Appalling Palin

GOP presidential candidate John McCain announced his running mate for the 2008 election as Sarah Palin, a 44-year-old, 20-month-tenured governor of Alaska, mother of five (including a 4-month old infant), who previous post was mayor of Wasilla, population 6000. It was bloody obvious that the selection was a deplorable ploy to extract votes from female votes, particularly female Clinton Democrats, especially when Palin's first speech as a VP candidate focused like a laser on the "18 millions cracks at the glass ceiling" by Hillary Clinton's run in the primary. For a 72-year-old man who previously had 4 bouts with cancer, picking someone so inexperienced and ineligible to be a heartbeat away from the commander-in-chief of the free world just to win an election is shockingly irresponsible (Imagine her admonishing Russia's Putin for military invasion in Georgia and the corresponding implications on neighboring Ukraine, or negotiating peace treaties among Israel, Hamas and Hazbellah in the Middle East). Years back, McCain has ridiculed the VP's job as merely comprising of attending funerals and checking on the health of the President, and with this selection he made it more than abundantly clear how little he thinks of the post, and how arrogant he views the game of life to be cock sure he will live out the first term of his presidency. Ironically, this is the man who accused Obama to be so opportunistic that he would rather lose the war to win an election; now he showed he himself is so hypercritical that he would risk the security of his country to win his presidency.

Some commentators have already severely criticized the outrageous pick, saying that McCain is "out of his mind" rather than "thinking out of the box". I would add that the selection is grossly mis-calculated; the evangelical conservative women would have voted for GOP anyway, despite what hawkish Christians like James Dobson complained about McCain, and the majority of female Clinton Democrats with half an ounce of intelligence would realize Palin is on the wrong side of key democratic women issues: she is pro-guns, anti-choice, anti-gay-rights and not environment friendly (she voted against adding Polar bears to the list of endangered species and is pushing for offshore drilling in Alaska). Early evidences show that people do recognize the shameless political pandering and are not shy to show their discontent; a shower of boos interrupted Palin's second address when harangues of Clinton and glass ceiling were deployed again. Of course, there will always be pockets of idiotic self-proclaimed "feminists" who would vote for a female deer simply because she is female (for the record, I am not sexist and supported Hillary for her experience over Obama's would-be on-the-job training early in the primary), but let's hope the nation that is the standard bearer of higher education has more sense than the lowest denominator.

I would like to remind Americans that USA is a country mired in two expensive wars (one of which is extremely unnecessary), stuck in a sub-prime-loan weakened economy due to ill-conceived financial regulations, and fatally addicted to politically unstable Middle Eastern oil. At such a crucial juncture when the fate of the nation is to be decided, should all these important issues with far reaching implications be adequately debated and discussed, or should they be tabled and the election be decided on personalities, ephemeral interpretations of "values" and frivolous and irreverent personal attacks? It is my sincere hope that Americans would see the wise from the charlatans, the facts from the squabbles, and true patriotism from imposition. Yankees! For the love of God, for the love of the country, do 'da right thang!

Thoughts on the Olympics: week 2

1. Much has been said about Liu Xiang's pulling out of the 110m hurdles in the preliminary round due to injuries. There are those who said he disappointed a proud, glory-hungry nation of 1.3 billion. There are those who sympathize with the tremendous pressure and superman expectations a 25-year-old has bore the past 4 years. (Supposedly, when Houston Rockets center Yao Ming relayed the Olympic torch to Liu, he whispered to him, "Now you know how I feel".) I fall in the second camp. A well-written NY Times article argued that China, a nation of engineers, with its thousands-year-long history but a short track record of sports excellence, must learn that sports is full of unexpected events, contains no certainties, and that is what makes it intriguing, riveting, and keeps competitors coming back for more. 110m hurdles is a race of inches; to expect an Olympian effort is human, to expect a guaranteed victory is ludicrous.

2. The biggest upset in the Olympics is the Japanese women's softball team beating US 3-1 in the final. US has won every Olympic women's softball title. Their score total in this Olympics prior this game was 57-4. Yet the short Japanese women, whose ceaseless chatters projected an image of boisterous kids next to the big stocky Americans, fearlessly slayed the American dragon one inning at a time. Pitcher Ueno Yukiko calmly shut down the American bats after going 21 innings and 320 pitches(!) in two games the day before, even with the bases loaded with one out in two innings. ("That's for the A-bombs, ya bastards!" I screamed at the TV as Nina cried in the background. Rinko narrowed her eyes. My sense of humor is under-appreciated in my household ...) I hope members of the IOC will take a good look at the competitiveness of this passionately played game and put softball back into Olympics in 2016.

3. The failure in the US sprint team is spectacular and comprehensive. The Americans were upstaged by Jamaica, a tiny island nation of 2.5 million people, in all sprint races: 100m, 200m, 4x100m. Tyson Gay, who won all three events a year ago in Osaka world championship, failed to make the 100m final, did not qualify for 200m in the US trials, and dropped the baton in the 4x100m preliminary round. For a country of 300 million and a history of track legends like Jesse Owens, Edwin Moses and Carl Lewis, this is a new low after the BALCO drug scandal. In light of G.W.'s unpopular wars and slumping US economy due to mis-management and irresponsible legislation, perhaps by acts of Providence, sports does reflect politics after all.

4. Usain Bolt, winner and world record holder of 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, is a freak of nature. During my internship in Dallas, I remember watching Michael Johnson winning 200m and 400m in Atlanta 1996. Michael Johnson is a mini-god in native Dallas (they erected a statue of him in the city center), and the way he crushed his competition in the 200m final in golden spikes by many body lengths, I didn't think the world record set then can be broken in my lifetime. And the record stood for 12 years, the longest sprint record to date, and then came Bolt. "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," Hillary would say; the jovial, dance-crazed Bolt sure has a unique way of handling the pressure of being the fastest man on earth. ("Drinks on me! Drinks on me!" Bolk called out to the Trinadad's relay team after the race.) The 6'5'' bean-pole is brimming with talent and only 22 years old. Stay tuned for better things to come.

5. Dara Torres, age 41, won silver in 50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay. When she competed in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, Michael Phelps wasn't even born yet. She has given hope to all sunset warriors around the globe to keep the competitive fire burning just a little longer. I am looking for my swimming goggles as I type ...

Thoughts on the olympics: week 1

1. A friend asked me what country I cheer for in the Olympics. Good question. I first find it difficult to cheer for the Japanese even though I am starting my 9th consecutive year in land of the rising sun. I find it equally hard to cheer for the loud & obnoxious Americans though I had my higher education there for 9 years and now work for an American company. Cheering for China and/or Canada is like cheering for Martians; neither country identifies me as one of their own anyway, despite my biological heritage and official political status. So I cheer for good play and united comradeship, i.e., I cheer for the Olympians!!! (My wife said sarcastically, “you might as well say nothing, ‘cause you basically said nothing.” My Gosh, Olympics even brings the family closer together!)
2. Kitajima is a conceited SOB; even Japanese knows that. But does he walk the walk after talking the talk. Back to back Gold in 100 and 200 breaststroke in consecutive Olympics. The guy is half a foot shorter than the hulking American and European competition, and he killed them all w/ immaculate and well-engineered mechanics. I will never be a fan, but boy, the guy is a winner.
3. What is up w/ the Spanish basketball team posing in a photo w/ their eyes pulled up to make slanted eyes? Is that supposed to be cute? I told my wife I have experienced countless racial ridicules 10 time worse, so I just shrugged it off as a tasteless and unsuccessful attempt at humor, but she was livid. Reading the reactions on-line, it seems overseas Chinese are much more vocal about their criticisms (like OCA) than folks in China. Is it because overseas Chinese are fed up w/ never-ending racial-motivated innuendos and side glances in foreign lands, or because the Communist Chinese government is thumping down any negativities during the games, no matter what it is? In either case, the Spanish only reminded us that we could be in the same global village, but we don't even know our neighbors.
4. The Japanese men’s volleyball team played the Chinese yesterday, and with the Chinese leading 2 set to 0, I commented “Look, 60 years later the Chinese are killing the Japanese … for a change,” cleverly referring to the Nanjing massacre during WW2. My wife didn’t find that particularly funny, so I had to pretend to cheer for the Japanese for a while to atone for my ill attempt at humor. (empty chants of “Go Olympians!”) By chance, I actually ran into the 2002 version of the Chinese men’s volleyball team in HK airport once, and I walked up to them to compare my 6'2'' frame to theirs, and I was COMPLETELY dwarfed. These guys were averaging 2.0 meters or more, young, muscular, athletic, huge hands and feet. I remember a comedian making fun of Chinese w/ a song when I was first in Canada that went something like, “I like Chinese, they only come up to your knees, but they're cute and they're cuddly and they're ready to please… ”. Now that America is knee-deep in debts from sub-prime loans and GW's idiotic wars and the Chinese economy is booming, look who is laughing now. How the world has changed in 20 years...