My heartiest congratulations to the forty-fourth President of the United States Barack Obama; he was bestowed the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel committee this morning.
Everyone is surprised — there was no discussion of Obama being a possible candidate prior to this announcement. His “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” has landed him this amazing honor, which is indeed an extraordinary recognition for such a young president.
In News, Opinion on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 by Eric Fu
Lately, keeping abreast with news in Malaysia provokes mixed feelings — apart from the plain old being well-informed, the news viewing package includes disgust, disappointment, and sometimes, embarrassment?
The most ironic thing is, while experiencing all these feelings, it begets a short, chuckle-like laughter — because the scenario depicted in the news is pathetically hilarious.
One such (of many many series of developments) is the political imbroglio in Perak, dubbed the Perak Constitutional Crisis. (Perak is one of the states that fell into the opposition hand in the recent election.) It all began with several defections — the takeover by the National Front was quickly disputed as illegal.
More detailed treatment of this subject is available at Wikipedia.
So these sequences of events have started to appeal to me less. It is fair to say that perhaps it is too tiring to follow up. These news do not bring about the notion of hope, as opposed to President Obama’s weekly address to the citizens, which is accessible to all via the White House official portal (in HD video). That, I follow almost religiously. Slowly, I frequented The Malaysian Insider and The Star less. My reading medium quickly reduced to U.S. and British newspapers only (New York Times, USA Today, and BBC).
So I had not been reading about the sensation in Perak, until recently when it was featured on BBC. Apparently the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the takeover orchestrated by the National Front is invalid, which is a big blow to our newly elected Prime Minister. Then, unsurprisingly, the clown scene ensued — the illegal Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry compares himself to Mandela and Gadhi in these so-called “struggles.” This is what I call pathetically hilarious. I have to give this bloke some credits though — his shameless comparison warrants my best oh-my-god-are-you-f*cking-kidding-me? facial expression.
My life has returned to its hectic mode recently. Homework are piling; readings are never ending. I shall not even get myself started on how I do not have time for myself because of all these commitments.
Instead of writing complete pieces of several topics that I would like to share, I shall present here a series of snippets:
Le 20 janvier 2009
This is a very historical date. January 20, 2009 witnessed the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States. Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in at the 44th President. Despite that little “dictation twitch” during the oath ceremony, the inauguration went pretty well — with his ever so inspiring speech equipped with his eloquent articulation — as the American citizens and I rejoiced for this new dawn in the U.S. political landscape.
I was particularly pleased when President Obama acknowledged non-believers during his inauguration speech.
On a more personal (and different) level, this day is a day that I will always remember as it snowed for the first time in Chapel Hill during this winter. I was told that the last time it snowed so “badly” was several years back. Mind you, “badly” is defined as 2 inches or less snow accumulation. Some professors were snowed in and the Univesity was formally closed later in the afternoon.
Euphoric I was! However being a Michigan resident previously, I responded “Seriously?” and “Are you kidding me?”
I could not help but chuckled. The logical reasonings aside (how three counties shared a snow plow rendered inefficient snow removal causing hazardous driving conditions and yada yada yada…), I was really laughing my ass off. We don’t even think of class cancellation in a 12-inch snowfall in Michigan; we might complain, but we brave through the brutal cold.
And 2-inch of snow is less than mild on this very scale…
Of respect
I recently found myself in an extremely unpleasant situation, so much so that revisiting the incident itself irritates me. I had this unfortnate opportunity in dealing with a very angry person. I have to say that describing this person as “angry” is an understatement his/her characters.
This individual is very cantankerous. Not only that, he/she often act in a way where diplomacy is least of his/her concern. He/she talks in a very condensending manner. When you speak to him/her, you actually sense that he/she implores you to be less idiotic than how he/she perceives you. Furthermore, to add salt to the wound, he/she does not hesitate to impose his/her values on you. I call that sheer wanton preaching. People are opinionated — that I know and I understand. But why protificate when you could share you ideas instead? What a despicable bastard/bitch!
Of course, as much as I was tempted to, I did not react in the same angry, respectless way. Why be like him/her when his/her personality is the very core that you gainsay?
Taxes
It’s partying time again! I sat down for more than 4 hours to prepare my 2008 tax return. Fun, indeed!
Apple Mighty Mouse
My mouse had been acting weird for a couple of months. It had difficulty in performing scrolling. I finally took some time off to visit the Apple Store at Southpoint. I managed to have my current mouse replaced rather than getting a brand new one.
Cereal Man!
I was commuting to campus on one fine morning when I noticed a driver eating his cereal with milk in a bowl while maneuvering the steering wheel! Gosh! Consuming food with liquid in a bowl while vehicle is in motion. The art of multitasking?
Today, a couple got wedded in a Taco Bell fast-food restaurant in the state of Illinois.
NORMAL, Ill. (AP) — Wedding bells meant Taco Bell for Paul and Caragh Brooks.
Customers inside the fast-food restaurant continued to order tacos and burritos as the couple sat Friday in an orange booth at Taco Bell and exchanged vows.
“It’s appropriate,” groom Paul Brooks said. “It’s an offbeat relationship.”
Employees displayed hot sauce packets labeled with the words “Will you marry me?” They decorated the restaurant with streamers and balloons.
I have to say that the location picked is indeed unique. Should KFC be next in the list? Perhaps with the requirement that at least one of the to-be-married person be a native Kentuckian?
In view of this, should Las Vegas be worried, given the economic downturn?
Last month, I celebrated President-elect Barack Obama’s victory by listening to his victory speech at Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois. I waited for Obama to speak before I went to bed (the speech was given near midnight EST), and his speech was nothing less than one of the most inspirational speeches that I have ever heard.
However, a few days later, I was disheartened to learn about the passing of Proposition 8, a California ballot proposition that eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry, reversing a Supreme Court ruling in May 2008.
I do not feel as disappointed with Arizona’s similar ballot (Proposition 102), as I have always perceived the state of California as the liberal ground of this nation. I just don’t understand how Californians succumbed to the propaganda of religious proponents, especially the Church of Latter Day Saint.
I could not agree further on how some churches “pick and choose” in their faiths; and the reminder on how the United States is built on the foundation of “separation of church and state” could not be more timely.
Moreover, I would love to share a poignant discussion in between Jon Stewart and Mike Huckabee on gay marriage. I have to say that Jon did a good job!
Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. [Jon Stewart]
Finally, this recent ban on gay marriage in California has stirred a new wave of activists. Read more here.
I am extremely euphoric to learn that Americans did not vote in the manner they did 4 years ago. Change is what’s needed and 8 years of Bush-like administration is more than enough!
It would be interesting to see how Anwar Ibrahim topples the current administration by September 16, 2008. I reckon it is an arduous task to persuade more than 30 BN lawmakers to defect to Pakatan Rakyat in less than 3 weeks.
I am very disheartened as I read the news clip on UK Home Office’s decision to review the visa-free privileges currently enjoyed by Malaysian passport holders when entering Britain. Malaysia, among other 11 countries that might be affected by a tough new visa regime, has 6 months to convince UK by “making security improvements.”
Malaysians used to be able to visit Canada without a visa, but not anymore. If UK does decide to remove Malaysia from the visa-exemption list, other European Union countries are likely to follow suit. Then, a transatlantic trip would be overwhelmed with visa red tapes. Not only are these procedures time consuming, they cost some money too. I think if this happened, a Malaysian passport holder will definitely need to go through visa screening process to get into any country in the Anglo sphere.
The Home Office has tentatively decided to add Malaysia into UK visa list because some Malaysians had abused entry permits and overstayed. According to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
A total of 1,524 Malaysians violated British laws, for offences which included overstaying, credit card fraud, illegal employment and other crimes.
It is sad that bona fide travelers might have to bear the consequences of violations by irresponsible Malaysians.
