The Empire Strikes Barack!!!
Hahahahahaha...
This is a great reason to not rush off to church and be late.
Star Wars geeks, check it out!
Sunday, May 11
Saturday, May 10
Strong Afrika
Okay, enough of my left leaning politics...for now.
I just got this pic last night but it was taken last weekend when me and a bunch of friend were out en route to checking out the goings on at the Lotus Lantern Festival and parade. We were walking out of the City Hall subway station when I saw a group of people in traditional African costumes. Once everyone in my group noticed, we HAD to stop.
They're with a performance group called Strong Afrika and they do drum and dance performances here in Korea. In fact, all of them are from various west African nations and live here in Korea.
Isn't that just cool?
Yeah...that's cool.
Friday, May 9
The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree
Okay, my blog has been getting über left leaning political, but, you know what? If it doesn't do it now, when will it? So if left leaning politics isn't your thing, step on or maybe, more accurately, click on.
This isn't because John Cusack has me as one of his top friends over at MySpace. Although it did warm my little blogging heart 
, and I got a screen shot to save it because nothing is forever. 
It's because going on a $3 Trillion shopping spree really does put into perspective how wasteful this war is.
I read John Cusack's latest blog over at the Huffington Post this morning and it got me over to an interesting site. I'll post the blog here in full so you can read it too:
The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree
THAT WAS FUN. Just got done spending $3 trillion. Try it yourself - it's a lot harder than you might think. Honestly, it would have been a whole lot easier just to follow the president's example and blow it all on one illegal occupation of Iraq.
$3 trillion is the projected cost of the Iraq War according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes. That's a whole lot of zeros, but what does it really amount to? How many homes would it buy for Americans who've fallen victim to the subprime meltdown? How many debts would it pay off for developing nations? For that matter, how many of those new Mac Air laptops would it buy me? As it turns out, one whole hell of a lot of all of those things combined.
Try it yourself: http://3trillion.org
What a colossal waste of money. What a tragedy of lost opportunities. Where is all this money going? KBR, Halliburton and the other war profiteers have made out like bandits in Iraq, while taxpayers and their own workers get screwed. KBR enjoys contracts worth $16 billion, and still avoids paying Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies in the Cayman Islands.
In the Bush Administration's defense, of course, they had no idea it would cost this much when they embarked on their insane crusade (in fact, they still don't) Along with cheering Iraqis, arsenals of WMDs, and leprechauns and unicorns, the White House expected to be presenting the American people with a much, much smaller bill for its services. Back in 2003, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld (remember him?) was fond of quoting the projected cost at $50 billion.
You may recall that about six years ago, Bush's own chief economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, was pushed out of the White House for suggesting that the war could cost up to a trifling $200 billion - still $2.8 trillion off the mark. "Baloney" was how Rumsfeld characterized Lindsey's estimate, before quoting the $50 billion figure.
With Rumsfeld gone, one would hope to see a little more honest accounting out of the Defense Department. So what does The Pentagon have to say about Stiglitz's sobering calculation? That number "seems way out of the ballpark to me," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Could $3 trillion cover the cost of a worthwhile accountant at the DoD? Apparently that's the only thing it can't afford.
Sure, sure...right leaning pundits are going to say this figure is too high and left leaning pundits are going to say this figure is right on or too low. The fact remains that we shouldn't be there at all and it's going to be a very expensive kick in the butt for all Americans who supported this war and even for those who didn't, unfortunately.
The YouTube video from the $3 Trillion Shopping Spree website:
Now make sure you go shopping.
In my cart right now:
Sphere: Related Content
Hillary Deathwatch by Slate: In Bad Taste But Fitting
Okay, I've pretty much had it with this. We knew she wouldn't go away and unite the party even if she didn't take both Indiana and North Carolina. She barely won Indiana and got firmly beaten in North Carolina.
Now she's running back to the white voter. Um, lady, the people voting for Obama ARE white too. Blacks are around 12% of the US population.
Good grief.
Now she's running back to the white voter. Um, lady, the people voting for Obama ARE white too. Blacks are around 12% of the US population.
Good grief.
What's funnier is the folks over at the Trailhead blog at Slate had a Obama Doomsday Scenario contest:
Obama Doomsday Scenario Contest Results!
Yesterday, Trailhead invited readers to imagine what would have to happen for Barack Obama to lose the Democratic nomination. And boy did you respond. You, dear readers, are a motley assortment of creative and disturbed geniuses.Sphere: Related Content
Scenarios tended to fall into a few categories: embarrassing revelations, major screw-ups, Clinton ex machinas, and unfortunate occurrences. Others involved Obama turning out to be someone—or something—other than himself, such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright (“note that you never see the Rev. & Obama in the same place!”), “the smoke monster from Lost,” Dennis Kucinich in disguise, and John McCain’s illegitimate black child. Several other scenarios involved zombie attacks and alien invasions. Yet another described a heinous Aristocrats-like stage performance by the Obama family.
We can’t possibly share them all, but here’s a sampling organized by category. Winners are at the bottom.
Embarrassing revelations:
Obama is actually 34 years old, too young to be president.—Marc Sylvestre
Video surfaces of Obama at that Rev. Wright “God Damn America” sermon that he claims he didn't attend, especially if the video shows him applauding that statement.—Brian Weber
Obama photographed raising pinky while sipping latte!—Benjamin Clark
Customs agents find one of Natalee Holloway's “Carlos ’n Charlie's Aruba” T-shirts in his luggage.—Tom Grayman
Obama’s opening his mail while being interviewed by Bill O’Reilly. He drops a Hallmark card. O’Reilly helpfully picks it up for him and reads the inscription: “Barack: Thanks for the visa! See you soon! Your BFF, Nadhmi.”—Boyd Reed
Pictures of an 8-year-old Obama in his local neighborhood bomb-making class with William Ayers and other Weather Undergrounders.—Jen Geiger
The Drudge Report uncovers shocking photographic evidence that Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden were actually college roommates. … They depict Bin Laden doing keg stands while Obama stands to the side holding his turban and counting in Arabic.—Rudy Santelises
He shot Alexander Hamilton. And there's video.—Andrew Rice
Reader Mark Schondorf submits a whole list of shocking twists, including: “Hillary summons a Kraken”; “Obama was a ghost THE WHOLE TIME!!!”; “Hillary goes back in time to kill Obama’s mother”; “Hillary wins because, as it turns out, she's Keyser Söze”; and “Unbelievably, the aliens are afraid of water.”
Major screw-ups:
Obama confesses that the blackout “ending” of the series finale of The Sopranos was his idea.—Scott Schiefelbein
The only way that Obama could possibly lose the nomination is if video of him punching a baby surfaced.—Nick Wilhelmy
There is only one unforgivable crime in America … dogfighting.—Tom Bianchi
The reason he doesn't believe the government created AIDS is because he did.—Shane Mehling
Clinton ex machina:
The best scenario for Hillary is to run as John McCain’s running mate. And for McCain to die.—Dea Henrich [So Obama would still be the nominee, but we had to include.—Ed.]
The Clinton campaign digs up records in the National Archives proving that Hawaii was not a state at the time of Obama's birth, thereby making him ineligible.—Pamela Belyn
Bill Clinton starts campaigning on his behalf before June 3.—Eric Samuels
Hillary sheds two tears.—Jon Cowan
Unfortunate occurrences:
Obama will need to be photographed windsurfing … and then get eaten by a shark.—Stephen Defibaugh
Obama, trying to fit in with the Oregon locals, goes on a white-water rafting tour arranged by Lanny Davis Excursions.—Boyd Reed
Hillary invites Barack to her home in Chappaqua to talk about ending the race. The visit eerily resembles the movie Misery.—Boyd Reed
The winners: The best submissions managed to make a concise joke, summarize all of Obama’s vulnerabilities at once, or vividly capture the mind-bending paucity of Clinton’s odds of survival. Here are three that did the job:
3rd place: Hillary appeals to the Supreme Court, which, based upon a 2000 ruling, decides that the candidate with fewer votes wins the election.—John Kirkbride
2nd place: Hillary Clinton must parachute into Pakistan while under heavy sniper fire, infiltrate al-Qaida using a fake beard, putty nose, and duct tape, and capture Osama Bin Laden, whilst singing the “Star Spangled Banner” with one hand over her heart and an American flag lapel pin prominently shown on her outfit. She must film all of this in HD and create a montage scored to Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the U.S.A.” Meanwhile, Barack Obama must publicly convert to Islam and change his name to Osama Hafez al-Mohammed Hussein Ayatollah Obama, while burning an American flag in the Crystal Cathedral as he replaces the crucifix with a do-it-yourself Piss Christ, while performing an abortion on the exhumed body of Terri Schiavo. He should also be naked. It should then rain frogs. That ought to do it.—Jason in San Diego
1st place: One of the lesser-known consequences of quantum physics is an event called “quantum tunneling.” Here's how it happens: At a campaign stop in West Virginia, completely out of the blue, the aggregate wave functions of all the particles in Barack Obama's body end up instantaneously transporting him through the entire Earth and leaving him treading water somewhere in the Indian Ocean, or leaving his various particles scattered inside the mantle. The odds of this occurring are such that any macroscopic object tunneling through any barrier is highly unlikely in the lifespan of the universe, but it could occur!—Michael Blessington
Thank you for the submissions. You heard them here first!
Thursday, May 8
Repost: TryJM - Makin' Music with John Mayer
Funny stuff.
Makin' Music with John Mayer
John Mayer takes YOU behind the scenes of his song-writing process.Sphere: Related Content
Credits:
Starring John Mayer, Ian Roberts, JB Smoove, Kristen Bell, Martin Starr, Gerry Bednob, Steve Bannos, Josh Feemster
Produced by Judd Apatow, Andrew Epstein, Melvin Mar, and Cohen/O'Brien
Directed by Andrew Jay Cohen
Written by Lew Morton, Brendan O'Brien, and Andrew Jay Cohen
Camera by Greg Cohen
Edited by Bret Scott
Special Thanks: Playground Media, Tyler Nilson, George Anderson, Joe Schiff, Renee Epstein, Tiffany Lynn, Bannos Family
Wednesday, May 7
Repost - Feet Man Seoul: Korean Fashion Designer Profiles: Hwang Jae Bock
Finally, the interviews are getting subtitled and published. This is the first in a series of interviews we had with Korean designers during the 2008 F/W Seoul Fashion Week this past March.
Hwang Jae Bock was one of the designers we had a chance to interview on Day 6.
Korean Fashion Designer Profiles: Hwang Jae Bock
The End of America
This is very important.
Talk by Naomi Wolf author of "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.
Interview with Naomi Wolf discussing "The End of America"
Naomi Wolf: Ten steps to closing down an open societySphere: Related ContentLately I’ve been listening to the offerings at the Canadian left-wing blog Paulitics: Paul’s Socialist Podcast. The latest episode features feminist author Naomi Wolf offering a distillation of her latest book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, in which she draws parallels between historical instances of fascism–especially in Europe in the early twentieth century–and proto-fascist tendencies in contemporary America under the Bush Administration. She notes, for example, that the term “sleeper cell” originated in Stalinist Russia as a propaganda term denoting so-called “capitalist terrorists” disguised as good Soviet citizens and hiding among the general population. She also talks about the Bush Administration’s use of the the “no-fly list” against Bush critics, such as Princeton law professor Walter F. Murphy, and even Wolf herself.
Wolf tracks authoritarian trends in Bush America against a ten-step “blueprint,” which she argues was crafted by Mussolini and adopted by leftist and rightist totalitarian regimes throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. She expands upon these steps in this article, but here’s what you need to do in order to close down an open society:
- Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
- Create a gulag
- Develop a thug caste
- Set up an internal surveillance system
- Harass citizens’ groups
- Engage in arbitrary detention and release
- Target key individuals
- Control the press
- Dissent equals treason
- Suspend the rule of law
Do you agree with the comparisons Wolf is making between the drift towards fascism in the twentieth century, and America under Bush (or, for that matter, Australia under Howard)? If so, do you think the results of recent elections in the US and Australia (2006 and 2007 respectively) hint at a trend away from proto-fascism in these countries?
More resources:Alternet interviews Wolf on her new book.
Excerpt from the book dealing with the “no-fly list”Wolf on The Colbert Report:
Friday, May 2
Democrats Abroad Voter Registration Drive: Saturday, May 3rd
Okay, folks tis the season to register to vote if you've not already done so.
There will be a voter registration drive tomorrow in front of the Starbucks in Itaewon. Now, there are two Starbucks in that area. The drive will be at the one near the police station and Itaewon Station. It's just across from the Hamilton Hotel and next to the KB bank.
VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE
In front of
STARBUCKS, ITAEWON
(near fire station)
SAT., May 3, 2008
11:00am-5:00pm
For more information, contact
Wende 010 2893 3653
votekorea@gmail.com
VoteFromAbroad.org click to register online - just print and mail the form. Sphere: Related Content
War, Inc.
Just 'cause I really do adore John Cusack's work...I know, I know...everyone loves Say Anything and his character Lloyd Dobler, but my favorite is the dark comedy Grosse Point Blank and his character Martin Blank. I've got others like The Grifters and this post reminds me to put Being John Malkovich in the DVD player as I've not watched it for awhile.
For us here in Seoul, I don't know if War, Inc. will ever reach the theaters. Even if it does it's a dark satire that might not translate well.
However, where it's playing I hope it gets a lot of people going to the box office. We need more films that are critical of what's going on.
The info: the film will open in L.A. and New York on May 23rd. It has already premiered in NYC at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The trailer:
More links:
The War Inc. page on Facebook.
Huffington Post: John's articles on the Huff Post - He interviewed Naomi Klein and wrote a few blogs.
CNN.com: The passion of John Cusack
Crooks and Liar's: C&L WELCOMES JOHN CUSACK FOR A LIVE BLOG SESSION on WAR Inc. (Chat Transcript with John Cusack)
EW.com - Just a Minute (video Interview with John Cusack)
John Cusack's MySpace page
Totally unrelated to War Inc. - poor John has inherited a clearly nutty stalker who was previously arrested for stalking Tom Cruise - now she's moved on to John: Cusack's Alleged Stalker Arrested
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