CausewayBay's Xanga

Obama wins!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:36:27 GMT

I have never been more proud of the United States.

If There Is Still Any Confusion...

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:38:09 GMT

If there is still any confusion about why I support Obama, let me break it down for you (those who have had your comments to my last entry deleted) in really simple terms: I support Obama because he's black, for the simple reason that there are those who oppose him because he's black. That's it. It's that simple, and I make no apologies for it.

I Support Obama Because He's Black

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:28:55 GMT

Ever since Palin linked Obama to terrorism, the media has been reporting how McCain supporters, at Republican rallies, are calling Obama an “Arab”, “terrorist”, “traitor”, etc, with some even screaming, “kill him”, and “off with his head”. Now, readers, I personally think all these rallying cries are racist. You may or may not agree. If you do not, and think that the media is race-baiting, I can respect that. At the end of the day, the term “racist” is just a term. Judge these actions in their merits if you will, but when you do, consider that even McCain has had to go off-script and defend Obama against these rallying cries, for which his supporters actually booed him. When I read of these incidents, it jolts memories of some random guy on the street calling me “Jackie Chan”, or some drunk guy at a bar coming up to me and making mock kungfu noises. I would love to tell you those are only hypothetical situations, but no, I have experienced both of these things, and there are many more similar gems from my life experience.

A few days ago, photos showed up of signs that read, “Vote Right, Vote White”, and “Vote McCain, Not Osama or Hussein”. Well, this is the last straw. I supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, though I did not vote because I am not registered with any party. And after Obama won, so far I’ve only supported him because I see him as the lesser of two evils. There are certainly issues on which I agree with McCain more than I do with Obama, but two main issues have so far prevailed on me to support Not-McCain: foreign policy and Sarah Palin. But as of now, as an Asian voter, my main and most important reason for supporting Obama is precisely that he’s black. I had only looked at the issues and to a lesser extent, the backgrounds, of the candidates. But these openly racist reactions have finally pushed me over the edge to support Obama because he’s black. Ironically, this change is not even directly related to either Obama or McCain. It is because of these racist supporters of McCain, or I should say, because of these people that would prefer white people to always be the country's leaders. I think it's pretty safe to say that they support McCain only because his opponent is black.

Is it not similarly racist to support Obama because he’s black? I will respect your own personal judgement on this. People who support Obama because of his race, they do so because there’s never been a black president, and they want to change that. People who are against Obama because of his race, they do so because there’s never been a black president, and they want it to stay that way. To me there’s an ocean of difference.

Let me finish by answering the simple question, why does race matter?

Race matters because racists have made it matter.

Biden versus Palin

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:13:20 GMT

That Vice Presidential debate was 10 times more entertaining than the Presidential debate. Some highlights:

Palin winking at the camera.
Biden saying "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere".
Palin's "gosh darnits".
Biden cracking huge smiles whenever Palin delivered a stinger - it was too obvious he was trying to contain his comtempt.
Palin saying that Biden's wife's deeds will be "rewarded in heaven" - I don't know about anybody else, but I thought that was an obvious sting at Biden trying to get him to lose his cool. Biden's first wife had died in an accident and it was an extremely difficult time for him.
Biden almost melting down talking about his family - he needs to go there more, that's what he needs to overcome the Palin charm.

As predicted, Biden concentrated on the facts and his experience, while Palin used her charm to connect to people. One thing that Palin has going for her is that expectations were low for her, so the fact that she not just held her own but did pretty well worked greatly for the McCain campaign. I think most of us have probably already decided who we'll be voting for. At this point, it's up to the media to affect the outcome of the debate to sway the undecided voter.

Presidential Debate

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:35:41 GMT

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama is online on youtube. The transcript for the debate is also available on CNN.

I definitely thought Obama did better on the economy and the bailout. He offered more concrete points and really addressed tax payers' concerns. On foreign policy and Iraq, the two differ fundamentally that debating is like 雞同鴨講 (chicken talking to a duck). McCain favours the hawkish force projection strategy, and Obama favours dialogue. McCain tried to hammer Obama on wasteful spending, but I thought Obama defended well enough. On this I probably agree with McCain more than I do with Obama. But Obama makes a good point in saying that McCain wants to solve this problem by "using a hatchet". I'm disappointed that both candidate are automatically taking the pro-NATO stance on Russia and it was never even brought up that Georgia was, in fact, the aggressor in this when it sent armed forces into two regions that had been de-facto independent for years. I'm not surprised by McCain's stance, but I'm especially disappointed in Obama and the Democrat base's support of NATO and Georgia's side in the conflict.

I'm not a particularly strong Obama supporter. But in the end, I am worried how McCain's hawkish foreign policy will affect the world. I cannot disagree more with his emphasis on using the military and force projection. Also, if the government is going to be wasting my tax dollars anyway, I'd rather have them wasted domestically than in nation-building overseas. And with the way that McCain is always metaphorically sucking General Patraeus' dick, I wouldn't be surprised if he would actually raise taxes for everybody if that was necessary to fund whatever course of action Patraeus suggests. Don't get me wrong - Patraeus does a great job. But there's a reason we don't just make him president. Our military actions - and so by extension military spending - must be dictated by a civilian government.

But I also completely understand that military operations do not function well on a time table. So I wish our two presidential candidates aren't so polarised in how to handle Iraq. I don't think staying in Iraq for "100 years" is a good idea, nor do I want a time table for withdrawal. I'm in agreement with Tammy Duckworth on Iraq - that what we're doing in Iraq is no longer fighting terrorism, it is now about controlling sectarian violence. And hell, was it ever really about fighting terrorism? Al Qaeda wasn't even in Iraq until we went in. Duckworth also wants more accountability in what we're doing in Iraq, and she basically said that if Iraqi forces are able to do the job of one American soldier, then that's one American soldier we should be sending home.

Another thing that has now made me definitely anti-McCain - the fact that Sarah Palin may actually become president is an absolutely scary thought. She is an idiot. I have no idea how it is that people might actually think that it is good to have a "hocky mom" in the White House. Why is that a good thing? I want somebody that's extremely educated and intelligent for the job, and not somebody whose background can be boiled down to that of a moose-hunting "hockey mom". Sure, some hockey moms are probably very intelligent and educated. But unfortunately, that is not Palin.

I will, however, be anxiously awaiting the Palin vs. Biden debate. With popcorn.

The Olympics

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:36:06 GMT

Well, the Olympics is over, and China came out on top of the medals table with 51 gold medals. I watched this Olympics more closely than I have ever watched any other Olympics, and the reason is obvious. Chinese people both inside and outside of China are immensely proud that not only did China finally get to host the Olympics, it was also ranked #1.

Despite this, I have to admit that I think the medals table just look plain ridiculous. The leading countries far outpaced all the other countries in gold medals and overall medals by a very disproportionate number. I am too lazy to try to map a nice looking table here in the blog entry, so you can just take a look at the medals table on the official Beijing Olympics website. Eighth-rank Japan comes in at 9 gold medals, and it is only from there, that you see an even distribution of gold medals won as you go down the rankings. Even the difference between first-rank China and second-rank U.S. is 15 - that's more gold medals than the number that every other country won except for the top five ranked countries!

All in all, it just looks ridiculous. Again, I am extremely proud that China did so well. I cheered for its diving and gymnastics teams. I watched many of the China events on NBC's Olympics website. But it's pretty clear from looking at the medals table that a few selected countries are especially Olympics obsessed, with the top two obsessed being China and the U.S.

That the competition was on between China and the U.S. was obvious. And as China was winning, the U.S. media and many Americans clearly had a difficult time accepting this fact. Accusations flew, of under-aged gymnasts, biased scoring, etc. But it should be noted that these accusations were not limited to China alone - "World's Fastest Man" Usain Bolt and his fellow Jamaican runners were also accused of doping because of their impressive performance. Apparently the U.S. could not believe that some other country beside itself could have dominated the arena of sprinting. Western media, too, played its part in how closely it scrutinised the way China hosted the Olympics. It can basically be summarised by this cartoon below:

Certainly, China itself is not without blame in the way that Western media pounced on every little negative detail about the Games, but I could write lengthy blog entries about Western media's treatment of China. Another time perhaps. In the end though, reception of the 2008 Olympics was generally positive. World leaders praised it, visitors to Beijing praised it, and the spectacular opening ceremony especially left a deep impression on everyone.

In the backdrop of this China vs. U.S. competition, instead of showing how China and the U.S. are different, to me it very much showed how China and the U.S. are actually alike. There is an obsession with wanting and being the biggest, the best, the number one, the most awe-inspiring. It wasn't only the race on the medals table, it was also the over-the-top entertainment show, and the preparation that went into it, that became of these Games. But the Olympics is just one thing that demonstrates this similar attitude. The thing that shows us this similarity the most is China's desire to be a superpower in international politics and economics - perhaps the sole superpower - and the U.S.'s fight to keep this place to itself. On the Chinese side, there is every expectation that China will eventually become one of the most, if not the most, influential power in the world, and that with this position, it will be all rainbows and sunshine. On the U.S. side, China's rise seems to spell doom and gloom to the world, and to the U.S. in particular, in such a way that it is imperative of the U.S. to remain the only superpower in the world. But these are just different reactions to China's rise. What they show us is that China and the U.S. are more similar than many might think. They both want to be the biggest, the best, the number one.

need social activities

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:42:08 GMT

All work and no play, makes me a dull boy.

Moved to Flushing.

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:14:45 GMT

I love Flushing. I just walked down a few blocks at 11:30PM and was able to buy fruit, Chinese soy milk, and a six-pack of canned Heineken.

my little airport 的 <浪漫九龍塘>

Thu, 22 May 2008 23:31:37 GMT

Inside Looking Out

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:25:56 GMT