Wednesday, July 9th

If this internship has taught me anything it’s that this world is cruel place. On Monday I went with Noreen to a meeting where a prospective adoptive family was being told of two children whom were up for adoption. The two kids have been in and out of Foster Care for the past four years. The boy had been in five different homes and the little girl had been in four different homes. They were finally placed together in a foster home with a wonderful lady who has really helped the two children. The foster mom would be perfect to adopt the children but she is in her early 70’s. I was sitting there as the caseworker was listing all the emotional and physical problems these two children have. The meeting was two hours long and we did not take a break the entire time while they listed all the problems. These two kids had a lot of issues. The two children were born into a family where the parents were addicted to drugs. The young boy does not know how to be a child because he was the caregiver for his siblings. He saw his mother and father at their worst when they were using drugs. All I could think the entire I was sitting there was what the hell?

I typically avoid watching and reading the news simply because I am tired of hearing about bad things. I see enough death and pain in my job everyday that I do not need to hear anymore when I go home. It’s one of the reasons why I like comedy shows and movies. There is enough in this world to make us think. When I want to be entertained I want to laugh and feel good.

This morning, however, I actually did read the news using Google. (I like Google because it shows a variety of news stories from different papers from all over the world. There is no bias in Google News.) I came across three stories that really made me say “What the Hell?” They should really have a section on Google for stories that fit the “What the Hell?” category.

The first article is VOAnews.com and it was talking about the recent G8 summit in Japan. The G8 is a very powerful organization that can get things done but yet it seems like the leaders of the G8 would rather take their time improving the world.

President Bush was quoted saying,"By protecting our environment, and resisting protectionism, and fighting disease, and promoting development, and improving the daily lives of millions around the world, we've served both our interests as Americans and we serve the interests of the world." To bad President Bush has not done any of this in his eight years as president. His environmental policies have done nothing to improve our environment and if anything has made it worst. Bush though is not the only problem when it comes to environmental issues. The article states that “only three of the emerging economies, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia, explicitly committed to the 50 percent reduction plan. That leaves out two of the world's fastest growing carbon emitters, India and China.”When India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was asked why he would not commit to a reduction plan he said “ensuring food security, public health and management of scarce water resources are his first priority.” It was very shocking to me that “more than a half-billion Indians live in extreme poverty, on less than a dollar a day.” China’s reasons were the same as India. China does not want “to steps that would jeopardize economic growth and risk political instability.” So here is a thought and I know its crazy but why do we not help India and China provide food, public health, and water sources. We do that and maybe then India and China can start to change their environmental ways. Our leaders are more concerned with Terrorism than they are with helping the sick, the outcasts, and those who really need our help. As I have said before, hunger related kill more than terrorist do.

President Bush has resisted protectionism but has resisted it so much that many US based companies are closing their doors and shipping jobs overseas where they can pay workers a small percentage of what they were paying Americans. The profit margins increase for these companies while many Americans have to look for new job opportunities. This is a scary time for many Americans who lose their jobs to outsourcing because there are no jobs out there. You can blame this problem on capitalism and the principles capitalism bring to our economy but President Bush and Congress, they have an equal partnership in this, have done nothing to stop the outsourcing of jobs to other countries. President Bush has done nothing to stop the fight of disease, promoted development, or really improved the lives of anyone. Instead he veto a bill that would give healthcare to children whose parents do not have healthcare, he instituted no child left behind and have hurt schools that need the funds to make a difference, and led America into a war that was uncalled for and down right wrong. We do not have enough money to fund a National Health Insurance program but we do have enough money to launch a military strike on a Nation that was never a threat to America.

With the No Child Left Behind act, schools that perform better in testing get more money while schools that perform lower get less money. Shouldn’t this be the other way around? What happens to kids that just do badly on tests? I am one of those students and I have always been one of those students who just freak out with anything involving a test.

Many environmentalist criticized the G8 saying they did not take enough action against making a change in environmental policies. One leader claimed that their actions at the summit open the door for talking about these environmental problems in the future but many environmentalists claim that if more action does not occur sooner rather than later, the problems we create today will be almost impossible to fix tomorrow. What the hell?

Moving on…

There has been a lot of talk about the recent Iranian Missile test yesterday. Many world leaders are afraid that they were building Nuclear Weapons with the Uranium they have been mining. The Iranian government claims that their nuclear program is for civilian power and not for military but the recent missile test concerns world leaders. According to the news organization Reuters, John McCain is calling for the U.S. to “establish a missile defense shield in Europe to counter Iranian ambitions after that country test-fired nine missiles.” McCain claims that these tests "demonstrate the need for effective missile defense now and in the future, and this includes missile defense in Europe as is planned with the Czech Republic and Poland."

Now I am not a very smart man but whatever happened to talking and using diplomacy instead of using war and threats. I do not know what Iran is really doing with their nuclear program but instead of putting up a very expensive and a very non-diplomatic missile defense shield, why don’t we just talk to them? This was Barack Obama idea and McCain criticized Obama saying that "Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy.” Two problems with that statement: What allies and somebody really needs to ask the question do we really want a World War III? Have we not advanced at all as a society and as a world that we have to resolve our differences using violence? Russia is threatening to launch a military campaign against us if we go through with this missile defense shield. This whole situation just sounds like the making of World War and I do not want to be apart of another war. I am sick of war and I am sick of hearing everyday about our soldiers being killed in Iraq. War needs to stop and diplomacy needs to start.

Finally a story hits me very hard. For the past two years, I have had to deal with numerous heart problems with my most recent problem involving high cholesterol and high triglycerides. It’s been something that I have been dealing with for awhile and it is something that I will continue to have to deal with for the rest of my life. Part of my problem is genetics but another part, the larger part, is my lifestyle. It is no secret that I do not exercise as much as I should and I do not eat all the rights foods. If I would make these changes (and trust me I’m trying) my cholesterol problems would not be as big of an issue. So you can imagine my shock when I read an article where the American Academy of Pediatrics is now encouraging doctors to give statins to kids who are overweight and have high cholesterol. I do believe that genetics do play a major part in some kids having high cholesterol but for many kids this is not the issue. We took out gym and physical activity in schools. Fast food restaurants advertise to our children and have even taken over school cafeterias selling their food everyday at lunch time to our nation’s children. Children today rather play video games then to go outside and play a game of tag or ride a bike. What the hell?

I understand where the doctors are coming from. High cholesterol does lead to severe heart problems in the future (Need proof? Look at me.) but the cure to the problem is not a pill but rather physical activity and life style changes. I would give anything to get off my heart medications but I know I will never be able to because my body is dependent on the drugs. While these medications keep me alive, they at times can make me dizzy and have created a hard stigma for me live with. I am 23 and on heart medication and at times is very overwhelming stigma to live with. I have a fear of forgetting my pills and having something happen to me. I think before we go through with this plan, we need to look at the overall picture and look at where the problems are starting and then make a change at the beginning rather than at the point of no return.

Now you know why I avoid the news.