Obama Assails Iran for Violent Response to Protests

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/us/politics/24webobama.html?hp

I read the article in the the New York Times website. Basically, the news article talks about the press conference at the White House. In the first hew paragraphs, Obama talks about Iran and what has been happening there. But during his speech, Obama used an unusually fierce tone in his voice. He talks about how he's outraged by false accusations of America condemning some demonstrations that left the rest of the world "appalled and outraged". Yet, he deplores that the violence has killed some protester including a young woman with her death caught on footage and was shown all across the world.

He then starts to talk about health care. He explains that it's not a "luxury" but a "necessity". Then, he starts to explain how he was once a smoker. He tells the press how he smoked from time to time but never everyday or in front of his family. The article then continues to tell about the reporters and how they crowded outside the room.

At first, I was quite surprised on how fierce he was talking, considering how he always goes for peace. But I realize how a president must always take action and be assertive. He may become a good president once he does something to restore the economy and give jobs back to the Americans suffering instead talking about himself and "preaching" to us Americans. But still, this is only my opinion.

"Battered economy won't stop July 4 fireworks"

This article I read states that more people will celebrate the 4th of July more than last year despite the economy. About 5 million more people will celebrate than last year. It is unknown for the reason behind this, though. Although, the celebrators may be more cautious on the costs due to the oil price spike.

The article didn't state much but it had me thinking of how we should celebrate. I keep thinking of how we should set up some small fireworks in the street and watch them light up. I remember how it was when I did it with my friends. Now I want to share this experience with my family. Now I just need to have Bo^/ agree with it and the rest of the family and where to set it up during the party and also hope for a cool, clear evening.

"Under the Blood Red Sun"

I was reading some chapters within the book "Under the Blood Red Sun" where Tomi and his friend Billy went with Tomi's father to go fishing. Although, their fishing wasn't casual like a fishing trip. Their fishing was all for work. Tomi's father and his co-worker, Sanji, were fishermen on their small boat. Nearly everyday they would rack in dozens of fish and then sell them for profit.

During these chapters, Tomi basically described the trip with the smells, the sounds, and the pain as they strained to pull in the large yellowfins. In the end, his friend Billy finally pulled in a hundred-fifty pound yellowfin.

Although, the end of the chapters foreshadowed something saying, "that was before the spying". My inference is that all of the people in Hawaii are starting to doubt the Japanese origin people due to the recent Pearl harbor. Although, it's not up to me to determine what the book is going to bring, but it's the writer. I only thought of that idea because the book was based off the events that happened after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. People started to become paranoid and patriotic to an extreme point of murder. All of this is history.

Autistic people better at problem solving than non-autistics: Research

I read an article online about an experiment conducted by Soulieres, a psychologist. Basically, he conducted a test that tested the subject's hypothesis-testing, problem solving and learning skills. This test is called Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. The subject had to complete the pattern which regarded shapes and colors.
The results showed that the people with autism responded faster than those who did not have autism. Soulieres, the person who conducted the experiment, believed that the children with autism pays more attention to physical details.

"We showed that people with autism can achieve much more than they're given the chance to," she said. "We have to work with them instead of simplifying everything for them."

This article, I believe, has shown how people with autism are not those to be looked down but instead looked to those who can contribute to society in ways we can't. Then I remember Huan and remind myself how he sees things that no one else does.

The Wave

The Wave is a book by Todd Strasser. It was about a teacher who wanted to teach his students how the Germans were ignorant towards their actions in WWII. Therefore, he started an experiment with his students and the Wave organization. The Wave organization started out in his classroom and the students had uniformed procedures to answer questions and acting within class. They answered with "Mr Ross" before every answer and question and they had to stand beside their desk. It became so successful because this procedure took so little time to go through their lessons. It somehow motivated them to become better in an organized group. The Wave soon spread throughout the school and used for so many other things other than within the classroom like at the football field. But, the school started to force others to join. They resorted to violence and isolation in order to recruit students. It evolved from a class experiment to a school wide fad. On the brink of when it was to spread to the public, Mr Ross showed the students how they were acting. They were acting as if the Nazis did. They recruited as much as possible and hurt those who didn't. By doing so, the students were appalled by their behaviors and wanted to never repeat this.
I thought this was a very interesting book. It shows how the human can't think other humans can possibly do that sort of harm. Humans turn a blind eye towards themselves and hold themselves in a higher position than they truly are. Yet, there are some humans who see this truth and want to enlighten others, such as Todd Strasser.

Journal Entry May 5, 2009

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."
-Anne Frank

What is truly evil? I believe evil is all in the mind. Evil is but an option that not everybody shares. For example, Hitler was hated by everybody. He is believed to be evil but not everybody agrees. People in Germany think he was a "hero". Even the US thought so, too. He rescued Germany from depression. I''m nut saying how Hitler is good but evil is an opinion. Even the 9/11 hijackers. They were "evil" in some opinions but others may look upon them and see that they were nationalists. They've killed hundreds but only for what they believed in. or some they were heroes willing to make the biggest sacrifice. Again, I'm not saying they're good, in fact they're "evil" in my opinion but evil is all in the mind.
So if a bully is picking on you or you're fighting with someone, look into their point of view and see what they are fighting for or against. They may have a goal worth fighting for.

Never Again...

I wanted to help this family. I wanted with all my heart. I wanted to stop everyone from fighting. All the time. All the time Bo^/ yells at Ba?o. All of the time. Every time I see this, it tears my heart. I see them yell at each other. Ba?o tries acting so dramatic all of the time. He uses his emotions to shield himself while it ends up as his Achilles' Heel.

Well, I tried my best. I tried to keep the happy face for this family. I tried to stop them...but instead, I was a reason to fight. My positive example led as a goal they ignored and forgotten. So I concede. I accept that never again will this family be happy. Never again will we stop fighting with each other. Never again will we stop blaming each other. Never again...

A New Leader

Today, everyone watched a new leader take his place. Today, everyone watched him take his place in office. Today, everyone watched him give the speech. A speech that is the signature saying "I'm ready. I'm the new president."

Today, I watched the entire country travel to one city. To watch him. To be inspired by him. They all watched to watch a new era begin. They all came to know whether this era is to be change for the better or the worse. All we can do now is watch the answer come to us.

Kite Flying

Today I found out that not only do I long for a day to fly my kite but so does Bo^/. Maybe during the Spring time we can fly but summer is a definite choice. Anytime during these seasons I'll be watching for a windy, warm day. A day to finally fly.

Until then, maybe Bo^/ and I can build some kites to be ready for the right day. together we can build our own kite...the perfect kite.







I know it's short...

La Chevre

This movie I watched in French II was both funny and had a good story.

Ten years ago the daughter, Maire Bens, of a high corporate french man, Monsieur Bens, had terrible luck. Not all at once but through out her entire life she was unlucky. When she arrived in Mexico, two people snatched her purse and knocked her down. When she was knocked down, she hit her head and lost her memory. A man drove by, a criminal, took her in and on a plane ride to Costa Rica.

Ten years later, still trying to search for her, Monsieur Compana had no luck finding her. One day M. Bens advisory had an idea he offered the idea of having an equally unlucky person go on the case. The unlucky man was M. Purrin. All of his life he was also unlucky. When he was young, he almost died to a wasp sting, accidentaly burned his parent's house down, and many many more. Although, M. Purrin was appointed to be in charge on this investigation. M. Bens advisory's theory was that if the girl had been unlucky, then she would have led a path of unluckiness that M. Purrin would repeat. Once at the airport M. Purrin bumps into the automatic doors which didn't open for him. The infermery said that it never done that before. Due to being in the infermery, they miss their flight to Mexico so they take a transfer flight from Costa Rica to Mexico.

On the plane, M. Purrin keeps on saying how every time he's been on a plane, there's some sort of trouble that occurs like some engine trouble or that the flaps didn't open on time. Luckily, this time they did. When landing in Costa Rica, M. Purrin bumped himself on the automatic doors again which the authorities said happened to a girl some time ago, Marie Bens. Instead of going to Mexico, they stay at Costa Rica to find some clues. After being at a dead end M. Purrin gets robbed of $5000 which M. Compana has to help get back they find the robber at a poker club where they find Marie Bens kidnapper also. They interrogate him and find out that she's been nothing but trouble to him so he gave to another man at the poker club.

Once he finishes, a group of shooters shoots the kidnapper and the police thinks that M. Compana and Purrin killed him. Once let out of jail, they find out that Marie was sent on a plane to a rainforest island off of Costa Rica which crashed. Nobody knows where she is or if she's alive. The advisor has an idea to put M. Purrin on a plane and circle the island for it to crash where Marie may be close by. While on the plane, M. Purrin gets stung by a wasp and starts bloating up. Once at the hospital, they find a man who was tramatized after a girl, Marie, set his village on fire. They set off to where his village was and find the remains. No clues. Once they set off again, M. Purrin gets taken by a gorilla but then the vine it swings on breaks and then runs off. Monsieur Purrin and Compana then set off. While travleing, M. Purrin gets hurt and they went to find a nearby hospital. At the hospital, they find someone else there...Marie Bens.

The End

When My Name Was Keoko

I read this book some time ago and I wanted to share some of it with whoever reads my posts. It's called "When My Name Was Keoko". It's about sister and her brother named Sun-hee and Tae-yul. They are a Korean family living during the time when Japan took over Korea and many other Asian nations. It starts with Japan banning the Korean language and having Japanese being the official language of Korea. The two live through life having the Japanese being dominant people over the Koreans. Their father is the vice-principal and a Japanese man is the Principal. Every leader in a business or occupation is Japanese. Even the Korean runner has to represent Japan in the Olympics even though he's born in Korea, raised in Korea and lives in Korea.

As life goes on for them, the Japanese changes every name from Korean to Japanese. Sun-hee changes her name to Keoko and Tae-yul changes his name to Nobuo. Still, the name seems so distant to them. It is a name, but never imagined as their names.

Later on, they find out that their dear Uncle is part of the underground resistance against the Japanese. Sun-hee's friend, Tomo, tries to tell her a message that metal is about to be collected from all of the homes. Sun-hee fails in getting the message and instead she tells her Uncle that they are going to find him and then he goes into hiding. Now that a resident is missing, an investigation is set out to find out what happened to him. Japanese search the family for some time and keep a watchful eye on them.

Afterward, several rules and changes happen to Korea. The schooling changes from studying to drills and bayonet practicing. All of the men are recruited to making an air strip outside the city. All of these materials are taken solely for the army of Japan. Food. Metal. Wood. everything is taken from them. Even the national tree of Korea is to be chopped and burned and replaced with Cherry Blossoms, national tree of Japan.

After some time, life becomes so harsh that the son, Tae-yul signs up for the army. He's tired of living a terrible life and food will be sent to this family so he wants to make life better for everyone. As he's in training, he signs up for something just because the Japanese don't think the Koreans are brave enough for the job. It turns out what he signed up for was to be a kamikaze pilot or a suicide pilot.

Back at home, Sun-hee sees many of the girls at her school be taken to Japan to work in factories. Despite that, life is overall better for her as food comes in and clothing gets shipped to her family...except for that she's doesn't have her brother or uncle with her.

During the day of Tae-yul's mission, they set off to attack the American ships. But as they set off, the leader of the mission calls it off due to the weather. Lucky break for them! But due to not accomplishing their mission, they get thrown into jail.

Back at home, Sun-hee and her parents recieve a letter saying that Tae-yul set off on his mission. They don't know about what happened yet, only that he died.

One day, while Tae-yul is in jail, he gets word that the war is over. He sets off to go home. While he's coming, back in Korea life changes back to the way it was before Japan came in. The Korean trees can be planted, Japanese leave to go back to Japan, and Korean can be spoken again. And american rations are given to everyone. Finally, they see Tae-yul come home.

As peace comes back to Korea, the story ends with Sun-hee and Tae-yul both finally learning how to write in Korean.

It's a great story if not explainable in the way I typed it. Better read in a book than on a computor.

Anger, DIscomfort...A Broken Bond

Every time Ba?o and Bo^/ fight, it scares everyone. When Bo and Me. fight, every one's scared. When all three of them fight at the same time...it's too much for words. Me. was screaming at Ba?o saying he was stupid, Bo^/ has a stern voice, and Ba?o was acting really hostile about the whole thing. I know how everybody must be feeling right now. Anger. Rage. Maybe even hatred. Only Hua^n and I don't feel this. I feel the discomfort and slight sadness. I only wish for my family to stop fighting like this. Every week this happens. Another fight. The same reason over and over again. And I'm afraid to stop them from going at it again and again. When I ask them, they blame each other for these fights. The way I see it, mostly themselves they have to blame. Bo^/ feels anger right after something happens to him that's bad and then carries it over to the next thing that happens badly. Ba?o feels hostile during the fights and sadly he doesn't learn. And Me. overreacts to the situation and starts shouting at the first moment of disagreement. I believe we can never find peace in this household ever again... Can we?

Looking Back

Usually at the end of long and nice vacations, it pains me to know that school is coming. Before I go to school, I'd like a look back at the vacation and see if I actually can call it relaxing.

I remember I made a small paper dragon sculpture. It was relaxing, enjoyable, and it helped me keep my imagination running. I only colored part of it but it left place for me to keep improving, then.

I know that I played a lot, too. I made a large amount of progress in my Animal Crossing game. I only could not play for about some time due to being so busy or not choosing to. Well, at least I'm now and am ready for some school assignments.

The trip to New Jersey was nice. It was extremely expensive, though. I hope that it was worth the cost for everyone. Although I believe that Mai Anh should have eaten more the first time we ate at the buffet. She only ate two slices of pizza. Not worth $15.

I also memorized the states and capitals of the U.S. and the territories and Provinces of Canada. After the harsh studying, I believe I will get an "A" on that test on Friday.

Much more has happened during the vacation so looking back wouldn't be so hard now that I got some out. Spring Break will be fun, too.

Books For Bao

I hate to see Bao struggle to read like this. I see him push himself to read books that others like instead of books that he may like. I'd like to suggest some books I've read in the past the he may like.

During a summer, I read a book called "Small Steps". It's a sequal to the book "Holes" which Bao has read before. It's about a boy who had some trouble when he lost his temper at a movie theater and got locked up. Now he's out and free and it's about his life afterwards. He's doesn't know what to do with his life and a friend of his drags him into one of his get rich quick schemes and then all of these events happen to him. It's a great story with a great moral. To see what happens go read.

Another one to recommend is sort of a going series called the "Five Ancestors". It's about a Cangzen Shaolin Temple attacked by a former student and five of the students escape. The five children who are masters at five different styles of kung-fu, depending on their nature in comparison to animals. For example, the first book is about Fu, an impatient child who is always loosing his temper and always wants to fight. He resembles the Tiger, which Fu means in Cangzen chinese. The five children set off on different journeys in search of their past. The series is full of plot twists. And it doesn't even stop at the five children but it goes beyond them to others in the story.

I remember reading a bunch of books by the author Linda Sue Park. She writes many books based on the Korean history. One of my favorite books that she wrote was The Kite Fighters. It's about two brothers who have great interests in kites. The younger brother is great in flying the kites with great technique and the older brother can't fly well, but gifted in making them. Soon a kite festival is held and their father asks the older brother to represent the king's kite in a competition even though the younger brother was much more skilled in flying one and was even asked to by the king. Despite this, it is a tradition to have the eldest son carry a family name. The story tells a fantastic story of loyalty between brothers. It reminds me of Bao and myself.

I hope one of these books can help Bao find the right kind for him.

New Year's Day!!!

Today is New Years! I have only 2 resolutions this year. Not much but hard to do. The first one is to get all "A"s on my report card with an exception of 2 "B"s. No more than that. It may be hard to do in English. English is hard for many people in my class. The second one would be much harder to do and I don't know if I can do it but it's to help Bo and Bao to stop fighting. When they fight, not only those two but everyone inside the house is scared and upset. I'll try my best to stop them from getting into an argument without getting myself dragged into it.