The richest person in China is a woman

Humans always seem enamored when they encounter people with money, power or fame. It usually takes a lot to impress me, but when I am impressed by someone it is not normally because that person has money, power or fame. A sharp mind and a good heart are what usually impress me instead.

However, I have to admit that I was impressed by money this week when I read that the richest person in China is a woman. Yang Huiyan, the 26-year-old daughter of a self-made real estate tycoon, is worth a US$16 billion fortune.

In a nation where it is still desirable to have a boy instead of a girl so the family can depend on the male to care for the parents later in life (China has a one child policy for population control), this is a remarkable accomplishment for a woman to achieve the position of a billion dollar heiress.

Perhaps I am so impressed because we just do not read much about rich Asian women and I suppose my ignorant assumption has always been that we do not hear about them because there are none. Then bam, the richest person in China is a woman. Way to go, girl!

The British author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, is another woman who has recently made her mark on the world as one of the richest people in England. Rowling was a poor single mother who used her fantastically creative mind make her filthy rich.

Society is obligated to help the homeless with mental disorders

According to a Toronto Sun article published yesterday, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has released a report this week showing that Ontario taxpayers forked over an astronomical $34 billion in 2000 for mental disorders and substance abuse.

The article said, “The province suffered $28.7 billion in productivity losses and $5.1 billion was spent on hospitalization, community mental health and substance abuse programs, law enforcement, and research and education, the report said.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental illness is still under diagnosed despite being very common. In fact, I believe my own mother suffered from some form of mental illness, which contributed greatly to her abusive tendencies. I am not a doctor, but I think my mother might have been bi-polar.

However, back then there was no one to help her and there was still a stigma attached to anyone who had to take an anti-depressant much less any other drugs that would help those with mental disorders.

Paying a high price for a good laugh

I like a good laugh just as much as the next person.

Although the slapstick humor of the Three Stooges has never been my forte, I have been known to laugh to the point of tears while watching John Lithgow on “3rd Rock from the Sun.”

I also like a bit of sarcasm in my comedies. Those are the types I find the funniest. Who can resist a wry smile and a punchy line delivered with just the right timing?

However, I’m finding it more and more difficult to find comedy that is actually funny without being offensive. I’m not talking about the kind of offense that simply makes a head shake in disbelief of the material’s poor taste. I’m talking about offenses that have shock jock value – or worse.

The best things in life aren’t free

If you read my October 7 blog entry, you know I have been contemplating what I termed “legislated freedoms” here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, which legislators have tweaked these types of freedoms until they are barely recognizable as freedoms at all.

Alcohol is another example to be added to my already long list from the last column. Here in “the land of the free,” we can vote, get married and serve in the military at age 18. However, we have to be 21 before drinking alcohol is legal.

Does anyone else see the ludicrous logic in this? Legislators are saying that at 18 years old, a person can marry and be responsible for raising children, vote on the leader of the country and die in service for that country, but the same 18-year-old cannot drink a beer when sitting down to rest at home that night.

Is anyone considering a move to Europe to experience real freedom yet?

Watch your back, morality police are lurking

Imagine you have decided to have sex with someone.

Whether you are in love with this person or not isn’t the issue. Neither is whether you want to pursue a relationship with this person. The only issue is that you are going to have sex with a person of your choosing.

Well, for a Houston couple, this choice got them arrested.

During the actual act, something totally unexpected and utterly humiliating happened. The police burst into the house and arrested them. The law enforcers were not checking to make sure both people involved were mutual, consenting adults.