The Green Revolution will not be monetized

It's pathetic that the idea of Climate Change and energy dependence has become so politicized that the U.S. looks to be losing its edge in the world market.

參考來源： Green Energy - San Jose Mercury News (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

This won't end well ..

Government gives spooks the OK to moonlight for Wall Street companies for a little extra $$$.

You just know something bad will come of this ...
in reference to: CIA workers trained Wall Street firms to detect lies | World news | guardian.co.uk (view on Google Sidewiki)

Soft Power

"America never ran the world (an illusion the left, right, and much of the third and fourth worlds believe); but there were moments (1945-1950, the early 1970s, 1988-1991) when the United States marshaled its military, political, and economic power toward impressive ends."

in reference to: The End of Diplomacy? | Foreign Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Economist's Blogger Deconstructs Bill Kristol

"I'M NOT sure why I continue to read Bill Kristol's work. He seems to get most things wrong, but I have a perverse fascination with his logic, largely because it is so unsound."
in reference to: Gays in the military: Fisking Bill Kristol | The Economist (view on Google Sidewiki)

There's an App for everything ...

Everything stupid, obviously. On a disturbing note: the iMussolini download -- a collection of Il Duce's speeches -- became the most popular in Italy. {{{sigh}}}
in reference to: BBC News - Mussolini iPhone application is withdrawn (view on Google Sidewiki)

Gay Israeli Soldiers

For a country that has been on a war-footing since its inception, the Israelis know not to waste talent.

in reference to: They're Here, They're Queer, It's No Big Deal | Foreign Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

I Drink, Therefore I Am ...

Noted philosopher says fundamentalist extremist Muslims need to relearn the pleasures of wine-drinking in order to learn tolerance. I'll drink to that!
in reference to: Roger Scruton: Muslims need to learn to drink again - decanter.com - the route to all good wine (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hard Lesson to Learn

Americans generally don't like hearing that the underlying economic principals we live under, and which some partisans totally embrace, sometimes just don't really work. (Exhibit A: 2009's Great Recession)

The idea that our system of democracy+capitalism is the only successful form of social governance seems to be the default intellectual position of the most centrist Dems and all members of the GOP, though tangential hoohas, like Tea Partiers and Objectivists, tend to get their wires crossed, re: just how much is too much government intervention or "government for the people, by the people." No matter, it pretty much works they figure.

John Feffer throws a spanner in the works with his direct approach on how China's managed economic system has allowed them to excel economically over the last two decades. What's of special interest is the order in which they achieved economic growth, with an emphasis on education first, infrastructure second, than opening up free markets in various sectors.
in reference to: John Feffer: Can We Learn from China? (view on Google Sidewiki)

Refreshingly Candid

Now watch the Right and Fox News go on one of those "Obama's not protecting us ..." bed-wetting rampages.

Of course Al Qaeda is going to continue to attack the U.S. and all those in the West it perceives as Infidels or Crusaders.

The "might makes right" approach -- for all the money its brought to the defense industry, Halliburton and Xe -- really hasn't done as much to deflect the threat as some would like to believe.
in reference to: Intelligence chiefs say another terror attempt in U.S. is 'certain' - CNN.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Alito: 1, Obama: 0

Well-reasoned analysis of why the Supreme Court's decision, while pandering to corporate interests, does not violate the prohibition of foreign-owned businesses making political contributions.
in reference to: Alito Was Right | Foreign Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

'Bout time someone in the Top Brass manned up ...

Admiral Mike Mullen tells Senate committee in a very logical manner why "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the prohibition of gays and lesbians in the military is obsolete.
in reference to: Richard Allen Smith: I Will Forever Respect Admiral Mike Mullen (view on Google Sidewiki)

Missing in Action: A Moral Compass

Writing recently on BigHollywood. com, James Hudnall chose to equate the conceit of a person making a decision based on moral grounds with being a "traitor."

This is simplistic to say the least and once again a woeful example of the lack of intellectual rigor that goes into what now passes for "conservative" debate.

The heroes in the movies he examines find themselves fighting against inequities they believe undermine the philosophies they wanted to uphold through public service, whether in a covert fashion or the traditional military.

Hudnall's big issue is that it's always the U.S. Government, hence, the United States, which these people are betraying. Now, since Big Hollywood's founder, Andrew Breitbart, uses his sites as a platform to rail against U.S. "Big" Government undermining the individual's right to basic freedoms, this is funny and contradictory in itself.

The larger issue -- besides Hudnall's obvious racist tendencies ("alien poontang") -- is the seemingly blind obeisance Hudnall seems to believe people should give to their government (the same government that's always getting in the way, over-regulating business, trodding on the little man, blahblahblah ... Oh, but wait, that was before a black man became President ... )

Wasn't the United States founded on the principals of men who believed themselves to be servants of the British crown, but felt themselves betrayed by the burden of unfair taxation their government levied upon them? Were they not traitors? Did they not take action because of the moral conviction they felt to their cause?

The Constitution protects the right to disagree with your government. As a member of the U.S. armed forces, you obey orders, but at some point doesn't the overarching mandate of military service mean you also serve the ideas upon which the United States was founded?

If I'm to understand Hudnall's argument, that would make the perpetrators of the My Lai massacre heroes, and Hugh Thompson, Glenn Andriotta and Lawrence Colburn, pilot, crew chief and gunner, respectively, of the helicopter who protected the villagers, traitors? Surely that's the logical extension and if so, an indictment of how morally bankrupt the author really is.
in reference to: Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » ‘Avatar’ and Hollywood’s Traitor Obsession (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Kids Are Alright

I love this photo essay of China's burgeoning alternative music scene, mostly because last night on my way home from the office I saw this kid in a Velvet Underground t-shirt and tight drainpipe jeans listening to his iPhone at high-volume and playing air drums while with reckless abandon as he sat on the MTR waiting for his station. (Another, more straitlaced young man sitting next to him decided to move after one too many air drum rolls ...)

in reference to: Anarchy in the PRC: A tour of China's emerging underground music scene | Foreign Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

Wow, that's a lot of money (and, hopefully, some good wine)

I am beginning to think that despite news of China's recovery from the economic apocalypse, Hong Kong remains the exception to the rule as an autonomous region that glided through the crisis on a combination of both Chinese and Western economic stimuli.

in reference to: Hong Kong auctions begin with a bang - decanter.com - the route to all good wine (view on Google Sidewiki)

Amazon's PR disaster in context

John Scalzi is a blogger of great insight and humor and in this posting completely nails Amazon for its recent missteps with Macmillan.

in reference to: All The Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend « Whatever (view on Google Sidewiki)

The iPad cometh ...

Despite the lackluster response by both the market and the public, it seems Apple already has Amazon running for cover.

I haven't seen a company cave this quick since Google threatened to pull out of China ...
in reference to: Amazon Caves To Macmillan’s eBook Pricing Demands (view on Google Sidewiki)

Poaching Protestants

With the Pope making moves on disaffected Anglicans, it was only a matter of time when the Queen made her move ...

in reference to: Queen's adviser meets Archbishop of Westminster after Pope's offer to Anglicans - Telegraph (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hong Kong -- Week Four, January 24 to January 30

A lot of people have been asking me the same question since I got here: Is there a gay scene in Hong Kong? Depending on who's asking, the question can have any of the following three meanings:

"Is the society/government repressive?" "Have you found fun places to hang out with 'our people'?" And "are you getting laid?"

The answers, in order, are: "No, kinda ..." "Yes," and "NonenayaGODDAMNbizness!!! I mean, no, of course not ..."

Having never been to the Mainland, I have no idea what gay life is like in Beijing or Shanghai, though the Chinese government did ban the Mr. Gay China pageant about two weeks ago, so what does that tell you? (Nice harness, by the way, but I really don't think butch is his color ...)

Hong Kong, of course, is different. With it's colonial past and penchant for modernity, as well as catering to Western tastes, there are gay-friendly bars as well as bars that have a predominantly gay clientele. On Friday nights the Club '97 in the heart of the Lan Kwai Fong has a "gay night" where from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. a gay crowd congregates. For the uninitiated, "the Fong" is a notoriously boisterous part of Hong Kong's Central district crowded with restaurants and bars.

It's equivalent in the States would be Times Square or Fisherman's Wharf or (at least in recent years) Hollywood Blvd. I've assiduously avoided the neighborhood since I arrived because, to be real honest, if I wanted to hang out and get drunk with a bunch of white people, I could have stayed in New Jersey.

Still, it's interesting to see what there is of gay culture -- an entirely American conceit -- transposed into another society. Since Central is a popular expat or "gwai lo" neighborhood, I've ran into a lot of gay and lesbian couples, predominantly Western, though there is a good number of mixed-race gay couples, too. ("Gwai lo" is a Cantonese word for "ghost person" or "white ghost" and is short-hand for Westerner. Though recently at a function with a mix of local Hong Kongers and expats, among our number were couple of African-American guys. I asked, innocently enough, do they lump all Westerners in as "gwai los" and what do they call people of African descent. There was much casting about and Cantonese mumbling and I never got an answer. Next ...)

Within gay life if you're a white guy into Asians, you are known as a "rice queen". Like many queer terms of description, it cuts both ways.  Still, it's led to many a humorous moment here for me in recent weeks as walking up or down the escalator I've passed several couples.

Now, I'm not the best-looking guy on the planet -- and I'm certainly not the ugliest -- but since I've arrived I've found myself on a couple of occasions being flirted with by people of both sexes. It's actually quite charming, but it also has its perils.

Here's how it usually goes: I am strolling down the hill to get something to eat and a mixed-race couple, usually a big beefy white guy my age or older with a slight, tautly-built Asian dude five to 15 years younger are coming up. Young Asian dude makes cruise-y eye-contact which I deflect,  diverting my gaze into the incoming nasty glare of big, beefy boyfriend.  I'm thisclose to saying, "Look, Mary, we've a much better chance of making the magic happen than me and your boy-toy ... ," but that would just be rude.

As for seeing native Chinese gay men and couples, I can safely say I think I saw one duo on the subway one afternoon, hanging off each other in an affectionate manner, but then they might have just been brothers.

Of course, such ambivalence is contradicted by what has to be one of the gayest commercials I've ever seen:

Lesbianism, on the other hand, is a completely different issue. There is a nightclub called the Galaxy on Hennessey Road which on Sunday's hosts what appears to be a lesbians-only event. I stumbled across it on one of my walks. I've seen native Chinese lesbian couples, in the late-20s fondling and clasped in embraces on the MTR, and while older Chinese give them disapproving glances, no one seems to really care.  Now, at this Galaxy club, the lesbians appear to mostly be immigrants: Malays, Filipino or Thai. They dress aggressively masculine, a combination of Hip Hop and Indie-Rock fashion and hang off each other, smoke, fight and make out like teenagers.

In an offbeat note, yet somewhat related, over the course of my explorations a gentleman told me that Thailand has the most androgynous population of the region and one of the more quirky byproducts of this sexual fluidity has been the strain HSBC's human resources has come under trying to get its hand around the large number of gender reassignment surgeries Thai staffers have applied for ...

Anyway, I gotta go eat. With the furniture almost all moved in and Bob arriving next week, I've begun looking at how to make the place more homey with wall art and whatnot. While I know it's cliche, I had to have the following:

It's like some weird combination of Colonel Sanders and a Coca-Cola sign and for $10 US it was a steal.