What if North Korea Launches Missile Toward Hawaii

There was an announcement that North Korea might launches nuclear missile toward Hawaii. The rumor is not confirmed, but the United States spy satellites will probably validates whether North Korea is planning another missile launch or not.

If North Korea launches it's missile toward Hawaii, there are several scenario.

• Missile launch fails - This is probably the best outcome for UN and the United States. The UN still has to punish North Korea for violating UN resolution again.

• Missile launches successfully, but misses Hawaii - No one gets killed, but people in the United States will most likely show anger towards North Korea. However, the United States will most likely not declare the war against North Korea.

• Missile launches and hit Hawaii - With U.S. technology, the missile will be shot down, but the United States will most likely enter the war against North Korea despite the fact that China will most likely support North Korea.

• Missile launch never happens - Like this would ever happen.

This sounds bad for many of us, but diplomacy will most likely fail. Even if diplomacy works, it only means that the war has been postponed just like how Henry Clay postponed American Civil by compromising.


Funny Video That I found on YouTube:





Related Posts:

• North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test
• North Korea detained two American Journalists
  

Hillary Clinton Fractures Elbow | Obama Kills Fly

Well, I guess American public needs some comedy in politics.

Yes, American Secretary of States, Hillary Clinton has fractured her elbow by falling in State's Department Garage.

Meanwhile, President Obama killed an innocent fly.

Why Abortion and Gay Rights Debates Last Forever

The social issue such as abortion and gay marriage have existed for a while in America. Some people argue that the issues exist because of different political belief in the term of Conservatism and Liberalism. The team play that exists within American political party is troublesome; yet, that is the political system that American Founding Fathers have envisioned.

Even though the general Americans are educated with American political system, many people lack the knowledge on our criminal justice system. There are two main model: conflicting model and consensus model. Each system is defined as following,

• Conflicting Model - System conflict theory argues that worries over fame, promotions, wages, and success cause the criminal justice system to conflict with itself.

• Consensus Model - the organizations of a criminal justice system either do, or should, work cooperatively to produce justice, as opposed to competitively.

American government is based on conflicting model, which is why the debates on gay marriage and abortion still exists today. However, the mentality of Americans are working in the sense of consensus model. Which means American are unintentionally believing in consensus model to solve social issues in conflicting model justice system.

In the case of abortion, conservatives believe liberals to cooperate with them on abortion issue and accept that all life are sacred. On other hand, the liberals believe conservatives should accept no one should not impose one belief to other.

Obviously, there are more into this issue. But the point is, whether if the government is going by consensus model or conflict model, compromise is essential political action that everyone tends to forget. Instead of compromising, the general American public is constantly attacking each other. The proof of uncompromising action can be found anywhere today, especially with words. Here are the lists of some offensive words by pro and anti- gay marriage.

Anti -Gay Marriage toward Pro-Gay:

• Unamerican (used by conservatives on almost every issue)
• Anti-Christ
• Faggot

Pro-Gay Marriage toward Anti-Gay:

• Zealot
• Bigot
• Hater

I listed only three words from many that the activists from each side uses. Realistically, both side would not win the battle with this kind of attitude.

America is definitely heading toward equality for gay couples, and that would be historical. However, it will keep America divided on the issue.

This might be destiny of America.

Other Related Posts on Gay Marriage:

• California Court Upheld Prop 8
• Bush vs Gore Lawyer Challenge Prop 8
  
• Cheney Reveals His View on Gay Marriage
• Gay Right Activists Won New Hampshire Battle
  

Get Involved:

• Overturn Prop 8 Campaign
• Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance

Gay Right Activists Won New Hampshire Battle

Alright, before I start, I decided to completely abandon news paper summary since you guys can just click the link to read the actual source. I am definitely testing out many blogging strategy. If any of you have any suggestion, feel free to tell me.

The gay marriage bill has passed got signed earlier than I have expected. After Vermont legalized the gay marriage bill, my prediction was that New York will legalize gay marriage before New Hampshire. Obviously, I was wrong.

Now, there are total of 6 states that have legalized gay marriage:

• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Iowa
• Vermont
• Maine
• New Hampshire

Knowing how gay-right activists are concentrating their campaign on New England area, the next state to legalize gay marriage is most likely to be New York after the current governor leave the office.

At the Western front, the gay right activists lost the battle against Prop 8, and the California Supreme Court has recently upheld the ban on gay marriage.

However, according to my observation, these following states will be the next battle ground in the West:

• Oregon
• Washington
• Nevada (For Economic Reason)
• California (to overturn Prop 8)

Nevada gains substantial amounts of revenue from drive through marriage and so on. It makes sense for Nevada government to legalize gay marriage, especially since gay marriage isn't exactly secure at any states.

source: nytimes

Other Related Posts on Gay Marriage:

• California Court Upheld Prop 8
• Bush vs Gore Lawyer Challenge Prop 8
  
• Cheney Reveals His View on Gay Marriage

Get Involved:

• Overturn Prop 8 Campaign
• Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance
  

Did Our Government "Accidentally" Leaked The List of Nuclear Site?

Yesterday, the U.S. government had accidentally published the list of U.S. nuclear site on Internet. The cause of publication of nuclear site is still unknown; however, President Obama and other officials stated that America is still safe because the information were generally known to public already.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/03nuke.html?_r=1&hpw

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Taka Laka:

Do you trust this article?

I have sited my sources in all of my posts, but they are the articles those were written by other people. Hence, the information can be falsified.

U.S. government knows how much medias affect people's mind. If they intend to cause panic in public, they would make a headline news like swine flu. Only after a day, everyone around us made a big deal about swine flu.



On other hand, no one like to hear a word "nuclear" because it causes fears.

So what if the information on nuclear sites were indeed classified instead of unclassified? After all, what kind of leaders want to panic their own people?

The potential of public panic on nuclear fear is immense. It can cause the U.S. economy and social orders to be dysfunctional. So it would be unwise for the government to tell us that the leaked information on nuclear sites were "classified" or "dangerous". But on other hand, is it right for government to lie for sake of Americans, if the the list of nuclear sites has potential to harm Americans?

Again, is this article stating it's truth? Are any articles stating the truth? Is government manipulating our minds?

Republicans Attack Sotomayor On Race

The Republicans have begun their attack on Sotomayor in attempt to block her nomination for U.S. Supreme Court Justice. They try to convince the American public that the race or ethnicity should not be part of the process for nomination.

A Texas Republican, Senator John Cornyn argued that,

“The American ideal is that justice should be colorblind...” -John Cornyn

“As we see people like Barack Obama achieve the highest office in the land and Judge Sotomayor’s own nomination to the highest court, I think it is harder and harder to see the justifications for race-conscious decisions across the board.” - John Cornyn


In other words, the Senator is persuading the American people that the judicial nomination is different from the General Election. The race may be part of criteria for executive and legislative branch; however, the race should not be Judicial branch since the judge must be bias free toward any races.

Republicans are also concerned about the Sotomayor's long record as a liberal activist. But they haven't argued about that point yet.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/us/politics/30affirm.html?hp

previous posts on Sotomayor:

Obama Nominates Sotomayor
Sotomayor Expects Opposition
Abortion Right Activists Skeptical of Sotomayor

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Comment By Taka Laka:

Again and again, why are Republicans attacking Sotomayor based on her race? They are right that the Supreme Court Justice shouldn't be voted based on race, but their attack strategy means nothing in politics. For this reason, Republicans are only assuring the public who already opposes Sotomayor nomination.

Meanwhile, their arguments are doing nothing to persuading the supporters of Sotomayor's nomination. In fact, the Republicans arguments will be questioned by its opponent because majority of American History shows that the Supreme Court Justice was biased towards the other race, and most of them were Whites. Hence, the arguments make the Republicans a hypocrite in the general public eyes.

Yes, the actions from the past shouldn't be used as arguments because the world is different now. But in general, the Americans will look into the past and they will be persuaded by it.

Like I have been saying, the Republicans need to move away from their old political strategy. Well, I don't want them to use the dirty strategy that they have been using in the last 2 General Elections.

Anyway, after looking into her judicial records, I believe Sotomayor is qualified as Supreme Court Justice. I am still little skeptical about her, but her overall records are fairly strong. After all, someone has to balance out Justice Robert.

Abortion Right Activists Annoyed By Sotomayor

Judge Sotomayor has received skepticism from liberal activists days after President Barack Obama nominated her for U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The skepticism toward Sotomayor grew from her judicial records toward abortion rights. According to the activists, there are numbers of court cases where Sotomayor took stand against abortions. Hence, the activists are worried about whether the decision of Roe vs Wade will be upheld or not.

In addition, the evidence of Sotomayor's stance against abortion can be drawn from her criticism toward China enhancing forced abortion for population control. Furthermore, the skepticism grew from her cultural background too since Latinos are largest anti-abortion group in Democratic Party.




However, some Conservatives and Republicans disagree with the activists since even the most radical feminists can oppose forced abortion. Also, the public needs to be aware about the possibility of her being "stealth judge", where Judge Souter was one of them. Judge Souter, who was appointed by the first George W. Bush, believed to be Conservatives who opposed abortion. However, Souter became a swing voter who upheld Roe vs Wade landmark decision. Hence, Sotomayor might be in same category.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28abortion.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hpw

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Comment by Taka Laka:

I will admit, I thought Sotomayor will not face any major opposition except from Republican Party, but I was wrong. I probably should have been skeptical toward Sotomayor during my first post about Sotomayor's nomination after she said.

“our experiences as women and people of color affect our decisions.” - Sotomayor

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” - Sotomayor

Now, just read Sotomayor's quotes, there are possibility that she has her own bias towards some issue, especially the social issues like abortion and gay marriage.

However, we also have to keep in mind that Sotomayor is not campaigning for the General Election. Sotomayor was nominated to become Supreme Court Justice. For this reason, Sotomayor might have been showing off her personality aside from her professional life as a judge. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Sotomayor doesn't know any political strategy on what people can say on media.

For President Obama, like I said in previous posts on Sotomayor, I am certainly unsure on why he chose Sotomayor as a nominee. If Sotomayor is indeed, against abortion, there are high chance that some Senators from Democratic Party will side with Republicans. Which means if Sotomayor's nomination get blocked by the Senates, the vote will hurt the Democrats in the next election since they might lose Latinos support. For this reason, again, I am not sure whether President Obama nominated Sotomayor to gain support from Latinos and make it historical, or he actually made a decision through series of interviews.

Sotomayor Expects Opposition To Her Nomination

Just as expected, Judge Sotomayor will face political opposition from Republican Party.

Yesterday, Sotomayor got nominated by President Barack Obama to become first latina Supreme Court's Justice. Most of the Democrats and some Republicans were thrilled with her nomination. However, the good portion of Republican Party opposes her nomination because they claim that Sotomayor is a liberal activist who is pushing for a liberal agenda. Also, her political views on abortion and gun laws are major concerns for those who oppose her nomination.

For the next few days, the opponents to Sotomayor's nomination will search for any dispute records that she has to prevent the nomination. So far, the opponent can point out her "reverse racism" attitude where she might be biased toward whites. The one incident is when Sotomayor struck down white firefighter's claim of reverse discrimination. No one knows the detail of the ruling yet, but some finds the ruling to be awkward. In addition, they will try to find any information regarding to her tax records or any federal dispute.

Even if Republican shows efforts to stop the nomination, they are still in disadvantage due to their low numbers of seating. Democrats have nearly 60 seats in Senates where Republicans have about 40. Hence, there is a high chance that Sotomayor may win the nomination without the Republican's support. Even among the Republicans, some supports the nomination of Sotomayor. For this reason, the opponents have to convince it fellow Republicans first.

On other hand, the supporters of Sotomayor's nomination is keeping quite so she will maintain her spotlight in media.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28web-court.html?hp

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Taka Laka's Comment:
I am not surprised by the opposition, but seriously, the Republicans need to come up with better strategy to win the support. Yes, searching for her tax record may help to hurt her image as a justice, but it barely means anything. This is not a general election where politicians need to convince general populations through political propaganda or false ads. Only possible way to block her nomination is to convince the Democratic Senators.

Also, I read the article that said Republicans will bring full out opposition to Sotomayor. First of all, what kind of strategists will go head to head against with the opponents with advantage in numbers and supports? In fact, their opposition may well hurt the chance to win the upcoming General Election because the latinos will have an impression that Republicans doesn't like them. President Obama can just state that he nominated the first latina Supreme Court's Justice. Even worse, if the Republicans loses the battle, they have will have an impression of weak party.

I repetitively stated that Republican Party needs to change their political approach and strategy.

Obama Nomiates Sotomayor as a Supreme Court's Justice

For the first time in our nation's history, Hispanic judge might get appointed to the high court. After careful review, President Obama has chosen Judge Sotomayor as a Supreme Court's Justice. The President calls her qualifying and fair, and other Senates said that the diversity in the U.S. Supreme Court is important.

The nomination is indeed historical, but there will be unlikely any shift in power since the previous Jusice, Souter, because even though Souter was nominated by the first George W Bush, he was leaning more toward the Democarts.




Sotomayor grew up in comfortable household, but she also went through hardship as a child when her father died when she was 9 years old. After the death, her mother took care of her until she graduated high school. Later on, she went to Princeton University to study laws.

As expected, there were Conservatives and Republicans opposition to her nomination claiming that her judge is based on her liberal activist belief. But they have little hope to block her nomination since Democrats have near 60 seats in Senates. In addition, moderate Republican like Olympia J. Snowe of Maine is enthusiastic about Sotomayor's nomination. Hence, the Republicans also need to work on to persuade their own party member to block the nomination even before persuading the Democrats.

Sources and picture : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27court.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

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TAKA LAKA's Comment:
The nomination is indeed, historical; however, there is one thing that bothers me. Does President Obama choosing Sotomayor because of her qualification, or is he preparing himself for the next Presidential Election to win the Hispanic voters? Or maybe he is trying to do both at same time. Since I haven't looked into Sotomayor's background and political belief, I can't really tell if she is qualified or not, but she is definitely in bystander's position to get both Democrats and Republican's voters.

On other hand, the Republicans need to step themselves up. But they are still going with their old political tactics to attack the nominee's personal life. The last time they did that against President Obama in the General Election for his connection with William Ayers, they miserably failed. They need to realize that time has changed. With this Internet based society, people are caring less about the nominee's personal life.

This Guy Never Gets Boring

This is just a clip that I stumbled across.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obviously some people wouldn't find this clip as funny, but at same time, this shows us how the American culture. After all, the U.S. is one of the few nations that allow people to bash each other politically to each other or to the government.

Thanks to the first Amendment.

Personally, I prefer Colbert Report or Daily Show since I am liberal.
What is your guys' favorite political shows?

North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test

Again, North Korea has conducted another nuclear test on their land threaten to destabilize the entire North Eastern Asia. Even North Korea's biggest trading partner, China, was opposed to their idea of testing nuclear technology.

Even though North Korea claim that the test was successful, many scientists are skeptical about the claim because the size of explosion was fairly small for today's standard. Their guess is that the explosion was about same size as an atomic bomb dropped into Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They estimated the blast's size by reading the level of ground shake made by the nuclear blast. The current nuclear test is conducted underground to reduce the spill of radioactive materials.

As usual, the United Nation has set up the emergency meeting to decided whether to impose stricter sanctions against North Korea for violating the United Nation Resolution for the second time. During the Bush Administration, the United States relation with North Korea has worsened after the former President Bush named them as part of Axis of Evil. Currently, Obama Administration is attempting to begin the diplomacy with North Korea again, but so far, they see little hope that the diplomacy will succeed.

source and credit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/world/asia/26nuke.html?_r=1&hp

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TAKA LAKA's comment:
Alright, this news shouldn't surprise that many people. We hear about how North Korea is threatening the United States and the rest of the world all the time. The nuclear program in North Korea is threatening, but their military power is far a world threat. Even though North Korea has estimate of 2million foot soldiers, their weapons are outdated. Some of the reports claim that North Korea is still using F-4 fighter jet, which is almost outdated by 40 years. In order to become a strong military nation, one nation needs strong leadership, resources, and economy. North might have strong leadership, but they don't have resources nor economy. We need to be cautious of North Korea, but media is overstating the issue, just like swine flu.

Related Posts:

• North Korea Detains Two American Journalists
• What if North Korea Launches a Missile Toward Hawaii
  

Alliances Made In Middle East

Since the U.S. led invasion to Afgahnistan began after the attack of 9-11, Taliban has aggressively expanded its power from Afgahnistan to Pakistan regions. After committing to series of efforts to stop the Tabilan from expanding, the leaders of both nation turned to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran.

The decision to rely on Iran was made because the problem with Islamic Extremists can be dealt better with the people from the Middle East itself, not the Western nations. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that he wanted to help out these two nations; however, the interaction from the United States has created the set back to the efforts to stop Taliban.

Using this moment as an opportunity, President Barack Obama decideds to begin diplomatic talk with Iran again. The President hasn't decided when yet, but he is looking into the time during the election in Iran.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html?hp
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comment by Taka Laka:
Just like everyone else, I am very skeptical about whether this alliance would actually work, or even worse, I am not sure if the alliance would last. However, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pointed one good point. The U.S. interaction in middle east has created series of problem. The concept of democracy sounds great to us, but that never means our political system would work on other nations. Yet, that never means that we cannot interact with these nations. Us, as a nation, needs to be careful and give respect to these nation's culture and history when serious political actions such as war.

Gates takes Obama's Side

After about hour and half of speeches given by Dick Cheney and Barack Obama, the secretary of defense, Robert Gate has taken the President's side on the issue of Guantanamo's Prison. The logic behind Gates' support for the President is that the prison at Guantanamo is sparkling anger among the terrorists toward the United States. Hence, the prison is endangering Americans more than protecting them. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/us/politics/22obama.html?hpw )

This could means several thing, but I will only point out of them. Robert Gates' support for Obama shows how divided the White House was among the cabinets. After all, the government has appointed new generals for Iraq Wars, possibly because the general themselves were against the Iraq War. Dick Cheney needs to receive support from other big name in order to keep himself in spotlight. The prominent Republican, Collin Powell, also supports the President.