SACRE BLEU! ARE THE FRENCH MAD??????????

Everytime I read somethinng about the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, I think that the French must be mad. Understandably, the French did not know that they (at that time!) were being duped into electing what appeared to be a happily married couple -- Sarkozy and his-now-ex-wife -- into office. After winning the French election, the President announces that he and his wife are divorcing. And then soon after, the man is fornicating with a former model Carla Bruni.

The plain and simple of it is that he deceived the French people (duping them into thinking he was happily married) in order to get into office. And now he is fornicating around the world on the ticket of the French Presidency. It is utterly disgraceful and distasteful.

The French should just revolt against the man and boot him out of office so that he could go snogging his girlfriend on his own time and with his own money. Shame on you Sarkozy!

THE U.S. ELECTIONS... MORALITY COUNTS!!!!

Just a short note on the U.S. elections -- the candidates should remember that morality counts a lot in how voters vote. Hillary is viewed as clean. It was Bill Clinton who strayed -- and he has had the good sense to be goood to Hillary. On her part, Hillary has been perceived as a good wife who stood by her man. She is seen as exemplary woman and spouse to Bill Clinton and all the clips of her and her daughter together shows that she has the most excellent relationship with her daughter. Bravo.

Barack Obama is also seen in a moral light. He has a good relationship with his wife and daughters and this comes through to voters and television viewers alike. (One prays that Obama will not do a Tony Blair on the American -- and by extension the world -- public: i.e. have another child while in office. We would like to think that leaders are in office to make the country a better place and NOT SPEND THEIR TIME FORNICATING WITH THEIR OTHER HALVES! Can you imagine a world leader getting up in the middle of the night to feed the baby etc etc. What kind of attention can such a leader give to his country?)

As for the other candidates, there are a couple of old men with young wives and Rudy Giuliani is a standout for all the wrong reasons. He was involved in a nasty divorce and, morally, is obviously unfit for the White House. Whatever the lives of the American electorate might be like - be they happy, sad, miserable, in a depression, socially dysfunctional, have addictions, be in an unhappy relationship, have secret lives etc etc -- when it comes to their leaders, they want a role model of sorts! Like the rest of the people in the world.

HAHAHA... V.K. LINGAM'S SO FUNNY

The investigations being carried out by the "Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape" in Malaysia is becoming more intriguing by the day. (Google the royal commission's tag for details/background.)

The latest chapter is that lawyer V.K. Lingam claims he must have been drunk when he was supposedly recorded on video by Loh Gwo Burne (on Loh's superduper high tech mobile phone).

But what is more priceless is Lingam's firm assertion to the commission that the man in the video clip "looks like me, it sounds like me. You can ask me a hundred times, my answer will still be the same."

He is obviously a rather excellent lawyer. One thing about me is that I have respect for people who are good at what they do.

(On a completely separate note, anyone who has seen the Chua Soi Lek video knows that it is hats off to the virile 60 year old Chua -- and even a respectful bow of respect for having the dignity and courage to admit that it was him in the sex video. Chua Soi Lek has my vote if he reenters politics. Chua has also raised the bar for ministers in Malaysia -- anyone caught red handed in wrongdoings now onwards WILL lose their position! That is excellent news for accountability.)

Back to the Lingam case, from what we have all read about this case, Loh's assertion that he accidentally recorded Lingam's telephone conversation on his mobile phone's video recorder sounds absolutely dubious. Only Loh and his father know the honest truth behind the intent of recording Lingam in action. Hope they remember that that mystical thing called Karma is watching every dishonest move that human beings make.

As for the titled people in Malaysia, this all goes back to my earlier blog entry -- that titles should not be dispensed to doctors, educationists, bureaucrats, AND NOW MOST OBVIOUSLY, to lawyers as well. Businessmen also are up there in the "creep" factor and should not be given titles.

Malaysians who truly give of themselves and their material wealth for the well being and good of fellow Malaysians are the only kind of people who should be respected, celebrated and, as a last resort, be given titles.

ARE MALAYSIAN TOWN PLANNERS RETARDED?

What's with the perennial lack of car parking space in apartments and business areas in the city? And the poor environmental practices? Are the town planners just so full of hate towards trees that planting trees and greening places is an inconceivable thing for them? What is your opinion on this?

AMERICAN IDOL is BACK!!!

That most popular of TV shows is back and it looks like the producer have polished their craft even further - as if anyone thought that is possible at all!

The three judges are back, in character, and the zany, talented and plain nutty contestants are back. American Idol gives viewers around the world a glimpse of what Americana is all about.

The show's slick production values make it the biggest entertainment juggernaut on TV today.

FDA'S BIGGEST MISTAKE

What an utter letdown it was to read that the U.S. FDA will allow the sale of meat from cloned animals. Have people not learned that leting meat that is unnaturally created/cultivated into the human food chain is going to cause untold misery and diseases!?

That is how mad cow disease started - when greedy fools were allowed to feed cows (which are herbivores) parts of slaughtered cows mixed into their feed. That is the most unnatural thing against the order of nature and now a mistake is being made with cloned meat!

It is shameful that a widely respected body like FDA is letting down humanity!

IMPORTANCE OF THE U.S. ELECTION

The whole world is closely watching the U.S. elections because in the eyes of the world, it is a live-demonstration of how everyone's desire of a democracy should unfold. The U.S. elections serves as an aspirational window for the rest of the world.

... Nevermind that the political analysts in the U.S. media are a pack of idiots and morons, determined to constantly read ridiculous things into the voters' actions and over-reading the political candidates.

... look out for my rude (and hopefully funny) take on the Presidential candidates... coming soon!

IT IS HILLARY CLINTON'S WHITE HOUSE

It is kind of shocking and shameful to read the American media trying to rationalise why Hillary won the New Hampshire round. Everyone is saying that it is because there was that moment when her voice broke and her eyes welled up and thus all women voters in a frenzy of sympathy went into th epolling stations with a vengeance and save their sister, as Oprah Winfrey would have said.

But Oprah-fying the situation is the most idiotic thing that the American media could be doing (which it IS doing!). It shows the media writers/commentators' utter lack of undertanding of their fellow Americans.

To a keen observer of world politics like me, the reason is plain and simple: it is the words that she uttered (her vision of what the U.S. should be and can be) during the so-called teary-eyed-moment that convinced voters that she should be sitting in the white house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for the American media's foolish obsession with exit polls and also a propensity for conjecturing things out of thin air (like women like to see Hillary's softer side etc) -- this is all utter rubbish.

Like one of Larry King's guest put it SO accurately -- American's will choose a candidate who they think can best do the job in the White House and not choose a candidate because she is a woman or he is black. (Sorry Obama - you are inexperienced - so you're out! Along with the rest of the men. It is going to be Hillary's White House!)

DATUK SERI DR CHUA SOI LEK

Finally, there is a Malaysian politician whom I can respect: Dr Chua Soi Lek. Here is a man caught on video having sex and he did the honourable thing by admitting it was him. That is a very gentlemanly thing to do. Although he did not offer an immediate resignation from his post (which was being too hopeful and silly, actually), he has left his Ministerial post in the days after the sex DVD's release.

For being such a brave and credible man, Dr Chua Soi Lek gets my vote the next time he needs support in politics. What he does in his private time is his business and the invasion of privacy in utterly unacceptable.

It is now of great interest to all Malaysians to find out how deep the intrigue goes as for identities of the people behind the video recording. Which higher ranking politician was behind the toppling of Dr Chua Soi Lek? Wouldn't you like to know?!?!?!

US ELECTIONS

Interesting things are unfolding at the race for the U.S. White House.

Barack Obama has youth on his side. And he seems to be able to speak to the younger people in the U.S.

Hillary Clinton is showing that she is a blueblood politician and increasingly augurs hope for those who hope to see a spectacular America on the global arena

The Republicans are a reflection of the Republican-fatigue plaguing United States at the moment, because of all that George W. Bush stands for and has done (undone???). None of the Republican candidates are interesting at all.

John McCain is just too old and should go back home, put his feet up with a nice warm cup of cocoa and take it easy playing with the grandkids.

My favourite person in the U.S. elections is Ron Paul and it looks like he has disappeared off the radar at the over hyped Iowa and New Hampshire caucussess. I am sure the youth of America will revive his presence at the bigger cities as the U.S. elect
ions rolls along.

WHAT NEXT? A WAVE OF THE KERIS AT PARENTS?

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is upset with parents on the issue of extra charges borne by parents of school-going children. And his comments in the papers has been very unbecoming. It is about time Ministers in Malaysia realise that they are holding their positions at the pleasure of the people and their positions are not privileges.

Everything done by every Minister in Malaysia must be done for the greater good of Malaysians in general.

I personally feel that education and healthcare in the country must be made absolutely free. For this, we must liberally use money from Petronas. It is a state-owned company -- which to me means it must benefit every single Malaysian. School and medical facilities in Malaysia must exceed needs through the use of the petro-ringgit.

At the moment, looking at the employment practice of Petronas, it looks like this national company is targeted to benefit only certain segments of the population. C'mon -- Malaysians of every creed and colour must benefit from such a company. That is the only correct thing to do.

In terms of the Minister matter above and Petronas -- it needs to be drummed into the minds of all Malaysians that the era of the demi-godness of political privilege and position as implied by Tun Dr Mahathir's leadership are over. In the era of the beloved current Prime Minister of Malaysia, it is all about equitable distribution of wealth and the creation of a truly just society where every single Malaysian should be able to look forward to decent food, education and health in life.

STRIP TITLES FROM DOCTORS, ACADEMICS AND MIDDLING POLITICIANS/BUREAUCRATS

NO MORE TAN SRI AND DATUKS IN ACADEMIA, PLEASE

I seriously hope that the Malaysian government would seriously consider not giving titles to academics and doctors in the country. Somehow, conferment of titles to academics, especially, seems to also give the recipients a God-complex and a level of arrogance that seems to impede their intellectual progress. I suspect this is part of the reasons academics are unimpressive in this country. Doctors, depending on the strength of their character, vary a bit on this matter. Some really let the title thing get to their heads, while others mercifully still remember their Hippocratic oaths at medicine schools.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

2008 is here!

Happy New Year 2008 everyone!

The New Year has started off in a deliciously scandalous manner in Malaysia with a sex video of Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek, 60, with a young lady.

The Minister has admitted to is starring appearance in the tape. And has requested that the media leave him and his family alone for the time being. But that is not going to stop the schadenfreude fiends from moralising on the issue. What I am interested in is finding out who made the sex DVDs. I suppose the Minister should reveal to Bukit Aman which hotel the tryst took place in so that the coppers can check the names of people who have checked into that particular hotel room and analyse the hotel's CCTV to ID the guest(s) and anyone carting in workmen's tools into the premises (surely the cameras used to film the Minister were concealed and would need a bit of work done over a period of time to hide them well in the room etc).

It would also be interesting to see what the PM says on the issue. Co-incidentally, there was a year end report in The Star that had feng shui experts and an Indian fortune teller predicting what's in store for 2008 -- I AM MOST ASTONISHED THAT THE INDIAN FORTUNE TELLER PREDICTED THAT THE ELECTION WOULD BE POSTPONED BY AT LEAST A MONTH, INTO APRIL. Amazing! For surely Chua Soi Lek's current situation will merit a reconsideration of Barisan Nasional's election strategies/tiiming.

And speaking of elections, it looks like the Pakistani elections will result in Benazir Bhutto's PPP winning because of sympathy votes. Not providing enough security for Benazir is going to prove Pervez Musharraf's downfall -- even if Musharraf wins, I suspect, it will be because of massive election-rigging (i.e. there is no way in hell Musharraf can win after Benazir's assasination!!!!!!) -- as the assasination of Benazir has made her a martyr of sorts in the eyes of Pakistanis and Pakistanis are going to hand over their country on a silver platter to PPP (from what I have studied of the situation in Pakistan based on, what else, CNN's coverage!).

Nevermind that I think Benazir's son will be equally useless at running Pakistan as his late mother was... some politicians see a political position as an opportunity to amass great wealth. Which is the truth in the context of Asian countries, especially! Sigh.