My Thoughts On Japan

I have been watching the news coverage of the events which happened a week ago last Friday and also the events which have happened since then. I am addicted to watching the video footage that was shot by average people as the tsunami was coming in. There is not a word in the dictionary which can describe my sadness for the people of Japan and the people who have been in the region and or affected by what happened there on that fateful day.

Unless you have been living under a rock and don’t know what happened in Japan, I will tell you.

On the March 11 an 8.9-9.0 magnitude earthquake struck 50 or so miles off of the north eastern coast of Japan. The quake was so powerful that it made buildings in Tokyo 150 miles away shake and sway violently.

About 10-30 minutes after the earth quake, a massive tsunami wave washed out everything (well pretty much everything) along the coast of Japan closest to the quake. If you have not seen any footage of the wave that came in, it destroyed everything in its path. Look at the picture below. Yes that is a two story ferry boat sitting on top of a two story building.

If an earthquake and a tsunami were not bad enough, as a result of those two things the power and backup systems went out a nuclear power plant there. And as a result of the loss of power there have been multiple explosions there and there is a possibility of a large release of radiation as a result if they cannot get power restored to the plant and soon.

As if the first three things to happen were not bad enough, it was freezing cold there. It was literally snowing in some of the footage of the tsunami that I saw. Imagine losing your home, your town, your family, having no food or water, and you are freezing cold.

I have been praying for these people daily since the disaster struck them. The amount of damage, destruction, and death is just too hard to imagine.

And while watching the events unfold I have some thoughts about the tragedy, some of which you may or may not agree with me on.

Some positive thoughts:

An earth quake, a tsunami, a near nuclear meltdown, and snow all in one day. And you do not see any of the Japanese people looting, stealing televisions, or getting mad at the lack of help. If you ask me I think that this fact alone speaks volumes about the Japanese people and who they really are. I think the people of New Orleans should be forced to study this disaster and the people of Japan. I am sure that they could learn something from this disaster and how the people of Japan have behaved during this tragedy.

I think this disaster shows how prepared the Japanese people are for earth quakes and tsunamis. The buildings there in Tokyo are still standing and only had minimal damage. The nuclear power plant in question was not built to withstand a 9.0 earthquake and the mere fact that it was still standing after the quake speaks volumes about Japanese engineering. The tsunami warning system was activated within minutes of the earth quake. Can you imagine how many more people would have died had they not been prepared for it and had a tsunami warning system?

In one city I heard reports of the power being out as soon as the quake hit causing wide spread power outages. So the local fire department went out in their trucks alerting the people themselves of the tsunami since the power cut off the warning system.

Some negative thoughts:

After seeing footage of the nuclear power plant in trouble I want to know who the hell puts a power plant right next to the ocean in a tsunami prone region. But then I watched some more news coverage and noticed that someone else had asked the same question and showed a nuclear power plant in southern California right next to the ocean.

Who does the planning for CNN’s commercials? They seriously lack compassion. The show live pictures and videos of the tsunami followed by commercial for Sandals resorts all over the Caribbean. Yes I actually saw that one during a commercial break. Here take your mind off of the tsunami; here are some images of the beautiful undamaged beaches in Jamaica. Give me a damn break.

The blood is not even dry on the concrete in Japan and the media and environmentalists are all over the tube screaming at how unsafe nuclear power is. And the event there at the power plants is not resolved yet, and the investigation has not even begun. And actually nuclear power is one of the safest and cleanest forms of energy.

I actually heard one idiot commentator on CNN suggest that global warming was to blame for the earth quake. Are you FUCKING SERIOUS? Plate tectonics has been going on longer than man has been burning fossil fuels. Plate tectonics have been going on longer than mankind has been on earth. Plate tectonics has been going on since before plant and animal matter even formed the fossil fuels we currently use. In fact plate tectonics have been going on longer than there has been ANY LIFE on earth. And yet this fucktard in the media thinks global warming is to blame.

Where the hell are Bush and Clinton at and why are they not on every damn tv station trying to raise money to help the victims? Oh that is right Japan is a “well off” nation unlike the victim nations of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Fuck that, regardless of how wealthy Japan is or isn’t they have undergone a very destructive tragedy and NEED HELP as well.

I think there should be resources available (ie water, food, clothing, medicine) stock piled somewhere (in multiple countries) which could be deployed in one hours time with wheels up on the plane to aid ANY nation which undergoes a tragedy like this one. Regardless of whether or not they are a friendly nation or not as I would help my neighbor if there house was on fire even though I don’t care too much for them.

I honestly do not think that our country is as prepared for a disaster of this magnitude.

Why the hell has our country (ie the President) not done more to get help there? Why the hell has the rest of the world not done more to help Japan? Maybe the world is trying and our wonderful “media” just is not reporting it. But I would think if the whole world is trying to help out, that someone out there would be reporting it.

Well those are my thoughts on some of what has happened in the last few weeks.

If you can afford to, please donate to the American Red Cross to help out some of the victims of this tragedy. And if you can’t afford to donate to them or another worthy group, please pray for these people.

Bob Nails It

If you did not know it, over the weekend another nut job went on a shooting rampage and killed roughly 6 people (including a 10 year old girl who was born on 9-11-01) and wounded around 12 more (including a Congress Woman from Arizona). When I heard about this shooting my heart sank for the family and friends of the deceased and the wounded people who were shot by this jackass. I am tired of hearing about senseless murder and crime in general. Why couldn’t his jackass just gone in his back yard and taken his own life instead of doing what he had done. He has gone and destroyed so many lives in just mere seconds and now he is going to be in jail for life getting free room and board, 3 square meals a day, cable tv, access to a library, and you and me have to foot the bill. I sure hope he gets the death penalty for what he has done in ruining so many lives.

In addition to the sadness and anger I felt over the shooting, I got even more pissed off when I saw the news reporting on this tragedy. If you have read my post about the lame stream media, then you know what I am about to say. If you have not read it yet, then please do so, so you can understand what I am talking about. You see the news media outlets did not even bother to get any facts together about this case. Nope. Not one of them. They all started to say the shooter did this because of the political rhetoric in the country the last few years. The left (CSB, MSNBC, ABC, CNN, my local paper even) was saying the shooter was a right wing Sarah Palin loving nut job. The right (Fox News) was saying he was a pot smoking liberal. Hey media, how about getting the facts before you declaring judgment? You know how about digging into this guy’s past, find out how he got the gun in the first place; try to find out why he did it. You know find out something for fucks sake. The blood on the concrete was not even dry before judgment was passed by both sides on why he did what he did and it makes me fucking sick. Shame on you the media for doing this, SHAME ON YOU.

Blaming anyone (or anything) other the shooter for what was done, is ridiculous. It would like blaming video games and McDonalds for why your kid is fat and failing in all his/her classes at school, when it is really the parents fault for not getting the kid off of the couch and shoving shitty food down his/her throat. Put the blame where the blame is.

Anyways, this guy here that I follow on Facebook often posts some pretty funny rants on youtube. And the one he did on this very subject was spot on. You can see his Facebook page by going here.

I agree with him.





Edited to add: If you remember when the Fort Hood shooter went off killing people, the media said we shouldn't rush to judge the guy as a terrorist simply because he was a muslim. Yet in this case the very same media who said we shouldn't rush to judgment with Fort Hood shooter, went off and rushed to say that this sick guy was a tea party member/Republican/Conservative just because he was an mentally disturbed angry white man. Do you see the hypocrisy?

Edited to add again: The Washington Post had an article which complained about rhetoric of people like Glen Beck and Sarah Palin. And then posted this picture right here. By doing this cartoon isn't the Washington Post doing the same damn thing that they are complaining about the right doing? I think they are. I hate fucking politics. Nothing has brain washed more people in history than politics, schools, and religion.

Lame-stream Media – Fair and Unbalanced?

Something has happened over my lifetime that has me a little pissed off. And that something is how the main stream media has become very overly biased in how and what they report in the news. I am not talking about Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow, Keith Oberman, or Chris Mathews as those are opinion based shows. I am talking here about the regular national news of CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, local and national newspapers, etc.

So you ask well how are they biased, well it is not just that they provide a left (CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, newspapers) or right (Fox) leaning slant to the news that they report. It is that with some things that they do not even report about it. So if there is no news on a particular subject, than the masses do not know about it, and therefore it is not news. Sometimes they will report a news story and not do any effort in fact checking (does anyone remember how to do this) in the story. And in some other cases they report flat out lies or distort the news to further their (and their political aligned agenda’s) cause. And the sad thing is that none of the news outlets today even attempt to hide their bullshit agenda’s anymore. So let’s take a look at some examples so you can see what I am talking about.

Remember when President Obama was running for office in 2008 and it came out (well if you managed to hear about it) that the preacher at his church was spewing out hatred of white people and that they were to blame for all of America’s and black people’s problems? I heard about it barely when it came out but only because I read about it online. The main stream media buried the story because Obama was a Democrat and well the media was acting as a lapdog, and they wanted him elected to office. Now imagine the year is 2000 and George Bush is running for president and it comes out that he attended an East Texas church where the preacher is spewing KKK like hatred for black people. Do you think the main stream media would have reported it? You bet your ass they would have and you would still be hearing about it today.

Another fine example of great reporting was when a few years ago there was a rally in Arizona where there were people protesting Obama and some of them were carrying weapons (which is allowed in Arizona fyi). Well the mainstream media found and took a picture of a man in a white dress shirt that had an assault rifle over his shoulder. The media then went on to describe the people in the crowd as angry, racist, white gun nuts. And when they showed the picture of the man, they only showed the man from the neck down. The media then went on to discuss racism and race relations for months afterwards. If the main stream media would have showed the whole picture instead of a cropped picture, you would have seen that this man was a black man and not some racist angry white man.

Do you remember the 24/7 coverage of Cindy Shennan (spelling?) and the anti-war moms who were protesting all the time? The main stream media reported on them non-stop from the time the Iraq war started until George Bush left office. Then when Obama was sworn in the protests stopped. Or the media stopped reporting about it. Did the protestors magically disappear when Bush left office? No they did not. Yet any day of the week you can find someone protesting in front of the White House against the two wars we are involved in right now.

Did you hear about the three Black Panthers who in 2008 were in Philly intimidating voters as they went into the polls to vote on Election Day? No you sure didn’t. The Justice Department brought charges against them and then earlier this year dropped the charges against them. And you still did not hear much about it from the media. Now if this had been three white guys intimidating voters, brought up on charges, and then had the charges dropped under say George Bush’s administration, you would never hear the end of it would you? But because the media is left leaning and so is the current administration and this story has been buried and not reported on.

Even my local newspaper has become liberal left leaning in their reporting. I have been reading this news paper daily for over 20 years at lunch time and I have noticed a change. Whenever a criminal was on the run and wanted by the law, they would give a full description of the person which included their race, height, weight, hair color, etc. And sometime over the last ten or so years they changed the way they report on these wanted people. Just two days ago there was story about a man wanted for a bank robbery and the only description which was listed was the guy’s height, and weight. Do you know how many people fit that damn description of being 6’1” and 200 pounds? That is half of Houston. And just two weeks earlier the paper listed another wanted individual as being a white man in his 20’s, 6’1”, and 200 pounds. The paper only lists a person’s race if they are white. Now if you can’t list the race of someone who is wanted for a murder or serious crime, how the fuck do you expect the public to help in the capture of said criminal?

Remember the Fort Hood shooter and how he yelled out Alah Akbar before killing the people? Did the media call him a terrorist, no you did not. Do you remember during the healthcare debate that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were on national tv and said if you are against health care reform you are a racist because it affects black people and a black president is pushing the bill. Since when did race have jack shit to do with supporting or opposing a piece of legislation? Remember how the media suggested that the guy who left the car bomb in Times Square was a white tea party member? And it turned out to be a Muslim terrorist.

Now keep in mind that I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, I am an independent voter. I have been all my life and will be until the day that I die. I just want to see the news reported fairly and without any bias. Which is why I love the sports page of my local newspaper so much, and that is because you can’t bullshit the stats. There is no spin on the stats. It is what it is.

I guess the short version of what I am trying to say is that you should get your news from multiple sources and not from just one source in order to get through the bullshit that is out there today, more so during the election season we are in. And with most of America only getting its news from the main stream media, it is easy to see why people constantly vote for idiots.