"It's just out of love."

Bobby Herring, a missionary and Christian rapper, says his homeless outreach program he and his wife run is in jeopardy after health officials in Houston shut it down because they did not have a permit to serve food. After 15 months of serving meals to the area’s homeless, Herring’s “Feed a Friend” program is closed by the Health and Human Services Department.

Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department, says that the Herrings have not pursued a permit to serve food. "The Houston Food Ordinance applies the same standards of food preparation and service for free food and purchased food," Barton said. "We do not have different standards of sanitation and food protection for poor people than those for people with money."

In Herring’s defense, he himself says, “The homeless are hungry. It’s freezing in Houston now, and the city doesn’t have to deal with it…The thing is, I think it’s sad that in order to give food to the homeless, we have to have a permit."

Personally, I am a bit torn. I understand Barton’s views that we cannot and should not bend the laws for such situations, especially since this deals with the public's health and since the Herrings are basically giving out food illegally. But then again, as Herring states, "It's just out of love." Their intentions are not to rebel against health laws; they are merely doing the homeless in Houston a favor by providing them hot meals, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.

The Family of a Killer

After a mass shooting like Viriginia Tech or the recent incident in Arizona, support and sympathy pour out across the nation for the families of the victims. Very little of the compassion, however, is shown towards the family of the murder. Should it be?

David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber, expressed his sympathy for the Loughner family after hearing the news about the Arizona shootings. Ted Kacynski, the Unabomber, began a mail bombing spree that left three dead and twenty-three others injured. The target of one of the FBI's most costly investigations, Ted Kacynski evaded capture for twenty years before his own brother turned him in.

In the article, David Kaczynski describes the horrible feeling of finding out that his brother was a murderer. Typically, the most devasted and shocked is the murderer's own family. David Kacynski never realized that his brother was capable of such violence, adding that his "whole reality has changed."

What do you guys think? Should a murderer's family deserve some sympathy or should they be blamed for raising a killer?

Deathly piercing?

2-year old Malyia was rushed to the Methodist Hospital, five miles from their Sacramento, ER Monday morning after her parents had noticed that her fever kept rising and a mysterious bruise was spreading over her face. After five hours of waiting in the ER, Malyia was taken to a room. Malyia's blood tests showed that her liver was failing. Malyia was then transferred to pediatric intensive care unit and diagnosed with Strep A infection, "a flesh eating bacteria".

As Malyia's condition worsened she was transferred once again to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University. Once she arrived she was immediately put on life support. After three weeks of being hospitalized at Stanford, the doctors had to amputate Malyia's her left hand, some fingers on her right hand, and both of her legs under the knee.

Malyia's parents thought that the infection of resulted from an ear piercing that had gotten infected.

The Government Accountability Office, 2009, reported that the average wait time in the ER has been rising. The reason being is that the ERs do not have enough beds for every patient that needs assistance. ERs suggest you check the average wait time online and to call your doctor and describe your conditions before coming in. If your condition continue to worsen call your doctor and he/ she will advice you of what to do.

Do you guys think our Emergency Rooms need to be more efficient? What do you guys think about Malyia's story?

Have our zodiac signs been changed?!

If you're a fan of horoscopes...life decided to get all confusing on us and stir up this trouble that our zodiac signs are probably not what we've thought they were (sucks for the people who got their zodiac signs tattooed on them).

There are different types of astrology. An Eastern form, called Sidereal astrology, looks to the famous constellations as its guide. On the other hand, Western astrology has its zodiacs fixed to the seasons. These signs follow what early astrologers called "star signs," whose reference points are the tropics that form a ring around the earth. The zodiac is based on our relationship to the sun, not the stars.

About 2,000 years ago, the astrological signs and the astronomical ones were the same. But not anymore. That location in the sky has slowly moved westward, because of something called "precession" (the earth continually tilts every 26,000 years). Since the constellations were first identified, they have shifted roughly 30 degrees. The signs have slipped about a month westward, relative to the stars.

If you follow astrology that is linked to the constellations, your sign would go from say, a Gemini to a Taurus; I would go from a Cancer to a Gemini....and better yet, some of us could even have a 13th sign, called Ophiuchus, which would be birthdays from November 29 - December 17 (lucky you guys!).

"It's a huge point of confusion for the public," says Bing Quock, assistant director of Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences. I believe it; I was on Twitter and everyone was going psycho over the fact that they may or may not be a Scorpio or an Aquarius anymore, and that all this time those suggestions they've been reading every day on romance were all lies, lies, lies! Haha.

HOWEVER, if you follow Sidereal astrology, the Eastern branch, your sign may have shifted...but most of us follow the Western astrology anyways. So phew, our signs have NOT changed. Don't trip. =)

I have never been a firm believer of horoscopes actually; I read my horoscope sometimes and try to relate it to my present life...but I can never find any enlightening moments. How about you guys, do your zodiac signs represent an actual "you"?

Here's a link to the changed zodiac signs birthdays:http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/entertainment&id=7896643

Teen Plans to Sue School Unless Action Taken

The fifteen year old founder of Gays and Lesbians United Against Discrimination, Caleb Laieski, sent a letter to more than 5,000 school administrators and lawmakers demanding change. The Arizona gay teen activist claims that "he was a victim of bullying and harassment, and even received death threats from other students". Believing that it is the school's responsibility to try their best to prevent bullying, Laieski is demanding that the school's anti-bullying policies include sexual orientation and gender identity. Unless the school takes action soon, the teen threatens "legal ramifications." Armed with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Laieski will sue if the school does not change it's anti-bullying policy. Do you guys have any thoughts on the issue? Should Laieski be respected for his courageous actions? Or is blaming the school administration the wrong thing to do?
By the way, the website doesn't allow me to post the URL as my link (sorry!), here's is the link for the article:
http://www.jsyk.com/2011/01/11/gay-teen-plans-to-sue-schools-if-they-dont-prevent-bullying/?icid=maing|aim|dl7|sec2_lnk3|35901

North Korea is Becoming a Bigger Threat

After a recent meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warns the Obama admistration of North Korea's rapid development of nuclear weapons. While, according to Gates, "it's [not] an immediate threat," North Korea's neighboring countries are increasing the urgency to deal with the issue. After several provocations, South Korea's government is under severe pressure to retaliate, which may result in undesirable consequences. If North Korea attacks either Japan or South Korea, countries bound by international treaties will be forced to take action. Diplomatic talks are a possibility as North Korea tries to negotiate more food aid to face another widespread famine. However, Gates is hesitant to get involved and help North Korea unless the country can show a stronger commitment to peace. I agree with Gates; currently, the country is only engaging in diplomatic talks to save itself, it's actual sincerity is questionable. What do you guys think?

Facebook AMBER Alerts

Facebook has recently teamed up with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to create a series of state AMBER Alert fan pages. With Facebook's 500 million active users (with well over 100 million in the US alone) it's just one more way that such important broadcast system could reach a much more expansive audience. The company is donating 50 million advertising impressions to publicize the new system, and is making sure that the notices sent are only to those who have signed up to receive them in order to reach a more committed audience.

Do you think that the digitizing of such public programs/utilities will be a benefit or detriment? Do you think it will affect the audience reached in such a considerable manner as predicted? Or will there not be much of a difference in the exposure/participation the programs experience?

Gov. Jerry Brown Finding New Ways Tt Deal With the State's Expansive Deficit

As the state tries to close the $25.4 billion budget gap within the next 18 months, Governor Jerry Brown has taken to getting rid of state-issued phones for employees. The plan is a 50 percent reduction in state-issued phones, and is projected to save $20 million a year.

As the newly elected governor deals with the past financial failures of the state government, he is seeming to seek new and unique was to save the state money. Do you think that getting rid of state employees' cell-phones is a reasonable cut in the state's budget? Do you think that the government is going to far in its desire to bridge the budget gap?

Australian Flooding Threatens Great Barrier Reef

In addition to the deaths and staggering property damage from the floods in Northeast Australia the Great Barrier Reef could be threatened. The brown fresh water that has flooded the reef contains the leftover nutrients, sediment, and pesticides via agricultural run-off; also there is a plethora of trace metals from flooded mines. These contaminants in the coral's normally-salt water environments will undoubtedly effect it and it's inhabitants' ability to survive in a strongly negative way, threatening to wipe out much of the population.

The floods were caused by the La Niña event, which was described by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology as "very strong" in 2010. The bureau even predicted the devastating floods in June 2010 when they stated that La Niña would most likely greatly affect Australia within the year.

Messi for World Player?

On Monday, Lionel Messi won the FIFA ballon d'Or for the second consecutive year. Only three other footballers have won two years running: Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Messi was selected out of a pool of three candidates, all candidates from FC Barcelona, and won with 22.65 percent of votes casted.


This was the first year of FIFA ballon d'Or. The France Football magazine's Footballer of the Year merged with FIFA's World Player of the Year in order to award the BEST footballer of the year. In 2009 Messi was nominated for FIFA's World Player of the Year and Frances Football magazin's Footballer of the year, and won both titles.

Messi scored a total of 60 goals, in 2010, for his club and national team.

I have seen some of Messi's club and national team soccer games and he is very talented and deserving of this award.

Tucson Memorial Open Thread

Australia's Worst Flooding in Decades

The floods in and around Brisbane, Australia are projected to be the worst in decades; likely exceeding the levels of the 1974 floods that cost $200 Million in property damage at the time. There is already a multi-billion-dollar cost projected for the floods that have devastated the Northeast part of the country.

The region is generally used to drought conditions, having in the last years had to make use of stringent water-rationing programs. However, in light of the torrential rains in the past few weeks, those living in the madness just hope that the rains cease and the river levels lower.

Such large-scale disasters are steadily increasing in damage costs while humanity's ability to control the powerful forces of nature remains limited. Hopefully within the coming years technological advances will be able to help curtail much of the damage such disasters cause. What do you think? Will we see the advent of nature-controlling technology in the next decade or so? If not then, when?

Kids getting ticketed for misbehavior in Texas schools

In elementary school, if you got in trouble during class, you were sent to the principal’s office. But in Texas, you’ll get a Class C misdemeanor ticket from school police officers, even if you’re six years old. That means your family has to pay the fine and take the trip to court.

According to a nonprofit group report, “school police issued 1,000 tickets to elementary school children in 10 school districts.” The most common reasons for issuing the tickets are “disorderly conduct” and “leaving school without permission.” African-American students and special education students seem to be ticketed the most.

Though some may say that this kind of punishment is more effective discipline because it is much more serious than a trip to the principal’s office, I find it rather ridiculous that such young children are getting ticketed because they are still learning about how to behave properly. But rather than voicing all of my own opinions about this, I would like to hear everyone else’s thoughts – do you think this is too harsh? Do you think (like me) that this is just a moneymaking scheme? Or do you think this is a great idea?

Tom DeLay doesn't remember if he committed a crime?

Tom DeLay, Texas politician, was convicted of money laundering. DeLay was found to have taken $190,000 from a 2002 mid-term election campaign (donated by corporate lobbyist) he was controlling and had given it to the Republican National Committee. The Republican National Committee than gave it to seven state legislative candidates.

Before Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison and ten years of probation, he said that he was not remorseful of something he did not think he did. He says that the swap was not illegal and described the case as a "political vendetta". DeLay's attorney is planning to appeal against the verdict.

DeLay already got 10 years of probation instead of 5 more years in prison. If he is approved to go to an appeals court, do you think he would get a better sentence? Or worse? Take in mind his reputation.

Arizona Shooter Might Escape a Prison Sentence

Over the weekend, twenty-two year old Jared Lee Loughner shot and killed six people while injuring thirteen more (including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords). While Loughner faces federal murder and attempt murder charges, his defense lawyer plans to avoid a prison sentence with an insanity plea. The lawyer points to Loughner's history, when he attacked the Pima Community College with disturbing videos pertaining to mind control. He was suspended and advised to take a mental health evaluation. Both the prosecution and the defense will look into Loughner's Myspace page for evidence. On his page, he listed "The Communist Manifesto" and "Mein Kampf" among his favorite books. In addition, he also left posts such as "Good-bye, Friends" and "Dear friends, please don't be mad at me." If found guilty, Loughner will face the death penalty; if the insanity plea works, however, he will be sent to a mental hospital until he recovers. Personally, I think that the Myspace posts show that Loughner knew what he was doing and the possible consequences of his actions. What do you guys think? Does Loughner stand a chance with such a defense? Should someone who shot and killed so many innocent people be given an opportunity to avoid prison altogether?

Palin is responsible for Arizona shooting?!

Well not really. But according to a controversial image of gun sights from Palin's 2010 congressional campaign, people believe Palin planned the recent Arizona shootings that left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition. Rebecca Mansour, Palin's political aide, calls this ordeal "appalling" as people all over Twitter actually believe Palin had part in such a horrific incident. Some nasty critics even believe that Palin was trying to distance herself away from the crime so it didn't seem like she had anything to do with it.

Ironically enough, the 2010 congressional campaign website "Take Back the 20," which was originally supposed to be an effort to defeat Democrats who voted for health care reform and that represented the congressional districts won by Palin and McCain in the '08 elections, never meant to post such images. Rather, these gun sights were supposed to be symbols of surveyor symbols. The symbols were supposed to represent the Republicans targeting certain congressional districts they needed to win in 2010 midterm elections. Mansour explains that they never wanted to create the sense of violence towards the Congresswoman in any way.

Palin has issued an apology to Giffords' family as proof that she had nothing to do with the shootings. Palin's aide also cannot understand how anyone could do such an act of injustice.

Are people just taking things too seriously? Or are these people right in being overly cautious about what they believe in? How do you think this will affect Palin and her reputation in the future as a governor, and as a possible future presidential candidate?

Westboro Baptist Church Protesting Yet ANOTHER Funeral

And the Westboro Baptist Church is at it again.

In an offensive press release on Sunday, leader Fred Phelps announced that he and his followers plan to travel to Tuscon, Arizona in order to protest the funeral of the six people (including a 9-year-old girl) killed in Saturday’s shooting. They will be picketing with signs labeled “God sent the shooter.” The people of Tuscon have already planned to blockade the picketing.

To put it lightly, I am absolutely APPALLED at the Westboro Baptist Church’s activities. Protesting at a funeral? Some respect should be shown for the dead, especially the innocent. They’ve taken freedom of speech to a whole new level.

Should the Westboro Baptist Church be censored? Would that be unconstitutional? In my opinion, something must be done. Maybe these people aren’t physically harming people, but they are certainly causing emotional damage with their verbal attacks. Can they be stopped?

“Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”

(<--A stereotypical "Asian parent")

I initially clicked on this article thinking it was going to be a humorous article, but it turned out to be a serious (but still intriguing) argumentative piece coming from a real Chinese mother about why stereotypical Asian parents’ “strict parenting style” is better than that of “Western parents.”

Ms. Chua says that while Western parents generally are too “anxious about their child’s self-esteem,” Chinese parents know what is best for their child, which is hard work and determination (without giving up) and the belief that their child is capable of anything. For example, when a child gets a B on a test, she says that Western parents “will sit their child down and express disapproval, but they will be careful not to make their child feel inadequate or insecure;” instead, they would assume something is wrong with the teaching or the school system. In contrast, a Chinese parent would “get dozens, maybe hundreds of practice tests and work through them with her child for as long as it takes to get the grade up to an A . . . If their child doesn't get perfect grades, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough. That's why the solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it.”

That’s just a single, small example in Ms. Chua’s article, which is a bit lengthy but well worth reading. Although I am Asian, my parents are more like the “Western parents” that Ms. Chua describes, and I always thought I would be miserable if I had so-called strict, punishing “Chinese parents.” Though I'm not anywhere being close to convinced, I think she made some good points about such authoritarian parenting. Regardless of ethnicity, what do all of you think of these contrasting parenting styles? Do your parents fit in either the “Western parent” or “Chinese parent” category? Any other opinions about the stereotypes?

Verizon iPhone!

Apple’s iPhone has been available for AT&T users since its release in 2007, but now it will be available to Verizon Wireless users at the end of the month. A formal announcement will be made on Tuesday in New York City. This is expected to raise Apple’s sales by a significant margin, which is much needed because of the iPhone’s rival, Google’s Android. The availability of the iPhone for AT&T and Verizon puts increased sales pressure on other smaller phone companies (such as Sprint and T-Mobile).
I personally don’t own an iPhone and Verizon is not my carrier, but I like Apple products in general and am interested in how this will affect the Android phone. Are there any Verizon users out there who are considering buying the iPhone once it becomes available? What does everyone think about iPhone, Apple, AT&T, Verizon, and/or smartphones in general? A friend of mine in college recommended that I buy a smartphone for college because it is very useful, but has anyone heard similar advice?
(To anyone who reads the article – do you find it funny that the source was “a person familiar with the matter?” I just thought it was a funny way to go “on background.”)

Drug-related violence in Mexico

Saturday turned out to be a day of violence not only for the U.S., with the shooting of Congressman Giffords, but for one of our neighboring countries as well.

15 people were found dead outside a shopping center in a Mexican resort city on Saturday. All but one of them were beheaded. The murderers appeared to be members of “El Chapo’s People,” a drug cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman; the group left messages that said the victims tried to intrude on the group’s property.

Among the 27 total people declared dead on Saturday was the mayor of a small town in Mexico. At least a dozen mayors were killed in Mexico last year “in acts of intimidation attributed to drug gangs.”

All I could feel after reading this article was shock and disgust. I had prior knowledge that drug-related violence was a big problem in Mexico, but I don’t think I had a full grasp of the scale of the problem until I read some of the numbers in the article. The most shocking to me was that over 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, “launched an offensive against cartels in late 2006.” This fact, combined with the murders of so many mayors, makes me think that whatever is being done to fight this violence is not nearly effective enough. I know I was shocked when I read this, but this kind of news is probably not unusual to Mexican residents.

I feel bad that I’m posting about such a gruesome and dismal topic, but I feel that we should all be aware about these things happening in the country right next to us. We should also feel grateful that we live in a relatively safe area; there’s not a lot that we can prioritize before safety. Does the start of this year seem especially filled with violence and tragedy to people?

(I purposely did not include any images - they are quite graphic.)