs to be more!

During the debates, John McCain said that US tax on corporations is HIGHER than many European nations (allegedly more socialist than the US) and that this tax is causing investors to invest in countries other than the US.

So while the people were in no mood to listen to a Republican at the time, I still think McCain made a strong point!

So while it's good that Obama is proposing tax cuts for 95% of the US, he needs to go further and cut taxes on corporations!

You can't tax your way out of a recession, you can't stimulus your way out of a recession!

Corporations need to be able to hire more people, in order to get unemployment down!
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4) Naming stuff after Obama

Now, I'm done on giving critiques on Obama's job performance!

But here in Hawaii, there has been a movement to rename things after Obama!

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman wants to re-name Magic Island (not really an island) beach park to Obama Beach Park!

And state legislator, Gil Keith-Agaran, wants to rename 2 schools after Obama! One of those schools is my alma mater, McKinley High School!

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100102/NEWS01/1020332/Hawaii-considering-new-holidays--parks-to-honor-Obama

Keith-Agaran also wants Hawai'i schoolchildren to know that it's true that anyone in the Islands can dare to dream to grow up to be president of the United States.

"That sends the message to Hawai'i kids that it's true," Keith-Agaran said. "It's nice to know that as we're growing up in America, everyone has the opportunity to be as successful as possible."

Yeah, but why re-name McKinley?

I know why?

Hawaiian sovereignty activists wanted McKinley High School to change its name for a very long time. William McKinley was the US president when Hawaii became a US territory.

Yet, King Kamehameha conquered Oahu with violent force, yet there's schools, highways and shopping centers named after him!

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I'm tired of name changes.

If they want to name stuff after Obama, why not give the name to a place that hasn't been built yet, instead of a school built decades before he was born.

Plus, Obama graduated from Punahou!

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As for my fellow McKinley graduates, not a single one on my facebook friend's list support the name change!

I'm sure most of them voted for Obama, since Hawaii gave the highest percentage of votes to Obama of any state!

But people are tired of this name changing business!

1st blog post of 2010

Various things to go over in my 1st blog post of 2010

1) This past Christmas, another suicide/homicide bomber attempted to blow up a plane! He was tackled once the other passengers sense what he was about to do!

This bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to light explosives hidden in his underpants, which gave him the nickname "The Underpants Bomber".

Anytime something like this happens, some people say really stupid things in a pathetic attempt to express "hey look at me everyone, I'm defying political correctness!"

In the past, people would say "racially profile Muslims, they're the ones bombing stuff!" Hello, Muslims are NOT a race, they're a religious group!

Yes, Islam started in the Middle East, but it spread to Africa, eastern Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia!

So people were saying "racially profile Arabs!" The Underpants Bombers would NOT have been caught that way, because he's not Arab, he's from Nigeria!

Even a really white European-American could join the jihad cause! Remember John Walker Lindh! He was the European-American convert to Islam that joined Al Qaida and was captured by US troops in Afghanistan!

While Islam has a larger share of violent fanatics than most other religions, you don't even have to be Muslim to be mad at the world to blow up something!

None of the school shooters in the US had any affiliations with Islam! They were just mad at the world, and were willing to kill others and get killed!

Also, this "racially profile Arabs" nonsense has put many Latin Americans in the crossfire! This is because many Latin Americans have light brown skin, just like many in the Middle East!

I mean, people have asked me "are you from Iraq?" or "are you from Afghanistan", even though I am only of Mexican, Puerto Rican and European ancestry!

Latin Americans are mostly Catholics! Their cultures are extremely different from Middle Eastern cultures, they're from different parts of the planet, yet they're caught in the crossfire just for having similar colored skin!

2) As for airport security, another controversy is body scanners, where those looking at the computer screen can see under your clothes to look for possible explosives!

While many worry that perverts might apply to work those body scanners, it's probably not as uncomfortable as being patted down! Nothing makes people more uncomfortable than being patted down! Plus, pat downs can only find so much!

So we might as well just live with body scanners at this point!

3) DIFFERENT TOPIC

Last week Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake!

And again, stupid things are being said about it!

Ultra-conservative preacher Pat Robertson said this

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017511878

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," he said. "They were under the heel of the French ... and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' "True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal,'" Robertson said. "Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."
The host of "The 700 Club" also said that Haitians need to have a "great turning to God."

This isn't the 1st time Pat Robertson said something stupid after a tragedy. After the 9/11 attacks, Robertson expressed agreement when Jerry Falwell blamed homosexuals, abortionists, feminists and the ACLU for angering God, leading to 9/11!

Other ultra-conservative Christians believe that natural disasters are punishments from God! They thought Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment to New Orleans for hosting gay parades and wild street parties! They thought the 2006 Asian tsunami was God's punishment for those people being Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists!

Yet, they have nothing to say when the US Great Plains, where many conservative Christians live, get hit with tornadoes!

Natural disasters don't discriminate by religion! They just happen regardless of who's around! After all, they happened milleniums before humans existed!

4) Danny Glover blamed global warming for the Haiti earthquake!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/15/danny-glover-haiti-earthq_n_425160.html

"What happened in Haiti could happen to anywhere in the Caribbean because all these island nations are in peril because of global warming," Glover said. "When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin'?"


Another ridiculous statement!

Global warming is about the atmosphere getting warmer!

But earthquakes don't result from what happens in the atmosphere. Earthquakes result from what happens underground!

This is basic earth science! You're supposed to know that by the time you reach middle school!

5) Even this global warming controversy makes me skeptical!

If the Earth is getting warmer, why was it in the recent Orange Bowl, the announcers kept saying it's the coldest temperatures the game was played in?

If the Earth is really getting warmer, it was supposed to be the hottest conditions the game was played in, not the coldest!

In fact, Florida had near freezing temperatures earlier this month!

Al Gore keeps saying the debate over global warming is over! Well, obviously, the debate is nowhere near over!


6) DIFFERENT TOPIC

While most of us call 2010 a beginning of a new decade, there's still some who insist that the new decade starts at 2011, and that this millenium started in 2001, blah, blah, blah!

Look, when we're talking about the 1990's, we're talking about 1990-1999, NOT 1991-2000! When we're talking about the 1980s, we're talking about 1980-1989, NOT 1981-1990!

So those who angrily insist 2010 isn't a start of a new decade, GET A LIFE!

7) Running out of time!

Time permitting, I'll soon write about what I think about Obama's 1st year in office! Stay tuned!

The End of a Decade

Most news magazine and editorial writers have mentioned that the 00 decade has been a "bad decade", mentioning 9/11, the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, the economic meltdown, and here in Hawaii, worker furloughs!



Well, enough with the doom & gloom!



There is some positives of the decade ending today!



1) The biggest positive in my mind, is the rise of social networking sites, the most popular being myspace and facebook!



This has dramatically changed many people's social lives for the better!



Remember in the previous century, when someone changed schools or changed jobs. Chances are ....... you'll never see that person again! And you're left wondering what happened to that person!



Even if you did exchange phone #s, you probably don't have enough time to call that person. You're busy, you might call that person in the wrong time, that person might move again without notifying you! And if that person got kids, if you call that person, you're competing with those kids for attention!



Now, you can easily find that person online! Even if that person moved far away!



You still won't have time for long conversations, but so what? You can just send a message in their inbox, and they can reply to it on their own time!



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People here on Oahu like to say "it's a small island, you''ll always run into someone you know"



That wasn't my reality earlier this decade. I could go MONTHS without randomly running into someone I knew from my pre-adult days! Even if I biked through the neighborhoods they came from, I won't even see them!



All this, even though I never even left Honolulu!



It even got to the point where I told my friend Jeff, "you're the only one from elementary that I'm still in contact with"



Now that I got myspace & facebook, not only can I reconnect with former co-workers, college, high school & middle school classmates, I even re-connected with those I haven't seen since elementary school!



I even got contacted with distant relatives that I never met before!



I even played match-maker, encouraging a long-lost classmate to use my friend's list to reconnect with former classmates. Though next time, I might have to start charging a fee :)



Also, with social networking, you can "spy" on your friends, reading their sites to learn stuff they would NEVER tell you in a conversation!



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The younger generation all got myspace or facebook!



It's even got to the point a few years ago where middle schoolers taunted someone for "not being on myspace"!



Being at certain public libraries in the afternoon means having to hear middle school students fooling around with their myspace sites and giggling!



They'll never have to worry about wondering "what happened to ____________" since they're already connected on social networking sites in their school days. They'll still be connected after high school graduations. Lucky them!



Though in a way, they're unlucky being that in middle school, now bullying has gone online! Students have put up phony myspace sites accusing certain peers of being "gay", " a whore", or whatever else they call each other. You could even start rivalries that didn't even exist with phony myspace sites! If you get mobbed or cry in class, someone could camera-phone that, put it on YouTube and the whole school can see it! Someone could make a rumor online about you and you wouldn't even know who started it! Someone could be falsely accused of making that online rumor about you!



So maybe it's good that I was in school before myspace and facebook came up!



But still, you can use social networking sites as a way to reconnect with former rivals and make peace! You can even contact someone and apologize for past sins, even if that person moved far away and have no chance of seeing that person in real life!

(note: I tried finding some people I wanted to apologize, but they're not on a social networking site. I'll keep trying to find them so I can apologize)



Like everything, there's pros & cons!

But even with social networking sites, I still suggest going to your reunions!

My class had it's reunion last August! I can't emphasize enough how great it was!
I already wrote about it at

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html#8556000882361532709

and wrote a little more at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html#5090109787659733811



2) Another great positive of this decade was the rise of YouTube!



Remember in the previous centuries, there might be a song or music video that you liked but didn't get as much airplay as some over-rated song that got played all day?



You didn't want to spend all that money on a CD with 1 great song, and 11 crappy ones?



Now, it's on YouTube or myspace. (Unfortunately, if the song was released by a record label associated with Warner Music Group, it's hard to find since that company has cracked down on "copyright infringement")



You can now see news footage from past events. 

You can see old presidential debates, old campaign ads that made history but came out when you were too young to understand it, some celebrity saying something really stupid, funny arguments from FoxNews or MSNBC that you didn't get to see, or a great speech you kept hearing about but didn't see it live! 

You even get to see the fight after a sports game that you didn't get to see!



You also get to see music videos from around the world. I saw music videos from the South Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and everywhere else! I got to see singers whose videos were controversial in the Muslim countries. But when I see them, they are so TAME compared to most US music videos.



If you're lucky, you can be ahead of the trends. I saw videos from Sri Lankan singer MIA way before US radio stations played "Paper Planes" (the song with all those gunshots). It was all on You Tube!



Now, kids have access to classic rap songs. Earlier this month, at a middle school, I heard a bunch of kids rapping the lyrics to Eazy-E's "Boyz N the Hood". That song came out in the late 1980s. Eazy-E died in 1995. Most of the 8th graders in middle school this year were born the year after that! But the songs live on in YouTube! Easy access to songs that came out before your birth or when you were to young to appreciate them!



3) Music trends of this decade



I'm not even to go all over all of them!



However, as I looked through my older brother's i-phone for CDs stored on it, I noticed the hard-rock/ heavy metal classics : Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Pantera, Biohazard, Slayer. It also had West Coast rap classics from Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg, and East Coast classic from Wu-Tang Clan and Notorious BIG



And I told him, as I told other people, and as I heard from others, Rock Music Has Gotten Too Soft This Decade!



Yes, the decade started out with heavy stuff from Limp Bizkit, Disturbed and System of a Down! But it all faded!



Don't get me wrong, there's room for this emo/ alternative stuff! I also like All-American Rejects.



Emo/alternative has too much whining ! It's gotten to the point where even the 80's glam rockers (often men who looked like girls) are more hardcore than all these emo bands of this decade!



Hopefully, hard rock makes a comeback soon!



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Remember the rap-metal trend!



I thought it was great that even the tough guys from races that had a long history of distrust could come together to combine rap and heavy metal! Check out the "Judgement Night" soundtrack to find out what I'm talking about!



Limp Bizkit was the ultimate rap-metal band in my opinion! Too bad they couldn't get along!



There was the Lil Jon songs that sampled Ozzy Ossbourne and Slayer. But I want more!



Hopefully it re-appears this coming decade!



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Hip-hop has fared a lot better! I loved the Southern stuff that dominated the hip-hop scene!

No one makes better party music better than the Southern guys!

While the Southern trend got started with booty music from Florida in the late 80's/1990's, and New Orleans supplied the No Limit Soldiers in the late 1990's, Atlanta dominated the 00's.

Lil Jon, Ludacris, Ying Yang Twins! Even if you don't like the lyrics, you gotta love the beats!

On the R&B side, Ciara, Usher, The Dream all represented Atlanta in a big way this past decade!

North Carolina had Petey Pablo, which was what middle school students used to call me around 2005-2006.
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On the West Coast, the guys from Oakland had the hyphy sounds,a lot of it inspired by the Southern stuff, but with an even crazier sound. E-40, Too Short, Keak Da Sneak, Mistah Fab! Once the DJs play some of the hyphy stuff, the clubs go crazy!

However, the Southern California hip-hop has faded! Yeah, Snoop Dogg still make hits. Black Eyed Peas are from there, they're not your stereotypical Southern Cal rap group! But overall, the LA rap scene has faded!

I wonder if the population changes had something to do with the decline of LA rap! In the last 2 decades, South Central LA went from being mostly African-American to mostly Latin-American!
Latinos have their G-funk rappers but they didn't get the attention that African-American g-funk rappers did in the 1990's!

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One hip-hop trend I hope to see fade in the coming decade is the popularity of Kanye West. He is over-rated and a whiner! Can't handle others winning an award!

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Chris Brown could've been the King of Pop! Too bad that chance faded away when he hit Rihanna!

4) It's a few hours before the next decade start! Hope to be back writing more blog posts in the upcoming decade!

Stay sober and have fun!

5 years since my U.H. graduation

5 years ago today, I graduated from the University of Hawaii-Manoa. I had earned a bachelor's degree in sociology.

I started UH in August 1999, and I graduated in December 2004!

Going to UH-Manoa was a childhood dream! So it was a proud moment that not only did I enroll at UH-Manoa, I made it to graduation :) :) :)


1) The ceremony itself!


The graduation ceremony took place in the Stan Sheriff Center, where they usually have volleyball and basketball games.

We stood in a line outside Stan Sheriff Center until 9am, then we all walked in outside and sat in our chairs.

The college graduation ceremony is different from high school. In high school, we're supposed to rehearse singing the songs a week before graduation. At UH, there's no rehearsal! You just show up on that day.

During the graduation ceremony, we heard speeches from school officials, a student speaker, and a guest speaker Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda used to be a baseball player and manager for the LA Dodgers.

Because there were no rehearsals, some weren't prepared for how long the ceremony would be! I've been to the ceremonies before, so I knew how long it would be! However, one well-known athlete sitting next to me never been to the UH graduation ceremony before, so he was totally unprepared for how long it is, and he kept complaining. I told him that before the Stan Sheriff Center was built, the graduation ceremony used to take place in the baseball stadium. Meaning, you're sitting outside in either the hot sun, or in the rain!

After the speeches were over, we walked out to the UH athletic fields to see our family & friends. Leis were given out and photos taken!



We were the last class to wear the black cap and gown. After that, the graduating class started wearing green cap and gowns.



2) The dream of going to UH.



My oldest brother is 11 years older than me, so he was at UH when I was in elementary school. That was one of the influences that inspired me to go to UH!


I wasn't interested in moving to the mainland for college. Going from high school to college is a big adjustment in itself, and I had no interest in experiencing extra culture shock by going to a mainland college! Plus, why be at a mainland college, when you can go to school in paradise!


In high school, I had some brochures mailed from Hawaii Pacific University and was considering going there! But I didn't turn in the application.


When the people from UH had a meeting for possible future students at my high school, the recruiters were talking about the many activities at UH. At that point, I was going to UH!


I just needed to pass all my classes, including Algebra II which was the hardest class I had my senior year!


No disrespect to the community colleges, but I wanted a university experience. There isn't as much activities at community colleges as there are at universities!


So I was proud to pass all my classes, and to be admitted to UH :)




3) A few weeks before starting UH, I attended the New Student Orientation, where the older student told us about academic advisers, gave us a campus tour, and talked at various activities on campus.


I also met a few students I haven't seen since middle school at the orientation!


I totally encourage future college students to attend their orientations so they don't get lost during the 1st semester!


4) My first day as a UH student was memorable in itself. I remember my 1st class, Sociology 100. The professor was Dr Manicas, but people called him Maniacs (notice the a & c switched places in his name)! In the 1st day, he was already running around the classroom and yelling into people's faces at random! The 1st day, he was talking into a girl's face, but gender didn't even matter. I remember the same professor getting into one of the men's basketball players face, and his teammate was laughing at him!


5) While Manicas was known for expressing his political biases, at least he was a funny guy! While many professors were left-wing liberals, most at least understood the difference between fact and opinions. As long as they understood that, I'm fine with it!


However, there were a few who were arrogant in thinking their opinions are facts, and damn anyone who didn't think otherwise.


I wrote about them at http://www.kaleo.org/2.13243/teachers-subject-class-to-opinions-1.1810071


I wasn't talking about all professors, just a few! But that editorial got a lot of controversy and backlash!




6) Dorm life


In my first 4 years at UH, I was living in the dorms. My parents moved to the other side of the island  and I preferred living near campus.


While I loved living near campus, I don't like having room-mates. My room-mates weren't bad people. I got along with them. I just want privacy.


So I was happy to have an off-campus apartment near Puck's Alley all to myself! :) And I still live there :)


I wrote on this issue at



http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2004/06/my-latest-ka-leo-editorial-it-is-about.html (my blog)
http://www.kaleo.org/2.13243/uh-needs-additional-one-man-rooms-1.1801508 (Ka Leo's version : the editors wrote the title, I'd prefer "one-person rooms" instead of "one-man rooms")




http://www.kaleo.org/2.13243/student-housing-policy-troubled-1.1799287


http://www.kaleo.org/2.13243/former-dormer-asserts-views-1.1799614


I'll tell future college students, better to have your apartment than to live on campus!




7) One of the best things about attending big universities is their sports teams.


In Hawaii, community colleges don't have sports teams! Only UH-Manoa has a football team!


So for those who want to stay in Hawaii, UH sports is the ultimate!


UH students get a discount to watch UH games!


I attended a few games, though I wish I watched more of them!


I started UH the same time June Jones started coaching UH football! So I was there for one of the best turnaround in college sports. The year before, UH football was 0-12 with Fred von Appen coaching. The following year, UH football went 9-4 and winning a bowl game :)


During my time at UH, the men's volleyball won the NCAA Championship in 2002, but was later disqualified due to an ineligible player on the team!


The women's volleyball team was in the Final Four in 2003 [just like this year, but lost in the semi-finals, just like this year too :( ] . Though most of the top 2003 players were gone in 2004 (my last year at UH), the team re-loaded and had an undefeated regular season that year.


The basketball teams did well in conference play, and made it to the NCAA tournament, but lost in the 1st rounds.


The soccer team went from being over-looked to being well-known in my time at UH! The swim, track, baseball, softball, tennis, golf and sailing teams had some success as well.


It was cool to be in the same school and even the same class as the UH athletes. Though most Hawaii people just know them as celebrities they see on TV or in newspapers, they were my classmates! I also met a few more of them when I was living and working in the UH dorms as well!


I'd tell Hawaii high school athletes to play for UH. Bring glory to Hawaii instead of the mainland. If they want a "mainland experience", I'd tell them to wait until you make the pros or wait until you work on your master's degree!


8) Other activities


I always found the political events entertaining! The protests, the controversies on the school's newspapers, meetings, etc.


I still remember in my first semester at UH, student activist Lance Collins getting into an argument with a professor at a meeting! They were yelling profanities at each other! Collins was telling him "(beep) you", and the professor loosened his belt and yelled "you want to (----), let's (----)". More profanities thrown around as people tried to restrain them both!


I never did attend a protest, but I did express my political thoughts on the school's newspaper the Ka Leo! Getting angry complaints about what I wrote was sometimes annoying, but it's all part of the experience!


As for Lance Collins, he was one of my editors at Ka Leo. I heard about rumors about him being hard to get along with. But aside from the bizarre titles given to my articles, I got along well with him. Maybe he just mellowed down by the time he was my editor.


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I took 2 theatre classes and watched some campus plays. Always good to see fellow students acting out interesting stories and occasionally making funny scenes!


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Cultural events, film festivals, etc. --- While I only attended a few of those, I also found them entertaining!


Talent shows. They had late night ones at Campus Center. In 2002, I was thinking about doing Nelly's "EI" but as practiced it, I couldn't sing that fast. So, as a last minute change, I did Nate Dogg's "Never Leave Me Alone" which I also sang it in high school!


My best talent show performance was also a late night one at Campus Center in 2003. I was rapping Ludacris "Southern Hospitality" I was sick and fatigued as hell that day, but no way was I cancelling that! The crowd was into it! They were even yelling out the chorus too! :)


Afterwards, I was drained! Ho'onua was performing there after the students were done performing! Everyone was dancing, but I was fatigued and drained that night!


My last one was in 2004, I did the song Marques Houston did with Chingy "I like that". Even though I was healthier that night, the crowd was more into the Ludacris song I did the year before!


I guess my best performances happen on my sick and fatigued days!


9) My last editorial on Ka Leo, was about my experiences from UH, the culture shocks, how I adjusted, and how I changed. Check it out at

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2004/12/my-last-editorial-on-ka-leo-i-will-be.html (my blog)
http://www.kaleo.org/2.13243/goodbye-uh-manoa-oh-how-i-ve-learned-so-much-1.1813948 (published on Ka Leo)


I'd tell new college students, that there will be times you will miss high schools. Some of your childhood friends might not make it to college.


But I will tell them to appreciate college as it is! There is plenty out there to enjoy - the physical scenery, sports games, campus activities, new people from different cultures, campus eating places, big libraries, etc. You won't be able to do it all, but at least try to enjoy as much as you can!


10) Will I go back?


Right now, my life is at a crossroads. While I'm currently a substitute teacher, work has been slowing down lately! While I enjoy the job, the money is declining!


So I am thinking about eventually going back to school. Maybe train to become a full-time teacher? Maybe get a masters degree in something?


We'll see. The saga continues!

Furloughs and Taxes

It's been a month since I last blogged here.

1) Within the last 2 months, all Hawaii public schools have Furlough Fridays in which schools are closed to save money!


I know the kids love it because they get an extra day off!

In case some of you guys didn't know already, I'm currently a substitute teacher. We're the only people on earth that don't like long vacations, because that means a long time without a check :(

Substitute teachers aren't unionized, so we had no vote on this furlough issue


But without furloughs, some teachers might've been laid-off, meaning there would be more over-crowded classrooms :(

Hopefully, the economy rebound, the $$$ trickle down to the schools, the kids are back in class, and I'm working more often again :)

2) Some people keep demanding that the state raise taxes to pay for education and other government services!

There's a reason Gov. Linda Lingle refuses!

Tax Increases are the WORST thing you can do in a slowing economy!

The state government doesn't make money. It TAKES it from the private sector!

If more is taken from the private sector, there is less money to hire people!

Any entrepreneurs can leave at any time! If the state government makes it too difficult, entrepreneurs can leave and create jobs somewhere else!

This is Basic Economics!

Which is more important - more people recieving government services OR more people who NO LONGER NEED government services?

Look, I don't have anything against anyone who rely on government for assistance! If you need help, you're going to look for it somewhere!

However, why not grow the private sector, so that more people can work and be self-reliant?

This is the spirit we need here and everywhere!

Government can't take care of everything!

It's not cold-hearted to say so, it's just reality!

Spousal Abuse = Terrorism inside the House

This is a letter I sent to the Honolulu Weekly.

You can check the edited version at
http://honoluluweekly.com/letters/2009/11/homegrown-terrorists/

Here's what I sent to the editors!


-----

This is in response to 2 letters on domestic violence, one by Dr. Bouchard, the other by Larry Holbrook.

Brouchard is correct to refer to domestic violence as "domestic terrorism".

How else would you describe a person grabbing his/her spouse by the throat, throwing the victim down the stairs and other use of deadly force?

However, Larry Holbrook seems angray at Dr Brouchard for calling it like it is!

Holbrook accusses victim advocates of "tearing families apart!"

Holbrook also minimizes the issue by saying "every family experience conflict during their lifetimes."

We're not talking about minor disagreements here! In domestic violence, there are throats grabbed, bodies thrown down the stairs, heads banged against the wall, jaws broken, noses bloodied, and pregnant women kicked! There are stabbings and gunshots! Sometimes, the victim leave the home in a bodybag!

The abusers could be of either gender!

Little children see this and are scarred for life!

Well, if a child is growing up in a home in which one spouse is constantly using deadly force on the other, then why not have the justice system "tear that family apart"? Who can rationally argue that is a good environment to raise a child? Why not allow the abused spouse and the children start over a new life, with the abuser locked up in prison?

Holbrook says that abusers can change! But in too many cases, the change comes after multiple decades of abusive behavior! That's too long to wait!

----------

I wrote another blog post on this issue! It discusses the Chris Brown-Rihanna incident, abusive women, my run-in with a violent female attacker, self-defense, and other related issues! Check it out at

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

The Berlin Wall - 20 years later!

20 years ago today, the Berlin Wall came down!



1) Some historical background!



After World War 2, the US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union took over parts of Germany!



The parts taken by the US, the UK and France eventually became the independent nation of West Germany! West Germany became one of the most prosperous and freedom-having nations in Europe!



The part taken by the Soviet Union became East Germany. While it was technically independent, it was a Soviet satellite! East Germany was a communist nation! Its standard of living was lower than West Germany! There was no freedom of speech, assembly or religion! The government spied on its citizens, paranoid about dissenting thought!



Within East Germany was Berlin! Being that Berlin was the traditional capital of Germany, it was split between the US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union! West Berlin became an little outpost of West Germany! It was a small oasis of freedom surrounded by East Germany!



Because many East German tired to escape to West Germany via West Berlin, the East German government built the Berlin Wall to prevent its citizens from escaping! It was guarded by soldiers ready to kill anyone who tries to pass by!



The Berlin Wall was a symbol of imprisonment!



Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, while it was a military power, in the 1980s, things were going down! It was loosing money partly because its communist policy stifled the economy! Also, the oil-exporting Soviet Union was hurt by declining oil prices! It was also loosing its war in Afghanistan, with the Afghan troops supported by the US, Pakistan and several Arab nations! (ironically, 20 years later, the US troops are the ones fighting in Afghanistan)



The Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev felt the government went too far in suppressing civil liberties! He also wanted to negotiate an arms reduction treaty with the US!

The US president at the time, Ronald Reagan was skeptical of Gorbachev's desire for peace and freedom!



So, in 1987, Reagan went to West Berlin and made the legendary statement "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"



While that didn't happen immediately, Gorbachev eventually declared that he would no longer interfere with the domestic happening of nearby nations. So, basically, if the dictators of Poland, East Germany, etc had a problem with protesters, they were on their own! They could no longer cry to the Soviet Union for help!

The pro-Democracy movement gained momentum in Poland, Czechoslovakia (now separated into Czech Republic & Slovakia), Hungary, Romania and of course East Germany!

East German were finding their way to West Germany by going through Czechoslovakia and Hungary!

It got to the point where the East German government gave in and allowed the people to travel to West Germany!

The Berlin Wall came down on November 11, 1989!

There were celebrations! Long lost relatives found each other! People of a same language and heritage, separated by a wall, came together!

It was a legendary moment in history!

The following year, West Germany and East Germany united! There was now just Germany!

While some in other European nations worried about what a re-united Germany could mean, based on what happened earlier in the 20th century, Germany became the largest economic power in Europe! IT was a democracy! Civil liberties! It became so pacifist that they didn't even want to help the US invade Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union dissolved into 15 different countries, with Russia being the largest and most famous one!

While Russia had its struggles, it was no longer as dangerous as it used to be! While its civil liberty situation isn't perfect, it has more civil liberties than it did in the Soviet days!

The other Eastern Europeans nations became democracies with various levels of prosperity!

The main exception was Yugoslavia. While the other European nations were peaceful in the 1990s, Yugoslavia had its ethnic conflicts and bloody warfare! It dissolved into several new nations (ie Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo)


2) What was I think when the Berlin Wall came down?

I was still in elementary school, but even at that age, I was already addicted to looking at the atlas and reading the encyclopedias :)

So I totally remember seeing what was then current-day maps with an West and East Germany, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. None of them are on the atlas anymore!

So even then, seeing the Berlin Wall going down, I knew something was changing! I knew I was watching history! Well, obviously, I understand the situation more now then I did back then, but still even then I knew history being made!

3) The fall of the Berlin Wall also inspired a few songs!

The most well-known was "Winds of Change" by the rock band Scorpions. The video for that song commemorated the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as protest movements from around the world!

Jesus Jones song "Right Here, Right Now" while it doesn't directly address the Berlin Wall, the video for the song showed the Berlin Wall coming down!

Check those songs out on YouTube, myspace or i-tunes!