Today's News NJ: OnlineSchools.org presents Japan One Year Later

 Watch Video: http://www.onlineschools.org/japan-one-year-later/

In the last decade, Japan’s Ministry of Education has responded to market imperatives and a need for managers with specialized skills by increasing the number of graduate programs. But Japan's new professional and graduate programs have experienced chronic under-enrollment -- basically, no one is showing up to class. Now the Ministry of Education is playing catch-up to market these educational programs to a very truant bunch of students.

It is not hard to determine why Japan’s graduate classrooms sit empty. For one thing, the promise that graduate programs offer does little to remove the stigma associated with continuing education courses. Traditional definitions of success lead many professionals to fear that they will be perceived as less competent if they pursue education after they have entered a professional career. In the past, Japanese companies have also based career advancement on seniority. An extra one or two years in school has often meant falling behind less educated counterparts who move faster up the corporate ranks.

As Japan approaches the first anniversary of the crisis that transformed the nation, global attention will undoubtedly focus on the progress that the country has made in resurrecting its physical infrastructure. Restoring homes, roads, hospitals and schools, and mitigating the damage of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl certainly deserve our attention and reflection. Still, it is important to remember that solving the social and economic problems that Japan faced before the crisis are just as critical.

The unique skills that graduate programs offer will play a vital roll in managing Japan's long-term recovery. If students and professionals continue to avoid higher education, Japan will find itself ill-equipped to maintain its revival. Considering how many people have been displaced and how much there is yet to be rebuilt, it may be worthwhile for the Ministry of Education to encourage distance learning or online graduate programs. Because online schools are more cost-efficient, offer the ability to reach a larger audience across vast distances, and provide the opportunity to study while working full-time -- thereby avoiding the stigma of a late entry into the workforce -- they may be the perfect tool in ensuring that once Japan's physical recovery is complete, the nation will have an educated workforce capable of leading an economic recovery.

 Watch Video: http://www.onlineschools.org/japan-one-year-later/

To learn more about Japan's recovery and to see the photos that inspired the hand drawn illustrations in the video above, check out:

• The Atlantic
• Washington Post
• NPR
• CNN

To get involved in Japan's recovery, donate to:

• American Red Cross

Movie Review: X-Men, First Class

While some of us were gallivanting around the south of France, others caught screenings of Matthew Vaughn’s crack at the X-Men franchise, First Class, which boasts an appealing cast led by James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence and—for starters—strong reviews. The movie opens wide on Friday.
Todd McCarthy, THR:

”...roughly the first half of this massive and very well cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that’s cascaded across screens in recent years. Audacious, confident and fueled by youthful energy, this is a surefire summer winner for a wide global audience.”

Louise Keller, UrbanCinefile:

“Although the filmmakers have packed far too much into the storyline, there’s first class action, superb special effects and a nice sprinkling of humour in a plot whose heart rests in the bond between Professor X and Magneto…Charismatic and enigmatic, Fassbender is superb as Erik, who is driven by hatred and an insatiable appetite for revenge…The politicizing of this prequel changes its nature considerably, taking it from its roots of fantasy action to a political thriller set at the time of the Cuban missile crisis but with Bond-style overtones. This is good for a debate all by itself.”

Katey Rich, Cinemablend:

“McAvoy and Fassbender are the undeniable center of X-Men: First Class,..Vaughn and his bevy of fellow screenwriters knit these characters so well into the real world that you don’t need to know Beast from Banshee to understand their motivations. That’s a rare, rare thing in comic book movies, particularly when elsewhere in the Marvel movie universe every film seems to be geared not toward its own characters, but toward a larger mythology that requires hours of research to understand. Though it is certainly the kickoff of a new franchise, and lugs around a story more sprawling than it needed to be, X-Men: First Class feels spry and self-contained, a blast of colorful and passionate enthusiasm with just enough weight to matter. It feels phenomenal to have these mutants back.”

David Poland:

“Basically, [Vaughn] made a Bond film with good guys and bad guys alike who just happen to have super powers…Vaughn has been a little denuded here. He is great at filthy fun. But still, he shows that he has the chops. Look for the masterfully artful effects sequence early in the film and some of the great ways Vaughn has his characters manifest their powers. And while it makes you wonder how much better X-Men 3 could have been, it also makes you happy that he didn’t do an X-film until he had the opportunity to do it his way fully.”

Brendon Connelly, BleedingCool:

“All in , First Class is a damn fine superhero movie. More geared, I would suggest, to the more mature fanboy as opposed to some of the aspartame-crazed comic book capers that tend to pop up on the boxes of Happy Meals.”

by Anne Thompson

South Carolina GOP Debate Covers Drugs, Obama and the Economy; Herman Cain Declared the Winner

If past political history is any judge ... then the Republican Party will select businessman Herman Cain as their candidate in 2012 to run for the presidency against incumbent Barack Obama. After all, the GOP voters in South Carolina primaries have been right on the GOP presidential candidate in every election since 1980 and the GOP voters in a focus group following last night's South Carolina GOP presidential debate OVERWHELMINGLY indicated that Herman Cain was the winner of the debate.

See for yourself:

It was a surreal event in many respects. There were five candidates on the stage at this debate: Rep. Ron Paul, Herman Cain, former governor Tim Pawlenty, former senator Rick Santorum and former governor Gary Johnson.

Herman Cain

• Ron Paul - Paul is like your crazy uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner. You're never quite sure what he's going to say in front of the kids ... and you're never quite sure if he's right in the head. Last night, Paul made a passionate defense of the need to legalize heroin. His rant seemed to get the largest audience response of the night.
• Herman Cain - The focus group says that he won the debate. I smiled when one of the focus group members noted that Cain was 'articulate'. White folks are still amazed when they see a Black man who knows how to correctly use verbs and adjectives in a sentence. Quite frankly, the best part of last night's debate for Cain was the Fox News focus group afterwards. He was the definite winner in the minds of those 29 folks.
• Tim Pawlenty - He had the highest profile of any participant in last night's debate. I thought that the others might pile on him ... but, Pawlenty managed to hold his own last night. His roughest moment came when he tried to squirm his way out of a question about 'Cap and Trade' legislation in Minnesota. It turns out that he was for it before he was against it.
• Rick Santorum - He is still a cultural warrior. He doesn't have many ideas on any of the economic or foreign police issues ... but, he had a lot to say last night about family values.



Gary Johnson

• Gary Johnson - I need to be honest. I had never seen or heard about Gary Johnson until last night. Who knew that he was a governor in New Mexico? Who knew that he admits to smoking marijuana and feels that marijuana use should be legalized? Who knew that he doesn't care for the reality shows of either Donald Trump or Sarah Palin? Who knew that one of his life goals is to climb the highest mountains on each of the 7 continents? These were all things that we learned during the debate last night!

BY http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/

Cornel West and Al Sharpton Rumble About Obama on MSNBC's Black Agenda

Two hours of my life were lost this past weekend watching Black Agenda, hosted by Ed Schultz, on MSNBC. I kept trying to understand why Ed Schultz was chosen to host the show.  Evidently others had the same concerns.  If any villager can explain why Schultz was the host ... please do so.

Anyhow, there wasn't much new territory covered on the show.  In many respects it seemed like a mini-version of the 'State of Black America' program that Tavis Smiley used to produce each year.   This time MSNBC tried valiantly to cover a number of the issues within the Black community that need to be addressed.

The most entertaining part of the show was also the saddest part. Did any of you see when Cornel West and Al Sharpton started playing the dozens with each other? If they had been sitting next to each other ... or if there wasn't a table in front of them ... then I think that the two old men would have come to blows.


You be the judge!
What was your take on this segment ... or the entire show? Drumbeats

Trailer Watch: Animated Arnold as the Governator

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s launch of a Stan Lee comic book, internet program and 2012 3-D animated feature starring himself as high-tech superhero The Governator is no April Fool’s hoax, as Schwarzenegger confirmed to Entertainment Weekly:

“The word Governator combined two worlds: the world of politics and the movie world. And [this cartoon] brings everything together. It combines the governor [and the] the Terminator.”

See the trailer for yourself:

If The Irish Crisis Goes All The Way To Spain, It Could Be The End Of The Euro

By Gregory White Reuters BreakingViews editor Hugo Dixon spoke to CNBC about the Irish crisis. After his comments on Ireland, Dixon talks about the Fed potentially dropping its employment mandate.

• 0:13 EU's Rompuy is overdoing it in, Ireland's leaders are over doing it, both are using extremist language on the state of Ireland.
• 0:55 The worst thing that can happen is a knock on series of bailouts, behind Ireland and Portugal, to Spain. The money becomes too big, and eventually Germany and others say no. Then the euro has a problem.
• 1:50 What's most likely to happen is that Ireland's banks will get a bailout, then Ireland will get a second bailout, then Portugal will get one too.
• 2:25 These are small economies. (suggesting when it gets to Spain it isn't)
• 2:55 I don't think these bailouts are going to accelerate the idea of fiscal union. The Germans are not pleased about making transfers, rather than loans.

Brawl in the stands halts play at the U.S. Open

Friday, September 3, 2010

A brawl in the stands at the U.S. Open halted a tennis match between Novak Djokovic and Philipp Petzschner in Flushing Meadows, Queens, a borough of NYC.

The drama unfolded yesterday when two Canadian spectators, a woman in her 40s and her father, took exception to a younger man’s cursing.

After some verbal back and forth, the three spectators appeared to squash their beef. But the guy swore at the older gentleman, who then slugged him in the mouth. The two men toppled down two rows of seats before the daughter jumped in and slapped the guy.

Kudos to the real men in the stands who came to the defense of the lady — even though she had no right to put her hands on the guy. Security handcuffed all three and escorted them out of the stadium to a round of applause. Djokovic went on to beat Petzschner in straight sets to advance to the third round of the US Open.
Source

L.A. Times: Blockbuster to file Chapter 11 next month

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the once mighty Blockbuster will file for bankruptcy as early as next month. The Times quotes anonymous sources “familiar with the matter” in the report and explains that the filing could take five months and see 500 to 800 retail outlets closed. The company is seeking protection under Chapter 11 in order to restructure their current debt-load of roughly $1 billion (that’s billion with a “b”). The bankruptcy is being described as pre-planned, and most of Blockbuster’s creditors will have some sort of deal in place with the company when the filing is made official.

Read

by Andrew Munchbach 

The War in Afghanistan Reaches New Milestone: Longest War in U.S. History, Surpasses the Vietnam War

As the Afghanistan War replaces the Vietnam War as the longest war in U.S. history, Brave New Foundation and TrueMajority today called on President Obama and Congress to ensure a responsible troop withdrawal from Afghanistan complete no later than December 2011. Brave New Foundation and TrueMajority released a new video marking the milestone featuring leading experts, including: former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, Malou Innocent of the CATO Institute, author Tom Hayden and historian Christian Appy speaking to the Vietnamization of Afghanistan and to the staggering cost to Americans totaling almost $300 billion and over 1,000 American lives.

As of Monday, June 7, 2010, the U.S. will have been in Afghanistan for 104 months, more than eight-and-a half years, surpassing the war in Vietnam. In his December 2009 West Point speech, President Obama announced a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan would begin in July 2011. However, he set no end date, leaving open the possibility that U.S. combat troops could remain there indefinitely.

The call for a firm withdrawal end-date comes as Congress debates spending another $33 billion on troop escalation in Afghanistan.



It is a real tragedy that Afghanistan has now become the longest war in American history. This war has gone on long enough, and it’s time to end it. We have already spent almost $300 billion dollars on Afghanistan and have lost over 1,000 American lives, all for a war that is not making us safer.” Director, Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation

“I think of this war as Vietnamistan. It’s essentially the same form of war: fighting people who are mainly motivated by the determination to expel foreign invaders from their country.” Daniel Ellsberg, Former US Military Analyst, RAND Corp


“[President Obama] has not promised or pledged how many troops he promises to take out or leave behind, so it’s very ambiguous. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are in this region for the foreseeable future.” Malou Innocent, Foreign Policy Analyst, Cato Institute


“Afghanistan becoming the longest war in our history forces us to ask: Just how long is long enough? How much money is too much? How many more lives is this worth? The answer is that the war in Afghanistan has already cost us too much – and it’s up to Congress to bring home the troops and refocus our priorities.” Matt Holland, Online Director TrueMajority/USAction

Medical Marijuana Clinic Firebombed In Montana

It is being reported that a marijuana clinic located in Billings Montana was firebombed by an angry resident.

The molotov cocktail was lobbed through the window of the storefront, and the message “not in our town” was sprayed on the wall of the building.
This is the second such incident in consecutive days, and is a clear sign that residents are not in favor of the clinic offering pot for medical purposes.

Obviously residents of Billings are not pleased with the fact that there is a medical marijuana clinic in their town and are letting their feelings be known.

According to Billings police, an empty beer bottle was filled with gasoline and set on fire and then thrown inside the clinic.

Clinic owner Trevor McFarren says that he has never had any problems regarding vandilism since he opened for business in January.