RNC and Gustav

As of today, Sunday at 2 pm, there is a mandatory evacuation for New Orleans due to Hurricane Gustav, which is gathering strength in the center of the Gulf of Mexico right now. The hurricane is heading towards New Orleans, as a Category 3, gathering strength in the warm, deep waters of the Gulf. Its sad, upsetting, traumatic, bringing back memories of Katrina. This time around, the evacuation is much more orderly, and people can bring their pets with them. All of the citizens of the Gulf are in my thoughts and prayers. I also feel for the drivers heading west on Interstate 10, moving slowly in traffic that must be as heavy has rush hour traffic outside the Holland Tunnel. Are they worried about the gas stations running out of gas? I can only imagine their many fears, from their homes being lost to another hurricane, to other unimaginable scenarios. Will the city flood??

With that being said, the kindness coming from the Bush admin and RNC is making me sick. I am not saying this about John McCain. His record on natural disaster relief is unknown, as I do not know of any situation he has presided over as a Senator. My issue is with Bush and his underlings, who aren't going to the RNC in St. Paul, rather going to Texas to meet with emergency workers and evacuees. Could this be because 2008 is an election year and 2005 was not? Could this be because he wants to do something to redeem himself from the horrible disgrace which was the federal response to Katrina?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080831/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_gustav

The blog posting from 2007, below,

http://www.dailygotham.com/blog/mole333/two_years_after_katrina_race_political_relavence_and_survival_in_america

speaks volumes about what life in American under the Republicans has been like for those effected by Katrina. I hope and pray Gustav doesn't do the damage to the Gulf coast that Katrina did. I also hope and pray we elect a President that actually cares about the American public. All members of the American public.

To All Liberals: STOP TALKING SHIT

As I read the various articles written about the 2008 election,

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/opinion/27dowd.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

or anything written by Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone, I wonder why the left insists on talking shit.

Why talk about the chilly relationship between the Clintons and Obama? Why focus on that? When the media and press focus on that, it indirectly helps the Republicans. What the focus should be on is the mess the Republicans have made of this country, and the people who are suffering. There is a big mess, too. The housing crisis, the out of control lenders who are now without liquidity, the inability for people to declare Chapter 7 because of the Bush admin changes to the bankruptcy law, all of the people in ICE custody dying because they are denied medical care, the price of oil and those who cannot afford to drive because of $4 gasoline. There is a lot to talk about. The mess the Bush admin has made of this country is huge, and that is what the liberals should be focusing on. Not the internal divisions and differences within the Democratic party. Put the Republicans on the defense about the mess they have made in America.

Olympic Hacking He Kexin Age 14!!

For all of you who watched the Beijing Olympics and noticed that He Kexin, (left) the gold medal winner of the uneven bars event, is not 16, please read the links below:
http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/hack-olympics.html

http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympic-hacking-part-ii-lets-go-for.htmlpart-ii-lets-go-for.html

I mean, to me its obvious! She isn't 16 or even close. Supposedly, her "real" d-o-b is 1/1/1994, but I think its more like 1/1/1996. She is clearly not going through puberty. I also think other gymnasts from the Chinese team are also under 16. Since He robbed Nastia of the gold in the uneven bars, in that questionable tie breaker, the focus has been on her. Jiang Yuyang (underneath) looks very young to me. The Chinese state records that surely have disappeared by now stating He's d-o-b as 1/1/94 should be enough for the IOC to initiate some kind of investigation.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4578241.ece

Why didn't the Chinese officials think of this earlier, and what does it take for them to get these records off web? What I am wondering is how they are getting tipped off that American Internet hackers are turning up their records. Just because they make the spreadsheets disappear, it doesn't make them look any less like they are cheating.

I penned my letter to the IOC earlier in the week. Aside from the matter of the under age Chinese gymnasts, I also mentioned other issues relevant to the games in my letter. If you need contact info for the IOC, let me know.

ICE healthcare Issues

Yesterday I read the NY Times link to the story about Mr. Ng.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/nyregion/13detain.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
It was very sad and I felt a deep sadness for him and his family. While I was reading the NY Times story, I came across the story of Francisco Castaneda. As summarized by the story in the LA Times,
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/13/local/me-cruel13
I was appalled by the suffering Mr. Castaneda endured while being held in ICE custody. I was glad the Federal Judge called the situation a violation of Mr. Castaneda's Constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment. When I was flipping around the net looking for various viewpoints, I came across the quote of a republican Senator (who shall remain nameless) who said, in short, "Why should the American tax payer have to foot the health care bill for illegal immigrants in ICE custody?" I think this case answers that question. Because if ICE doesn't provide adequate medical care, those suffering from terminal illnesses are subject to cruel and unusual punishment. In the case of Mr. Castaneda, the legion on his penis was vi sable, for the doctors to see. They didn't need tests to verify that the issue was serious, they could see with their naked eyes that it was. To me, what is most upsetting is that ICE chose to release Mr. Castaneda on to the street to get medical care rather than pay for his cancer treatments. What does that say to the American taxpayer? That because they won't spend our tax dollars on medical care for ICE inmates when problems first arise, once the problem is full blown and too big to ignore, they release the inmate onto the street to walk into any E.R. in the country to have charity care pay for treatment? Well, people who walk into E.R.'s who cannot pay for their treatment is paid for, in part, by tax dollars. Hospitals get reimbursed some percentage of those costs. So, the taxpayer paid for Mr. Castaneda's care after he was released! (Of course, ICE dug their own grave by dragging their feet for 11 months. Had they gotten a biopsy when the legion was small, likely the cost of the surgery would have been significantly less than by the time Mr. Castaneda's cancer spread to his groin and liver.)
Hospitals all over the state of NJ are closing and in financial distress because they are mandated to take and treat anyone who walks in the E.R. Usually the state of NJ reimburses the cost of about $0.25/$1.00 of what the hospital spends treating the low income/uninsured. If anything, the state gov'ts should be mandating that ICE not dump critically ill people on the streets in front of hospitals in their state leaving the state taxpayers to pay the bills!!!
Now, if this story happened in another country, the American media would be up in arms about the international treatment of one of our countrymen. Yet, the media isn't sending a clear message to our gov't that Americans won't stand for this. If ICE is going to hold immigrants in custody on immigration issues, there needs to be health care.
Finally, regarding the various things the American taxpayer pays for: The war on terror is costing each and every one of us 300 million Americans $30K each. So, I think we can squeeze in some medical care for ICE inmates.

VH1's "I Love Money" Episode 6

As much as its embarrassing to admit it, I enjoy a good reality show from time to time. This summer I have been watching VH1's "I love Money" since I am familiar with some of the cast. After this Sunday's episode in which Pumpkin sent Chance home, I was speechless and went to the blogosphere seeking opinions and opportunities to share my own.
I was surprised that most of the blogs I encountered were summaries of the episode with link to You Tube for those that missed it. There were good comments in some of the sections, and even potential spoilers. (Warning: do not read ahead if you don't want the "spoilers" revealed which may or may not be correct.)
Most bloggers weren't sympathetic to Chance and many blasted the remaining cast for not supporting Pumpkin. Many agreed with me, that Chance had not proven himself to be a "strong player" which was a central part of Pumpkin's reasoning for wanting Chance to go. What I couldn't believe was that Pumpkin EVER EVEN considered starting any kind of alliance with Megan, who dissed her boobs on the first day. (Could Pumpkin secretly wish that she was one of the "barbie" girls along with Brandi and Megan?) What does Megan even have to offer anyone in the form of an alliance? It would have made sense for Pumpkin to go to Heather and Entertainer and ask to join their alliance in exchange for sending Chance home, but she didn't do that either. One of the sites I visited claimed that the final 2 turn out to be Heather and Brandi C, yet another site said that Brandi's days are limited after the next episode. While Pumpkin's move may end up seeming smart down the line, for now it seems like a huge mistake. What the future holds for Pumpkin's friendship with Hoopz is currently unknown, but to me having a loyal friend in Hoopz is worth more than anything Megan can offer.

Olympics 2008

This week is the beginning of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Much of the economic activity going on in China over the past 7 years has been focused on preparing to host the 29th Olympic summer games. One morning I spent on the net investigating locations of past summer games. Surprisingly, almost all of them were held in large Western style cities. A few exceptions include the 1968 games in Mexico City, 1980 games in Moscow, and 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea. I wonder what Mexico City was like in 1968? So I guess it was a bit of a change for the International Olympic Committee to pick Beijing for the 2008 games. An article I read on Yahoo!Sports that I can no longer find on the site mentioned that the International Olympic Committee should have taken China's human rights issues and media censorship more seriously before choosing Beijing for the 2008 games. I think this is only one of many issues like this that will come along with the development of the BRIC countries. As they industrialize and modernize, their nations will have the capital to host international events. China is also hosting the 2010 World Expo. At what phase of being "modern" does the West start mandating that human rights issues be worked out? In the case of China, I find it unlikely that the U.S. will make any major human rights mandates anytime soon, given how much of our debt they hold. International Relations courses speak about the "anarchic" international system, in which each nation has their own soverignty on the world stage. At what point does China not even care what the west thinks of their comittment to human rights? Perhaps if China were to say, "This is us and we don't care what you guys think..." wait! Thats what America does when the rest of the world doesn't like our policies.
Not that I think this topic is the most important one going, but this is something I think should be being discussed in the mainstream media. Due to jobs being cut in traditional newspaper settings and cable news dominated heavily by genera specific shows, it seems so much goes on nowadays that the media fails to really talk about. This topic is one. Seven years after Beijing was chosen to host the games, it seems human rights issues have gotten worse since then, not better. And what has the west done in response? Basically nothing.