Recent Changes

Tate Make Up 5/15
Today, an article was written updating the public on the Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who escaped house arrest last month and initially fled to the United States Embassy. Chen was arrested and confined in 2006 for four years and three month for damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic. His supporters maintain that the charges were false and that he was being punished for speaking out about China’s abusive family planning policies, including forced abortions and sterilizations. Now, according to Chen who is currently in a Beijing hospital with his wife and two children, his family members are being attacked by the police and government thugs. His brother was taken from his home and his nephew and sister-in-law were violently beaten. His nephew, who was trying to defend himself, now faces charges of homicide. This all comes after Chen spent six days in the US Embassy and then was transferred to a hospital. He now is pleading to be allowed to leave China. According to Representative Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey, Chen’s confinement in the hospital room is really house arrest, and Chen is no longer able to communicate with his relatives because all of his communication tools have been taken away. Chen does have telephone calls with the US Embassy, but Americans are barred from entering the heavily guarded hospital building. Chen is hoping to receive a student visa from the US Embassy and study at New York University.

As Americans and as Catholics we cannot forget about Chen. He is trying to protect women and unborn children and he is exercising a right that we often take for granted, freedom of speech. Can you imagine fighting for a cause and ending up in prison or under house arrest because the government did not agree with you? It is hard to believe that, even if he did “disturb traffic”, he would be punished for more than four years. It is also difficult to understand why the US Embassy let him leave their protection, and I have never heard of a “heavily guarded hospital”. It sounds to me like Chen and his wife and children are all in prison now. The only way Chen will get out alive is if America does not forget him and his family. Unfortunately, Chen will not be able to take his entire family with him when he leaves, and this is probably the most difficult part. Already, he knows that his family is being targeted and hurt, and who knows what will happen to them when he is safely in the United States. Chen’s story shows us how brutal China is toward its people. Women are forced to have abortions and be sterilized because of China’s one child policy, and people like Chen and his family are terrorized for trying to protect Chinese women and their unborn children. We just can’t forget Chen and his family because he is living and practicing all that we in America believe in.

Tripp Make-Up Post Mexico Drug Wars
http://tinyurl.com/last-wwn-for-davis-for-real

Over the past weekend the mutilated bodies of 49 people were found on the side of a road in Mexico. The police say it was most likely part of the rivalries between drug cartels. One Mexican official said there has been a series of extremely inhumane acts within the last few weeks, and this is most likely another one. This probably is a result between the two cartels known as the Zetas and the Sinaloa. More than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006 when the Mexican government announced plans to combat cartels. The bodies were found about 80 miles southwest of the U.S.-Mexican border. A message written on a wall nearby is belied to refer to the Zetas. The Zeta were formed my Mexican Army deserters and served as the armed branch of the Gulf cartel, but broke away in 2010. Analysts believe that the Sinaloa cartel is allies with the Gulf cartel, making the combo one of the most powerful in Mexico. The leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera is widely known as Mexico’s most wanted fugitive, his net worth being $1 billion as of March 2012. Authorities are still identifying the bodies, which may prove difficult because they are missing limbs and/or are decapitated.

I’ve done a weekly world news post on the violence in Mexico before. This time it is much more grim and gruesome. This is a perfect example of how bad the violence has gotten in Mexico over the past few years. It has really escalated and has turned into what many would agree with is the biggest problem in Mexico. The drug wars are tearing the country apart. Over the last 5½ years 47,000 people have been killed in drug-related incidents. That is a very large number, and I had to do a double take to make sure I was reading it correctly. The article talks about one of the problems being that local police are paid less than authorities, making them easier to corrupt. This is where the problem starts. If your local law enforcement is working with the cartels you have already lost the fight. That makes the situation seem hopeless. From 2010 to 2011, drug-related deaths in the city of Nueva Leon have tripled. Some of you may remember the attack on a casino that was a weekly world news post back in August. The bodies that were found over the weekend were in the same state that the casino attack took place. That goes to show how dangerous and corrupt it is in that particular region, and I feel bad for anyone who lives there. They can’t possibly feel safe when they go to sleep at night. They need to worry about their own safety and protection, for the local police may be corrupted and not help. The drug wars in Mexico have shown how devastating they are and how much of a problem they have proven to be. I wonder how Mexico is going to solve this problem, if that is even possible.

T-Mart Congo Gorillas
http://tinyurl.com/7k5rx3o

The fighting between The people in Democratic Republic of Congo is causing the mountain gorillas critically endangered species to die out and be hunted. Only two of the 5-mountain protection post are still used today after the fighting intensified and rebels reportedly moved into the area. The gorillas are taking fire from artillery but first they are saving the staff and then are going to come back for the gorillas. According to CNN "Mountain gorillas are critically endangered with fewer than 800 left in the wild in the mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Some 200 are thought to live in the Virunga National Park." The world’s mountain gorilla population is in Virunga and there are only 500 there and 800 in the world. According to CNN "Mountain gorillas are not frequently hunted for their meat, but can be maimed or killed by poachers leaving traps or snares for other animals. They have also been killed for their body parts to be sold to collectors."

Personally I believe that we should help the gorillas and the humans at the same time so we don’t have to go back and risk more lives as it sounds like we could do. I hope that we can save these poor gorillas because there lives are just as important as ours in my opinion. These gorillas are endangered so we must help them so we can save their species. I think we could also promote tourism and economic growth by putting them in a reserve or popular zoos so they can be safe and preserved and fed properly. I can’t believe that these poor species are being shot at and I feel so bad for them and pray that we can save them. I also think it is awful that they are being murdered for their meat or just left there to rot or sold to collectors. I hope that these men are punished and end there war so these gorillas did not have to worry about being pushed around, killed, sold and abused because they were in a battle zone. I hope that these men stop and maybe think about others as they hurt these poor creatures and they should have to help shelter them so they can be safe and they should apologize for what they have done to these endangered mountain gorillas and I hope these men are sorry for what they did and I pray that these gorillas are saved along with these men and there souls

Meister 5-15 WWII plane found
Recently a polish oil worker company worker discovered a plane to have been flown in WWII After 70 years the plane is still incredibly in pretty goo shape. A British historian told cans that “The thing just landed there in the desert and the pilot clearly got out. … It is a complete really (and) an exceptionally rare find. These things just don’t happen. Most of the planes parts are still intact, and in pretty good shape for the amount of time that it was sitting in the desert. The fuselage, wings, and cockpit instruments are still able to be seen and have not been worn down. Egyptian officials have taken out the ammunition and guns for safety reasons. His identity has not yet been confirmed, and it has been published widely in British newspapers. It is said that the pilot was flying to another base to fix the landing gear that had been broken.


I think that this is just amazing thing to find! Ti is awesome that they can find stuff like this from that far back in time. I am just simply amazed that the plane could be in this good of shape so that they could have found it like this. It is really cool how there was still ammunition and guns and that the whole plane was still intact and it had not rotted away over the years. The only thing I wonder is where is the pilot? It is weird just to find an empty plane from that long ago. I hope that he made it out and someway maybe was living after this happened. But I don’t like to say this but I don’t think that that is how it happened, I think that he tried to walk to civilization but just ran out of like and didn’t make it. It is really sad when you think about his body could be just buried under a lot of sand in the middle of the desert. I think that they will probably use this find, and put it in a museum or something because this is an amazing find and I think its awesome how good the plane is, because I would think after that long in the desert that the plane would have rotted away a lot, but it didn’t. I hope and pray that he might have survived, or if not that they will find his body so that they can have a proper burial instead of having home just rot even more in the middle of the Egyptian desert.

Rees make up
http://tinyurl.com/7ra49uv
This article is about how a man survived in the ocean by drinking rain water, and eating rotten fish. He was also spotted by a boat called the Princess Cruise, who did not stop to help the man who lies adrift. This man that survived for 28 days is now suing the company for their neglect and for them ignoring a man who is trying to survive in the ocean off of rainwater and rotten fish. There were about three people on board the ship that noticed this man, and took a picture of him waving his flag asking for help. The ship did not turn around to rescue this man. Now, the Princess Cruise Lines are saying that the captain was never notified of this stranded man, so that is why they did not turn around.
This is a bunch of bologna, in my opinion if these people told the staff of this man trying to survive, either the staff didn’t do anything about it, which is very mean, and should be punished for almost killing a man, or it is the captains fault for not turning around to help the man survive. Now, if it is the captain’s fault for not believing the passengers, or just trying to keep a schedule, I think that the government has failed us if that is the case. We should be more trusting in the people around us, and more loving to those, instead of trying to keep a schedule, or trying to get the most money you can. Back in the old days it wasn’t about who had the most money, it was just about who cared the most or who paid attention and helped the most. Over time I believe the media has changed us tremendously. Over time we started to care about the money, or the body, and not about whom the person is or what kind of heart they have. That is why the old times were much simpler and easier to live then it is today. I do believe this man should win this case on these reasons. I also believe the Princess Cruise Lines should accept what they did is wrong, accept the consequences, fire whoevers fault it is, and most importantly give this man a great apology.

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