Asia on my mind… September 25, 2008

How do I know I am in a country I have never been in?  When I am sitting in a room on the 7th floor of a hotel at around 4am overlooking a boulevard and hearing in the distance something I have never heard before.  Chants coming from a loudspeaker: oh yes, I am in Indonesia, and 80% of their population is Muslim and right, they pray 5 times a day and the prayer is broadcast for everyone to hear and participate in.  Fascinating!

Well, this is only one way of knowing.

I arrived in Hong Kong last Monday after a 14 hour flight.  I thought I’d never make it but I surprised myself and even got a few hours of sleep.  My friend C. picked me up at the airport and brought me to her relatives’ house about 45 minutes outside of the heart of Hong Kong where I was graciously welcomed to stay for a night.  I am a 24-hour sponge here, an infant whose eyes are wide open and can’t keep up with everything she looks at, feels, tastes, smells…

Oh yes, it is hot and very humid here.  And then you enter buildings and it is annoyingly freezing thanks to the AC probably set on high.  But since I was in for a nice surprise that evening (a Typhoon that quickly went from a level 3 to a level 8 ~ and no, that vocabulary never existed for me until that day), the day was a bit cooler than normal with occasional bursts of rainpoor.  Cooler means 29 degrees Celsius instead of the usual 30+ with a steady breeze which does wonders when you are sweating.

We walked and walked and walked…I tried to take photos of what I was looking at.  I tried not to take photos of what I was mostly seeing:  brand names (real and fake), electonic stores en masse, the shopping shopping shopping that seems to be everyone’s favorite pastime.  I wanted to capture something more authentic.  Then, the next morning, while writing in my journal I realized that perhaps I should photograph these things because that seems to be the authentic deal!  I said to myself: don’t try to make a place into something that it is not…or at least be open to the reality of a people that may just possibly be less creative and individualistic than you would like them to be.

So my first lesson was: accept the reality of big city life.  DOn’t I feel the same thing when I walk the streets of downtown San Francisco or New York?  People shopping shopping shopping…for sure they must have other things to do and be passionate about.  And surely there are areas of these cities where you see another picture.

But I haven’t flown halfway across the world to criticize its people of having no creative individuality…no, I am here to take it all in and not judge.  So I try to find moments when I can capture beauty:

- a child looking out the window of the bus driving parallel to the one I am in with the rest of my Community Colleges delegations.  He smiles at me when he sees that I have the camera pointing at him.

- an old man in the Hong Kong market selling bloody fishheads that still pulsate as thought they have not yet realized that they are really dead, horribly dead.  He stops his blood-splattering head-chopping for a second so I can snap a picture.

- The young Indonesian security guard who is busy getting taxis to drive on after having dropped someone off at the door of the US Embassy allows me to snap of photo of his beautiful facial structure.

It is my first time ever in Asia.  I am here for work representing my college.  I will be busy with Educational Fairs, visits to embassies and High Schools giving information to prospective students at our college.   I am with a “delegation” of Community College Representatives and we seem to be given the semi-royal treatment. I like the fact that I have a reason to be here and that taking in all the impressions and snapping photos is my side gig…

After saying goodbye to the typhoon in Hong Kong who’s name is not Ike or Catherine but a name I will never remember, we flew to Jakarta Indonesia.

It is the middle of the night and I still hear the chants outside my tightly sealed and air-conditioned room.  I should go back to bed because today will be a busy day and I don’t want to be tired at 6pm.

More to follow…

Maureen Dowd’s latest column ~ well done, Maureen! September 21, 2008

Here’s a really good article written by Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd in today’s New York Times called

Seeking a President Who Gives Goose Bumps? So’s Obama.

The highlight of the article:

OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?

BARTLET Well … let me think. …We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know … I’m a little angry.

OBAMA What would you do?

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

How to deal with anger… September 20, 2008

from The New Yorker, August 2008 edition.

The Ed Schultz Show’s Townhall Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska September 15, 2008

I’m just going to pass it on to Mudflat’s Blog where he writes about the Townhall meeting he attended in Anchorage Alaska:
The Ed Schultz Show’s Townhall Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska
Go directly to the Ed Schultz Show’s website here

******************* and just because I like this song ************************

Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally September 14, 2008

Mudflats reports today on a rally organized by women in Anchorage, Alaska. He himself was floored when he got to the rally expecting to see about 15 or 20 people protesting. Instead, he found over 1400 women and men holding up signs, people honking…here is his post:

Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally is Huge!

Please pass this post on to your friends or post it on your own blog!

*******************then********************

Did you watch last night’s opening scene of Saturday Night Live? Well, Tina Fey did it! wow! amazing!
(I can’t post the video directly to my site ~ NBC copyright ~ so just go to this site:
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

*************** and finally ******************

Bill Maher’s New Rules for September 12th:

Keith Olbermann Slams John McCain on exploiting 9/11 September 13, 2008

More about Sarah Palin September 12, 2008

I don’t even know where to start or stop…early in the mornings I read articles online and watch videos on youtube. I don’t do that all the time, but lately with this whole Sarah Palin pick, I can’t keep myself from it. I am still in shock and even though I still think it’s a big joke (God! I hope I’m right!), there is a part of me that is frightened that too many people will fall deeply for the bullshit the Mc Cain / Palin Campaign is feeding the public.

So I found this article on Alternet.org titled 8 More Stories About Palin that the Public Needs to Know. Here are the 8 points. Click here to read the entire article:

1. Palin paid herself to stay at home.
2. Next to Palin, even McCain looks like an economic genius.
3. Palin’s Wasilla charged rape victims for their sexual assault exams.
4. Palin may have rewarded serviceman with promotion for his about-face on her candidacy.
5. Palin isn’t big on government transparency.
6. Even Ed Koch, who supported President Bush, thinks Palin is “scary.”
7. Palin’s views are so extremist her own friends may not vote for her.
8. Palin and Big Oil’s interests: one and the same.

***************and then*******************

Yesterday I watched parts of her interview on ABC News with Charlie Gibson. I am posting the part where she is asked about the “Bush Doctrine”. I myself don’t need to know what the Bush Doctrine is. Sarah Palin (possibly the future VP of the United States of America, possibly the future PRESIDENT of the United States of America) DOES! Her answer: In what respect, Charlie? (hear the nervous breathing when she says this?)

I find this segment to be very interesting. I am always interested in non-verbal body language. I am not a psychologist or a expert. This is purely my own personal observation and yes, perhaps I am nit picking…but…in observing her I saw this:
- she is nervous and tries very hard to cover it up. Most people would say “of COURSE she is nervous”! But her nervousness is not because she is being interviewed on national TV. I think she is a very confident, perhaps over confident person. She looks like a tough person who can take a lot. Her nervousness though is because she KNOWS that there is a LOT she doesn’t know. And these things she ought to know. It is expected that someone chosen to be the vice president of a country should know a LOT about pretty much everything pertaining to the country. She doesn’t and she knows it.

- She’s smart. When Charlie Gibson asks her that question, I can just imagine her saying to herself “What the F—k is the Bush Doctrine? Damn! they didn’t teach me that yet!”. She pretends to know what it is. She kills time (waiting for more facts) by giving a blah blah blah answer about what the Bush Administration has attempted to do…not a response about the Bush Doctrine…not until Charlie explains it to her…now comes what she was waiting for.

- He explains to her what the Bush Doctrine is and you can see the relief in her face and she is soaking in the new information while trying to look like she already knew that. Again. She is smart. She is quick. She immediately responds to what she just learned by giving a little pep talk about how we have every right to defend ourselves if there is an imminent threat…pretty much confirming/repeating what he just explained to her.

- In her response to the next question (do we have the right to enter Pakistan from Afganistan without the approval of Pakistan) she says among other things: “we must do whatever it takes, Charlie, and we must not blink”. To me, this is exactly what she is going to try to do in the next 6 or so weeks. She knows that she has to come across as confident, knowledgeable, capable, strong and this is how she will do it. She will do what it takes and she will not blink. Look straight into the eye of the interviewer/public. Lean in closer. Aggressive. Confident.

- In a way, I feel sorry for her. I imagine that 100% of her time is spent with experts who are drilling her, training her, preparing her. I guess she was carefully chosen and she is now being molded. I feel sorry for her because I think she thinks she can handle it. I imagine that she is very strong and yes, probably can handle a lot. She seems powerful and ruthless. She is not stupid.
But I think she is going to crack under the pressure. I really think so. 6 weeks is a very very long time. I think she should crack. Except if she is not questioned enough. She might just get away with it unless there are more such interviews that challenge her basic knowledge and show the public how unprepared she really is. Really, all she needs to do is hold up until the elections. They chose her carefully in order to get McCain elected. After that, I think she will probably slip into the background until God forbid something happens to McCain.

There will be only one debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. I am sure that Joe Biden is preparing too. He also has to be careful how he handles the debate. Dont’ forget, she is smart. And she seems to have experience answering questions she knows nothing about. All we can do is wait and see…and I hope she cracks. Sorry. She should not be in charge of this country! This is not Wasilla.

The Palin Pick ~ a joke? no, a really bad Disney Movie September 11, 2008

Found this video on Alternet.org this morning. Matt Damon comments on Sarah Palin and the fact that she could very possibly be the president one day. That is very scary! He compares it to a really really bad Disney movie. Well said, Matt.

I have been feeling pretty frustrated and sick to my stomach lately when watching the news…listening to a lot of the superficial reporting being made on TV about Palin. Not too many people on mainstream news are REALLY questioning this woman. Just the fact that everyone says “leave her family alone” when it comes to her pregnant daughter etc…why the hell did she then USE her daughter and future son-in-law and parade them at the convention as though they were little trophies.

Oh my Lord! is this country really going to mess it all up again? Just the fact that it is even close (see polls) shows that too many people are falling for the “hockey mom” stint. Are you kidding me? Here are a few videos I have seen lately. Some are really funny. Others are really frustrating.

On Meet the Bloggers, Henry Rollins and Paul Waldman discussed the media’s bias toward the McCain campaign:

Conan O’Brian’s dog Triumph at the RNC:

On ABC in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Cindy McCain endorsed the view that Fox news has about Sarah Palin’s National Security experience:

Two conservative commentators on MSNBC, after they’re off the air, say what they really think about the veep choice:

and last but not least…the last part of Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention:

Points of View from an Alaskan September 5, 2008

I recently came across this blog which I am now subscribing to. The following link is on the blog…a letter written by a fellow Wasilla resident called Anne Kilkenny who knows Sarah Palin very well and seems unafraid to share some of her knowledge:
A letter about Sarah Palin from Anne Kilkenny

This is what I like about the internet…it has a lot of junk, but boy does it get us closer to each other and gives us more choices about information gathering…

Thank you! Jon Stewart! September 5, 2008

I’ve been searching for this video clip and finally found it. I have been a bit outraged since watching Thompson, Juliani, Palin etc…at the RNC…what bullshit people can spit out of their mouths! And then this fresh breath of air just to release a bit of the tension in my body…

more about "VodPod in Words » Posting videos to W…", posted with vodpod