Anything New York

“A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm.” – Read more here.

It is unfortunate that it has to take two Americans being tortured by American forces for Rumsfeld to be indicted. But it is better than Rumsfeld not being indicted ever.

I don’t know why I had a feeling of emptiness when I watched this movie. I think there is a contradiction between what I saw in the movie and what the movie wanted to advocate. The movie theme is to save the Bible, which means that what the Bible teaches should never be given up. But the movie showed so much of violence and individual heroism while showing nothing about what the Bible teaches – kindness, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, the desire to turn forces of evil into forces of good, mutual respect, brotherhood, the desire to help others, the desire to work with others, etc. I wonder why they bothered to make such a movie.

The script for the upcoming “The Kennedys” miniseries on The History Channel is right-wing character assassination, not “history.” Until The History Channel stops running politically motivated fiction as historical “fact,” I will refuse to watch their programming. Sign the petition to stop Kennedy smears.

I am not sure if you can find this anywhere else in the world. But I think this is what makes New York City so dear to me that I can not think of leaving this city. It was a live broadcast of “Tosca“, the famous opera by Giacomo Puccini, on the opening night of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2009-10 Season, right there in the open on the streets at Times Square. It was free. But there were seatings so that you could sit down to watch. And the screen, which I can not remember what exactly it was, was high above enough that you could see it all, and low enough so that you would not have to strain your neck to see it. It was perfect for someone like me, who loves operas but is never willing to pay to see one. It was the most wonderful thing that I have ever found in New York City.

This video is not perfect. You have to be there to enjoy the experience.

Google is complaining about China’s censorship. But is Google impartial to begin with? Google has complete control over which websites get seen more. Their search results are not “organic” as most people think. Their search results can be very different from time to time. And I am not able to tell why there can be such big differences in search results from time to time. For example, one of my websites used to rank third in the search result on Google for a rather popular keyword, and ranked in the top five on Google for many other keywords. But for a period of time, that website was completely gone from Google search results. You could not find it by entering any keyword, not even by entering the name of the website. You could only find it by entering the domain name itself. Now Google has included that website in their search results again. But its ranking on Google is now so low – number 60th or so – it is almost never seen again on Google. All of these happened even though nothing on the website was ever changed at any point in time.

How can anyone be sure that Google is not controlling their search results?

I consider Google’s domination of Internet search a serious threat to freedom of information and freedom of speech.

By the way, I don’t know why I have the feeling of being used by Google. Google used that website of mine to get a lot of Internet users to use Google to find what they looked for with certain keywords. And after some time, these keywords became what these users used to find my website. Now when these same users use these same keywords to look for my website, they find other websites instead. It may sound unreasonable to have this kind of suspicion. But I just have it.

This song should have been posted on Valentine’s Day. But it is better late than never.

Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain.
Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain.
The dark days are gone, and the bright days are here,
My sunny one shines so sincere.
Sunny one so true, I love you.

Sunny, thank you for the sunshine bouquet.
Sunny, thank you for the love you brought my way.
You gave to me your all and all.
Now I feel ten feet tall.
Sunny one so true, I love you.

Sunny, thank you for the truth you let me see.
Sunny, thank you for the facts from a to c.
My life was torn like a windblown sand,
And the rock was formed when you held my hand.
Sunny one so true, I love you.

Sunny

Sunny, thank you for the smile upon your face.
Sunny, thank you for the gleam that shows it’s grace.
You’re my spark of nature’s fire,
You’re my sweet complete desire.
Sunny one so true, I love you.

Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain.
Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain.
The dark days are gone, and the bright days are here,
My sunny one shines so sincere.
Sunny one so true, I love you.

I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.

Betsy is a member of Families For Freedom. Here is an excerpt of her story published on their website.

“The Acquista family is forced to make a terrible choice – lose their husband and father Sal from their lives, or leave behind their lives and loved ones in the United States in order to remain together with Sal when he is deported. Betsy, Sal’s wife of twenty years, has decided to keep the family intact. So when Sal is deported, she will have to uproot their three citizen children who were born and raised in New York, and separate them from their many relatives and friends, to move them to Italy, a country they have never seen.

Charles (17 years old), James (14), and Emily (12) Acquista have spent their lives in New York, and have never been outside of the United States. Their father Sal has not left the United States since coming to New York from Italy at age 9, nearly 40 years ago. The children have grown up in the Acquistas’ family home on a quiet street in Queens, attending local schools and participating in sports and other activities in the neighborhood. The Acquista children have enjoyed the company and support of Sal’s large extended family in New York. Their father Sal was very involved in their lives, teaching them sports, coaching their little league teams, and spending time with them at home. He also provided for them financially, as co-owner of a communications company that he helped build into a successful small business. Despite being a hard-working family man, Sal made one serious mistake – he was arrested and pled guilty to a marijuana distribution charge, and was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. This arrest was the only contact Sal ever had with the criminal justice system.”

Update: Sal has been deported to Italy. Betsy and her children remain in the US and have to travel to Italy to visit him.

When: 3pm to 5pm on Sunday, February 21st, 2010.

Where: Community Room at New York Congregational Home, 123 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11226.

Who: Families facing deportation, community and religious leaders, and your local and national elected officials.

What: In a safe and confidential environment, you will get (1) tips on fighting deportation, locating a family member in detention, reporting abuse in detention; (2) FREE one-on-one legal consultation; and (3) information on how to be part of the movement that will reform immigration laws!

Sponsored by Families for Freedom and Churches United to Save and Heal (CUSH).