5th Child Dies in California Police Chase Crash - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

5th Child Dies in California Police Chase Crash

This is one of the worst tragedies I remember reading about. Mostly for the parents who live on while all their children wouldn't. In a way, there's hope that they can always have more children, but the lost is unimaginable.

If you read more from the KTVU article, I was stuck dumb to hear the family blame the police. I know they are grieving and are looking for someone to blame... not easy when the all the fleeing suspects are dead. But blaming police? Really?

For doing their job?

They way the family member was quoted made it sound like the police deliberately chose a stolen car over the lives of people. Well, that's an amazing ability to look in the future to know that at that precise moment a truck carrying a load of kids--with no safety precautions whatsoever--would so nicely happen along to stop the chase. And it saved time on processing the suspects too! /sarc

I confess I don't know the particulars of the chase, whether the police were pushing too hard or whatever. But it doesn't change the fact that criminals broke the law, continued running rather than face the consequences, and eventually paid the price by losing their lives and destroying others.

How about blaming the suspects who decided to gamble with fate and lost? And does no one sympathize with the police who had to watch it all happen?

In the end, the family is entitled to their grief and anger. It's just that when it's misplaced, I believe it results in bitterness that does a disservice for both the victims and those still alive.

Berkeley Marines Protest at zombietime

Zombie has the new photo report up at zombietime on the Berkeley Marine protest.

I'm a dweller of the Bay Area as well (my college is in San Fransisco--an art college) and had my own share of crazies, but never to the level zombie puts him/herself willing into. I salute him/her.

Well, in this particular report, I never been so ashamed of young people. I'm not as young as they are (I'm a senior in college now, even if I look 17), but I still consider those people as of a similar age group.

I really wanted to smack some of those kids.

Especially the disrespectful way they "debated" their elders. I understand they're young, arrogant, and brainwashed, but so are cult members and I would smack them too. It's really "aaaaargh" just reading about their behavior, let alone having to actually hear their voice or see them move (or smell them).

If I was there and had less restraint and honor, with no fear of legal repercussions, I probably would had flown into a rage at the closest self-righteous, kaffiyeh clad, smirking youth. Damn, I hate those things by the way. And every other student in my school seems to have one, or is talking about getting one.

Oh, interesting thing today. My Friday design class' teacher is quite the outspoken liberal (even from day one) and would pipe in with the usual liberal quips out of nowhere. It's actually quite humorous rather than annoying, or offensive, just because it's all so silly. Self-parodic (not an actual word? I'm inventing it!), almost.

I find it amusing that on the first day he assumed we were all liberals/Democrats in the class and urged us to vote for Hillary/Obama because "the world is watching," referring to the fact that Hillary is a woman and Obama is black. Wow. Yes. Great arguments to vote for the leader of your nation. I'm definitely convinced.

Anyway, two examples from today that got me almost laughing out loud (I did chuckle eventually)...

First, one of the students had a stamp design that showcased old space/sci-fi themed tin toys like robots and spacemen. In one of his design idea sketches was a cutely drawn toy spaceman, with a ray gun (the teacher previously stated he didn't like the ray gun idea at all because he's very anti-gun), on a planet. The teacher dismissed the idea because it gave the impression of: "Not only are we invading other countries, we're invading other planets too."

I kid you not.

It's what he said. I laughed because it was so out there and sad. I wasn't even sure the spaceman was actually human, let alone an American occupier.

Then comes my stamp designs. I went with a way I could incorporate American pride without getting subconsciously biased against: children interpretations of classical American stamps. My stamp bases are the common USPS stamps of the American flag, Liberty Bell, a Purple Heart, and the American Clock design. Guess which one pushed his button?

This Purple Heart stamp got a, "I'm not sure... you know, war," comment from him. I think I zoned out for a few seconds wondering if I really heard what I just heard. He's a great guy, designer, and teacher, but I'm afraid he'll burst into ashes upon contact with any military medal.

Good(?) thing my mom is a lite-commie liberal so I'm desensitized enough to just get a chuckle out of it and move on.

So, kudos to the young people, and everyone else, who showed up to support America and our soldiers at Berkeley and elsewhere. God bless our military and their families! Thank you for our freedom.

Poll finds rift between minorities

"The nation's three largest minority groups — African Americans, Hispanics and Asians — view one another with deep suspicion..."

So. Who should I start calling racist?

Being Chinese myself, I can safely say, from the experience I had with those of my race, the Chinese are the most racist people I've interacted with. The thing is, they're just very good at hiding it--knowing when to speak about it and when to pretend to be courteous and polite.

I actually distrust Chinese people (older generations) the most because I know how two-faced they can be. It's all about "mianzi," literally "face," which is the concept of saving face. The depth to which they would go for it is the thing I hate most about the culture in general. Many times I've seen my elders talk nicely about a person to their face only to say bad things afterwards. Lying, back-stabbing, gossiping, it's all fine as long as it doesn't effect your reputation. This isn't, by far, an exclusive fault to the Chinese. It's just that this is the culture where I've witness it happen with regularity (well, no duh).

Race I trust the most? Same as is mentioned in the article: whites. This actually might be some kind of side-effect of all that one-sided racism as whites become hyper cautious in dealing with minorities. It's kind of sad and definitely unfair. A jerk is a jerk no matter what race, and being a minority does not make one entitled to a all purpose race-card.

Ah, for calling my own race a bunch of hypocrites, am I a racist? But wait, all my friends are Chinese!

Firsthand account of the Von Maur shooting

Exactly as the title says.

The authenticity is, of course, unproven yet, but who am I to second guess personal accounts at this moment. I am one of those supportive of the Second Amendment and would be right in line training to get a license if only I could afford it (or feel up to tackling California's strict gun laws).

Even if I won't be allow to carry it anywhere that mattered, having one in the house sounds good considering the attempted break-ins we had and the reports of theft in our neighborhood. We don't have a man in the house (sadly, the manliest one is probably me), except temporarily when my uncle is around, so there are security concerns.

I would definitely want to even the odds in the event that a home invader comes armed.

Video: Sarkozy’s Speech Before Congress - Say Anything

Over at Say Anything Blog, a video of Sarkozy’s Speech Before Congress.

Rob also made an interesting observation:

What’s particularly interesting is that, years ago when the Bush presidency was new and Iraq was a fresh issue, the left told us constantly that George Bush was making America less popular in the world. Yet during the President’s term in office three of our traditional allies (Canada, Germany and now France) elected leaders that displaced virulently anti-Bush and anti-American leaders with people more of Sarkozy’s temperament (Stephen Harper in Canada and Angela Merkel in Germany).

Sort of almost seems like...that whole “less popular America” thing just isn’t true.