By Jay Karr, The Island Packet

Harry Bliss, cover artist for The New Yorker magazine and illustrator of several children’s books, visited Coosa Elementary School on May 15, 2014. Bliss’ presentation to the Beaufort school’s second-graders, which included an autograph-signing session and pizza party, came after student Nathan Tran won the grand prize in an illustration contest sponsored by Scholastic, a large publisher of educational books.

From Answers

Surf and Turf

Surf and Turf. (Photo by Kevin Clark/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Don’t let gluttony get the best of you as this common food pairing of steak and lobster can leave you feeling sick. It’s never a good idea to combine two animal proteins together.

Digesting protein takes a long time, and mixing different proteins together will leave you feeling a bit queasy as your stomach goes into overdrive.

Beans and Cheese

Those who like to enjoy Mexican cuisine are probably very familiar with this combination. However, this common pairing is almost guaranteed to lead to gas, bloating and a feeling of indigestion.

Keep your dairy and beans separate to keep your stomach happy.

Meat and Potatoes

Hamburgers and French fries is a classic combination, but it’s not the healthiest. One of the reasons is that proteins, like those found in meat, and starches, like those found in potatoes, don’t mix well.

In fact, the digestion of one inhibits the digestion of the other. The end result is that it can lead to your stomach feeling overly full and heavy, causing indigestion.

Olive Oil and Nuts

Olive oil and nuts are common ingredients in many Italian dishes, including popular pesto sauce. Yet this combo could be making you sick because olive oil, like all oils, is a fat whereas nuts are a protein.

This is a no-no for nutrition experts because the raw fat of the oil inhibits the digestion of the protein. The food ferments in your stomach instead of being digested, causing you to feel ill.

Melons with Non-Melons

Fruit salad is popular anytime of the year, especially for those trying to lose weight. While it is OK to combine most fruits with other fruits, be wary of melons, which have their own unique digestion problems.

People who claim that melons don’t sit well with them usually feel this way because they combined melons with other fruits.

On the other hand, melons with melons are an ideal combination.

Read the full article from Answers.

By Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

WASHINGTON – China’s “provocative” actions in maritime disputes with its neighbors are straining ties with the United States, raising questions over how the world’s two biggest economies can work together, a senior U.S. official said.

ARLINGTON, VA – MAY 15: People’s Liberation Army of China Chief of the General Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui hold a joint press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey following a bilateral meeting at the Pentagon on May 15, 2014 in Arlington, Virginia. Gen. Fang is touring defense installations in the U.S. while holding talks with Gen. Dempsey to further the miltary-to-military relationship between China and the U.S. (Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images)

The strong comments from Washington on Thursday come after deadly anti-China riots broke out in Vietnam in response to China towing an oil rig into a part of the South China Sea claimed by both Hanoi and Beijing.

“This is raising some fundamental questions for us about China’s long-term strategic intentions,” the U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said Beijing’s move appeared to fit a “pattern” of advancing territorial claims through coercion and intimidation.

“China’s activities are straining the U.S.-China relationship because it raises questions about our ability to partner together in Asia or even bilaterally.”

The Vietnamese government says one person was killed in the anti-China violence on Tuesday and Wednesday, but a doctor at a hospital near one area of rioting said he had seen 21 dead bodies and that at least 100 people were wounded.

An eyewitness to fighting between Chinese and Vietnamese workers in an industrial zone in the same area said she had seen at least 13 bodies.

There were no immediate reports on Friday of further violence.

Washington is in close contact with the Vietnamese government on “how most effectively to manage” Hanoi’s standoff with Beijing, the U.S. official told Reuters,

The Philippines, one of Washington’s closest allies in Asia, has said China is reclaiming land on a reef in the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea that both countries claim and is building what appears to be an airstrip on it. It has offered the United States the use of an underdeveloped naval base on a nearby island to ensure U.S. warships can enter the vicinity.

Vice President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials told visiting General Fang Fenghui, chief of general staff in China’s army, that Beijing’s behavior in the maritime disputes was “dangerous and provocative” and must stop, the official said.

The renewed tensions in the South China Sea underscore one of the biggest challenges in Asia facing President Barack Obama, who is under pressure by America’s allies to accelerate a “pivot” of military assets to the region to counter China’s rising influence.

In Washington on Thursday, Fang defended the deployment of the oil rig in the disputed South China Sea and blamed Hanoi, saying China cannot afford to “lose an inch” of territory.

The general also pointed the finger at Obama’s strategic shift toward Asia, saying it had encouraged countries such as Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines to make trouble with Beijing. Vietnam and China are now grappling with one of the worst breakdowns in relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.

The crisis has erupted after a week-long visit to Asia by President Barack Obama in late April in which he pledged that Washington would live up to its obligation to defend its allies in the region.

Read the full story by Matt Spetalnick from Reuters.

From The Associated Press

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent a text message to millions of citizens urging them to act in defence of the country’s sovereignty following China’s deployment of an oil rig in disputed waters but said that “bad elements” shouldn’t be allowed to engage in violence.

An officer on the Vietnamese Coast Guard vessel No. 8003 looks on as it is flanked by a Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, in disputed waters claimed by both China and Vietnam west of the Paracel islands, Vietnam, on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called for support from neighboring nations in his country’s attempt to force China to withdraw an oil rig it placed in waters claimed by both nations. Photographer: Oanh Ha/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The message, sent late Thursday and Friday to subscribers via major state-owned cellphone operators, didn’t directly condemn the riots that have broken out this week following China’s decision to deploy the rig off the coast of central Vietnam on May 1. Vietnamese patrol ships sent to disrupt the rig are currently locked in a tense standoff with Chinese ships guarding it.

Anti-China protests that started peacefully have ended in violence and vandalism, with 400 factories suspected of having links with China destroyed or damaged by mobs. One Chinese worker was killed and scores more injured at a huge Taiwanese steel mill that was overrun by a 1,000-strong crowd.

“The prime minister requests and calls on every Vietnamese to boost their patriotism to defend the fatherland’s sacred sovereignty with actions in line with the law,” the text message said. “Bad elements should not be allowed to instigate extremist actions that harm the interests and image of the country.”

There were no reports of any new violence or protests on Friday.

Vietnam’s authoritarian leaders typically clamp down on public protests of any sort, but have allowed them this time. Preventing people from demonstrating would have given fuel to domestic critics of the government who already accuse it of being soft on Beijing.

The government is also able to use the nationalist sentiment of its people to amplify its protests to Beijing. But violence that harms foreign investment and risks spinning out of control is unlikely to fit into this strategy, and the government will attempt to ensure that it doesn’t break out again, most analysts say.

London’s Financial Times reported on Friday that Apple supplier Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that manufactures iPads and iPhones, was shutting down for three days because of safety concerns

Partial media blackout

Reporters and television stations have been permitted to cover the peaceful protests, something highly unusual and a clear sign of state sanction. But the violence and vandalism have been subject to a media blackout.

Neither China nor Vietnam has shown any sign of compromise.

Vietnam believes it has international opinion on its side, and took a boatload of foreign journalists this week to waters close to the rig to ensure maximum media coverage. Beijing, which insists it has done nothing wrong and says it won’t withdraw the rig, reacted angrily.

“It is clear that the aim of the Vietnamese side is to escalate the situation and create tension, or in other words, to generate a media hype and ‘put up a show’ in front of the international audience,” the director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Ocean and Boundary Affairs, Ouyang Yujing, said in Beijing.

China and Vietnam have tussled for years over competing territorial claims, as have the Philippines and China. But Beijing’s desire for oil and gas, and its growing economic and military might, have seen it take an increasingly assertive stance to its claims in the sea, triggering increased tensions and incidents between it and claimant states.

The anti-China violence on the streets is only inflaming the relationship further.

China said its foreign minister, Wang Yi, called Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on Thursday and expressed Beijing’s “strong condemnation and stern protest” over the violence against Chinese and other foreign nationals and businesses.

“Vietnam has an inescapable responsibility for the actions of the lawless elements who attacked Chinese businesses and individuals,” Wang said.

The U.S. doesn’t take a side in the disputes, but shares many of the concerns of Vietnam and the Philippines about China. It is seeking closer economic and military ties with both nations. It has described China’s deployment of the rig as “provocative.”

In Washington, U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said after a meeting Thursday with his Chinese counterpart that in a world where information moves so fast, “issues afloat quickly become issues ashore as we’ve seen today in Vietnam.”

The chief of the General Staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army, Gen. Fang Fenghui, blamed Vietnam for the off-shore standoff, asserting that China was operating in its own territorial waters. He vowed that China would continue its oil drilling and would not allow Vietnam to disrupt it.

Hà Giang/Người Việt

Editor’s Notes: After China brought in oil rigs into Vietnam’s waters in the South China Sea on May 2nd, tensions between China and Vietnam is escalated by the day . In Washington DC. The US Department of States described China action as “dangerous and intimidating”. At local levels, many US congressmen expressed their concerns about the situation. Congressman Dana Rhorabacher expressed his views during a visit to Nguoi Viet Daily News’ office during an interview with Ha Giang of Nguoi Viet.







Congressman Dana Rohrabacher during an interview with Ha Giang at Nguoi Viet Daily News. (Photo: Tâm Nguyễn/Người Việt)

Hà Giang (NV): The situation in the South China Sea is getting more tense as the time goes by. What do you think about the fact that China brought an oil rig, a huge gigantic oil rig  into Vietnam waters and Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone ?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : What we have here is an arrogrant powerplay on the part of a dictatorship of a totalitarian government. Vietnam is feeling the full force of this now, but we have to remember this is not just Vietnam, this it is also Japan, it is also Taiwan, it is also the Phillipines. What we can see is that the Chinese has made totally unreasonable demand of territorial claims all up and down the coast of Asia, and they plan now to enforce it, and to steal all of the mineral rights way from the people from Vietnam all the way up to Japan.

NV: As a congressman representing many Vietnamese Americans in the area, how does the situation make you feel?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : I am upset for a number of reasons. Unfortunately with the communist government in Vietnam, I don’t think they can harness the full power of their population to oppose this power grab by the Chinese. Because Vietnam is a communist government, they are fearful of demonstrations, and we can see this, in this incident where some of the people that have been putting on demonstrations are not being encouraged, some of them are being arrested, still arrested in Vietnam for organizing things to protect their country. Well, the people in Vietnam, perhaps this will let them open their eyes to see that the people themselves are more patriotic than that clique that runs their country. May be this will have a unifying factor behind the Vietnamese to oppose this Chinese thefts of their energy rights, and if the people united can’t stop that, and may be they will have to stop or overcoming their government.

NV: The US State Department described China’s actions in the Vietnam incident as “provocative and unhelpful,” while Daniel Russel, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia said Washington was concerned about this “dangerous conduct and intimidation by vessels” in the disputed area.  In reality, how concerns do you think the US government really is?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : To show you how important we think this issue is, you know Loretta Sanchez is a Democrat, and Dana Rhorabacher is a Republican, and we are working very closely on this issue. We want to make sure that America steps forward, and although we have had our differences with the Vietnamese government and we still do, we want to show a unity that all of the people in that part of the world should get together and deter China from being aggressive. The Philippines people are going through the same thing, and then Japan and Taiwan… These things are going lead China to become even more aggressive, if we don’t let them know that we are united against that.

NV: As the Chairman of the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, can you speak about the China threat that is either looming in the horizon or being here already?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : What we have for the last ten years is an emerging threat of China. I have been sounding off, touting the horns, saying look at this, China has had no reforms at all. It’s true, even in Vietnam they have not had enough political reforms, but at least in Vietnam, the Vietnamese government is only affecting Vietnamese, with China, they started to insist that they will enforce their territorial claims. They claimed in India a territory the size of Texas, and now this is an emerging threat, a great threat because they have made these claims in the past now they think they are tough enough to brow beat people and intimidate them to back away. I don’t think the Vietnamese should back away and the United States should back Vietnam in its insistence that the oil and natural resources in the Paracel island is something that at least partially if not totally belong to them.

NV: What is the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee’s position on this matter, and is the subcommittee going to recommend something to the U.S. government?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : Well, we have been having a series of hearings on the emerging threat of China. For example, they took away Tibet and they are building dams that affects all of the rivers that is going down all the way to the Mekong river, that was one that we have already held hearing on. We have also held hearing on the Chinese territorial claims to these island areas in the South China Sea, which they claimed they own all of the South China Sea. This is a huge threat to Vietnam, huge threat to the Philippines, to Japan, to all of these countries along there. And so we will continue to focus attention and to document the type of aggression that China is committing.

NV:  If the situation become more serious, what is the U.S. Government willing to do, and should it do, in your opinion?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : I don’t know. I am thinking about that myself. I don’t think that it is up to the United States government to fight everybody else’s battle. I am sorry but the Vietnamese government has not necessarily been a friend of the United States, nor a friend of democracy and freedom. But when you see aggression like that by China, we should do something to deter them. I am thinking about it now. I will give it some serious thoughts.

NV:  If the Vietnamese government send a representative to ask for your advice, what will you advise them to do?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : I will advise them to have small boats, not war ships, to do everything they could to stop the Chinese from being successful in establishing that oil production in the Paracel island. Already we see Vietnamese boat there, but I would think it would be fine to send in a lot of private boats, to basically have a wall, a protest in the ocean around that facility also to prevent the Chinese to fish and to catch sea turtle in Vietnam’s water, to control fishing production in that area.

NV:  What does the Vietnamese government have to do to become more of a friend to the United States?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : Well, the most important thing the Vietnamese government has to do to be more of a friend, is to let their people to be free people but that’s hard for them to do, because we have a clique that runs Vietnam now, and they are afraid to have real election, because the clique would not get elected. Well if these people are really patriotic, now is the time to have free election and to have close relationships to democratic countries. We can only get so close to Vietnam, if they continue to put dissidents in jail and don’t have real elections.

NV:  What can Vietnamese Americans do to help fight for their country’s sovereignty?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : Well we need to find ways of where we can work together. Of course there are things we could not do, we could not help to bolster the strength of the government over their own people. Only they can do that, but we can help bolster the strength of Vietnam against Chinese aggression. We cannot bring the military into Vietnam, but we can send more tools, surveillance equipment, things that will help the Vietnamese government identify what the Chinese are trying to do, and to monitor their waters better. But we cannot send lethal weapons to Vietnam until Vietnam respect human rights, because we can’t send lethal weapons to a government that suppress its own people.

NV:  Did you just say that the reason the U. S. cannot help Vietnam more is because it is not a democratic country?

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher : If Vietnam is a democratic country now, you would see more activities from the United States trying to help them, as we are doing with the Phillipines, Japans and India. But as it is now, it is in our interests to helping them to deter Chinese aggression.

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