2007-04-24

Toyota Becomes Number One Auto Maker

The story is on the media everywhere: Toyota has taken over General Motors as the number one auto maker of the world. Bad news just keeps coming to Michigan. One would think that the Detroit auto makers are now anxious to change the way they operate. But hearing stories from a friend at Ford, it is business as usual, at least at Ford. Things may be changing on the surface, jobs have been cut. But the real cuts are mostly happening to the labor level.

Hearing Paul Starr, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and its Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, talking about liberalism on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR is refreshing. Liberalism is about progress, not radicalism. The so called conservatives of today are really radical individualists with their private agendas. I guess that there will be a day, when real conservatives will wake up and reclaim the label from GWB and his gang.

2007-04-19

"School dismissed for day"

School dismissed for day at Gabriel Richard. That is only one of the many stories of school closings on many news media today. Anyone writing Virginia Tech and blah blah is treated as a threat. I agree that they have to, with guns so easily available.

Gun ownership is fine. But making guns easily available for anyone and everyone is not. That logic seems simple, yet it seems to be incomprehensible to some. That is what bothers me.

2007-04-18

The Killer

Cho Seung-Hui is the killer at VT. Media outlets call him twisted, crazy, madman, etc. That's may not be wrong, but I think they may be missing the point. Bill O'Reilly on Fox News whined about the US being criticized by the rest of the world as a gun paradise and for its gun culture. I think those criticisms need to be taken seriously. Live By The Gun, Die By The Gun is not just a saying. It is what happens.

(By the way, Fox News is the worst media shop I've ever watched, on par with the CCTV channels of the past and Bill O'Reilly is THE spinner of spinners. Unfortunately, CNN is not available in the Dish Network package I have.)

Many of the smart people on TV have been suggesting that the government should have warned the public about the person's mental conditions. Some even imply that he should have been locked up or something. I can't help wondering what kind of smart ideas these people may come up with. People don't think gun ownership should be restricted in any way, and these gurus think people should be casted out if they don't talk to anybody, don't respond to greetings and have been complained by a few others?

Yesterday, there were talks on Fox News about the killer being a Chinese who obtained his visa in Shanghai in October last year. The culprit who started the rumor is said to be Michael Sneed, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist. Fox News doesn't seem to mind at all to spread unchecked news. I guess their concept of news is anything new.

To put things in perspective, 80 some people died in one bombing in a Baghdad market today. Not many media seem to notice that. On the other hand, to his credit, Bill O'Reilly did say in his program that 100 some Iraqi policemen were executed today by the insurgents. But the way he reported that disgusted me. This is the fifth year of US occupying Iraq, he is still trying to make people believe that it is shocking that the insurgents are so cruel. Americas may be naive in 2003 at the beginning of the invasion. US forces may not expect the cruelty of this war back then. After 4 years of occupation, this kind of episodes only mean that the US forces have lost control of Iraq.

2007-04-17

Shootings at Virginia Tech

The tragedy is all over the news media the whole day. I first heard it on NPR while driving to a work site. 32 were killed. It is labeled the deadliest campus shooting in the US history.

Beyond the tragedy in front of us, I wonder if any surviving family of the victims are opponents to gun control, and if any of them has any change of mind after this tragic day.

I am no fan of government controlling people's lives. But as deadly as they are, guns should not fall into wrong hands. Gun control does not mean people can not own guns either. So many people are so ready to give up liberty when the government comes to them in the name of war against terrorism, yet the same people are not willing to give up the convenience of easy gun ownership. I guess it is a matter of my life against other people's lives: I could care less whether others lose their lives as long as I can live my life my way.

2007-04-10

"City of Angles"

It's a beautiful movie!

What is it like to become a human from an angle? What does it feel like for Seth to take that plunge? What is it like to bleed, to feel pain, for the first time? How much does it hurt to love and then lose everything?

It's a funny movie, too.

Being human is not just about having free will. Humans are fragile. They break easily. Humans can be cruel to other humans. Finally, humans die. That makes this movie a tragedy, too, I guess. To be human is to feel all the pain and yet having to go on. That's life!

I hear Sarah McLachlin's Angle again. That brings me back to almost 6 years ago. Another sad memory.

2007-04-03

Citizenship

It was already yesterday. The ceremony was glamor-less. The judge spoke way too fast for most to follow. Receiving a letter from the current president doesn't give me any sense of excitement at all. Although I fully respect the presidency of the United States, my new home country of 14 years, this president gets no respect from me. But then again, this is the time to become a citizen. I will cherish the freedom and fulfill my responsibilities. That is personal.