GEORGE W. BUSH HAS A NEW NICKNAME--- BURNING BUSH!!!!!!

I've held back as long as possible from not saying anything bad about President George W. Bush. But some things need to be said before he leaves office. The man is an idiot! He is stupid and has no self-generated ideals about what he wants America to be in the eyes of the world (or even what he wants the U.S. to represent to young Americans!!!!!)

He has done plenty of bad things under bad advice (going into Iraq for the oil and nothing else). And George W. Bush has been an inconsequential leader of the world, a de facto role the U.S. enjoys by the strength of its founding fathers' vision for the country (and how much has been achieved of the founding fathers' vision of the U.S.).

I now hereby Christen George W. Bush....... the BURNING BUSH!
(And take that -- POW! -- for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol!)

LANG LANG - SUPERSTAR CHINESE CLASSICAL PIANIST!

The Grammy Awards show gave the global music audience a glimpse of the mega talented Chinese classical music superstar: Lang Lang. This amazingly talented young man is going to shake up the world of classical music. Watch him grow from strength to strength folks! Lang Lang is pure passion and talent at work.

GRAMMY AWARDS

AMY WINEHOUSE IS QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE!

It was exhilarating to see Amy Winehouse win so many Grammy awards! She deserves it thoroughly. The Glorious Mizz Amy won Grammy awards for Record of the Year; Song of The Year; Best New Artist; Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; and Best Pop Vocal Album.

It was sad though to see Album of the Year Grammy go to Herbie Hancock -- Amy was robbed of this Grammy for no good reason, if you ask me!

French leader... how long will the marriage last?????

Hey people, wanna place bets on how long the French President' new marriage is gonna last? Not till the end of the year, if you ask me!

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.

CLOVERFIELD

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Movie trailer...

It is amazing in this day and age that Cloverfield has surprisingly managed to remain a -- well -- surprise! No one knows what the monster is. It is just touted as a monster film. And the trailers are determined not to give anything away. Damn!

I just hope Cloverfield does not turn out to be like that superdud of a movie, Godzilla (1998). That Roland Emmerich directed Godzilla had, arguably, the best trailer of all time. The Godzilla trailer built up anticipation like no other -- but when I saw the final product of a film on the big screen, I almost vomited blood at how lame the film's script was.

Anyway, Cloverfield is being produced by J.J.Abrams, who has a reliable reputation for creating on-screen magic (nevermind that 2006's Mission: Impossible 3, which he directed has no shelf life with audiences outside of the cinema) and we can all only hope that the film will grab audiences' imagination when it opens!

TOP WORLD LEADERS

POLITICIANS WHO ARE IMPRESSIVE... AND OTHERS WHO ARE NOT

BEST POLITICIANS...
1. IMPRESSIVE: Germany's Angela Merkel is turning out to be a remarkable politician indeed. She is the first female chancellor of Germany and, by jove, she has got the idea of statesmanship down pat. She demonstrates elegantly that a country's leader does not have to make a lot of noise and preen in front of the media to get the job done. Sometimes, a leader just has to be there -- that is all that is needed done!

2. FANTASTIC: China's leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are also exemplary leaders - able to manoeuvre such a complicated country as China with suuch dexterity and speed. If they can refine the health aspect of the country -- in terms of food safety and putting a lid on environmental pollution, this will truly be the Chinese century.

3. WORTH WATCHING: Australia's Kevin Rudd is a breath of fresh air and a valid replacement of the decrepid John Howard.

4. HERO-WORSHIP POTENTIAL: Whatever you say about Bill Clinton, he is making himself out to be quite the humanitarian and beautifully positioning himself to be a respected elder statessman of global politics. Clinton deserves praise for all the good that he is doing.
(The only complaint I have against Clinton would be having had a duffer of a dullwit like Al Gore as his vice-president. I still find it hard to forgive Gore and that despicable bulldog-looking Madeleine Korbel Albright for coming to Malaysia and throwing this country's politics into slight disarray with uncalled for criticism many years ago during the previous Prime Minister's regime -- these two fools Gore and Albright unwittingly empowered the Islamic fundamentalist party PAS at that time through their stupidity and utter ignorance! The American ambassador at that time also deserves a thorough beating for doing a lousy job of being an amabassador at that time, feeding Washington biased reports after listening to the disgruntled arty crowd that didn't know the reality of life in Malaysia.)

MOST MISSED POLITICIAN...
1. ELEGANT AND CREDIBLE: Junichiro Koizumi is the former Japanese prime minister who made people sit up and watch when he took the stage, either in Japan or the world stage. An impressive man, he brought Japanese political bullies swiftly to their knees and it was the height of the good that politicians can do too the political machinery in their country. Now, if only he had done something about the distressing Japanese whale-hunts...



LAUGHABLE LOT...

1. PUPPET THEATRE: Afghanistan and Iraq now are ruled by U.S. puppets and the outcome of such political manipulation is not going to be good. Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and Iraq's Jalal Talabani appear ineffectual and obviously actinng as U.S. puppets. As former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said, the oil interest in Iraq is the main reason the Republicans' leadership is maintaining a military presence in Iraq and the whole world can see this. May the democrats win the U.S. election and George W Bush be booted into oblivion in history books for the evil that he has unwittingly done in destabilising the middle east (and thus endangering the liberal and progressive non-Muslim populations that live in Asian countries, especially in south east Asia).


MOST HATED...

1. VILE VILLAIN: Tony Blair should be collectively cursed by the population of this planet for being the despicable politician that he is.

DISGRACEFUL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS

MALAYSIANS OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED!

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” -- Mahatma Gandhi

The Malay Mail carried a heartbreaking report on Dec 3, 2007 of monkeys trapped in a container-contraption and left to starve in the Kiara area.

I think it is shameful that Malaysians have come to be this callous about life to this extent! What kind of people can bear to see even baby animals harmed in such a manner? It is especially shocking that there is so much hate for animals that are being depleted off their natural environment in supposedly posh areas like Kiara and that other area in Gasing where the residents are always whining about monkeys being a nuisance.

One would be right in suspecting that these very types of people, when they travel to first world countries on holidays would marvel at the way animals roam freely into residential neighbourhoods (like in the U.S. and Canada) and sing praises of how man and animals should live like that.

But back home, they see animals differently. It is a fact that animals would roam into human habitat to search and forage for food as their natural surroundings are increasingly decimated. In this respect, the local authorities should be smacked on their heads hard for not coming up with solutions that would strike a balance for the various species to live together -- i.e. create buffer zones that are planted with fruit trees suitable for the animals to feed on or have qualified officers advice the residents on the kind of activities that would provide sustenance for the animals (i.e. food suitable for animals left in designated areas at regular times by members from the residents association, where these people can take turns to do so). There is a whole world of creative solutions that can be worked out to handle and care for the animals in a more humane way. The Federal Government too has been a disgrace in this respect of forcing or making people live with animals. For a society that once took pride in living at one with nature, Malaysians have now become so detached from nature and have let hubris take over in their God-like behavior over lesser life forms.

Decision makers and residents of places mentioned above, in general, are pathetic. And they sometimes wonder why they are looked down upon when they travel or try to migrate to developed countries! With heartless mindsets like the ones showcased towards the Kiara monkeys, these Malaysians should be trapped in containers themselves!