Viet-Justice

Desert Barbarians have called for blowing up Danish embassies and killing of their ambassadors.  Why?  For cartoons, of course.  Such as this one.

New Jersey is not exactly the best place in the world, and the latest news from ABC shows that it has taken a step down hill.  Congo, a German Shepherd, attacked an illegal immigrant in Princeton, NJ and has been ordered to be executed by a judge.  A petition to Gov. Corzine to pardon the dog has gone unnoticed.  An anonymous resident made this foolish statement,

“I would hate my hometown and home state to go down in history as the place where suburbanites value their dogs above their lives of those they hire to tend their yards,”

Who had their life endangered?  I don’t see any papers identifying any US Citizen or authorized resident alien endangered by Congo.  If you are an undocumented worker, then you don’t exist in any database and therefore should not be entitled to any inputs into our civil or criminal justice system.  We need changes in legislation to allow us to identify individuals that have no rights to our government services and block them using ID Cards or other technologies.  If you can’t produce an ID Card that proves you are a citizen or lawful resident alien, then the computer will not allow you to fill out any of the forms necessary to file a civil lawsuit.  If the police scan your ID and it says you are not here legally, the computer will not let them file a report.  I think technology can be the fix for many of our problems, if we use it correctly.  If these electronic measures were in effect, then Congo would not be in this situation.

Here is another problem district with zero common sense.  Megan Coulter was suspended for hugging classmates goodbye.

District Superintendent Sam McGowen said that he thinks the penalty is fair and that administrators in the school east of St. Louis were following policy in the student handbook.

It states: “Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved.”

Saying  goodbye in a manner that is customary to your social group is in poor taste, reflects poor judgement, and brings discredit to all involved.  WTF?  Dr. McGowen must be a boring and uncultured person.  To believe that self expression is poor judgement indicates that he is trying to create a sterile environment at his school district.  To also say that self-expression brings discredit to the school and to others involved is also a foolish statement.  Zero tolerance equals zero credibility.  It is impossible to discredit some entity that has no credibility, so I am not sure why he wasted the reporter’s time with that statement.  It is obvious that in this word of political correctness at school districts that we have an over budget problem.  Anyone who has taken an undergraduate intro to law class understands that the law is not fair and that due to limited police and judicial resources only the most serious offenders are pursued.  I do not think we would want to live in a world where the police have unlimited resources since there are many silly laws on the books that date back hundreds of years that we would not want enforced.  By the same token I believe that school officials have way too much money and free time to be pursuing silly issues such as hugging.  What we need is a drive to cut school funding.  If they have time to punish young people for being human and expressing themselves, then they are over funded and need to be brought back in line with other government agencies.

If you want to tell the school district how much you appreciate their stupidity providing you with entertainment then here is the contact information

Dr. Sam McGowen, Superintendent
720 West Harnett Street
Mascoutah, IL 62258

Administration Office:  618-566-7414
Business Office: 618-566-2927
District Information Line:  618-566-9344
Fax:  618-566-4507

Via Digg:  Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks has offended the Muslim world by drawing the prophet Mohammad as a dog.  In the interest of informing and offending the public we have reposted his art work here.  Lars now has a $100,000 fatwa against him.  Let’s celebrate freedom of speech and turning the channel if you happen to be offended.

This fatwa describes why music is unislamic. There are some entertaining moral arguments that just don’t make sense.

Music and temporary entertainments sink the human in physical pleasures and prevent him/her from true spiritual gains. In conclusion, music has a great role to play in preventing a human from realising the purpose of creation.

And for what purpose is that? In a world of freedom and self-determination the individual has his or her own purpose in life. Both Christians and Muslims need to understand that man will do as he chooses. If God didn’t want it that way then he should not have created us in his image. He should have done better.

Another harm of music is that it instills the ideologies of the Non-Muslims in the heart and mind. The messages of today’s music follow a general theme of love, fornication, drugs and freedom.

Apparently music provides confusion to Muslims and Non-Muslims suffer from many ills brought on by music. Love is a theme that must be Unislamic. I guess that must be true if you make your wives wear bags over their heads and you buy little girls into “arranged marriages”. Fornication must be evil as well since it partially goes along with love, though love is not a prerequisite. I would assume that having children must be an evil act according to the fatwa, since you technically need to fornicate to have them. Drugs (including alcohol, and nicotine) disturb the social order and cause people to do what they normally would, and forget that any peer or moral authority is watching over them. We certainly do not want to forget why God put us here, now do we? Finally freedom is a theme in music that is Unislamic. The freedom to make your own decisions does not involve submitting to God. In its most simple terms God is a slave driver who wants to stamp out all freedom. Kinda makes Satan look like a much better choice for a diety to follow.

National Lampoon is running a survey on their proposed film 72 Virgins. This looks like it’s going to be a masterpiece of comedy.

National Lampoon’s 72 Virgins
Two idiot college students unwittingly join an Al Qaeda cell in order to get the 72 virgins promised to terrorists when they die.

I’m all for this.  Comedy of any time is great, though another installment of The Naked Gun or Austin Powers would be even better.

We made it out alive, but considering that only 5 Mexicans decided to show up that’s not too surprising.  The protest against the Senate Amnesty Immigration Bill was a success in my opinion.  Thanks to Chris Krok for putting this together.  Also thanks to the Cobb County Police for keeping things professional.  I hope this sends a message to Senators Isakson and Chambliss that the people who can reelect them probably won’t if they vote yes on this horrible legislation.

One ironic thing about this picture is the Mexicans are holding a sign that says “No One Is Illegal”, but there’s a cop car in the picture and they’re being shooed away from Men’s Wearhouse for illegally trespassing on the property.  You might not be illegal, but you can sure act that way.

Random photos of cool people and entertaining signs at the rally.

I am always deeply amused how FOXNews.com likes to make a big deal over nothing. We all know that Schwarzenegger smokes cigars. Big deal. For some reason everyone is making a big deal about the possibility that he smoked a Cuban cigar while in Canada. Now you can legally import them to Canada, but some brain dead person took a statement that made absolutely no sense and included it in the article.

“Persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction are prohibited from purchasing or importing Cuban cigars, regardless of where they are,” U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said in a statement.

That statement makes no sense in context of the FOXNews article or in any other context.  You are not subject to US jurisdiction after you leave US soil.  If I go to Moscow the FSB, not the FBI, have jurisdiction over me.  The current administration seem to have this idea that no matter where you go or what you do your fall under US jurisdiction.  While that may be a pleasant thought to people such as AG Gonzalez, it isn’t practical in the real world.  You are bound by the law of the land where you are located.  You can’t be put on trial in another country for breaking their laws while here.  Why should it work in reverse?

In response to Good’s points on Why Racial Acceptance Does Not Matter it is time to take a look at why it is perceived that Asians do not have positive roles or have reduced roles in entertainment. Why do Asians have no prominent roles in entertainment? I believe it is because Asians are very practical people. Parents are very influential and sometimes controlling in the upbringing of their children. Practical occupations such as Medical, Law, or Business are what parents equate with wealth and success. The two former may put you in an above average income bracket, but the latter have a shorter education time and put you in the workforce long before law or med students. While you may make less, there are more opportunities. It’s a simple trade off in terms of what you get. Actors, musicians, athletes, and other entertainers are commonly seen as the “starving artist”. Success is difficult to find, but when you do find success it can be abundant. Unfortunately with entertainment the major leagues are fairly exclusive. I doubt many first generation Asian parents encourage art & entertainment as a career path. By not exploring the arts when very young and being coached in math and science until college, Asians tend not to pursue the arts. Based on pure statistics I believe there are fewer Asians and Latinos than Blacks or Whites who go into acting or athletics. This is one reason that there are not enough positive Asian roles seen on television or in the movies. Until more Asians decide to drop out of Law or Medical School, or pursue liberal arts this is something that is not going to change. There’s no real nice way to say it. For those who aren’t happy about this fact, it’s time to learn to accept it. It’s purely a numbers game.

Now that we’ve established that you will see fewer Asians in the arts we can move on to how they are represented. The most common thing I have heard is the neutering of the male Asian and the over sexualization of female Asians. I don’t know if you can really say Asian women are sexualized more than other women. Kelly Hu and The Rock were both provocative in The Scorpion King. Hu’s role in the film was not submissive and as a powerful sorceress I wouldn’t say there was a negative portrayal of her. I would actually say that the power behind the supernatural nature of her character would actually make her dominant over the other male counterparts in the movie. Strong female characters are never negative.

Sex sells is what you hear the marketing droids say. I don’t think that Asian women are being exploited by marketing or media outlets, at least any different than other races. You also have to note that there are muscle bound men who are represented in a similar manner of all races. While you don’t see that many men who look like The Rock we cannot deny that they exist.

The male role I hear bantered around the most by Asians is Jet Li in Romeo Must Die. While it is an urban remake of Romeo and Juliet there is no romance. How did that happen? Well, the movie was given some prescreening time and the people interviewed just didn’t like romantic subplot. Ok, I have no problem with that. If you can squeeze any additional money out of your project by tailoring it to the target audience go ahead, even if it does make the story ridiculous. All you Asians out there complaining about Jet Li being neutered in this film really need to stop and ask yourselves if you would risk losing your job by disregarding the data gathered by movie prescreening. I’m not going to debate the taste of the screeners. Obviously for whatever reasons they decided they didn’t like the romantic story.

Is that really a problem? Quite frankly I’m glad there is less romance in film and that Asians are leading the way. Way to go Jet Li! This may sound crazy, but if you look at the creation of movies dating back to the silent film era you will understand. You have a villain, a hero, and a damsel in distress. It recycles classic literary story, where the hero always gets the girl. When Hollywood first started ramping up movies had to be cookie cutter to appeal to all demographics. You had to have the romance scene to attract female moviegoers. This was many years before the advent of the “chick flick” and practically every American movie ever made follows this formula. So, why do I think it’s great that Asians are not getting any of the action? It’s a deviation from the classic Hollywood formula. If I want to see something mushy I will go see a “chick flick”. If there is a male hero role then he needs to be a superhero. You don’t have to be Fabio (15 years ago) to save the world. In real life you don’t always get the girl at the end of the show, and I would really appreciate it if Hollywood tried to parallel real life more. This is also a message to the ladies, not every guy is going to be a superhero that will sweep you off your feet or protect you from adversity.

Another negative male inequality that is mentioned often is from the 1960′s Star Trek. The white Captain Kirk played by William Shatner is always picking up women on every planet while the Asian Lt. Sulu played by George Takei is neutered and has no romantic relationships. There are several easy things to see here. Captain Kirk is the hero so he’s always going to get the women. It’s 1966 so that isn’t too hard to figure out. None of the supporting cast get much action compared to the Captain. Let’s take a look at Sulu for a moment. He’s the Helmsman of the ship and he’s a Lieutenant. If you are familiar with the mythology of Star Trek, people who go into Helm rise in rank faster than any other occupation on a starship. If you want to be a Captain you go into Helm. Obviously since Sulu is a Helmsman he’s more concerned with rising in rank than a Navigator, Engineer, or Science Officer. I would equate this with the young junior associate at a law firm who is aggressively trying to make partner or someone in business who wants to be CxO at a company. People who want to climb the mountain tend to put all other concerns off until they reach the top. Only then do they devote time to dating, marriage, or raising a family. In some cases they have lived without for so long settling down doesn’t matter. In later movies George Takei’s character commands his own ship and has a daughter. The portrayal of Sulu is not only a positive Asian character, but realistic one as well.

In summary I do not think Asians are improperly represented when they appear in entertainment. The fact that Asians choose not to enter entertainment careers is not a problem, just a mere cultural upbringing issue. My career advice for Asians, and anyone else for that matter, is to find a practical day job first. Base your education on business or something practical and minor in something artistic if you choose. Go for two degrees at the same time if you’re ambitious. Based on watching some of my white friends I see this approach has worked out. An acquaintance has a degree in HR and some type of degree from a fashion design school. She works a corporate HR job during the day and designs clothes for fashion shows during the evening. She isn’t married and is quite self sufficient. She hasn’t hit it big, but it’s a hobby that eventually has turned into something that now makes some money. The best part is that it’s fun.

Contrast her situation with another friend who only pursued an education in theatre and has only managed to get bit parts and lives the life of a starving artist. This is a risk/reward tradeoff. Had my successful acquaintance not studied HR, she might be working minimum wage jobs as well. Another point is that if you have a corporate job that gives you more money to spend towards your passion. Designing clothes and sponsoring fashion shows costs money and you can do more in less time if you have money. Just remember that like Lt. Sulu, you may have to give up dating or other activities to reach your goals.

In my experience most Asian parents want their children to be successful and not want for money. This usually means sheltering the children from careers where they put all their eggs in one basket. I have no issue with pursuing the arts, I think it makes sense to go into business or law, work hard, and pursue your dreams in the evening and on weekends. If you make a good go at it, then retire early. Retiring early is something I think we can all agree on as being a good thing.

As part of our satire and desire to purely enjoy needling other people, we present the dumb quote of the week.

Coincidentally, the cafe owner that Peterson was leeching WiFi off of didn’t even realize that what Peterson was doing was a crime at the time. Neither did the police officer. “I had a feeling a law was being broken, but I didn’t know exactly what,” Sparta police chief Andrew Milanowski told the TV station.

How brilliant is this one?  Everyone should be a little uneasy when the police don’t know if you’re breaking the law, but decide to haul you in anyway.