2008-10-29

«Cheap Vs. Chic Laptops»

Just read this article «Cheap Vs. Chic Laptops» on Forbes. I never liked Apple products much, not even the much hyped iPods or the iPhone. One reason is that their prices just don't make much sense. But I guess it is OK if one has the money to spend on chiciness.

«Hacking Democracy»

Watched the documentary on HBO last night. Shocking stuff.

2008-10-26

Reading Joe Klein's Article in Time

Read Joe Klein's article in Time today. The title is «Why He's Winning -- The evolution of Barack Obama». I hope he is right -- since I do agree with pretty much all he wrote in the article.

People may be cynical about Obama, about politics. John McCain seems to reenforce that cynicism. Barack Obama's vision of an "Apollo Project" to create an alternative energy based economy encourages me greatly. It is an idea much more creative and productive than tax cut and war, those have been basically all what the Republicans have been feeding to the American public for the last eight years.

I will vote for the Proposal No. 2 on the Michigan ballot on the election day. I disagree with the Conservatives' view of pro-life. They kind reminded me the ancient Chinese belief that every minute piece of your body, down to every single hair, is from your parents and therefore linked to your ancestors. If you believe in that, then cutting your hair would be a crime against your heritage.

I am pro-life, especially of those who are living through it. All those letters against Proposal 2 carry one message: fear. Fear of what may go wrong. But fear before any action seems to be counter-productive to me. I am not for human cloning. Even further, cloning of any living being makes me less than comfortable. However, embryonic stem cell research for the understanding of human body and human life is far from human cloning. Linking those two together, or any implication of that, makes me suspicious of those letters.

On CNN, ads from right-wing 527 groups have started to pop up for the last week or so. Some of them call Obama a socialist, which makes me want to laugh. Isn't "socialist" a label some conservative economists pinned on W, Ben Benenke and Henry Paulson? Based on what have happened in the last month or so, the current administration is becoming the most socialistic gang in the history of the United States of America. Actually, I feel that labelling the current administration "socialists" is an insult to the word itself. All who have any progressive social ideals should protest that.

2008-10-20

Election Day is Coming

Today on the way home from Chinese school, we drove passed the Obama campaign office outside down town. I stopped the car and took the kids for a little walk. We went into the office. There were quite a few people in there. But the atmosphere did not smell like battle ground.

That didn't surprise me although Michigan is called a "battle ground state". John McCain has pulled out his troops and given up Michigan. Elsewhere in Michigan may be different. Ann Arbor, however, is definitely covered with Obama-Biden signs with McCain-Palin dotted here and there. A week of two ago Lynn came home and told me that the first house entering the neighborhood had a McCain-Palin sign in their front yard -- sort of a news story. One morning I drove by the house, the sign was gone. In the evening it was back out again.

There was a letter in the News a week or two ago about a missing McCain-Palin sign. I would suspect that it was a kid's prank. But the letter writer seemed to suspect some Democrat had stolen the sign. The letter was a bit hysteric.

Driving in and out of the neighborhood, seeing that McCain-Palin sign makes me smile, every time.

2008-10-17

«Recount»

HBO showed the movie «Recount» earlier.

It is a somber reminder that every one's vote does matter -- may be not down at the individual level, but collectively, yes, definitely.

That fateful 2000 election gave the country W and eight years of misery. To think about it otherwise, that the US would not have invaded Iraq, the US economy might not be in such deep trouble, people of the world might not have to endure so many -- seemingly endless panic attacks, one has to imagine, the world could have been a much different, even much better place than it is today.

But in that fateful month, the Americans collectively decided that the country's path down towards hell for the next eight years. There were enough blames to spread around. If Clinton were not stupid enough to let loose his zipper, the election result could have been different. If there were a little less ignorance in the country, the election result could have been different.

But history is what it is. We are all just humans, even the judges in the Supereme Court.

In a little more than two weeks, the country will have another chance to choose its path forward. And this time for the first time, I will be able to vote.

I wish that the country will choose wiser. We must all learn something from the last eight years of sufferings.

John McCain said in the last debate last Wedensday that he was not "President Bush". Fine. But he is still a Republican. He may be able to be a "maverick" sometimes, but he is still a Republican in the end. A commentary in the News wrote the other day, Republicans seemed to be anti-intellectual. I think they are more than that. They are anti-thinking. For that reason alone, I will not vote for a Republican.