Obama Attempts to Contextualize Libyan Airstrikes

President Obama defended his administration's military actions in Libya yesterday, stating that 8 days of missal strikes and trade sanctions were imposed as part of a coalition to prevent leader Moammar Gaddafi from carrying out mass killings of his citizens, according to NBC.

photo courtesy of The Hindu

"We were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale...Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries...As President, I refuse to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action," President Obama said at Fort McNair in Washington.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the actions by the U.S. in Libya have already cost the federal government  roughly $550 million dollars in defense funding. The Obama Administration has said the attacks wouldn't require further funds and subsequent approval from Congress, which the president must consult before engaging in war.

Congress is divided over the President's decision, as are many Americans. A recent Gallup poll estimated that roughly 47 percent of the country approved of the military actions in Libya, the lowest amount of initial support for any military advance, said The Washington Post. Many criticize the engagement of a third conflict while the country currently wages two wars.

Obama also mentioned the overseeing by NATO, which has taken on the responsibility of executing orders from the United Nations Security Council resolution to strike pro-Gaddafi forces. According to Al-Jazeera reports on Sunday, a complete hand-over of operations to NATO would require 48 hours.

"I made it clear that Gaddafi had lost the confidence of his people and the legitimacy to lead," Obama said. "At my direction, America led an effort with our allies at the United Nations Security Council to pass a historic resolution that authorized a no-fly zone to stop the regime's attacks from the air, and further authorized all necessary measures to protect the Libyan people."

Not-So-Cheery Blossoms in D.C.

The 99th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival begins Saturday in the District, despite gloomy weather and even gloomier spirits. After the devastating earthquake and tsunami that shattered Japan on March 11, organizers and visitors are expressing their support and solidarity. As the Statue of Liberty is to France, the famous pink trees that line the Tidal Basin in Northwest are a symbol of friendship between Japan and the U.S.

Many came out on Thursday for a walk and vigil. Japanese ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro Fujisaki expressed his gratitude for the display of generosity on the part of the country, but declined to take further monitary donations. Volunteers with the National Building Museum, who put together a family day of activities for the demonstrated the proper way to make Japanese origami cranes, a sign of propserity and happiness, which will be donated to the Bezos Family Foundation in Seattle. The Foundation has promised to donate $2 per crane, up to $200,000.

According to the Associated Press, festival sponsors Safeway and Macy's will each donate $100,000 to relief efforts, while the festival is itself donating a large portion of proceeds to the American Red Cross.

Around the city, businesses are also helping in the effort. Mint fitness club in Adams Morgan is hosting a special yoga event to raise money, while Japanese and asian fusion restaurants all around town are stepping up to the plate.

The National Park Service said the over cherry trees just fully bloomed, postponed by a cold snap, causing traffic re-routes to accommodate the over an estimated 1 million tourists coming to the area. As the weather warms and spirits rise, those flowers will surely brighten up the Potomac.

No One's Going Loco Down in Acapulco

This year's foreign tourist numbers in the Mexican resort town of Acapulco dropped significantly. After Britain and the U.S. issued travel warnings to citizens telling them to avoid Mexico, one hotel customer service employee estimates his spring break crowd will drop from about 2,600 to roughly 50 or 60.

The reason for the drop-off is the huge number of drug-related violent crime in Mexico in the last few years. According to CNN, more than 1,010 deaths occurred in the beach town last year alone. Such deaths involved shootings, beheadings, and a mass grave with 18 bodies was found an hour away.

Local business owners are banding together to spread a positive message to tourists, saying the violence is drug-related, and therefore won't affect those who come from out of town or aren't involved in trafficking.

Roughly 70 percent of Acapulco's tourism is domestic, while 15 percent come from the U.S., and the remaining 15 percent come from Canada and European countries, according to the city's Office of Tourism.

Such a loss in business is hurting everyone working and living in the city. For now, locals must struggle to keep up a promise of safe hotels and beaches, since the climate of trafficking and cartel crime isn't lightening.

Investigative Report Uncovers Trend of Undocumented Violence in Philly Schools

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Inquirer published the first articles in a series revealing the unreported violent incidents in Philadelphia schools in the 2009-2010 school year. "Assault on Learning" is the effort of staff writers Susan Snyder, John Sullivan, Kristin A. Graham, and Dylan Purcell.

The series discusses various cases, over 4,000, which typically go unreported by teachers and school district officials. The cases include acts of bullying, sexual assualt, robbery, threats, and fights. What has yet to be determined is why schools will decline to contact police or the school district about violence. The article suggests that the climbing rate of violence in the city is ignored so as to paint a better picture of the school system.

The school district had a position for a "watchdog" of violence in public schools, until the job was terminated in 2009. Jack Stollsteimer is the former Safe Schools Advocate. Eliminating the position has left a gap between school principals and the district officials they are required to answer to, and so the true statistics aren't released. Likewise, the district does not always report accurately to police in annual data analyses.

Sometimes, teachers or school disciplinarians will defer a student's case instead of handling it directly. Sometimes the school waits until way after the fact to report it. Many schools have claimed that it is the student's responsibility to report an attack to the district. When the Inquirer tried to contact the principals of the affected schools, only Principal Hiromi Hernandez of Robeson High School gave a comment.

"We do an honest job," Hernandez said. "We're not trying to hide anything. That's the truth."


According to the article, teacher assaults are reported only 50 percent of the time, totaling 690 in all.


The article specifically examines the case of a Cleveland Elementary School student Tamika McNeil, who was routinely teased by classmates, as was her 8-yr. old sister, and was groped by some boys in the cafeteria while other children called her names. When Tamika's mother went to the school and contacted the police, she found that no one in the school had done a thing about it. The attackers were never dismissed from school.


This is the poem she wrote the day of the incident, when she ran out of school and waited for her mother at home:

"In the schools, they're always bothering me.
But if they just take the time to see how much of a good friend I can be.
I'm smart and I'm really fun, and I like to play
and you can speak to me all day.
But no one wants to talk to me.
No one wants to say hi unless they're saying bye girl, please or goodbye.
I just hope one day I'll have a friend I can trust,
but I hope it's soon because I think I might combust."


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/special_packages/inquirer/school-violence/20110327_Inquirer_investigation_shows_widespread_underreporting_of_violence.html

Karma at Work: Baldness Cure Linked to Impotence

A civil suit has been filed by men in Canada and the United States again Merck & Co., makers of the baldness drug Propecia, which the plaintiffs say has killed their sex drive. Propecia contains the ingredient finasteride, originally used to fight prostate enlargement and now commonly found in products to slow effects of male pattern baldness, is known to have sexual side effects. But plaintiffs claim the pharmaceutical company failed to warn users of that fact in North America.

"...in some men - not all - these side effects are persistent," Boston University biochemistry and urology professor Abdulmaged M. Traish told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

What finasteride does is it blocks testosterone production, thus protecting hair follicles whilst simultaneously stunting sexual function. The company insists that impotence, should it occur, is usually temporary, and that only about 2% of users experience it. However, some researchers have seen men suffer the effects for at least 10 years, hardly a temporary condition.

The Sweden Medical Product Agency has issued a public warning for Propecia, while warning labels in the United Kingdom and Italy have also been altered.

The lawsuit is in part a class action suit led by a young Vancouver man.

"After about three weeks all hell broke loose. I more or less became completely impotent," a 26 year old man from Edinburgh, Scotland sad to the BBC.






...As a woman, it may seem insensitive to laugh at someone's pain. As a fan of Seinfeld, however, this just cracks me up!

50 Strangers Find a Connection in 1 Strange Man

The Sean Kelly Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York is exhibiting 50 photographs of New York artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

The somewhat controversial figure's career took off in the early 1970s and carried on until the mid-1980s. Along with gaining a reputation for his nude portraits, Mapplethorpe is also remembered as the longtime companion of punk godmother Patti Smith. The two lived together shortly after Smith moved to New York in the late-1960s, and together they established themselves among the punk underground.

Lisa Lyon, by Robert Mapplethorpe 1982

What makes "Robert Mapplethorpe: 50 Americans" unique is that the selected photos were picked by 50 random Americans, one from each state. Recruited via Facebook and Craigslist, the participants chose the photographs that caught their eye, as instructed by Sean Kelly himself. Regardless of what you may expect, a quiet housewife from Oklahoma may not decide upon a flower print, just like a drag queen from Seattle may not necessarily choose a portrait of Mapplethorpe wearing lipstick.

The interesting thing about him is that he forces you to take a second look. A seemingly simple picture holds a thousand little secrets. What the exhibit represents are 50 moments where someone uncovered one of those secrets.

"Robert Mapplethorpe: 50 Americans" runs from May 6th to June 25th. 

Corbett's Budget Proposal has Schools Up in Arms

Pennsylvania Republican Governor Tom Corbett proposed a new budget last month for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, within which is a dramatic cut to public school funding.

52% to be precise! If the plans are passed by the largely Republican state legislature, the public school system, including four-year state colleges, could lose about $625 million in funding, causing tuition rates to spike, programs to be cut, and hundreds of jobs laid off.



Governor Tom Corbett



In addition, several pre-Kindergarten programs could be terminated. For the last few weeks, students and teachers have protested in Harrisburg, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has expressed his concern for the Philadelphia School district, one of the regions that would be hit hardest by the budget changes. Temple university President Ann Weaver Hart released a video plea to students, faculty, and alumni to contact representatives.

Corbett stated that he wanted to get the state back to its funding levels in 2008 and 2009, before any federal stimulus money was distributed. Corbett also stressed a new policy of accountability on the part of teachers, parents, school officials, and even students.

What also concerns people is the fact that the proposal only lists cut in assistance and education programs, historically the programs with the lowest amount of funding. Nowhere in the plans does the governor suggest implementing new taxes or fees to make up for lost revenue, specifically in the drilling and mining industries.

The plans have to be debated by the state House of Representatives and state Senate before it can be presented to local legislators. Corbett has until June 30th to sign the bill.

Ambler students Take Home Prize at Flower Show

Congratulations to the landscape architecture students who won the Bulkley Medal for Excellence in hoticulture, botany, and conservation at this year's Philadelphia International Flower Show. the school is always a favorite in the education category, and this year they did not disappoint.


To go with the theme of "Springtime in Paris," the Ambler group designed and built their "Écolibrium," a three-part structure inspired by Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, and Lé Nôtre. But with a twist! As a continuation of their studies at Ambler, the group built the display around eco-friendly construction and reusable materials. Home-grown plants and recycled wood to name a few.


L'Orangerie consisted of a pathwork plant roof above a shed, connected to a parterre, a box planter filled with 25 varieties of trees, bushes, herbs, and blossoms. Connected to the roof was a beautiful greenhouse, containing such exotic species as lemons, kumquats, coffee, and pomegranate. On the side was a 22 ft. long canal, or Le Bassin, that recycled its own 1,200 gallon water supply.


On the pathway were Plastisoil bricks, an original material made by a Temple professor. Each brick contains 27 plastic bottles.


If the display is any indication of Ambler's capabilities, it's safe to say their students are looking to the future for design, inspiration, and always have nature on the brain.

What's in a Name? Probably Depends on that Name?

Mayor Harry Baals

Alright, I may try to keep a straight face on this blog most of the time, and I try to pick stories that have what I consider substance. At the same time, I am just a college student.

Harry Baals, pronounced bawlz, the ex-mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was removed from the running for the renaming of a new public building in the city's center. The online campaign to name the structure the Harry Baals Government Center was ignored, in favor of Citizens Square. City officials explained the move by saying they feared Baals's moniker would be mocked. Go figure.

The runner-up suggestion was Thunder Dome.

The four-term mayor served Fort Wayne during the Great Depression and World War II, and was the second-longest serving mayor in the city's history. He already has a street named after him.

Family members may pronounce their name differently, but that doesn't hinder pride for their deceased great-uncle. “I think it would be a great honour to have the building named after him,” said great-nephew Jim Baals. “So many people have voted for it, I say let the people have the say.”

It's unfortunate the public cannot overlook a phonetic coincidence. A man's impressive career can be tossed aside and defamed simply due to a family name he had no voice in choosing.

With that said...1313 Mockingbird Lane, Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe Government Center, The Money Pit, the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too...just a few of my suggestions!

Recent Student Athlete Deaths Raise Concerns for Health Screening Methods

In the past two weeks, four high school athletes have died, three due to cardiac failure, and one cause uncertain. The rate is not unusual, but rather prompts school officials and doctors to consider heightening the level of medical screening for student athletes.

Most recently was Sarah Landauer, 17, from Gainesville, Florida. Landauer collapsed at track practice on Wednesday, the cause of which is still unknown. On March 7, Javaris Dashwan Brinkley, 16, of Henrico, North Carolina died of heart failure during a basketball game. Brinkley was found to have had a pre-existing heart condition. On March 5, Matthew Hammerdorfer, 17, from Fort Collins, Colorado died during a rugby match. Hammerdorfer's cardiac arrest was found to be caused by a congenital heart defect. This was two days after the first student to draw national attention, Wes Leonard, 16, of Fenville, Michigan, suffered cardiac arrest after making a surprising lay-up at a school basketball game. He reportedly had an enlarged heart.

While some organizations, like the International Olympic Committee, require athletes to receive electrocardiograms as part of their physical training, many are reluctant to enforce the policy on schools due to the cost and the frequency of false positives that could keep healthy kids from playing sports.

Studies by the American College of Cardiology, Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, and Harvard University found that implementing ECGs does not effectively isolate medical anomalies from a large sample of healthy student athletes.

What has been adopted are new questions required of athletes, including family history of heart trouble, and personal cardiac history. Detecting this information early may suspend student participation on the field, but it could prevent the 50 to 100 cases of sudden death among young people each year.

Sources:

"How Can Teen Athlete Deaths be Prevented?"

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/11/teen.heart.deaths/index.html?iref=allsearch

"Heart screening test studied for student athletes"

http://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2010/03/by_kay_lazar_gl.html

"Colorado Teen Collapses During Rigby Match."

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/07/colorado-teen-collapses-during-rugby-match-dies/

"Community Mourns Fallen Teen Basketball Hero in Michigan."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/07/michigan.basketball.death/index.html

"Doctors Weigh in on Student Athlete Deaths."

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/03/10/doctors-weigh-in-on-student-athlete-deaths/

Rescue Efforts Bring Full Scope of Earthquake Damage into Focus

Death tolls reached a staggering 1,600 this Sunday as rescue workers continued their efforts to find nearly 1,500 still missing in Japan. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake which hit Friday ignited a series of tsunamis on both the east and west coasts, going down as a the strongest quake on record since 1900, according to U.S. Geological Survey.

Rescue teams arrived Sunday from Los Angeles and Fairfax, Va. 15,000 have been rescued. 1,900 were injured, and more casualties are expected in the coming days due to the chance of a 7.0 quake, likely the result of increased tetonic plate activity. In addition, the violent aftershocks can cause as much, if not more damage than the actual earthquake. Floods have destroyed coastal cities like Sendai and Minami Sanriku, the latter of which still have half its population missing.

Meanwhile, hundreds living north of Tokyo have had to face a possible outbreak of nuclear radiation after a coolant system at a power plant at Fukushima Daiichi were disabled. 200,000 were evacuated and 160 were tested for radiation poisoning. 11 workers were injured at the plant, according to CNN.

The United States, the European Union, and at least 48 other nations have sent aid to Japan.

Raw citizen footage was captured and uploaded to the Internet just minutes after the earthquake initally hit Friday. Youtube.com was a prime place to see first-hand accounts of the damage to homes, supermarkets, and other public places. Relatives in the United States and elsewhere waited days to reach family and friends in Japan, due to the communication problems and power outages across the country.

the Strokes release 1st single off "Angles"

Five years of uncertainty...five years of solo projects that didn't really last...five years of watching the same old interviews, music videos, and awards shows on the internet...five years of an untouched website...five years of old tour dates...and five years of dutifully reading the NME in hopes of any news.

If you're a fan of the Strokes, this probably describes your experience since the release of "First Impressions of Earth" in 2006. A volatile album that, while thrilling to hear, was feared to be the last ever recorded by the seminal New York legends. But now we may rest easy.

"Under Cover of Darkness" was released a few weeks ago, and this week the accompanying video debuted. I can't accurately express how relieved I felt to hear the first few sharp high notes and short cymbals that are so characteristic of Strokes songs. What caught me off-guard was the initial high pitch of Julian Casablancas's vocals. Something left over from his 80s-retrospective "Phrazes for the Young." But don't let that fool you; his typical moaning and and incoherent cries are all there too!

This is also the first time we hear the guys harmonize. Or at least it sounds like it. The fast and sunny tempo makes you worry that it's oddly reminiscent of a Phoenix song. But what makes it all Strokes all the way is the change-off guitar solos by Albert Hammond, Jr and Nick Valensi. Neither musician has changed instruments since "Is This It?" so the sound is nearly unmistakable.

The original studio sessions with producer Joe Ciccarelli for the album were scrapped, setting back the release date further while the band regrouped and changed studio locations. But, finally, "Angles" is set to be released in the U.S. on March 22nd.

Maybe now the late bloomers like myself who only caught them just as they stopped touring in hometown will have their day. After Jack White's announcement, we really needed some good news!