Gun Control (by HeDou)

When Thomas Jefferson wanted the rights for every citizen to bear arms, he had no idea some day people would invent the automatic weapons. By that time, gun owner had to fill the powder carefully by using a metal stick, take minutes to prepare a shooting. And most likely, he can’t kill anybody even aiming at his target precisely. Jefferson might think: “Let them have it, what the worst could happen, kill your neighbor’s duck?” If the gun owners in current United States want to protect the 2nd amendment, let’s do it seriously. People can have weapons, but only those weapons existed in Jefferson’s era. That way, American can keep the constitution intact and get safer communities in the same time.

Licence to be president ( By HeDou)

In the modern societies, a person would need a certain degree or license to hold practically any job. Sometimes, the degree or the license is pretty hard to get----
for example,
(1) Those in the medical and judiciary fields. It is quite understandable since the decisions in those two fields directly alter people’s life or destiny.
(2) Engineers, educators, vehicle drivers, and even interior designers need particular licenses, more or less, for the similar reason.

But, why in the world there is no license required for becoming the President of United Stated? As far as I can understand, the President can steer the direction of the whole nation , impact the life of everybody resided in the territory. Should he/she at least get a certain type of “driver’s license” or even, for god’s sake, a road test? The process of voting can only give the mandates of the job, which has nothing to do with the qualifications. People choose doctor mainly based on the doctor’s qualifications and experience, nobody choose his doctor by listening the doctor’s debates.
Give them a test! I know it sounds crazy, but maybe we can solve all the frustrations in today’s world by just doing that. For a start, how about try an IQ test?

WM ( Waster Management ) Strike

East bay waste management workers have been on strike for two weeks now. All the green wastes and recyclebles are still left outside unattended. Fortunately they loaded the real garbage away last Friday, otherwise the city could become rotten and smelly, and there is possibility of health problems.

Hope the company can resume service this week. I heard that they have to get emergent waste workers from outside of state as all W-workers of nearby cities are supporting the strike although they are not on it themselves.

Time Share

There are always some calls to give us complimentary gifts such as:

* Hotels rooms
* Toy&Us gift cards
* DVD Players
* Round-trip air tickets

All the terms are very appealing except that you have to listen to some high-pitch sales presentation for about 60--90 minutes. Usually I would say "No" over the phone, which would be much easier than when some smiling agents persuade you to make an immediate commitment to some time share properties which you would't like in the first place.

What makes a MaDonald's Chicken McNugget ?

The following article link comes from Digg News. Just amazing. You would never guess there would be 56 ingredients in McNugget and one of them is even killing. No wonder we have so many cancers, diabetes and all kinds of other disease these days. Remember the 42 years CEO of McDonald just died several years ago ?

http://www.alnyethelawyerguy.com/al_nye_the_lawyer_guy/2007/03/so_what_really_.html

Thrift Shopping

I seldom get any good chance to do thrift shopping before, especially with two restless kids around.

Today I went there for my new home and found it a really rewarding experience. I should have done this much earlier. It was like treasure hunting and I got exactly what I wanted ----

1) A set of solid oak bedroom furniture which includes a vanity table, two fine dressers, two night stands with exactly the color I wanted and a matching bed headboard. All these come with a pretty reasonalble price.

2) Besides, as a bonus, I get a set of fine and pretty China for a very little price. I mean, a really big set of China which includes 12 regular size dish, 12 smaller dish, 6 bigger dish and 2 giant fish plates. It also comes with 8 cups, 2 pots and some other fancy things which I don't know their names yet. I would take the pictures of those and display them later on.
It is something I always dreamed about.

If not mentioning the goods, the old sales lady is a person I have ever met with this extent of elegance and peace of mind. She is a volunteer to work for the thrift shop. She must be very pretty when she was young and always live in decent families. I didn't see any pressure, anxiety or life difficulty presented on her face, like what I usually find from most of people in California. There is an inside tranquility in her. Usually I am an eager person who is trying to finish everything as quickly as I can, but I am calm around her.

I almost forgot the time when I hunted for my treasure in those attics. Every item is unique and is waiting for a particular person to pick them up at a particular time. This feeling is very much different from the department store or mall shopping experience. Over there you are just getting something you need and you can pick them up at any time and there are always going to be plenty of each goods displayed at all these different sizes. There is no story why I just pick this one but not that one, they are just all the same.

At some degree I missed the old era. I remember each cloth of mine is particularly made by a tailor when I was little, in a beautiful countryside of China. From today's aspect, those cloth designs certainly are old-fashioned or even ugly, but it is unique. Now we have those fashion designers in the top of the society and each uniqueness is usually only enjoyed by celebrities.

You may not believe this, but I had dreamed to be a tailor some day by myslef, although my practical training and effort never goes that way. Maybe some day, when I retired, I would pick one of my dreams to implement, such as writting novel is my another dream. But at this age, life is just thrilling and drives fast.

Democracy

2006 Midterm Election, yesterday.

Democrats take control of the house and the senate race goes neck-to-neck with two seats undecided. Possible recounts in Montana and Virginia with marginal leads of two democratic candidates.

People are tired of Iraq war. Now they speak up. Why should president Bush make so many lives die in vain ? Time to pull out the troops from Iraq.

Democratic system may not be the best social system, but it is fair.

Need to mention that the Unites States will have the first female speaker of house in its history.
Will a female president come up in 2008 ? Europe already have lots of female prime ministers
and presidents. America is kind of conservative.

Glad I am living in a liberal state --- California.

商业化的美国

在美国呆了十年，对它的认识不深不浅吧。总体来说觉得美国的商业化是无处不在的，包括教育和医疗系统。

作为一个医生，似乎他（她）首要的任务并不是治病救人，而是搞清那些保险公司的规章制度, 和相应的法律章呈。比如说，哪些检查，药费是在保险范围里的，哪些是得病人自己掏腰包的。如果病人有个不错的保险，这下得了，什么检查都给上，不管是不是必需。 另外, 美国垃圾诉讼很多，医者先得保护自己。结果就是什么都照教科书来，哪项指标不行了治哪项。血糖浓度高了，吃降糖灵；血压高了，吃降压片。窃以为在养生方面，中医的＂固本培元＂似乎更好一些。

＂医之好治不病以为功＂。美国医疗系统还有一大头痛是药厂的推销，花很多的钱来做一些药的研究, 特别是治疗心理疾病的药, 有点效果就积极推向临床, 不做长期的对比实验. 比如很多人长期服用Anti-Depresant,一旦停药，症状会比开始更严重, 只好吃一辈子。 反正也吃不死人。我一同事的太太女儿都吃这种药，辛苦挣的一点钱，基本都送给医生和药厂了。

美国还有一种专门对小孩行为的诊断， 叫"ADHD".开始时大概全国每年只有５０００例，听说２００４年发展到有１５％的孩子被Label，很多无知父母很小就给小孩上药。病和药的机理还没弄清楚呢，药厂就大批量生产了。这种Harmone的药，一时半会看不出什么坏来，但长期肯定不会好。可怜了好多优秀的孩子。

再来说说教育方面吧。象加州这样的地方，中小学教师工资和扫地锄草的差不多，没法活的，很多老师打好几份工。想想这个行业怎么可能吸引 Top Talent 呢？那么教育质量又怎么可能好呢？很多私校想方设法吸引顾客，着眼的显然不是教书育人，而是Balance Financial Sheet.

懒得写了。说起来我对美国社会也许是更了解一些。 随着中国社会的资本化，现在的中国在教育医疗方面又如何呢？