Smiling Saddler

April 19

Proper Research

I've been tracking some of the stuff going on in the news with China and Tibet, and of course some of you know we talked some about the so-called Western bias in the media. I am not here to say that Western media and journalists don't have bias. All people have biases. Good journalists try to eliminate as much bias in their reporting if possible, but it does not always happen.

However, I am disturbed about this outcry and accusations about Western media bias. Some of you know I was looking at one of the anti-cnn websites today. I am of the view that you can post your opinions on the internet. I'm also of the opinion that you should be responsible, honest and accurate if you're going to publish something online. This standard applies not only to journalists but to private people. It's wrong to distort or misrepresent the truth whether or not you are a journalist or a private individual. Unfortunately, this website I was looking at is guilty of the very thing they are accusing the Western media of: distorting the truth.

The three things I checked out were these. 1. The website said Fox News showed a picture of Indian soldiers carrying a protester and saying those were Chinese police. If you go to the Fox website itself and view the picture, the caption to the picture clearly states those are Indian soldiers in India carrying a protester. 2. The website showed a picture from the Washington Post in which a Nepalese policeman was about ready to hit a protester. The caption stated it was a Chinese policeman. In this case, the Washington Post did have a mistaken caption. But, if you visit their site, the Washington Post has already made an editorial correction and has stated the correct information that it was a policeman from Nepal. In other words, they were notified of the mistake, and they fixed it. The anti cnn site has not given that information. 3. I watched the interview on CTV in which the Chinese ambassador to Canada was interviewed. The anti cnn website claims that a video of police in Nepal was shown to demonstrate the Chinese ambassador was lying. Well, that video was showed for about 30-45 seconds, but nowhere does CTV claim it is Chinese police nor does it seem to even be trying to prove the Chinese ambassador is lying. In fact, the reason for the interview was that protests about China and Tibet were spreading to other parts of the world, and it seems the video is shown to show a protest in another part of the world other than in Tibet. Further, the man interviewing the ambassador was very polite and gracious to him, and in fact suggested by his words that he felt people were being to hard on China.

I mention all this to say this. If someone is going to accuse Western media of bias, then one needs to research Western media sites. Watch their news shows. Visit Cnn.com, foxnews.com, latimes.com and so on. Quite frankly, it's bad research to get one's information from anti western news sites such as anti cnn. To anticipate someone who might say that I might not apply the same standard to myself, I would say I would. If I were to accuse the Chinese news media of an anti-American bias, I need to actually watch and understand the Chinese news. I need to research what they say. If someone else tells me or shows me a video clip that supposedly shows someone saying something bad about the US, then I should find out where that person got the clip from, go directly to that source to make sure he is not attempting to distort the truth.

One other issue I want to tackle here. Again, I am agreed that there is bias in Western media. Why? I don't know. Maybe because China is still controlled by the Communist Party. That could be something to do with it. But the question is not, is there bias in the Western media. Rather, we should ask, is the bias at a level low enough where you can depend that news media is making an honest effort to treat the topic as fairly as possible? How do you know if they are making this kind of honest effort? The first way to find out is really simple. Is the news source giving 2 sides to the story? In this situation, is the media giving the Tibetan side a chance to talk and also the Chinese side a chance to talk? In the video I watched from CTV, the reporter gave the Chinese ambassador about 5 minutes to state his side of the story and then he gave about 5 minutes to someone on the Tibetan side to state his side of the story. At least in that case, that seems fair and reasonable. From my limited reading about the protests, it seems that most of the news agencies are stating both what Tibetans are saying about deaths, injuries, arrrests, and they are also reporting what the Chinese government is saying about the same topic. I might add that in these reports, they don't tell you what side you should believe, they let you the reader make that decision. How about pictures. I've seen pictures of Tibetan rioters throwing things at Chinese police and soldiers in Western media. I've read accounts of protesters killing Chinese people. My conclusion so far based on my limited reading and watching is that it seems there is an effort being made to give both sides to the story. That's on the news reporting front. If you disagree with me on this point, just remember this. I really have no opinion on this issue about China and Tibet at the moment which means there is no close emotional connection to the issue. This probably means I can probably look at this a little more clearly without too much bias in the way.

Now part of journalism nowadays involve what are called editorials and opinions. These are separate from news reports. When reporters give the news, their job is to give the news and find out all sides of the story as best as possible. But, editorials and opinions are just that, a chance for someone to express his/her opinion, or in other words, a chance to express their bias and what they think and believe. It is important that one distinguishes an opinion piece from a news report. They are 2 different things. Obviously with this issue, some people are very emotional and charged up about it and so someone who might feel very strongly pro-Tibet may say something in their opinion piece using very strong language against the Chinese government. Obviously, some people will find it insulting and offended, but in an open society where free speech is allowed, some people will always get offended. Heck, I get offended almost every week by something I see in editorials or opinions. But that's okay, they can express their opinion, they have that freedom and right under the Constitution. You don't have to listen to him/her; you can say he/she is wrong. People here can say things supporting Tibet, they can say things supporting China. Anyway, just remember if you hear someone express an opinion on a news show, it's most likely he/she is not giving a news report, but rather it is the opinion/editorial segment portion of the news. When that happens, almost anything goes, provided he/she expresses his opinion in a fairly civil manner.

I will sum up with an admonition or appeal. Be careful what you do. Think carefully about things; research carefully before coming to a judgment or an opinion about something. Don't rush to a conclusion without having given quality time and thought to it first. Evaluate all things carefully and try to keep an open mind and look at things from different points of view. I know that might sound funny coming from a Christian who believes that the Bible is the truth for the entire world, but I would say that one of the reasons I am now convinced of the Bible's truth is because I've kept an open mind and have researched and thought carefully and so on...and it has led me to that conclusion. Research carefully and think clearly.

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December 31

Day 6 - Mount Vernon

New Year's Eve is the final day I got to be here. The only thing I had planned was to go to Mount Vernon since I figured it would occupy at least a good 3 to 4 hours. So I let myself sleep in a little since Mount Vernon doesn't open till 9. I took off and stopped by Krispy Kreme. I forgot how good those things are. It's a good thing there is not a Krispy Kreme too close to me. I'd probably stop there way too often.

Well, I went to Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate. I must say that it was quite impressive. I enjoyed the tour of the mansion and the walk around the estate. It was quite beautiful. Plus, learning about George Washington was quite fascinating. What a great guy. Most heroic characters in US history seem to have their critics, but George Washington is almost Teflon. He doesn't seem to have too many critics.

Following Mount Vernon, I drove down to a Cracker Barrel and had their classic Chicken Fried Chicken. That stuff is grubbing. I decided to drive back to the hotel as I started to come down with a headache, and I'm afraid I'm getting a cold. Oh well, glad it's now and not 3 days before. That's all for now...signing off.

Day 4 and 5 - Traffic, then battlefields

I'm not going to have much about Day 4 (Saturday) since I didn't do all that much. I didn't really have a plan for Saturday, plus I was kind of wiped out after Friday. So, I woke up, and I decided I would mosey on down to a shopping outlet place called Potomac Mills about 30 miles south of here. I got there, and there was an AMC, so I decided to watch the morning showing of National Treasure. It was a pretty fun movie, good action as I expected. Obviously, they repeated some of the same ideas from the first one, but it was still fun. Following that, I walked around the shops a little bit with the idea that I might buy something if there was a good deal. But, after visiting a couple shops, I decided I didn't want to spend any more money, so got out of there. Well, sort of. It took a while to navigate the traffic and also to get some lunch at Chik-Fil-A. Afterward, I decided I would try to visit the Fredericksburg battlefield. So, I drove farther south and completely missed the exit for the darn thing. 15 miles later, I finally realized I missed it. So, I turned around and started heading north on the I-95, thinking I could get back to the battlefield quickly. I was wrong. For some reason, it seemed like everybody and their freaking mother was driving north to DC on a Saturday afternoon/evening. I have no idea why. So, by the time I got to the battlefield, it was starting to get dark, so I decided to keep heading north on the freeway. Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad, it took me an hour and a half to go 35 miles...ridiculous. And did I mention that I took a wrong exit? That added another 40 minutes to the drive. So, by the time I got to the hotel last night, I was wiped out, even though I did almost nothing but spend time in the car going 20 miles an hour. Aaaarggghhhh. It even made driving in LA not seem all that bad. :-)

Today was better. I had more of a plan. My original plan was to go to Fredericksburg and then Mount Vernon, but to sum up, I spent the day in the Fredericksburg area. I first visited the Fredericksburg battlefield (well mainly the most important part of it). Again, it was the scene of a Confederate victory. Burnside (the main Union general) ordered an idiotic attack of the army up a hill against defenders who were well entrenched behind a stone wall. When the Union soldiers attacked, the defenders basically would fire and were guaranteed of hitting someone. I walked through the cemetery as well. There are so many graves there; it's almost overwhelming. It's easy to think of the battle dead as just a statistic. But when you think about it, each individual soldier who died there had a family, friends, a wife, a girlfriend, children, and other people who cared for him. To those people, that soldier's death was not a statistic. It must have been devastating. It's easy to forget that when you are thinking about these battles. These were real people who had individual stories, just like you and me.

I then drove out farther to the battlefield area of Chancellorsville. This area is a little different as much of the battlefield is wooded. In fact, the trees are so thick in some places that it's hard to imagine having a battle there. I would have not liked to fight there as a soldier, that's for sure. Anyway, I did a 3 mile walk through the main battlefield area. It was quite peaceful for the most part. It's crazy to think that there were over 100,000 men in the area I walked through 144 years ago, many of them either wounded or dying. I did find the walk relaxing, even though my right knee was bothering me a little.

I was somewhat hungry after that and stumbled across a Fuddruckers back in Fredericksburg. I thoroughly enjoyed that burger. It's been a while since I've had Fuddruckers. I then drove a little further south to the Stonewall Jackson shrine. This is the house in which Stonewall Jackson passed away. It's quite a solemn site, a very peaceful place. There isn't really anything else around it. I'm certainly glad I drove down to visit.

My day concluded by driving back to Alexandria. Surprisingly, the traffic was moving much better, and it was raining almost the whole time. My day ended by going to Barnes and Noble and acquiring 3 books on sale. :-) Can't resist sometimes. Tomorrow...hmm...Mount Vernon for sure, and then if I have time, into D.C. There's a New Year's Eve party in Old Town Alexandria, so I might check that out. I'm sure I will report on it tomorrow.

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December 29

Day 3 - Washington D.C.

Today, I decided to spend all day in the capital city. I woke up a little later and took my time getting into the city, but I was able to get there by riding the Metro by 9:30 AM. I somewhat mapped out where I was going today, and it started with the Smithsonian, National Air and Space Museum. That place is very, very cool. If was a kid, I would want to spend the whole day there. Heck, I kind of felt like spending the whole day there myself. :-) Like the name says, it's dedicated to flight and space. They have airplanes, full scale rockets, some of the spacecraft, moon rocks; it's pretty amazing. So, I had fun exploring around for a couple hours inside. Following Air and Space, I trekked down to the US Capitol. It really is a fairly nice area. I'm sure other parts of DC aren't so nice, but the walk to the Capitol was. No wonder there are so many joggers that I saw. I hung around the Capitol area, got some good snapshots and then left.

My next stop was the Museum of Natural History...side comment coming. One reason why I decided to come to DC in the winter time was to avoid the crowds. Unfortunately at the Museum of Natural History, I did not avoid the crowds. If it's not crowded during the winter, I can't imagine how packed it must be during more popular times for travel. That place was packed. I wanted to spend more time there but was not feeling like mingling with so many people. But, it is a cool place as well. They have quite a few fossils, dinosaur bones, mammal bones and so on. Obviously, the displays were setup in an evolutionary fashion. Funny thing I was noticing as I was looking at the fossils...they didn't have any transitional fossils on display. Hmm...I wonder why that is? I saw fish fossils, dinosaur, turtle, alligator, rhino...etc... but not in betweeners, you know half fish, half frog or whatever the transitional form is supposed to be. Well, that's my comment on that for today. :-)

My next stop was the National Archives. Well, first I stopped for a Polish sausage across the street. I'm glad I did since I had to stand in line for a while. One of my favorite movies is National Treasure. I believe some of the scenes were filmed at the Archives, so I enjoyed being there. Once inside, I eventually got to the main rotunda which houses the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration is starting to fade pretty badly, but I'm glad I got to see those documents. I must say that the founding fathers first of all had a lot of guts. To rebel against the king meant they were literally putting their necks on the line. Second, the founding fathers were pretty smart when they wrote the Constitution. They had a great understanding of human nature and so did not put too much power in the hands of any one person. I think it's pretty impressive when we as a country are still essentially governed by a document that is now 220 years old. We've only ammended it 27 times in our 220 year history. Pretty good I would say.

By the way, maybe some people are related to animals. Based on intelligence or lack thereof would put them in the category of animal. I saw a few at the National Archives. The policemen must have repeated 20 times to people that you can't use the flash on their cameras in the building. Plus, there are signs telling you not to use your flash every 20 feet or so. And yet, we get to the main documents and guess what, 2 or 3 flashes go off. Good grief, some people sure are "geniuses."

I then went to find the Post Office Pavillion. I went up to the tower, and you get a fairly decent view of the city. Unfortunately, there are these black wires on much of the windows, so they somewhat obscure your view. Nevertheless, I'm glad I went up. You get great views of all sides of the city. There's a particularly great view of the Lincoln Memorial from there. I then did a little souvenir shopping (for others) and then trekked down to the White House. I took my obligatory pictures of the White House and then decided I was tired, and it was getting dark anyway, so I hopped on the Metro, grabbed dinner and now I'm here.

It's been three days, and I'm feeling like an old man. My feet are sore; I'm exhausted, but I'm having fun. I might go to bed early tonight though. I haven't quite planned what I will do tomorrow. I might go back into the city, or I might venture out to Fredericksburg, Mount Vernon, or Williamsburg. I will think about it. After 3 days of this, I'm glad I decided to take this trip. However, I must say after 3 days of more or less being by myself, I've concluded I would prefer to do these kind of trips with other people...at least one other. I have more flexibility by myself, but I prefer companionship, and I think these things are better enjoyed with other people. Well, in the future, hopefully I will have that chance. But for now, I will make the most of my next 3 days to explore. More to come tomorrow!

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December 28

Day 2 - Manassas to Haper's Ferry to Washington D.C.

My day started around 7 AM. I got a decent amount of sleep, but I was stinking hungry when I woke up since I had no dinner the night before. I checked online and decided to go to a Cracker Barrel in Manassas, VA to have a good country breakfast. If you have never gone to Cracker Barrel, make it a must do item. I recommend dinner more than breakfast, but breakfast was good as well. Following Cracker Barrel and my morning coffee, I went to the battlefield at Manassas. This battle was the first major conflict of the Civil War. Most of the soldiers who fought in this battle had never fired a gun at a person before nor had they ever been fired upon. No wonder so many soldiers ran that day. I probably would do the same thing if I heard bullets going by my head and saw some of my comrades fall down after being shot. Manassas reminded me of Antietam. It was fought over open fields, not a lot of trees for cover. Though, it seemed like a much smaller battlefield. By the way, for some reason, the North named many of their battles after bodies of water, while the South named the battles after any nearby town. I have no idea why. Maybe it was just to be different.

Following Manassas, I decided to drive up to Harper's Ferry, even though my right knee was (and still is) bothering me. I feel like a wimp as my knee was bothering me after 15 miles of using my right leg to press the gas pedal. But, it's not too bad. Stretching it out and walking quite a ways today helped out a lot. Harper's Ferry is pretty cool. It used to be a very important town through the beginning of the Civil War since many weapons were manufactured there. But, I guess the town dwindled after that. Anyway, it's made to look like the town looked during the Civil War. Many of the buildings are restored to what they looked like during the Civil War. It's pretty cool. I walked around there for a while, did a little hike. On my way up the hill, I ran into the town's cemetery. ** Warning - semi-somber thinking** Some of those gravestones are around 200 years old. I was thinking how people talk about how they will be remembered after they died. I'm not so sure. You look at the gravestones, and on many of them, you can't even read the name anymore. It confirms for me even more that we have only been given one life to live. While on this earth, we must make the most of the time we have been allotted. We don't know when our time will come, but in the end, our bodies end up in the ground, and our names fade into forgotten memory. I guess this thought would be depressing for me if I believed there is nothing after death...but I believe after I die, I will go to heaven...but I also know that God wants me to use the time He has given me in the best ways possible while I still breathe....okay reflective moment over. :-)

Well, while at Harper's Ferry, I got a call from Peggy as she and the others were in Washington D.C. I took off for D.C. but didn't get there until after 5 PM since it took a while to drive back to the hotel and then get on the Metro. But, I eventually got to D.C. right around sunset. By then, I was trying to meet up with Peggy, Crystal, Ricky, Ted, Edison, Samuel, Seung, and Jason. They were at the White House, so I started walking there and just before I got there; Crystal called and said they were going to the Jefferson Memorial. Well, I was dumb because I left my guide to D.C. in the car, so I wasn't entirely sure where I was going. Fortunately, I had a rough idea, though I'm sure if I had a map, I would have found Jefferson Memorial a little easier. Anyway, I booked to Jefferson Memorial. It's a pretty good walk from the White House to there. If I had to guess...1.5 miles...maybe 2. Or maybe it just felt like 2. I don't know, but I was walking fast. I caught up with them at the Memorial about 5:45. It was fun to see them. I got to ride on their bus to the Lincoln Memorial after that which was nice after the walk I did. So, I got to hang out with them for an hour or so. Not as long as I would have liked, but they are on a whirlwind tour I think. Anyway, I hope they enjoy it. I think they're going north again to Niagra Falls and then Boston. I'm a little jealous. I think it's going to snow in Boston.

Well, I decided to go back to the hotel after that. I think I figured out the Metro finally, though I think I lost the fare card on which I paid $20. :( My own fault I'm sure. Just being my usual harebrained, forgetful self. Tomorrow's plan is to spend all day in D.C. I haven't decided when I'll leave...but somewhere between 7 and 8 in the morning I think. I want to go to the main Smithsonians. I'll try to do my souvenir/gift shopping tomorrow as well. I don't know if I'll buy much else for myself. I think I will try to find a few things for others. Well, more to follow tomorrow.

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December 27

Day 1 of Christmas Trip - Gettysburg and Antietam

Well, I guess my "day" actually started on Christmas night, though the flight really didn't leave until midnight. I can't believe how many people were traveling on Christmas night! LAX was crowded. In my opinion, waiting at the airport is just about as exciting as watching paint dry. But, the flight was fairly uneventful...a little turbulence...and a crying baby right behind me. Such is airline travel. :-)

I arrived in Dulles at 7:30 AM this morning. From there, I picked up the rental car and drove out to Gettysburg, PA. I must say, the east coast has much more "character" than Los Angeles. It feels more historical, less crowded, more homelike in a sense. The places I drove through today reminded me of old-fashioned Christmas cards. Anyway, I got my Starbucks and arrived at Gettysburg around 10:30.

What a sight! I saw Gettysburg a long time ago, but I remembered almost none of it. The battlefield is absolutely huge. It goes for miles and miles. I can't describe all of it, but I'll just talk about a couple things. For one thing, I can see how important attacking Little Round Top was, but the Confederates had to attack going uphill, and they were already tired. What was the general thinking? And, I looked over the field on which Pickett and his troops made their infamous charge. They had to march over 3/4 of a mile over open fields. The Federal army would have a clear view with their cannons and rifles. I don't know what Lee was thinking when he ordered that charge. Heck, I don't know what most of the Civil War generals were thinking when they ordered charges like that. Old tactics with new technology almost never works.

Well, my next stop was Antietam. I didn't have as much time there because it was starting to get a little dark. It also was raining, and I was a little afraid the roads would start to freeze, but fortunately, they did not. Anyway, Antietam is also another large battlefield. It's different than Gettysburg, though. There's not as much high ground, and it's even more open. It doesn't surprise me that it was one of the bloodiest battles in United States history.

I decided to head to the hotel where I'm at now. It took longer than I thought to get here as I was taking some back roads. Very fun but a little scary since it was dark, raining, and I am unfamiliar with the area. But, I made it here safely all the same.

Visiting these battlefields where so many men died 144-145 years ago makes one think about how somber and serious such a thing like war is. One should never lightly make the decision go to war. In fact, if at all possible, I think war should be avoided. It's a terrible thing to kill fellow human beings and to cause that much suffering. At the same time, I believe very strongly that there are times where you have to go to war. I think the Civil War was one of those unfortunate but necessary wars. It would be nice if we could always have peace, but we are human, and we humans are not always peace loving people. We people sadly are not basically good at heart...we tend toward evil and selfishness...and when what we want clashes with what someone else wants...well bad things ensue.

Anyway, those are my thoughts...probably not too joyful at the moment. :-( But, hopefully a more joyful blog tomorrow after I visit D.C. :-)

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December 22

Just some thoughts

I got back from our 3 day field trip up to San Francisco. Regrettably, our last stop was Solvang. I kind of wish we did not stop there, since being there brought on a flood of emotions for me that I haven't felt in a while. While I was walking around outside, I was remembering the last time I was there which was on Valentine's Day 3 years ago with Kate. That day was a wonderful day, full of great memories. But that also reminded me how we broke up and how long it has taken me to get over her. I suppose I am basically over her, but it still hurt to even think about it.

That whole thought process then made me feel somewhat lonely and alone in the world. I know that is a ridiculous thing to think, but at the moment, it was kind of overwhelming. I'm glad I was not walking with any of the students since I would have been miserable company. It is kind of funny though that even at the school, once in a while I feel somewhat "by myself". Maybe it's because I'm on the outside looking in since I'm of a different culture and can't speak the language that the students use. Maybe I'm to blame because maybe I isolate myself without realizing it? Who knows. These are all probably foolish thoughts anyway.

Ultimately I know I'm not alone. I know God is always there, and that is a comfort. And at school, I know there are many students there who care for me. The senior class got me a wonderful gift. And you know, it wasn't so much what the gift was, but that they were so thoughtful to do that. And my heartfelt thanks goes out to each and every one of them.

And...in case any of my students read this...Merry Christmas to you all. I care very much for all of you and love you very much. In a way, I view you as a 2nd family. :-) Merry Christmas! See you in January!