The tornado that occurred in Oklahoma yesterday was devastating to anyone involved. Briarwood and Plaza Towers elementary schools in Moore were destroyed by winds as high as 320 km/h. Initial reports that the storm had killed 51 people were changed to 24 on Tuesday morning. 7 of the 24 were reported to be children.  President Barack Obama assured the country that Oklahoma would receive federal emergency aid to help with the recovery. 3 people are still missing; everyone else though has been identified and reunited with their family.

I think this tornado is a very sad tragedy. I find it especially awful because it hit Elemenrty School and seven children were killed. I am sure that the rest of the children in those schools will never forget this. I think it is really too bad that no one could have predicted this better. The children shouldnt have been sent to school. I also wonder why at first 51 people were said to be dead and how that number could change so drastically.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/05/21/oklahoma-tornadoes-deaths-children-damage.html

 

If I was able to vote I would vote for the Green Party. I think it is time for a change. The Green Party would focus on the environment which in my opinion is one of the biggest concerns to our future. I want my family and myself to have a healthy future and always have clean air, water and, beautiful country to live in. We should be thinking about our planet. If we keep polluting it who knows what will happen but I guarantee it won’t be a change for the better. Also focusing on the environment could really help the economy in the future. Although the funding for things likes wind turbines would be a huge amount of money right now it would save people a lot of money in the future. It would also create more jobs in Canada just like the pipe line would. The difference is the pipe line would be destroying the environment while the wind turbines would be helping it. I strongly believe people need to start realizing what is really important and that is our future, we need a clean Earth to survive and that could all come to an end if we this up.

I think the voting percentage is so low (about 52%) because we are not taught about how important it really is. This class is the first time I have ever been told why it is important to vote. Many young adults believe their vote won’t make a difference, I think that is a major reason why many people don’t vote.   I think that if the youth of BC actually did vote the results would be shocking and I don’t believe the Liberals would win. The senior citizens have had it the same way for so long they will not accept change and certainly will not vote for it. But young citizens have been taught about the importance of the environment would most likely not chose the same old thing because clearly that hasn’t been working great. Prime example of this is HST. I think it would be really beneficial if we did not have a choice to vote like Australians. I honestly don’t know why the pollsters were wrong. I don’t know much about it and it honestly doesn’t really matter now the Liberals won that’s all that matters.


Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/15/bc-election-pollsters-wrong.html and http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/15/bc-clark-eby.html

    The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in Greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts. Begun in 1897, inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon, and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events. It is one of six World Marathon Majors.

    During the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, two pressure cooker bombs exploded at 2:49 p.m. and shortly after at 18:49, killing 3 people and injuring 264.The bombs exploded about 210 yards (190 m) apart, near the finish line on Boylston Street. The FBI took over the investigation, and released photographs and a video of two suspects on April 18.Two Afghanistan men were responsible for the bombing. Dzhokhar said Tamerlan was the mastermind. He said that he and his brother were motivated by extremist Islamist beliefs and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were self-radicalized and unconnected to any outside terrorist groups, but that they had learned how to build explosive devices from an online magazine of the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. He said that he and his brother had decided after the Boston bombings to travel to New York City to bomb Times Square. Dzhokhar was charged on April 22. He was charged with “use of a weapon of mass destruction” and “malicious destruction of property resulting in death”.

    I am truly sorry for the people who were injured or killed in this bombing. It is really sad that people are so mad that they are happy to kill their fellow men. Americans are probably aware since 9/11 of how terrible terrorism is. I think that is was a very unreasonable and unnecessary thing for Tamerlan to do. The Boston Marathon is supposed to be a safe and fun atmosphere for civilians. People around the world will be affected by this. A primary example is that sadly the Boston Marathon will probably never be the same. People everywhere especially in the USA will be constantly looking over their shoulder. This is not the first attack on the US and they all know it will probably not be the last. The rest of the world knows this too and I think are very aware it could happen to them anytime and anyplace. The Boston Marathon Bombing strongly affected everyone.



Source: BBC.co.uk and Wikipeada.com

               I was watching 60 Minutes and it was showing about China real estate bauble. A whole bunch of middle class people started buying 5 to 10 condos and apartments, that construction businesses where making, thinking they would make a lot of profit. They believed the real estate market would go up triple the amount, and it did making it so no one could afford them. These Building were making new towns right on the outskirts of the more popular cities. This meant they were taking away rice fields and farm land. There were huge towns and cities being made with massive malls, but one thing no people. They said outside of every city or town now Ghost town can go for miles and miles, completely vacant. This was because no one can afford it with the income they make. This made all the middle class who bought them slowly lose more money. Making these building also meant people were losing their old homes, for new apartments that has never been lived in but they can’t afford it. Some towns where built to hold millions of people. If this "bubble breaks" many people who invested would lose generation of investments, and the 50 million plus construction workers would have no were to work. Now like the one child policy, they made the one apartment policy where a family can only buy apartment so many of their generations don't go in debt, trying to invest. Now if they developers can’t afford to pay off the debt, this could have a huge effect in economy, causing it to cease.
    
            It was amazing to see all the cities and malls completely vacant, and they looked bigger then downtown Nanaimo. I don’t think the people in charge of all this put any thought what so ever into it. It seems very foolish to me, they put many people in a bad living situation and ruined farming land. It was also a horrible idea because of all the money and recourse’s you’d have to use to make these buildings that no one is living it; it probably polluted the land as well.  In my opinion nothing about these buildings was a good idea.
Source: TV show, 60 Minutes

    Nigerian Ansaru troops kidnapped 7 construction workers from all over Europe and held them hostage for several days.  They have made several world threatening moves such as, an attack on a police station, kidnapped a French engineer, another attack on a convoy of Nigerian troops heading to Mali, and then the most recent one kidnapping the 7 foreign construction workers. The post on a website by the Ansaru states that they had killed the hostages due to a failed attempt by Britain troops to seize and rescue the hostages. The Ansaru are an Islamist group, forming and trying to get ransom for taking and killing hostages.

     This event is very disturbing, it is surprising that they are getting away with it and that no one has stepped in yet considering how many people have been kidnapped. It is very unnerving to think that this is actually happening in the world. The Islamist group Ansari is a branched Alkaldi group who are taking innocent foreign hostages and making high demands. I hope these demand can be met so next time we look on the news we don’t hear about these people dying.
Source: CNN News

    Margaret Thatcher was a politician who died on Monday of a stroke at the age of 87. Margaret Thatcher, one of the most important British politicians of the 20th century, died Monday morning after suffering a stroke. Thatcher was the first woman to become U.K. prime minister and Britain's only prime minister of the 20th century to win three consecutive terms. After leading the Conservatives to victory in the 1979 election, she shook Britain to its economic roots in a relentless battle to restructure the country. Richard Longworth of the Chicago Tribune described Thatcher in 1989 as "perhaps the most admired, hated, fascinating, boring, radical and conservative leader in the Western world." The next year she would be forced from office by her own party. A Soviet journalist called her the "Iron Lady", a nickname which became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.

Source: Wikipedia

    I think Margret Thatcher was a very strong and empowered woman. She is proof that woman can be in politics and succeed tremendously. It sounds to me like Margret had a long and much fulfilled life, she managed to set very high standards for the man or woman who has to fill her position. She is a great role model for woman and I think that is one of the most important things she has done. Even though her life was well lived she will be missed because although she was very firm and proud, I think her heart was in the right place.
Source: BBN News

 

    In a small town in Canada at Elliot Lake and mall collapsed.  The mall collapsed last June and took the lives of two women and injured several others. Even though this tragedy happens almost a year ago it still affects the whole community. Many people who were there or witnessed the accident are still seeking out help of counsels. The people in the town say that the town has gone back to normal but a “new normal” it will never really be the same for them. The article doesn’t say how this happened just that the roof collapsed.  There was an inquiry made on this incident and people are worried it will just re-opened old wounds that people are starting to get over.

    I think this was a freak accident, and it is very strange that a big building like that would just collapse. I really want to know how it happened, I can only assume the building was old and maybe this town had very harsh weather which the mall couldnt take anymore. I think it is pretty sad and it must be really hard for the people in this town especially because this was probably preventable if the building got an inspection.
Source: BBC News