When Asians Go Bad: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong (AKA Good Journalism Can Be Biased And We Don't Need To Hear From Everyone)

While I haven't been able to blog as much over the last few years, I've kept it going because I firmly believe that putting out your individual voice especially from communities like ours--is just as important now as the first day I made post #1.

Hearing about the LA Times and how its owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has been gutting the paper's editorial board, killing op-ed stories, seeing the very public entanglement on the endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris, and then also hearing about nepo-time in the newsroom--I think it's fairly easy for anyone who can lick an envelope to say this doctor should not be owning a major newspaper.

At the end of the day (and yes I heard I should be retiring that phrase...) good journalism doesn't have to be completely neutral because it just needs to tell the truth. Yes, some things can be more opinionated, like Op-Ed, but sometimes two plus two just equals four.

We don't need an article debating if 2 + 2 in fact does = 4.

Just like we don't need to bend the knee to people who think the earth is FLAT.

It's not.

What if Upton Sinclair, Ida B. Wells, Nellie Bly, or Maria Ressa bent their knee to accomodate food companies, lynchers, medical companies, and political organizations?

What if instead of the pillars of truth and accuracy and accountability we replaced those with echo chambers, owner bias, and selective viewpoints that obfuscate the truth?

I feel like the good doctor is helping to answer that last question.

Tom Tancredo, Gregory Kane, And Literacy Tests

Just a few random thoughts on this article by Gregory Kane who was taking up the fight for Tom Tancredo:

• Tancredo said at the recent Tea Party Convention "People who could not spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House - (his) name is Barack Hussein Obama. The revolution has come. It was led by the cult of multiculturalism aided by leftist liberals all over who don't have the same ideas about America as we do."
  
  Just because you may not know a language well doesn't mean you still can't be competent either when it comes to making a decision. From friends, to family, volunteers - it's just translation. I can not know a language well - even not be able to spell basic words at times - but someone can read me something from a newspaper, and I can still form an opinion of it. At the same time - the bolded quote is just right-wing xenophobia.
  
  
• In his article Kane asked "Is it asking too much that Americans know just a smidgen about how their government is run before they head into the ballot box to cast their votes?"
  
  Am I completely missing something here because doesn't someone from another country that wants to be a citizen of the U.S. have to take a civics test - which you know - tests people's knowledge on the government? If not - I'm not really sure what the hell I was helping someone study for because I thought that was the MF civics test.
  
  But who knows - maybe it was really about how to bake bread.
  
  
• In response to Kane saying "Tancredo erred when he used the term 'literacy test.' The lefties howled about how literacy tests were, for decades, used by Southern racists to keep blacks from voting. That’s true, but so is this: The abuse of a good idea doesn’t mean the idea isn’t good." all I have to say is HUH?
  
  If an idea is patently racist to begin with how can it ever be a good idea?
  
  It wasn't a good idea being abused by racists - it was a racist idea being used by racists.
  
  Kind of a big difference.

In Tokyo And Want To Film Naked Japanese Women? Listen To The Yahoo! Answers

Someone forwarded this my way and even though it's a little older still wanted to post it on up because it's just a good learning experience for anyone that maybe hasn't learned their lesson.

Question From Jason:

Im going to tokyo and want to film naked japanese women while im there? Im planning a trip to tokyo and while at my stay there I want to have sex with some japanese girls (and film a sex tape with them as kind of souvenir for myself).

Answers:

From Hruth: You got the yellow fever huh? Suck it, weeaboo douchebag.

From Venereal_madness: Wow...... Err.......

From Japanese girl: don't come to Japan. we don't need foreign guys like you.

And there you have it.

No It's Not A Hoax But What The Hell Were They Thinking: Sarah Palin Is Coming To Hong Kong To Talk About Finance

Don't worry people of Hong Kong - we've been safely living with Sarah Palin, and so far, not too many bad things have happened (that we know about), but just to be on the safe side I still might take a vacation if I were you.

Former US Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is viewed with equal fervor as an ignorant fool or the voice of the common man by those who either loathe or love her, is coming to Hong Kong to seek international street cred.

Palin, who suddenly quit her job on July 26 as Alaska's governor, is scheduled to give her first major international overseas address as the keynote speaker at the 16th annual CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets Investors forum from September 21 to 25. The decision to bring in Palin as keynote speaker has been met with incredulity from many among the business community in Hong Kong, asking if it might not be a hoax.

Asked if the email announcing Palin's appearance might indeed be a hoax, Simone Wheeler, head of communications for the investment bank, responded: "No, not a joke at all. The CLSA Investors' Forum has traditionally been a platform for firsts into Asia: Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan. As an independent investment house, we aim to provide speakers of note." [...]

"Honestly? This isn't a hoax?" asked the managing director of a Hong Kong business chain. "It's entertaining perhaps, in a road accident sort of way! Now I've seen everything."

Greenspan, Clinton, Gore, and...ummm...Palin?

A Quick Letter To The Lady That Sued Cap'n Crunch And The Crunch Berries

Dear Janine Sugawara,

I know times are tough and we all got a make a little on the side when we can, but I think you probably would have had a better chance of - well - ANYTHING - instead of trying to sue Cap'n Crunch and Crunch Berries because the cereal doesn't actually have REAL BERRIES in it and there aren't, as Lowering the Bar already stated, any Crunchberry patches for you to frollick in.

Don't they have a produce section at your grocery store?

I mean how do you mistake a Crunchberry for real fruit, and not just once or twice - because I might understand that if you have no sense of smell, never went outside, lost the ability to taste, can't feel anything, and you might also happen to be a fictional character who doesn't really exist - but we're talking four years here.

That's kind of a long time.

And I don't want to make fun of you or anything - because that just wouldn't be right - but I'd really love to see you sit down and draw a Food Pyramid.

Anyway, good luck with your next lawsuit.

Slanty

Game 7?

While I love me a good game 7....this is one game 7 I'd just rather not have.

I'm just hoping Pierce gets a knee injury midway through the game.

An Quick Letter To The Oregon Commission On Asian Affairs

Dear Peoples:

I learned last week that you, the OCAA, took funding away from the Asian American Youth Leadership Conference (AAYLC) because you decided that you couldn't give money to an event where the keynote speaker was from a band called The Slants (who were also going to be playing the event) because you found the name offensive towards Asian Americans.

Now far be it from me to disagree with such a wise commission as yourself from the great state of Oregon (which I also sometimes refer to as Crazy White Militia Country), but I just don't understand how you came to that conclusion because this is an Asian American band, with Asian American fans, who in addition to playing clubtastic Asian American music, also have a song or two addressing Asian American stereotypes - and haven't they also been written up and interviewed by Asian American media as well as play Asian and Asian American themed shows and events?

I could be wrong on this, but it doesn't really sound like people are all that offended to me (but then again, they probably get that it's about empowerment, pride, and taking it back).

Slanty

P.S.
I'm probably a little biased on this one.

Giving Prescription Drugs To Dogs Is Insane

This dog is on drugs. Image from kittyhell.com

Call me a pet lover who still thinks a pet is inferior to a human being - but who's still cute and cuddly - because when I read about stories in the NY Times about Pill-Popping Pets who take drugs which for all purposes are the same as human drugs (like the dog Max in the article who takes a pet form of the drug clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant) - I can't help but think to myself - are you kidding me?

I mean c'mon - dogs are supposed to wag their tails and chase after them because - well - they're dogs - that's what they do. And as much as I was up for "experimentation" back in what I like to call my "free and clear" days, I honestly think giving drugs like antidepressants to animals is kind of cruel because in a way it's like trying to make them into something they shouldn't be.

A dog is supposed to go wacko trying to chase his tail (and if you've had enough drinks, this should be fun for you as well). It's supposed to, without warning, hump the leg of someone you've only met once and then try to eat your shoe and the next day pee on the postman. This is what dogs sometimes do - and not just once or twice - but sometimes for their whole lives (and have people heard of something called a dog trainer?).

This is why a dog is your pet versus your accountant.

And I'm not saying pets shouldn't get good health care or take a vitamin - take care of your pet in that way - but I have to think that if you're giving your pet drugs for their psyche (and especially cats, because cats are just psycho anyway) - maybe your pet isn't the one that should be taking the drugs.

I blame this post on white people and Hello Kitty.

Bloomberg: Just don't report on the NBA

I was doing a search on Kevin Garnett this morning to see what articles might have some extras in it (because I'd read everything from the Boston/Detroit papers and watched the post-game interviews, etc.) and one of the first pieces that popped up on Google News was an article from Bloomberg - and even though in a previous article I stumbled upon they told me the Cavs won when it was really the Celtics - I figured I'd check it out. No way they could blunder another one.

But then I read:

"Kevin Garnett, whose 13.2 points-per-game scoring average during the playoffs was more than 4 points less than his regular-season average, contributed 33 points...."

Do they write with one hand on a PDA while wiping themselves in the bathroom?

The sentence barely even makes sense for one, but Garnett is averaging 21.3 points per game in the playoffs (and 24.2 in the Detroit series, and he averaged 18.8 in the regular season).

That's an 8 point difference in the real number versus the fake Bloomberg number.

I still like you Cubs' Fans

A little old - but I've seen the shirts, the posts about the shirts, and really - who in their right mind does this?

Much has been made of a racist t-shirt sold by a souvenir stand outside of Wrigley Field that specializes in unlicensed Chicago Cubs merchandise. The shirt depicts the Cubs cartoon bear face on the front with slanted eyes and Harry Caray-style glasses. This image is surrounded by the words ”Horry Kow,” which are written in a “Japanese-style” font. The name and number of Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome are on the back of the shirt. (For a picture of the shirt, click here.)

The phrase "get a real job" comes to mind.

Don't call me Canadian

It's just amazing how many different terms racists have for people that they don't like - and while I could go into a long list of all the different terms - everyone already knows them - but something I've never heard of until now is white people using the word Canadian in a racist way against black people:

Here's some background from CBCNEWS:

The trigger point occurred over the weekend on the popular American website The Huffington Post, quoting a brief Canadian newspaper story that revealed that the term "Canadian" is being used in parts of the U.S. as a euphemism — as code — for a racist characterization of black people.

A journalist in Houston last week uncovered a widely circulated e-mail from a local assistant district attorney who used the word "Canadians" to describe blacks on a jury in a pejorative way. The e-mail was written in 2003 but was revealed only recently as part of an unrelated controversy.

Apparently - at least according to some sources the article sites - this has apparently been going around for sometime. Here's another quote from a post referenced in the article:

"Ten years ago I was a hostess at a restaurant located in, let's say, a Southern city and the wait staff would often instruct me not to seat them any 'Canadians.' Once I stopped being on the lookout for hockey jerseys and vocabularies peppered with 'eh?' and 'quite,' I made a point of slamming those waiters with all the 'Canadians' I could find."

At least now I know that if someone looks at me and calls me a Canadian, I'll have to take a second to process it and see what they really mean, because maybe somewhere along the way during a secret meeting of white racists there may have been a vote to just use it as a blanket term for all people of color in a racist way.

Read more here down at CBCNEWS.