I’ve been ignoring the recent uproar about Wright because it seems inconsequential — not because I don’t think he’s racist, but because it seems silly to attack Obama for what Wright said/thinks.
This is not an endorsement of Obama.. I just feel the situation has been so blown out of proportion that some comments are needed.
First, some thoughts on Racism
Let’s be honest — does anyone know someone who is completely non-racist (who’s not a child)? Or in this case, someone in a position of authority, part of the ‘older’ generation?
I wasn’t aware of this until my dad told me, so in case you’re as out of it as I am: Starting in May, economy flyers can only check one bag when you fly on UA (used to be two).
If you purchased your ticket before 2/4/08 or is flying before 5/5/08, you get a break and you can still check two pieces of baggage. Otherwise, you can only check one package weighting 50 lb/23 kg.
One exception for economy flyers is if you have refundable/standard award tickets, or are Premier/Premier Associate Mileage Plus/Star Alliance Silver members on any fare or award ticket.
You can pay for excess bags, but apparently that’s only if there’s available space.
I’ve added new subscriptions links in the top left menu — it has some extra features in comparison to the old links.
For example, the old links were only RSS – the new links are more compatible and will be in whatever format your feed reader application requires. There are also extra links to the feed that you may find useful.
Also, the feed cuts my entries so that you don’t have to see the entire post unless you want to. I’m not sure if I really want this feature yet — I’d appreciate feedback on that (aka. should I show more/less of the entry, or don’t cut at all, etc).
I was intrigued about their claims because it seems to me that Dalai Lama has few powers in “repressing” or causing others to face “inhuman situations”. This group is clearly very biased and emotional, so I sought a more neutral source.
Tuesday was Earth Day, making this whole week Earth Week.
For people in southern California, Sprinkles cupcake is donating proceeds of their vanilla cupcakes to local tree planting and environmental organizations. See here for details.
I asked someone about the results of the primaries, and he said, “Obama is bitter”, followed by “that’s what the commentator said”. So I looked up the transcript of the Clinton and Obama speeches, provided by the Wall Street Journal.
It didn’t read very bitter to me, so I looked up the video:
I noticed that when Obama congratulated Clinton and the audience started boo-ing, he interrupted them and said, “no, no, she ran a terrific race”.
I had been meaning to cut down on the Tibet stuff but I read today that the PLA may have incited the riots using “agent provocateurs”. This conclusion was according to images from British satellites.
What caught my attention was this image (unfortunately, I don’t know where/when it’s from):
I guess you could say it’s photoshopped, but I can also say pictures of violence in Chinese media are too, and we won’t get anywhere on that line of argument.
Even though Ma hasn’t officially taken office yet, there’s already been several changes (or talk of changes). So keeping in mind Ma’s platform of improving the economy, let’s take a look at what’s been reported so far (in chronological order):
Plans to change “Taiwan” on stamps back to “ROC”
This is hardly surprising, considering his vow to change it back, but it is ironic since he kept saying he was “Taiwanese” before the election. It also has nothing to do with the economy.
I guess when he said “immediately”, he meant “after I attempt to eradicate Taiwanese identity/nationalism”.
Raise gas prices
Previously, gas prices were frozen (an act the KMT promoted before the election). However, post-election, KMT officials claimed, “oil companies are losing money and will go bankrupt within a month”.
It’s been a month since this was reported and there’s no sign of bankruptcy.
However, this article reminded me of an emotional pro-China comment which accused the US of being the only country having the death penalty. I can’t find it anymore, but maybe s/he meant “developed” country?
It left an impression because I thought I was just ignorant, so assumed it was true.
In light of this article, I found it incredibly ironic that a Chinese person attacked the US for having capital punishment, even IF it was the only developed country with capital punishment. A bit “pot calling the kettle black”, aren’t we?
I just found out about the whole Jack Cafferty issue and I figured I’d highlight it just a bit.
This link is a decent source, with quotation of the whole thing he said, in addition to the video:
First we have to keep in mind that the question was about “our relationship with China” (which, for those who don’t understand English very well, means the diplomatic/political relationship between the two governments).
So the logical conclusion is that he’s talking about the Chinese government.
