Obama Demonstrates True Character

The news stories around storied preacher The Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his association with Barack Obama are such a perfect example of opportunistic dog-piling by the campaigns of McCain and Ms. Clinton, and the evil press. I have read too many commentaries about Obama's speech and have been following the calls by the media and Hillary to distance himself from, and to condemn the preaching of his long time minister. Hillary even went so far to say that she would never go to a church that had a minister like that. She doesn't belong in a church anyway.

I was so impressed by Obama's ability to both answer his critics and show loyalty and love to his friends. It isn't time to abandon Rev. Wright. He is a long time friend, mentor and teacher. Obama showed us all how to disagree with his friend without throwing him under the bus, as Hillary wanted him to.

Here is the real question...why didn't Hillary speak out in support of her husband after he admitted to indiscretions with his intern? She "suffered" quietly and privately, so the stories went. While she and Bill are still "married", she has yet to stand up in public and show as much love as Obama showed his friend. I know the answer...it has to do with how Hillary makes decisions. Her method is simple, she will do what is best for her image. She decides selfishly on what course to take. She barely spoke out in support of one of her best friends, confidants, (and probably co-conspirators) Vincent Foster after he committed suicide under questionable circumstances. If it doesn't work in her favor, she will remain quiet and ask for privacy. If it serves her purpose, she will jump up and down on her soapbox to make sure we all know how unfairly she is being treated.

Obama is all class. He has been friends with Rev. Wright for over 20 years. Those types of friends don't come along very often. I don't agree with everything my friends think, or say, but I still love them for who they are, not how they can help me. He explained his relationship perfectly. My admiration for the man continues to grow. He is thoughtful, he doesn't panic, and he knows how to handle adversity...qualities I want in my friends and my president.

My guess is that Rev. Wright hasn't all of the sudden become who he appears to be. Why is he now just getting all this negative publicity? It isn't like he just learned to hate white people and white society. He might not say it, but I will help him...this is Whitey's world. There is still a race problem in the USA. White people don't see it, experience it, or suffer from it because of one reason...uh, they are white. White people will never understand racial bias because they are on the "right" side of the bias. There is nothing wrong with him stating the truth as he sees it. He doesn't have to present it from the White side of things...that isn't the side he is on. Yes, there are sides...this doesn't mean I am a racist. It just means that I am on a different side than white people...simple as that. Don't read any more into it. I don't have a hateful bone in my body just because of a person's skin color, name, home country, language, etc. It takes more than that for me to hate you!

Okay, I admit he said some hateful things...but he is a preacher, he is making a point. His caricature descriptions and language help cement the point he is making. The apostle Paul was very descriptive and colorful with his description of the religious leaders and Pharisees of his time. Jesus wasn't afraid to tell the truth about the world either. By the way, Jesus hung out with tax collectors (the gangsters of his day), harlots (the ho's of his day), and the marginalized of society. He didn't condone their jobs, lifestyles, or behavior, he just loved them and hung out with them. Imagine Jesus at the mercy of our media today.

As an Asian American, I experienced enough bias in my life to know that I have to act white to be accepted. Seriously, it is the hardest acting job to pull off. And the worst part...with all this acting I am still not totally accepted. I am allowed in a little way, but kept from the best seats in the house. And that is based solely on how I look, my heritage and my old home country.

Peace to all! Don't let the smoke and mirrors distort the truth. Obama (or McCain) in '08!!

Chow!

Big Sis Turning 51

I was in denial last year when my oldest sister turned 50. That meant I was that much closer to the half a century mark, and I couldn't acknowledge that, yet. But this year, she commented that I have given everyone a birthday "shout out" except her. I had to remind her, no, actually I didn't. Dad's was a Father's Day tribute...ha. I have no real excuse, that is just my feeble attempt to justify why I didn't. I will make up for it this year.

If I had to pick one word to associate with Irene, it would have to be "Pioneer".  As the oldest of 4 kids born into a Chinese-American, Roman Catholic, globe-trotting family, she lead the way for all of us. Just being in that kind of family broke a lot of barriers, but she broke so many other barriers socially for us as well.  In our family, Mom and Dad laid down the law. Irene chose to skirt that set of laws and broke rules to ease our oppression. Sneaking out at night, missing curfew, smoking, etc. She found the gaps in Mom and Dad's security system, and pushed the limits of what they accepted to pave the way for us younger ones.  I think I had a much easier teen existence because of her influence. 

I would say that she was also the experimenter, going through all the social change of the 60's and early 70's as a teen. But, she and Viv suffered a little for her pioneering ways. The 'rents wouldn't trust either of them to date while in high school, and I think that had some negative consequences for both of them as they discovered "men" later in life after never having to deal with "boys" earlier.

I thought she was all rebel, while I was all conformity. I toed the line, she obliterated it.  As a youngster, she fought with authority, while I respected it.  I still remember the first time I saw her drinking coffee...I thought, wow, she is going to get in trouble for that! I think she was 14...which made me 10. It was a glass of iced coffee, and we were on the front porch. It was as if it were a glass of whiskey it was so taboo! She even gave me a sip!

She was cool. She always had the hippest outfits...hot pants, go-go boots, platform shoes, bell-bottoms, beads, headbands, cool shades, etc.  She had a cassette player and radio all in one! And it was always tuned to the WEEL (1310 on AM). She always tried to get us to have the same hipness. She drove an Austin-Healy Bug-eyed Sprite in college (when she could get it to start), and had very cool artsy type friends. Her choices in men were suspect, but I remind you of her upbringing.

That pioneer and rebel is now a grandmother. She wants her grandkids to call her "Meemaw". Now how cute is that? Her kids are maturing and starting to really understand how much she loves them, and always has. She found her true love, Paul, who is her soul mate (gag). Those parents she used to clash with as a teenager?...she now takes care of and watches out for. She has come full circle. My parents trust her completely. They work together in the realty business, and she is their trusted advisor. She loves spending time with them, and they eat together almost every weekend, and many times during the week. 

I purposely skipped the middle part of her life, because that journey was a difficult one for her, and hard for her family to watch her go through. The back half is the best part so far. That tough section of road taught me to respect her even more. I am amazed at what she can do, and what she is able to endure.

The pioneer has truly found her life. 

Happy Birthday Irene! 

Chow!

One Silver Astronaut

I had my first non-work night out on Friday night. Even though it involved work people, we went more as a social group than a work group...you're right, that doesn't count. Okay, still looking for my first social night out in LA.

Anyhoo, we started the evening at Meesob, an Ethiopian Restaurant with high marks. We re-named it, "We-sob" because of the poor service. Our table of 10 seemed to get zero respect...almost as if we weren't there. Every other table seemed to get great service, but not ours. We even tried to catch the attention of waiters, waitresses, bartenders and bus persons, asking for someone to take our drink, appetizer, and dinner orders. It took 1 1/2 hours to just get our first round of drinks and 6 Samosas for snacks. Once we had a waitress, we shouldn't have let her go. We got there at 7:30 pm, and needed to get out by 9 to make a debut show by the band, "One Silver Astronaut" playing down the street. I will let you guess what time we got out of there. Almost 10.

"One Silver Astronaut" is a local band that my friend's son plays in. My buddy, Milt's son Patrick happens to be in LA going to grad school, and he is such the music fiend. He ended up in this band and they are just starting to play live around town. The lead singer/guitar is Shane Mills, who has a sweet voice. Their drummer plays a complex beat that demonstrates his obvious talent. Paula, the female vocalist adds just the right amount of depth. They have a fiddler as well, which is different. Patrick plays a great bass. While their sound is not unique (rock/pop), their original songs have great messages, lots of emotion, and sound like you've heard them on the radio before, as if they have been around a while and have already been discovered. Unfortunately the crowd was a little small, but everyone seemed to enjoy them. The crowd was extra small this night because the 10 of us stuck in an Ethiopian time warp didn't make the show until the very last set of songs. We were all disappointed that we didn't make it in time, but what we did hear was amazing.

Do me a favor and go to iTunes and download a song or two...my favorite is "Work in Progress", followed by "Camouflage". Remember, you heard about them here first.

Chow!