Nukes, Guns, Jobs and Jealous Ones

1) President Barack Obama said he wants a world without nuclear weapons.


The only thing worse than a world with nuclear weapons is a world in which the bad guys get the nukes but the good guys don't!

Even if we get rid of all nuclear weapons now, that won't stop some future dictator from hiring some scientists to make new nuclear weapons, then threaten the world!

Here's Dick Morris on Obama's nuclear policy

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0410/morris040910.php3

If any nation wants to attack the United States with chemical, biological, or electromagnetic pulse weapons, it need not fear nuclear retaliation as long as it has no nuclear weapons and abides by the Non Proliferation Treaty, Obama has announced. So, as New Yorkers are coughing their lungs out from mustard gas or dying in the streets of biological weapons, they will know that their government will not use nuclear weapons to retaliate against their murderers.

In effect, Obama has said if you are a signatory to the nonproliferation treaty and do not have nuclear weapons, we will not hit you with nuclear bombs even if you unleash poison gas or biological microbes in crowded American cities or cripple our economy by a massive electromagnetic pulse

Now that nukes already been invited, we might as well keep them, just in case!

A nuclear-free world? Too late already!

2) Same thing applies to guns!

The mafias, racists, robbers, and thugs aren't going to give up their guns! why should anyone else!

Some anti-gun folks claim that using guns in self-defense always leads to failure! BULL- NONSENSE!

Check out this article from the Star Bulletin. The robbers got shot at by their potential victims!

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100401_Robbery_attempt_ends_with_attackers_shot.html

When one suspect pointed his gun at the 26-year-old woman, she opened fire at the two men, who returned fire before running to a car driven by a third man and fleeing.

Witnesses said about a dozen shots were fired.

(skipped paragraphs)

He said the woman who fired her weapon apparently did not break any laws, which allow people to use deadly force in their home if their lives are threatened.

Lesson to be learned : if you want to burglarize, watch out, you might get shot!

And leaving people defenseless NEVER increases the peace, it increases the bullying against those who can't fight back!

3) The Hawaii state legislature passed a bill requiring all contractors working on government project to have 80% of its worforce be "state residents" . It is supposedly about "local jobs for local people"

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100417_local_jobs_bill_draws_criticism.html



Look, I'm all for local people getting jobs, especially in this rough economy.

But what if only 70% of the job applicants are local?

Or what if 50% of the job applicants are recent immigrants?


We don't need quotas for hiring! We don't need to pit "locals" vs "immigrants" vs "mainlanders"!


Just hire who has proven to be the best qualified!


And tell the kids going to school now that they better study hard, get skilled and be responsible, because they will be competing for jobs with people from all over the world!


You can strive to be a victim or strive to be a victor!

Only victims whine about the competition!


4) I know of this one woman whose boyfriend wanted her to delete all other males off her facebook list!

That boyfriend thinks he so tough by giving orders to his girlfriend, but what it really proves is that he is an extremely insecure person! His ego is so fragile, so scared of losing his girlfriend to other guys!

He's probably the paranoid type that gets all bent out of shape because his girlfriend is smiling at some other guy!

If you're like that guy, LIGHTEN UP! Instead of being mad at those other guys smiling at your girl, laugh at them behind their backs! After all, she's with you, not them!

Dealing with Bullies

In Massachussets, an teenage Irish immigrant who was bullied by her peers committed suicide. Her bullies have been criminally charged! Possible lawsuits are on the way!


http://www.salon.com/news/story/index.html?story=/news/2010/03/30/us_school_bullying

Insults and threats followed 15-year-old Phoebe Prince almost from her first day at South Hadley High School, targeting the Irish immigrant in the halls, library and in vicious cell phone text messages.


Phoebe, ostracized for having a brief relationship with a popular boy, reached her breaking point and hanged herself after one particularly hellish day in January -- a day that, according to officials, included being hounded with slurs and pelted with a beverage container as she walked home from school.



Now, nine teenagers face charges in what a prosecutor called "unrelenting" bullying, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights.

This comes 11 years after the infamous Columbine case, in which 2 Colorado boys who were tired of being picked on, brought their guns and went on a murder rampage! They then killed themselves!


---


So what to do, what to do?

I'm a school employee. School employees are supposed to intervene when these things occur! But sometimes (especially for substitutes like me), if we don't know them well enough, we aren't able to tell the difference between playful trash-talking between friends or trash-talking between enemies! So sometimes, it might get mistakenly treated as playful trash-talking between friends, and therefore, not treated seriously enough!


But most of the really bad stuff happens when teachers aren't looking! In the hallways, in recess, before school, after school!


----


One of the worst things an adult can tell a child is "stop tattle-telling". Look, I know what it's like to be irritated by kids complaining about minor things. I work in the schools. But be careful with any "no tattle-telling" advice! Children will interpret "no tattle-telling" as "I don't care what bad stuff happens to you, too bad!"

And yet we act surprised when those same kids get into a fight, join a gang, shoot a school, or kill themselves? If the adults don't seem to care, then the kids will handle it themselves --- in a manner more suited to a prison environment than a professional environment!

And we act surprised when victims of spousal abuse and rape don't come forward to tell authorities about what happened?

And we act surprised when those who witness murders don't want to talk to authorities and testify in court?

This is what happens when people hear "no tattle-telling, no snitching" all their lives!

You might think I'm exaggarating!


I remember watching "60 Minutes" in which teenagers who witnessed murders and said they didn't say anything to the police. One boy said "a snitch is a tattle-tell!" With that attitude commonplace, many murders go unsolved!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/19/60minutes/main2704565.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentTitle


Then Anderson Cooper interviewed rapper Camron who survived a car robbery attempt, but refused to talk to the cops about what happened! Cooper asked Camron if a serial killer moved next door, would you tell the cops. Camron said "I'll just move".

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2704196n&tag=mncol;lst;6


That got so much controversy, that even gangsta rap legend Ice-T criticized Camron. Ice-T said if you know someone who had a bomb about to board a plane, you shouldn't be like "I'm just not going on the plane", you should tell the authorities right away!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HHptNp5F7E
After that, Camron had to apologize to crime victims in general for sounding insensitive to those who reported crimes to the police!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/19/60minutes/main2704565.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentTitle



In the same 60 Minutes episode, it was mentioned that Busta Rhymes didn't talk to the police after he saw his bodyguard (Israel Ramirez) being shot & killed! Busta Rhymes refused to be interviewed for that story, but someone should ask him 

"Israel Ramirez put his life on the line for you. Why not do the right thing and put your life on the line for Mr Ramirez and tell the authorities what you saw?"

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Other parents, when hearing their kids been bullied, tell their kids"go beat them up".


Yeah, sounds so heroic, a kid confronting his tormentor and knocking him out! It's the stuff of classic movies!


But real life is nothing like the movies! If your kid fights his tormentor, it most likely will NOT be a one-on-one fight! It's more like your kid vs. his bully and his friends and his brother and his cousins, etc.




If your kid's tormentor has a bigger and stronger support system, telling him/her to fight the bully will NOT be worth the trouble! It's especially more true if the bully is a member of a well-established street gang! Your kid fights them, your kid will not survive!



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

Another problem is that some parents indirectly support their child's bullying!



You might think I'm exaggarating! You haven't met the 2 parents I had to deal with while working at a summer program at Palama Settlement a few years back.



One woman confronted me on the phone and in person for "picking on her nephew". Her nephew was known to physically and verbally abuse his peers and I informed her on the phone that other parents would be on my case if I didn't discipline her nephew. She didn't want to hear it and kept asking "why do you pick on him?"



The following week, after the kid was given a timeout for his temper tantrum, his aunt then confronted me personally and screamed "why do you always pick on him?" Knowing that arguing with adults in front of the kids isn't a good idea, I told her "we can talk about it in the office". She then screamed "no, we'll talk about it right here." I told her again, "we'll talk about it in the office", then she said "what, are you scared? you don't want to look stupid in front of everyone?" I just kept walking to the office, and I spoke with the supervisor about the issue.



The supervisor suggested to me when dealing with angry parents (or angry customers in general), apologize to them at first, then listen to what they have to say! This is to calm them down! They're so mad, that they're not interested in hearing your side of the story, they want you to listen to their concerns! Listen to their concerns, instead of being on the defensive!



That was in the 1st year I worked with kids, so obviously I learned more about how to deal with discipline since then. I would obviously learn to deal with situations more effectively since then!



But the point was that auntie showed no concern about her nephew's victims. She felt any discipline, no matter how mild, was "picking on him". She didn't asked "what happened? what did he do? what can I do to help?" It was just accussations of "picking on him".



The second parent in the program didn't yell accussations, but her approach was almost as annoying! Her response to her son's misbehavior was "he's such a good kid, you let him bother you!"



A good kid? I wish I saw his good side more often! And it's one thing that he annoys me, but what people forget is if a kid is annoying his/her teachers, chances are really high that he/she is annoying the peers EVEN MORE! 

My experience tells me that students treat their less aggressive, less tougher, and less socially supported peers A LOT WORSE than they treat any school employee! At least teachers can write referrals!



Her suggestions to "ignore it" is UNREALISTIC, because ignoring it tells the bully "this guy is soft, I'll do it even more"



As I told that mother about her son was screaming in a younger boy's face. The younger boy told him to stop, he continued to scream in his face, the younger boy started to cry. The bully's mother's attitude was "don't worry, that's nothing"! No concern about how her son is emotionally traumatizing those weaker and less aggressive than him! No concern about how his current misbehavior, if not dealt with, could lead to worse misbehavior as he gets older!



I only talked to that dad's boy once, and he told me that the mother is too lenient and lets him get away with too much! However, the mother has custody of that boy!



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

Dealing with such issues is never easy, and happy endings aren't guaranteed in real life!



Ignoring it doesn't deter bullies, but fighting them will usually lead to getting a beatdown from their friends.



One good book on how to deal with such issues is "Take The Bully By the Horns" by Sam Horn. Check out http://www.takethebullybythehorns.com/ for more info! It teaches you stuff most parents and schools don't always teach!



Also, don't hesitate to talk to school officials about anything that happens to your child. It's NOT "tattle-telling" or "snitching", it's PREVENTING future problems! School officials will only help if they know about it! They can't possibly know everything that happen on campus, so you gotta be the one to inform them!



As for my personal opinion, if a kid is saying something inappropriate, a warning usually works for low-level offenders. They're the ones who usually back off when they're caught!



As for higher-level offenders, I do agree with school officials who make them pick up rubbish and other hard labor, whether during in-school suspension or after-school! Kids needs to face tough consequences, otherwise, they'll think the rules are a joke! They need to face a level of discomfort to deter them!

Or as in the already mentioned case in Massachussetts, repeat offenders need to face criminal charges of harrassment and other violations! They need to be shown that their misbehavior is to be taken seriously, and that their "fun" is over!



Again, there's no easy answers! But the most important thing is to take it seriously!

Eazy-E : 15 years later

15 years ago today, gangsta rap pioneer Eazy-E died from AIDS.


Eazy-E was the the leader of the gangsta rap group NWA, which also featured Dr. Dre, MC Ren and Ice Cube. That group shocked the world by insulting police, rapping tales of violence, and its explicit sexual tales.


Eazy-E's talent was his ability to make us laugh at stuff we know we shouldn't laugh at. I mean, not everyone can do that! I mean, many of us say inappropriate things as youth in an attempt to be funny, but in many cases, even our friends aren't laughing with our jokes. This is something not every could do, but Eazy-E was good at that. Even if others wrote his lyrics, his delivery made it humorous. While Ludacris also had that talent, Eazy-E was more extreme!


1) While many stereotype rap music as "all about being a gangsta, talking about bi-----s and h--s", it wasn't anything like that before NWA came on the scene. Hip-Hop was mostly party music. House parties, block parties!



After NWA, many gang-affiliated youth and the wanabees found that making their own gangsta rap records is a legal way for them to make money without conforming to the standards of the corporate world!

Some blame "white-run corporations" for promoting gangsta rap! But in reality, most big music corporations wanted NOTHING to do with gangsta rap in the beginning. Eazy-E's businees partner Jerry Heller was trying to get major labels to invest in his music. Their reaction was "nobody would listen to that garbage."


Remember, this was the 1980s, when Micheal Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Lionel Richie were the major stars! Rap was just coming out, and everyone thought it was another fad.

So, NWA ending up selling tons of records WITHOUT much video or radio airplay. And remember, this was before the Internet became popular! But once someone heard it, they ain't going to keep it a secret from their friends. That, plus the controversy over "f---- the police" made people want to buy NWA records.

And it wasn't limited to African-American kids. European-Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders got into it! And other people as well!


(I mean, even here in Hawaii, after all these decades, I still hear car stereos blasting Eazy-E's solo hit "Boyz N the Hood", and even last year, I heard students at Kalakaua Middle School rapping the lyrics to that song, even though it came out before they were born. And that school has mostly Filipinos, Polynesians and Micronesians. Major proof Eazy-E had more impact than he realized!)


This underground popularity got the music corporations thinking "maybe people want to listen to that after all". Soon, nearly every major music corporation had a gangsta rap group signed in!

Some claim those records label caused gangsta rap to overshadow positive rap! But even when Will Smith, Black Eyed Peas and other positive groups had major airplay, most hard-core young males rather be Eazy-E, 2pac, Snoop Dogg, Master P,Lil Jon or 50 Cent.

When you're a young male, you want to be seen as tough guy not to be messed with! You also want to have sexy women on your side. You also want to drive a car with loud stereos. No other music can express those desires like gangsta rap! One can complain about corporations pushing gangsta rap, but those kids aren't going to satisfied with other corporate approved trends like teen pop, pop-punk, emo or R&B. While heavy metal has its tough side, it doesn't express the desire to be the stud/pimp, so that's why it got overshadowed by gangsta rap!


2) Where was I during all this? Back in 1991, when I was in 5th grade, my older brother Ramiro introduced me to NWA! At the time, the only rappers I really knew about were the pop rappers like Hammer!

So hearing rap music making the same dirty jokes my school peers were making was eye-opening!


Ramiro told me not to mention his NWA tapes to anyone. But my big mouth mentioned it where my oldest brother Frank (more of a classical music guy) heard it and he told my mom, and she wasn't happy!

A few years later, in 1993, MTV finally played more gangsta rap videos, especially from former NWA member Dr Dre and his new sidekick Snoop Dogg! Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg dissed Eazy-E on the "Dre Day" video. But MTV hardly played Eazy-E response track "Real M----F----n G's" and I thought it was unfair that MTV was taking sides. But I heard that Eazy-E's track from car stereos way more often than " Dre Day"


In 1994, Eazy-E introduced the Cleveland rap group Bone Thugs N Harmony! That group combined gangsta lyrics with R&B styled harmonies! That group was MEGA-POPULAR in Hawaii! While all groups listened to it, the most devoted fans tend to be Samoans. That might surprise many in Cleveland, where the only exposure many have to Samoans is NFL games and WWE. That shows even the most hardcore music can transcend cultural lines.


Then during Spring Break 1995, on a middle-school sponsored field trip to the Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii's Big Island, me & a few other male students were riding in a van. One of my peers suggested playing one of his CDs. That CD was the same Eazy-E CD my brother had. The chaperone told that student to play a few cents per swear word being played!


Then when I returned to Oahu, guess what? I found out Eazy-E died from AIDS. Interesting coincidence. Remember back then, it was a few years before the Internet was popular. There were no text messages on cell phones back then. So we were isolated from the world during that field trip.


3) Before NWA, most of the popular rappers came from New York. NWA helped put Los Angeles as the new center of rap music. For a few years in the 1990's, LA outshined every city when it came to the most popular rappers. However, after that LA rap faced a dramatic decline in nationwide popularity! Here's what I wrote in the "End of the Decade"post on 12/31/2009 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html#938211719538244940


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!


I admit, I should've mentioned in that post that The Game and Nipsey Hussle had underground popularity the last few years.


But, overall, LA rap has extremely been overshadowed by Southern rap in the 2000's.


Though, there has been a new trend coming out of LA that might gain more momentum soon. It is the "jerk movement". The "jerk" is a dance popularized in LA, usually to beats inspired by Southern-style beats. Instead of wearing baggy pants like NWA, the "jerk" rappers prefer "skinny jeans". The New Boyz, Audio Push, Pink Dollaz and Vixenz are part of that movement.


Could it bring the West Coast hip-hop back? We'll see!

The end of the Bob Nash era

Yesterday, the University of Hawaii's men's basketball coach, Bob Nash, was terminated from his job.



Nash was the head coach for the last 3 years. All of them loosing seasons :(



Before that, Nash was an assistant coach under Riley Wallace for 2 decades. Nash was also a legendary player for UH, as part of the school's version of the Fab 5 in the early 1970's, and was in the NBA for a few years.



1) Firing someone isn't something I take lightly.



Sure, we all get frustrated when someone performs poorly on the job!



But that person is a human being too. And being fired means not being able to pay the bills, and could lead to self-esteem issues!



So while we could pretty much fire people almost any way you want, legally speaking, we as humans should do it as ethically and with as much class as possible!



Which is why I think UH Athletic Director Jim Donovan showed a lot of class when announcing the termination of Bob Nash



http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100308/BREAKING02/100308032/Nash+fired+as+UH+basketball+coach+



"It's probably one of the toughest days of my career," said UH Athletic Director Jim Donovan said to open today's press conference at Stan Sheriff Center. "Bob Nash is a tremendous man. I have the utmost respect for him, what he's done for this university as a player, as assistant coach and where his heart is for this program, but I'm announcing this morning that he will not retained next year as head coach."



[skipped paragraphs]



"We are grateful for the way he represented the school and for the example he has set for our student athletes," Donovan said in a prepared statement.


"He may no longer be our coach, but he will forever be a Rainbow Warrior."

--

It's hurtful for anyone to be fired! But to be fired from your alma mater! That's gotta sting even more!

So I think Donovan made the best statement, the one I highlighted in green!

2) Some say Nash was "too nice" compared to the previous coach Riley Wallace who was known to yell & scream a lot!



I'll let his players be the judge on that!



Some also criticized the lack of team spirit among his players, and of course, the lack of wins



However, Nash's reign as head coach was also impacted by external factors he couldn't control!

-------



For example, the timing of his hiring!



In December 2006, (in the middle of basketball season), Wallace announced he was going to retire after the season's over. The local gossip was that Frazier pressured Wallace into retirement (or "fired" Wallace, depending on who you ask). When asked about it Wallace said he wasn't pressured into retirement, and that he was going to retire anyways.



When Wallace announced his retirement, he said he wanted his assistant coach Bob Nash to be his replacement.That was in December 2006.



What did Frazier do? He waited until March 2007 to officially announce the job vacancy for head basketball coach ! He waited until March 2007 to start a committee that will screen and interview candidates for head coach for men's basketball!



You would think if someone announced their retirement that will take place in a few months, you'll start searching for replacement now!



While Nash was hired, it wasn't even officially announced on April 13, 2007.



To make problems worse, that was after the recruiting period started. Some basketball players who were interested in playing for Hawaii didn't want to wait any longer to find out who was going to be their coach, so they ended up signing up with other colleges.



So that did have an effect on Nash's 3 years as head coach! Just imagine if Nash was able to get them signed up early! We could've had a more talented roster and maybe Nash wouldn't be in the situation he's in now!



I really believe Herman Frazier needs to apologize to Bob Nash about taking too long to hire him! Frazier needs to apologize to Nash about waiting after the start of recruiting period to hire him!



This issue, plus taking too long to negotiate a new contract with ex-UH football coach June Jones, was one of the reasons Frazier was fired from his job as UH Athletic Director in January 2008.



-----

And this year, the team has so many injuries. Bill Amis, the best player from the previous year, was injured right before the season started! He couldn't play this season. Other guys also missed time due to minor injuries!



This was why some UH fans were reluctant to see Bob Nash fired this year!



3) So now UH will have to find a new head basketball coach!



Certain challenges are out there!



For one thing, most of the top boy's athletes in Hawaii focus on football! Even a local athlete who is slim and 6-3 (who could play point guard in basketball) would most likely focus on being a wide receiver or a defensive end in football!



This makes local recruiting difficult! Many of the state's top male high school basketball players do play college sports ....... as football or volleyball players! Here, basketball is just something to do when football or volleyball season is over!



It is a different situation in places like New York or Philly, where the young athletes focus on basketball 24-7!



Some say that the difficulty in local recruiting for basketball is because Hawaii doesn't have that many African-Americans. But there isn't that much African-Americans in Logan, Utah either, but that didn't stop Utah State from being the top team in the Western Athletic Conference!



While different ethnic groups may prefer one sport over another, I don't think it's the main factor in all this!



Don't get wrong, we had great local players of different races playing for UH in the past --- David Hallums, Jarrin Akina, Alika Smith, Julian Sensley and Bobby Nash (the coach's son)!



And UH did recruit great players of different races from the mainland (especially Anthony Carter and the subject of today Bob Nash) and from other countries like Canada, Serbia, Lithuania, Israel, Nigeria, etc.



International recruiting has gotten more difficult now that the NCAA has been stricter about it! Youth sports are run differently in foreign countries, and some amateur athletes there play organized team sports with paid players! The NCAA doesn't like that! I think the NCAA doesn't make much sense there! The NCAA should allow those amateurs to play college sports in the US!



So whoever is the next coach needs to be good at recruiting locally, nationally and internationally! We shouldn't be losing recruiting battles to Utah State, New Mexico State or Idaho!

And hopefully, the next coach can coordinate something with the youth programs. Rich Miano, an assistant coach for the UH football team, has a Speed & Quickness Clinic for young kids aspiring to become college football players. Why not have that for basketball?

We have a strong recruiting base for football and volleyball! Let's make it a strong recruiting base for basketball too!

Here's Wes Nakama's comment on local recruiting in basketball

http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com/2010/03/09/next-uh-coach-shouldnt-ignore-local-hoop-talent/

4) Bob Nash was paid $240,000 per year. Because of the wording in the contract, Nash also gets another $240,000 for doing nothing next year as well! (some boosters have stepped up to pay for that extra year, so that UH can use its own funds on the next coach)

Riley Wallace said that the UH Athletic Department should pay $500,000 to $600,000 for the next coach.

http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com/2010/03/08/end-of-nash-era/

Riley Wallace, who likely will be one of Donovan's advisers in the selection process, said the position needs to be filled by an established coach who can recruit. Such a coach would cost about $500,000 to $600,000. Thing is, UH paid Nash $240,000 annually and the position's ceiling is $400,000.

"They need seven spots to fill," Wallace said. "You're going to have to pay. The price is going up."

Just watch the sports-haters go bezerk about this!

Remember, they went bezerk over June Jones making $800,000 a year during the previous decade, even though he was one of the best coaches out there, and even though what Jones made was CHUMP CHANGE compared to his current job at SMU!

I don't mind the next basketball coach getting paid good money, especially if he brings great success!

But what's gotta end, is paying coaches for leftover years after being terminated! We should pay for great performance, not paying big money to someone to do nothing!

The Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, Canada, ended over a week ago, and I have a few thoughts on it!



1) In the beginning of the Olympics, there were concerns about not having enough snow for outdoor events!



Not enough snow in Canada?



Ironically, at the same time, it was snowing in 49 states of the US (Hawaii being the non-snow state).



Global warming? More like Global Wierding!



2) Being that the Olympics were held in Canada, the Canadian Olympic officials had a slogan "Own the Podium", meaning Canadian athletes should strive to dominate all the Olympic events on their home turf.



In the first few days of the Winter Olympics, Canada was falling behind the medal count, and people were ridiculing the idea of Canada "owning the podium".



I don't have a problem with Canada promoting its "Own the Podium" slogan! [Though I do prefer the US to "own the podium" which is did :) ]



If you're going to compete in the biggest stage of sports, you better have a competitive spirit! You better give your countrymen some pride! You better have the "Own the Podium" attitude!



Striving for the best shouldn't be ridiculed, even if its from the underdog, even if its from your biggest rival!



3) As the Olympics went on, the Canadians were able to get more medals and move up on the medal count!



However, it was the Russians who had dramatic declines this year!



Russia was traditionally a Winter Olympic powerhouse! It was expected for a BIG country with tons of snow.



Yet, they were 11th place in the medal count!



This was so humiliating that the Russian president demanded resignations of Russian Olympic officials!



Now that the next Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia, the feeling is urgent that Russia needs to dramatically improve its winter sports programs!



http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/medvedev-furious-at-olympic-failure-1914308.html



4) Sports always come with risks of injuries, even death!



The luger from Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died in a pre-Olympic practice!

That's gotta be one of the worst things in the world! You practice for years to achieve in the biggest stage of world sports and to die just before the games begin!

5) On the lighter side of things, I was happy to see the accomplishments of prominent US athletes.

Speed-skater Apollo Ohno broke the record for the most Winter gold medals by a US athlete!

Skier Lindsey Vonn overcame a shin injury to win gold medal!

Another skier, Bode Miller, who didn't live up to the hype in the 2006 Olympics, finally lived up to the hype in 2010, winning gold!

6) The US hockey (both men & women) were able to make it to the championship game. Unfortunately both lost to Canada!

Even more embarrassing for the US women hockey, the Canadians rubbed it in by smoking cigars & drinking champagne on the ice after the game! It's like a Big Poppa-style rap video on ice!

7) The next Winter Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia. That town is close to the Russia-Georgia border. Those countries had a mini-war about the same time as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing!

Will those tensions continue!

Hopefully, it won't ruin things in the next show on ice & snow!

The Tsunami Warning

This past Saturday (February 27), Hawaii recieved a tsunami warning! The tsunami was generated by an 8.8 earthquake in Chile!

1) It was 6am as I woken up by the tsunami siren!

Everyone in Hawaii hears a tsunami siren being tested every 1st weekday of the month at 11:45 am!

This sure wasn't a time for testing that's for sure!

This wasn't a test. Everything I learned about what to do in a tsunami warning is now going to have to be acted upon!

I turned on the radio to hear the news. I heard phone calls to the radio station saying certain parts of Oahu didn't hear a siren! So I called my parents (who live in another part of the island) to make sure! They were up even before the siren, and they heard the sirens!

I ducted tape the big drawer with all the papers, yearbooks, photo albums, etc.

I live near Puck's Alley. It's not next to the ocean, but it's not high up in the mountains either!

I'm not taking chances.

I put all my medicines, folders with important documents and other valuables in a grey plastic box. I also put some big water bottles in my bag!

Since the radio announced the tsunami will likely hit in 4-5 hours, and the buses are still running, I just took the bus up to Manoa Valley District Park. (otherwise, I'm walking up that hill towards UH)

Once there, I already saw a bunch of people getting off a big bus! Some of those guys told me they came from the homeless shelter in Kakaako!

It seemed like for some of them, it was their 1st time in that neighborhood. Some asked me where was the nearest store. I told them they would have walk about a few blocks "that way" (pointing east) until they see a big street (East Manoa Road).

About an hour later, I saw the same guys coming back with stuff from the store. I was happy that they were able to find it!

I just sat on the bench near a tree, near the bathroom. Perfect.

I stayed on the bench for a few hours! There were no radios, TV, or internet, so we were isolated from the world!

About 1am, I saw people from the surrounding neighborhoods using the park like a normal day!

About 1:45 , I got a call from my mom, mentioning the governor gave the All Clear signal!

Time to go back to normal! And I saw those from the homeless shelter going back to their big bus. I just took the city bus back to my apartment!

2) We were lucky.

But next time, we may not be so lucky! So the next warning, I'm not taking chances. I'm going back uphill to Manoa Valley District Park again!

We're also lucky that we got an early warning!

4) The people of Chile weren't so lucky. Building and freeways crashed down and many are trapped inside!

Hopefully, they can all recover and go back to normal again!

The Austin plane crasher

Remember after 9/11, when anti-immigration fanatics screamed that "we better stop letting Middle Eastern immigrants in in order to protect us from terrorism"?

Remember a few years back when a Mexican illegal alien in Virginia killed 2 women in a drunk-driving accident, and Bill O'Reilly went nuts at Geraldo Rivera for saying "it's not an immigration issue, it's a drunk driving issue" ?

And the anti-immigration fanatics kept screaming "how you would feel if you were a victim of Arab terrorists?" or "how would you feel if your car got hit by an Mexican illegal alien drunk driver?"

Well, now that an European-American by the name of Joseph Stack crashed a small plane into the IRS building in Austin, the anti-immigration fanatics are silent!

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/who-is-andrew-joseph-stack%3F

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter if I am killed by a European-American, an illegal Mexican alien or an Arab terrorist. Either way, I still would be dead!