Allow me to hit you at your head first...

My American readers,

Your country is not the greatest country anymore.


The only three things which USA is number one are:
1. number of people in the prisons (per capita),
2. number of adults who believe in a god (by percentage in developed countires), and
3. largest military budget - more than the next 26 combined.

The world is becoming more unequal, unstable and unsustainable. (That's from Bill Clinton)


UK was number one many years ago. She was called the Empire of Never Setting Sun. But she learnt not to be number one and her people is going on fine. As Clinton says so powerfully, we are all on the same boat. We all live on this planet and there is no second planet that we can go to if we mess this one up.

Let me drive this home with this:

New Orleans, New Education System

New York Times reported a slight increase in the state promotional exam (12%) despite the still under-performance as a whole (60 percent of high school students got an unsatisfactory ranking in standardized English and math tests, a figure three to four times higher than the percentage throughout Louisiana).

What happened was that after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the destruction

had offered, in a state official’s words, a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reinvent public education.” In due course, that opportunity was taken:...Stripped of most of its domain and financing, the Orleans Parish School Board fired all 7,500 of its teachers and support staff, effectively breaking the teachers’ union. And the Bush administration stepped in with millions of dollars for the expansion of charter schools—publicly financed but independently run schools that answer to their own boards. The result was the fastest makeover of an urban school system in American history.

If that millions of dollars were put into the old system, would it produce the same "improvement"?

Same Issue, different viewpoints

Shanghaiist has posted an interesting article: Made in China: Australia's Channel 7 vs. Al-Jazeera. Two youtube videos side by side, one by Australia's Channel 7 and other by Al-Jazeera.

Australia's Channel 7:


Al-Jazeera


I learn at least the following after viewing both videos.

1. While the Australian are complaining about the quality of products made in China, we must remember that it is the business that have created the issue in the first place. The workers who painted the toy with lead-based paint are at greater risk than the children who may play with the toy. If we are to lay blame, we should catch those who profiteering.

2. China has 1/4 of the world population. The sweatshop is not limited to those within the geographical borders.

3. Extending the issue, China is only one of the developing countries. As she progresses, she will definitely move out of the "sweatshop" era. However, there are many more under-developed countries. Would we, in the affluent countries, help these people?

Watch this as well:


and one of comment said it well:

Therefore, please, kids, China is not the point here. The point is Wal Mart, Capitalism, Globalization.
It is just happened that Wal Mart has found china to be the most cost effective place to produce its products at this moment. Tomorrow there will be other place, such as India or South Africa, even more cost-effective tha China.

Zeitgeist - The Movie

I wanted to label this post as fun, but I just canNOT. If what is described in the movie is true, this is a REALLY serious situation. From the website:

That being said, it is my hope that people will not take what is said
in the film as the truth, but find out for themselves, for truth is not told, it is realized.

The movie is about 2 hours long. But you can watch them in parts.

Part 1: Why was Jesus born on 25th December by a virgin Mary and crucified, resurrected after 3 days?

Part 2: Why did the World Trade Centers collapse in a free fall when only the top floors were burning?

Part 3: Why did USA go into war on terror?