Project Linus' Plan for Japan

Cathy Dyson posted a notice from the Project Linus organization explaining that they are making an extra push for blankets to be sent to Japan. The idea is to get as many blankets as possible to send to children in Japan. The organization also plans to keep some blankets in the US that will be distributed to families that are being evacuated to the US while their neighborhoods are being rebuilt. The article discusses the efforts of the Soldiers Angels organization that will be providing shelter for victims of the earthquake and tsunami. I hope that the blankets that I made will be donated to anyone who survived the catastrophe in Japan.

9 Year Old Risks Life for Sister

A nine year old girl, Anaiah Rucker, has become a hero after she pushed her sister out of the way of a truck. Unfortunately, in the process of saving her sister's life Anaiah lost both a leg and a kidney. Liz Goodwin wrote an article describing the details of the tragedy and Anaiah's feelings about her actions.

Today, Anaiah told Curry that she doesn't feel she deserves to be called a hero. She said her sister "was too young to be hit like this, and if she got hit she wouldn't hardly be alive. She would be probably gone forever."

Four Journalists Live to Tell

Lynsey Addario, Anthony Shadid, Stephen Farrel and Tyler Hicks are four journalists who were captured by soldiers in Libya. It is a miracle that they are alive today to tell their story of being held hostage. The four journalists left with a driver from Egypt across the Libyan border without visas. As they approached Benghazi, they encountered Libyan soldiers who forced them out of the car. They tried to make a run for it but the soldiers caught up to them while they hid behind a one room house. This gripping article composed by them explains their experience while being held hostage. 

"At that moment, though, none of us thought we were going to live. Steve tried to keep eye contact until they pulled the trigger. The rest of us felt the powerlessness of resignation. You feel empty when you know that it’s almost over.

“Shoot them,” a tall soldier said calmly in Arabic.

A colleague next to him shook his head. “You can’t,” he insisted. “They’re Americans.”

They bound our hands and legs instead — with wire, fabric or cable. Lynsey was carried to a Toyota pickup, where she was punched in the face. Steve and Tyler were hit, and Anthony was headbutted."

It is incredible to imagine the amount of danger these journalists subject themselves to get their story. We should appreciate them for their willingness to risk their lives in order to give us the facts. 
After the journalists were caught they noticed a body lying on the ground behind the car. They couldn't tell exactly who it was but they were pretty sure that it was their driver.

"We still don’t know whether that was Mohammed. We fear it was, though his body has yet to be found.

If he died, we will have to bear the burden for the rest of our lives that an innocent man died because of us, because of wrong choices that we made, for an article that was never worth dying for.

No article is, but we were too blind to admit that." 

Help For Japan

After the major disaster in Japan, millions are left without electricity, heat and most importantly, homes. Poverty is spread all over the world, but after disasters like the ones in Japan, some areas are stricken with a large amount of people without any shelter. At this time, it is expected that the rest of the world brings aid to Japan. Help is needed to build shelters an rebuild facilities. Food and clothing donations are valuable as well. In a situation like this, perhaps a simple blanket or stuffed animal would be appreciated as well. Those who lost their homes, lost everything they had. If I was living in Japan at this time I would cherish anything that I can hug and use to keep warm.

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High Poverty Destabilizes Nation

There is much focus on the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but Joe Guzzardi reports about the poverty in Egypt. He writes that, ever since Mubarak's approval of family planning, the Egyptian population has doubled to 82 million. He further explains that,

"More than 15 million Egyptians live on less than $1 a day, a key factor driving last month's protests. The divide in Egypt between rich and poor, where resistance to birth control is high, is startling.
Even though Egypt has severely limited resources, especially fertile land and water (only 3 inches of rain falls annually), the numbers of poor steadily increases."

 Guzzardi suggests that the Egyptian crisis was not only caused by Mubarak's corrupt dictatorship, but also a "failed" population. Overpopulation seems to be the major problem contributing to the poverty issue.

"Egyptian high fertility has imposed costly socioeconomic burdens on the nation. Economic development is stalled and quality of life eroded because of reduced access to jobs, education, water and food.
Little wonder Egyptians took to the streets. But too many decades ignoring an exploding population have left Egypt with few options for future improvement."

How to Make a No Sew Blanket

I plan to donate at least four blankets to Project Linus for my community service project. I have no sewing experience so I decided to use this technique to make fleece blankets. This is a video provided by blanket makers for Project Linus on how to go about making this kind of blanket. It is very simple, so take a look and give it a shot!

Trapped In Poverty

This is a report on people living in poverty who can afford shelter but are unable to afford furniture. Is it worth paying for a home if you are unable to have a bed to sleep in? An organization in Washington D.C. travels around the area donating used furniture to families living in homes who are unable to purchase furniture. Many Americans including children are going to sleep at night without a bed to sleep in. Thanks to this organization, more people are being provided with furniture.

Mental Health Break: Soccer Players Are Muscial Too

The UCSD soccer team make a creative music video while traveling to a game. Not just great athletes but musical too.

Less Oil for Libya

Paul Schemm and Maggie Michael report some of the latest news about the uprising in Libya. After some fighting between rebels and loyalists to Gadhafi, two oil installations were set fire which only further increased the country's energy problems. 
The report also describes Gadhafi's claim in recapturing the city, Zawiya.

"The fall of Zawiya to anti-Gadhafi residents early on in the uprising that began Feb. 15 illustrated the initial, blazing progress of the opposition. But Gadhafi has seized the momentum, battering the rebels with airstrikes and artillery fire and repulsing their westward march toward the capital, Tripoli.

Gadhafi's successes have left Western powers struggling to come up with a plan to support the rebels without becoming ensnared in the complex and fast-moving conflict. On Wednesday, a high-ranking member of the Libyan military flew to Cairo with a message for Egyptian army officials from Gadhafi, but no further details were known."

Obama and his team are working on ways to get Gadhafi out of power and also keep the rebels under control. This will not be an easy task to accomplish and it may take a great deal of time for things to calm down. Hopefully in the mean time the US can try to prevent as much violence and death occurring as possible. 

Would You Give Up the Dollar Bill?

America is in a constant state of fiscal concerns. With the recession under way, the government is always looking for ways to stick to the budget and spend less money. Seth Fiegerman reports about a study showing that the government could save money just by changing the currency.

"Earlier this month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a formal proposal to the Treasury and Federal Reserve noting that if it eliminated the $1 bill and replaced it with the $1 coin, the country could save roughly $5.5 billion during the next 30 years. The reason, according to the agency's report, is that dollar bills have a shorter lifespan than dollar coins because they wear much faster, which in turn requires the government to spend more to print new bills."

This is of course easier said than done. There would be about a four year transition period in which the government would have to invest in the coins. But after the transition is complete, the government would be saving $522 million dollars per year. Fiegerman also reports that it has been noted that when Americans are given an option between bills and coins, Americans will always choose bills.
At the end of the article Fiegerman points out that this proposal has been brought up many times before and we still use dollar bills today, which shows that this idea is unlikely to pass. It is interesting to ponder though, whether or not you would be willing to give up the dollar bill in a time when the government is trying to cutback spending.