Daily Politics: Flawed Strategy

Again, TH made sure to that everyone knew that she was not going to do well in WI and HI well before the polls opened. She can "soften" the loss this way and focus of the states that are "important", but it's just a slimy move imo.

Well, she lost today and she lost BIG. Obama was supposed to win this, but TH started citing some numbers where she was within 2 points of Obama. In fact, I even read that some were calling this another New Hampshire. Well, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Wisconsin went 58-41 to Obama! That number even beat the pro-Obama blog Daily Kos by 6 points! The exit polls are quite telling and if this is any indication of what's to come, then Obama should be able to slide in there without SD's or FL and MI mattering (which would be great). The key to his margin was the woman vote. Obama pulled in 50% of white women. That is TH's last savior and if they lose that support then she's through. He also managed to take some of TH's senior vote (45%). All good news. You can look at these stats yourself and determine that it was a huge win, but I want to look at why Hillary is not doing well.

I can admit that she is an excellent candidate and if Obama was not in the race, I'd probably support her, but her campaign has been dreadful and now we are seeing the worst of it.

From what I can gather, she has only three strategies left and they might be brilliant, but I simply can't see the genius behind them.

• Demographic Battle

Let's face it, she has not won much and her wins weren't all that impressive (except for MA ). She has excuses for every loss and those have lost validity as Obama seems to continue to rake in her base (white woman, uneducated and the 50,000 or less group). TH loves to claim that the woman, elderly and Latino vote will court her to the nomination. Now, she only has this to bank on. When you publicly make a campaign about demos, then you run the risk of a) alienating the rest of the voters, b) pressuring those demos to vote for you and c) highlighting and showcasing the differences and potenial for fracturing within the party itself. Judging by today's vote and with the exception of Latino's who were not really represented today, she is effectively chopping away at her own base and those chips are falling at the feet Obama.

• Last Stand

Essentially she is putting all of her money on a BIG Texas and Ohio win. If she wins these handily, then yeah, it buys her some more time, but can she win them handily? I reminded of a certain fellow New Yorker that tried this and soon after dropped out of the race. This is such a flawed strategy even if she wins there. First of all, she is basically saying that small states don't matter. Wrong! Secondly, she is jumping on these states based on demos which is risky and lastly, she isn't that favored. It's suprisingly close in Texas and I'm not sure that Obama won't win Ohio.

• Attack!!!

Attack anything and everything. I don't need to discuss specifics here, but she is digging into every non-issue. TH is acting so selfish and immature. Her win is more important than a Dem.

If she loses one of these, I expect an immediate withdrawl from the race.

Daily Politics: Odd Thinking

The direction this primary has taken is quite surprising. I never would have foreseen the fracturing that we are seeing today, but it's here and I want to examine a couple things.

The Dems have put forth two amazing politco's of the time and we should be proud that we can boast that it was OUR party that was responsible. However, what's happening in the trenches is a little different. One of my favorite law blogs, Talk Left, has become a safe haven for Clintonians to spew their nonsense and, imo, man hatred. I have read stuff on there that infuriates me and ultimately, makes me dislike Hillary only because they support her. Yet, this kind of feeling is what's wrong.

Reading these pro-Hillary people and the claims they make about Obama and his supporters is sickening. I have noticed 5 trends that they all seem to be repeating these days:

1. It's wrong for AA people to support Obama. Obviously, if they had any brains (which they don't) then they would be voting Hillary.
2. There is a difference when women vote for Hillary and when AA's vote for Obama. Woman do it based on merit. AA do it based on race.
3. Liberal white men ONLY support Obama because they are terrified that if they don't, they will be considered racist.
4. Men who don't support Hillary are sexist. The misogyny runs so deep that it's just engrained.
5. If any aspect of female biology is ever mentioned then it is clear you are a closet-sexist.

I'm serious. They hammer these points and they do it in a very clever way that is protected by the cloak of sexism. I used to comment on TL, but not anymore. If I say anything, than I am cast into the misogynous lakes of yesterday and doomed to spend my days with Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd.

I know the Dems need the woman vote, but this is too much.

Daily Politics: Come Together...RIGHT NOW!!!

Don't start thiking that I'm getting lazy in the posting again. I had a busy weekend and I prefer to be outside and doing stuff, rather than in our apartment. However, it is a Monday and the work week is in full swing. Of course, the wild political landscape did not take the weekend off, so here we are with another Daily Politics post.

I'm noticing a very sad trend. The supporters of both Clinton AND Obama are starting to really HATE each other. When the race wasn't close, but Obama was still gaining, the Clinton supporters seemed to be patting Obama on the back. It was the kind of pat you give your little brother when he does well against you in a pick-up game of basketball, but just couldn't really compete. I'm not saying it was demeaning, but it seems that they were taking his candidacy for granted. Now, he is the "front-runner" of sort. I disagree though. When the underdog team is up in a game that means they're on the way to an upset. It does not mean they somehow assume front-runner status. Clinton fans want to frame it this way (just as Obama did) because of the natural tendenacy to root for the underdog.

Reagardless of useless definitions of the candidates, I'm worried about the fracturing of the Dem party. The Main Stream Media (MSM) has been claiming this for some time now, but they are out of touch with the reality of politics and political opinion. I, however, am in touch with it and just now have I noticed this battle. It is getting rough and is full of sexism, racism and identity politics.

Here's an example. This is from a TL comment board and it not at all rare. This arguement is a result of this comment from Obama.

"I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal."


- Barack
Obama, February 15, 2008

How was this taken by the Clinton supporters and even some soft-core Obama fans? Like this...

• "All women "periodically" lash out when their hormones go berserk, i.e., "periodically," and they feel "down," and try to boost their "appeal" by launching attacks (with their claws, of course--because really, women are savage, mindless animals). So how the hell can a woman be President of the U.S., and how can we trust a woman with that nuclear (or in Bush parlance, nuclur) button, with all these periodic malfunctions??????"

• "I know it too well. The subtle, implied, code language.
  He knows exactly what he is doing. He keeps it up and he will completely turn me off, good of the party be damned. "
  

• "I cannot vote for this man should he become the nominee. Up until this point, I was still planning on voting for him if Hillary isn't our president. But I'm finished with that now. That did it. I will not vote for this man. I will write in Hillary Clinton."

• "Right - and the patronizing language, the patronizing and demeaning way that he
  said it. Like he's the man with the cool head who has to understand when
  women have their periodic meltdowns. Disgusting."

These are the cleaner ones that I found. This is very troubling to me. They will not vote for him. They are going to contribute to a GOP soldification of America for this kind of stuff.

So, what does this mean?

The feminist bloc of the Dem party have their mind set to vote ONLY for Hillary. They do not care about anything, but finally having a woman in the WH. As in many cases, these types of feminists will take any language and dig and find something that is some sort of an "attack" on women. The women above are a minority in my opinion, but this type of discourse is horrible for the Dems and it seems selfish to me. If this meme gets any press (it won't from the MSM, but grassroots can have an effect), it will be the end for the Dems GE hopes. The fact that Obama could be labeled a "sexist" is laughable, but the feeling is out there and needs to be dealt with. This bloc claims that Obama is using race and every dirty trick in the book, yet they are the ones who will refuse to vote for a man.

I know this post was all over the place, but the Dems HAVE to get together, dust off and move on after this HORRIBLE primary season is over. It's time to come together...

Daily Politics: Hill's Five-Step Recovery

Team Hillary (TH) has announced a new five-step recovery plan that is supposed to give her the bounce to win the nomination. Here are the details.


1. "Recapture "Hillary voters," starting in Wisconsin."

The Feb. 19 Wisconsin primary, which, like most of their potential losses, TH has downplayed, could provide her with a chance to regain her footing with blue-collar whites and women in Milwaukee and its suburbs.
I don't think she can win these votes back though. She is now planning on stumping around for three days instead of her original plan which was to settle down in TX and OH. She's going to lash out at Obama and try to pander to the poor voters their by discussing the economy.


2. "She has to win Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania."

If Obama wins even one, TH should be using that primary-night speech as a chance for a graceful concession. Remember, she needs to win BIG. And by BIG I mean close to 20 points. The delegate count should favor Obama either way. He'll win the big cities. TH believes she has a very strong advantage in Texas because of the Hispanics. From what I've read though, Texas Hispanics are less likely to vote than their western brethren. She also needs to dominate PA and OH. Most have her comfortably ahead in PA, but remember the tides are changing and the cities tend to favor Obama. Ohio is going to be close. Obama is expected to perform very strongly in Cleveland's big AA community and in Columbus where student and young professionals rule the land. Clinton is looking for Cincy (Not from the Culpeppers though!) and the rest of the hick-towns.


3. "Keep the SuperDelegates on board."

She is still ahead (242-156), but if she does not seal up the popular vote (Obama leads) and/or the delegate count (Obama leads), then they will have no choice but to defect. The AA SD's who supported Clinton are already facing the firing squad, so they will probably be the first to go. I wish I could hear that call to Hillary. Maybe like this?

"Sorry Hillary, but I have to support Barack and unite the party. Why? Well, because winning the White House is very important for the country and the world. No...wait...please don't cry, Hillary. I know, I know, I think he cheated too, but what can we do? I'm sorry. Okay, I'll join your 'I Hate Obama' club. We can still be friends, right?"

That's just what would happen...

4. "Go Negative, but carefully."

There will be an ad in Wisconsin railing into him for refusing to debate her. I think he was smart not to do this before WI.

5. "Sweat the Small Stuff."

After Iowa and other small state losses, Clinton gave up in those races and Obama won them. Now, she's decided to open offices in Wyoming, Montana, Kentucky, Mississippi and even Puerto Rico. I think it's too litte, too late. Obama should carry most of those states.

I think she needed to be doing this stuff all along. Obama really has run a fantastic campaign. He played by the rules, identified his weaknesses and strengths and just surprised the nation. Hillary went into this with her inauguration in mind. That's the issue.

She's also trying to get the youth vote, but there something that just doesn't work when a 60 year old baby-boomer tries to appeal to the youth of today.

This is her official Youtube video.



Yeah, next time you want to appeal to today's youth don't use an average 1970 American Bandstand song. And the lyrics had to be written by someone close to her age or by a high-school student.

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone has a nice Valentines Day! 고 and I will go to dinner and drinks to celebrate the day! The day is not as special here in Korea though. Let me make this clear though: I don't think this day is very special anywhere. However, Korea has managed to make even less special because they have TONS of these days. Every holiday except for Lunar New Years and Chuseok are pandering towards romance. There is White Day, Valentines Day, Peppero Day, Black Day, 100th Day and even Christmas Day and all of these days are geared towards lovers, therefore, sale of silly and loving gifts.

Korea is a very "cute" society. They love the image of innocence and playfulness. The women try very hard to maintain this cute image and the men eat it up. Take this for instance.

Could there be anything cuter than this? A couple with matching animal hats (which I had when I was 8) and the girl is sporting the oversized lollipop. That hats are quite popular actually.

And then we see this on TV...

You like the hand hearts, lollipops, polka-dots and over-sized chairs? Korea does. And the lyrics couldn't be better.

So, Happy Valentines Day from "cute" Korea.

Daily Politics: The Electability Myth

As I have said, Dems are not good at predicting electabilty, but I'd like to add something. There are many Hillary supporters who like to say that Obama should not be the nominee because he did not win the big Dem states. In my opinion, this is a very bad argument. They seem to be thinking as if Obama was not a Dem and that this is a general election. It's not. They're both Dems. In a way, this electability argument is pretty silly -it slowly seems to be coming clear that, Obama could be the candidate.

Still, I want to adress this issue.

• In an election where the two candidates don't have significant policy differences, then we see demographics and machine politics making a bigger impact. Both Hillary and Obama have the support of these voters. Obama has the AA and Hillary has the middle-aged women. Obama's edge is coming out now because of his across-the-board appeal.

• A lot of the larger states - NJ, CA, NY, IL, WA, will vote for a turnip if the turnip is running as a Dem candidate. We know that these loyal Hillary Dems will not change their party identification. That is not a fear. If Obama takes it, he will hold her base and his diverse base as well. The key is that his base is much more varied and helpful in the GE. No brainer to me. Demographics aren't the SAME issue when a Dem runs against a Republican. Some of the same people who would vote for Hilary on a demographic basis (say single women, and older women) will turn right around and vote for Obama if he is the guy (and vice versa) rather than vote for the Republican. So you can't evaluate "electability" in an intra-party election, like you can a two-party election.

• Not accounting for his charisma and discounting earlier his disadvantages as the underdog, Obama has already come very far. To come to the point where he eked out a very narrow win on Super Tuesday is huge. And yet, people forget the fact that clearly, incumbency, and not electability, is one of the main reasons why Obama has not won a big state - it's much harder to overtake someone who has name recognotion and a few extra public service years to line up the people and organizations in the big states.

• As the challenger, Obama had to find a different route to the nomination and he found it. He found it in the small states. This is not proof of a lack of electability as TH suggests, but actually, proof of the sheer ingenuity on the part of Obama and his team.

Obama has a lot of work to do in the upcoming Tex-Oh-Vania.

Daily Politics: Big Win

Obama did it. He did it and he did it BIG. This is great news for the Obama camp and bad news for Hillary. She was already spinning her loss before the polls opened, but yet again, her spin must change. Why? Well, first we need to look at some polls.

Let me frame the current debate. Team Hillary (TH) and that includes her camp and supporters have been spouting off a few major claims:

• "She has a better chance in the GE because she does well in primaries."

Obama DOMINATED the primaries today and he has done well in all of them including the ones he lost. Not only has he performed well in "her" wins, but he has beat her nearly 3:1 in every caucus that he has won. So TH, this claim does not work and today really proved that.

• "Obama only has the support of activists and the African American identity voters."

Only activists and AA voters? I'm appalled that she would alienate her own base like this. She is dimishing her party's vocal supporters and a group that 95% of the time votes for a Dem. Still, let's look at some of Obama's numbers.

Virginia Obama Demographics

Male 68%

Female 60%

No College Degree 63%

College Graduate 65%

White 52%

African-American 90%

Latino 54%

He won his base and her base. The "Latte Liberals" (a phrase I hate) went for him just as much as those without a degree. He even won the Latino vote. The tides have changed, even since Super Tuesday.

• "Obama doesn't appeal to the Democratic base. He's too much of a comprimiser."

Some Hillary supporters like to say that he's losing his Dem base. I laugh when I hear this. The Dem base is going nowhere. It's not like they're going to cross the aisle and there is no way that they would stay home and allow the GOP to win again. Obama does so well because he is not polarizing. He appeals to so many kinds of people and his fans don't make your skin crawl.

He's on his way!

Daily Politics: Potomac Primaries

The polls have opened and when I wake up tomorrow, they will have closed and the counting will have begun. Obama needs a big sweep and could get it, but there are a few things that need to happen.

Here's my advice to Obama.

1. Win ALL three races tomorrow.
2. Debate, but not as much as Hillary wants.
3. Downplay GE polls.
4. Focus on WI, but hit OH and TX hard.
5. Make and lead the dialogue especially in regards DNC rules .
6. Fight the seating of FL and MI and possibly consider allowing half to be seated if it's an option. Otherwise, fight it all the way.
7. Play up the importance of caucuses, but don't alienate CA and NY.
8. Pay attention to RI and open more field offices nationwide
9. Send your wife to OH and you jump between OH and TX
10. Win TX and OH or lose by single digits

All of these are very crucial.

Of course he needs a win tomorrow and three wins would keep the wind in his sails. If he loses one, Hillary will claim overall victory because they have already conceded essentially and if she did win, she would claim that it was an upset and an underdog win. She is not the underdog, so let's not let her spin it that way.

Hill is really pressing the debate issue, but she won't debate on NBC because of the "pimp" comment. Fine, but a debate against Hillary can be good, but make sure you limit it to one this month. Obama can use this single debate to comprehensively outline his policies. If he does not take the helms, she will win another debate. Also, please downplay the unity schtick for the debate. We know it already. This is his chance to shut up some of the venomous middle-aged Hilldog supporters.

Do not quote GE polls suggesting your electability. Dems are not good at judging this and conventional wisdom does not work to our advantage. Plus, it's February and they can and will change.

WI is an open caucus. That is good for him. He needs to solidify support down there and as quickly as possible, get cozy in OH and TX for a few weeks. This is Hillary's last stand and she will fight for it! Take it from her!

He needs to start talking about how he has done very well within the DNC rules and make sure that EVERYONE knows that caucus states are just as important as primary states. Hillary is already trying to say that these races aren't as important. That's smart of her, so he needs to counter that and soon.

While I think he will wrap up the delegates needed without FL and MI becoming a factor, he needs to consider the possibility that she and her supporters will whine. Set the dialogue now. Hillary did say that she thought they should not be counted, but that doesn't matter to me. Howard Dean needs to figure this out and if he bends to Hillary make sure he does not allow anything more than half to be seated (like the GOP). This is a delicate situation because Floridians are not too keen on having their votes not counted and the Dems NEED FL this fall. Be smart.

Caucuses do go in his favor, but do not make claims like "the true America lies in Middle America". That will alienate half of his base. We all know what color middle America is and it's not blue.

RI is small, but don't forget where alot of support is coming from. Keep opening offices.

Send Michelle to OH to motivate the women. You need to bounce between the two. Bill and Hillary are doing it and now Michelle is knockin 'em dead as well!

I know TX and OH are going to be hard to win, but there is plenty of time to narrow that gap.

That's it. I know that I switched between talking to Obama and talkng about him in this post, but who cares. Do that and it's all yours, Obama!

**Go Huckabee!**

Ankle Update

It's been two and a half weeks since I hurt my ankle and it's still a little tender.

Both 고 and I went back to the acupuncture place recently to get some more "work" done. 고's back has been hurting presumably because of her 12+ hours sitting at work. She got stuck in all sorts of places from her hand to arm and, of course, her back. My ankle was still a little bigger than normal, so they stuck me in the ankle again. However, this time they decided that I needed a little bee poison to get my immune system back into the area.

They "stung" me about four times right in the wound. It wasn't pleasant. Then they put the needles in which really hurt and let me sit on the warm table for about twenty minutes. I was listening to my Ipod. It was called "House of Mirrors". It's a podcast that features this Brit with a wonderfully typical english accent who tells scary stories. This one was about a rich fellow who wanted hair, but his scalp was rejecting all the grafts. Finally, his personal surgeon secretly murdered some homeless men and took their beards which he then grafted to the his client's scalp. The story was good. I was at the point when the rich man was feeling pain on his scalp and as he was reaching up to investigate the pain, I felt an INTENSE pain!

The nurse had started taking out the 13 or so needles and they all seemed to be stuck in my increasingly swelling ankle. Finally, it was over and like last time, within minutes, I could move more freely and without pain. I love it...

I go back tomorrow. It costs 5 bucks.

Do They Have to be Told?

Korea has a large number of American military personal. McCain often uses Korea as a model for what he would like to see Iraq become. That would be awful for some many reasons as an occupying military presence anywhere is not great. Nonetheless, they are in Korea now and, like most outposts, there is an Armed Forces Network (AFN) here. Some places only have radio stations, but since Korea has such a high force here, they also have a television station.

The shows on AFN for the most part are pretty bad. It ranges from George Lopez to soap-operas. They don't even air big US events. I'm not sure who watches it, but they gotta be out there. I don't watch it much, but when I do, I have noticed an interesting theme.

Your AFN viewing experience will include average shows (imo), long and poorly produced commercials, followed by an update on GI happenings and really bad news. The commercials are what I want to briefly discuss in this post.

For some reason, a large number of the AFN-produced commercials are literally telling soldiers that rape and sexual assualt are wrong and illegal. Besides the overwhelming frequency of these commercials (and there are many different ones floating around), I wonder why they have to be told and reminded so much that rape is wrong. Can they not figure this out?

I'm not going to bash the already very easy targets that we call US soldiers, but this seems insane to me. I'm not going to get into who rapes and why, but I will name the top offenders as a group: soldiers, athletes and social fraternity members.

The causes are vast and of course a small minority of each group actually commits the crime, but there are some common threads within those groups.

However, there are tons of commercials that offer advice to soldiers, but as I said, the advice is something that a 15 year old would need.

Here's a quick example. This is a commercial telling soldiers that they need a "wingman". Of course, a wingman usually makes sure that someone doesn't go home with an ugly man or woman. Not here. These guys need it for "adult" reasons.

I guess we all need reminders, but some things are learned with age and if you don't know those things when you reach that age, well, maybe we shouldn't have you "protecting" our interests.

Image of the Week

The week started off on a bad note in Korea as 숭례문 or Sungnyemun burned down late Sunday evening. This is a major blow for Koreans and their tangible culture. I've obviously been there and driven by it dozens of times and it was quite a sight.

It is suspected that an arsonist had it out for the inanimate object that so many in this country revere. While conspiracy theories started immediately, i.e., right-wing Japanese terrorists, a 70 year old Korean man stepped forward and admitted the crime. This man apparently had problems with authorities over eviction compensation for his home and set fire to another palace in 2006. He was still under probation.

It's a sad sight, especially since it had been standing for over 600 years...

Missed It

I've been on vacation this past week, so no posts. However, let's get right back into it...

Obama's big wins these past few days have given him a lot of momentum. However, simply praising his wins would not be fun to write about. I have a few thoughts about what's to come...

• We need to watch Hillary and her attempts to seat FL and MI.

I don't think that the delegates will be that split to warrant that attempt, but I know that the Hillary supporters will push for this and this brings me to my next point.

• Hillary supporters on all the pro-Hill blogs are claiming that Obama is not winning "properly"

They claim this because he wins a lot of caucuses where Hillary wins close to none of them. They like to say that she has one all the primaries. This is a lie of course, but the underlying theme is clear: They can not and apparently will not accept a Hillary loss. Why? Well, I think that the Dems have been so badly burnt in the last two elections (FL and OH) that their first reaction is to claim that the opposing force, be it a Dem or Repub, was dishonest. This is so bad for us Dems. Obama has won a lot and has done is within the rules of the DNC. How is that not a fair win? What would they claim if the tables were turned?

• Both Clinton and Obama should ignore GE polls

I'm worried that they both will jump on this electability wagon and if the polls change, it will be too late to reduce its significance. I think they can both beat McCain and Obama could do it more soundly than Hillary.

• Obama should not change his campaign mantra once he is thrusted into front-runner position.

As she has done, Hillary will adapt to his tactics and do it well. We can't forget how string she is and how equally loyal her base is.

It's looking up for the Obama campaign, but how high is yet to be determined. He needs to keep it up, stay away from debates and continue knockin' em dead...

Yes We Can!

All that can be done is done. Everybody knows the message of Mr. Barack Obama and it is out of our hands. Now, it is time for the people to make the change. Yes we can!

Whether he wins or not, his message is clear. And when I'm 30, 40, 50, 60 and even 70 and 80, I will always remember his message and the promise he gave to America. It's one of love, unity and hope. Barack Obama is not just a man. He's not just a politician and I know many people would dispute that, but you simply can't. How can you dispute an emotion? How can you argue with inspiration? He is symbol for what we as people can be and achieve. He's an icon for why America is great. He has restored my faith in so many aspects of being a human and an American that had been so dim for all of my political life.

Barack Obama has changed my innner political dialogue. He has changed it from one of frustration and anger to one of hope, unity and courage and no matter who you support in this election, that fact is undisputable. In my opinion, every American owes Obama something. He changed the face of this election. He changed how every candidate talks about the future. Yet, he is the only one who will make it happen and help all of us realize that his dream is our dream and that that dream is the dream of all people all over the world. It's hope...

As you know, I have been researching past campaign videos, but this one is always going to stay with me.



Yes We Can was released on February 2nd. It's a song using the words from Obama New Hampshire Primary speech. h it twice, three times or more, but you can feel America changing when you watch and hear his voice.

Yes We Can! Yes We Can!

News That You Know

The Giants win the Super Bowl, but Pat's coach Bill Belichick decides to leave before the final whistle blows.

This is getting way too much press. The news is not focusing on the oustounding underdog victory, but the manner in which the pretestious New England coach takes the blow. Typical of the simple-minded Media.


Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has urged people to "have faith" that some of the worst snow storms in 50 years can be overcome, state media says.

This is laughable. First of all, I do feel bad for the Chinese. Second, maybe now they'll realize that the population in a tad out of hand if a snow storm can do this to THAT many people. And finally, a Communist government telling is people to "have faith" is laughable.

With the killing of Abu Laith al-Libi this week, the Taliban have suffered their biggest loss since being ousted from power in 2001, and they are left without their finest military brain just two months before their spring offensive.

Blah, blah, blah... How many times have a "top" or "number blah" guy been killed? It seems to happen every six months or so. So, by my calculations since the invasion of either Afghanistan or Iraq, we have killed 14 important people. Wow! I feel safe.

On the 31st students dressed in graduation gowns and carried mock-funeral portraits of themselves in front of the headquarters of president-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition team to protest what they call rapidly increasing tutitions.

Hmmm... Maybe these kids should get jobs and spend money on tuition rather than blowing up fancy pics of themselves. They could have been working a shist at the Korean equivalent of Stuckey's.

Hillary Clinton is holding a national town hall meeting now on the Hallmark Channel.

That's right. She cried again. Enough said...

John Edwards vows to end all bad things by 2011!

This really isn't too far of a stretch.

Acupuncture

As the week filled with great politics, horrible war, suprising sports progressed at its natural pace, my world was moving very slow and on two crutches. Saturday morning came and my ankle had shown very few signs of improvement and I was tired of limping. As the earlier videos gruesomely depict, I have significant and total bruising from my achilles to my toes. It's not a good looking foot.

When 고 returned from work after a long and busy Saturday morning at the office, she came home with a fresh approach to the increasingly interfering injury: acupuncture. I was immediately intrigued and, after finding a nearby clinic, we left the house. The clinic was very nice and smelled great (like food, but I couldn't figure out what kind). The walls were lined with awards on one side and herbs on the other. Although acupuncture is completely legit, I kind of felt like I was seeing a holistic healer. Nonetheless, they took my weight, height and blood pressure. All good.

After a brief discussion with the doctor and my translator (also my fiance), it was decided that we could go ahead with the poking. I laid down on a table and upon completion of some painful excercises, she began the process. I wasn't sure if it would hurt or not. I know that it usually doesn't hurt, but since my ankle was HUGE and filled with dried blood and bruises I was not that optimistic. However, it did not really hurt. There was a little sting, but those needles are so thin that it wouldn't have been painful in any situation. They put the needles in and then they added these things that burn your skin just slightly so you skin can react to it and heal itself. Apparently, I needed this because my skin was very tight due to the bruising and there was a chance that it would have stayed in this odd puffy stage if heat was not applied.

I was instructed to lay there for awhile and that in a few minutes I would start to feel a burning sensation. It was unformtable though. My feet were on this awful padded elevating triangle thing that was digging into my achilles tendon, but I was cautious to move because of, you know, the needles in my foot.

After the burning had stopped and the egg-timer went off, they came in and removed the needles. We stood up, paid five bucks and left. 고 was proud of me for doing it and for "being brave", so she took me to Pizza Hut. While it may sound childish, I was very excited to go there. Afterall, I think an adult can also be rewarded with pizza. But, when we entered the Pizza Hut I was greeted by three screaming students who ran up to me yelling, "George Teacher" over and over again. This kind of took that adult feeling away.

To wrap up, within hours of the acupunture, the swelling had gone down, the bruising had subsided and I could walk without crutches. I'm not sure how much it costs in America, but you guys should try it sometime. I'm sold...

Here's a video...

Past Campaigns: 1960

The 1960 election was a significant one for many reasons, but for my purposes for this post it was significant because it featured the first televised debates.

Here's what I found from JFK...



I like this one. I like how they politely slammed the GOP.



And here is Nixon. I could only find one.



I wanted to post the debate, but I could not find a clean version of it. Most people say that Kenneddy won the debate not only because of his answers, but because of his appearnace in comparison to the socially akward and sweaty Nixon.

That electorate went like this...

I had no idea that the vote was that close!

Frostbite

My ankle is getting a little better, but my toes look like they are suffering from frostbite. I have made the switch from two crutches to one. I think this makes me look a lot cooler. I had to wash my foot again yesterday, so I decided that another video update would be worth it.

고 is really a good sport about doing all that stuff. When she's at work, she'll call to check on me and see if I need anything. She's so sweet!

Water Cooler Theme

The past month has been a very busy one for Americans. We celebrated the New Year, made it through another and final Bush SOTU address and now we have the Super Bowl. There have been a lot of newsworthy issues and events this month, but only one thing has dominated the news: The Democratic nomination.


While I can't watch all the networks due to my geography, I still read most of the network news and I have seen an overriding theme. The Dems nomination is more "important" to the Media than anything. There are a lot of supportors for both of these candidates and, from what I can gather, the Media is leaning towards Obama. Regardless of Media preference, Americans also seem to be just as eager to ingnore the rest of the events these days. What will happen on Sunday?



I will not be watching the Super Bowl. I did not watch one game this season and really could care less, but I know that many people do. I just wonder how many people on Monday morning will be talking about the Patriots perfect season or the fact that the Democratic party has never looked so strong.

We Win

Perhaps I've been distracted. Maybe I was focusing too much on the battle between Hillary and Obama, but something struck me today when I was looking at images from the debates.

Is there anything more telling than these images?

I watched the debate this evening and it was chilling. From the moment they walked out on the stage, an African American and a woman, the Democrats won. Whomever wins the nomination, whomever wins the election, Democrats won. And America won.

One blogger said that that was the most electric moment of the night, and it was for me too. I did not expect to feel that way. I knew this already. But seeing it made it different. It just did. John Edwards said he was getting out of the way of history. And as powerful as his message and campaign were, he was right

I have never been more proud to be a member of the Democratic Party. Today, I am proud to be an American.

Cool Limp

There really is nothing cool about a limp. Many people try to make it work (inner-city kids, pirates and Dr. House) and none of the do it well. I am one of those people. Of course, I am not trying to be slick looking, rather I am trying to get from point A to B.

I went back to the doctor on Monday. After waiting for too long and beginning to get in the "they're-ignoring-me-because-I'm-a-foreigner" mode, they brought me back. It was a different doctor than I saw last time, but honestly the booze impaired my memory that night, so who knows? He asked if I spoke Korean. I told him that "a little" and he continued in English. He looked at my X-Rays again and re-wrapped my ankle and pushed me out the door with the advice to where my cast-thing for two more weeks. Ugh!

The kids were really great when they saw me for the first time with the injury. They all were concerned.

"Teacher, are you hurt?"

I was just happy that they spoke in proper English. During one class, I had to remove my bandage and rewrap it because it was too tight. The kids immediatley started claiming that my foot smelled very bad. It didn't, but all kids assume that every foot is very smelly (interesting from a culture that prizes shoe removal). One girl named Sarah came to my defense.

"It's okay George Teacher. You are hurt." she said while patting my back.

She was very kind and I'm happy she stuck up for me.

Here's a video update of my ankle.

Daily Politics

In an attempt to organize my thoughts and this blog, I am creating more and more weekly and daily features: Images of Korea, Image of the Week, News you Know and now Daily Politics. Also, check the labels. We'll see how it works.

As we know McCain won, Romney got close and Rudy folded. I'm not so sure this is as big of a win the the idiotic Media is making it. McCain has a long way to go to convince the base that he's the best way to go. The bigger story of course, is Hillary. And it's not her "win", but her attempts to seat those delegates. I don't think it will matter after Super Tuesday anyways. While this cannot be viewed as a "win" because a ton of those votes were cast long ago (before Obama was viable) and that he did not campaign in Florida because HE was following the rules, it can be a sign to the health of the Democratic party. There was a huge turnout and hopefully Florida will be so blue that the GOP can try anything in November.

Besides the possibly pivotal California debate, there will be very little action unless there is some head-butting.

My predictions:

• Both Hillary and McCain will over expose this win.
• Hillary will come across as pompous and smug in the debate and Obama will come out fighting.
• Rudy will not admit that he had the worst campaign strategy ever.
• The Media will poorly over-analyze all of this

Past Campaigns: 1952

I thought that this would be a fun break from the presently heated campaign underway and I would take you back as far as I can find. I'm not going to get into much of the history surrounding the clips or elections outside of providing a link for you.

We'll start with the first one I could find ads for, the 1952 election. I know that only two or three of you were alive at this point, but I think it's great.

This is for Ike.



And this is for his Democratic rival, Adlai Stevenson.



Did you like the name play they did on Stevenson, "Man-you-can-believe-in, son" and "Civilians' son". I loved it! I am a staunch Democrat, but I'm not sure who I would have voted for based solely on the ads. I think Ike had a catchier jingle, but Stevenson really tried to make his name rhyme. Classic!

Here's out that played out. Solid South!

Still, I would have gone for Stevenson. Would you?

Patrick Goodman "God of the Midwest"

As many of you know, there was this fellow from Cincinnati whom I had the pleasure of working with for six months during my first year in Korea. He has since moved to Australia to study and refine his card cataloging skills, but manages to focus much of his energy into his artwork.

Still, we all know that I am a superior artist in every way.

Just look at that detail. I like to think of myself as a quasi-impressionist, but really I pull from all styles. Look how I used the eyebrows the express emotion. Genius!

Nonetheless, Pat has real talent and quite a unique style as well. I'm going to add him to my blog roll and perhaps you can click on it and make us all feel better.

To Us!!!

The Image of the Week this week stars Bill Clinton playing the sax in front of what appears to be his henchmen. I can't clearly identify any of them, but perhaps you can?





I put this up to show my desire to mend the fences that have been torn over the past few weeks and show the power of ther Dems when we unite. I hope we can do this together. I want the two campaigns to continue the fight and may the best (wo)man win, but I want it to be clean.

Here's to our great Party!!!

Images of Korea

This is an image I found in the depths of the web archives. It's an image of Korea circa 1910. It is believed to have been taken months before the Japanese occupation that would last 35 years began.



The picture is supposedly taken within 10km of where we live now and from the main street in our neighborhood, I can see this mountain range. I think it's amazing how far Korea has come from those days.

**Update** In response to a "What am I looking at?" in the comments, I should make clear that this is an old Korean village. You can see the thatched roofs and the small stream running though the center and running off the bottom left of the page.

Sneaky HRC

I'm not totally caught up on this whole thing yet, but from what I can understand, HRC is trying to challenge the DNC rules and somehow get MI and FL delegates seated. How can she do this? The only reason that Obama and Edwards didn't compete in these races is because they were following the DNC rules. Why should Hillary be rewarded with those delegates when she is the one who broke the rules and strayed from the DNC's ruling?

She is a slimy woman. She trying to downplay her HUGE loss in SC by changing the dialogue to Florida. If the DNC allows her to seat even one of those "illegal" delegates, I will be so disappointed in our party's leadership. Florida is just a disastrous place for Dems and now Clinton is joining in on the shady fun.

Luckily, Florida can deal a serious blow to McCain if ol' Mittster keeps climbing the ladder! Keep it up, Romney!

What a Coalition!

Obama did it and not only did he do it, but he REALLY did it. He received over half the vote, leaving HRC and Edwards the rest. I'm not going to get too excited though. Obama appears to be trailing in most of the big states, but the gap seems to be getting smaller. However, WSJ is a joke from what I can gather. Before the SC Primary, they claimed that a double-digit victory is the only way to prove to the general electorate it really mattered.

But with expectations set so high, political pundits say the Illinois senator faces a dilemma: He will have to win by a double-digit margin in order for voters nationwide to perceive South Carolina as a real victory.

I knew that the WJS was bad, but this blatant pushing for Clinton is not hiding their intentions at all. I think that Clinton is staying strong only because no one thought that Obama was viable until last fall. Too many people made too many commitments too long ago and they can't go back on them. It's unfortunate though. This man can sweep the GE in my opinion. The support that these two candidates are getting is impressive to say the least.

Clinton seems to be getting a big institutional backing and Obama seems to be getting the support from real people and real fighters. We'll see what it takes.

A Quick Slip

I must apologize for my laziness this weekend. I know it was a big one and, with Obama's HUGE win, it was a great one. However, I must first deliver some semi-grim news.

On Friday night, after a typical night of meat and soju I decided to return home early. I got out of the cab and since it was very cold, I jogged to my apartment building that was literally 20 meters away. I entered the foyer and BAM! I slipped and sprained my ankle soooo badly. After a few minutes of silent pain on the floor, I gathered myself and climbed the three flights of stairs. Agonizing. I made it to the door, opened it up and was greeted by 고운 who took one look at the swollen softball that had attached itself to my right ankle and we immediately headed to the hospital. It was midnight.

I went in there, took X-Rays, laid on the hospital bed and got a shot in my butt. I think this was the first time for me to be injured like this. It was pretty rough, but 고 took great care of me and now I am cruising around (slowly) on crutches and sporting a cast. It's not the same kind of cast that you get when you break a leg. It's like a hard half-cast that doesn't cover my shin, but the rest is in there. It itches today. I've never had crutches either and in a country where walking is my main mode of transportation, this will be fun. Here's an image I took of myself a couple minutes ago.



So, I'm going to the doctor at lunch today and hopefully they will give me some good news. Hopefully.



Fats Domino & Ricky Nelson - I'm Walking

News That You Know

Guliani loses ground in Florida.

Somehow this guy thought that he could just relax while the rest of the country participated in the primary? He walked into it.


The Center for Public Integrity released findings that Bushco made at least 935 false statements in the run-up to and aftermath of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

I'm happy that they did this, but why release it? We know that they have lied and honestly, I would say that 935 is a little low. I was thinking it around that number and hour. I guess we can't count claims like, "I'm a christian" and "I'm a compassionate conservative" in that tally. Imagine that number!


The masseuse who discovered Heath Ledger called Mary-Kate Olsen first.

First of all, why in the world would she do that? And secondly, anyone decent person (like Heath is presumed to have been) should have nothing to do with part of that eternal child acting duo.


The California Supreme Court declared that even if you have a prescription to medical marijuana, you can still get fired if you're high at work.

Why is that most of the people who need to have this prescription live in California? Did people actually have to be told that by the Supreme Court that smoking at or before work could get you fired? And finally, people who smoke that should be able to mask the fact that they are high. Come on! High-school sophomore's do it everyday.


Many people saw what they thought were UFO's flying over central Texas this week. The Air Force claims they were F-16 Fighter Jets.

Of course they had to be spotted over Texas or anywhere in the south for that matter. Do UFO's prefer to show themselves to hicks? Perhaps some those who have claimed to seen visitors in our sky were correct, but why does the government have to come up with an explanation for EVERY single sighting. Can't they just shrug their shoulders and say, "Beats me..."?


Korea's President-elect, Lee Myung-bak, has wasted no time and has already implemented many of his campaign promises. One being to change the educational system and force Korean students to learn every subject through English.

That includes Korean literature and history. This is laughable. Very ambitious, but this will never happen. Besides the fact that only 5% of the Korean English teachers now can barely teach a full hour of English language IN ENGLISH, I have a hard time seeing that rate skyrocket in the next couple of years. Also, what is the advantage of learning Korean literature in English? My take: They are trying to get rid of all the foreigners and keep them from stealing their women! Hahaha! Too late!

In the recent GOP debate, the candidates all agreed that Hillary would raise taxes.

This is amazing! After they all finished anonymous gay sex in the bathroom, they came up with a new GOP mantra, "The Dems will raise taxes!" These guys really seem to have the world right. America sure would be lucky to have one of these original, caring and intellectual men as it's leader.

Two Days is Enough

As promised, I took two days off from the campaign. I did not miss too much outside of the bickering between both Clinton's and Obama. First of all, I think it's ridiculous that I have to pluralize Clinton or clarify which one I am talking about. I do want to mention one thing about this though. While I was doing my daily reading of dozens of papers and blogs, I came across this one at Talking Points Memo (TPM). It's the radio commercial that Clinton has been airing the past few days. I'll include the both the text and audio.

VOICE-OVER:“Listen to Barack Obama last week talking about Republicans.
BARACK OBAMA: “The Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years.”

VO: “Really? Aren’t those the ideas that got us into the economic mess we’re in today? Ideas like special tax breaks for Wall Street. Running up a $9 trillion debt. Refusing to raise the minimum wage or deal with the housing crisis. Are those the ideas Barack Obama’s talking about?”

BO: “The Republicans were the party of ideas.”

VO: Hillary Clinton thinks this election is about replacing disastrous Republican ideas with new ones, like jump-starting the economy. Putting an immediate freeze on foreclosures and mortgages. Cutting taxes for the middle class. And creating millions of new jobs. With the economy in crisis, we need a president with the ideas, the solutions that get our economy working for all of us. Hillary Clinton. Solutions for America.

This whole thing is a joke. Hillary does not care about the Dems. She would not been slandering one of her own if she did. She does not care about the general election outcome. She does not care about the future of the country either. She is so intent on getting this nomination that she will ruin the chances of Obama to win the GE if he gets the nomination instead of her. It is becoming very clear that she only cares about herself.

Riding the Wave?

Outside of the occasional Korean popping into popular American television or an American movie here and there, the scope and reaches of the Korean entertainment industry was unknown to me. And the idea that there was a term for its infusion into worldwide markets came as a surprise. Be that as it may, The Korean Wave is real.

It means, specifically, the rising popularity of popular Korean culture in other countries. This has been experienced mostly in Asian markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and in China, where the phrase was coined in 1999. This wave basically includes film, music and television.

I have already discussed some of the popular music in Korea. You already know that band music does not do well here. There are a few attempts by some probably talented musicians, but the genre (metal and punk) they choose to play does not display it well. An since their is not an audience for band music, the international musicians make a habit of hitting Japan and then passing over Korea. I don't blame them. Some popular douche bags come and play like Jay-Z and all the silly GI's and teachers get to act hard, but no one with musical talent. For these reasons, I was surprised to see this flyer on my way to school.



While bands like the Wonder Girls and Big Bang continue to top the charts in Korea, they don't top much of anything outside of the peninsula. As you all know from Colbert, Rain is a very well-known Korean pop star who tours. However, his past tour faced cancellation after cancellation hinting that his popularity and possibly this Korean Wave could be faltering. Still, On May 5, 2007, a K-pop concert was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The theme for the night was We Are One and several big names performed, including K-Pop stars like Ivy, Fly to the Sky, Big Bang, Super Junior, Epik High and BoA. The Wonder Girls had yet to be packaged. Let me give you a quick comparison of the Korean and Japanese live music market.

Korea only has one well-known international act coming and that is Bjork. Japan has over 80 acts coming and they range from Celine Dion and Suzanne Vega to The Police and Toto, not to mention a ton of bands that I love and would see regularly in America.

However, the mainstay of this Korean Wave, in my opinion, lies in Korea's ability to make great movies and television without succumbing to the styles and themes of Hollywood. They produce great comedy and drama in Korea and many of these films do very well in other markets. In fact many markets are making efforts to curb this trend in fear that their own markets would become obsolete.

Has this wave crested? Or is does it still have some time? Well, I'm not sure. I think that musically it has finished. I don't think there is an international market for it. However, I do think that the movie industry is going to continue to grow. There are a few obstacles though. The effect of Hollywood on Korean films and the film Quota are both issues that need to be discussed and will be on here soon.

Until then, here's a couple movie trailers.



A Dirty Carnival



Once in a Summer

We Love Our Hattie!

I know everybody claims that their child is the cutest and all of that, but most of the time it's a lie. However, I can say that Hattie really might be one of the cutest babies ever. I looked like a bug or drunk when I was a child and I can admit that it was not my best time. This was.
And while I understand that there isn't much that we can call MORE attractive than that look, I will say that this is the most adorable child ever.



Everytime I see new pics and videos, all I can do it ask for more! Come on!

**TonTon is an amazing name**

Rite of Passage

While it might not be the most pleasant topic, I think it is an interesting one. Korean boys have their own rite of passage to manhood. The Jews have their Bar Mitzvah. The Japanese have the Genpuku and the west has the Debutante. Well, Korea has their own rite of passage to manhood as well: adolescent circumcisions.

Circumcision is a religious commandment in both Judaism and Islam and most Americans have it done as well. In fact, 30% of men worldwide have had the procedure, mostly in developing countries where it is common for religious or cultural reasons. However, there are very few Jews and Muslims in Korea. Circumcision in South Korea is largely the result of American cultural and military influence following the Korean War. Still, why do they have to wait so long? If they got it from us, then why not take it off right away?

It has become a passage to manhood of sort. In fact, South Korea is thought to have the highest number of adolescent circumcisions in the world. (Make sure to read the section about "Natural Circumsicion". I thought the "uniquely Korean" aspect was interesting)I

In short, I feel bad for these boys. Sure, this is what they know and they don't see it in the same way I do, but the idea that they know its coming must be difficult. 고운 told me that most of the time they wait to have the operation done on a vacation so as to minimize the publicity of it. From what I understand though, most peers know when the operation is and hiding the fact that you got it done is close to impossible. When you get it done on vacation, at least you can limp around in private. And they do limp.

There are tons of people who protest circumcision is general, but I'm glad I had it done when I was a baby.



Does this guy care that much about an operation that happened when we were just hours old? Also, if he is not circumcised, how does he know what he's missing? And if he is circumcised, how is he so sure that he's missing something?

*Upon reading more on this subject (for some reason) I will have to updat this later. It's too classic!

Coding to Complacency

I tried. I really did. I set out to change the entire look of my blog by creating the code for my new layout. It was going to have more columns, more images, more widgits and all sorts of things, but after HOURS and HOURS of continous failed attempts, I decided that I'm actually quite happy with what I already have.

So, I decided to work on what I know, and this is what I did.

You'll notice the CNN Newsreel. You can click on it directly and go from there. The weather, the Obama news, the countdown and all of that is there and ready for you to look at.

How about the new title image? Nice, huh? Well, not that nice, but I like it.

I'm soooo tired of being on the computer. I've been working on this for almost 6 hours now. However, 고운 is still at the office and she's been there since 730 this morning! That's right! She works for nearly 15 hours a day!!! Work is getting busy for her right now, so keep her in your thoughts! She's doing so well!!

Let's Keep it in the Front

My Image of the Week this week is a satellite image of the Korean peninsula. We have all seen this image before, especially since the detrimental 2002 "Axis of Evil" speech, when Bush sadly included North Korea in that "Axis". I, like most people (even in Korea), react in the same way when we see this. We offer only short dismissive comments like, Wow! or It's so dark!, yet we don't see what that darkness means. We don't know how that darkness feels, but there are over twenty-million people that can feel that darkness everyday.



When we look at that image, we see a stark contrast between comfort and pain; hope and agony; life and death. We see that, but we continue to offer shallow and thoughtless reactions and, in my opinion, false compassion. How often do we all think about these problems? How often do we think that Korea is the ONLY nation that is divided like this? This issue is not one that I can or will ignore anymore. I'm marrying a Korean and this issue effects me and my future family now, and if you are part of my family now, well then it effects you too. And that's good!

We need to keep the lives that are being lived just kilometers away from where I am writing in the front of our mind. As humans we are responsible for this. They have stories and their stories and plight will be on here from now on.

Elie Wiesel's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize puts it in perspective.

“Many Europeans knew about the holocaust when it was taking place. But nobody did anything about it. The Nazis are not the only ones responsible for the holocaust. To be silent is to side with the killers.” He added that when human lives and dignity are threatened, people should transcend borders and throw away their passive attitudes."

This type of apathy is so rampant and is easy to ignore because of how far removed we are, but you never know when a country like North Korea or anywhere else for that matter, can somehow become part of your life or family and change your perception on the current state of the world.

You've seen it before, but please take a moment and watch this.



You know how much I love Korea and the Korean people. No one deserves to go through this. Seeing those children in that video is the worst part. I've taught hundreds of Korean children and they are no different from the poor souls that happened to be north of the parallel. They deserve more. I know it will take governmental and economical cooperation to end this division and that will happen from the top-down.

Until then, we must remember, support and respect the lives and dreams that inhabit that darkness.

SC Debate and Beyond

This debate was much more lively than I had expected. Rather than discussing the specifics of the debate and subject-matter, I'd like to mention why this whole thing needs to slow down.

First of all, this is not November. Let's stop the mud-slinging and show some solidarity. The real issues that they are debating are great. They are really hitting some core Dem values, i.e., criminal justice reform, health care reform, ending the Iraq Debacle, the economy, etc. The problem is that this is the time when they should be firing up their base and bringing all of these issues to the surface for the entire electorate. They can easily put to rest the "Dems stand for nothing" myth and start swaying the rest of the country to join in the movement. Instead, they (Obama and Clinton especially) are arguing over little things that hurt the whole party.

Secondly, Bill needs to give it rest. Of course he should campaign for his wife, but he is taking too many swipes at Obama and that brings out the worst in both the Obama and Clinton campaigns.

And finally, I think that the voters need to keep in mind that two of these three candidates will probably be nominated for the Pres and VP position. I'm not going to get into who should be in what position yet, however, let's not discount ANY of these guys.

In closing, the GOP should be very easy to defeat in November if the Dems stay above the fray, shoot straight and highlight why we are Dems.

We stand for that which makes this nation great. Show us the way!

By the way, Edwards won this debate. He knows how to navigate his way around the other two and deliver a clear and concise message. Obama and Hillary did well, too. Again, I think Obama debated the best and Hillary outlined her policies the clearest.

These three guys are the best debaters we have seen in ages and we are all lucky to have such wonderful candidates. They all have amazing hearts, minds and the drive it takes to bring it home. We really are quite lucky. I just hope after this process is over, the three of them can dust off, shake hands and get to work for the country.

Snow...again.

As you can tell by my handy weather icon on the sidebar (which will be edited today), it's snowing again. That's way too many to count this winter. Last winter it snowed only twice.

While it might sound fun, it's not really. We still have to teach and I have not seen the sun in over two weeks. I need to take some Vitamin D I guess, although rickets do sound nice.

The snow is pretty though and in a sometimes drab city, it's a break from the norm.



Sometimes it's heavy, but today we'll only see a few inches at best.

Here are so very dull videos of my view.

A Little Change

I thought this might be a nice change.



Andre Bocelli Con Te Partiro

Forgive the Mess

I'm trying to create my own blog template and since I have no HTML background, it is taking awhile. The blog will change a lot over the next two days and will have odd widgits on the sidebar over there for now.

The posts will not change though and you can still read and comment as you could before.

The Macarena of Korea

So, we all remember the horrors of the 1996 mega-hit, Macarena. I will not post the video on here, but I will make a link for it. People from all over the world came together to dance to a truly awful song. Fun!

It's Korea's turn now, but with it's current K-Pop sensation and group that I have talked about on here, The Wonder Girls.

Everyone here knows and adores this song. I do not, although the dance moves are so odd that they become catchy. Also, they are much more difficult than the Macerena which constituted of simple arm movements.

Here's their and video and dance.



And here's their tutorial.



And finally, here is the reaction to the dance.



The Wonder Girls are touring America this summer, so I would suggest that you learn the dance now so you don't look foolish at the show. 고 and I have been practicing for weeks.

MLK's Dream

You certainly did not fear any man! Rest in peace, Dr. King!




His message is very much alive with me, but what about the rest of the people?

It's hard to stay away from the campaign on this topic, but I will...

In-Fighting Will Damage Us

Is this happening within the GOP? A little, but we have A LOT more to lose. Think Dems! Hillary had a teary-eyed moment and claimed that this election was personal. Obama wants to set a new and positive course for America and the generations to come. Edwards insists that he will take back Washington and let every man have a voice again. All of this is so great and I want one of them to do it! So, why are they constently ruining the image of their fellow Dems? The general election isn't too far off and the voters are going to remember all of this. So, why do it?

I'm only thought, and I want to believe this is not true, is that they are not doing it for their stated reasons. They are doing it for themselves. I am a Obama supporter and I genuinely don't think he is doing this for himself, but for us. I think Edwards is doing it for us. I can admit that I think McCain and Huckabee are doing it for us -well not me. Not for one second do I think that Hillary, Rudy and Romney are doing it for us. They are doing it because they thought they could win before they decided to announce their bid. That's deplorable!

They all calculated it well too. Rudy has his 9/11 leadership (Ha!). Romney has his faith (Ha!) and Hillary has her secret weapon and it's not women, no, no, no. It's Bill and his ability to surface and exploit that fuzzy lethargic feeling people get when they think of the nineties. It's not the nineties and the world has wildly changed. Do we want to try to undo the last eight years? Or do we want to break through them and lay the foundation for a new and improved path? I know what I want.

It's hard to watch Bill Clinton speak and think to myself, "Man, I don't like him anymore." However, this is what it has been like recently. He's doing all the dirty work for Hillary so she can claim that she is taking the high-road. She is trying so hard to be a sweet and funny woman, but it's just cheap and very unbecoming of a previous President. Still, Obama has to fight fire with fire sometimes and lash back. What else can he do? Bill need to give it a rest. He is already losing his superstar status with me and I'm sure I'm not alone. Let the two CANDIDATES battle it out, Bill!

While he is not running for President, this makes me wonder how much power he'll really have. There was always the idea that Hillary was the dominating force in the marriage, but maybe the tables have turned. Maybe he's climbed back on top of ol' Hildog and is taking the helms. Gross!

It really is genius though, especially with the economic woes that America and, subsequently, a lot of the world markets are facing. People see Bill and it foolishly takes them to the happy nineties when there was a surplus and we only bombed east Europe. Huge mistake in my opinion. Huge!

So, it's time to take "change" out of her campaign. Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush-Clinton does not equal change. Man, maybe we could have Hillary win two terms and then pick up Jeb in time for the next two and then Chelsea can step up for two and so on. Really, we could have the Bush-Clinton combo for the rest of my life. That would be perfect.

Enough said!

I'm going to a few days off from the campaign unless something noteworthy occurs. I'm sure you're all sick of my biased and presumably average political opinion.

Obama and the Black Vote

Whatever you might think or want to believe about the Nevada primary, one thing is for sure and this that Obama is looking towards South Carolina with a smile on his face. However, is it a smile that will last, let alone hand him the nomination.

All the polls that I have read give Obama a near double-digit lead over Clinton. With over half of the electorate being from the black community and 4-1 lead over Clinton, that gives him just under half of the vote right there. He wants and needs this victory, but will this victory push him towards being dubbed the "Black Candidate"? I don't think so.

This would not be fair since he is doing so well with white voters and continues to perform well against a candidate who is riding the wave of one of the most popular Democrats in America.

What can he do though? Nothing. In SC, he has to hope for higher-than-expected non-black supoport and that will hopefully brush off the idea that he is the candidate for the black community.

Besides, Clinton got Rev. Butts in NYC on her side and this should say something about the lack of ethnic tension or that it's getting played up way too much.

Race is not an issue here and I want the media to let it go...

Nevada

We know the results and we know how I feel about it. I think Obama should have been a little better of a sport and given a congratulations, but he did not.

The biggest story IMO is that Romney, Huckabee, McCain are all doing well. This is good because I still think that Rudy has the best shot to clean up on the 5th. With all of these possible nominees, it makes the voting impact somewhat diluted and some potentially strong candidates will lose their momentum.

We'll keep fighting the good fight.

By the wat did anyone watch McCain SC victory speech? Did you see his mother? She's still kicking!

New and Necessary

You will now be seeing me link articles and everything a little better on here. It will be cleaner. Just for the few who don't understand this ground breaking feature just click on the highlighted word. Here is a start.

There really is such a thing as a conservative online encyclopedia. It's called Conservapedia and it is insane. Check it's top searches.

I will write more, but those what kind of sad bastards sit around looking at that stuff?

Got it?

Reagan and the African-American Nation

I'm educating myself on these issues as well and this is a stirring look at Reagan and his treatment of the population. I knew he did some rough things, but this is appalling.