Govenor Kaine Orders Gun Loophole Closed.

While it's too late, Virgina Governor Kaine issued an executive order prohibiting inpatient and outpatient mental patients from owning or buying a gun.

Circle Complete! [adult swim] Finally Expands to Fridays!

[as] is finally expanding into Friday nights as of July 6 of this year. No word yet of any anise showing on that day, but you can safely say that you'll have something to watch other than crappy PBS pledge breaks they show once every month on a weekend.

Truancy! Maryland Politicans Doesn't Get It!

Many student's truant for many reasons, Here's some:

"One of the most common problems I hear from students is that they can't get up early enough," Rathbun said. "School starts at 7:20, and they have to be at the bus stop by 6 sometimes. Adolescents have problems with that."

Another common reason Rathbun hears: "Straight out, I don't like school."

There are many other reasons student truant from school: Boring curriculum (which focuses only on math, reading, and science. All thanks to No (Rich) Child Left Behind)Bullying is another reason. Poverty, unsafe school environments, environments not conductive to learning... When Americans deal with truancy they often deal with the symptoms than the root causes.

The problem of truancy has drawn widespread attention this year, prompting some area lawmakers to call for tough measures to keep track of the most habitual offenders and leading school officials to crack down on those who constantly skip class.

In its recently concluded session, the Maryland General Assembly passed a measure that would make it possible to deny driver's licenses to students who have too many unexcused absences. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) is expected to sign it.

During the same session, some lawmakers in Prince George's proposed strapping ankle bracelets on students to electronically monitor the whereabouts of those who constantly skip school. That bill did not advance.

There is a better idea: solve the root causes of truancy, and you will reduce truancy.

If you're one of 60% with Student Aid, You're Probally Uninsured!

Folks instead of pushing mandatory fees, let's get some real health insurance. (Like Universal Health Care)

Coal! If It's Dirty Then,It's Dirty Now!

Why is the Maryland Department of the Environment still protecting these industries? They should close them down and build real renewable resources. It would save people for a lifetime of respiratory problems.

Montgomery County Only School that has Comprehensive School Safety Reports!

School safety reports, there ought to be a federal law mandating them, Montgomery County planned report should be considered a model.

The annual School Safety Report, slated for publication in Montgomery starting in the 2008-09 academic year, will place the county almost alone among Maryland and Northern Virginia school systems in reporting detailed school crime statistics to the public, according to education leaders and lawmakers. In much of this region, as in much of the nation, comprehensive reports on weapons, drugs and sex in individual public schools simply don't exist.

They ought to be, and widely available to the public.

Kenneth Trump, a national authority on school safety who testified before Congress on Monday, says the underreporting of disciplinary incidents in area schools is part of "a historical culture of downplay, deny, deflect and defend when it comes to publicly acknowledging and reporting school crimes." It's driven, experts say, by an overarching concern among school principals to protect their image and that of their school.

Probably the threat of a bad reputation would motivate school administrators to make their schools safe.

Stubborn Incompetance! US Rejected Allies Assistance During Katrina Incident!

Now Almost Two Years of the Katrina Incident the Washington Post found out that Britain, Canada, and Israel offered aid and manpower to aid America of the disaster. The US, instead of allowing the assistance, turned them all down.

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

In addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.

Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006.

I think that the US Government did this for either two reasons: They either don't want their pride hurt, or they consider accepting the aid is "unmanly" considering that the US is the so-called last "superpower." With this revelation, the US should not be considered a superpower anymore.

Update!: This is also posted on Americablog.

Computer Organized! (For Now...)

Tonight, I've finally organized my computer category by category. Hopefully, this will stay organized for a while.

(This is why I hate organizing, you have to constantly do it everyday, skip one day and it will keep piling up...)

The True Face of Conservatism!

They hate Government, unless it suits the Rich Pigs.

Like Tax Cuts:

SOUTH CAROLINA: Columbia - State lawmakers have started debating two spending plans that could shave pennies off grocery bills or trim income taxes for wealthier residents. The grocery tax cut would save shoppers $1 for each $100 spent and eliminate the tax in the future. Gov. Sanford contends that reducing the state's income tax for top earners would spur the economy.

And expanding gun laws

PENNSYLVANIA: Harrisburg - Hundreds of gun-rights advocates packed the state capitol Rotunda as some lawmakers, most of them Republicans, pushed for proposals aimed at expanding those rights. Several participants mentioned their particular opposition to a bill to require annual registration of most guns and a $10 annual fee on firearms. GOP Rep. Daryl Metcalfe wants to eliminate a gun-sales database maintained by the state police.

Compassionate Conservatism my ass!

Maryland Day 2007

Having a great time a maryland day 07 at the university of maryland. Met
Bob the Vid Tech Kid in person for the first time. Nice man. I asked one
question about the lack of teen shows on mpt, regrading the fact that
teens are more interested in real entertainment than 80' britcom imports
(no offense to the rest of legendary bbc shows.). He told to contact
them via email, which I did. I informed him that I'll go directly to
mpts owings mills hq myself.

(MPT it's been FOUR months since I sent you that email, you're already
failing me!)

Convention?! What Convention!?

Nathaniel B. Thomas a at-large member Prince Georges County School Board was being testified against by parents on accustations that he taken a 18 year old high school student to a convention in San Francisco. The article however did not mentioned which convention.

The student's parents contacted school system officials April 12 to say that their son was missing, board members said. They quickly found him and escorted him home the next day. School officials have not addressed who paid for the student's plane ticket, whether the student stayed in a separate hotel room from Thomas or the nature of the student's relationship with Thomas.

Thomas, a graduate of Suitland High School, has not denied accompanying the student but has said there was nothing inappropriate about the trip. His attorney, Stephen Williams, has promised full cooperation with the investigation and said he thinks that Thomas will be exonerated.

No Comment.

Virgina is For (Gun) Lovers!

From this article, we can get some clues of how the gunman managed to acquire the firearms that led to the VT incident.

Buying and owning a gun in Virginia does not require a permit, but without a gun permit only one handgun purchase per month is allowed, and there is no waiting period to acquire the gun.

The article did not say anything about having a gun permit to use the firearm itself, but virgina's gun laws are definitely lax, because in this instance he would have waited month after month for each firearm. So he would waited until he had enough guns to carry out the rampage. No news reports have indicated if the gunman had actually have a gun permit. But here's the kicker:

The state maintains "no restriction on the sale or possession of rapid-fire ammunition magazines that can fire up to 100 bullets without reloading."

The state does restrict people convicted of felony crimes from possessing firearms, and forbids giving or selling handguns to minors under 18, except from one family member to another.

That could be another clue, he may have got the gun from a family member. As for the automatic weapons provision that's a shocker too. But it gets worse:

In one controversial loophole, people can buy weapons at second hand gun shows without waiting periods or background checks.

That would have been another possible way he could have got the guns for the rampage.With all the possible ways he could have acquired those weapons, you can see that Virgina's gun laws need to be stricter, even if means restricting it to agricultural, sporting, or hunting. Good thing the Virginia General Assembly rejected a bill allowing guns on universities.

Vietnam: US-Friendly, Anti-Democratic!

"Communist trial of Vietnam
A lewd comedy for years
Jurors a bunch of baboons
Servants of dictators, who are you to judge?"

This poem is from Father Ly Van Nguyen, a political dissent who is sentenced to eight-years for "criticizing" the "Socialist" Republic of Vietnam. (aka "Communist" Party of Vietnam; note that I put the paraphrases in reference in that they're socialists and communists-in-name. In reality they converted into European neo-liberalism) He was referring to the Vietnamese judicial system, which is rigged in favor of the "C"PV (like in other "communist" or "socialist" countries) It wonders me why the United States support countries that are against real democracy, civil liberties, and human rights? (read: China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq)

If Hanoi was hesitant to act before President Bush's visit during the APEC meeting last November, it was not afterwards. For a president who touted "freedom" and "democracy" in the Middle East, Bush came bearing an unexpected gift - a license, as it were - for the government to use against its dissidents. Though the U.S. president originally had hoped to give Vietnam normal trading status, that deal was delayed in Congress. Embarrassed by having no gift in hand, he dropped Vietnam from the list of nations that severely curtail religious freedom instead, even as these violations continued unabated.

I think that question has already been answered.

Fleeing From Civil War! The Death of Iraq!

"Everyday I left the house I made sure to say goodbye to my family," he says. "Going to the grocery store, meeting a friend, the fear something bad might happen never went away."

While Dubya constantly claims that Iraq is movie forward with democracy and peace, he has not seen the reality of the situation. Many peace loving Iraqi's are being killed, executed or forced to leave their homeland because of the civil war. Two million Iraqi's have fled the country into other countries in the middle east such as Syria or Jordan. As long this war continues, more iraqi's will be leaving.

Now Dubya, can we leave?!

Nothing Much Happening

There's nothing much happening right now in news except for the VT incident and the Student Elections. So along with other national news I will report on deeper issues of the incident.

Adventures in Video Gaming: Longest.Soldier.Front.Match.Ever!

Tonight I played a few matches of ijji.com's Soldier Front. It's a Online FPS similar to Valve's Counter-Strike. I have not played a match of this game for weeks (read:coursework). The final match before bed took place on a snowy factory. I expected a few more players, but I get four players out of sixteen. I must tell you that this level is huge with just four players. Yet sadly, one by one dropped out until there was two. Soldier Front for the match has turned into Sneak and Kill. What makes matters worse is that there's no time limit. First to 30 kills wins and for me it prolonged the game than necessary.

But I managed to survived. Mostly by rediscovering camping. If anyone does not know about camping, in First Person Shooters camping is staying in a spot and just shoot whatever moves. Snipers in these games are famous for it, despite the fact that "camping" is dishonorable in FPS shooters. But I did not have a choice, it was a one-on-one match. Quitting a match is dishonorable as well in online games.

One by one, I racked up kills, each one closer to thirty. One he comes up, I shot the M16 on him. My opponent knew what I was doing, so he tried sneaking to catch me off-guard. Then he finally uses grenades on my hiding spot. One by far away, and a few times by throwing one beside me. When I got 29 kills, it was time for me go for the last shot.

When I got outside, in the snow, my opponent was hiding by the truck, so I searched it by strating it. I knew he was around the vehicle. And he was there, about to fire on me. I held down the mouse button and had the crosshair on him. A few seconds later he was dead, and I won. I was expecting a lot of points, but 185? (Shit I deserve a lot more for that).

So that how I won the longest Soldier Front match ever. Now time for my to take a shower and head for bed. (It's almost 2:30am!)

A School Massacre That Could Have Been Prevented

If the United States was the best country in the world, we would have the smarts to prohibit all private gun ownership of any kind. If a person has to have a firearm (For hunting, agricultural, or for sport) they would have to meet very strict regulations. But since the country has no uniform gun control law, school massacres, or any massacre in a level like this ,while rare, will happen such at the one happened today. Even if we outlaw private ownership of guns, it will not prevent massacres entirely, but will reduce their level of carnage. The United States Congress should seriously tightening their gun laws based on Britain or Japan.

Want to know the quickest way towards a prison fight!?

A argument over television!

Wednesday's fight was over the use of a television in a medium- to maximum-security unit, according to a supervisory source in the detention center. Two hours a day are allotted for detainees to watch Spanish-language programs, said the supervisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he has not been authorized to give interviews.

The precise cause of the fight was unclear. According to internal reports, a black detainee unplugged the TV, and he and a Latino detainee began exchanging punches. Corrections officers intervened. The fight was quelled quickly, and no one was injured, said Vicki D. Duncan, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Corrections.

The Washington Post briefly mentioned overcrowding as a possible cause.

The detention center, designed for 1,500 detainees, is often at capacity or overcrowded, Duncan said, and such overcrowding can lead to fights like the one that occurred last week.

But they did not investigate the problem of overcrowding and why correctional facilities across the country are overstuffed with mostly African-Americans and Latinos. The best way to prevent this such things from happening is sentence only genuine violent and dangerous offenders to correctional facilites. Disagree, Yes? Then comment on this post!

One Concequence of the Prince George's Hospital System Closing...

...is that Washington Adventist Hospital could be affected by the ripple effect the hospital system closing have. Update: But wait! There's more:

Extended emergency room waits, longer response times for ambulances, thousands of displaced health-care workers and undermined rape prosecutions

What's worse is that low-income patients that come to the hospital system uses the county's public transportation system "The Bus". And these buses are infrequent and do not run on weekends. But wait! There's even more:

For workers, the system's closure could mean losing jobs held for decades. Some could find jobs elsewhere amid a worker shortage in the field, but they could need additional training and might have to work far from home. Many have concerns about their retirement benefits.

This is why America needs universal single-payer health insurance NOW!

Tired of Inaction?! Do something!

"I feel like this is bringing attention to the issues, not just a bunch of kids crying," junior government and politics major Sarah Abedi said. "Had we known this was going to happen, we would have looked for someone to pull us in. We don't want to live in a house off-campus in a random place because we could get mugged."

These students are doing something alright, finding solutions instead of simply venting. Students if you're fed up with anything that's related to politics, do something. (and if they still don't listen, once you're eligible for public office, boot them out yourself by running for it! Then you'll make a real difference.)

Sorry for the lack of posts

I was generally studying and saw the performance "Transformations" at the Clairse Smith Performing Arts Center. It was again for a WMST250 assignment, but it was great seeing that a book written as a remake of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales gets remade into a 70's club stage play. It's still performing at the CSPAC.

All Nighter Hangover almost through

Right now I think I'm through with my hangover from last nights
hangover. Going to review some notes, since I already did my news
reports.

Result from first all nighter.

I have finally able to stay all night without dozing off to sleep. The
price? Drowzyness, tiredness, and yawning. All three of those stinks,
but I will survive.

Adventures in Video Gaming

So far at this point I joined a party, died, waited 20 minutes for a White Mage that never aid me and revived myself at a crystal, dumped a few stuff at my mog house and while headed back to my party it disbanded. Now I'm with a different party but it's taking slow to start up.

(2 more hours and I would have successfully pulled an all niter)

News The Corporate Media Does Not Want You To See, Hear, or Know

Another root cause of Global Warming? Our Eisenhower-era transportation system.

President Dubya to US Troops:You Are Expandable
...and
Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Timebombs

Budget, Budget, Budget...

Advocates lobby for full funding of schools budget: "The school system says it needs more money to pay for new programs and hire more counselors and assistant principals for elementary schools, among other things. Others say the school system needs to share the wealth and back off some of its initiatives because the county simply does not have enough money.

School officials do not want to scale back any programs, however, and said this week that they may have to scrap salary increases for teachers, administrators and service workers if the County Council cannot find $19.7 million more.

‘‘We don’t have a lot of low-hanging fruit left, and with a major cut, we would have to make a reduction in personnel somewhere,” said Marshall C. Spatz, the school system’s budget director. ‘‘We can’t cut textbooks, special education, food or electricity, so we would have to cut people.”"

I got a better idea. Instead of repeating the same vicious cycle of school funding, transfer the primary source of school fundings from property taxes to general government revenue? It would immediately remedy most if not all problems with the school budget and you get to keep the programs you have.

Another Reason We Need Universal Health Care!

This is another reason why Maryland must have Universal Health Care. The Prince George's Hospital Complex may be forced to file into bankruptcy or close down all together. The Maryland Government's plans to create an state-appointed authority is not enough. (Oh, wait...it's too late. Maryland General Assembly just sine dined yesterday (I think))

Junior/Senior Housing Crisis! What to do?!

When I first came to the University, I did not expect such a situation such as this at all. Now Juniors and all of the Senior's are being forced into off-campus housing in which may be crime-ridden or worse price-gouched. What the University needs to do immediately is to remodel their priority numbers to ensure that only undergraduates and the financially strapped are unconditionally accepted housing, encourage upcoming freshmen if they live within commuter distance of UMD they should commute.

Pulling an All Nighter

I got some good news, I got my Sidekick 3 back. It's actually a new one because my first one was lost. Right now I'm playing Final Fantasy XI: Online. I have not got a party invite from yet so in the mean time I'll be posting here. If I'm lucky, I will be able to stay all night long.

Better to Expose Them Now Than To Be Ignorant About It When First Encoutered.

With all the hoopla about teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in sexual education classes Montgomery County got worse problems to worry about. What I mean is that parents should not opt-out their children out of sexual education classes, even those teach students about different sexual orientations and gender. As a matter of fact, they are so much needed to fight heterosexual hypocrisy that is going on in our sexophrenic culture.

As a matter of fact comprehensive sexual education is so much needed in every grade of public school. This will prevent much of:

• Teen Pregnancy
• Sexual Ignorance
• Homophobic and gender bullying
• Spread of HIV/AIDS

Those are just a few of the examples. Some organizations such as the heterosexist Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum would rather have students be ignorant about sexuality. Because if Comprehensive sexual education is mandated, most of the problems I highlighted will go away. So organizations such as CfaRC exist to maintain problem and promote ignorance. So when these problems keep continuing they will not get the blame.

Smokes-Out! Bassett’s Restaurant Bans Smoking Early!

It turns out that the statewide smoking ban is passing after all. Just in case, some restaurants like Bassett’s in Poolesville,MD are smoking out early.

Owners Leo and Betty Bassett made the decision to go smoke-free before the state Senate and House of Delegates passed differing versions of a statewide ban last week. A committee is hashing out the differences.

Maryland would join at least 18 states, and Washington, D.C., that have banned smoking in restaurants and bars.

If the bill is signed, the law would go into effect Jan. 1, 2008, said state Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Dist. 15) of Germantown, the bill’s lead sponsor.

Yet, it's good to see that business owners are looking for the long-term benefits of the ban.

At Bassett’s on Thursday, bar manager Josh Greer said the move will increase bar patrons.

‘‘Personally, I hate to see my civil liberties taken away, but in the long run it’ll be good for business,” bar manager Josh Greer of Poolesville said last week during a brief cigarette break. ‘‘The whole state’s going non-smoking soon, so we’re beating them to the punch.”

This would mean that families, and non-smokers (which are in the majority) can finally enter the restaurant without inhaling secondhand-smoke. Don't worry smokers, you can skill smoke outside.

An Apology from the Modern Day Prophet

It has been almost a month since I have last blogged on the Modern Day Prophet. I did not expect a week-long break to turn into a hiatus. To be honest, I was going to warn readers that there was not going to be any posts during spring break, but midterms, essays, and exams bogged me down so much that I had no time to blog any news about UMD or Maryland politics. That means that my coverage of the Maryland General Assembly was a bust. I must still take full responsibility for the lapse of updates because I sometimes procrastinate. I seem to wait for the right time to do my assignments, often doing them the week before they’re long due; meaning that if the due date for a paper is three weeks, I do the paper seven days before the due date. So again, I’m sorry.

But here’s what I did during my hiatus:

Spring Break—I mostly stayed at home, surfing the web, watching television, reading books.

Roosevelt Institute at UMD—I attended the opening session of the Roosevelt Institute early last March. It’s a student run progressive think thank. The speeches there were uninteresting but the concept is awesome: student-written reports instead of rich conservative AWASP-written reports (read: Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute). I’m considering writing as a fellow next fall. Proposed paper? Expand Public Transportation by Zeroing-out Highway Funds. Their website is also nice too, with all sorts of interesting writings from student fellows. Unfortunately, their database is under reconstruction (for over 6 months!)

Ctrax—For those who have not already know, is for all intents an purposes dead. Access for Terps has been closed down 15 days before the planned closedown on March. I already kissed my Dead Kennedy’s and Hip Hop collection good bye. Speaking of music, I went to the “This is Her Story, This is her Song” 3 day symposium for a class assignment. While the first day was more Gospel than general music, I enjoyed the concert. Although I attended only the first day.

As for the book I’m writing, which is approaching its fifth university, I finally know the term of the one year hiatus and the on-off working of the book: “Research Hell”. It’s no different from Production Hell that movie producers want to avoid as much as possible. I realize that the university has all I need to complete my book. This means: UMD + McKalden Library + Research Port = Research Hell. (And that the Book final copy is pushed back to Fall 2007)

Films—I went to see Grindhouse on April 6. It was my first double feature I have experienced, and it was fucking awesome. Especially Planet Terror which is basically a send-up of the zombie horror genre. Nasty and crazy scenes a plenty, including one where Cherry blows zombies with an M-16 attached on her amputated. Death Proof was a bit slow, but it does have its moments, like the three-on-one fight scene near the end. On the other hand I saw Shortbus on April 3 2007. Great film, especially this is because this is the first time ever seeing gays as characters, real characters, not stereotypes. I recommend it. (If I can pick one memorable scene from this film it would be this: The Gay Threesome reciting a song in the privacy of a apartment. But I still consider garden variety-heterosexual threesomes just as nasty as well.

So that’s what I did during my hiatus. Right now, we have about three weeks before final exams week. As for the rising seniors that are told by Res Life that they will have to find housing off-campus, it’s shameful that they have to inform seniors that weeks before final exams week. The fact that the College Park Council hates its own residents (which are mostly Terps) and the Maryland General Assembly decides to play politics when it comes to providing housing for its flagship university, really shows how much they really care about the University: as long as politicians benefit. I have one piece of advice to freshman accepted into the university, if you can commute there, please consider that option, do it for the seniors.

Regular blogging will gradually resume this week. One more question: Why has it suddenly winter during spring?