culture_shock's blog

This week, the Western Shoshone tribes have acquired a victory at the United Nations Committee on racism. CERD, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination told the US to stop destructive land-use practices that it has previously been using on sixty million acres that the Shoshone tribes claim as their own land (Nevada and parts of Idaho, California and Utah). The US is to stop these practices until a settlement is reached on the land.  Read More »

The country of India has become a very important place for pharmaceutical companies to test out their new drugs. This is mainly because of India's many English-speaking doctors and the high number of ailing patients in the country today. Also, many of these patients are not used to drugs, these treatments being the first that they have every had. Along with the patients not asking questions, this allows for the security of knowing that treatment will mix with other drugs.  Read More »

The region of Darfur in Sudan has been in crisis for the past three years, with over 10,000 people dead. Fighting between government-backed Arab militias and non-Arab rebels has forced two million people out of their homes, rape, looting and murder being very common.

The UN has been asking countries with strong militaries to provide air support in Darfur. Aid groups have asked that countries focus on saving lives and not which country gains control over the mission. Oxfam has stated that the solution would be to help African Union forces and provide a bigger mandate to them in order to help protect the people living in that area.  Read More »

While I was in college in Ireland, we were told to write a personal narrative on an important event that has happened in our life. For me, one of the most amazing things that has happened to me has been my trip to New Zealand in the summer (their winter) of 2004. I decided to write about this experience and I thought I would post it here just to let everyone know (if you didn't already) how amazing New Zealand really is!   Read More »

When most of you hear the geographical term Black Hills, you probably think of
Mount Rushmore, the mountain that showcases the faces of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. These faces were carved into the rock face more than one hundred years ago, and they are a prominent sign of American nationalism. What's the problem with that, you may ask? The problem is simple. Hundreds of years before white-European settlers even settled the Western frontier, the Lakota Sioux tribes of North America held the lands of the
Black Hills as sacred.  Read More »

This is pretty interesting. I recieved it through a forward, so I'm not sure if these facts are actually correct, but if they are...I never would have guessed!

 Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind,
one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?

Read the next question before looking at the response for this one.

Question 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three
candidates.
Candidate A. Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologist. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B. He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey
every evening.
Candidate C. He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife. Which of these candidates would be your choice?

Decide first... no peeking, then scroll down for the response.

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.
And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question: If you said YES, you just killed Beethoven.
Pretty interesting isn't it?
Makes a person think before judging someone.
Wait till you see the end of this note!
Keep reading... Never be afraid to try something new.

Remember: Amateurs...built the ark. Professionals...built the Titanic.

And Finally, can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following
statistics:
* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 7 have been arrested for fraud
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
* 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
* 3 have done time for assault
* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year...

Can you guess which organisation this is?

Give up yet?

It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.
The same group that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.  Read More »

I really dislike when people are upset about immigration into
America. My own father always seems to be upset that a lot of American’s don’t even seem to speak English anymore. While my dad is not hardcore anti-immigration, some of his views still greatly upset me.

   Read More »

I believe that adoption is a very important thing in todays world. In the future, and even today, over-population is a big threat and could even become our downfall. There are thousands, probably millions of children living out in the world today who do not have a family and are living in the poorest conditions. Yet, families continue to pop out baby number five and raise their nice, healthy children. Meanwhile, we're running out of places in the world to put all of the people. There's a simple solution to over-population and that solution could also help to take thousands of young children from poverty and disease.  Read More »