Blog

2012
Blog

My first bully, Lady Gaga, and Rush Limbaugh

Lady Gaga is all gaga about bullying, which she’s trying to elevate in our consciousness as tantamount to human rights abuse. A bit far-fetched for some, but not for me. What is bullying but racism…

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Leaping to Super Tuesday

The most hateful rhetoric of Tuesday night came from the mouth of a white male, probably late 20s-mid 30s, who was part of a CNN focus group in Ohio, a key state in next week’s Super Tuesday voting.…

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Watching Oscar: Sacheen Littlefeather, we need you

Once again I watched the Oscars waiting for a Sacheen Littlefeather moment. You’ll remember her (unless you think Christopher Plummer is the name of someone to call to fix that problem in the…

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Linsanity is no reason to bring out the “C” word

We were all having so much fun, too. But that’s no excuse for racism. I was wondering when someone would use a “Chink in the Armor” reference. I’m sure many Asian Americans thought about it too. But…

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Linsanity? Call it Linphomania.

Maybe they should take down all the “NO MSG” signs in Chinese restaurants around New York. MSG officially stands for Madison Square Garden, and MSG is saying “YES!” in a big way to our new national…

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Zakaria’s Soros interview: Thinking like a billionaire

A prior engagement on the West Coast meant I couldn’t get to the AALDEF dinner in New York City last week. So let me give my own award to AALDEF honoree Fareed Zakaria for an excellent interview…

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Giants may be hot, but the NYPD? Not.

A Super Bowl victory means New York is now home to a world-class football team. (It’s primarily in Jersey, but who’s to quibble?) Coach Tom Coughlin, the man everyone wanted fired mid-season, is now…

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Winning dirty in Florida and the fight goes on

In politics, when the going gets rough, the tough get dirty and divisive. Even though voters say they don’t like to see it, when a campaign is desperate to have a victory, going negative really works.…

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Obama’s Fair or Foul?

After all the countless GOP debates, last night we really needed to see someone act presidential and remind us why this whole campaign process is important. And who else but a president can reassure a…

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Romney’s taxes, self-deportation, and observations about Florida Debate I

I don’t care about Romney’s taxes. If H&R Block didn’t do them for him, he made too much money, and he likely paid less tax proportionately than any of us. Indeed, to make $43 million over two…

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Gingrich Win is an Opening for – Santorum?

Now that we are in primary season, it’s pretty clear: The GOP doesn’t have a real answer to President Obama. The party’s once and future front-runner Mitt Romney is imploding. His hair is in place,…

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Bye-Bye Yahoo, Hello Jerry Yang 5.0?

Jerry Yang, Chief Yahoo and quintessential Asian American internet entrepreneur, is no longer wildly shrieking the brand. Instead, the words from Yang’s lips are whatever you say when something…

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Sado-Capitalist Romney heads to the South

The first GOP primary was a bit like musical chairs, except when the music stopped, there were still the same number of chairs and the same number of candidates. No one wants to leave, though surely…

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Santorum: The Tim Tebow of Politics, but Google Him First

An 8 point win in Iowa as we approach the Year of the Dragon would only be a good omen for an Asian American. Just not for Mitt Romney. Romney, the candidate who could be anchorman, hardly can be…

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2011
Blog

The Diversity Deficit in Iowa and New Hampshire, Gingrich’s Pearl Harbor, and Danny Chen

I’ve always thought it strange that the two bellwether states that really begin the political season are Iowa and New Hampshire. Bellwether for what? Certainly not diversity. In Iowa and New…

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Yearning for a North Korean Spring?

With the death of Kim Jong-il comes a sliver of hope. Will the family franchise of famine and daredevil nuclear gamesmanship continue? Or, for the sake of its people, is there any chance of real…

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Lowe’s hits new lows in corporate responsibility

As of this week, I’m not buying my screws from Lowe’s anymore, though there must be a surplus of loose screws back at the home office. The home improvement chain sure has a strange way of celebrating…

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Mayor Ed Lee flexes his muscle with useless crackdown on Occupy SF

December 7th will live in infamy for a different reason in the history of the Occupy movement. In San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee gave the OK for a brutal pre-dawn raid of the OccupySF encampment, with…

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Newt Gingrich and his grand immigration ploy

Who would have thought the person to jumpstart an all-but-dead national immigration debate would be none other than the gringo’s gringo, Newt Gingrich? Gingrich, the ethically challenged politico,…

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UC Davis pepper spray incident boosts Occupy, restores faith in student protests

It was the spritz heard round the world. Or rather, make that spritzes, unfortunately. There were way too many of them. But I think it couldn’t have come at a better time. I had just been yearning for…

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