Jan 13
The U.S. federal minimum wage was first established during the Depression, and since 1933 has risen from 25 cents to $7.25 per hour. As it stands now, three years will have passed since the last increase in the federal minimum wage, which is currently just over $15,000 a year for a full time worker. Can …
Apr 08
Is it time to start thinking differently about homelessness? There’s a broad spectrum of approaches and opinions surrounding homelessness in the US and its assumed you are somewhere on that continuum. The Veteran’s Administration and Barack Obama have declared to end veteran homelessness by 2015, although results and progress remain to be seen. What if …
Oct 01
This week I stumbled upon some thrilling news: The Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 (UAA). This fancy little piece of legislation goes into effect July of 2014 and may be a push in the right direction for addressing the loopholes in existence within the international adoption process. So what is the UAA? This document, signed …
Sep 20
Some people might wonder why I am writing a blog post about the South Thailand Insurgency. It is well known that this Islamic insurgency took place in 2004 and had experienced its peak in 2007. It may seem like an outdated conflict that had dissipated throughout the years, but it is in fact still an …
Sep 18
The religious crisis in Arakan state, Burma against the Rohingya Muslims is escalating by the second. I had previously written about this subject in my blog posts, but I want to update everyone on what is currently going on. To briefly explain what the conflict is about, there are groups of Buddhist extremists and Burmese …
Jul 31
I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want to live in fear of every person who comes to the door. The plumber, the electrician, the cable guy. The mailman, the FedEx driver who comes to drop off a package on the front steps. The new neighbor …
Jul 24
Nguyen Van Hai, a 12 year sentenced prisoner in Vietnam, has been on a hunger strike for 30 days in his prison cell to protest against poor treatment in jail. However, he should not be in jail in the first place. He is one out of 43 of bloggers, journalists, and political activists that have …
Jul 23
In the past, when I asked my father whether he wanted to immigrate to another country, he refused without any hesitation. Now, he might hesitate due to a new concern – food. It’s not because he could not get enough to eat, but because there is very little food unpoisoned in China. Chinese people make …
Jul 22
A couple months ago I wrote about violent conflicts on the Turkey-Syria border, as well as the mounting dissatisfaction with the Turkish governments handling of the situation, and since then the situation has, unfortunately, deteriorated further. There have been numerous outbursts of violence in the intervening months, with the most recent clash having occurred over …
Jul 15
Americans always ask me questions about China to which they have already have answered in their mind. Among them, “do you have siblings” is the most popular one, and maybe the most unnecessary one. Exactly as same as their expectation, my answer is “no.” After that, without any exception, long conversations about China’s One-Child Policy …
