Election day...finally

You all know who I'm voting for and what my beliefs are. I just want to take this time to remind you of two things that arer important to me. Not political issues per se, but just things I often think about.

First, in the media saturated society we live in, it's all too easy for us to focus on the one big national election we have. If you already voted today, how many of the local officials had you even heard of before you stepped into the booth. Did you know the name of your state representative before you saw the names on the ballot today? How about your congressman. Did you even know their name? What about the school board members, or judges? It's so easy to focus on the President in our society, that we overlook the most important members of our government. Regardless of your opinion on President Bush, his administration was consistently defeated in some of his biggest proposals. From Social Security reform, to immigration reform, his ideas were defeated by the Congress. Remember that next time someone says "Obama will do this" or "McCain will do this". That's not what Presidents do in our system, it's what Congress does. It's not a technicality, it's the truth.

Second, it's my birthday on Friday. Don't forget.

Me likey karaoke

So I was sitting at home on Saturday, minding my own business, when I get a call from Dave and Tim. They were walking around Ximen Ding. Ximen Ding is like a small Times Square in Taipei. So they came over and we hung out for a while, and then we decided to meet some other people at a KTV. Now, for those of you who have never lived in Asia, KTV is Taiwan's version of the karaoke room. Karaoke rooms are huge in east Asia. In Korea they were called NoraeBang, in Taiwan it's KTV, and I don't know what they're called in Japan. But the principle is all the same. You go with your friends and rent a small room, and you sing karaoke together.

They were more numerous in Korea, but I've been to these places about ten times. They can be surprisingly fun, but the experience will be totally different, depending on whether you go with a foreigner crowd, or with locals. When you're with a bunch of other foreign teachers, you end up going to these places at 3, maybe 4AM. You've been drinking all night and it's a blast.. You can either bring in your own booze, or just buy it there. It's always a total free for all. The staff barely speak any English, and they don't want to have to deal with having to tell you to stop running around screaming, spilling beer on the equipment, sleeping on the lobby floor, etc. It's easier for them to just point and laugh.

But when you go with the locals, it's totally different. First off, while we stop in for a few hours at the end of the night, they will go for the entire night. Maybe 9PM to 2AM, and they're in there singing away the whole time. And you will never here any rock music, or even hip hop. They never play any "good" music. And it's not that it's all Chinese. They will sing quite a few English songs, depending on how well they can speak it. But they pick the lamest songs. This last weekend, they were singing Ashley Simpson...the guys, not the girls. They sit on the couches and let one or two people sing the song. Then when the song is over, they pass the mics to the next person. Totally different from the constant passing and mad grabbing of the mic when we go.

Then there's the songs. The selection of English songs can go from satisfactory at best, to down right awful in the worst cases. Sometimes the band's or song's name is written in the native writing script. This wasn't so bad in Korea, since the Korean writing system is easy to learn, and it's easier to write foreign words with. But in Taiwan it's ridiculous. They had, maybe, 100 English songs, but half the bands were written in Chinese. You'd be surprised how many songs you can't recognize without the band's name.

They're usually pretty cheap, much more so in Korea. In both Taiwan and Korea, they have really nice places. Marble, leather couches, catered food, the works. But in Korea they had lots of dive places. The nicer places can go as high as $100 and hour , but for around $1 a person, you could go at it for a few hours at the dives. Taiwan is lacking for dive KTVs, which is kind of surprising, considering it's a poorer country. Well, scratch that. They have some cheaper KTV's but they're only cheap because they send hookers in. Then you have to pay the hookers. So it ends up being more expensive, or at least, that's what I've been told...

Taiwanren bu shi huan Zhong Goua Da

In case you weren't aware, The US government does not maintain official relations with Taiwan. There is no Ambassador here. If I need help with anything, I go to the American Institute in Taiwan. It's the same way with China and Taiwan. Both countries employ quasi-governmental organizations that handle diplomatic relations and provide assistance for citizens.

Well, two days ago the Vice-Chairman of the Chinese group, known as ARATS, was in Taiwan, giving a speech apparently about media exchanges...whatever that means. Anyway, during the speech he said that "there will never be war in the Strait if there is no Taiwan independence". Strong words for an extremely polarized country, split down the line on the question of Taiwan's independence. So when the guy leaves the building, he gets mobbed by a bunch of people, and knocked to the ground. It's huge news over here. Apparently it's been on CNN and the BBC, but I doubt many people in the West are aware of it.



Yesterday the former President, Chen Shui Bien from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, gave a speech where he said that the guy deserved it. He is also currently under investigation by the ruling Koumingtang, for money laundering.

A recent poll by Global Views Monthly, shows that barely over half of the population of Taiwan even wants the Chairman of ARATS, who is scheduled to visit next month, to come to the island. Massive protests against the government are common, and the economic downturn has given the current President, Ma Ying Jeou, George Bush like approval ratings, although not quite as bed as the Democrat led congress. If things with the economy gets worse, hitting both China and Taiwan particularly bad, things should get interesting

Where the hell am I?

Someone turned me on to this funny video. It's at a Carrefour, which is basically a French Wal-Mart. They're quite common in Asia. although not in Korea, where only homegrown shopping exists. Big shock there. Any way, check it out, it's the type of thing you see here on a daily basis. And remember, vote for Dean Barkley for Senate. Send a message to the DFL that you won't be a sucker for a comedian with a famous name. And tell Norm that you won't support this "bailout".

Hell ya Mankato

The MSU Reporter has a poll running, asking people who they will be voting for. Now, of course this is not a scientific poll, and the only people voting are those who actually go there and click on it. But, and here's the link, John McCain is leading over Barrack Obama by 20 points. That's a pretty big lead. Especially when we are told daily by the Obama campaign that they are energizing young people to vote. And they can't even win in a college university online poll.

Doin the absentee thing

I received my absentee ballot two days ago and I've been agonizing over it ever since. The recent "bailout" has really angered me. I truly believe it will go down in history as a monumentally idiotic decision, and someone needs to pay for it. I thought long and hard about it and I've come to the conclusion that not voting for John McCain would be foolish. Too many supreme court justices will be retiring soon and I just don't want to see Barack Obama appointing their successors.

John Kline not only voted for the revised bill, but he voted for the original as well. But Kline has always been strong on Social Security reform, and a solid Republican in most other instances, so on a whole I'm satisfied with him. That leaves me with Norm Coleman.

His support for this bailout has really irked me the wrong way. He's never supported drilling in Anwar, he's weak on social security, he's not averse to Federal meddling in education, he wants Federal IDs. All of that I can forgive however because he was strong on corruption at the UN, free trade, and more or less strong on tax reform. On top of that, I think he works well in the Senate. Many of my friends were angry to find out Norm strongly supports guys like Ted Stevens. I think that's a good thing. The only Minnesotan we have in congress who can pull strings is James Oberstar. Coleman sits on important committees and it would be advantageous to have a Minnesota Senator get some seniority.

But this bailout is so wrong for our country, that I feel I would not be doing my duty as a citizen if I didn't axe someone for it. So, after talking to numerous people, as well as hours of contemplation, I've decided that I will not be voting for Norm Coleman. Instead, I will be voting for Dean Barkley. Blueman, a democrat, pushed me over the top in his support for Barkley. Independents usually don't carry much clout in congress, however, the tea leaves definitely point to a near 60% majority for the democrats in the Senate after the elections. That type of situation can give some influence to a swing voter who can add a crucial vote to break a filibuster.

This was not an easy choice to make, and I don't do it lightly. I urge all of you to really take a close look at your favored candidate in the race. Especially you democrats. How members of the Minnesota DFL can support a comedian with no connection to our state and no political experience is beyond me. And I certainly don't understand how these same people then can criticize Sarah Palin. Al Franken is a joke and it's a real statement about the DFL that they would nominate this carpet bagger over the lifelong activist Mike Ciresi. Franken says he would not have voted for the bailout, but he has absolutely 100% no record to look at. At least Barkley has public service on his resume.

I don't want to sound clichéd, but a win for Dean Barkley would send a message to both parties in this state that we won't accept votes for disastrous public policy, nor washed up has beens with name recognition,. Wannabe Hasbeens, maybe. But Washed up Hasbeens, I think not.

Back home

Whew, I made it back home yesterday, I think around 3:00 PM. I had a blast. the weather forecast was not good, so there weren't as many people as I expected. And some of the bands were flat out awful, particularly the ones during the late afternoon, early evening. But the DJs were great. I particularly like S.U.N. Project. Great music. The Money Shot Horns were decent too.

The food was pretty good too, especially the chicken. Mmmmm, mmmmm. And beer was cheap and, at least at first, cold.

The best part of the festival was the setting. It was located at the top/side of a mountain. The mountain itself was located in a National Park. There were lots of trails for exploring. I didn't see any tigers, but we did see plenty of gigantic spiders. Pictures will be coming shortly.

Overall I had a great time, and I have to say, the haters were relatively mute. Of course some Bush hatred was dropped more than a few times, and one of the promoters got up on the staged and urged us all to become vegans to help the environment. An odd statement I thought, considering that none of the food vendors actually had any vegan food. Come to think of it, I don't think there were more than three items you could buy that had no meat in them.

Oh, how I love Asia

I'll be in the jungle for the next few days so you won't hear from me. Before I go though, I just wanted to leave you with something to watch. It's a short snippit from a documentary about Binlang, or Betel nut; the Asian equivalent of chewing tobacco. It looks like a big clove of garlic rapped in a leaf. It tastes like ass, but it definitely gives you a serious jolt of caffeine like energy. Binlang definitely has the same connotations here as chew does in The US. It's seen as lower class, rural, gross, and only for men. Taxi drivers use it alot because it gives them energy, but they don't have to pee all the time, like they would if they were drinking coffee.

And then there are the girls. Attractive, and extremely scantily dressed, they stand outside the binlang shops and jump around, eat lollipops, pick things up off the ground, anything to bring customers to the stores. It's really something to see. And the guys eat it up. It's like a national pastime. Every store tries to outdo the other, not in quality of its product, but in the attractiveness of its girls. The stores don't even process the stuff. All the people working in the tiny shops on the street selling milk tea and cigarettes spend their free time rolling it up. They mostly ignore foreigners, though, but only because they know we don't chew binlang. So watch the video, and enjoy your weekend.

Hippie Fest, Yay!

I'm going to this music festival this weekend, out in the jungles of Taiwan. I'm pretty excited, since this will be my first chance to really get out of the city. I did have a chance to go to the beach last month, but that was only a day trip.

Having lived overseas amongst the English teaching community, I'm well aware, however, that I will likely be the only Republican in attendance. Wait, scratch that, I will be the only person at the entire festival with any inklings toward liberty and freedom.

If there's one thing I've learned while living over here it's that there are only about four kinds of English teachers over here. The first type is the Vegan/Enviro/Leftist who has a strong disdain for their home culture, and an intrinsic infatuation with Eastern culture. The second type are those who truly want to teach English. These are the ones who wanted to join the Peace Corps, but actually wanted to make some money. I think it goes without saying that these people are almost to a man, leftists. The third type are the ones who just want to do something different, didn't want a normal job after college, or just want to travel for an extended time. These guys run the gamut from strong leftists to ambivalence. Every once in a while you will find a right winger, but they are always Ron Paul types. Then you come to the fourth type. This is the category I fall into. These are people who came here for strategic reasons, usually to learn the language and culture and parlay that into future career opportunities. These people also come from all parts of the spectrum but it is only in this group that you will find center right people.

So, needless to say, political discussions are quite common over here. There is no common sport that everyone can talk about. North Americans have their sports and European/Australian/New Zealanders have theirs. Everyone comes from a different country so local, non-political events can't be discussed. People often talk about their travels, but once you've heard one guy's story about Kho Pangan, Vientiene, or Boracay, you've heard them all. So every discussion comes back to either politics or what's happening in the country you're living in. And I think it goes without saying that the English teaching community is not exactly enamored with the US and any form of liberty.

So you just have to learn when to hold your tongue and when you can have a proper discussion with someone. I know that at this hippie fest I'm going to have to hold my tongue, a lot. But that's ok, it's nothing new to me.

Sigh

Sigh I'm not going to blog about this, but there's more Obama fanatics on video here. If you watch this and are not frightened, then you just don't know history. It's people like this, fanatics devoted to individuals, rather than ideas, who have caused the greatest disasters in history. It was people like this who supported Julius Casear in his usurpation of the Roman Republic. People like this brought Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo power. Fanatics like this caused the Russian Revolution, brought Mao Tse Tung to power in China, and crowned Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of France. Notice that none of these people brought anything but death and destitution to their people.

Now contrast that with fantatics who follow ideas and movements, rather than individuals. The American and French Revolutions come to mind. The protests at Tianamen Square in China, the Meiji Restoration in Japan. These movements all had leaders, but the leaders did not require songs be sung about them, and pledges made to them.

The fact that there are fools out there who make blind allegiances to individuals is sad, but such is the history of mankind. What is really sad is that the left in this country will view anyone, myself included, who brings this up as nothing more than someone grasping at straws with ways to criticize Barack Obama, probably a racist as well. This should be a non partisan issue. Barack Obama should stand up on national TV and tell the nation that singing songs about him and pledging allegiance to him is disgusting and un-American. I doubt I'll see that anytime soon though.

Well there I go, ranting. I'll tell you what I've been up to tomorrow.

The Obama Kids

I finally got around to watching Obama kids video. This is really something. If you haven't watched it you really should...I couldn't stop laughing, with a bit of sadness in there too. Anyone who has watched Jesus Camp, and was outraged, should be outraged at this too. They are one and the same and if you don't feel the same kind of sadness for the blatant indoctrination, then you are a hypocrite.

This Asian Life

I went with my friend Sean to the Core Pacific City the other day. If you have ever played Sim City, it's one of the landmarks you can build. In the game it's known by it's more common name, "The Living Mall". The building itself is amazing. Inside and out it is totally something to see. As malls go, however, it's pretty weak. It has nothing on the Mall of America. In fact, I would rather go to Southdale. As Asian malls go though, it was pretty cool. They actually had Lacoste shoes in size 12. Finding shoes in Asia is a chore on the best days, impossible on most. For someone with a size 13 foot, usually I have to have my mom buy a pair for me, and then ship them over here. Lame.

The coolest thing about the day wasn't the mall though. It was the ride there. Taxis in Taiwan, and Korea for that matter, are amazingly cheap. About a $10-$1 compared to US taxis. A 7 mile ride will cost around $3-$4. But the taxis are usually old beaters. Sometimes the guy will have a brand new car, but on the whole, they suck. The taxi we got, however, was an immaculate Buick Regal. Unlike Korea, you see lot's of American cars here. Usually they're Fords, but Buicks and Chryslers are popular also. It is a refreshing break from the boring cars in Seoul.

Riding in this Buick really made me think of home. My dad has the same car, and after I graduated and was staying at home for a few months, that was the car I drove everywhere. Cruising the gravvies with my friends, heading to the mall, wherever. It got me thinking about home and old friends. Living so far from The US has advantages, but sometimes you really get homesick.

pleaseantly surprising

I took the MySpace Presidential quiz a few minutes ago. I was expecting the usual type of "what politician do you most agree with" kind of quiz. You know the ones that with different categories of issues.

Under Abortion they give you two options. Option 1 is something along the lines of "Do you want to take away the fundamental right of a woman to have control over her own body". Option 2 than usually says "Do think that a fascist government that controls every person's own decisions about their own body is a good thing".

For the economy it's "Do you want to help working people to have a better life" and "Do you want to give rich people lots of money". If you've never taken one of these quizzes, the point is that they are usually quite biased.

So back to the Myspace quiz. It was actually very fair. I mean, obviously I know you I'm voting for, but if I was undecided and had opinions on some issues, it would have given me an idea. If you are undecided you should check it. out. Don't let it decide for you, but check it out. www.myspace.com.debates

Gettin our debate on...or off

I've been reading alot about John McCain asking to postpone the debates for a few days. Who would have thought that the left would turn this into another chance to attack McCain, not on his credentials or his record, but on stupid sound bites that they can twist to make him look bad. Openthread refers to it as cutting and running. Christine Pelosi says he's "avoiding our questions", and John Stoltz somehow compares this to our troops getting a breather from duty. And of course that intellectual heavyweight David Letterman added his two cents to this worthwhile debate, although, to be fair, Letterman did get on his knees for McCain, before he laced into s running mate.

Ah guys, last time I checked, John McCain and Barack Obama are both sitting US Senators, and both are leaders in the Senate as well. We are supposedly in the throes of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression, and apparently it's unreasonable for two of the most influential men in the US Senate to take a break from running for President and help come up with a plan. Will they be cutting and running if they come back to Washington just to vote on the bill?!?!

Now, I'm up in the air on whether or not the campaigns need to be suspended. But just go to Townhall and The Huff Post and see what the writers have to say about the candidates. All you will see is hate and vitriol from the left, and cautious skepticism on the right. Better yet, read the comments on any story, about this topic or any other, on either site. As usual, the comments betray the hate that comes from the left. It's simply amazing. Why does it have to be such a big deal?

Why can't it just be that McCain wants to take time to help craft a bill, and Obama thinks it's more important to continue making their respective cases to the American People? Oh wait, that is how the right sees it...It's only the hate filled left that excoriates McCain for wanting to take a reasonable break from the campaign to actually do some work for the good of the country.

Back in black

Well friends, it's been too long. I've been busy at work, but I finally have internet access at my apartment, so it's time to start bothering you with my endless rantings. However, I've decided to change the focus of my blog. Since most of my readers are in the US, I'm not going to focus on US politics and culture. While I will talk about my homeland, I'm going to write mostly about Taiwan and Asia. That's where I live and I think most of you don't hear much about Asia. So, I'll be giving you the lowdown.

Well, let's get started. It's possible that in between the Presidential sound bites and the fear mongering over the economy, you may have heard about the tainted milk products coming from China. The long and short of it is that a Chinese/New Zealand company that makes milk powder products in China was putting a chemical called melamine into its products. You may remember this as THE SAME chemical that was found in the deadly pet food that was imported from China. Melamine is added because simple tests identify it as protein. It takes more intensive tests to determine that it's actually a deadly chemical that causes bladder and kidney stones, and even cancer.

The New Zealand owners begged the Chinese government and company to order a recall, but guess what, the Olympics were going on at the time and we couldn't let anybody know what's really happening in China now could we.

Now, I am all about free trade, but I have just two things to say. One, you cannot trust Chinese companies. Therefore if you have the knowledge, do not buy a product made in China. Whether it's the paint on toys, food for our pets, or now infant formula, they have proven time and time again that they will do anything to squeeze a few more dollars out of a product, whatever the long term consequences. Don't buy Chinese! Second, The US government ought to take a more proactive role in this. Too often only a few ingredients in a finished product come from China. That's the case with this milk powder. Milk powder is used in everything from infant formula, to coffee drinks, to doughnuts and potato chips. Since we as consumers have no option here, I think the Federal government ought to require a small warning label on any product that contains any Chinese made products.

Anyway, be careful.

Damn Norman

It seems the silent revolt within the MNGOP against Norm Coleman is really gaining some steam. Anecdotally, his number on facebook have been anemic for the last four years. But even with those pathetic numbers, they seem to have been dropping over the last few months. And it's not only the Ron Paulites who just want to watch the party burn out of spite. I myself dropped Norm from my facebook page (although that doesn't mean I won't vote for him). And my good friend Ryan Fluguar, about as partisan a Republican as you can find, is apparently supporting Dean Barkley, although I think that has more to do with Ryan's close relationship to Mark Olson than anything else.

In addition, the chatter has been building, mostly on the left wing blogs in Minnesota, about Norm's womanizing. Talk show host Ed Schultz made a comment about Norm's "unconventional marriage", and it showed up on at least four left leaning blogs. It's quite possible there are more out there, I just haven't read them. My cousin used to work at Maynard's in Excelsior and Norm used to come in all the time and chat up the waitresses, even getting a little fresh with them, ala` Dick Davenport. Keep an eye out, probably two months from now, for some earth shattering story about Norm and his sex life. I can read the writing on the wall and it isn't pretty.

I've written about this before, but now that Dean Barkley is seriously running for office, it's pretty obvious Jesse won't be stepping in. I'm really conflicted on this, but if it had been a choice between Jesse and Norm, I very well could have voted for The Body. Norm and Al Franken are possibly the two weakest senate candidates our state has seen in a long time. The day Jesse would have announced his candidacy he would have started at 25% approval.

Anyway, I have yet to fill out my absentee ballot and I'm truly considering my options, and at this moment, I really don't know. If Dean Barkley can show that he's a serious candidate, maybe I will vote for him. I'll have to look more into his history and record, to make sure he's not just a liberal in moderate's clothing. But if it turns out he runs an effective campaign, he is truly a moderate, and Minnesota responds to him, I may us vote for the man.

Georgia & NATO

If you've been following the news recently you must have heard about the war going on the Caucuses. A boiling cauldron of ethnic tensions and rivalries, the region has seen turmoil ever since the iron hand of The Soviet Union left in the early 90's. Although all these countries have used the boundaries drawn by the Russians since sometime after WWII, they really reflect nothing more than lines on a map. In addition to the two conflict zones of Abkhazia and Ossetia, the southwestern region of Adjara has seen its share of conflict, also fostered by the Russians.

Why is this important you may ask? A tiny Caucasian country that imported about $260 million wort of US products while exporting around $160 million. It's important because certain factions within the US have been pushing to admit Georgia into NATO since the Rose Revolution brought President Saakashveli to power. While NATO has over 26 member states, one as to only take a glance at Afghanistan to see who has to carry the water in any military conflict. Had Georgia been accepted into NATO The United States would have been obligated, under a treaty that's been in place for almost 60 years, to defend their territorial integrity.

It could be argued that had Georgia been under NATO protection the Russians may have thought twice about such blatant aggression. But that's a big maybe and as much as I sympathize with the Georgian people, the last thing I want is a war with Russia.

Survived another hurricane

I made it through another hurricane this weekend. I don't know what the deal is, but I have comfortably slept through the last two of them, easily. This last one was a category three. I've heard that's a big storm. It seemed pretty weak to me.

I've started training at my new job. It's cool but I feel like I'm going to to get thrown in knowing about a quarter of what I need. Not like I haven't made it through that situation before. What is it with Asian countries and the way they teach English. They make some arbitrary requirements to teach in their country. Usually it's a bachelor's degree or a two year degree and a TESOL certificate. If you have one of those things you can teach English in any number of countries. And a TESOL certificate takes about 4 days to get, and can cost as little as $450.

Once you meet the criterion, then you are automatically deemed an English teacher and given a class. If you're lucky you get a day or two of "training", which usually consists of some combination of videos, looking at a book with your new boss, and sitting in a class. If schools in Asia would get their act together and either train, or hire better teachers, I honestly think they would save money in the long run. Once the kids learn basic English in elementary and middle school, you won't have to be teaching "My name is John" to High School and College students.

Anyway, I saw this in the news, and I've never seen a better example of why "hate" crime laws are unnecessary and divisive. Every crime is a crime of hate and should be treated like one. would crime have been any different if the perpetrator had been white? Of course not. Laws that divide us will always keep us divided.

Typhoon Kalmaegi strikes

Well, the Typhoon came and went with a whimper. I've seen stronger storms while riding a bike around Mankato. Apparently it was worse in the southern and western parts of the country, but in Taipei, it was pretty weak. Which is disappointing, because I had planned to take some good advice and get some pictures of my white ass mooning the dreadful hurricane. Instead me and Dookie stayed up all night drinking some absolutely horrible Taiwanese alcohol, known only by the two western symbols found on the bottle; "58".

I also had the inevitable first finger pointing by a child yesterday, while on the shuttle bus to go to the Hospital. (No, I wasn't hurt, it was just a mandatory screening so I can get my Visa.) The kid looked back, and then did a double take when he recognized through my black Versaces that I was a "Way Gwou Ren", otherwise translated as Foreigner.

Now, this is not an earth shattering occurrence. After living in Korea, I was used to kids constantly shouting and pointing, "Way Goo Kin" or "Hello" over and over again when they would see me or any other white face. A black face tends to get a less positive response.

Anyway, the thing that really got me thinking was when the mother of the kid actually scolded him for such rude behavior. After being desensitized by Korean parents who let their kids get away with anything, as long as it was not being done to a Korean person older than them, it was shocking to see this, to say the least.

Lastly, let me tell you a little bit about the hospitals here. Optimistically, we'll call it "efficient". I have never experienced a more assembly line approach to health care. In the time it took to take my blood and get my chest X-Rayed, I wouldn't have gotten past the opening chit chat with an American doctor. But of course, the American doctor might have actually found out how I was feeling. I will give the blood doctors some credit however. They were able to get the blood they needed in the first stab, something that usually takes at least three stabbings before hitting a good vein. Cheers.

Am I going to live through a Hurricane tonight

Well, according to CNN and the WeatherUnderground, there is a storm forming south of Taiwan. I'll keep you posted but just so you know, I am excited. I've never seen a hurricane before and I've heard that the ones in southeast Asia are the real deal.

Another hurricane seems to be forming back home (of course a political hurricane...that is all I write about you know). I hope this issue doesn't gain any traction but it exposes a side of the right that I really disagree with. I am talking about Barack Obama's statement that kids in the US should learn another language. The Weekly Standard recently listed it on their snobbery watch; the Gateway Pundit accused Obama of calling monolingual Americans "boorish". I saw some talking heads on CNN and BBC trying to attack Obama on this. GIVE ME A BREAK.

Americans do need to start learning other languages. Language education in the US is a joke. I won't even get into English education, but you don't even start to learn a second language until high school. All scientific studies show that by far the best time to learn a second or third language is when you are young. On top of that, the languages we learn are vestiges of the 19th century, not even the 20th century (ie Russian). We are still learning German and French...We might as well be teaching our kids Icelandic and Tagalog for all it matters. (for the readers knowledge, I have a basic fluency in German, learned in High school and College).

In every world, but especially todays world, knowledge of foreign languages is VITAL, and yet reactionary elements in the US are still opposed to really focusing on giving this important tool to our children.

And as usual the right has missed a golden opportunity to hit Obama right where it hurts. The man is an empty suit! Instead of calling him a "snob", they should be asking him why, after spending 8 years in the Illinois legislature, he did absolutely nothing to improve foreign language education in his state! Or after three years in the US Senate why he never worked to improve the chances of our children having a better stake in the global economy. But of course, the talking heads all stick to the memo saying we need to paint Obama as out of touch...Sigh

Oil Oil Oil

The issue of oil prices is now becoming the number one topic on peoples minds today, and will perhaps be the most important issue for voters in the upcoming election. Fortunately this has put talk of drilling for oil in the US to the front of peoples minds. I'm glad, too, that people are starting to realize that the fear mongering about Nuclear energy, the cleanest, most efficient fuel source known to man, is just what it is; fear mongering.

I could post pages and pages of thoughts and stats here but I won't bore you. What really gets me is the response we are now getting from the anti-oil crowd. In the past it was environmental concerns, which were always BS, but with $1 a gallon gas it's easy to just agree. But now, the environazis have changed there argument to the patently disingenuous "drilling for oil will not affect the price of oil"...

It's really mind boggling to hear this kind of argument but nevertheless it is made and accepted by some. Let's think rationally for one moment, please. Adding any amount of supply to a market will ALWAYS reduce the cost. ALWAYS, whether it be textbooks at a University, highways in a metro area, or beer at a liquor store. This is a fact that is as unchangeable as gravity. Drilling for oil in the US, and anywhere for that matter, will lower the price of gas. Now, the real dollar price of gas may go up, that is quite possible. But adding supply to the market will make the future price less than it would have been, sans drilling. It's just simple fact.

Second, the amount of money we send overseas for oil is astronomical. According to the US State Department, from January - August 2007, oil imports were a whopping 34% of the entire US trade deficit. That means that every single barrel of new oil we obtain from the US is one less dollar we borrow from the Chinese, and a dollar we invest in jobs and infrastructure in The US.

This should not even be an issue, and never should have been, but the environazis do not play nice. My favorite talk show host Bob Davis always says that "the cure for high prices is high prices", and I just hope that the high price of oil will wake Americans up to the foolish energy policy we've had in place for the last two decades.

Sexism and Politics

I've been toying with the idea of writing on this topic since the campaign between Hilary Clinton and Barrack Obama really started heating up, but I never really got around to it. Now that the campaign is over, I think it's a good time to really reflect about the overarching sexism that was clearly utilized by the Obama campaign in the primary. While many people have written about this issue, unfortunately the majority of them fail to recognize how subtly and acceptable sexism is in our society, as opposed to the other “isms”, particularly racism.

While the whole campaign was replete with sexist overtones, I'll just give you a few examples. My favorite is Obama’s response to Hilary’s charge that he diluted a nuclear energy bill. Instead of addressing the issue he simply says “I understand that Senator Clinton … when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.” Feeling down?! You meant to say when she is on the rag right Senator?

The most commonly cited one, however, is Obama’s casual statement that when "you challenge the status quo … the claws come out". Most of us hear that and cringe not at the statement, but at the idea that someone would take offense to it. This is completely ridiculous. Obama would never have used that language talking about John McCain, not in a million years.

To really illustrate the paradox of sex vs. race issues I think we should imagine Hilary Clinton making a similar statement regarding Barrack Obama's race. Imagine the outcry if she had said "you challenge the status quo and someone busts a cap on yo ass"...

It's so obvious that if a statement like that were made, the race police would have been foaming at the mouth with rage and indignation. But there was never anything near to that when Obama made an obviously synonymous statement. The few women who called it what it was were pilloried as old hags who should leave the work of politics to the big boys, or at least to the women who understood their place in society.

The number of indirect swipes at Senator Clinton were replete throughout the campaign. Countless “hollering”, “petty” Etc were thrown around by Obama this campaign season and it really is sad at how sensitive our society is to racial issues, and yet so dismissive of sexist ones.

Many brave women struggled hard to achieve equal rights for well over a century in the US, but it's clear that the struggle for gender equality will be much more of a harder fight to win than that for racial equality. Did Barrack Obama win the primary because of sexist Democrat voters? Doubtful. But did Barrack Obama take advantage of a society that deems it acceptable to downplay powerful women as vindictive she devils who are one menstrual cycle away from a full meltdown. Absolutely.

Delegate madness

People ask me alot what aggravates me the most about Korea. For the most part it’s the same things as anywhere. But it’s amazing to me that for a city the size of Seoul, people still walk so damn slow. I am constantly weaving in and out and around people on the sidewalk. And that is just at my normal pace. And furthermore, people will just post up in the middle of the sidewalk and talk on their cell phones. Taxi drivers do this also. Very frustrating.
But I digress. This whole delegate fiasco taking place with the Democrats is so indicitive of the way Democrats handle things. What is suspiciously left out of the media’s discussion of the whole issue is the way the Republicans handled it. Yes that’s right, the Republicans had the same problem with Michigan and Florida that the Democrats had but it was handled oh so much better. First off, instead of just the draconic punishment of absolutely no delegates that the Democrats metted out to these states, the Republicans took a less punitive stance and simply halved the delegates. All the candidates, and the state party, new this going in and accepted. This acceptance, however, is really the most important thing to note when examining the different ways each party governs.
Before and during the campaigning in Michigan and Florida, none of the candidates suggested any sort of desire to change the rules the RNC gave for the two states. When Mitt Romney won Michigan there was no movement spearheaded by him to make sure "all the votes" were counted. If McCain had won it would have been the same. Had Guiliani won Florida it is doubtful that he would have pushed for a "full" seating. When Republicans set rules, they follow them, regardless of the political consequences.
Contrast this with the way the Democrats have handled their delegate issue, and you really get a clear picture of the way the two parties handle the governance issue.

Recession

Living in South Korea, the only insight I have into the economic situation in the US is what I read online. So according to most of the media, and Warren Buffet, the US is in a recession. Here in Korea, recession is also looming on the horizon. I think it's important to note, however, that Korea's new President, Lee Myung Bak, seems to have the right idea on how to fix and economy. Two days ago, the Lee government announced a plan to reduce gas taxes by over $.10 a gallon in order to give consumers more money not to spend on gas. Granted, the gas tax in Korea is already astronomically high, but Lee did not set the gas tax; he inherited it, and he seems to be moving in the right direction on this issue. If only the DFL controlled legislature in Minnesota would take a hint.

Oh Michelle, Michelle

While I was cruising the Huffington Post this afternoon I came across an article titled "GOP rep proud her constiutents are working two jobs"...I had a small sinking feeling in my gut and I knew, somehow, that this was Michelle Bachmann. So I clicked the link and low and behold, their is Ms. Bachmann complete with quote and everything. Maybe she is proud people are working two jobs but please, she is up for election next year and she keeps giving her opponents ammunition with boneheaded comments like this. As I blogged a few weeks ago, about her Mall of America/Saddam's palaces comment, she is setting herself up for disaster when she keeps saying things like this. My only hope is that the RNC ponies up some money and hires her a spokesman that will stop her from shooting her mouth off like this.