So my racist and xenophobic coworker comes into my office

...and apologizes profusely. She proclaims she did not intend to send me the email (below). It was suppose to go to her brother who likes to fact-check "statistics like that." She continues to describe how she was up all night agonizing about what had happened, and that she was waiting for me all morning to come into her office to confront her. Before I could even tell her I'm fine, that I realized it was a mistake and that my name was probably fresh in her Outlook due to a correspondence we had earlier that day, she backpeddles and says unconvincingly, I hope you don't think I believe in "things like that."

I don't know which is worse. To believe in "things like that" or to deny you believe in "things like that" when you really do. Obviously if you are denying those beliefs, then you must know they are wrong. Right?

She should have left it alone. I already decided not to report her violation of our company email policy to Human Resources or to the executive director, a progressive African American man. I can see anyone making this same mistake. Also, I simply believe everyone has a right to their opinions, even if they are hateful and ignorant, and hope that others would respect my perhaps divergent opinions and freedom to express them (even though there's no such thing in the workplace). But her explanations were dubious because: First, if she meant to send it to her brother (who remains nameless), why was the email addressed to me in the BCC line? That actually led me to believe I was part of a larger distribution list of neo-nazi right-wingers, and maybe they are being cultivated and harvested at my job? Second, the title of her subject line did not have a "FW:" in front of it. Third, her signature block was right under the end of the message.

Oso Grande said that I should have considered reporting her, that we should stop hate mongers like her... or make this opportunity a teachable moment. I did not want to do either, and was accused of being a weak liberal. I wish I did not know at all. To know that this coworker deeply despises the people I serve and the work I do everyday, it's really unsettling. But I guess if the two of us with such divergent beliefs can coexist without any problems, I expect others to do the same. That's what America should be. In fact, maybe I'm not a weak liberal, but rather, a strong American? Take that, Oso.

This is my response (and co-worker's response) to the previous email

So sorry, DYY. I did not mean to send it.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Device

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: DYY
To:
Sent: Mon Jul 19 15:48:37 2010
Subject: RE: Born: 1776, Died 2008


Hi -----,

I just read this email from you and I'm not sure if you had intended to send it to me, but I don't think this correspondence is appropriate for the workplace. I actually found it offensive and am concerned about others who might feel the same.

I don't mean to quash your communications, and have no intentions of taking this any further, but just thought you might want to know.

Thanks,
DYY

Subject line entitled: BORN 1776, Died 2008

So I received an email yesterday from a coworker who I believe must have sent it to me inadvertently, since I am the national director of affirmative action & diversity and all...
*********************************************************************************

Born 1776, Died 2008...
Born 1776, Died 2008
It doesn't hurt to read this several times.


Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning last November's Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Obama: 19 McCain: 29
Square miles of land won by: Obama: 580,000 McCain: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Obama: 127 million McCain: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2 McCain: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory McCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.

Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals - and they vote - then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.

If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

Mandatory Quarantine

For the most part, I have been home-bound and isolated from the rest of society due to pink eye. The doctor said I'm highly contagious and should not return to work until Thursday. For a hardworking cheap chinese laborer like myself, three days away from work is a long ass time. Though I need the break so perhaps it's a blessing in disguise? Of course I worked remotely still. But calling into meetings wearing pajamas and without showering is somewhat gratifying to me. I think I enjoy working from home. I also learned that, if by any chance in the future or at Armageddon, I am detained and/or forced into mandatory quarantine or solitary confinement, I believe I can do it.

I entertained myself by baking cupcakes, watching back-to-back episodes of The Wire, gardening, flipping through magazines at Rite Aid, eating junk food, organizing my guestroom, napping, surfing channels and the internet for anything Blagojevich-related, reading about Michelle Obama. It is from reading her biography that I realize that Michelle and I have much in common. As if we are kindred spirits.

Both Michelle and I love Barack Obama. We are both public-interest minded lawyers. We both grew up in the South side of Chicago to working-class families. We both attended Whitney Young H.S. We both went to prestigious colleges. Michelle went to Princeton while I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (it's ranked #2 in the nation for engineering...). Michelle's senior thesis is entitled, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community". This was the controversial thesis that caused people to call her a "black militant" just because she critiqued the lack of support and services for black students at Princeton.

Reading about this reminded me of the final paper I wrote for my Asian American Jurisprudence class in law school. I wrote about how the interests of Asian Americans were subordinated by the interests of other ethnic minorities in a perceived (or actual) zero-sum game manipulated by The Man. I used the LA Riots and the cabdriver situation in NYC as examples. Although I still stand by my arguments, I would be horrified to have my law school paper scrutinized and misinterpreted by like everyone. Totally, completely horrified. I remember having to do an all-nighter to write that paper because I had procrastinated all year. I would hate people to judge me on a paper I wrote when I was cracked out at 23 years old. Poor Michelle had to defend herself for something she wrote for a class in college at the age of 21.

Ten years later, I wonder where my paper is... and could it destroy me or my credibility? I assume one physical copy is with Professor Kang while an electronic copy is on a floppy disk somewhere. Maybe it won't resurface when I get my appointment from Obama? Let's hope.

My next post? Perhaps similarities with Gov. Rod Blagojevich? He and I probably have more in common actually.

PAY TO PLAY, BITCH! No one rides for free.

I don't even care that msnbc reported cnn's mischaracterization of this. I still believe it.

People from Wasilla scare me

Lady Simzie says she's so over Palin. Like an old, wet newspaper. Not me. I'm still amused.

Palin is a wonderful public servant. In this video, she teaches us not to worry about "heavy-handed politics" and criticism as long as we have fun. Keep it real, sister.

Description and video, courtesy of the Huffington Post:

On Thursday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared in Wasilla in order to pardon a local turkey in anticipation of Thanksgiving. This proved to be a slightly absurd but ultimately unremarkable event. But what came next was positively surreal. After the pardon Palin proceeded to do an interview with a local TV station while the turkeys were being SLAUGHTERED in the background!! Seemingly oblivious to the gruesomeness going on over her shoulder, she carries on talking for over three minutes. Watch the video below to see for yourself. Be warned, it's kind of gruesome.

Joe Lieberman sucks

They should have made him eat shit. Fucken liberals. That's why Republicans continue their bullshit with impunity. Democrats are so fucken lucky right now to have Barack Obama on their team.

One day more...

Okay, you have to be a fan of the musical Les Miserables... and if you are, this video is quite superb. GOBAMA!

Super Fat Tuesday

Although I would have been more excited if Obama won California (with only 30% of California precincts reporting at the moment, I still have faith that the tides may turn by morning...), I still thoroughly enjoyed my first ever Super (and) Fat Tuesday.

I made jambalaya for the first time ever:

I made it from scratch and used the crock pot Blu-tooth gave me for my birthday last year. It's my first time ever using a crock pot. It was surprisingly fun and easy. Yeah, I approve. And, yes, that's corn.

Here's an artsy photo of my jambalaya:


For my efforts, DV8 brought me mardi gras beads. I didn't even have to show my tits (though I felt compelled to, due to the holiday spirit).

This one is my favorite:


The festivities continued with election results on TV. We switched between Katie Couric on CBS and Brian Williams on NBC. Both sucked. But what can you do when you only have Channels 2 & 4?

I found the elections to be quite exciting, even the Republican race was fascinating... until Obama lost California. All of a sudden my Tuesday didn't feel as super or as fat. But I remain hopeful.

Obama v. Clinton

So I watched the final democratic primary debate between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. I am ashamed to admit that this is the first (and apparently the last) debate I watched this election season... and it was boring. Nothing like the previous spars I had unfortunately missed.

But I am very pleased to announce that watching tonight's debates affirmed my decision to VOTE FOR OBAMA. He impressed me with his response to the immigration issue. The question was:

How do you propose to address the high unemployment rates and the declining wages in the African-American community that are related to the flood of immigrant labor?"

And Obama's answer was:

Well, let me first of all say that I have worked on the streets of Chicago as an organizer with people who have been laid off from steel plants, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and, you know, all of them are feeling economically insecure right now, and they have been for many years. Before the latest round of immigrants showed up, you had huge unemployment rates among African-American youth.

And, so, I think to suggest somehow that the problem that we're seeing in inner-city unemployment, for example, is attributable to immigrants, I think, is a case of scapegoating that I do not believe in, I do not subscribe to.

Word up, brother.

I believe Barack will be the agent of change. A radical change, I hope. Hilary brings with her the same old shit and I'm over it.

Interesting news

With all that is happening, I have been mostly consumed with the WGA strikes (cuz it's closely connected to my gig) and the primaries this year... it's so exciting! I love that there is no clear winner in either parties, unlike the upcoming Superbowl... I hate that the Patriots are favored to win. They are so fucken smug, especially Tom Brady. I just want to kick him in the groin. But I digress.

Despite my narrow interests lately, I found these articles most fascinating.

• Meat consumption is analogous to oil consumption (please read, it's very persuasive)
  

• The power of our period (Women rock! We produce natural healing properties... like aloe vera)
  

• Infliction of emotion distress by Blue Man Group (I don't know why, but reading this made me chuckle like a stupid little boy)

It's on!

I don't normally just cut and paste but this one is so good... and by one of my favorite bloggers (a guilty pleasure)... the gossip gangsta himself, PEREZ HILTON:

That little muckraker!

Movie mogul David Geffen has stirred up a whirlwind of trouble in the Democratic party as a result of these comments he made in The New York Times about former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary.

Said Geffen, "Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it's troubling."

He added, "I don't think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person..

According to Geffen, Bill Clinton is "a reckless guy" who "gave his enemies a lot of ammunition to hurt him and to distract the country."

And as for Hilary? He says, "It's not a very big thing to say, 'I made a mistake' on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can't. She's so advised by so many smart advisers who are covering every base. I think that America was better served when the candidates were chosen in smoke-filled rooms."

He wasn't done with her yet, though.

More on Hilary!

Says Geffen, "Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don't think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is -- and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? -- can bring the country together."

Not happy at all, Hilary's spokesperson released a statement criticizing both Geffen and Senator Barak Obama, Clinton's chief campaign rival and the recipient of a lot of money from Dreamworks' David.

Said the statement, "While Sen. Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Sen. Clinton and her husband. If Sen. Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money. While Democrats should engage in a vigorous debate on the issues, there is no place in our party or our politics for the kind of personal insults made by Sen. Obama's principal fundraiser."

Barack, not one to shy away from confrontation, shot back.

Obama countered, "It's not clear to me why I'd be apologizing for someone else's remark. I have said repeatedly I have the utmost respect for Sen. Clinton and have considered her an ally in the Senate and will continue to consider it that way throughout this campaign."

And, making things even nastier, Barack's spokesperson said the following, "We aren't going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when [he] was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom. It is also ironic that Sen. Clinton lavished praise on Monday and is fully willing to accept today the support of South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford, who said if Barack Obama were to win the nomination, he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party because 'he's black.'"

Oh, shit. It's on!

And, it's only gonna get nastier from here!

Snow Globes and Politicos

I fear that I seem much more craftier than I am. That's not even my snow globe above. I am merely a wanna-be, an arts & crafts neophyte... but with a deep interest in projects of self-sustainment i.e. making your own shit in order to reduce corporate consumption. It's really hard not to be a cog in the consumer culture (especially for me!) but I think every little action counts. Soon, I'll be sewing my own clothes and harvesting coffee beans in my backyard. Okay, that's a lie. But if I could, I would.

Plus, it's just fun to mix arts & crafts with friends and alcohol.

Pictured above is my christmas tree ornament. It turned out to be a lovely colorful furry ball. Since we do not have tree this year, it's now hanging from the rear view mirror of my car.

It was such a surprise to arrive at Craft Night and see the gang there -- Blu-Tooth, Minnie Mouse, Tron, Lady Pun and the newest angeleno, Mkydy. I love how something so small has grown among my group of homies. I did not expect them as George and I arrived late after attending Mike Eng's Swearing-In Ceremony as the newest State Assemblymember representing the 49th District. I haven't been interested in politicians since college, but I love Mike. He's a solid, progressive leader. He's one of the few politicians that I would wholeheartedly support. In fact, if he asked me to precinct walk for him, I would, even though I hate doing that shit. Thank god he never asked.

If Mike ever asked me to be one of his political strategists, I would be on board in a heart beat and leave my job and everything. I doubt he would ask though since I have 0% experience. But it seems like something I could do and do well. It actually seems fun. Fortunately, I made George promise me that if he ever runs for an elected office, he would hire me as his strategist. Years ago, I also made my former roommate from law school promise me if she ever ran for political office, she would make me her campaign manager. Dude, you always gotta think for the future.

World peace is possible

I love morning radio. I wake up to NPR/KPCC and delight in the short soundbites I hear before I snooze my alarm for another 6 minutes. My clock radio continues to stay on while I get ready for work. It has become part of my routine and like the ultimate nerd, I really enjoy it.

This morning I was elated to hear that world peace is possible.

First, the bully John Bolton resigned today from his short-lived tenure as UN Ambassador.

This news bring joy to my heart because the Bush Administration is slowly but surely crumbling.

Moral of the Story: Bullies never win.

Then I hear this crazy story about how Lionel Ritchie is LOVED by the people in Iraq. Apparently, when Lionel last toured the Middle East, warring factions set aside their differences to watch Lionel perform. The radio commentator playfully said, "Sunnis and Shiites have two things in common: their love for Allah and their love for Lionel Ritchie."

This brings joy to my heart because I too love Allah and Lionel Ritchie.

Moral of the Story: Lovers never lose.

Teacher, pick me!

When cultural appreciation goes terribly wrong...

Vote No on Prop. 83 & 85

Tomorrow (well, today) is Election Day. Please remember to vote. And let's pray that the Democrats will take back both the House and the Senate. I think it may be possible.

Also, if you reside in California, please vote NO on Propositions 83 & 85. Prop. 85 requires parental notification for a minor to terminate a pregnancy. Of course, we all know how wrong that is, so there is no need to discuss it (I hope).

Many liberal and progressive organizations and unions, however, are silent (likely due to political reasons) on Prop 83, which prohibits registered sex offenders from residing within 2,000 feet of any school or park and expands monitoring of such offenders to include lifelong global positioning system tracking. That is so fucked up. Why must sex offenders continue to be punished for their crime, even when they have already served their time and paid their debt to society? We as a society already have a website to monitor the residences of sex offenders, but now we're going to tell them where they can or cannot live? Don't we all know by now that most sex offenses are committed by people we know, rather than random strangers on the streets?

I know I am a minority when it comes to this view, but I feel very strongly about it. There are better ways to reduce recidivism.

Read this LA Times article about how Prop 83 can negatively impact our communities. The article is actually quite neutral, but it does a great job outlining the arguments for both sides.

Big ups to Cali

California lawmakers and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reached an agreement today to make the state the first in the U.S. to impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

The Global Warming Solutions Act aims to cut emissions to 25 percent by 2020 with an enforceable cap and mandatory reporting for top polluters like energy companies.

As the most populous state in the US, California is the world's 12th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. But the Terminator wants to change all that.

Last month Schwarzenegger signed an accord with British Prime Minister Tony Blair establishing joint research into cleaner-burning fuels and technologies. Now look what he's doing today!

But the governor's commitment to emissions caps puts him at odds with the White House and the Republicans in the California legislature, who are concerned that such restrictions would be too costly for businesses and the economy.

Tough shit. Why should we sacrafice the earth so that corporations can squeeze the most profits out of their businesses? I'm so tired of these blood-sucking fuckers. I hope they choke on greenhouse gases.

Iran's president is a blogger!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started his own blog (www.ahmadinejad.ir), and has begun to urge users to send messages to him. His blog includes a poll asking if users think the US and Israel are trying to trigger a new world war.

Now that's hot. I'm going to add his blog to my list of bloggin buddies shortly...

Lieberman the Loser

... or is he?

US Senator Joe Lieberman concedes the democratic primary election to challenger Ned Lamont and announces that he will run as an independent candidate in November 2008.

I mean, did he seriously think he was going to win the DEMOCRATIC primaries? It's true that democratics and republicans are the same in many ways... but this mofo was much further (FAR) right. He's like one of those evangelical christian republicans, but instead, he's jewish. I guess that would make him a zionist.

If he was truly a democrat, he would have cowardly and quietly supported the war efforts in the beginning, and now denounce it with a moral indignation (sigh... i belong to a party filled with pussies and punks). Rather, Lieberman still rallies for the war, and with vigor. With raw zionist vigor. So how can he call himself a Democrat? I guess he didn't read the memo.

Could this be an elaborate plan for him to leave the democratic party and still save face? As an "independent" who wasn't ousted by his party, he could still win the votes of conservative democrats, and now garnish support of republicans. And he can finally come out of the closet and be the neo-conservative republican he always wanted to be. It could be a brilliant plan, especially if the little troll can pull it off. I shudder to think about it.

But for tonight, I drink and smoke to Lieberman's loss. Burp.

No love for Condi

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received an honorary degree and addressed graduates at Boston College today. Faculty and students stood with their backs toward the stage as Rice was introduced to give her commencement speech.

A letter written by two theology professors, and signed by more than 10 percent of the faculty, kicked off the opposition to Rice. "On the levels of both moral principle and practical moral judgment, Secretary Rice's approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with Boston College's commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university's work," the letter said.

"We are very concerned as Catholics that Boston College has invited Condoleezza Rice, who is an architect of this foreign policy and war. ... That is hardly something to honor," said Brayton Shanley, a BC alumnus and co-founder of Agape, a lay Catholic organization that has been working with students to organize the protests.