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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Thursday, September 04, 2008

  • Currently Reading
    Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)
    By Karl Marx
    see related

    Some More Thoughts on Palin

    Now, I'm all for a qualified female president. And I was prepared to accept a McCain presidency if things turn out that way (say, if Barack Obama came out on camera tomorrow and talked about how all them white crackers needed to get on with it). But with Palin only a heartbeat away from a presidency (and man, what a shakey heartbeat), I really don't think I can bring myself to accept the McCain ticket.

    I just can't bring myself to like her as a candidate. "God wills" that Alaska should have an oil pipeline? Seriously?

    Palin's addition to the ticket was probably the most divisive thing McCain could have done to this election. The last thing we need is an uber-conservative religious VP candidate whose presence on the campaign trail is suddenly going to make wedge issues like abortion and gun control the most important issues. Now, abortion and gun control are pretty important. I happen to be not-pro-choice (pro-life is such a loaded term, like the pro-choice people don't care about life at all), and on the fence about gun control (there's no reason that Bubba should be able to have access to an AK-47, but getting rid of the 2nd Amendment opens up the rest of the Bill of Rights to all sorts of potential abuse...well. what's left of it after the end of the Bush administration, anyway).

    But common. Gun control and abortion? Are we still on that? Why can't we also talk about the fact that our "progressive" income tax system is totally broken, that we still haven't figured out a decent plan for nationwide health care, and how to take care of that mess we call Iraq and Afghanistan? I'm not totally on McCain's side on all the issues. But neither am I on Obama's on everything. We agree that everyone disagrees on abortion and gun control. Now, can we move on to talking about things we CAN agree on?

    The McCain campaign made a move that I really. really really REALLY don't like. For the first time this election I'm starting to get really worried.

     

     

    edit: Someone mentioned that fact that she just gave birth to a kid with Down's syndrome, and asked whether this is a good time for someone in her position to take on a job like the vice presidency right now. It's a fair question. What do you guys think?

     

     

Saturday, August 30, 2008

  • A friend of mine recently posted this on his Facebook. People know that I'm an Obama supporter, and the guy who wrote this is a Berkeley pal [hence the...rather liberal slant].

    I'm not necessarily as quick to condemn Palin as McCain's VP choice [she's an unknown...I would like to do my research first]. I don't even agree with a lot of what's written here. But he makes a good point about what McCain's choice seems to say about his thoughts concerning certain voters. I don't know. You decide.



    What McCain did today should be considered seriously insulting to your integrity. In a desperate attempt to capture former Hillary voters, McCain has chosen an unknown, unprepared woman from Alaska as his Vice President.

    So why is this insulting to you? Here is what political strategists under McCain are basically saying: "Women of the United States: You only voted for Hillary because she was a woman, not because of policy or character. Now vote for another woman I chose blindly, just like your last blind vote."

    Don't believe me? He chose a woman with absolutely no credentials. A few years ago she was a mayor of a town of 9,000 people. She has served as governor of a small state for less than two years. She has absolutely zero experience in the federal government and on foreign policy. Why do you think he sacrificed choosing more popular and decorated candidates: Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Huckabee?

    Because he thought he could win you over based on your ignorance. You and Hillary should both be absolutely insulted by this strategic suggestion that her thunderous campaign was all due to her gender.

    And if McCain wins, we are a 72-year old unhealthy man's heartbeat away from President Sarah Palin, the "hockey mom" who has never been in any serious position of power, or dealt with anyone with real power, suddenly occupying the most powerful position in the world. Jesus Christ, this is for real.

    Women, don't you dare fall for this bullshit. The women I know are much smarter than this. Let other (older) women know how sexist and stupid this is. Spread the word about these fucking bastards.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

  • Currently Reading
    The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
    By Thomas L. Friedman
    see related

    Technically the world's an imperfect sphere, but I get your point.

    A bit behind on the times, but I finally got my hands on a copy of Friedman's The World Is Flat.

    I think you can boil down the book to four main points:

    1. Globalization is inevitable...don't bother fighting it.
    2. Because of globalization individuals have more competition to worry about.
    3. American kids are lazy and stupid compared to Chinese and Indian ones.
    4. We need to better educate Americans if we're going to stay at the top of the globalization curve.

    Reading this book made me want to be the next Bill Gates or Eliot Spitzer. Then I realized just how bad Bill's haircuts are (seems like no amount of money will fix that), and Eliot Spitzer? Not sure I want to be remembered as the man whose girlfriend's main source of income comes from cameos in Girls Gone Wild.

    I always used to insist that kids "take the time to be kids" during their middle and high school years. Now that I reflect back, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. All those kids that I knew from middle school and high school that took the time to be kids...what did they do? They took the time to be kids. By hanging out at Life Plaza commenting on the varying pros and cons of certain combinations of boba drinks, sidelining for a joint before sneaking into three movies Saturday afternoon, four if they're cartoons. And now they give me my burger and fries when I go by the drive-thru at Burger King. They don't even take my order anymore. Burger King has people in India doing that.

    The one thing I remember about friends in college (and me, occasionally) is "I hate studying." And then not studying. I don't think kids in the backwoods of China are saying that. They may hate studying too, but when studying means the difference between whether I take a crap in a stump in the woods or taking a crap in their own sanitized marble bathroom with a toilet that wipes for me when they say "all done," I doubt they give themselves much time to complain.

    It's not that I view them as a threat. By all means, if you're qualified, then you deserve it. The world will be all the better for that next great idea germinating in your head. But the next time you, or I, start complaining about how hard work is. We should remember there's someone somewhere in the world who'd be more than happy to relieve us of that burden. Pulling 12 hour days suck, but it gets the bill paid and it supports my food habit. Extra hours don't seem so bad once I think about where those nice steak dinners come from.



    By the way Kenny. They invented wireless flash drives. They have this funny little thing called Bluetooth, see...

Monday, August 25, 2008

  • Currently Reading
    Dubliners (Norton Critical Edition)
    By James Joyce
    see related
    Yes, I am alive.

    1. Get used to having a fob haircut. According to Americans, "1 on the sides and finger-length on top" is your basic bread-and-butter haircut...mess it up and you're out of a business. According to Koreans, "1 on the sides and finger-length on top" = do whatever. I even had someone give me a straight up buzz cut during my first month here [but I made her shave the sides closer, and with some gel you could barely notice the difference]. I'm starting to think I should make it easier on myself and get a mullet like everyone else here.

    2.Get used to people not understanding English words. For example (in Korean): "Can you tell me where the Levi's is?" "What?" "The Levi's." "What?" "Levi's." "What?" "...Ri-Bi-Zuh." "Oh, right. It's down the street to your left."

    3. Get used to looking lonely. Not that I'm as sad or pathetic as the previous sentence makes me out to be. Just be prepared to be surrounded by couples (ick) doing couple-y things like holding hands and whispering in each others ears while sitting next to you on the subway (double ick) and wear couple tees gloves that they can't take off without un-holding hands (excuse me while I stab myself in the eye with a fork...right. there are no forks). It's a couple-dominated world, and if you're single, hunker down and hope that the storm blows over.

    More updates later. Who wants a postcard?

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