Images and Sounds Part II

The Xi'an City Wall...

Check it out -



Peace.

The "A-Bomb" ... Abortion (Again) ...

If I had to describe my position, I would call it, "in the middle with pro-choice tendencies."

However, instead of teasing out the rhetoric of the dichotomous nature between the pro-life and pro-choice camp, why not look at a related issue that is central to the entire debate - Womens rights. Hell, let's take it even further, lets compare two distinct cultures, their stance on abortion and their shared goal of securing and maintaining a woman's right to make choices which govern her body and person...



Peace.

Chinese Cheap Labor (cont.)

70% of the world's umbrellas are made in China.

60% of the world's buttons are made in China.

72% of U.S. shoes are made in China.

50% of U.S. kitchen supplies are made in China.

85% of U.S. artificial Christmas trees are made in China.

80% of U.S. toys are made in China.

9% of Chinese goods sent to the U.S. end up on Wal-mart's shelves.

100% of the unsafe toys recalled in the U.S. in 1007, including Thomas the Tank Engine, were made in China.

6 = The number of months it would take for a Chinese factory worker to earn the cost of a Thomas the Tank Engine train set.

*Statistics courtesy of National Geographic



Peace.

Images and Sounds

Chinese Cheap Labor

"Images and Sounds" is a video project I have been planning for some time now. It's 1/2 education and 1/2 "easy-out." By education, I mean the transmission of pictures that allow people to draw the own conclusions by what their eyes feed them and how their brain decides to react to the said images and accompanying sounds. By "easy-out," I sometimes fall behind in my video-making projects. Creating the "Images and Sounds" project allows for me to present material in a medium that allow viewers conclusion with a lesser degree of my subjectivity (and yes, to be entirely objective is nonsense and far from possible) - I take and/or arrange the photos, pick the audio tracks, etc. this of course influences the message of the material whatever it may be. This still doesn't answer the "easy-out" description so easily. These "Images and Sounds" vids also serve as something of a teaser/trailer for more documentary style vids (which take considerably more time to make); there you go.

Images and Sounds - Chinese Cheap Labor

The titles tells you all about just what it is you'll be seeing in this vid (WARNING: Some of the images may be graphic for some viewers). Stay tuned for an upcoming docu-vid on this particular topic.

Peace.

Zhongqiu Jie Kuaile

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival Day!!!

Actually it's a little late, some two weeks late (It was celebrated on October 3rd this year). But you know what, it's the thought that counts.

I was introduced the this festival one year ago - as it was my first time for being in China during the event. My wife, being Chinese and all, described both the folklore and contemporary cultural practices that accompany this holiday:

- Big meal
- Sharing and eating mooncakes
- Watching the harvest-moon at night

The above mentioned activities are something of a standard for the celebration of the holiday. However, differing locations might have some variation or "extras" as I like to call them.

One year ago, during the last mid-Autumn Festival, my wife and I went out to eat a huge dinner with some friends at one the best 烧烤 (shāo​kǎo​, or BBQ) places in Guangzhou. My wife and I thought we were finished with the festivities upon completion of the dinner and thought we would take a stroll through 花果山公园 (Hua Guo Shan Gongyuan, or Flower Fruit Mountain Park). When we got up to leave, our friends stopped us stating that we had to send the wish lantern on its way. A wish lantern? What's a wish lantern? What's all of this?

Check it out -



Peace.

Hu Jia (Continued)

A lot of people asked if I had any more clips from Hu Jia's video diary...

The good news is that I've got a little more than 30 minutes worth -









Video Descriptions:

I am posting this miniseries in response to requests by people who caught a vid of mine ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tyWOU... ) featuring a small clip from Hu Jia's video diaries that he made while under house arrest in the People's Republic of China. This series will be broken into four parts encompassing roughly 30 minutes worth of Hu Jia's recovered video diaries (links for the series will be provided in the sidebar below).

Hu Jia (Chinese: 胡佳; pinyin: Hú Jiā; original name 胡嘉, Hú Jiā; born July 25, 1973, in Beijing) is an activist and dissident in the People's Republic of China. His work has focused on the Chinese democracy movement, Chinese environmentalist movement, and HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China. Hu is the director of June Fourth Heritage & Culture Association, and he has been involved with AIDS advocacy as the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and as one of the founders of the non-governmental organization Loving Source. He has also been involved in work to protect the endangered Tibetan antelope. For his activism, Hu has received awards from several European bodies, such as the Paris City Council and the European Parliament, which awarded its Human Rights prize to him in December 2008.
On December 27, 2007, Hu was detained as part of a crackdown on dissents during the Christmas holiday season. Reporters Without Borders said that The political police have taken advantage of the international communitys focus on Pakistan to arrest one of the foremost representatives of the peaceful struggle for free expression in China. The decision to take him into custody was made after peasant leaders in several Chinese provinces issued a manifesto demanding broader land rights for peasants whose property had been confiscated for development. On April 3 2008, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail. Hu pleaded not guilty on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" at his trial in March 2008.

If you do the Twitter thing and want to keep up with Hu Jia, his username is - freehujia.

***Copyright disclaimer--"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."***

Peace.

Hu Jia

Here's who Obama beat for the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope I can maintain my promise in this being the last "go-off" on Obama vid.



Obama won an award for doing nothing based on political trands and agendas - consider what these five fools from Norway did as a European nod of approval for the person (which could have been damn near any person) that replaces the tyrant remembered as George W. Bush. But I believe there to be a much deeper political cause for this unexpected choice in award and the undeserving individual it went to. This "cause" I speak of is the Communist Chinese Party's agenda (I em placing an emphasis on the CCP because it is entirely party driven in China, not people driven). One of the individuals, or forerunner from what I gathered, up for the Nobel Peace Prize was a Chinese citizen by the name of Hu Jia, a Chinese activist of years now imprisoned by the Chinese government for "subverting state power." China is become a global player, in term of politics and economics, I have no doubt that they may have displaced some leverage in order to eliminate any attempt by the committee to award Hu Jia. Some might smirk at this mere mention of China using political/economic might to get what it wants, but how else could they get the Olympics. Don't get me wrong, I love China, I love my Chinese brothers and sisters and having married a Chinese, I feel as if in some way, I am part Chinese or at least have glimpsed a little further into China than most "lao wai." These people suffers in ways both seen and unseen - they deserve a fair government and even fairer chance of success in life. I have no doubt that, Nobel or not, change will happen within the People's Republic of China someday - Change is a constancy that is repeated time and again in ancient Chinese texts; change is forever - Hu Jia and his family are the embodiment and enactors of this said change. Our hearts go out to you and your family. Godspeed.

C-15

And no, it's not an explosive.

C-15 is a Canadian Bill now before the parliament that has the potential to be precursory to a Canadian "War on Drugs."

Here's a little bit on America's "drug war" -

Alarming Facts about The War on Drugs

World's Leading Jailer: U.S.

The United States has a larger percentage of its population in prison than any country on Earth. Over 1.7 million human beings languish behind bars. Well over sixty percent of federal prisoners , and a significant fraction of state and local prisoners, are non-violent drug offenders, mostly first time offenders. Due to the War on Drugs, we have become the world's leading jailer. 1 out of 35 Americans is under the control of the Criminal Justice System. If present incarceration rates hold steady, 1 out of 20 Americans, 1 out of 11 men, and 1 out of 4 Black men in this country today can expect to spend some part of their life in prison.

Sources: Bureau ofJustice Statistics, Nation's Probation and Parole Population ReachedAlmost 3.9 Million Last Year, (press release), Washington D.C.: U.S.Department of Justice (1997, August 14).
Bonczar, T.P. & Beck, A.J., Lifetime Likelihood of Going to Stateor Federal Prison, Washington D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics,U.S. Department of Justice (1997, March), p. 1.
Currie, E., Crime and Punishment in America, New York, NY:Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, Inc. (1998), p. 3.

American Apartheid

One out of three young African American (ages 18 to 35) men in the United States are in prison or on some form of supervised release. The drug war is clearly a race war. Our country has more African American men in prison than in college.We call ourselves the Land of the Free, yet we have a four times higher percentage of Black men in prison than South Africa at the height of apartheid, an official national policy of institutionalized racism.

Sources: Substance Abuseand Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Population Estimates 1996, Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1997), p. 19,Table 2D; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1996, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office(1997), p. 382, Table 4.10, and p. 533, Table6.36; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1997), p. 10, Table13.

Prison Orphans

One out of nine school-age children has one or both parents in prison. At the present exponential increase in incarceration, this number will be one out of four alarmingly soon. We are breeding an entire generation of embittered and disenfranchised prison orphans. We are losing an entire generation of young people.

Sources: Califano,Joseph, Behind Bars: Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population,Forward by Joseph Califano. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (1998).

Violent vs. Non-Violent Crimes:
Prison Sentences

The average sentence for a first time, non-violent drug offender is longer than the average sentence for rape, child molestation, bank robbery or manslaughter. As our prisons rapidly fill to bursting, rapists and murderers are being given early release to make room for no parole drug offenders. While law enforcement continues to go after relatively easy drug violation arrests, every major city in this country has a record number of unsolved homicides.

Sources: Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). The Consequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994.

500,000 Deaths from Legal Drugs

Every year, 8,000 to 14,000 people die from illegal drugs in this country. Every year, over 500,000 people die from legal drugs (Tobacco, liquor and prescriptions). This is roughly a fifty to one ratio. Alcohol alone is involved in seven times more violent crimes than all illegal substances combined. Yet our Government continues to hugely subsidize alcohol and tobacco, while demonizing those who would exercise a different choice.

Sources: Califano,Joseph, Behind Bars: Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population, Forward by Joseph Califano. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (1998).

Treatment, Not Punishment

It's been empirically shown that education and treatment is seven times more cost effective than arrest and incarceration for substance addiction, yet we continue to spend more tax dollars on prisons than treatment. In this 'Land of Liberty', we spend more money on prisons than on schools. We are clearly addicted to mass punishment of consensual 'crimes' on a staggering scale. The sheer magnitude of all the human misery generated in our government's war on it's own people is truly terrifying.

Sources: Rydell, C.P.& Everingham, S.S., Controlling Cocaine, Prepared for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the United States Army, SantaMonica, CA: Drug Policy Research Center, RAND (1994).

98% Conviction Rate?

Federal prosecutors reportedly have a 98% conviction rate, and federal appellate courts reject 98% of appeals. The American Bar Association says this number should be closer to 60-70%. Does this mean that over 30% of those jailed are technically or literally innocent? (Do we really trust our government to do anything with 98% efficiency?) The nearly limitless and clearly unconstitutional powers that have been handed to the U.S. Attorneys by Congress is mind blowing in the extreme. The Bill of Rights is rapidly becoming a fond memory.

Sources: TheConsequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report,1994. H.R. 3396, The Citizens Protection Act of1998, sponsored by Rep. Joseph McDade. The NationalAssociation of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). Punch and Jurists: The Cutting Edge Guide to Criminal Law
The American Bar Association (ABA).

Shot or Beheaded?

If Newt Gingrich has his way, you can be given the death penalty for 'trafficking' in two ounces of marijuana. Former 'Drug Czar' William Bennett (author of 'The Book ofVirtues'!) has advocated the public beheading of convicted drug offenders. LA Police Chief Daryl Gates has publicly stated that casual drug users should be taken from the court room and summarily executed. We are rapidly approaching a totalitarian police state, where absolute power flows directly from wealth, and any deviation from the officially mandated status quo can mean incarceration,torture or even death.

Source: H.R. 41: TheDrug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1997, by Rep. Newt Gingrich. Ain't Nobodies Business If You Do, by PeterMcWilliams. (Prelude Press)

Prohibition And Violent Crimes

The prohibition of alcohol in the early part of this century financed the birth of the present day criminal underground. The prohibition of drugs has given incredible power to the inner city street gangs, and put hundreds of millions of dollars into their hands. A generation ago, they fought with knives and brass knuckles. Now they have submachine guns and high explosives. We have turned our cities into war zones.

Source: Drug Crazy, byMike Gray, [Random House, 240 pages, $23.95; Publication date June15, 1998]

Consensual

Because drug crimes are consensual, with no citizens filing charges, the Government has had to get very creative to motivate suspects to testify against each other in trial. Known criminals are routinely paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and offered virtual immunity, luxurious perks, and drastically reduced sentences for their information and testimony. Our prisons are full to bursting with innocent victims. More and more, Federal prosecutors are acquiring almost unlimited powers in the courtroom. They set sentences; they dictate trial protocol; they have turned purchased betrayal of family and friends into a high art form. Judges in Federal trials are fast becoming mere automations.

Sources: TheConsequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report,1994. H.R. 3396, The Citizens Protection Act of1998, sponsored by Rep. Joseph McDade. Ain't Nobodies Business If You Do, by Peter McWilliams. (PreludePress)

(Rich Bargains)
Poor Prison Terms

I have reviewed and studied literally hundreds of cases in preparation for this project, and I keep seeing the same alarming trend. The drug kingpins and professional criminals continually plea-bargain their way to freedom, or leave the country with all their wealth, while the low level offenders and innocent patsies, with no information to trade for leniency, and no resources for an adequate defense, are sentenced to insanely long terms. We are warring on the afflicted and the vulnerable.

Sources: Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). The Consequences of Mandatory Minimums, Federal Judicial Center Report, 1994. H.R. 3396 - Citizens Protection Act of 1998 -A bill to establish standards of conduct for Department of Justice employees, and to establish a review board to monitor compliance with such standards.

Just Say No

In thirty years of The War On Drugs, our government hasn't managed to accomplish even a small reduction in drug dealing and abuse, yet we have spent almost a trillion dollars. That is a huge fraction of the total national debt. All we've done is fill up our prisons at a terrifying rate, and pay homage to meaningless, mean-spirited rhetoric, like Zero Tolerance and Just Say No and Tough on Crime. By current estimates, we need to build a complete new Federal prison every two weeks just to keep up with the demand. At the present exponential rate of incarceration, we will have half of our population in prison within fifty years. Is this how we want to greet the new millennium? We will rip this nation to pieces.

Sources: Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM).

International Drug Trade

It has been estimated that almost 10% of international trade is in profits from illicit substances. Some third world countries count narco-dollars as a significant fraction of their gross national product. While the drug war destroys countless lives among the working and peasant classes, the privileged elite grows wealthy beyond imagining. There is a strong economic incentive to keep the war going ad infinitem. While our elected officials pay lip service to 'a drug free America', the CIA is routinely involved with massive international drug-trafficking to finance its covert operations.

Sources: Associated Press, U.N. Estimates Drug Business Equal to 8 Percent of World Trade, (June1997). The San Jose Mercury Press; DARK ALLIANCE, by Gary Webb. Trade and Environment Database (TED), TED Case Studies: Columbia CocaTrade, Washington D.C.: American University (1997), p. 4.

It Can Happen To You

Don't think for a minute that you and your family are immune, because "we don't do drugs." As the Criminal Justice juggernaut swells out of control, "innocent until proven guilty" has lost all meaning. You can be sucked into the prison-industrial complex on little more than a whim, and spend a lifetime trying to find relief. An evening spent with the wrong crowd; a moment of rebellion or bad judgment, and your sons and daughters will fall victim. It has become insanely easy to prove conspiracy based on mere association and bartered for hearsay. Drugs are everywhere, from the inner city ghettos to the gated estates of the privileged classes. One mistake, one moment of unfortunate coincidence, and your loved ones will be gone, locked up for ten years to life. One day soon, it will happen to you, or your family, or your friends; make no mistake. This madness must stop now

There you go...

Granted, C-15, on paper, is not nearly as draconian as its American counterparts. However, it could pave the way for things to come; Things that threaten the very fabric and stability of a fair and equal society. Here's hoping you don't follow the same costly and painful path we have.

Peace.

Tamim Ansary - Another Perspective

There's been a lot of talk lately as to what's going on in Afghanistan and what yet needs to be done. All I know is that we've been there for nearly 8 years now. The tolls have mounted on both sides and there seems to be no light in sight - the Karzai Government cannot even be considered to be a credible nor legitimate cause right now.

Obama, you've got your Nobel peace prize, now do something other than escalate a war (I'm hoping that the "prize" serves as something of an insurance policy concerning all of Obama's peaceful "promises"). Anyway, was drifting around out there in the wired and stumbled across an article by an Afghan-American writer, Tamim Ansary.

Check it out -

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/06/ansary.afghanistan.solutions/index.html?iref=newssearch

And a vid talking more about this article -



Peace

Geek Week Today #1

Lunar Penetration and Another Ring to Jump Through

Once a week I want to put up a "science update" video, here goes nothing -

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to...

You have got to be kidding me!!!

Ponders... Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa...great people.

And then there was Henry Kissinger, this marked the new standard for nobel - nothing. That also explains Obama's empty win today.

It's a sad today; today is the day we all know now, and in entirety, that the Nobel committee is a sham, a popularity club.

Here's something of an impromptu rant (made just after the "breaking" news came on air), but a rant nonetheless...

Peace.

Take a Stand Against Torture...

Take a Stand for Human Rights...

So a friend of mine has been putting together a little of collaboration of sorts on YouTube. Capitalocracy (www.youtube.com/Capitalocracy) has stood strong and against torture for some time now. I've always felt like I was on the same page with this person on a great many subjects and opinions - hell, in terms of marriage we are much the same; he's enduring the much of the same pains I endured while trying to secure a immigration visa for my wife; his wife is from Argentina (correct me if I am wrong), my wife as you all know, is from China. One of the said subjects we both stand firmly against is torture.

We do no support the U.S.' endorsement and use of torture to secure "information" in hopes of aiding itself in the "War on Terror," or any war for that matter.

Introductory Vid:
YouTube Users Take A Stand Against Torture - STAND WITH US



ImJustAGirl776's (Anita) Response:
Taking a stand against torture.



Capitalocracy's Response:
If the President Tortures, It's Not Illegal - New CIA Torture Info Defines Limits



55ella2007k (Ella) and OnTheEarthProductions' Response:
55ella2007k on Psychological Torture - Prof. Alfred McCoy Highlights - Stand Against Torture Update



My latest Response:
Take a Stand for Human Rights and a Stand Against Torture



You too, can be involved!

The below segment of this blog post was provided via a vid description from Anita's response to Cap O's first collaboration vid (but it sums it all up well):

The issue of torture has disappeared from mainstream media and has been left completely unresolved. I'm taking a stand against torture and you can, too.

If you would like to participate in this project, please contact Alex at:
http://www.youtube.com/Capitalocracy
*also please view the video that I have responded to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw5c7z...

Basically all you need to do to participate is provide Alex with a brief clip of yourself stating that you are taking a stand against torture or taking a stand for human rights. He will be creating a video montage of these clips. Then create a separate video explaining your stance on this issue. Once the montage you are featured in is uploaded at Alex's channel, simply post your explanatory video as a response.

Let's come together within our YouTube niches and take a stand against torture.

"Together we stand, divided we fall..."

Peace.

"The Chinese Paradox" - Ai Weiwei and the Chinese National Day, 2009

Celebrations are fun, and birthdays are even better (I guess). However, when wallowing in the success of the years gone by, it's equally important to remember the short-comings, failures and challenges overcome, and to speculate as to what needs to be improved, both for yourself and those around you.

This last week, it was China's big "six-o." China has gone from an underdeveloped impoverished and starved society to the world's third largest economy and newly emergent global player. China has overcome a great many challenges and floated among the greatest of successes (booming economy, space travel, the Olympics and on and on and on).

However, in a country of 1.3 to 1.5 billion people (depending on your source) only 258,000 can lay claim to the title of millionaire (almost 100,000 of the 258,000 living in either Hong Kong or Taiwan). That leaves 1.29 to 1.49 billion in rather dire straits - I felt that these number could best depict the economic disparity between rich and poor in China. Further, discussing this and/or anything else that could prove detrimental to the CCP paints nothing less than a large bulls-eye on one's own head...what ever happened to "tank-man?" (Granted, I'll give credit where credit is due, the Government has come a long way since Mao, but there's still so much more to do).

Either way, Happy Birthday China!

For the people who's very backs this country has been built on, may your future be the prosperous and peaceful future you deserve.

Much of this commentary was inspired by my experiences in China (most of all the enduring friendships I made while I was, I've never met more warmer a people than the Chinese), an article that I read by Ai Weiwei in "Time Magazine" (see vid below) and an ever-growing desire for peace and prosperity for all corners of the world.

Peace.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

Today is the Mid-Autumn day holiday of ancient Chinese folklore (a tradition still celebrated in our day and age). Happy Mid-Autumn day I guess, and of sorts. It's for this very reason that I have been incredibly busy this last two days (in other words, I've had no time to post here, or on YouTube for that matter. However, I wanted to give a line-up of the next couple of days in terms of posts:

Ai Weiwei National Day Perspective (Prosperity for the rich, same old for the poor)
Chinese Cheap Labor (An unorthodox perspective)
American Police Force (WTF!?!)
Homeless Vets (Saw a homeless vet the other day)

Hate to make this quick, but gotta jet.

Happy Holidays ;>

Seeking Chang'e...

I hoping beyond all things "hopeable" that my wife does not read this prior to the actual event (or brushes this over without heeding any attention at all). The "event" that I'm alluding to is a Chinese holiday known (in English) as the Mid-Autumn Day. Little does she know that I have quite a surprise for her, seeing that this is her first Mid-Autumn Day away from China. I am preparing a feast (of sorts I guess), brought wish-lanterns with us on our last flight (from China) and will even be making the customary, and dreadful (in terms of taste), Mooncake (the Chinese Mooncake is equivalent to the Western Christmas Fruitcake - given and not to be eaten). One happy note on the Mooncake, my Mother bought a Mooncake mold that dates back to the Qing Dynasty (the mold is nearly, or over, 100 years old!). Here's a teaser of sorts -



Wish me luck!

Peace.