Kaulapi World

2 days to the election, and its like dejavu all over again from 2000 with it too close to call. A couple good poll tracking sites, and one from the LA Times that shows updated national and state polls. Also, another good site from Jase.

There is a lot of campaign lore, statistical arguements what not. A couple come to mind that I think might tip the election: The sheer number of battleground states, especially the more recent ones . Hawaii always goes for the Democrat, in the past 50+ years of statehood, with the exception of for Nixon in 1972 and Reagan in 1984, both landslide republican victories. Also, the Redskins game before the election. Apparently if the Redskins win, then the incumbent party stays in power. In recent history at least if the Redskins win has corresponded with the type of victory as well. Apparently they blew out their opponents in 84 and 96, as did Reagan and Clinton. So I guess theres one more reason to cheer for the Packers today.

This campaign has had its fair share of trash talk, cheapshot ads, mudslinging, wolves and birds, Vietnam vets, military wives, lots of burning 9-11 rubble, flipflops and misleader-ing, all that amounts to a political partisan headache among other things. Talk about mudslinging, check out the Hawaii mayoral race. I got an email from some listserv about some shady past of one of hte mayoral candidate’s wife. Anecdotally, I have heard some shady things about him, but this is the first I’ve heard about any of this sort of thing. The thing was that a lot of people back home have been looking for a new mayor to clean house, with all fo the Harris scandals, if any of this stuff is true, then it doesn’t look very good for the city and county of Honolulu.

This of course is all in light of the ongoing war, which is going to heat up as operations continue to root out insurgent strongholds. I’m sure that caught in the crossfire will be more civillians to add to the more than 100,000 already killed since the war started. The one thing that is discouraging for sure is that both candidates are caught up in this tough guy stance towards this ill-defined war on terror. Last I checked, you can’t really wage war on a noun. It may be the time to finally take a long hard look at our foreign policy and long term goals and decide whether our present course has the liklihood of producing an outcome that is preferable or unacceptable.

Random links/articles/photos off the subject of the election. Nintento sues some alternative version of friendster for some members using their trademark game character’s names in a risque fashion. Apple comes out with a new color ipod, and Bill O’reilly gets sued for sexual harrassment. And of course, an analysis of MM’s stance on Internment, and a very good good response to her pipikanekukai in general.

Another busy week at work, and another one coming up. Have been noticing that this schedule is pretty time intensive, I think it comes with the territory as well as the nature of the job. Pretty intrigued by all of it, to say the least. This and all the distraction from the election coming up in about a week, as well as the fact that a lot of the sports teams that I follow are doing very very well. All makes for good distractions.

Went down to Georgetown to visit a friend, got to see a cozy row house apartment and the busy streets of one of the more posh neighborhoods in the district. Walking along some of the side streets reminded me of Shibuya. Either it was the jam packed cars trying to inch by in traffic, the numerous little quirky shops featuring expensive wares, or maybe the droves of affluent looking young adults roaming in small groups talknig on cell phones, sporting designer clothes, and being totally oblivious to other people walking on the same sidewalk.

Or maybe it is more like San Fran, along Nob hill and Russian hill. One thing interesting about the District is that there is a wide range of feel and aura depending on the neighborhood. My big complaint about GT is that it doesn’t have a metro stop. Rumor is that this is due to a push to be a little more exclusive, by limiting public transportation or what not. I don’t know, given the number of panhandlers per block I’m skeptical to whether this is counterproductive, or down right snotty.

Another Monday, another week of work. Hard to concentrate after a crazy Badger game this past weekend against #5 Purdue. Coming out 7-0 on the eve of the BSC rankings Wisconsin came out rated #6, and who knows if things stay steady from here on out, they might even bust into a big time bowl, or at least the Rose bowl. Its strange, almost like reliving the back to back Championships that they won when I was an undergrad, a lot of people have been telling me that I went to school at the right time, to see 2 Rose Bowls, a Heisman, and a Final Four, all in the span of 4 years. Who knows, if I had made it into the dual program maybe I’d see a National Championship as well?

Good distraction from work and other stuffs. I’ve been assessing my future in the District as far as options, and career choices, come to the conclusion that I’m in pretty good shape so far. Will have to see how this first year goes, lots of crossroads are ahead for sure. I’m thinking that for now I’m willing to ride this job as far as it will take me.

Read an article last week about Barney Hajiro of the 442nd being awarded France’s Legion of Honor. Couldn’t help but wonder if that Internment lady takes note of this, or what her response would be. I’m sure she’d make some wise-crack about France. It always surprises me how historically ignorant people can be, or quick to wish a revision or two or three. Last I checked her book wasn’t doing so hot on the NYtimes bestseller list, maybe people finally realized how crappy it was.

Been following the election, and Nader’s Back, by many accounts. I’m still not sold on the arguement that he cost the election for the Dems. Never thought that the Democratic party was the party of progressives. But after the past four years, who knows. I still think its a cop-out to blame Nader two elections in a row.

Just finished watching the 3rd and final presidential debates. I think it was a mix of the same ole same ole, but a little bit more quicker paced than the other two. A couple observations about dubya, first off he tends to stray away from the question on hand and bring in a lot of irrelevant points into the debate. For example, he spent a long time talking about small business ownership when he was supposed to be talking about affirmative action. Well, ok, maybe there is a some sort of connection, but not really in the context from which the question was framed. The other thing I noticed from the debate is that he just comes off as a snickering defensive wiseguy, he glances at the camera a lot with a look on his face that he can’t believe the crap that is coming out of his opponents mouth. Oh, and he likes to wink at the camera a lot. Paul Krugman of the NYtimes has been writing a lot about this over the years, namely the distortions or spin on issues and actual statistics.

A good observation that someone said once is that dubya seems more interested in winning the arguement (or the election) as opposed to working out possible solutions to the problems that are facing the country. It shouldn’t be a surprise to people, where his loyalties lie, but part of me wishes that he would just be more frank about it. I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t take anything that he says serious anymore - something that bugs me that I can’t even listen to the president of the US without having to translate what he might really be saying.

He should stop trying to pretend to be such an angel and just level with the American people on whose voices really matters in politics. We live in a republic in which true power is concentrated among those who have the financial, political, or human capital, while the rest are given symbolic electoral power that really amounts to squat. That is of course for those who actually chose to exercise their right to participation in the democratic process instead of being distracted by the illusion of market capitalist democracy, or dollar-voting.

It really is a postmodernist twist, to deceive people into thinking that they know where you stand in simplistic terms, but all the while hold your agenda and priorities closed off.

Secondly, there is an extreme level of defensiveness when he responds to any question, or issue presented in front of him. To me, this shows weakness, that at least part of him knows how shaky his arguements are. It could be in part due to the fact that he has gotten used to speaking in front of captive, hand picked audiences and pre-screened questions, but I think its insecurity. He must know by now how he comes across, and how divided the country is either with or against him. In the debate this comes across as somebody that is already set in their ways to the point that no matter what you say, or what evidence you present to support your point, in their eyes, you are wrong. End of story. The kind of person that isn’t worth talking to about anything important beyond the weather or some meaningless shit like that.

It honestly reminds me of talking to a whacked out, born again fundamentalist, nothing gets in their skulls, no matter what you try. This being a free country and all, we tolerate people to be that ignorant, but I think its a problem when people this stuck in their ways actually wield executive power. In simplistic terms, democracy ceases to exist under such a leader. Instead we’d have a pope, or a monarch.

Thirdly, dubya is all rhetoric, with no substance in his arguements. At times he even confuses himself in repeating sound bites, he’ll get distracted and say something totally off base from the question at hand. Listening him talk about how Kerry has voted to increase taxes 98 times over the last 19 years as a response to 3-5 different questions was painful. Almost as painful as him claiming that any plan Kerry proposed would cost a lot of money, and would mean more taxes. This and all the little cuts at people who question his policies as being unpatriotic, or emboldening the enemy, or all that crap. All of this is just a distraction from the issues at hand, issues that will affect the direction that the country is headed in.

People watching need to realize that whether or not you supported the Iraq invasion the fiscal realities have already come home to roost. It is going to be a huge financial liability in the years to come, and with the increasing cost of health care, an aging population, huge trade deficits budget deficits, and outsourcing, Bush is going to have to be like Reagan and raise taxes in his second term.

His mention of market solutions to solve a lot of the social and fiscal problems that we face was another area where I was confused. He doesn’t seem to get, or be willing to admit that importing drugs from canada in itself is a solution that is driven by the market. The sheer cost of presciption medicine is forcing consumers of a good to look for alternatives. He claims that he doesn’t think Government should get involved in health care? well what the hell is passing legislation that prevents state health departments from buying presciption medicine in bulk, or importing from canada? Government intervention?

Another was that privatizing social security would be an automatic solution. Honestly if the rate of return on Social Security is looking so crappy, what makes anyone think that privatization would go over well with investors? It also goes to the nature of consumer behavior, that we strive to satisfy our unfinite wants from a finite supply of resources. We all want to maximize our benefits of a system or market sooner rather than later. All of this made me want to bust out my Econ 101 book from under my makeshift table and chuck it at the TV.

Final point on the debates that stuck out: That dubya has been a divider, as opposed to the uniter that he has claimed all these years. I still have yet to hear any arguement, spin or no spin, to convince me how one of the qualities we look for in a leader is an ability to bring people from different sides of an issue together. At the end of the day, we are all Americans, we are all human beings, true leaders are able to channel this through any adversity or disagreement and help the collective body or state move forward. The country has been extremely divided and partisan since 2000 and it doesn’t seem to look like it’ll get any better under 4 more years of bush.

To be fair, I haven’t been all that impressed with Kerry either, although I think he has come a long way since the primaries. But one thing is for certain, there is a lesser of two evils.

Badgers win it big yesterday against Ohio State. It was a big win in the sense that if they keep this momentum up for next week against Purdue, then they might even crack into the top 10 in both polls, improve their Rose Bowl bid, and who knows, maybe even sneak into a BSC bowl come Jan. The regional ABC scheduling meant that they were only playing a crappy game in DC that featured the closest two teams. I guess if I was just a couple states up north, then the UW-OSU game would’ve been televised. Ended up watching the game cast on ESPN.com and reading the recaps on the internet instead.

Meanwhile the Patriots are going for their 19th consecutive win, and UH beat Nevada around 3 AM this morning. Its kind of rare that all three of the teams I follow win. Usually they seem to do better when people aren’t watching, or when they are expected to do much less.

Its always interesting how much attention sports receives, commercial revenue, to the level of a cultural institution, or at least a popular culture icon. Watching the sportscasters reminds me a lot of watching political commentary on CNN or PBS. I think Thornton made the analogy between college sports stars and gladiators in Ancient Rome.

Watched the movie “Saved” which was both interesting, disturbing and frickin annoying all at the same time. Basically its about a teenage Christian girl who sees jesus in a swimming pool, interprets it as a sign to fuck her gay boyfriend to save his soul, and gets knocked up in the process. Of course she has to deal with all the funny looks from her classmates at her conservative Christian private school. The scary thing about it that I’m sure the characters in the movie weren’t that exaggerated in real life.

The second round of debates were this past friday, I think hands down Kerry won. He actually is saying things that actually resonate with people more, he’s not looking nearly as stiff, and with Dubya making smirks and winking at the camera now while giving half-baked responses I find it hard to understand how much of the right wing pundits and bloggers out there think that he won, let alone that it was a draw. Kerry said two things that stuck out of my mind that I think were important. First, on the topic of Abortion, he said that the issue is too gray and complicated to have a yes or no vote on it. He said that as a Catholic, he has reservations about it, but does not think it is right for him as an elected official dictate, or legislate his beliefs onto anyone else.

With the world so polarized along the line of faith and religion, I do think that the faith of our president does matter. I think the last thing we need right now is a president who is so narrow minded in his religion, or purported religion that he puts others lives on the line.

Secondly, Kerry nailed bush on the Patriot act, turning some of the rhetoric that the Republicans have been throwing about, that we should not be letting terrorists change the constitution. Dubya and his pals keep repeating that we should not change our resolve, and stay the course on this war on terror, and that by passing legislation that erodes our civil liberties is a way of staying strong in the face of the evil terrorists. They would obviously cut their nose off to spite their face.

Real Time with Bill Maher, David Cross had a good point. In responding to two very vocal and self-righteous sounding conservatives, he pointed out that they themselves do not see an end to this war on Terror. They in fact likened it to the war on poverty, which David pointed out rightfully so, that it illustrates that the arguement is in fact nothing more than rhetoric, and therefore, bullshit.

Watched the VP debates last night, I was overall impressed with the level of arguements from both Edwards and Cheney. They both were fudging their points against each other, and were both using their own interpretation of statistics, but what do you expect in an election year. At times I couldn’t help but see it as an argument between Junior boy and Grandpa though. Overall it was good.

Meanwhile its getting colder, don’t expect it to be nearly as cold as the past 2-6 years, but it is still the mainland, so its time to bust out some of the jackets and other clothes.

Got the Jon Stewart Book “America”, I highly recommend it for anyone who has either seen the Daily Show, or read the Onion. I’ve been laughing outloud reading up on it. The scary thing is that you can actually learn quite a bit about U.S. History from reading it since satire requires more than a grain of fact to be funny.

Have a methodology meeting tomorrow morning, lots of preparation and thought gone into how to approach the job on hand. Did some networking around the agency today, met a couple people that I’d like to keep in touch with for future reference and contacts. Its days like this that serve as a reminder for why I made the commitment to this line of work. I guess it doesn’t hurt to reflect and look forward once in a while.

Been noticing the vaugeness of my work written in the more recent entries. I guess it comes with the territory, the nature of responsibility and perspective warrants it, at least for now. I suppose in some sense this defeats the purpose of a journal, but I still think there is a lot going on in life to comment on.

Made another huge batch of Rafute, this time I doubled the recipe and made enough to last a while. I’m finding that it goes very well with Saimin, just like charsiu.

October, and I’ve survived another Summer in DC. Deadlines are passing and upcoming, I’ll have to hunker down for a couple of evenings from here at least until November, or until I get some work done. I have to admit, living the professional life is a change of pace, although the jury is still out to whether it is a good or bad thing so far. Been able to make some contributions to the federal version of a 401k, buy a printer, etc etc. So far the domestic life has been so-so, not bad.

Been watching a lot of TV lately, trying to keep track of the presidential race and the debates, watching the Daily show and Real time with Bill Maher.