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Threads 2.6 10/13/08

precious minerals. Richard Nixon characterized Indonesia

as "containing the regions richest hoard of natural

resources." Eisenhower's administration also set its eye on

Indonesia in 1958 and sought to sabotage Sukarno's

presidency with the same objective - to get to their natural

resources.

When Suharto gained control in March of 1966, the west'sability to influence and trade with Indonesia quickly began

to happen. In a move for the US to rally support of

Indonesians for Suharto, the US sent shipments of cloth

and rice to the country in order to lower the prices for

these commodities.

As Indonesia's borders began to open up, their economy

did increase as a whole, but just as the growth of

Globalization, and its offspring, outsourcing have come to

demonstrate, benefits of this practice helps few and

impoverishes many. In Indonesia, along with many

countries who participate in Globalization - the gap

between the rich and poor grows significantly each year.

Globalization is creating a world of the "haves" and the"have not’s" - a world not out of H.G. Wells imagination,

but rather from our own doing.

Globalization has been praised as the 'civilization of the

new age', the result of this new civilization has, in essence

shrunk and flattened our world. A company no longer

must depend solely on the material and personnel

resources of its immediate surroundings - instead they can

seek out these resources elsewhere. This allows for

companies to avoid restrictions that would normally be

imposed on them by the laws that govern them.

Globalization has allowed for business' to do what they all

strive to do - gain profit while limiting expenses, and many

have done this at the cost of humanity.

On the surface, globalization is a process fueled by, and

resulting in, increasing cross-border flows of goods,

services, money, people, information and culture. But the

benefits of these cross-border flows of goods, services,

money, people, information and culture seem to only go in

one direction - up, to the people and companies who

implement globalization solely for their own personal

gains.

"Around the world, in rich or poor nations, poverty has

always been present. In most nations today, inequality,

the gap between the rich and poor - is quite high and often

widening. Whether the cause is a lack of individual

responsibility, bad government policy, exploitation by

people and businesses with power and influence, or some

combination, many feel high levels of

inequality will lead to problems such

as increasing crime and violence, and

risks social cohesion.

"The latest World Bank figures for

world poverty reveal a higher number

of people live in poverty than previously thought. For

example, the new poverty line is defined as $1.25 a day.

1.4 billion people live on or below that line. Furthermore,

almost half the world - over three billion - live on less than

$2.50 a day and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than

$10 a day," says globalissues.org

This increase in poverty is not a phenomenon of lesserdeveloped countries. The inequalities mentioned above

are most prevalent not in the "third world" countries, but

rather in the most developed countries such as the United

States.

"The US itself also has the largest gap and inequality

between rich and poor compared to all the other

industrialized nations. For example, the top 1% receives

more money than the bottom 40% and the gap is the

widest in 70 years. Furthermore, in the last 20 years while

the share of income going to the top 1% has increased, it

has decreased for the poorest 40%, [emphasis mine] " says

globalissues.org.

It is an interesting coincidence that globalization as we

know it really started to mature with the invention of the

internet, which was 20 years ago. Poverty has always been

an issue in the world, but the inequality that is running

rampant globally has not.

A glaring example of the effects of globalization could be

witnessed in Greenville Michigan in 2006 with the

outsourcing of the community’s largest employer -

Electrolux. Despite government incentives, tax cuts and

community loyalty, the company which was the life blood

of the community for over 100 years moved its operations

to Mexico in the hopes of maximizing profits due to the

lower restrictions on employee wages. When Electrolux

left Greenville in March of 2006, it put 2,700 people out of

a job, which left one quarter of Greenville unemployed.

Similar exoduses of companies are happening all

throughout the US. Some businesses are simply just

relocating their factory work to other countries to take

advantage of lower regulations, or moving their entire

operation to another country, but the toll this is taking on

humanity is becoming more apparent.

"It is reported that about 30% of the world's population is

unemployed. That's worse than the Great Depression, but

it's now an international phenomenon. You have 30% of

the world unemployed, a huge amount of work. That

needs to be done just rebuilding the society alone. The

people who are unemployed want to do the work, but the

system is such a catastrophic failure

that it cannot bring together idle

hands and work. This is all hailed as a

great success, and it is a great success -

for a very small sector of the

population," says Noam Chomsky.

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Threads 2.6 10/13/08

OPINION

Thoughts on the President - Elect

By Chad Heller

As the rain pours outside my bedroom window, Istare at the November 5 cover of The Grand Rapids

Press newspaper with the large, white, bold words

"FACE OF CHANGE" staring back at me. Against a

black background an image of President-elect Barack

Obama looks on as the new face of America, and I

keep thinking about what he'll be up against.

America is still quite

broken in many aspects;

there still exists racial,

economic, political and

social divisions throughoutthe nation. There is a lot of

distrust of the government

and the American dream

as we make this historical

transition to our first black

president. One question on

my mind is - can he help us

heal? This country needs a

lot of healing; will an

Obama presidency be the

first-aid kit the USA so desperately needs?

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will besteep. We may not get there in one year or even one

term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful

than I am tonight that we will get there," said

President-elect Barack Obama in his acceptance

speech. He is well aware of how crippled America is,

and I am encouraged that he seeks to repair damage

that was brought on by years past.

Of all the obstacles and challenges that I see Obama

taking on however, the one that I believe will be the

most difficult for him to take on will be those

brought on by prejudice. There is a segment of oursociety that still finds it difficult to understand that

people of other races and ethnicities are still people.

Within days of the election there have been several

reports of assaults, fire bombings and vandalism

directed at African Americans as a result of Obama's

win. The FBI and ATF have already broken up two

plots to kill Obama. The post election vandalism

included a church burning in Springfield

Massachusetts that had an entirely black

congregation. There was an Obama supporter’s car

set fire in Greenville Pennsylvania, the person

responsible spray painted "Obama" on the trunk

before starting the vehicle on fire. A gang of four

white men in New York beat a Black Muslimteenager while yelling "Obama" because they were

angered at his win. And in North Carolina four

students spray painted racist messages in a tunnel,

saying (in more crude terms) that Obama should be

shot in the head.

These incidents show that tensions in this country

still do exist, and I feel that one of Obama's most

difficult tasks will be

addressing this as

President. These issues are

caused from an irrational

fear and an unjustified

superficial hate. There is

nothing rational about any

of the acts that were

committed, nor is there

anything rational about the

feelings of many of the

people who dislike Obama

simply because of his skin

color.

In the next four years, hopefully the biggest change

that Obama brings to America is that he can show tothese people that their hatred and fears are

unfounded and irrational. That he can prove once

and for all that African Americans deserve the same

dignity as any other person in this country.

The simple fact that Obama was able to be elected

President is a huge step forward, but this progress

has to continue. These racial tensions in our society

are harmful to the country as a whole. Diversity is

strength, not a weakness in any country. Although I

believe hatred is ugly in any form, I also believe

hatred of someone for something so superficial such

as skin color is quite possibly the ugliest form of

hatred that exists. This ugliness needs to be

removed from our society before we can move

forward.

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Threads 2.6 10/13/08

Drop! Cover! And Hold On!

Today, Southern California will take part in the United

States largest earthquake preparedness drill in history.

There will be an expected 5.2 million people participating

in this drill that will begin at 10AM.

Every person participating is expected to "drop, cover and

hold on" as if there were a major earthquake going on.

This is to happen no matter where the person happens to

be, whether they are at home, work, school or shopping.

There will not be any simulated power outages, freeway

closures or other effects because of this drill. This drill is

designed to inform citizens of Southern California what

they need to do in the case of an earthquake. Although an

earthquake cannot be predicted, scientists believe that the

area is long overdue for one.

According to a study done by the 2007 Working Group on

California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP 2007), theirCalifornia Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF) that

predicts the likelihood of an earthquake throughout all of

California says that there is a 99.7% chance of an

earthquake with a 6.7 magnitude or higher occurring in

the region before 2030. The earthquake drill is designed to

educate people on what to do when a large earthquake

occurs.

The "big one", according to the study, is much more likely

to hit the Southern half of California. Although there is no

way to predict when an earthquake will happen, the group

develops their statistics using information they've

gathered from the area’s history of earthquakes to

develop an estimate of the time period when the next

earthquake will happen.

During the drill, the citizens will follow a procedure called

"Drop! Cover! Hold on! in which once the jolt - or, when

the drill starts, a person will drop to the ground, and if

they are in a building, find an object like a table to get

under and to finally hold on until the shaking (or drill) isover. This is done so people will be protected from objects

that may be thrown around due to the shaking caused by

an earthquake. If a table or desk isn't nearby, a person is

told to cover their face and head with their arms.

Studies of past earthquakes show that most injuries occur

when a person is hit by things such as TVs, lamps, glass,

bookcases and other things that are knocked over when

shaking from an earthquake happens. Getting in a door

way is no longer considered safe since doorways do not

offer protection from falling objects and aren't any safer

than any other part of a building.

Although Southern California is known for the frequency of earthquakes, they are not exclusive to that region in the

United States. Each year 12,000 to 14,000 earthquakes

occur, which is roughly 35 per day somewhere in the

world. A majority of these are so small they can't be felt.

Of these, there are roughly 18 major earthquakes that do

occur around the world, and typically one great

earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.0 or above. These

larger ones typically happen along fault lines, but can

happen anywhere, so knowing what to do in the event of

an earthquake is beneficial no matter where a person is

geographically located.

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threaten fertility• A baby in China was born with 16

toes

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Suggestions?Critiques?Submissions?

Send them to:

[email protected]

Thank you.

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Threads 2.6