ClassicaliberalConservative

The Party is Over

2005-07-23T00:48:00.000-04:00

Well in the tradition of my friends Jon and Mike, and since I only started this blog because they encouraged me to, I have decided to seriously limit/stop my blogging. I am headed to law school at Catholic University really soon and so I will not have much time to write. Furthermore, when I began this blog, my politics were much different from the ones I have now. Life experience is the best teacher and well the asshole right wing Republican I was only two years ago is not what I am today. I have conservative on my blog title but I definitley am not one, if I ever was. I have always believed in societal progress and I embrace new ideas that sound good. So I am not enthusiastic about blogging much anymore, since I am so unsure of what I think. I guess this blog could serve as a timeline of my political transformation. Therefore, I am shutting this blog down for the most part. I will leave some of my better and more intellectual writings on, as well as some of the funny ones. I think I will delete most of my rants though. In the mean time, it has been fun.

Bush Picks Roberts for Supreme Court

2005-07-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

We'll see how it goes, he seems like a decent guy and is very qualified. Oh and I kicked ass in the Consitutional Law portion of my legal reasoning class, which is being held at Covington & Burling, rather than Hogan Hartson (who's offices are a block away from Covington).

Although I am officially behind Tim Kaine in the VA gubernatorial race, I would like to say some good things about an independent candidate for governor who is a currently Republican State Senator. I feel Russ Potts would make a fine Governor for VA, unlike Kilgore, he is grounded in reality. However, I feel no point in supporting a third party candidacy unless there is a good chance said candidacy will win. Unless Potts breaks double digits, I encourage everyone to stick with Kaine.

Great Daily Kos Diary

2005-07-18T12:11:00.000-04:00

Very informative and to the point. That being said, I must point out that many on the right, including the CATO Institute have vehemently spoken out against corporate welfare and agricultural subsidies. Furthermore, the definition of corporate welfare is in the eye of the beholder. Frankly the government sometimes needs to fund the research work of private firms because the risk/return calculation of certain projects (ie alternative energy) is just too great. And while agri-subsidies may seem useless, I do not believe any of us want to go back to the pre-New Deal days where food/commodity prices fluctuated widly and consumers lacked the price stability we have today which makes the food expense part of one's budget much easier to predict.

Chertoff You Dumb Fuck!!!!!!! Mark Warner for President, Tim Kaine for Governor

2005-07-15T17:40:00.000-04:00

Unfucking believable!!!!!!!!! And to think, Chertoff is from Jersey too. You would think that he of all people would have some understanding of threats that mass transit riders face every day having to use bus and train systems with inadequate security measures. Mass Transit may be a matter that is mostly for state and local governments but at the very least the funding for security should be a federal matter. Unbelievable, what is it about the Republican Party and their small town/rural/exurb supporters that has it in for big cities and large metro areas? Every chance they get they seem to want to make life more miserable and more dangerous for us.

On that note, I have been familiarzing myself with Virginia politics a little in the past few months, although I will be living in Maryland for law school. And I must say that the governor of VA, Mark Warner, impresses me a lot. In an earlier post I wrote about a possible Warner vs. Allen match for the presidency, I stated Warner was not that popular. Well I was wrong and ill informed, this is what happens when you rely on your psycho conservative friend for information on VA politics. Your pyscho con friend who lets his ideology cloud his judgement even on the actual political climate of the state. Warner is in fact the most popular politician in the state. Anyway Warner is a great governor and political administrator. I mean this is the guy who took VA from a fiscal disaster caused by past Republican administrations, to an AAA bond rating. Not to mention that the tax increase that he pushed through put millions of dollars into underfunded VA public schools. Here is an interview with him from Salon. I believe Warner would make a fine President, although I still prefer John McCain or Evan Bayh.

Furthermore, Democrats in VA like gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine, are trying to deal with the big highway park in NoVA that has been the result of the economic growth in the area. Building more roads is not going to solve the traffic pile up that is the VA portion of the Washington DC Metro Area. Taxing large cars and extending the Metro is. Speaking of which, extending the Metro to Dulles International, which a lot of GOPers oppose is something that is long overdue. I mean it is $25-$30 for a fucking taxi there from downtown DC.

Which is why, the policies of Governor Warner cannot be put at risk. And the best way to insure they continue is to elect Tim Kaine the next governor of VA. Aside from the fact that Jerry Kilgore is a religous nut, Lieutenant Governor Kaine is a reasonable, non-ideological and competent politician/administrator who has the potential to be a great governor. More importantly, he is the best way to insure that the policies of Warner continue and the progress of the state under Warner is not fucked up by an anti-tax conservative ideologue. An anti-tax, religious zealot like Jerry Kilgore, who incidentally mentions nothing about expanding the Metro on his website, just building more roads. Hey, newsflash guys, the reason NoVA has so much traffic ie because no one can drive or walk anywhere.

Oh and on a non-political note: this Slate article urges food snobs to stop picking on Rachael Ray. I concur. Anyone who has ever seen me in person can pretty much correctly assume that I am not the biggest eater, although I do enjoy the good occasional restaurant meal with a glass of really good wine. I have seen some of Ms. Ray's books and they seem interesting and very useful, especially for people who have limited budgets and even more limited amount of time to cook because they are in the process of let's say hypothetically.........their first year of law school :D. So Rachael Ray serves an important segment of the market. Besides, I mean she is soooooooo cute and sexy ;D. She just is.

The Case for Intelligent Design II, America's Vulnerable Mass Transit Systems

2005-07-08T23:17:00.000-04:00

About two months ago I wrote a defense of intelligent design and its instruction in the schools (abliet in a context as free of religion as possible). Well I came across this article on the subject from a Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schoenborn. Food for thought. I hope that all the tolerant and open minded liberals out there will at leasr consider his arguments. I'm holding my breath.

Meanwhile, Fred Kaplan writes about American mass transit systems and their vulnerability to terrorism. And this article gives me another opportunity to rant about how Republicans suck!!!!! Have you noticed how liberal I've gotten in the past 6 months? And not just about racial/ethnic issues either. Now as someone who takes the Metro/Subway pretty often, I have first hand knowledge of how vulnerable the mass transit systems of our large metropolitan areas are to little things like......ohhhhh......terrorist attacks. Fact is, security measures for mass transit are severely inadequate. What we have now in the form defense against an attack is being cut by this administration. So each day, millions and millions of Americans are becoming an increasingly vulnerable and attractive target to our nation's enemies. But what are the feds doing, why the blockheaded conservatives who run our government are cutting federal aid to mass transit. And what do suburban Republican voting residents think? Why of course they are fine with it, because they drive and don't use mass transit. Hey schmuckos, thanks for caring. Listen mass transit in metro areas is just as important to our national economies as the interstate highway system and should be funded as such. Not to mention the fact that drivers benefit from mass transit due to things like reduced air pollution and reduced traffic. So no, I don't think using funds from tolls and taxes from the feds to fund cheap mass transit is a bad thing. Not to mention some people are too poor to own a car, such as......ohhhhh.......first year law students. But more importantly, a lot of working poor people who need to get to work and rise up in life. So, "I never use mass transit so I do not want to pay for it" is about as legitimate an argument as "I never use highways so I do not want to pay for them". It's a public good.

Change of Plans

2005-07-07T22:55:00.000-04:00

Today, I planned on posting a rant bitching about how London got the Olympics instead of my hometown of New York. Well in light of recent events, I feel that would be in bad taste. Our prayers are with the people of the United Kingdom. Incidentally fellow NYU alum and blogger Michael Phillips is in London working on his MA. He is safe, thankfully although quite close to where two of the bombings occured. The people responsible for these attacks will be found and punished soon enough. That is all for now.

Happy Independence Day!!!!

2005-07-04T11:38:00.000-04:00

And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free.....to mouth off about any political/social topic on the internet.

And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me.

And I'd gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today.....or more like three years from now if I join the JAG Corps.

Cuz there ain't no doubt (incorrect double negative as well as use of the word cause and spelling it cuz), I love this land.....

God Bless the USA (Quick I mentioned God, call the ACLU)

Meanwhile check out this very interesting Salon article about the Spirit of 76. The spirit happens to be rum :D.

And lastly:

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

Please Sign the Following Petition. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

2005-07-01T17:09:00.000-04:00

Sign this petition. PLEASE!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!

O'Connor retires, the Supreme Court Justice this time

2005-07-01T11:12:00.000-04:00

I am watching MSNBC right now and, it turns out that the rumors were true and not just a confusion in names like I talked about in my previous posts. My prediction is that Bush replaces her with Alberto Gonzalez or someone else with a relatively moderate reputation. So yay, there is going to be an SC nomination fight at the same time I start my first year of law school in Washington DC. This is going to be fun.

Bush Speech, Supreme Court, Iranian Presidential Election, Lynching Apology

2005-06-30T21:47:00.000-04:00

Well I did not catch most of Bush's speech on Iraq two nights ago since I was in class for all of it. I also slept through the rebroadcast on Fox News at 2am. But thanks to Mike Phillips, I can read it. So what do I think. Well my initial impression was disappointing. Instead of outlining a real plan and admitting mistakes that were made, Bush's speech involved more ra ra cheerleading. Everything Bush said in his speech was a given. We know that fighting the global war on terrorism is important. We know that Al Qaeda is not involved in Iraq. And we know that the war on terror will require a lot of work and sacrifice from the nation. And lastly, we all know the terrorists are bad people. So what is missing from the speecj? Well any admission of mistakes made by the administration. As the old saying goes: It's not the scandal, it's the coverup. Okay, we went into Iraq and there were no WMDs or Al Qaeda members. Furthermore, our invasion destablized the country and Al Qaeda came in. We should not have invaded in the first place (and I regret my initial support on many levels) but now we can't leave. So why did Bush not say the words "I made a mistake"? A little humility and honesty would have helped. I am not claiming that no progress is being made, but anyone who thinks everything in Iraq is going okay and we don't need to change a thing we are doing is not facing reality. And one of the reasons I am a Republican is because I thought we were the party of people who dealt in reality (although you'd never guess it sometimes, what with the deficit, denial of global warming etc etc). And here is a major problem we are facing. Our military has a recruiting shortfall. So how are we going to handle that? This sure as hell is not the way to do it. We face a real problem people. The only way I can see us making our nation building in Iraq successful is by asking, nay begging for help from the UN. And that means axing the whole John Bolton nomination.

On the otherhand, whatever the mistakes of going into Iraq in the firstplace, we are there now and it is too late to change that. We can't dwell on past mistakes and ignore the current crisis. Those calling for a conditionless withdrawal are no better than those who think things are going fine. The fact is Al Qaeda is in Iraq now and we need to work towards a political solution that will stop the insurgency. That's right, insurgency. Those who claim that the insurgency is just composed of foreign terrorists are delusional. The insurgency was domestic in origin, and it started the minute we disbanded the army and bureaucracy that we are now trying to rebuild. The situation in Iraq is not Vietnam in one important way. The Vietnamese did not follow us back to the US.....okay some did, but those were our supporters. We are fighting Islamic fundamentalists who will only be more emboldened to attack us if we quit now.

Meanwhile there were all these rumors in the city that Sandra Day O'Connor would be retiring soon. A lot of buzz about a nomination fight, and it turns out that Sandra O'Connor the Balitmore Federal Attorney was the one retiring. Still I think that a retirement on the court or two is going to appear soon. Here is a list of potential candidates from Slate. Not bad choices if you ask me.

Meanwhile for those who are using the latest Iranian election as an example of the increase in global anti-Americanism due to administration policy. Well, right idea but wrong basis. I mean out of 1000 candidates that applied, I believe well over 90% of them were disqualified by the clerics, leaving a moderate conservative vs. a ultra conservative in the race. It would be the equivalent of the US having an election between Trent Lott and Tom Coburn as ordered by Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson (shudder). Furthermore, turnout was rather low, what with a boycott by many reform elements in the populace as a protest against this clerical rigging.

Meanwhile, check out this article from Salon. I found it pointed and extremely funny.

Charles Evers, Ronald Reagan, Seinfeld Liberals and King of the Hill Dems, And the Bush Conspiracy Generator

2005-06-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

Okay for everyone who is wondering why I am still a Republican when half the time on this blog all I do angrily bitch about how racist society is, well here is a Daily Kos diary containing an interview with Charles Evers that will partially explain things. Mr. Evers is a black Republican from Mississippi and the older brother of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Fuck You Byron De La Beckwith, you fucking white trash dipshit. Btw, I strongly recommend Ghosts of Mississippi, even if the plot and dialogue are kind of corny, especially the dialogue.

Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan has been declared the Greatest American by the Discovery Channel. Take that Mike Phillips!!!!! Seriously though, I have a few bones to pick with the selection. First of all, their is not one American of Asian ancestry on this list. Okay aside from Tiger Woods and everyone thinks he is black anyway right? What the fuck? This is just another example of societal perception of Asian Americans as foreigners and the other. Well I am as American as apple pie, baseball, and everything else and I am sick of it. Could they not come up with one Asian American? How about Maya Ying Lin, she was the individual who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as a Yale undergrad fyi. That's right America, a slant eyed gook designed that thing. As a matter of fact she got a lot of flack for her race when her design was picked. People like Ross Perot among others did not think a woman from an enemy race should be associated with that project. Well fuck you all!!!! Or how about I.M. Pei? Or.....well this just goes to show you how Asian American contributions to American society have been ignored by our history books. I was able to name a grand total of two architects, and I am Asian too. I mean come on, fucking Dr. Phil McGraw is on this list!!!!!! Sigh.......I mean I know I am being just a tad senstive here. It is just that Asian Americans always have to deal with being perceived as foreigners and It saddens me. I love being an American and am proud and patriotic as any guy. The fact that not one person on the list is of Asian ancestry pereptuates those prejudices and stereotypes. I mean if Bill Gates is on that list, how about Charles Wang or Sanjay Kumar? Oh well, maybe 100 years from now, maybe a certain young, charasmatic and outspoken Asian American law student will be on that list. One can dream right?

Okay aside from my usual I feel oppressed ranting, I mean come on. I love Reagan but to put him on top of Washington and Lincoln, or Franklin and Jefferson? That is insane. Oh and how the fuck did George W. Bush and Bill Clinton get higher rankings than FDR? I mean what the fuck? I think Martin Luther King definitely belongs on the top 3 though. I think Jesse Jackson said that America was not America for a substantial amount of people until 1964. For me it would be 1965, since I had a small chance of even coming here until the Immigration Reform Act of that year was passed. For that, King is a great man, abliet more left wing than I am. I know certain paleocons do not like the changes in America, well FUCK THEM!!!!! Speaking of which, LBJ should be ranked higher too. He signed both acts after all and allowed me and my family to become Americans. Oh and if Barak Obama is on the list, Bobby Jindal should be as well. And how did John Edwards get on there? And Tom Cruise? I can think of much greater people in the performing arts like Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin or Orson Welles. Not one of them even made the top 100. I tell you, I love America but sometimes the American people can really piss me off. And don't anyone try to Dick Durbin me for saying that!!!!

Oh check out the article Seinfeld liberals. I think it was a very unfair indictment of urbanites by the self righteous assholes on the right. People in large cities also raise families fyi and we are not the uncaring elitists that the article portrays us as. And many of us even go to church. This dumbass accuses us of painting Middle America with a broad brush and he does the same thing to New York City. Well FUCK YOU Ed Lasky. King of the Hill Democrats by Matt Bai is also an interesting article although the residents on that show are obviously Republican, so it makes no sense.

On and care of the Conservative Realist, check out the Bush Conspiracy Theory Generator. LOL Funny!!!!

Open Thread......

2005-06-26T23:53:00.000-04:00

Just kidding. Anyway this is not cool,literally :D. Let me tell you, it is especially bad around here. Washington DC is built on swamp land, so it is insanely humid here. In Georgetown, on summer nights you can still here the crickets, grasshoppers and other such animals chirping away.

So the Nationals won the game I went to last night, although they lost today. The game I went to was fun and afterwards I had a nice chicken fried steak in a delicious country sausage gravy. Mmmm Good.

In other DC news, has everyone heard that the boobs are uncovered again in the Department of Justice? Ha Ha, Yeah Baby Yeah.

Oh and a few hours ago I watched the most interesting 60 Minutes segment on the Iraq war. It followed a company of Marines on their patrols in Ramadi. If one really wants to know how bad this war is going, this segment does a good job at explaining why. Well apparently we are negotiating with some of the insurgents now, but that is only a first step. What we really need to do is have President Bush go to the UN and beg on his hands and knees for other nations to help us out a bit. Otherwise, we will either need to quickly pack up (leading to other major disasters) or revive the draft, which is politically unfeasible.

DC is HOT, Ed Klein, Eminent Domain, Stop Republicans from Playing Golf!!!!!, I Want to be a Reality TV Star

2005-06-24T22:25:00.000-04:00

Well after some absence, the Classicaliberalconservative is back. I am enjoying Washington DC quite a bit, but GOD DAMN is it HOT!!!! I mean really it is boiling. All because some dumbass southern hicks wanted the capital moved down here in order to put the nation's finances in shape. Fucking rednecks.

Anyway, will everyone on the left stop picking on Ed Klein, and will everyone on the right stop glorifying his new book as proof that Hillary is evil. Take a look at these articles from Slate and Salon. Bill did not rape Hillary despite what Matt Drudge implied. He was joking people, rather tastlessly, but since when have Bill Clinton and taste been something that were associated with each other. At least when it comes to women. But in a seriousness, I think Steve Sailer's take on the issue was the most sensible. Steve is usually sensible when he is not being a fucking racist white male blockhead. Hillary is a flawed and deeply ambitious woman whose heart is in the right place. I think that describes most of our politicians in either party. And are we really shocked that Clinton had many affairs and Hillary tried to regulate things a bit to preserve their joint political ambitions. Is that so wrong? So they were dishonest with their personal lives a bit, so was FDR, but we still consider him a great leader.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has ruled in Kelo vs. The City of New London that it is permissible for municiplaties to take land under eminent domain for private development. This has gotten the anti-development left and the property rights are involiable right up in a tizzy. All I can say to both sides is SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!! First, to the liberals, is development always such a bad thing? What if the community wants to modernize and one dumbass is holding out because he thinks that if he moves from his house it will turn him into a pumpkin. As for the pyscho-cons, eminent domain has been a legitimate governmental perogative since what was it the early 1800s? I forgot when and what case established the legal precedant, I know I learned it in AP Government. It's not like the government is confiscating property from people without compensation. They are being given fair market value for it. And if you think that is not enough, maybe the government should give double fair market value. Besides, this case has precedent as well. Apparently the Hawaiian government used eminent domain to confiscate land from the old landholding class of the island (who were mostly evil white colonialists fyi) and sold it to islanders for commercial purposes. That was ruled okay, so I think this should be too.

Oh yeah, apparently golf is responsible for Republican boneheadedness and screwing up.

Oh and watching Best Week Ever on VH1, I could not help but realize how bad reality TV and the people they get on those shows are. I mean, I could do a better job and am more interesting than most of them. Probably better looking too fyi. I am. Come on TV execs, put me on TV. We can have a real interesting show about ME, ME, ME!!!! Plus you guys really need more Asian Americans on TV, and William Hung is not what we had in mind. I on the otherhand am cute, accentless and can actually carry a tune. I'm also really funny, like an Asian version of Jerry Seinfeld. So TV execs, give me my own show.

Oh and check this out. I am going to see it sometime. But not tomorrow, going to see the Nats tomorrow. Washington, first in war, first in peace and so far first in the NL East, Huzzah!!!!

Going to Washington DC, The Universal Language, Jeremy's Ejaculations

2005-06-18T12:05:00.000-04:00

Well I am going to Washington DC for the next 6 weeks for the Legal Reasoning Program. Hopefully, I will be well prepared for law school at CUA. I am staying in the neighborhood of Tacoma Park. While there, besides learning about law, I will also be searching for a permanent apartment. I don't know yet whether I will have time to write my blog during this period, so don't be shocked if I do not post for 6 weeks. Btw, I will review the articles by Medved and Sailer as well as my opinions of torture much later.

Meanwhile, check out the very interesting IM conversation with my old friend Michael Phillips about the transcedance of cultural boundaries throughout the world.

TayYuGOP3824: Question
mikeyphillipsii: yes.
TayYuGOP3824: Have you seen the new Shakira video?
mikeyphillipsii: yes.
mikeyphillipsii: yes i have.
mikeyphillipsii: many times.
TayYuGOP3824: I find it weird
TayYuGOP3824: That I have no idea what she is saying
TayYuGOP3824: But I love the video
mikeyphillipsii: hey, it's amazing
mikeyphillipsii: she speaks a universal language
mikeyphillipsii: in her hips and midriff
TayYuGOP3824: hahahahaha
TayYuGOP3824: Can I put this conversation on my blog?
mikeyphillipsii: yes.
mikeyphillipsii: yes you can.
mikeyphillipsii: i just got some aircon unit up in here - is it still killer hot in americsa
TayYuGOP3824: Yes
TayYuGOP3824: I broke out in a heat rash like 5 minutes ago
mikeyphillipsii: we might not speak shakira's language, but i definitely like what she is saying. perhaps we speak shakira's language after all
TayYuGOP3824: It's a beautiful language after all
mikeyphillipsii: especially covered in oil

My friend and former NYU Political Spectrum Vice President Jeremy Wells has a new blog called Building Blog of Life. Jeremy is hilarious and I strongly urge all of you to read and link his blog. Funny story about Jeremy, he lost a bet to me a while ago, and still has not paid me back.

Downing Street Memo, Stop Picking on Dick Durbin you Right Wing Assholes, Pretty White Girls

2005-06-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

I came across two interesting articles on the Downing Street Memo recently. The first one by from Fred Kaplan in Slate. The second article is from the Weekly Standard. Now I know the left is treating these transcripts of a Blair cabinet meeting as a smoking gun that Bush lied about the war and made up intelligence. Well guess what folks? If you read the content in some of the memos even a little, like I did, you will find that this is far from the case. Yes, Bush was determined to go to war with Iraq way back in 2002, it is in the first memo. But guess what, these memos confirm that any decision by Bush to invade Iraq was based on what at that time was considered reliable intelligence. The rest of the memos talk about how the invasion would go and the intel that formed the decision to invade. The intel was not made up, it was collected throughout the nineties. There is a section in this memo that stated the case for action was thin. But this was based on the fact that Saddam did not threaten his neighbors at the time. Guess what, that is mostly due to the fact that we had no fly zones over most of Iraq and troops circling him. He may not have been a threat, but this had nothing to do with his character. As it turns out, Saddam did not have WMDs and our intel was flawed. But that does not mean Bush lied to get us into the war. Was the Bush administration a bit too aggressive in dealing with the situation? Well that issue is debatable. Did the administration royally fuck up the post combat occupation? Oh you bet your sweet ass they did. But did he lie to get us into war? No, a lie requires an intent to mislead and Bush never intended to mislead anyone. He might have been itching for a war in Iraq and used the intel to justify it, but it appears he did not have ulterior motives to pursue this war except for the fact that Iraq was thought of as a genuine threat at the time. So no, the Downing Street Memos are not a smoking gun, and Bush cannot be impeached for this. I am the first one to admit that my gung-ho attitude towards this war a few years ago was wrong. And this administration needs to be rung out to dry for its incompetence at handling the post combat occupation, among other things.

Meanwhile, will the psycho rightists and other Republicans leave Senator Durbin alone? He was not calling the US military Nazis or Stalinists. He was saying that some of the interrogation tactics being used on terror suspects are reminiscent of tactics used by totalitarian societies. Whether his comments were accurate is debatable. But he was not comparing our soldiers to Nazis. Let me make it clear that I am not saying American soldiers are Nazis, so will the psycho rightists please refrain leaving a bunch of hate messages on my blog? But saying your country is wrong when it is wrong, is not unpatriotic. God, Sean Hannity was especially obnoxious about this issue tonight on Hannity and Colmes. I'll post more of what I think are appropriate interrogation techniques later on. But in the mean time: DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC!!!!!

Lastly, who can resist a pretty white girl? Well certaintly not the American media considering the Natalee Holloway story that has received so much attention. I have been thinking of this issue for a while and I came across this thread on Daily Kos. Apparently, pretty white girls in distress are more important than any other issue going on in the world. Who cares about Dick Durbin, the Downing Street memo, the War in Iraq, the elections in Iran or the dozens of other important issues. The missing pretty white girl is more important. Now, missing girls of other races on the other hand.........are not so important. Apparently they don't sell well on the news or get the good ratings. This brings up all sorts of race and class issues, like western beauty standards, popular acceptance of non-whites as social equals etc. But I don't want to get into these issues right now. Anyway, every cloud does have a silver lining. At least we know that if Michelle Malkin goes missing no one will really care. Face it Michelle, no matter how schrill and right wing you act, no matter how much you try to ignore societal racism or act as a schill for purveyors of racial division, it really does you no good. You are still a Filipino and Asian American and that is not something you can change. Well, I learned that lesson so maybe there is some hope for her. I highly doubt it though.

South Park Conservatives and our Paleocon Enemies

2005-06-04T11:42:00.000-04:00

Andrew Sullivan once coined the term South Park Republican, which is a very good way of describing many young conservatives and Republicans of my generation. A term taken up by me and and more than a few others. Well, it is no suprise that us South Park Republicans have enemies in the traditional right. They don't like us too much, they really don't. They think we are vulgar, offensive and contributing to the coarsening of our culture. To which I respond, GO FUCK YOURSELVES, YOU ASS RAMMING UNCLE FUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Among our enemies are L. Brent Bozell III from Accuracy in the Media, the moral prudes of the religious right and the anti-immigrant hate mongers at VDare (Check out this letter, I do love plugging it). Of course some of these categories are not mutually exclusive. Furthermore, and I hate admitting it, VDare has become less hostile to South Park in recent months. And I really, really hate admitting this. Partially it has to do with the fact that they finally came to the realization that South Park is not the usual politically correct gibberish. It takes on the issue of illegal immigration for example, an issue that is not dealt with honestly by the American establishment. And if the neanderthals at Vdare love to hate one thing, it is immigrants. Heck, even Peter Brimelow might be coming around. Rabidly hostile indeed, hahahaha. Speaking of which Peter, what are you doing in the US? Aren't you from the UK? You know this country has plenty of domestic Klansman, Neonazis and other assorted bigots. We don't need some foreigner from Britain with a funny accent taking their jobs from them. Go back to where you came from. And leave the sowing of hatred and racial discord to real native born Americans like Trent Lott and David Duke.

Oh well, at least I can console myself with the fact that Michelle Malkin still hates South Park!!!! Yes Malkin, Vdare's token "Asian American", or if you will the Reinhard Heydrich of the Asian American community. You know Malkin, she wrote a book defending the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. You know the Japs, the ones that J. Edgar Hoover felt were no threat to the US. Or the members of the 442nd Regiment who fought like heroes in Europe and were decorated for their bravery. Not to mention many others who did much for the country. They were all dangerous enemies of our country, undermining the war effort. Heck, they probably still are.

Lastly, but most certainly not least, today marks the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Since 1989, mainland China has modernized and advanced itself economically,socially and even politically. But much remains to be done. Real participatory democracy must eventually come to China. Besides the PRC is an illegtimate government. The real government of China is in exile on Taiwan. One day, they will come back and restore the true government of the nation: The Republic of China, founded in 1911 by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Free China!!!!!

Tag, You're It

2005-06-04T01:16:00.000-04:00

Well I was tagged by James at RightBlog, so hear goes.......

Number of Books You Own:
Oh man, I don't know, hundreds I guess, and the collection just keeps on growing.

Last Book Bought:
Getting to Maybe

Last Book I Read:
SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me:
1) Capitalism And Freedom, Milton Friedman
2) The Lays of Ancient Rome, Lord Thomas B. Macaulay
3) Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, Frank H. Wu
4) Accidental Asian, Eric Liu
5) The Early History of Rome, Livy

Tag You're It:

Michael Phillips: Tougher on Terrorism
TK
Political Notio
A Different Reason
Practical Idealism

Come on people, I want to know the answers to these questions. Don't respond here, post it on your own blog and send it to another 5 people!!!!! :)

Articles across the internet

2005-06-01T21:49:00.000-04:00

Hmmmmm, not in the mood to angrily bitch about being Asian today (I only did it yesterday after reading Marian's post), so here are some interesting articles I came across.......

First from Slate:

Seth Stevenson criticizes one of my favorite new commercials. He has a point, but those models are really hot looking!!!!!

Tim Noah has been vindicated. Plus some of the legal impications of being Deep Throat.

From The Weekly Standard:

Nick Eberstadt says the Republic of Korea should give refuge to those escaping from North Korea.

Oh and PJ O'Rourke writes about a tax we can all love.

Since I think I more than did my share of complaining about prejduce towards Asians this week, I will delay my reviews of Medved and Sailer's articles till next week.

Salon Articles, Barbecue, More from Levitt, NRO articles, Medved on Media Portrayals, Sailer on the Asian Vote

2005-05-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

Since I link to more Salon articles than any other Republican some have met, here are two really good ones that caught my eye today:

The first article is about Morton Blackwell and the Leadership Insitute (waaaay too conservative for the likes of me). Anyway, Salon is very fair in it's appraisal of the subject.

The second article is about the effects of the filibuster vote on two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2008. I plan on supporting one of these candidates, would any of you like to guess who?

Meanwhile, this week Slate as a fascinating and mouth watering series of articles by David Plotz on the American cuisine classic of barbecue. Here is a pic from the slide show. And here is the first article in the series. Mmmmm Mmmmmm Good. Incidentally, I bought a barbecue pulled pork sandwich from a vendor at a street fair last Saturday or maybe it was the Saturday before that. It was so tender and the sauce was delicious. It was on Wonder Bread too (which is sacreligious to most New Yorkers). But it was soooooo good. Man, who knew Wonder Bread would be good for something? Still, don't EVER order a pastrami sandwich with Wonder Bread (or any bread besides Rye), and ESPECIALLY don't order one with lettuce, tomato and mayonaiise, Ick.

Also from Slate is an article by Steve Levitt and Steve Dubner. I really adore Levitt, even though the abortion/crime theory he is most known for has major flaws.

From NRO:

Interview: Brian Anderson on South Park Conservatives

And a particularly hilarious article from Ned Rice.

Oh, Michael Medved tells me to stop complaining. Like Hell I Will!!!!! But I will write more on my opinions of the article later.

Steve Sailer, writes about why Asian AMERICANS have gone Democratic. I have a few ideas but once again, not till later.

Oh and check this post out from FreeRepublic. LOL Funny!!!!!!!

Das Einsere Maedchen von Deutschland

2005-05-23T23:49:00.000-04:00

From the Daily Telegraph, an article about the current leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union, and hopefully the next Chancellor. Although the CDU is way too economically liberal for my taste (I even said so in German class back in college), it is the lesser evil relative to the Greens and the SPD (Socialist Party of Germany). The FDP (Free Democrats) are my favorites in Germany, abliet I don't like them as much as Alain Madlein's Liberal Democrats in France, or the Tory wing of the Tory party in Britian.

Anyway, Ms. Merkel is 50 and hails from the GDR. Before going into politics, she was a physicist If elected chancellor, she would be the first elected female head of government in the history of Germany. Merkel is pro-business and less of a statist than most Germans in any German political party. That being said, despite the nickname, she is no Maggie Thatcher in terms of economics. However, she is quite pro-American and we will have much better relations with the Huns if she is leading them. Think of her as a slightly more conservative, German and female version of Tony Blair.

Happy Armed Forces Day, A Few Interesting Articles

2005-05-22T09:20:00.000-04:00

First I want to wish everyone a Happy Armed Forces Day. Thanks go to all our Men and Women in uniform.

I can't believe I am linking to The Nation again, but Katha Pollitt has a very interesting article about the oppostion of the American Taliban (Ameriban) to the HPV vaccine. This time it is about control of female sexuality among the blockheads of the Ameriban, these morons are normally opposed to vaccines because they think it is government mind control. I mean, I don't care what disease it is, isn't it good to have a safe vaccine against it? Furthermore shouldn't all people get is, even if not at risk, as a public health measure if nothing else.

From Slate: Star Wars for the non-fan, Curtis and Suellentrop talk about Sith, and David Edelstein's review.

Robert Samuelson proposes a few good ideas on Social Security reform.

It Did Not Suck

2005-05-21T12:48:00.000-04:00

I saw Revenge of the Sith on Thursday night/Friday morning. Waited on a pretty long line, but it was worth it. I definitely want to see the movie again. That being said, the movie had some major flaws and I don't think it is as good as any of the originals. At best, it is on the same level as Return of the Jedi, which is the weakest of the original trilogy.

First, I feel the beginning of the movie was not well done. The structure of the first part of the film completely destroyed the narrative of the series. I mean I was under the impression that Anakin was suppose to be gradually turned and tricked to the dark side. The rapid cuts and Hayden Christensen's wooden performace, made the transformation unbelievable. It is as if Anakin just suddenly decides on a whim "I'll turn to the dark side". There is no gradual temptation or growth in evil. He decides to turn to the dark side like I would decide to order a Manhattan or a Gin and Tonic. Also his motivation to turn to the dark side should have been primarily about power and authority, somewhat related to the political situation in the galaxy. I do not think it should have been a function of his love for Padme (even though I agree that she is totally hot).

Speaking of politics, I did not like the way the film handled Palpatine's crowning as the first Emperor and the establishment of the Empire. Maybe if we knew more about the political manipulations in the Senate, it could have made more sense. However, the context just was not there. I mean the head of a Republic just suddenly announces his seizure of absolute power and with the exception of Organa and Padme, the entire room applauds? It does not work that way. The scene was made to suggest Senate stupidity (which was true) but making it to suggest fear would be better. Palpatine should have surrounded the Senate with Stormtroopers and then asked the Senate, vote yes or no. That would have made more sense. And by the way. Where was Mon Motha, Garam Ibilis and other rebel Senators? Where is the scene where they start the Rebellion? Oh and Tarkin should have been given lines. He should also have been present in the last two movies. Lastly, I found the transformation of Palpatine himself to be badly done. I mean he disguised himself as a wise, kindly and public minded statesman in the first two movies, rather like Marcus Aurelius or Vespasian. Suddenly at the beginning of the third movie he is evil and dark, even before his revelation as a Sith. For more of what I think are the movie flaws, see Michael Phillips' review of the film. Oh yeah, and most of the dialogue is horrible.

But this movie is not all bad. Hayden Christensen's acting gets better into the movie when Anakin actually turns to the dark side. He reflects very well the evil that Vader becomes. Yoda kicks ass, especially in his duel with Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious. The special effects were masterful and the battle scene was able to reflect the emotion and feeling of such a fight. The mis en scene of the entire movie was great at projecting a feeling of darkness and hence was a good setup for the actions and events. The final light saber battle was exciting. And my favorite scene has to be the confrontation between Palpatine and the Jedi sent to arrest him. Particularly the scene where he kills 3 Jedi in what was like a split second.

So my rating for ROS is that it did not suck. It was not great, but it was decent.

What to do about the judges

2005-05-18T21:24:00.000-04:00

Frankly the appointment and selection of judges has become way too politicized and this madness will inevitably spread to the judicial branch of government if it is not put a stop to. Democrats are just wrong in using the filibuster to block judges that would get confirmed with a majority vote. I know Republicans blocked many of President Clinton's nominees, but at least they had the decency to do it mostly though committee (which while unfair, is in my opinion somewhat more understandable). Should the Senate de facto operate where nothing can be done without the 60 requisite votes? Technically that is possible with the existence of the filibuster. But I digress, this post is not about Senate rules and how dumb some of them are.

But back to the politicization of the judiciary. This trend is very dangerous for many reasons. Primarily among them is that our judges are suppose to act as impartial interpreters of our laws. However, this ideal is becoming more and more endangered as increasing numbers of partisan nominees are being selected by both sides in order to gain control and counter the appointees of the other side. What's worse is that the left and right have developed ideologies that justify their own side's judicial activism. So what is the best way to insure a impartial judiciary that is minimally influenced by politics?

Well it may seem contradictory but the best way to depoliticize the judiciary is to politicize it, just a little bit. First of all, terms for federal judges should not be a life time thing, not even for the US Supreme Court (yes I realize this requires an amendment). I feel judges should be appointed to a term of say 15-20 years and at the end, they should be up for reconfirmation. Also terms should be staggered as much as possible so that one presidential administration or one party does not appoint the lions share of the judges. Lastly, I think a mandatory retirement age might just be a good idea (ie William Reqhuist).

Tomorrow, I am going to a law firm reception where I will get very trashed. After that, I am going to watch Revenge of the Sith. When I get home, if I don't collapse on the floor, I will post a midnight review of the movie. Otherwise I will post a review Saturday morning, because Friday night I will also get very trashed at my friend's birthday party. In the mean time, read this review of Revenge of the Sith from the good people at Salon.

Military Bases, Kuwaiti Parliament Grants Women Suffrage, Star Wars

2005-05-16T20:11:00.000-04:00

Well Phillip Carter has written a wonderful article in Slate on the recently proposed military base closures. This is an issue that has gotten Mike very upset because one of the bases on the chopping block (the Groton submarine base) is very close to his hometown. I still think that this proposed closure is a bluff by the Bush administration to make the Connecticut GOP look good when the state's Republican Congressional delegation saves the base. Same thing with the Air Force base in South Dakota, John Thune will somehow convince the DOD to change their minds. Anyway the article made some very good points. Primarily, the fact that the location of our military bases are influenced too much by politics. First of all, Carter rightly points out the problems with domestic security in closing down so many armories. Secondly, why is the government trying to close down so many installations in the Northeast? Is the administration trying to tell us something :). In all seriousness though, the Northeast presents a wealth of easy targets for our nation's enemies, maybe it would be a good idea to keep some of the military here. Speaking of which, why can't we bring back the Brooklyn Navy Yard?

Meanwhile the Emirate of Kuwait has become the first Arab country to join the 20th century. How about that? In all seriousness, this is a historic moment. Kuwait is at the forefront of modernity in the Arab world, followed closely by Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and one would hope soon enough Iraq, Palestine and Iran.

Meanwhile, let's talk about Star Wars Episode III. John Podhoretz wrote a very interesting review of the upcoming movie in The Weekly Standard. Pod basically pans it for what he considers the bad writing and worse plot devices. He has some good points but I am still going to withhold judgment until I see the movie myself. Here are a few highlights from the article, along with my commentary (and yes I know, this is a cheap way to blog):

Lucas had more than a quarter of a century to figure out why Anakin Skywalker went bad. And here's what he came up with: Anakin is afraid of losing his wife Padmé in childbirth. Padmé tries to reassure him: "I promise you I won't die in childbirth," she says, offering a touching expression of her faith in the range of health-care services that were available a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. That over-deliberate line of dialogue is typical of Revenge of the Sith, which joins its immediate predecessor Attack of the Clones on a very short list of films that deserve to compete for the Worst Script Ever Written.

Hmmmm, Pod has a point here...

Later in the film, Vader's mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Padmé that her hubby has murdered some children: "He killed younglings at the Jedi temple!" She storms off and confronts him: "Obi-Wan says you killed younglings!"

Yeah, that is horrible dialogue.

Padmé's anger and shock seem a mite surprising, since in Attack of the Clones her then-boyfriend Anakin had told her about another occasion on which he had killed some kids. This is spoken in a soliloquy that suggests what Macbeth might have been like if it had been written by George Lucas: "I killed them! I killed them all! They're dead, every single one of them! And not just the men, but the women and the children, too!! I slaughtered them like animals! I HATE THEM!"

But I digress, because that speech isn't in the film under review--and there are plenty of other
hilarious examples of bad writing on display in Revenge of the Sith.

For example: Obi-Wan uncovers the killing of the younglings by checking out some hidden video at the Jedi Temple. The wise old creature Yoda, who may be the most intelligent person in the universe, but seems to have learned English by reading old Time magazines, warns him: "Obi-Wan, watch the surveillance tapes you should not!"

And the Pod goes on and on in this. I agree that a lot of the writing is horrible, redundant and too simplistic. On the other hand, you know what? This is a movie that is partially/largely directed at children. So the writing cannot be as sophisticated as some of us adults would like. Do you think we would have fallen in love with this movie as 8 year olds if the screen play happened to be as thematically sophisticated as say...Macbeth? Probably not.

Anakin is invited to attend the theater as a guest of the president of the republic (a scene that allows Lucas to let us know that the favored form of entertainment in the highly advanced Star Wars galaxy is a Cirque du Soleil show performed inside a blob of translucent Jell-O). The president tells him about the Dark Side of the Force, and how it can be used to bring people back from the dead. Anakin decides he wants in. To which the only possible response is: That's it? The entire universe is thrown out of balance and evil defeats good all because one petulant and whiny guy doesn't want Natalie Portman to buy the farm?

Ummm, I guess I see your point, but John have you ever taken a look at Natalie Portman. Ohhhh, she is a goddess (at least until she shaved her head, still looks pretty good though).

"Dialogue is not my thing," Lucas has said. "I don't like writing, and I don't like scripts." But there is a whole lot more to a script than just the dialogue. There are also small matters such as plot, motivation, and character development. How is it possible that Lucas could have satisfied himself with the notion that the destruction of the galactic democracy and the triumph of evil over good could all have sprung from a single lousy pregnancy?

First of all, it sprung from two pregnancies, Shimi's and Padme's. Well I guess we know what they mean when they say that a pregnancy (or two) could ruin your life. Star Wars is just that old saying on a larger level.

Granted, Mrs. Darth Vader wears some very fetching beaded outfits--plus, she's a senator just like Hillary Clinton, only decades younger and way better looking. Even so, this is astoundingly thin gruel on which to hang six movies made over a period of 28 years.

Now we are talking my language here, and I guess Pod is right on this. Natalie Portman is my dream girl :)

Back in 1977, we were told in the original Star Wars that Darth Vader "was
seduced by the Dark Side of the Force"...But the Darth Vader we see at the end of Revenge of the Sith hasn't been seduced. He's been tricked. He's not a villain. He's a schmuck.

Yeah good point.

Well overall, I still think I will withhold judgment until I see the film for myself.

Stay tuned to this blog for my modest proposal for the American judiciary, my review of Star Wars, the controversy over the Newsweek Koran desecration story and anything else I darn well feel like writing and/or ranting about.

May the force be with you.

The Case for Intelligent Design

2005-05-15T15:01:00.000-04:00

Yeah you heard me. After my old friend Michael Phillips initially claimed to be down with intelligent design, he later cowardly backed down from his support after pressure from some members of the NYU blogosphere, including my friend and old lab partner from Lessons from the Biosphere Shaun-who can vouch for the small amount of scientific credentials I have ;). Therefore, I decided to take up the mantle of defending intelligent design and its incorporation into the scientific dialogue. Praise the Lord and pass the verbal ammunition. Anyway Mikey, if this is all it takes to get you to abandon yor commitment to a controversial stance; I fear for your clients once you are out of law school and enter the legal field.....;). Oh I am just funnin ya, don't take that personally, you are great.

Before I go into my argument, I would like to talk about my religious background and how it has affected my views on the origin of life. I was raised as an Evangelical Christian, with all the blockheadedness that entails. Not that I ever doubted the fact of evolution (although it was pretty fun making liberal secularists think I did). Anyway my intellectual and open minded nature eventually made me get religion (by becoming less religious) and becoming a mainline Protestant. I believe in God, and I believe in science. I do not see that as contradictory. Well onto the question of intelligent design.

The basic argument of the proponents of intelligent design is that the complexity of nature, life and its components (ie cells, tissues, atoms etc) is too great to be simply be explained as a result of random chance. Let me be clear, the idea that the universe was designed by a higher creator being is not a theory, not yet anyway. As was drilled so thoroughly into me in 9th grade Math class, a theory is a hypothesis that can be logically and/or empirically proven, like the SSS Theory for congruency of triangles. The intelligent design hypothesis is an idea whose arguments I am only vaguely familiar with, so I am not arguing for the veracity of intelligent design. I am arguing that it is an idea that should be legtimately investigated and considered. We might not be able to experiment with or empircally prove/disprove the existence of a planned universe right now, but who knows what the future holds. While I don't think that God or whomever will suddenly appear in the near future and loudly declare "I created all this!!!!", historcally our knowledge of the universe, and ability to acquire it has accumulated to the point that many outlandish ideas have been scientifically proven in the past, and certain ideas that were considered obvious were disproven.

For example, the idea of spontaneous generation was only disproven when we had the technology available for it. The germ theory of disease is another scientific idea that was only able to be proven after we had the equipment for it. In both cases, the truth was not regarded as such at the time because it contradicted what was observable. As technology advances, we may one day observe the heavens and gain more insight into our origin. Until we know that their is no creator of life, debating the existence of such a creator and the validity of intelligent design is legtimate inquiry.

Lastly, Mike did point something out in his second post that I would like to further address:

In teaching our children and ourselves, we should no sooner require theology departments to edit Moses' parting of the Red Sea to conform to the laws of physics than we should inject God's power into basic algebra. [2x+Jesus=38.]

While the relation between the divine and mathematics is something I am not familar with, I do know that their has been a movement among religious circles to naturally explain quite a few biblical events. The parting of the Red Sea and the Plagues of Egypt being among them. While this does not prove the existence of God, it indicates that science and religion are not as diametrically opposed as one would believe. Afterall, in many ancient societies, priests were the ones in charge of deciphering and explaining the natural world and its phenomenon. While a lot of theological nonsense was written, some real knowledge was discovered. In fact, one can argue that science evolved from religion. The idea of whether we were created by an intelligent entity should not just be a question for the churches.

Doctor "Strangelove"

2005-05-13T02:12:00.000-04:00

Creative title huh. Seriously though, normally I do not link to or read The Nation, but this story I came across on Daily Kos about Bush appointee Dr. David Hager is just well, too weird. If true, these allegations disqualify Dr. Hager from any position of responsibility and qualify him for a prison term, not to mention loss of his medical license. That being said I withhold judgement until I hear the other side. Does anyone have the other side of this story? Still, whatever the veracity of these allegations, Dr. Hager's pre-historic attitudes about female sexuality do us pro-lifers no favor. Anti-abortion advocates should concentrate our arguments on the sanctity of life. Sexuality should not enter into any arguments over abortion.

Update on the Jersey Guys, Interview with Ahmed, What's a conservative?, Intelligent Design

2005-05-11T21:00:00.000-04:00

Well first of all it looks like the campaign against Jersey Guys Craig Carton and Ray Rossi is showing some success according to an article in the Star Ledger.

Hyundai Motor America has suspended advertising on NJ 101.5 in response to complaints that a recent broadcast of "The Jersey Guys" afternoon drive-time show was offensive to Asian-Americans.
Cingular Wireless has also pulled advertising from "The Jersey Guys" show after hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi ridiculed Edison mayoral candidate Jun Choi, who is a Korean-American. Carton also mimicked Asian accents, complained about too many Asians at Atlantic City's gaming tables and said Americans should vote for Americans.

Hopefully this is the trickle before the flood.

Andrew Santoro, group vice president and general manager of Millennium Radio, the parent company of New Jersey 101.5, said company policy did not allow him to discuss the station's advertising losses.
He said those upset at the station "were taking things out of context."
Santoro said the station has received hundreds of threats and has contacted local and state police and the FBI.
The wave of protests caught the radio station off guard, Santoro said. The station has a meeting with Asian-American activists scheduled for May 19.
"We have no option in this; they started their press releases and Web campaigns before we even sat down," he said. "I was really surprised that happened."

Okay, violent threats against the station should not be tolerated and such actions are definitely the wrong way to go about things. But I don't think those offended (including me) are taking the comments of Rossi and Carton out of context or being too sensitive for that matter. Oh and:

Asian-American activists have also found support from elected officials. U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.) fired off a letter yesterday to the Federal Communications Commission calling for the agency to examine the broadcast and "take any and all actions consistent with applicable rules and regulations."
"It is my profound wish that those entrusted with the power to broadcast their speech to thousands of listeners earn that trust by policing themselves and by refraining from engaging in hate speech," Rothman said in the letter.

Thank you Congressman Rothman, if I lived in your district you would have my vote. But enough of highlights from the article, go read it.

Meanwhile, two days ago MJ of Politico Notio posted an interview with his friend Ahmed. I came across it this morning and strongly encourage everyone to read it. Ahmed is an Iraqi currently living in Baghdad and the interview transcript is one of the most heart wrenching things I have read in a while. Ahmed sees the Americans as friends but feels we royally screwed up the occupation. I agree with him.
Although a supporter of the war in Iraq, anyone following the events there even a little closely has to realize that things are not going well. While the insurgency has been somewhat weakened, victory is far from assured. Frankly our decision not to include former Baathists in the new government was the height of idiocy. Many of the best trained insurgents in the Iraqi resistance were Baathists in the old Iraqi armed forces (ie trained military people). Was an effort even made to co-opt some of them?

Today Jonah Goldberg discusses what conservatism is. I don't know exactly what conservatism is, I do know that I have become less and less a conservative over the last two years.

Meanwhile Slate has an article that proposes to give intelligent design a reasonable hearing,and insults creationists at the same time. That being said, I see no reason while one cannot believe in God and evolution. I believe in both.

Conservatism Dead? What's the Deal with Alcohol?

2005-05-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

Today in NRO, sinophobe/sinophile John Derbyshire has written an article on the impending death of traditional conservatism. Interesting read, go read it (even if Derbyshire is a hateful bastard who plays to yellow peril racial fears). But his views on conservatism are dead on.

Anyway, on to more happy matters, like wine and drinking. I do love both oh so much. Let's start with the article by Dennis Mangan:

These days it is widely known that moderate consumption of alcohol has beneficial effects on health. Whether the drink is red wine, beer, or distilled spirits, the benefits are seen. The risk of dying in any given year is about 25% lower for moderate drinkers as compared to teetotalers. It's been estimated that coronary artery disease occurs at a rate in moderate consumers of alcohol only 40 to 60% of that seen in abstainers. Studies have shown a wide range of beneficial effects of drinking alcohol on conditions such as stroke, dementia, gallstones, and Parkinson's disease. Most drinkers have rightly seen all of this as very good news.

The long and short of the article is that Mr. Mangan goes on to say that researchers may have confused correlation with causation in this case. That X(moderate drinking) does not cause Y(healthier life) but that Z(general intelligence of moderate drinkers) is the real variable affecting X and Y. Of course this hypothesis rests on the idea that intelligent people are more prone to drink moderately, an assumption I do not think should be made.

Oh check out Manhattan Transfer's opinion on this topic. He thinks that drinking causes intelligence. Break out the Jack Daniels and Pinot Noir then.

Good Site for Law Students

2005-05-08T22:01:00.000-04:00

I got this site from the professor who I interviewed for more scholarship money this past weekend at CUA Columbus School of Law. I think it would be very helpful for anyone attending or thinking of applying to law school.

Some More Thoughts on Various Topics

2005-05-08T17:46:00.000-04:00

Yeah, okay, I know the titles of my posts have not been too creative. Anyway I have been away in Washington DC and cut off from the internet for a bit so some news has passed me by. First the finals results of the Brit elections show Labor's majority being cut to 67 seats and their have been calls for Tony Blair to step down from his position. The Conservatives gained 33 seats giving them a minority of 197. Despite this the Tories still only managed to get 33 percent of the popular vote not improving their percentage of the popular vote. Michael Howard has decided to resign because he feels he is too old to continue, Godspeed Mike. Here is a list of possible replacements.

From Steve Sailer's website, some more links and comments about Freakonomics. I love this book, but Steve being the articulate guy he is has made some very convincing points about Levitt's abortion/crime theory. I mean logically Levitt's theory makes some sense but the statistical support for has holes than swiss cheese according to Sailer. If Levitt would write a reasoned response to Sailer's claims, that would be a very good read.

Meanwhile according to Robert Novak, the DNC has taken in a measly $16.7 million in the first quarter of 2005 (compared to $31 million for the RNC). I thought Dean was suppose to be a great fundraiser due to the internet efforts of his Presidential campaign. Oh well, you guys could have selected Tim Roemer like I wanted.

Oh while I was in Washington DC, I got a copy of the late Iris Chang's book The Chinese in America from the discount rack at the B. Dalton bookstore in Union Station. Wonderful book, but very depressing because of all the stuff about past and current persecution of Chinese Americans. It is a good read, and I suggest all the enlightened liberals out there who know little of the problems of the Asian American community to go read it.

Going Down to Washington DC, Good News from the UK, And LOL Funny Story

2005-05-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

Well, going to Washington DC again this weekend, to interview with a professor at CUA Columbus School of Law for some extra scholarship money.

Meanwhile, good news from the British elections. While Tony Blair will still be Prime Minister (okay, maybe not hehehe).....well Labor did still win, which kinda sucks. But anyway, the Conservative Party looks like it has made a comeback. In fact, it looks like the Tories will reach the crucual threshold of 200+ seats. This means that Labor may be cut down to a majority of only 66 seats (which hurts Blair and may force him to yield the PM job to Gordon Brown). Anyway Michael Howard, you da man. Something I just realized today does strike me as a bit funny. The Conservatives ran partially on an anti-immigration/asylum policy for the UK. Meanwhile, their party leader did in fact come to the UK as a Holocaust refugee from Romania. Anyway here is the Daily Telgraph article on the election results.

Oh and care of Christina Hoff Sommers and NRO, a hilarious story. The lovely people from the CR group at Roger Williams University (the ones who bought you the white only scholarship-which was a much more original idea to protest affirmative action than another bake sale), decided to satire V-Day/Vagina Day and the play The Vagina Monlogues.

Some highlights from this article:

The campus conservatives artfully (in the college sense of "artful") mimicked the V-Day campaign. They papered the school with flyers that said, “My penis is majestic” and “My penis is hilarious.” The caption on one handout read, “My Penis is studious.” It showed Testaclese reclining on a couch reading Michael Barone’s Hard America, Soft America.

“Testaclese” tipped the scales when he approached the university Provost, Edward J. Kavanagh, outside the student union. Apparently taking him/it for a giant mushroom, Provost Kavanagh cheerfully greeted him. But when Testaclese presented him with an honorary award as a campus “Penis Warrior,” the stunned official realized that it was no mushroom.

Mushroom hahahaha. Anyway apparently these kids are in trouble for this stunt. Frankly I have not seen The Vagina Monologues and to be honest, I have not interest in seeing it. I am sure it has its artistic merits and I could care less who is promoting or advocating it. But I do always love a good satire as long as it is done in a clever way. And frankly, this was clever and pretty funny. So hats off to the CRs of Roger Williams University.

So yeah, that is it for now. Go Tories!!!!!!!!!!

Okay new update, according to Michael Phillips, it appears the Labor majority will be around 80. Oh pooh. Still, Go Tories.

Angry Response: Grrrrrr ;), Get Your Freak On, More Blogs

2005-05-03T23:03:00.000-04:00

Well I got an email from Angry Asian Man, after I wrote him an email:

Taylor,

Thanks for the encouraging words... and thanks for sharing your blog. I had noticed a few hits to my site coming from there, so it's nice to hear from the person behind it. And while you're a Republican (boooooo! hisssssss!) I can certainly respect your viewpoint and understanding that no issue is clear cut or simply divisible along party lines. Out of all the people I hear from, the ones I like the most are the people who say, "While I don't always agree with you..." It gives me hope for constructive discourse in the world.

Stay Angry.
AAM

Well that is much less guff than I normally get for being a non-white Republican, hehe. I had a liberal Asian American girl just give me the most contemptuous look once when she found out I was a Grand Old Party animal (this was despite the fact, as you know readers that I am relatively liberal on racial issues). I mean the tone of her voice just dripped hostility. Anyway a new book called Freakonomics is out, and I just finished reading it over the weekend (I was sick :(, sorta). Anyway here is a review of the book from Salon. Also here is Steve Sailer's review of it on VDARE. Oh and don't give me guff about linking to Steve and Vdare. Sailer (insecure angry white male that he is) is a brilliant man. And my opinion of VDARE is relatively negative. But, we live in a society that values free speech and debate, even tolerates hate speech. Honestly isn't it better to argue someone wrong on the merits instead of just shutting off debate by going:..... racist hate speech yadda, yadda, yadda.

Anyway, as for my own opinion on the book, I loved it. Steve Levitt's observations, while somewhat simplistic are brilliant in their insight and analysis. The book is easy to read and understand, not written in the economese jargon of econ majors and professional economists. However the concepts of Economics 101, Behavioral Economics and other areas in the field and outside of it are present and beautifully explained, abliet rather unusually framed. Levitt is the economist who got a lot of crap for suggesting that legalized abortion cut down the rate of crime. See this is another instance where intellectual debate and fact finding was supressed due to ideological motivation and political correctness (ie Larry Summers). Incidentally, Steve Sailer differs with Levitt, and makes a compelling case.

Oh and more blogs. MJ has a great new blog Political Notio that reflects a centrist Democratic view on the issues. I love it, we need more moderates out there. Also check out my friend Jonathan's blog Contrarian Thinking.

Some Varied Thoughts

2005-05-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

From the New York Times care of Angry Asian Man: Asian American characters are underrepresented in television. Believe me, I did not need a study to tell me this. Anyway I have an idea for a great television series starring an Asian American. It is a reality show about a youngish moderately conservative Asian American law student who grows up to be the first foreign born President of the United States. In fact, I think this would be a great reality series. I wonder who we could get to play the main character............hehehehe ;).

Okay, lately my blog has turned into a bitch fest about how society treats Asian Americans like crap. That is not the point of my blog, so I am going to touch on abortion and birth control for a bit. I was once asked what I thought about abortion, and my cowardly response was that I did not want to touch the issue with a 10 foot pole. Mostly because around here in New York, being anti-abortion is like the Mark of Cain.

Let me be clear about my position. I am pro-life (anti-abortion what have you). I mean, I do not think a fetus is just a disposable clump of cells and I cannot be made to think that. A fetus is an unborn child. However, even though I am anti-abortion, I am also very pragmatic. This basically means that I understand the fact that a ban on abortion or even an overturning of Roe v Wade is not likely in the future. So guess what, unlike most social conservatives and anti abortion people (and like the majority of young men age 18-35), I am a firm supporter of birth control. I think it should be cheap, safe, available and affordable. Hey pro-lifers, you want to insure that most of the children conceived make it out of the womb alive? Then it would make sense to insure that most of the children conceived are wanted.

Hence for a while I did not understand why a lot of anti-abortion people were also opposed to birth control. WTF? Which made me come to the conclusion that for some pro-lifers and religious nuts, abortion was not just about the life of an unborn child. It is about keeping traditional sexual mores and making sure that their were consequences to female promiscuity (I happen to be against the former and very much for the latter-the promiscuity I mean, not the making sure their are consequences ;)). So then I finally realized what the feminists were saying when they accused pro-lifers of sexism and being anti-woman and such. See I was pretty confused because I thought (and still think) that being pro-life and being pro-gender equity were (are) not mutually exclusive. Let me just say that I hope abortion will become an obsolete topic once birth control advances far enough.

Anyway, the morning after-pill. I am against it, at least in its current form anyway. Listen I think life begins at implantation, not conception. The union of an egg and sperm does not result in a developing child, unless it implants (not a sure thing). But.......

Correct me if I am wrong (and if you readers do, my whole argument is worthless, but I will risk it anyway), morning after pills have a much lower success rate than the traditional pill. The advantage over the traditional pill is that the morning after pill does not have to be taken on a daily schedule (hence making it more convenient). Now earlier I mentioned that I support birth control as a means of abortion prevention (not the only reason for my support, but this post is not about that, hehe). Assuming that more and more women favor the morning after pill due to convenience, a lower success rate in preventing pregnancy will lead to more cases of abortion, all else being equal, relative to women using the traditional pill. If that is the case, then I would be opposed to the morning after pill for that reason. Unless there is an advantage to the morning after pill I am over looking, hey I am open minded.

Anyway, tomorrow I think I will get back to the Asians, or something else I am more familiar with.

Happy Holidays, Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Jersey Assholes

2005-05-01T13:05:00.000-04:00

Well first of all, I want to wish those of the Greek Orthodox faith a Happy Easter. Also Happy May Day to all the commies who celebrate this shit holiday. Real Americans celebrate Labor Day in September, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage month. Yahooo!!!!! You know as in Yahoo, founded by Asian American internet magante Jerry Yang. Now, I know that most Asian Americans on campus celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage month in April because finals are in early May and school ends in the middle of May. But it was May that was designated the Asian Pacific American heritage month. So there. Oh and to any conservative dumbasses (you know who you are, some of you are even friends) who are going to say, there should not be hyphenated Americanism, we are all Americans, I say SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!! I love apple pie and baseball as much as anyone, but acknowledging the fact that my "all American boy next door self" was born across the Pacific is not divisive or lacking in patriotism.

Speaking of Asian American issues. I'd like to thank Marian Shah, the Conservative Realist for plugging my post about Gwen Stefani and the Harajuku girls. I'd also like to thank her for being one of the few white people who understand the shit Asian Americans go through, from people on both the left and the right. Contrary to the views of the left, not all East and South Asian men are sexist, backward thinking asshats like on the Joy Luck Club (Thanks a lot Amy Tan). Also the right is wrong to label us untrustworthy spies and foreigners.

Which brings me to the issue of the Jersey Guys (Go Jun Choi). I don't care what party Jun is in but I am supporting him just because of these talk radio jackasses. In case Ray Rossi and Craig Carlton (you worthless human pieces of shit) do not realize, Chinese Americans are Americans too. We are not a "foreign group", foreign groups do not get to vote in elections. Dumbasses. Care of Angry Asian Man:

Craig Carton: Would you really vote for someone named Jun Choi [said in fast-paced, high-pitched, squeaky voice]?
[Continued]
Craig Carton: I'm using Jun Choi [said in fast-paced, high-pitched, squeaky voice] as an example of a larger problem.
Ray Rossi: and you know...
Carton: We're forgetting the fact that we’re Americans.
Rossi: You know that he’s going to get the... whatever that vote is
Carton: And here's the bottom line... no specific minority group or foreign group should ever ever dictate the outcome of an American election. I don't care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an election, Americans should.
Rossi: Americans should, exactly

"Americans" or do you mean white people. Fucktard.

Oh and check this out:

Carton: Damn Orientals and Indians .
Caller: I..i moved out..36 years I've lived in Edison
Carton: And what was the biggest problem you had with the Orientals and the Indians?
Caller: I can't handle them! There's no American people anymore.
Carton: Eh..
Caller: There shoving us the hell out!
Carton: It's like you're a foreigner in your own country isn't it?

Here are the people to complain to:

Eric Johnson, Station Manager New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio P.O. Box 5698 Trenton, NJ 08618(609) 530-0478 ej1015@nj1015.com

Andy Santoro, Group Vice-President and General Manager Millennium Radio New Jersey 101.5 FM P.O. Box 5698 Trenton, NJ 08638 (609) 771-8181

Ivory Billed Woodpecker?

2005-04-30T13:26:00.000-04:00

I know this is a bit late, but I cannot help but post it. As some of my friends know, cryptozoology is a hobby of mine. One of the things that fascinate me the most are rare animals. It would be great if a captive breeding program can be developed for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Who knows, maybe the Dodo can even be found in the Maldives, or Megalania in the Australian outback? Hey, I can dream can't I? In the mean time I am going to revel in this discovery.

The Simpsons and the Law

2005-04-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

As a huge fan of The Simpsons and a future law talking guy (that's Simpsonese for lawyer) I ran into this article online. Click on the above link for Larry Wertheim's article on legal themes in The Simpsons, good stuff for all the other future law talking guys out there, including NYU bloggers: Mike, Shaun, Jill and Jon. Anyone I am missing?

Some good articles from Salon

2005-04-27T22:43:00.000-04:00

Laura Miller writes a very interesting article about how the Cold War and the nuclear age affected American culture. Gretchen Cook talks about the right wanting to get rid of birth control. I think she is exaggerating the problem a teeny bit, although I am going to develop on that issue later. For now let me just say that if mainstream conservatives and Republicans really were planning on getting rid of birth control, I would be pissed, and I'd vote for the Democrats. Why not the Libertarians you say? Because, it's a two party system, what I am going to do vote for a third party? hahahahahaha. As Kang and Kodos pointed out, I am not going to throw away my vote. I'd rather build a laser to aim at a planet I've never even heard of. Damn, that was a good episode. I will leave you with this:

Bob Dole (Kang): Abortions for all
Crowd: Booooooooooooooooooooo
Bob Dole (Kang): Okay then, No abortions for anybody
Crowd: Booooooooooooooooooooo
Bob Dole (Kang): Alright, Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others
Crowd: Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

One last thing, you know what I think is funny? Articles in the New York Times that go: Although crime has gone down since....the number of prisoners has gone up. WELL DUH!!!!!!!

A Few Last Thoughts on Affirmative Action

2005-04-25T22:59:00.000-04:00

Well apparently Mike Phillips has decided to declare a conclusion to the affirmative action debate among us NYU bloggers. Like hell!!! Not before I get in a few more thoughts on the subject ;) hehe.

1. It has been pointed out more than once that affirmative action benefits white women more than any other group. Yet the debate in the public sphere is mostly framed around the racial aspect of AA. Why is that the case? Could it be due to the fact that cynical and bigoted politicians like to use the racial aspect of the issue to take advantage of a racism and prejudice still very much present in society? Now, let me be clear that I am not calling all opponents of AA bigots. That would be am inaccurate and cheap generalization. What I am saying is that the focus of the AA debate on race is itself a reflection of societal prejudice that is still vey much present, and hence and indication of the need to keep it in place. Although frankly, reforming it would not be a bad idea.

2. The cost of AA is relatively low compared to the benefit. Think of it this way, if a person from X group gets a spot at a college/company, nine people from group Y are affected. Now, without AA, let's say someone from group Y gets the spot. Now the person from group X does not get the spot, but neither do the other 8 people in group Y. When people talk about losing something due to AA, it does not necessarily mean that they would have gotten if AA did not exist. The cost of AA is spread out among the majority group, not concentrated upon individuals of the majority group.

3. I do not know how many times I need to say this, Asian Americans benefit from affirmative action. Believe me, I would know ;). Asians do not get affirmative action consideration in academia and are hence hurt by it. It is just that Asians do get affirmative action considerations in other areas of society. For example, my father works in a company called Crystal Window and Door Systems. The firm was founded by an immigrant from Taiwan, and has become very successful. Part of this success resulted from government AA policies like contract set asides and tax incentives for doing business with minority and female owned firms. Furthermore, Asian Americans are helped by affirmative action in the legal field (you heard that right), although unfortunately not so much in law school admissions :(, hehe ;). Believe it or not, Asians are actually underrepresented among lawyers. Here are the ABA stats to prove it. So am I against affirmative action in academia? No, because being for AA when it benefits you and against it when it does not, is cheap.

4. Incidentally, Crystal has been a boon to the lower income Asian neighborhoods it is located around, providing jobs to residents and charitable contributions to various community organizations. Which I feel is another benefit from affirmative action; It helps disadvantaged groups build wealth.

Well that is it for now.

A new Pope has been elected

2005-04-20T22:15:00.000-04:00

Well a new pope has been elected, and I know this post is a bit late. Still I must acknowledge it. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is the new pope Benedict XVI. Here is a statement from the Catholic University of America, where I will be attending law school in the fall. I am a Protestant so I really do not have a strong opinion on the pick. I do know that he is rather doctrinally conservative. I also know that some accuse him of being a Nazi, for his Hitler youth membership. I feel that charge is very unfair.

Kerrey for Mayor?

2005-04-19T00:25:00.000-04:00

Former Governor and Senator from Nebraska and current President of New School University Bob Kerrey, is thinking of entering the Democratic mayoral primary. Now Mr. Kerrey is actually one of my favorite Democrats, he would have been a much better presidential candidate than that other Kerry, for darn sure. Check out his article in the WSJ on Social Security. That being said, he was a public official in another state, and while that does not technically disqualify him from running for mayor, I just do not like the idea of a public official having high office in two different states. Even Hillary Clinton was never actually elected to anything before she carpetbagged her way into a Senate seat. I mean is New York so lacking in political talent that we have to import the rejected and retired politicians from other states in the Union?......Er never mind, I think I just answered my own question. Oh and as for the SS debate, here are some key points:

.........in order to convert these bonds into cash, the U.S. Treasury will use the cash from individual and corporate income taxes. While some income taxes are currently used to pay Social Security benefits, the dollar amounts do not pose a serious budgetary challenge. In eight years that will change. Coupled with the cost of Medicare and Medicaid, the annual benefit demands of Social Security will put real pressure on Congress to cut spending on defense and nondefense appropriations.

Happy Tax Day

2005-04-15T00:18:00.000-04:00

Well it's April 15th. Got my tax return in nice and early because I also had to do my FAFSA. Hooray.

Daniel Gross writes in Slate about getting rid of the mortgage interest deduction and makes a compelling case for it.

WSN articles on the AA bake sale

2005-04-14T22:57:00.000-04:00

By way of Mike Phillips the two WSN editorials from Jill Filipovic and Jon Cirpriani, here and here.

Well I am going to quote and critique some of the specific things written in both articles. I know that is a cheap way of blogging, but I just woke up from a three hour nap and writing an original essay is not on top of my to do list right now. So Jon, Jill please forgive me for scamming off your articles, which I am sure you both worked very hard on.

Here are some highlights from both articles:

"I've got to hand it to the College Republicans: They have truly mastered the art of being purposefully offensive and incendiary, and then playing the victim when the expected reaction occurs. Last Thursday's "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" wasn't an innocent display intended to simply start conversation about an issue. It was specifically designed to start controversy - such bake sales have been held at universities around the country, and are almost always met with conflict and protest."

I do not know how using the prices of a bake sale as a metaphor for the costs of affirmative action is so offensive and incendiary. It was a funny and unique way to make a point (or at least it was at UCLA before every CR group in the nation started doing it). But the fact that this method is being used by every conservative campus group in the nation demonstrates its effectiveness at promoting discussion (sometimes of the heated variety).

"If the College Republicans want to talk about economic inequality, I would invite them to host an "earnings bake sale" - perhaps they can figure out a way to sell cookies that represents the fact that white men make significantly more than any other racial group, regardless of education level. My suggestion: Hold a bake sale where the cookies are sold for the same price, but pay your white male workers $1 an hour, black male workers 80 cents, white women 75 cents, black women 65 cents, Hispanic men 63 cents and Hispanic women 54 cents. That would pretty accurately mirror the race and gender wage gap, as calculated by the National Committee on Pay Equity."

Or you can just hold the same bake sale and equate it with purchasing power. The proponents of affirmative action can hold their own bake sale if they want, no one is preventing them. Or if not a bake sale, then come up with another way of addressing the above statistic. I mean another bake sale would not be so original, but instead of hurling abuses and assaulting individuals against affirmative action, come up with an equally clever idea to address your points. Don't just cede the debate to the other side.

"If they actually wanted to hold an informed discussion on affirmative action, there are dozens of event formats they could have chosen: a teach-in, a debate, a panel presentation, or even a film screening. I doubt they would have been picketed."

Those are good things but one wants to draw attention to the issue and bring new people into the debate. A bake sale gets people thinking, more cerebral formats just interest those people already aware of the issue.

"As an added insult, the College Republicans donated the proceeds of the bake sale to the anti-choice Life Legal Defense Foundation."

Okay, this I did not understand. Particularly since I know that NYU College Republicans is not a uniformly pro-life club. I think the American Civil Rights Institute would have been a much better source for donations.

As for Jon.

"Another sound bite we hear from supporters of racial preferences is that the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women. But this claim, if true, is not a very good defense of affirmative action at all."

Not so Jon. Check out this website and its long list of cases involving hostile work environments and sexism/sexual harassment in large Wall Street firms. Incidentally if you look at the sales and recruiting literature from these same firms, they act like they are a color blind and gender blind utopia. I know it is hard to feel Allison Schiefflin's pain considering that she was making close to a million a year, but the fact is she was being mistreated and looked down upon by her collegues, just because she is a woman. I think that is wrong.

"But what the pro-preference argument really boils down to is the condescending liberal belief that some groups have historically been mistreated by society, so gosh darn it, members of those groups just can't be expected to perform at the same level whites (or Asians) can, and they need special assistance."

I don't think it is condescending at all to acknowledge present mistreatment and discrimination. I think it is more offensive to deny it exists. That type of stuff has not gone away and still matters in the lives of American minorities and women. Furthermore, contrary to popular myth Asians do suffer job discrimination and benefit from affirmative action, just not in the academic world (which incidentally is much more meritocratic than the rest of society, mostly because criteria for success is much less subjective).

"Wow, imagine that. Now if only we can get them as indignant about equal access to higher education as they are about equal access to desserts."

Problem is, blacks and hispanics do not have "equal access" to higher education. Many of them come from run down schools in the poorest areas in the nation. For them, even if they have the talent to go to college, they may lack the economic resources, and I am not speaking of tuition but also things like travel costs, not to mention the necessity to earn wages for their family. This is why I feel affirmative action is needed in the undergraduate level. Maybe not like the UMichigan point system (which I feel is wrong), but I do feel race and economic considerations should be taken into account. I also feel that students from disadvantaged backgrounds of all races should be given these considerations. I agree with Rick Sander though, that AA does more harm than good on the graduate school level.

Last thing, I understand that the debate over affirmative action in college campuses centers primarily on college admissions. Afterall, it is a process many only recently have gone through and some of us have gone through again (grad school admissions). That being said the focus of life is not college and most people could care less where you went for undergrad. Affirmative Action is not primarily about getting into Harvard. It is about being denied a promotion because you don't "fit the look or culture" of someone who is considered management material. It is about differences of opportunity in the social networks one is in. Basically, it is about the real world, and the real world is very different from a college campus.

Oh and Mikey when is your commentary on the issue coming?

The "Assets" of the SS "Trust Fund"

2005-04-13T23:35:00.000-04:00

When people say that the SS "Trust Fund" is backed up by the full faith and credit of the US government, what does that mean? Well Senator Corzine has an answer (from the Murdock article above):

Senator Jon Corzine (D., N.J.) called the president's remarks misleading. In a conference call with journalists, Corzine said: "U.S. Treasury securities have the ability to be paid under any circumstances based on the ability of the government to print money."

You see boys and girls, this is why the liberals claim SS will never go bankrupt. Technically they are right, the US government can print as much money as it wants and pay off our obligations this way. Or the US government could jack up taxes, cut spending on other programs etc. So when the "Trust Fund" runs out, then we can dip into the general budget. Why not? SS surpluses have gone into the general budget, why can't deficits be made up from it. Of course increasing taxes hurts the economy, printing money causes inflation, and well...this might suprise people but I do think some government social programs are necessary and should not be cut to fund SS.

Time to means test benefits and introduce regulated private investment accounts. The current system just does not work.

Mihi Ahn in Salon

2005-04-12T01:36:00.000-04:00

Well it is about time an article like this appeared. I used to be somewhat a fan of Gwen back in her No Doubt days but that is so over. The harajuku girls are an example of why popular culture in the US has no respect for Asians and Asian Americans as, well as people. Asian culture is a product, something to be experienced like some sort of wine or a brand of clothes. It is a trend. Kung-Fu movies, anime, exotic food, Feng Shui, accupuncture, ancient Chinese secrets etc. Meanwhile Asian and Asian American people are silent, emotionless, inscrutable, submissive semi humans, or really funny steppenfecchit like sub humans (William Hung, hello). Whether it is Kill Bill or Ginseng, any real unstereotypical comprehension of Asian culture is severely lacking. So is any appreciation of Asians as people or Asian Americans as........well as AMERICANS. In the popular mind, their is no difference between the two. Which brings me to the issue that Ms Ahn, only briefly alluded to and hinted at: RACISM. That's right, racism, bigotry, stereotyping, exclusion, whatever you want to call it, it sucks. Speaking of which Mihi, why did you not mention racism specifically? The word racism was not even in the article, it was hinted at instead, I mean we don't want to pepetuate the stereotype of Asians as too reserved and polite. How many Asian AMERICANS have been asked where they were from, and when they say oh I'm from New York or San Francisco, people respond with "No where are you really from? China? Japan?" etc. How many Asian AMERICANS have had ignorant white liberals (usually artsy types) tell them how much they like Asian food or where in Asia to visit etc. As if the culture and people are just one in the mind of non Asians (Gee this will really suck if we go to war with China, can you say concentration camp boys and girls? I knew you could).

As for the Harajuku girls, gee where do I begin. Number one, they are not allowed to speak English in the prescence of Gwen. They are all fluent, or so I am told. I wonder if they are all even Japanese. Furthermore, Gwen considers them figments of her imagination. This type of dehumanization is incredibly insulting. But I guess I should not expect a spoiled girl from Orange County to be too concerned with the demeaning perceptions and stereotypes she creates, oh well. I find Gwen's speaking voice very grating fyi. As for the girls, I cannot believe they agreed to play such a demeaning role. I wonder how much they were paid for it.

The Myth of the SS trust fund

2005-04-10T18:04:00.000-04:00

From the Foundation for Economic Freedom.

The Gladiator's War

2005-04-08T01:44:00.000-04:00

This is a alternate history tale I came across while surfing the net and browsing AlternateHistory.com. The story takes places during the later years of the Roman Republic, specifically during the revolt of Spartacus. The year before the first consulship of Pompey and Crassus. As we all know from history, and the movies, Crassus crushed the revolt and was awarded an ovation for his efforts. Pompey came back from Spain, victorious against Sertorius and mopped up a few stragglers. But history takes a different turn in this story. Any fan of Roman history will appreciate this short story from Lois Tilton.

From Slate: Spitzer, Buffet and Blodget

2005-04-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

Slate Magazine has run a series of good articles in recent days. First, according to Daniel Gross, New York's crusading and corporate crime fighting AG (and likely next governor) Elliot Spitzer is at it again. This time he is taking on the reinsurance industry and Warren Buffet is involved. According to Gross, Buffet himself is not really under investigation and is just being called in as a witness. Reinsurance? What's that you say? Well when insurance companies collect premiums, some of that money is invested in securities, some of it is used to pay benefits, and lastly some of it is paid to reinsurance companies like Swiss Re or Buffet's own General Re. This enables insurance companies to spread out the risk of their policies to other firms and if a major disaster happens, the company will not tank by paying out benefits. Apparently, AIG is accused of massaging earnings by writing down a deal as an risk reduction when it really wasn't, the details are fuzzy. General Re is accused of collaborating in or willfully ignoring this bad accounting.
Speaking of corporate crime, former Merrill Lynch con ma......er I mean equity analyst Henry Blodget has been busy writing for Slate ever since he defrauded millions of investors. His recent review of the book Conspiracy of Fools is very insightful. I guess if you really want to know about white collar crime and fraud, get an expert's opinion. Hey he is better at writing about that than he is in writing about the city of my birth, which he has been doing quite a bit of lately.

ANWR photos and articles

2005-03-27T23:31:00.000-05:00

Alright, I still do not know how to post photos properly, Shankar please help me. But in the meantime, here are the photos of ANWR that I wanted to post. Carl Bialik from the Wall Street Journal Online Edition writes about how much oil we might get from the proposed ANWR drill site. Don Engebretson states in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Drilling wouldn't be the end of ANWR. But what happens when we run out of oil? Kenneth Deffeyes asks.

Political Correctness Gone Awry in Britain

2005-03-27T23:11:00.000-05:00

From the Daily Telegraph. Apparently a hymn about patriotism, sacrifice, suffering and peace is too jingoistic and offensive. Here are the lyrics to "I Vow to Thee My Country":

I vow to thee, my country—all earthly things above—
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago—
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

I got the lyrics from The Cyber Hymnal. And here is the page complete with MIDI.

Rule Britannia, America Rule the English Speaking World

2005-03-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

Check out the site of the Expansionist Party of the United States. This is a party that believes the USA should be bigger and not limited to the North American continent. While an American takeover of the entire world does not make sense...............right now, a Union of English Speaking nations would be a great idea. Winston Churchill himself once dreamed of this federation and we can make it happen today. Here is an article on the benefits of union. And here is a followup to the previous article. A plan has even been drawn up to divide the British isles into states. It is time for the mother country to reunite with her prodigal daughter in a house of equals. Our cousins, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and a few of the Carribean islands can join too.

I'm back

2005-03-20T13:20:00.000-05:00

Well I am back from Chicago. I was there to attend a discovery program from Loyola School of Law. I also walked along Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile), State Street and visited the Museum Campus (specifically Shedd Aquarium and the Natural History Museum). I had a great time at the program and in Chicago, but there was something missing. I am still considering the school though. I go to visit Catholic University School of Law on April 1st.

Meanwhile on Thursday when I was too drunk, I could not post this article from NRO, which I wanted too. It is a response by Donald Luskin, who also is author of the blog The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid. It was a response to this article written by Paul Krugman. Luskin is right that a $600 billion annual increase in the liabilities of Social Security does not add to the relative burden if the program as long as there is a consistent growth in the GDP. That being said, $600 billion is a lot of money and by finding ways to limit the costs of Social Security we have more flexibility to spend money on other programs or on tax cuts. Republicans are trying to propose solutions for the problems in the Social Security program. Some of these ideas may be bad, some may be good. But instead of just ignoring the issue and claiming there is no problem, why don't Democrats propose some alternatives. For example a minimum income provision, or maybe means testing for certain benefits.

Meanwhile, as for the ANWR issue. Here is a map of the area of the Refuge where drilling is being proposed. I have a picture of bears and other animals playing and nesting near oil pipelines and will post thse pictures as soon as I figure out how to post pics.

The Senate approves a half measure on energy policy

2005-03-17T01:11:00.000-05:00

I favor drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. The bill would open up about 1.5 million acres of ANWR to oil exploration. This is roughly 7 percent of the entire refuge. While the area of exploration is huge in terms of acreage, the amount of land needed for drilling structures and equipment is much less. This is due to recent developments related to more efficient. as well as enviroment friendly exploration and extraction technologies. Furthermore, the effects of the drilling on the local ecosystem is not an disasterous as some environmentalists claim. Most of the area proposed for exploration is flat tundra land. The development of human structures in the area should affect the local wildlife minimally. Other areas in Alaska have not seen rapid die offs in animal species due to the prescence of oil fields. In fact the warmth generated by the Alaska oil pipeline has caused the animal populations living around it to flourish. I searched Looksmart for an old National Review article written by Jonah Goldberg documenting the effects of oil field development on an area in the Coastal Plain of the North Slope of Alaska. This region of Alaska is where the land proposed for development is located. The article goes into greater detail of the points I have made.

The problem with ANWR drilling is not that it will be environmentally disasterous. The problem is that many Republicans (maybe because they are over selling it) feel that opening up this land to oil exploration will help us significantly with our energy needs. Due to instability in the Middle East and new sources of oil becoming more and more expensive to extract, drilling for more oil is a stopgap. Eventually we will need to develop a cheap alternative to petroleum. Oil is not renewable and finding other sources for our energy needs now is preferable to waiting until we face a real crisis. The world could reach peak oil production soon. Instead of opposing oil drilling in ANWR, Democrats and environmentalists would do better to compromise and support drilling in exchange for higher fuel efficiency for cars and more funding for alternative energy research.

The Business World, My decision on Bolton

2005-03-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

Well today Bernie was convicted of an assorted amount of crimes and faces up to 85 years in jail. Read all about it here. Also a new book on Enron (which makes this what? Number 63?) is out in the stores and Salon has written a review of it. Kenny boy claims he knew nothing (nothing!!!), and the author seems to concur!!!??? Yeah, sure Kenny Boy, you were only the CEO. I mean Lay was picked to be CEO of a major energy company (it used to be a major energy company). Furthermore he held executive positions at a few other energy companies before Enron, so he was obviously competent. He has a PhD in Economics, so he is obviously not stupid. The fact that he signed off on all those balance sheets and did not do any due diligence is criminally negligent in itself. At least I think so anyway, maybe it technically isn't, I am no expert on white collar crime. Well this is why I am going to law school soon. Thank you Lay, Ebbers, Fastow, Skilling etc. You turned a wealth hungry devotee of the absolute rectitude of markets, a heartless capitalist, into an advocate of more active government regulation and supervision. You turned a future corporate lawyer into someone who wants to work for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Meanwhile, I have finally made a decision concerning John Bolton. I am against his nomination. The UN ambassador should be a diplomat and Bolton is lacking in diplomacy. Sidney Blumenthal goes into some reasons I do not support Bolton. His past connections to Jesse Helms being one of them. I mean it is not like I disagree with him on everything. He is right, the ABM Treaty is useless now that we are no longer living in a bipolar world threatened with mass nuclear annihilation. And his strong condemnations of Kim Jong Il and the hardline he advocates against the North Korean regime is praiseworthy. However an individual who has nothing but contempt for the UN should not be the UN Ambassador. Contempt you say? Yeah, like saying that if he could restructure the UN today the US would be the only Security Council member. Or that there is no such thing as the United Nations, that if it fell apart tomorrow nothing would be affected. I don't agree with everything the UN does (or doesn't do) but I still have respect for it as an institution. Bolton does not seem to.

Some Ideas for SS Reform

2005-03-11T23:40:00.000-05:00

Rich Lowry outlines some ideas from a number of Republicans on how to reform the Social Security system.

James from Rightblog.net has posted a pretty good article on Chile's pension system. It is from CBS of all places.

The Case for the Galactic Empire

2005-03-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

Well I just watched the trailer for the new Star Wars movie, and it looked so cool. It came on right after the OC and believe me, it was even worth sitting through an hour of that dreck. In fact, I suspect the trailer is better than the actual movie. Anyway to commemorate this event (and because I am still undecided about the John Bolton nomination), I have posted this classic article making the case for the Galactic Empire. I always did like them better.

The John Bolton Nomination

2005-03-09T21:01:00.000-05:00

Here is an article on the nomination of John Bolton as the new Amabassador to the UN. It is written by UPI correspondent Martin Walker, who incidentally is the author of one of my favorite books on the Cold War (entitled appropriately enough Cold War). I am inclined to support the Bolton nomination despite some of the criticisms he has faced from many Democrats. I will elaborate on this topic a bit more later. I am too tired right now.

"Family" Values

2005-03-08T21:54:00.000-05:00

Here is an article from salon (an article you can't refuse to read) about the mafia and how it affects and reflects our culture. Go and read it, capice???!!!!

Also please check out my friend Marion Shah's new blog, The Conservative Realist. Good Stuff. Marion is a relatively moderate conservative, her husband Nimit Shah is a right wing extremist though ;).

Washington Square News on Blogging

2005-03-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

Woohoo, my old friend, fellow blogger and former lab partner Shaun McElhenny has written a WSN (NYU Student Paper) article on blogging, and ClassicaliberalConservative is quoted in it too. So are fellow bloggers Michael Phillips, Roger Thoman, Benjiman Harrision and Neil Shah.

The Debate on Social Security Intensifies

2005-03-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

Fellow blogger and NYU person Neil Shah has written a response to my last post on the Social Security issue. Neil basically calls me an idiot for being in favor of Social Security privatization. This could be a situation where we are both right. I know I am right about Social Security ;). Anyway here is my response to his post:

Hi Neil.
Thank you for your response to my post. It has given me a lot to think about. Although my argument was not neatly constructed (hey I had just woken up when I wrote it), the main point of my post (which you missed) is that I feel the left wing in this country has this unreasonable fear of our nation’s securities markets. Introducing private accounts is a good thing. It will help create wealth, encourage national saving and strengthen the long term viability of the system. I have no interest in transforming Social Security into non existence. I have every interest in seeing it upgraded to something that will benefit the American public.

You wrote about the similarities between the purposes of an insurance company and the Social Security program. If that is so, then why not let individuals invest the SS money in real assets instead of theoretical government IOUs? If insurance companies trust investing in the securities markets to meet their long term obligations, I see no reason why Social Security cannot do the same. I also dispute your claim that the Social Security system was “fixed” back in 1983. But I will speak more of that on my own blog. Contrary to the title of your post, privatization of Social Security makes a lot of sense.

Contrary to the claims of the left, Social Security is not doing fine. During the 1990s many Democrats spoke of impending problems in Social Security funding, Bill Clinton included. Commission after commission of Democrats and Republicans called for changes and reforms to the program, including introducing private elements to the program. The fact is, American demographics have changed since 1933. In 1950, there was a ratio of 16 workers to pay the benefits of 1 reitree. Currently there are 3 workers for each retiree and soon that ratio will go down further. If the ratio goes down, then benefits must either decrease or taxes must go up. In fact, taxes have already gone up a few times. I fear the effect of an additional increase on payroll taxes will have on job creation. Not only have demographics changed, so has society. Securities markets and the banking system were only slightly less than chaotic when SS was first created. We had a Depression to prove it. Now we have an SEC (which is underfunded but still pretty effective), we have regulatory authories and we have a public much more aware of and responsive to investing. We also have a proliferation of investment and saving vehicles: 401ks, IRAs, Annuities etc. And many individuals rely much more on that for their retirement than they do on Social Security. For many people, SS has become a supplemental income for retirement, not their primary source of income. Yes, minimal income provisions must be made for the less fortunate and some protection is needed to dampen the effects of capital market volatilty. But privatization, if done right, will be a net benefit to the country.

Today on Meet the Press

2005-03-06T11:43:00.000-05:00

Today on Meet the Press, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said that Republican efforts to privatize Social Security will result in the end of Social Security as an insurance program. Well currently, Social Security does not run itself like any insurance company that I know of. When insurance companies collect premiums, they don't spend the money and then write up future obligations that the firms owe to themselves. If any company did do that, the executives would all end up in prison. So what do insurance companies do with their premium money? Believe it or not folks, they invest them in the debt and equity markets. That's right folks, they INVEST the money in the SECURITIES MARKETS. So how would Social Security be less an insurance system if we privatize it? Social Security was created in the 1930s when we faced a much different world than we do today. It is time that we update Social Security for the 21st Century. Hey Democrats, do it for the children.

More on Social Security....Later

2005-03-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

I am sober tonight, but I am not in the mood to write anything too much. Therefore I will write a bit and add more to this post and update it later. First, I will address the Slate article about how us proponents of privitization are too confident about a 7 percent per year return on equities. First of all, the 7 percent the figure is the rate of real return. The nominal rate of return unadjusted for inflation is assumed to be around 10 percent for a portfolio of broadly diversified equities. Why is the nominal rate of return important? Because the purpose of a personalized social security account is to save for a comfortable retirement, not to yield the highest real return one can get. The ownership of assets is a protection against inflation. Equity prices rise with inflation and the privitization of Social Security will insure that an individual's retirement is uninhibited by rising price levels. Anyway, an annual real return of 7 percent on $1000 invested for 40 years comes to a little less than $15,000. Invest $1000 per year for forty years and one can build a relatively comfortable retirement. I mean, you won't get $15,000 for every year you work, but you can live comfortably.

Besides, I believe that the real and nominal rates mentioned by Daniel Gross, in his articles are much lower than what they should be. According to the textbook from my Financial Management class, the a portfolio from the S&P 500 (500 largest companies in terms of total market value) yields an average nominal return of 13 percent with a standard deviation of around 20 percent. Meanwhile a portfolio of the smallest 20 percent of companies traded on the NYSE yields an average nominal return of 17 percent with a standard deviation of 33 percent. A portfolio of investment grade corporate bonds will result in an average return of 6 percent with a standard deviation of 9 percent. And yes in some years the market does have negative returns. However, in general the trend has been positive. If equity markets are consistently negative, we'll have a lot of problems to worry about, including paying off benefits under the current system. Besides, average returns represent an average. In some years returns are much higher and in some years they are lower, they might even be negative. But in general equities are relatively safe from inflation and mutual funds are safe from firm specific risk. I believe few advocates of privitization think that individuals should be able to invest in non diversified stocks.

Another argument made against privitization is the fact that someone could retire during a market downturn. This is a concern, as is any market downturn but it is not as if an individual's portfolio will remain the same for their entire lives. When one reaches retirement, their is little chance that an individual will lose his entire savings to a market crash. If you are five years from retirement, you invest in more liquid and safer securities like T-Bills, CDs or Commercial Paper. Oh and for the writer who said that he was too lazy to invest for his retirement, he deserves to live a miserable retirement eating cat food. Okay, that might be too harsh, but honestly, how hard is it to do a little research and pick out a mutual fund.

Much more on Social Security

2005-03-03T22:54:00.000-05:00

Well, this seems to be the big issue right now and so I need to comment more on it. But I can only go into more detail when I become much more sober. Right now, it is hard for me to form a logical coherent argument on the subject. See tonight, I attended and got drunk at a left wing gathering, so that I could meet and get my copy of Other People's Money signed by the book's beautiful author Nomi Prins. She is much more gorgeous in person too. Anyway, in the meantime here are two Slate articles that make the case against privatization. One is by Thomas Geohegan, who thinks picking out a Mutual Fund is too stressful, and the other is by Daniel Gross, who doubts the 7 percent per year average return that is predicted for a private invested account. Anyway, I am too drunk to present the right side on this right now. Stay tuned tomorrow, when I will be sober......hopefully.

An Honest Look at Elliot Spitzer

2005-03-02T21:44:00.000-05:00

Great article from the Weekly Standard about the man likely to be the next governor of New York. I like Elliot Spitzer and agreed with the way he dealt with the abuses in the securities industry. However like those he prosecuted, Spitzer's actions are also filled with the occasional conflict of interest ie the use of his position to solicit contributions and help out his associates or at the very least the appearance of it. Furthermore the politicization of the "investor class" has the potential to be a mixed blessing. More on that later.

The AARP is a bunch of troop hating gay loving liberals.....

2005-02-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

According to some on the right anyway. This brouhaha is kind of funny, it's even a topic on Hannity and Colmes today as well as Hardball. And it has been mentioned on blog after blog. It's almost like a really bad chain letter (sort of like Social Security actually). Anyway I would say that I am incredibly ashamed of being a conservative because of this ad, but I am not really a conservative (not anymore). Therefore I have to say that I am quite embarrassed to be associated with conservatives because of this. But hey, your crazy relative is still your relative. You cannot be too surprised when they come out of the attic naked once in a while. I mean honestly, if we had just let the left design an ad to caricature the blockheadedness of the far right they could not have done a better job. I know that this ad is only on the American Spectator website (notice how I do not link to them), but the mere existence of this ad hurts our credibility on Social Security. Who were the the ad whizzes who thought of this?

Another AIM conversation

2005-02-22T00:11:00.000-05:00

Hsieh What: and healthcare has changed a lot in the past decade
Hsieh What: it sucks now
Hsieh What: my uncle stopped his practice in march
Hsieh What: he just couldn't afford to practice anymore
TayYuGOP3824: Because of Trial Lawyers? Right?
Hsieh What: with malpractice insurance exceeding 200,000
TayYuGOP3824: Exactly
TayYuGOP3824: I knew it
TayYuGOP3824: Another reason why you and your family should be Republican
Hsieh What: hahaha
Hsieh What: yeah it is a big factor
Hsieh What: my mom was pressing my dad to leave private practice since clinton came into power
Hsieh What: she knew healthcare was gonna go down the tubes
Hsieh What: yeah..it hasn't been easy

Another anti-CPAC article, from a conservative no less

2005-02-21T20:17:00.000-05:00

Yup here it is. I am particularly glad he mentioned the nuttiness of the "grandmother of the right" Phyllis Schlafly. Two CPACs ago I was yelled at by her for having sympathy for immigrants, you know particularly because I am one. This was right after she ranted about how American children do not need Hep B shots because only filthy Asians carried the disease, and boy was she angry. Yes, yours truly, the classicaliberalconservative, was not born in the USA, but in Shanghai. This suprises most people I meet, because you know, I look like the typical all American boy next door (sarcasm). Oh, during the last conference she acted nice to me when I shook her hand at the Eagle Forum table (I was only there to steal candy, hehe). I do not think she remembered the question, or maybe she cannot tell one Asian from another, who knows. Ryan Sager, I salute you and your pro-immigration conservatism, even though I think legal immigration should be cut. But hey, most of the restrictionists do not like people like me.

The Problem with Larry Summers' comments

2005-02-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

Although I think Larry Summers is being given too much flack for his comments, I still feel they were careless. Gender and ethnic differences are obvious and should be considered, maybe our brains are wired differently. Science should look into questions of gender and race, even if the truths found might make us uncomfortable. The problem is that general trends tend to make people overlook individual characteristics. Even if women tend to be less strong then men, this does not mean every man is stronger than every woman. Heck, the strongest person in the world may even be a woman. Discrimination both active and through socialization, remain a huge problem in society.

Why I am not going to CPAC this year

2005-02-18T22:36:00.000-05:00

Michelle Goldberg goes over the many reasons why I stopped going to the Conservative Political Action Conference. I went to these things yearly throughout college (I had more free time) and could not stand them. Everytime the conference was over I thought of switching parties. This was partially due to how drunk I would get at these things to actually get through them. So I decided not to go this year if I wanted to stay a Republican. Honestly, the only difference between these things and the Nuremberg rallies is that everyone is in a suit, tie and white shirt, instead of an SS uniform and a brown shirt. The conformity and group think at these things is insane. One year I did get to meet David Corn when he was covering the conference though, he was a really nice guy and a pleasure to talk to. Man why can't we have political conferences for centrists. That would be cool, we would all sit around and compromise and consider all views. I would still get incredibly drunk, though unlike CPAC it would not be just to get through the conference without knocking my head against the wall repeatedly. So Dave, if I do go next year, please be there too.

Conservative Urbanism

2005-02-18T02:26:00.000-05:00

As a Republican and an urbanite, I was so happy to come across this article. Michael Lewyn, I salute you. Historically, American cities have served as the generators of our nation's wealth and greatness. Although poorer these days due to federal anti-urban pro-sprawl policies, American cities are still the centers of culture and creativity in the US. It is about damn time that conservatives in this country started a campaign to conserve the viability of urban America. Big government created American suburbia in all its mediocre greatness and it is time the feds helped to revive the great American City. The anti-urban biases of some conservatives is just sickening, particularly since so much of it is tinged by racial hostility. It is also hypocritical to the extreme, when conservatives denouce big government and then talk about increasing spending for highways and mortgage subsidies. To our public officials, please save us from the mediocrity of American suburbia. The last thing we needs is more highways, more NIMBYism, more malls, and more isolation. This exurban trend of recent years is even worse.

Tim Wise on Race

2005-02-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

Very insightful article worth reading about the present state race relations in America. Thank you Tim Wise.

No King but Jesus Christ!!!

2005-02-12T00:49:00.000-05:00

The recent annoucement of the Charles-Camilla marriage has motivated me to search the back issues of The American Enterprise for this gem of an article written by Bill Kauffman. In it he discusses what he thinks about the idea of monarchy and I find his views very insightful. I urge our English cousins to kick those glorified welfare cases you call the "royal family" out of Buckingham Palace and turn to the sanity of a Republic. The current "royal family" can't even hold a candle to George III, and you all know what we Americans thought of him. Americans do not bend the knee, and neither should anyone else.

What is Left and What is Right?

2005-02-07T20:55:00.000-05:00

Really cool article about how the French Revolution (Damn frogs always manage to screw something up) made political definitions way too simpistic by giving them a left/right format. Enjoy.

Another male responds to Maureen Dowd

2005-02-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

Well it looks like I am not the only person who thought Maureen Dowd's column was a great example of how deluded some American women are, especially the ones who live in New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC. A friend of mine sent this article to me a few days ago. It originally appeared at Tech Central Station, which is a good site with many great articles (including South Park Republicans, which is a favorite with this particular South Park Republican), even if site head James Glassman once predicted the Dow would shoot to 36,000 by now. Although he did have a good idea about how corporations paying dividends would make corporations more responsible to shareholders (i.e don't tax dividend income twice).
Okay back to my original point. Maureen, even though you are indeed gorgeous, witty and I bet a great conversationalist; I think that your standards in finding a mate might just be a bit too high. Men are not all sexist and threatened by career women. But some men do want kids. More importantly, we do not want those kids resenting us when they are grown, spending tons of money on therapy, shooting up there high schools, abusing drugs, siring a litter of bastards, starring in a bad reality TV show or engaging in any other such outrageous vice, due to the fact that they lack supervision were neglected by their parents at a young age. So Maureen, since your biological clock has already reached midnight, I suggest you have a series of affairs with younger subordinate men. I am most likely going to start law school in DC this fall, maybe at your old alma mater CUA. You know how to get in touch with me ;)

Iraqi elections a success

2005-01-30T21:27:00.000-05:00

Well the voting is done and the casualties were minimal. I feel very encouraged that this is a significant turning point in Iraq.

A Southern Man from New York

2005-01-27T19:54:00.000-05:00

NeoCon-Green Alliance

2005-01-26T23:02:00.000-05:00

I sure hope so. It is time we developed renewable energy and improved the environment. If we can do both at the same time. more power to us.

Secession, not just for Southerners anymore

2005-01-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

Snarky comments about television

2005-01-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

The guilty pleasure that is sweeping the nation, including me. Check out my latest conversation on the subject of Desperate Housewives.

TayYuGOP3824: Watching Boston Legal?
MikeTraceyRNY: yes... did you just see desperate housewives???
MikeTraceyRNY: i wanted to call you... there was a great moment
TayYuGOP3824: Oh there were so many
TayYuGOP3824: I tell you, I get 5 orgasms everytime I watch it
TayYuGOP3824: Sometimes 6
MikeTraceyRNY: im talking about the one where she says she met her husband at a YR meeting!
MikeTraceyRNY: lol
TayYuGOP3824: ;-)
TayYuGOP3824: Lol I know
MikeTraceyRNY: and she's about to cheat...
MikeTraceyRNY: she's a red slut!
TayYuGOP3824: Dude, that suburb has too many psychos
TayYuGOP3824: You know the creator is a gay republican
TayYuGOP3824: A lincoln republican if you will
MikeTraceyRNY: lol
MikeTraceyRNY: i didnt know that
TayYuGOP3824: It was in the Desperate Housewives Newsweek story
MikeTraceyRNY: does he support bush? or is he just another liberal?
TayYuGOP3824: He loves Bush
TayYuGOP3824: The President
TayYuGOP3824: Not the Pussy
MikeTraceyRNY: hahaha
MikeTraceyRNY: you are on tonight

Men are From Earth, Women Sympathize with Outer Space Aliens Out to Destroy Our Way of Life

2005-01-23T15:11:00.000-05:00

Friedman on the Iraqi elections

2005-01-22T22:49:00.000-05:00

A great article by Thomas Friedman. First, he highlights the importance of the Iraqi elections. Thank you Tom for pointing out that the so called "nationalist insurgents" in the country are attacking fellow Iraqis far more aggressively than they are in attacking American troops. These guys are creating chaos to destablize Iraq and take power without popular consent. Article also states that the lack of EU support for our Iraq action is detrimental to their national security interests. The large number of Muslim Arabs in the EU nations have the potential to destablize their nations. Particularly if the two young Musilm girls featured in the article are any indication. The EU's lack of support in Iraq is as detrimental to their long term interests as they are to ours, perhaps more. As far as Bush's lack of diplomacy, I do not know what Friedman wants him to have done. The vacilliation of leading EU nations in supporting us in Iraq had little to do with our hyper aggressiveness, and more to their own interest in propping up a dictator like Saddam. I mean Bush's diplomacy was a bit hard headed, but I see very little chance that France and Germany would have joined us with Chirac and Schroeder in power. But Europe really should be wary of a destablized Middle East. They are the ones on the frontlines, not us. Speaking of which, from the article:

I spent Friday morning interviewing two 18-year-old French Muslim girls in the Paris immigrant district of St.-Ouen. (It is about a mile from the school where in March 2003 a French Muslim girl, who had refused the veil and rebuffed the advances of a Muslim boy, was thrown into a garbage can by three Muslim teenagers, who then tossed lighted cigarette butts into the can and closed the lid.)
Both girls I interviewed wore veils and one also wore a full Afghan-like head-to-toe covering; one was of Egyptian parents, the other of Tunisian parents, but both were born and raised in France. What did I learn from them? That they got all their news from Al Jazeera TV, because they did not believe French TV, that the person they admired most in the world was Osama bin Laden, because he was defending Islam, that suicide "martyrdom" was justified because there was no greater glory than dying in defense of Islam, that they saw themselves as Muslims first and French citizens last, and that all their friends felt pretty much the same.
We were not in Kabul. We were standing outside their French public high school - a short ride from the Eiffel Tower.

Scary huh? Frankly I am sick of the Arab world accusing the West of persecuting them. They were the ones who conqueored 1/3rd of Christendom in the Dark Ages and threatened the rest. This was the reason the Crusades were launched in the first place. Now many of them are complaining about discrimination in Western nations (a very legitimate complaint), but at the same time, they fail to denouce attitudes like these in their communities. And these attitudes are not confined to a few extremists. Listen, I am one of the biggest opponents of media stereotyping of ethnic groups, which happens way too often. I applaud Fox for airing PSA's against racism on xenophobia directed at Arabs during commerical breaks on 24. But this type of extremism needs to be denouced, ostracized and isolated.

New Links, News and VH1.

2005-01-21T23:45:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems my Tim Roemer endorsement has been noticed by the activists of Blogging for Bayh. I will get into more detail why a formerly ultra conservative (now ultra centrist) and still partisan Republican like me is so enthusiatic about a Bayh 2008 campaign. It is a long and interesting political evolution on my part. Believe me, the person I was 2 years ago would kick the ass of the person I am today, if he...er I had the chance.
Anyway, this week marks the premiere of I Love the 90s Part Deux and the new season of Best Week Ever on Vh1. I am shamefully admitting to loving both these shows, especially Best Week Ever, since one of the panelists on the show is the beautiful, witty and intelligent Jessi Klein. The lovely Ms. Klein also happens to be an alumnus of good ole Stuyvesant High School, so you know she is a genius. Yes, I am very pissed that the only time one can watch videos on VH1 is 4 in the morning, and yes most of the shows on the network are vapid and shallow celebrity worshipping crap. And frankly, each new countdown list of the Top 50 whatever on VH1 just gets dumber and dumber. Still, every dark cloud has a silver lining. This week's silver lining happens to be comedian John Aboud, who feels that the current season of 24 is the most racist thing Fox has done to Arab Americans since Bill O'Reilly used a falafel as a sex toy.
Oh, one last thing, check out all my new musical links.

Tim Roemer and the DNC race

2005-01-17T22:57:00.000-05:00

Tim Roemer, candidate for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was on Hannity and Colmes tonight. Roemer—a former Indiana congressman— is the unofficial stalking horse for the Evan Bayh 2008 presidential campaign in the DNC race. I like Bayh and I love Tim Roemer. He is definitely my choice to head up the DNC. If the Democrats want to start winning elections, he should be the choice of the Democrats across the nation too. Roemer is a former congressman from South Bend, IN. He is anti-abortion, pro-defense and fiscally moderate. Heck he even used to favor private accounts for social security. He abandoned that stance once he decided to run for Chairman, but I do not blame him. Joe Lieberman did something similar four years ago when he ran for Vice President and I still love Joe. Roemer gave a relatively good interview, sounded sensible and did not really make any great insights into dealing with the latest Democratic electoral disaster not made previously by others. An important view Roemer put across was that Democrats lost in November because of national security issues and their inability to form a coherent opinion on them. Of course, Roemer had to give the usual lip service to being a national party and reaching out to the South, particularly because he is the moderate/conservative DLC candidate in the race for National Chairman. Frankly, I think this is nonsense; two parties with regional bases that need to gain national following dominate the US political landscape. The Republicans are hardly a national party; they are a Southeastern and Prairie state party. The thing is Democrats have much more trouble holding on to their regional base because their lock step stances on social issues and confusion on defense issues. If you look at the county-by-county red blue map, a number of counties in the Northeast and West Coast went Republican. In general, the states in these regions are more liberal than the rest of the nation, but most of the US does not adhere to the hyper-left wing policies of the urban elites that dominate the Democratic Party. Heck most individuals in urban areas do not even subscribe to those beliefs. I hope Tim Roemer becomes the next DNC Chairman. A move to the center on social issues and a hawkish stance on national defense will make Democrats much more competitive politically. It is also better for the nation as a whole to have two competitive national parties, than one dominant party.

Show me the Money!!!!

2005-01-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

A hilarious article from John Podhoretz. Speaking of which, I've been a reliable whore for the GOP since I was 12 years old. I'd like to be compensated for that.

Yankee or Dixie

2005-01-14T23:13:00.000-05:00

This is a really interesting quiz, I scored a 37%, a definitive Yankee. It's my New York upbringing.

Do most men want a subordinate? No, most women want someone above them.

2005-01-13T23:41:00.000-05:00

Oh, please Maureen. I find it incredibly hard to believe that women do not give two figs about the status of their potential husband. The truth is that when a man considers a wife, his primary concern relates to whether or not she has attributes that are conducive to the birth of children, qualities like youth, large breasts, wide hips etc. This case applies even if he does not wish to have children. The economic status of a woman has little to do with anything for a man when it comes to attraction. However, the status of a man does affect his attractiveness to women. While Dowd has cited studies indicating that men tend to marry their subordinates, could this possibly be due to the fact that it is their subordinates who are the ones doing the picking? Dowd herself states that to these women, their male boss is "the moon, sun and stars".
One study that Dowd failed to cite, concerns a survey of personal advertisements done a few years ago. In this study, an overwhelming number of women who placed personal ads indicated a preference for someone who made more money than they did. This included very wealthy and successful women, who if anything indicated a much stronger preference for a high status male. Highly successful career women do not have problems finding a husband. Their problem is finding one among their select and elite group.

NYU welcomes.........

2005-01-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

Well look who my old alma mater has hired to start teaching, I guess he won't be teaching any of the young poli sci students about how to win an election.

An Alabama native responds to Russ Feingold

2005-01-09T16:43:00.000-05:00

Senator Feingold's article about his trip to Alabama has elicited a response. Liberal Democrats should take a few lessons about how condescending and patronizing they sound. They might actually win an election or two if they start getting it.

Interview with Jared Diamond

2005-01-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

Jared Diamond has a new book out. Salon interviews him about it.

An Arab American in Israel

2005-01-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

This article is for all the hate filled schmucks and fools who call Israel an apartheid state, supremacist state, European colony etc.

Earlier Michael Lind Article

2005-01-05T22:10:00.000-05:00

These are two great articles, well worth reading. I will comment more on them over the weekend when I have more time.

An Interesting Article from Michael Lind

2005-01-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

Recently, ex conservative and neoliberal Michael Lind has written two great articles. This is the second one, I'll post the first one in a bit. Will the Democrats actually listen to him? I highly doubt it.

And yet another reason to privatize

2005-01-04T20:09:00.000-05:00

From Rich Lowry in today's NRO. Another pertinent point about how Social Security is a negative payout to many African Americans in the US. I believe it was Chris Rock who said: "...You can't get Social Security til you're 65, average black man lives until 60", or something along those lines.

As if on cue

2005-01-04T00:26:00.000-05:00

Well following my incredibly boring post about social security on Sunday (yes even I fell asleep while writing it, well I felt like it anyway), David Brooks has written a brilliant article on why a generous over regulated welfare state is absolutely impossible to maintain with an aging population. I hope the Democratic wing of the Democratic party is paying attention here. The rates of economic growth are just too low to sustain it. And yes 1% less growth in Europe makes a huge difference. During the late part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th, Mexico and the United States had yearly growth rates that were about 1% apart. Instead of burdening us with more government programs and more bureaucracy, we should try to shed some of it. Social Security is a great place to start, after we handle that we need to tackle Medicare specifically and Healthcare in general. The best way to do that is to encourage the use of Medical Savings Accounts as a supplement to traditional health insurance and managed care.

Tonight Show

2005-01-03T23:49:00.000-05:00

Just saw this on the Tonight Show Headlines. A magazine called Law and Politics had a cover with the title "Celebrating Law Firm Diversity". On the cover were 4 middle aged white males. It was really bloody hilarious.

Rep. Bob Matsui 1941-2005

2005-01-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

Social Security

2005-01-02T19:16:00.000-05:00

It looks like Bush will take on the third rail of American politics in his second term: Social Security reform. We have come a long way from the days when Barry Goldwater was called an extremist for proposing to privatize Social Security. These days it looks like individual accounts for Social Security may have a real chance, and I say it's about time. Unlike the 1960s people are actually comfortable with investing in the securities markets. The 1929 crash is a distant memory and current federal securities regulations make such a large crash in the equity markets highly unlikely. People are used to investing for their future retirement with the proliferation of IRAs, 401(k)s and other pension accounts that are tied to the performance of equity, debt and money markets.

Frankly I cannot figure out why the left wing in this country is so nervous about individual Social Security Accounts. The real return retirees get from Social Security is lower than the return an individual would get if he just put that money in a portfolio consisting of investment grade corporate bonds, or even money market securities. And let's just look at the state of our Social Security system. It used to work because most people croaked before they got benefits. That's not the case anymore. And now we face a demographic conundrum where the number of reitrees will outnumber the workers. Contrary to what some liberals say, Social Security is not a successful program now that the demographics of the country are changing (damn those medical and nutritional advancements). So the whole program needs to be restructured unless we want to raise payroll taxes so high that they sink the economy. Require everyone in this country to invest a percentage of their income that now goes to payroll taxes. And for current retirees, and even individuals who will be retiring in the next 10 years, assess a fee on current accounts to pay for those who never had the chance to invest.

I've been away

2005-01-02T19:07:00.000-05:00

Okay so I have not kept up the writing like I should have, mostly it has to do with the fact that I have no idea how to add links or do any other cool stuff. I am right now only starting to learn. But anyway I am going to start commenting , really I am...hopefully.

HI EVERYONE I HAVE A BLOG NOW

2004-11-25T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well everyone, I finally have a blog. I am doing this at the encouragement of my friend Michael Phillips, who has his own blog. On this blog I will discuss everything I know about: politics, economics, VH1, movies etc. I will also link to some of my favorite sites. So I promise I will start posting something substantial soon. As for the title of my blog, well It is my user name at freerepublic, which is where I used to do a lot of posting, and I sometimes still do. So maybe I will get famous and expose some false memos from those idiot media liberals. Maybe I can even get a date with fellow political blogger Anne Marie Cox (I love you Wonkette). But in the mean time, enjoy and please comment.