The Gaian Record International - January 2010

[SkyeGear]

Gaian Record International News Media Corporation Est. 2004 || Executive Editor and Founder: Gear-Richie

Massive quake attacks Haiti

Bodies of children lay in the ruins of a collapsed school. Those people that had survived the earthquake of a magnitude of 7 were covered in white dust and blood from open wounds. The few doctors ran about doing as much as they could for others in a hotel parking lot. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and still trying to recover from the storms in 2008.

January 12, 2010’s quake had left collapsed buildings on the capital ground. Ambulances swerved to miss the bodies lying in the street and those on stretchers bearing some of the injured.

''Thousands of people poured out into the streets, crying, carrying bloody bodies, looking for anyone who could help them,'' Bob Poff, divisional director of disaster services in Haiti for the Salvation Army, said in a posting on the agency's Web site.

Poff said he and others were piling bodies in the back of his truck in hopes that they would get medical attention. There was no reliable count, but officials fear it is in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands, that have died in the quake.

The parking lot of Port-au-Prince's Hotel Villa Creole became a triage center. Under tents made from sheets, dozens lay crying from the pain of cuts in their heads, broken bones and crushed ribs.
''I can't take it any more. My back hurts too much,'' said Alex Georges, 28, who had lain on the parking lot's sloping blacktop for more than a day waiting for help.

When the quake struck just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Georges was in a meeting with about 30 other students at a school in the neighborhood of Morne Hercule. The roof fell in and killed 11 of his classmates instantly and injuring him and others.

Several thousand Haitian police and international peacekeepers poured into the streets Wednesday to clear debris, direct traffic and maintain security. Looters prowled through shops, then blended into crowds of desperate refugees lugging salvaged possessions. The main prison in the capital fell, and there were reports of escaped inmates.

Haitians who could still walk were streaming out of the capital by the hundreds, many of them balancing suitcases and other belongings on their heads as they headed down one of the capital's main streets. Police shouted orders to keep traffic moving at congested intersections as ambulances and United Nations trucks raced toward downtown Port-au-Prince.

In Petionville, people used sledgehammers and their bare hands to dig out a collapsed commercial center. More than a dozen cars and a U.N. truck were buried underneath. Up the hill, about 200 victims, including many small children, huddled together in a theater parking lot and created tarps out of bed sheets to protect themselves from the scorching sun.

''The immediate need is to rescue people trapped in the rubble, then to get people food and water,'' Sophie Perez, Haiti director of the U.S.-based humanitarian organization CARE, told her colleagues in an e-mail.

Source: Associated Press  

[SkyeGear]

A very young "threat"
Eight year-old faces TSA's security procedures every time he flies

Mikey Hicks is your typical third-grade student. Or so he appears to the average person. But the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the governing body over airport and flight security in America, sees this boy in a different light.

Mikey was born less than a month prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Yet the TSA appears to have the boy flagged as a suspicious person. Each time he goes to take a trip via plane, the boy is patted down (the first time was at age two), and is subjected to rigorous security measures, causing his family delays each time they fly. Why is Mikey treated in such a manner?

In an attempt to debunk the "myth," the TSA's website states that there is no eight year-old on their "no-fly" list. While this is true, they fail to mention the next list down, the "selectee" list, which raises significant red flags that require high-level security measures. Now, Mikey is not on this list either, but a Michael Hicks is. Someone somewhere named Michael Hicks apparently made the US government agency suspicious, and was flagged as such. As a result, Mikey, as well as his father who shares the same name, are given trouble every time they go through airport security.

"Up your arms, down your arms, up your crotch — someone is patting your 8-year-old down like he’s a criminal," said Mikey's mother in an interview with MSNBC. "A terrorist can blow his underwear up and they don’t catch him. But my eight year-old can’t walk through security without being frisked." When the TSA was asked for comment, they stated that they had no eight year-old children on the list, but did not comment on Mikey's specific situation.

While promises have been made for the improvement of the system, to include profiling with gender, age, and other identifying factors, how much longer must Mikey, along with approximately 1,600 other people named Michael Hicks in America endure this type of treatment? Mikey's particular issue has been problematic for them for seven years, prompting Mikey's question to his mother during an interview with The New York Times: "Why do they think a kid is a terrorist?"

Sources: MSNBC.com and The New York Times

Former Minister on trial for Wife’s Death

In Waco, Texas, a distraught minister's wife told her therapist a few days before she died that she thought her husband was going to kill her, and that he was having an affair, her therapist testified Wednesday at his murder trial.

Kari Baker’s death in 2006 was initially ruled as suicide. Therapist JoAnn Bristol said Matt Baker's first words to her at the funeral visitation for Kari Baker were "I never saw it coming."

On the first day of Baker’s trial, the Therapist JoAnn told jurors that Matt questioned if the she had heard his wife’s thoughts about him having an affair and how she thought he was trying to kill her and she said ‘yes’ that she had.

Baker, 38, is accused of drugging his wife with sleeping pills and suffocating her with a pillow after she fell unconscious in their home in Hewitt, a Waco suburb. He could face life in prison. Baker has denied that he killed his wife, saying she was despondent over the cancer death of their 16-month-old daughter Kassidy in 1999.

Bristol, a licensed clinical social worker, said she knew Kari's family and counseled her for a year after her daughter's death. Bristol said Kari never was suicidal, even during that time, and steadily showed improvement by wanting to spend more time with her older child and getting pregnant with another child.

When defense attorney Guy James Gray showed some entries from Kari Baker's diary and Bible, Bristol said it was a normal part of the grieving process.

In a 1999 diary entry that was a letter to Kassidy, Kari Baker wrote, "I just float through days, never really touching ground. ... Why can't I just die?" On one page of her Bible that was filled with her notations, Kari Baker wrote, "I want to go with Kassidy."

Bristol said that during her session with Kari a few days before her death, the 31-year-old told her she had been to a doctor who diagnosed her with depression. But Bristol said Kari was frustrated and told her, "I just ripped up the prescription because I was not depressed. I was anxious."
Bristol said she disagreed with that doctor's diagnosis because Kari was looking forward to starting a group to help other mothers whose children had died.

Prosecutor Crawford Long showed another notation from Kari Baker's Bible, dated five days before her death, in which she wrote, "Peace! Lord, grant me peace! Calm my soul. ... I'm asking you to protect me from harm. I am not sure what is going on with Matt, but Lord help me find peace with him."

In other testimony, the first police officer to arrive at the house after Matt Baker's 911 call said the minister led him to Kari's body in the bedroom and said there was a suicide note.

The typed note read: "Matt, I am so sorry. I am so tired. I just want to sleep for a while. Please forgive me. I love you Matt — I am so sorry for the past few weeks. ... I want to give Kassidy a hug. I need to feel her again. Please continue to be the great Dad to our little girls. Love them every day for me. I am sorry. I love you. Kari."

Crime scene photos showed two ink pens on the bedside table by the note, which was not signed. The photos also showed two empty wine cooler bottles, two cups, a bottle of an over-the-counter sleep aid and two sleeping pills on the table.

The officer, Michael Irving, said that when he leaned over to pick up the note, he felt something wet on the bed by the pillow. Irving said Baker later told him that his wife had been depressed about Kassidy.

But Baker gave a different account to "20/20," according to a clip of the ABC news program played in court. Baker said the officer brought him the suicide note, and said that was the first time he thought his wife would "take her own life." The segment included part of his 911 call in which he talked about finding the suicide note.

During opening statements earlier Wednesday, Gray said evidence would show that authorities suspected his client from the beginning and never sought evidence that would show Kari authored the suicide note. Gray acknowledged that his client lied about the affair after his wife's death, but also pointed out that medical experts could never determine Kari's cause of death.

Gray said Kari's friendly, outgoing personality masked deep depression — not only about her middle daughter's death but about her own weight gain and her husband's affair.

"Kari Baker had some problems," Gray told jurors. "She had a husband running around on her, was still fighting to get over the loss of a child, had problems sleeping, and she mixed sleeping pills, diet pills and alcohol — and she died. It became a murder case when her family learned there was an affair."

The case was reopened a few months after Kari Baker's death at the insistence of her parents, who hired an investigator to gather evidence for their wrongful death lawsuit against Baker.

Justice of the Peace Billy Martin, who had initially ruled Kari Baker's death a suicide, testified that he ordered the body exhumed and conducted a formal inquest after he received new evidence. The death certificate was amended to list the cause as undetermined.

Source: Yahoo News  

[SkyeGear]

Tips from a medic
Monthly medical advice from a Combat Medic and EMT

Your eyes are important. Without them, you probably wouldn't be reading this article right now. You wouldn't be able to drive, you wouldn't be able to watch TV or surf the net, read the newspaper, or anything of that sort. Don't get me wrong, those without sight have other senses enhance to the point where they start to take the place of sight, but why lose your sight if you don't want to? I'm going to offer a few tips on how to preserve your eyes. The two you have are the only two you get, right? It's a blessing to see, so let's see if we can keep it that way.

1. Don't rub your eyes. It's not good for them. You can put pressure on the nerves and blood vessels in the back of the eye, and that can cause problems. If you have something in your eye, you can cause the object to scrape against your retna, and cause more damage than it otherwise would. Try washing out your eyes with water, or yawn to get your tear ducts rolling, and let your tears wash out the foreign object.
   
   
2. Wear your glasses. I don't care if they're stylish or not, trying to focus on something you can't see is only going to lead to some bad headaches and eye strain.
   
   
3. Don't read in the dark. See the above comment about straining your eyes.
   
   
4. Clean your contacts. If you drop a contact, don't pick it up, blow on it, and stick it back in your eye. First of all, that's just gross. Secondly, the foreign objects that end up in your eye are going to cause you problems.
   
   
5. Wash your hands. If you touch something that has certain types of bacteria on it, then touch your eyes, you could end up with Pink Eye, or one of many other bacterial infections that are FAR from pleasant.
   
   
6. If something is IMPALED in your eye, for heaven's sake DO NOT REMOVE IT ON YOUR OWN! You will cause MASSIVE damage to your eye. Try to calm down, don't panic, and cover the unaffected eye. Then DON'T MOVE EITHER EYE until you get help from EMTs and Paramedics, or can get to a hospital. (Hopefully someone else will be driving.)

Remember, sight is a one-time thing. Screw it up, and it's gone forever. Take care of your eyes, and see you next month!

Gear-Richie is a Combat Medic and veteran of Iraq, a certified EMT, and is currently working as a Phlebotomist in a laboratory company.

Mintchan's TekTek Corner

Total Value: 358,483,798 Gold
[Item Information]

Item List:
Angelic Bracelet
Winged Anklets
Mercury's Moon
Masquerade
Fremere's Guard 2nd Gen.
Angelic Halo

Since I couldn't do a christmas tektek, I decided to make a Christmas Angel! Her big Anime pink eyes just prove Japan is jealous of America's big eyed people haha! Nah Just kidding. This avitar is presented with a Angelic Bracelet you can change this for any gold or yellow bracelets. It is over 383,798 Gold!! So possibly it would be best to support it with another type of bracelet. The next item is Winged Anklets, There kinda like Angelic Bracelet at a price of 2,534,800 Gold it dosen't even have to have a substitutecause it dosen't show under the elegent Fremers Guard 2nd Gen. Masquerade is the little sparkles above the one wing or the item called Mercury's moon. Most items here are expensive, but all have a substitute so it's defintly a Merry Christmas!


Total Value: 1,778,159 Gold
[Item Information]

Item List:
Gogh Reed 4th Gen.
Purple FLEX Top
Cecil
Inari's Beads
Dashing Gentleman Diamond Sash
Oculus Magica
Sapphire Milady Skirt

This is Garra of the Sand from Naruto Anime. I was kinda bord so I made a Avitar for Cosplayers! He is suited with the Gogh Reed 4th Gen, Purple FLEX top, Cecil, Inari's Beads, Dashing Gentleman Diamond Sash, Oculus Magica and finally Sapphire Milady Skirt. Oculus magica can be substituted for Frost Night jewel. Inari beads can't be substituted so guess your adding a quest to your list with Gogh Reed too.  

[SkyeGear]

Movie Review
Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Rated: PG-13

Summary: A 14 year old boy, "most likely to succeed" Darren, manages to go from being one of the smartest kids in his neighborhood to being the assistant to a 200 year old vampire. Seeking help from the vampire for an accident created himself, Darren gives up his "happy home" life to work for the vampire becoming half vampire himself.

An interesting movie if I do say so myself.

Final Score:

Zombieland

Rated: R

Summary: The walking dead has taken over and anyone that had managed to stay alive was open season, as food. Four separate humans had managed to avoid being eatten, living individually. They ended up meeting and forming a bit of a group. The basic rule was to stay alive. Guns were a must as well as a working vehicle.

No idea what possessed me to see it, but in the long run, it wasn't that bad. Had it's funny moments. Lots of blood and gore.

My rating on the move: A 3 out of 5

Video Game Review
Is Assassin's Creed II better than the first?

The answer is yes! The company Bungi has finally released the Assassin Creed II game. It is filled with the young boy escaping a hi-tech laboratory with a young, yet beautiful female. The boy undergoes amazing sequences! His great ancestor Ezio was a famous assassin, But what was his past like? That's where Assassin Creed II comes in. The first game showed his much ancestor much older with the templars, Yes with the templars! The main mission of the game is to travel to Venice, Motreggual/villa and many more places meeting new people, Including....Leonardo DaVinci! The famous artist who paints speak to us. He makes a flying machine to help Ezio assassinate someone for a thieves organization and gains their friendship. Oh ya..watch out for the guards there mean! You can throw money,Have posion Blades,Get the six seals of assassins and get the all famous armor of his much great ancestor of Ezio and finally your curiosity is over!

Oops I forgot there is gonna be a Assassin's Creed III! Watch out boys and girls a new Assassin's Creed is here!  

[SkyeGear]

Anti-Hate Crimes Bill Passes

Almost 15years after Matthew Sheppard was killed by two men based on his sexual orientation Congress and President Obama have passed a bill that protects Americans from being attacked based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Handicap status. This has been a longstanding issue among standing issue among the LGBT Equality Movement.

Conservatives and Conservative-Moderates argue that the law merely gives special rights to the LGBT community, and handicapped persons. On the other hand Liberals and Liberal-Moderates argue that it's protections will deter hate crimes-- which are higher among the LGBT community than most other minorities.

The progression of LGBT Equality has been a common trend, including a victory in Washington with Referendum 71 at the last elections, and an anti-discrimination policy passed in Kalamazoo County [MI]. However, with these victories comes a loss in Maine for Marriage Equality.

The progression of LGBT Equality in the USA has made a turning point in the last decade. As time goes on, we will hopefully see the full integration of minorities into our society.

Conservatism's Coming Jihad

With all the glow over the November 3rd gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey it was easy to miss the one story with real implications for the future, the New York 23rd special election. On face the race was simply the takeover of a Republican district by another Democratic representative. On a deeper level, though, it represents the beginning of a fratricidal holy war on the right in a quest for ideological purity.

The background of the story really begins in the 2008 election when the district voted for Barack Obama but also sent moderate Republican John McHugh to the House. Obama later named McHugh as Secretary of the Army, creating a vacancy in the district. Per New York law, a special election was set and the local parties named candidates to stand for election. The choice of the local party was long time New York Assemblywoman Dierdre "Dede" Scozzafava, a moderate more in line with the views of district. A local conservative Republican, Doug Hoffman, raised objections to her more moderate views, in particular those on abortion, gay marriage, and the stimulus act. He accepted a 3rd party bid with New York's Conservative Party.

Over the course of the election the Hoffman candidacy began to attract the national attention of the right. Club for Growth was an early group to sponsor him. Then came d**k Armey, and most prominent of all Sarah Palin lent her endorsement (which subsequently resulted in a flood gate of high profile Republican officials endorsing Hoffman over the Republican in the race). Not long after the Tea Party activists began to get involved. The national attention prompted polling agencies to begin monitoring the race. After several found that Scozzafava had slid into 3rd place, she dropped out and lent her support to Bill Owens, the Democrat in the race who went on to prevail.

The developments in New York's 23rd Congressional District represent a fusion of forces on the right that have cast themselves in an outside role railing against a party establishment they blame for making the party "too moderate." Club for Growth, a political activist group founded in 1999, has been backing stringent fiscal conservatives in primaries against more moderate incumbent Republicans since 2002. It is known primarily for fatally damaging the reelection campaign of Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, and ousting moderate Republicans in MI 7 and MD 1, both of which led to eventual Democratic takeovers of the districts. Sarah Palin, in her failed bid to become the next Vice President, became a darling on the far right and, since resigning as governor of Alaska, has now dedicated herself to flexing this star power in the name of a far right agenda. Both have now found common cause with the tea party movement, whose activists provide a ready supply of motivated foot soldiers for conservative causes.

Emboldened by their success in driving Scozzafava from the New York congressional race, and undeterred by their ultimate defeat there, the newfound conservative alliance has already begun a mass campaign to unseat moderates from races around the country. The primary target has become Charlie Crist. Crist, a once popular governor in Florida, departed from conservative orthodoxy to promote President Obama's stimulus. This drew a challenger into the primaries, Marco Rubio, who is already benefiting from endorsements and a surge in campaign contributions from the new movement. Other potential targets mentioned are Senator Bob Bennett of Utah, top tier Senate candidate in California Carly Fiorina, and Senate candidates in Illinois and Connecticut; Mark Kirk and Rob Simmons respectively. This could result in an expensive, and highly divisive primary war nationwide pitting branches of the Republican party against one another and fatally damaging prospects for a Republican comeback in 2010, irrespective of which side wins.

The new alliance of the radical right is not deterred, and with machinery, star power, and enthusiasm at their backs are already launching into full attack mode. The movement is convinced that pure conservative candidates are the road map to success, and the only way to energize their base. They may or may not be on to something. As Ron Paul's supporters can tell you, enthusiasm does not always equate to votes.

Obama's Gamble

We're a little more than a month away from the one year anniversary of Obama's presidency. We also find ourselves with less than a year to go till the 2010 midterm elections. Now is a good time to begin doing some serious retrospectives on the direction and choices of the president, his political hand, and the major gamble he's taking with the direction of his administration.

Consider 8 years ago. George W. Bush was rounding out his first year in office. The Senate had spent most about half the year in Republican hands, and half in Democratic (thanks to the defection of a Republican back-bencher from Vermont). Bush had come to office with remarkably low approval ratings and a growing economic malaise from the dotcom boom was setting in. In the span of a year Bush had passed a major tax cut, a bipartisan educational reform, and had initiated the military response to 9-11 which had by December of 2001 succeeded, largely, in driving Taliban forces from Afghanistan.

Some similarities and some contrasts exist in the situation. Obama too is dealing with economic malaise. There are wars Obama must deal with as well. However, Obama's situation has more contrasts than anything else. Primarily, Obama has a political hand in his favor that no president since Lyndon Johnson has enjoyed. He has large majorities in both houses of Congress, and the coveted filibuster proof majority in the Senate. He's come to office with astonishing approval numbers and a font of goodwill internationally. Despite the considerable assets he's brought to bear on his administration, his major accomplishments are slim. He passed a tremendous stimulus act and saw his major domestic initiative, health care reform, stagnate.

So, it should be of little surprise that Obama's poll numbers have slid considerably. From average approval ratings that peaked at 65%, and disapproval as low as 19%, Obama currently finds himself, in the Real Clear Politics poll average with a 48.7% approval rating and a 45.3% disapproval. In no small part, Obama owes these ratings to economic news that may not be entirely his doing. However, that's certainly a risk he and Congressional Democrats took earlier this year when they passed a near trillion dollar stimulus act. His health care initiative is both unpopular and stagnating in the Senate where a full consensus on the measure still eludes the leadership.

Obama has doubled down on the success of these measures. The fate of his allies in Congress depends on economic success and some tangible health care bill making it to his desk that simultaneously pleases the left and does not enrage the center. The Democrats cannot afford to dispirit the left in joining the ranks of failed health care reform attempts. All the same, a bill that angers the center will drive moderates back into the fold of the GOP in time to bury congressional Democrats in midterms. To complicate matters, the GOP is having a phenomenal recruitment year and already looks set to take down some firmly entrenched Democratic incumbents. If bad economic conditions persist into the late election cycle in 2010, it will spell the failure of the stimulus to stimulate.

To avoid the same fate as Bill Clinton in 1994, Obama desperately needs successes on these two fronts. The White House has already established a website making the case for jobs the stimulus has saved. He has put measures such as cap and trade on the back burner to focus all energy on the health care bill. The administration clearly hopes it can turn around its plunging approval numbers in time to save the party from a major midterm wipeout. 11 months is an eternity in politics. You can bet for Obama, it sure will feel like one.  

[SkyeGear]

GRI Warning: The views and opinions expressed in the following articles belong solely to the individual to which the article was attributed. Such opinions and views do not represent the views and opinions of the Gaian Record International as a whole, its writers and other staff members, or affiliates.

Crazy Like A Bigot

Clearly Pat Robertson has a terminal case of "foot in mouth disease." This is the same man who called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez. Clearly, also, he is a bigot. He so reviles the concepts of tolerance for homosexuals and advances in rights for women that he blamed them for 9-11. To this we must add yet one more category of people Robertson hates, Catholics.

Robertson recently saw fit to kick a nation when it was down by stating, directly, that Haitians made a deal with the devil to win their independence, and have been cursed by the devil ever since. While the statement smacks of a man who has had a severe breach with reality, it should really suggest something else; a well read man who has found a back-handed way to take a dig at the Catholic church.

The events Robertson references involve the initial outbreak of slave revolts against slave-holding masters in Haiti. However, the leaders of these initial slave revolts completely faded in importance after this initial phase, and Haitian national hero Toussaint Louverture largely took over the Haitian cause, working with various national forces until finally achieving autonomous status for the island. Toussaint was a Catholic. Toussaint established the state religion in Haiti as Catholicism. Today, 80% of people in Haiti identify themselves as Catholics. The main ideological impetus of the revolution in Haiti was the French Enlightenment, a movement heavily rooted in humanistic thinking about theology. To suggest that this was an anti-Christian act is to ignore everything but the initial stages of the conflict which were set in motion by a figure practicing Vodou. Unless, of course, your attack is a subtle protestant assault on Catholics in general.

One could point out the fact that many of the professed Catholics in Haiti practice Vodou. And true, many do. However, Pat Robertson is no stranger to tolerance for unorthodox interpretations of Christianity. He has worked extensively with Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who has fostered his own Christian denomination in Korea and takes some liberties here and there as well. The difference between Moon and Vodou? Rev. Moon is a Protestant.

So, while Robertson may have sounded totally out of his mind, he is simply being crazy like a fox. His real target, Catholicism, and its millions of followers, was very covertly assaulted. Robertson was simply odious enough to exploit an already suffering people to do it.

Focus on the Superbowl?

The Superbowl. A time for families to get together and enjoy a nice game of football. Nachos, beer or cola, and a nice time for the men to scream when their team does something not so intelligent. This year, however, a commercial will air created by Focus on the Family.

Focus on the Family is a Christian psychological organization aimed towards bringing together the family. Some of their known works used to be "Love Won Out," now merged with The Exodus, which was an ex-gay program to 'free gay people' from their 'unwanted sexual urges.'

Not much on what the commercial will be about is known, however, it will feature a football player that was home-schooled and his mother. It is believed that the commercial will be aimed towards pro-life messages. The commercial will be about 30 seconds long. Has the Superbowl started endorsing a set of beliefs?