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I don’t watch American Idol but I stumbled across this on Google News while searching for Asian American news. Ramiele Malubay, 19-year-old Filipino-American, is one of the top 24 finalists of this season’s American Idol.

Here’s her casting video. And she does have a great voice (although she went a little flat at one part).

I really half-expected for Simon to say something racist when he tripped all over Ramiele’s name. Nonetheless, Ramiele seems infinitely more talented than Jasmine Trias, Sanjaya Malakar, and of course William Hung.

If you watch American Idol, keep an eye out for Ramiele. I’m actually curious to see how she does.

Incidentally, I was pretty annoyed that the announcer guy on this segment (is that Ryan Seacrest?) talked about Jasmine’s success in “her native Phillipines”. Jasmine is Filipino-American, born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is no more native to the Phillipines than you or I.

Following weeks of divisive conflict within the Asian American community, 80/20 returned to the negotiating table with the Obama campaign and agreed to alter two of the questions in their questionnaire so that Obama could respond with all yes-es. Both questions were remedied to remove any reference to a quota, but left the remainder of all six questions unaltered.

80/20 noted that two members of the Obama campaign worked diligently to arrive at an agreement with 80/20. 80/20 says:

80-20 considers the commitment from Senator Obama to Asian American issues to be at least as strong as the commitment from Senator Clinton, Senator Edwards, and Governor Richardson. Henceforth, with the exception of California, 80-20 is neutral in the primary contests between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama.

It’s not entirely clear what 80/20 means in its “exception” of California, particularly considering most of the Asian American population is located in California; does it really mean much if 80/20 remains “neutral” in Idaho?

Nonetheless, I hope this represents an end to the shockingly inflammatory rhetoric and misinformation we’ve seen coming out of 80/20. And it certainly demonstrates to me Obama’s commitment to finding solutions between disparate parties.

And perhaps, as reader Ada has suggested, we can unite behind building a better world for our community. And for many Asian Americans, that means voting for Senator Barack Obama on February 5th.

I was going to live-blog tonight’s debate but traffic was pretty bad, so I got back fifteen minutes in. But here we go, anyways.

6:29 Obama and Clinton are debating healthcare. Dear Ms. Clinton, it’s a simple question: What. Is. The. Penalty. For. Not. Getting. Healthcare. Under. Your. System?

Goddammit, someone needs to push her for that answer. I really want to hear her say that, not just assume that everyone can afford to be forced to purchase healthcare.

6:31 Obama wants to put negotiations with pharmaceutical companies on C-SPAN. That is a great idea.

6:43 Ugh. In response to the immigration question, Clinton just pandered hard to the African American community, suggesting that it is Black people who are most hurt by illegal immigrants. That’s incredibly racist.

6:54 Well, it looks like Clinton finally has a clear stance on driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants: she’s against it. How very poll-tested of her. 

7:00 How is working for the Children’s Defense Fund as a recently graduated law student more experience than turning down corporate positions to work as a community organizer for working-class families most affected by unemployment?

7:01 It’s nice to cite one’s experience as a First Lady, being given “lots of responsibility”. Especially when no one can challenge you because you won’t release the records of the First Lady’s Office from that time.

7:05 Is anyone else a little put off by Clinton’s “I have Kennedys, too” argument? The two candidates are debating endorsements — generally, both candidates are right that the average American doesn’t give two whits about who endorsed whom.

7:11 Awesome question! How can Clinton be an agent of change when we’ve had the same two families in office for the last 30 years? Clinton sidesteps the question. Because, clearly, you can’t be an agent of change (like Obama is an agent of change) if most of your campaign relies on the experience you obtained as First Lady. As Edwards charged, Clinton is the textbook definition of status quo.

7:17 Back from commercial break, Clinton is challenged that she will not commit to removing all troops from Iraq by sixteen months following inauguration.

7:19 Is anyone else weirded out by the random celebrities-in-the-audience shots in this debate? Dude, are we here for Obama and Clinton, or to ogle Pierce Brosnan?

7:26 Politico.com question time, and Clinton is challenged on her pre-Iraq War votes. Clinton gives her usual answer: “If I knew then what I know now…” except that Clinton has been accused of not seeking out information — available to all senators — about the bad intelligence that led to the Iraq War quagmire. Instead, she judged a briefing to be good enough knowledge upon which to base her vote; now, that intelligence has been deemed poor and incorrect — can we still believe Clinton has the judgement to make the decisions for this country if she doesn’t judge it necessary to go find out more information?

7:29 Obama is questioned on the troop surge. He notes that Democrats want progress in Iraq — I love his quip “We have set the bar so low, it is buried in the sand.” That sums up the situation very nicely. Overall, a very good answer on foreign policy from Obama; hopefully it will assuage those who think Obama’s foreign policy is naive.

7:35 Wolf just got booed by California by trying to inflame Clinton, saying “So, are you saying you were naive” with the vote for the Iraq War? Clinton earns herself another five minutes of air-time. Are there two people in this debate? Obama has even put down his pen — Wolf, you are clearly biased. Cut Clinton off — she’s practically fillibustering.

7:38 “We need someone who’s going to be right on day one.” Yes we do, not someone who flip-flops based on polling data and the political winds.

7:43 Obama is asked about how to address concerns about sex and violence in Hollywood. He rejects censorship and embraces better parenting — which is spot-on to what I believe. Arm parents, but don’t censor art. He also thinks it’s appropriate to work with Hollywood to try and discourage inappropriate trailers and commercials from airing during family-friendly shows. I wish Clinton had been posed this question — she took a hard-line censorship stance as a NYC senator when it came to violent video games; would she take the same stance when faced with a sea full of Hollywood execs?

7:46 Clinton instead is asked about Bill — can she control him? Personally, I think Bill is uncontrollable — even on the campaign trail, he talks about himself more than his wife. And look how he went off on a 9/11 truther earlier today; sure, the truther had some ridiculous opinions, but there’s no need to be rude and dismissive of him, telling him to just “go away”.

7:48 Final question: oh God. Wolf’s gonna ask them if they would run together. No. Just, no. I actually don’t really want Obama on the same ticket with Clinton; Clinton is so divisive, I really don’t think he can come out of a Clinton presidency clean, especially if Obama has to be vice president to a political power couple that has been exceptionally racist against the African American community in recent weeks. Now, Obama/Edwards? That might be a very cool ticket.

As Clinton vocalizes a long-winded agreement to Obama’s speech about needing to change government (and plugs her website like a low-budget rap artist), I’m worried about Obama’s chances in California. The audience seemed generally less enthused about Obama than about Clinton, so I worry. 

It’s gonna be a hard, final push. Let’s get everyone mobilized. 

Here's a perfect example of why it is dangerous to believe anything you hear from the mainstream media, especially if it involves the evil ways of the Clintons. Always, it's wise to do some research to make certain that the outrageous 'fact' you just read did not come from a 'journalist' as brain-dead or biased against the Clintons as Jake Tapper.

Either Jake Tapper, senior national correspondent at ABC (!), hates Bill Clinton and so willfully lies about him, or Jake Tapper is a moron who is an embarrassment to ABC News and the discipline of journalism.

Jake Tapper states that Bill Clinton said: “We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions ’cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren.”

Yet further down on Jake Tapper's website, we find the transcript of what Bill Clinton actually said:

“And maybe America, and Europe, and Japan, and Canada — the rich counties — would say, ‘OK, we just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions ’cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren. We could do that.

“But if we did that, you know as well as I do, China and India and Indonesia and Vietnam and Mexico and Brazil and the Ukraine, and all the other countries will never agree to stay poor to save the planet for our grandchildren. The only way we can do this is if we get back in the world’s fight against global warming and prove it is good economics that we will create more jobs to build a sustainable economy that saves the planet for our children and grandchildren. It is the only way it will work."

Tapper titled his manufactured story: Bill: “We Just Have to Slow Down Our Economy” to Fight Global Warming. I've been staring at the lying headline over at memeorandum all day. Gawd only knows how many news organizations, blogs, Obamamanians and anti-Clinton charlatans have picked up the story. You may well see it on Clinton-hating MSNBC later tonight.

Mainstream media morons like Tapper pull this crap all the time. Many mainstream 'journalists' couldn't pass an undergrad journalism course if their life depended on it simply because the first requirement is reading comprehension.

Sadly, No! has the story: Depressingly stupid goddamn journalism

Bill Clinton MSM News Democrats Jake Tapper Hillary Clinton Politics Media Clinton Derangement Syndrome

Is Erica Jong insane?

It appears to be quite possible.

I’m all for greater discussion about male circumcision. Personally, I find circumcision seriously troubling. I wouldn’t do it to my kid. If you want to be circumcised, more power to you, but I think parents have an obligation to allow their children to make decisions about permanent body modifications for themselves, once they’re old enough to understand all the of the issues involved. That said, I don’t blame individual parents who have made the decision to circumcise their children – at least for my generation in the United States, circumcision was billed by the medical establishment as “clean,” as “healthy,” and as “normal.” I don’t have stats on this, but I would guess that the majority of boys born in the 1980s in the United States are circumcised. I don’t think that those boys have parents who are cruel or stupid. I don’t think that these boys are mutilated; I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them or their bodies. I think that religious and cultural reasons behind circumcision are compelling, and I believe that most parents have the best interests of their children in mind. But I do think that circumcising children without that child’s consent (and at an age where the child is totally unable to give consent) is wrong.

But that isn’t really what Jong is talking about. Instead, she writes a bizarre screed about how Jewish men have issues with women, and manages to not only insult Jews and men in general, but Asian, Asian-American, black, African-American and Eastern European women in one fell swoop.

Ever wonder why Jewish boys are so fucked up about sex? Ever wonder why they fall for mile-high models from Slovenia who wear those big cold crosses? Ever wonder why they like Chinese girls, Chinese-American girls, Blonde shiksa cheerleaders from Kansas? Or those cool black models who dance like Beyonce?

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Silly Site o' the Day

There’s now a t-shirt just for you. Two pages of shirts, even. And all the proceeds go to NARAL — what could be better?

Thanks to Laurie for the link.

6pm, Link Lounge — 15th and Irving Pl.

I’ll be there around 7:15. Hope to see some of you!

Hillary and Obama face off tonight in the Democratic Debate at the Kodak Center in Hollywood, and it's being billed as Hotter Than the Oscars!

This is the last Democratic Debate before Super Tuesday and the first debate which will feature a match between 'the last Democrats still standing:' Hillary Rodham Clinton v. Barack Obama.

A woman versus an African American competing for the job of President of the USA. What an historic event!

CNN makes the debate sound like the The Super Bowl Debate or the World Championship Boxing Match.


Hillary Clinton Barack Obama News Democratic Primary Debate Kodak Theater Politics California Video

This headline is from an article in The L Magazine promoting a ladies' night in Manhattan. Hilarious, don't cha think? I mean, rape always is.

Thanks to Darcee for the link.