MOST AMAZING CHILDBIRTH STORY EVER

This baby was born neither on the right nor the wrong side of the tracks.

33-year-old Bhuri Kalbi was recently a passenger on a train in India. While the train was moving, she went to use the toilet, but ended up giving birth prematurely.

Soon thereafter, the mother fainted and her premature baby girl fell through the toilet.

Since the toilets on Indian trains drop waste directly onto the ground below, the baby ended up violently tossed onto the tracks ... while the train was still moving.

When Bhuri's relatives finally found Bhuri unconscious in the bathroom and figured out what happened, they alerted railway officials that a baby had been dumped onto the tracks.

The premature baby -- with the umbilical cord next to her -- had been abandoned on the railroad tracks for almost two hours in the middle of the night before authorities found her.

Miraculously, it appears the baby -- who turned blue from the cold -- is going to live.

Aside from Jesus Christ being born from the Virgin Mary, is there any story of birth more amazing than this?

--Junichi

HOW PASSIONATE ARE YOU ABOUT THE PRIMARIES?

Whatever the answer, you're not as passionate as this guy.

--Junichi

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #135

To Kill A Predator?

This Week's Question:

Louis W. Conradt Jr., a former Texas assistant district attorney, committed suicide in 2006 as he was about to be arrested by the police for soliciting a minor online. The sting was part of NBC's To Catch A Predator series.

Conradt's sister filed a $105 million lawsuit, alleging that NBC played a role in the suicide.

A federal judge in New York allowed the case to advance. "If the allegations of the amended complaint are proven," Judge Chin wrote, "a reasonable jury could find that NBC crossed the line from responsible journalism to irresponsible and reckless intrusion into law enforcement."

Should Conradt's estate have any right to recover against NBC?

--Junichi

PRIORITIES, PEOPLE!

The Video Vigilante of Oklahoma City

Brian Bates (above) spends his free time secretly videotaping men who solicit prostitutes and then posts the footage on his website to disgrace them. The professional tar and featherer has also licensed his footage to talk shows and to YouTube.

He has filmed hundreds of Okies -- including three church pastors -- in non-okie-dokey situations. He has succeeded in shaming them, but has rarely helped to convict any of them because of the unreliability of the evidence.

Here's a collage of his targets:

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Speaking of misplaced priorities, Congress -- during an era of serious obstruction of justice regarding a war that was justified under false pretenses -- is requesting a federal probe to investigate whether a semi-retired baseball pitcher made his biceps bigger.

--Junichi

DOPPLEGANGERS

Even today, after 35 years of having the name, I've always found "Oliver Wang" to be a rather strange moniker. Sure, there are a lot of unusual names amongst Chinese Americans in my generation...I've known Wellingtons and Franklins and - I kid you not, a pair of twins named Apollo and Mercury (shout out to the Roman pantheon) - but "Oliver Wang" seemed like a strange pairing between a classically British name and a ubiquitous Chinese one.

However unusual though, I've learned over the years that it's hardly unique (though hardly common either). When I attended UC Berkeley as an undergrad, there was actually another Oliver Wang there in the same dorm complex as I (Unit 3, holler) and we'd run into each other now and then and do the little, "what's up Oliver?" "Nothing much, Oliver" gag).

Thanks to the magic that is Google alerts, I've found yet another Oliver Wang:

What that poster says is: "Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Oliver Wang is a grade five student at Datong Elementary School. His hobbies are playing on his computer, watching TV and playing baseball. He also enjoys writing short stories in his free time. He likes to play with his friends, but what he really enjoys the most is spending time with his family."

Not only that, but he's described by his English teacher as "super author," a honorific I dream about but haven't been bestowed with ;)

You can read his short story, "The Haunted Basement," here.

Does Junichi have any younger clones?

--O.W.

EUROPEANS ARE STEALING OUR JOBS (AND OTHER POST-OSCAR COMMENTARY)

Not an American

Europeans are stealing our acting jobs, that is. All of tonight's acting prizes went to our frenemies across the pond:

• Javier Bardem from Spain
• Tilda Swinton from the UK
• Marion Cotillard from France
• Daniel Day-Lewis from Ireland and the UK

I say it's time to build a giant fence along the East Coast.

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In other Oscar news, how ironic is it that U.S. soldiers, who are not allowed to be openly gay, just presented an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject to a film about a struggling lesbian couple?

(Was 'ironic' the wrong word to use in the previous sentence? Alanis really messed up my ability to use that word. Whenever I get a death row pardon two minutes too late, I say it's 'ironic,' even though the correct word is probably 'infuriating.')

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Now that Diablo Cody won an Oscar, I would like to finally express my utter disdain for the script for Juno.

I love Diablo's personal story, the film's amazing cast, and about two of Michael Cera's lines. And I hate to attack a young, up-and-coming female indie writer who is finally offering Hollywood a fresh female lead character.

But seriously, the first half of Juno was unbearable to the point where I wanted to barflee (barf and flee). The last time I even considered walking out on a movie was last millennium when I paid $8 to see Starship Troopers. In my opinion, the Academy just gave an Oscar to utterly unlistenable dialogue and a preposterous story line. I know millions disagree with me. But you all are blinded by either media hype or a cool hamburger phone.

Moreover, how the Academy overlooked the amazing script that was Michael Clayton is beyond me.

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Did Regis just say Xavier (pronouned: eggs-AY-vee-ur) Bardem?

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Marion Cotillard absolutely deserved to win, but Julie Christie was truly stunning in Away From Her. Both of those performances will probably haunt me for years to come.

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Unfortunately, I smelled what the Rock was presenting. (How in the world does the Academy justify his presence?)

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I enjoyed No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. I'm glad they were recognized. But of all the 2007 movies about greed, crime, and moral depravity, I strongly prefer Before The Devil Knows Your Dead, which was criminally overlooked.

How is there any justice in the world when Norbit is an Oscar-nominated film and Sidney Lumet's Before The Devil Knows Your Dead isn't? For shame.

--Junichi

MIKE HUCKABEE DOES NOT OVERSTAY HIS WELCOME

He definitely gets my vote for funniest candidate.

--Junichi

MAVERICK, YOU CAN BE MY WINGMAN ANY TIME

Yaaarrrrgh! It wasn't me!

There are dozens of good reasons not to vote for John McCain.

For me, his alleged private romantic affairs with another woman is not one of them.

While I appreciate the NY Times's focus on McCain's ethical hypocrisy, I found today's much-anticipated "bombshell" to be entirely dissatisfying. There's flimsy evidence that McCain gave lobbyist Vicki Iseman much of anything illegal, much less a ride on the Straight Talk Express.

By the end of the article, I felt like the allegations were only a few steps removed from Karl Rove's 2000 push-polling allegations in South Carolina that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child.

Even if the Times' allegations prove to be true, I will always resent the Gray Lady for making me visualize a grumpy contrarian Aryan septuagenarian doing the Humpty Dance on the ovarian floors of a woman almost half his age.

(Did you enjoy the internal rhymes of grumpy/Humpty and contrarian/septuagenarian/ovarian? You're welcome.)

Come to think of it, the most shocking part of the Times's story was that a homophobic Republican politician was exposed for alleged hanky-panky with an actual woman.

I suppose I was expecting something more along the lines of this (warning: NSFW).

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There is one upside to this McCain story. When you have a so-called "Maverick" allegedly snookering a woman with the last name Iseman, I mean, c'mon ...

(Credit: Unknown)

--Junichi

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #134

"Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease."

This Week's Question:

What's wrong with the picture above?

--Junichi

WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

June Jordan

The manufactured controversy about Barack Obama's use of the phrase "We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For" is so inane and absurd that I hate myself for even bringing it up.

The Clinton campaign, desperate to start any controversy to reverse Obama's momentum, has accused Obama of plagiarizing Governor Deval Patrick.

Others have pointed out that the line actually comes from either a 2006 Alice Walker book of the same name or a classic Sweet Honey in the Rock song.

But both Alice Walker and Sweet Honey clearly credit the origin of the line to a poem by June Jordan -- "Poem for South African Women" -- that was published in 1980.

An excerpt:

And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
will sing and sing
back into the mountains and
if necessary
even under the sea:

we are the ones we have been waiting for.

You can read the entire poem here.

A few others have suggested that the line comes from Hopi elders, but, thus far, there is no proof that the line was ever in print before 1980.

Regardless, Clinton aides, if you're going to accuse Obama of plagiarism because you don't have any better attack, get your facts straight.

--Junichi

THE STAR WARS TOYS YOU DIDN'T GET FOR XMAS

See more here. The Death Star Grill is kind of ill too.

--O.W.

A CAT IS TRAPPED IN THIS POST

Kitty likes to lick Poplicks. Meow!

--Junichi

DEAR JASON RAE

One Man, One Super-Vote

Dear Jason:

I am inspired by you.

When you were just 17 years old, you ran a grassroots campaign and were elected one of Wisconsin's four members in the Democratic National Committee. After beating two established leaders, you became the youngest person ever elected to the DNC. As a college student, you authored a bill that provided domestic partner benefits to faculty.

Today, you are probably one of the Democratic Party's most famous "superdelegates," as I've seen or heard you interviewed on countless news programs. And with your recent brave decision to come out in the national media, you are probably one of the few openly gay delegates.

Because you have yet to pledge to a candidate, you've received quite a bit of attention from some major players. Hillary Clinton called you, as did her husband Bill. You had breakfast with Chelsea Clinton. John Kerry and Madeline Albright even called to say hello.

As you know, you could very well end up being the person who decides the next president. You seem to be relishing in that awesome power and responsibility.

Unfortunately, this post isn't just an ode to you. It's also a notice that my admiration will expire the moment you pledge to a candidate.

You see, by pledging to either Clinton or Obama, you will be making a complete mockery of the democratic process. Each un-super American's vote is worth less than .0001% of yours. The exclusive club to which you belong constitutes seven-millionths of the Democratic Party, but 20% of the vote at the convention.

Which is to say, you suddenly have the power to single-handedly nullify the will of over 10,000 voters, which is far greater than the number of Florida voters whose votes were eliminated by the Supreme Court in 2000.

As an Obama supporter, am I biased? Perhaps. I won't deny that I am anxious about the serious possibility that superdelegates will hand Clinton the nomination despite Obama receiving more votes. But even if the situation were reversed and the superdelegates handed the nomination to Obama, I would still be enraged.

No matter how you vote, you will be crushing the hopes of millions -- especially those who have dreamed to cast their vote for the first African American president or the first female president.

You will be the latest chapter in the history of disenfranchisement in America.

You will be the the poster-child of anti-suffrage laws, the human embodiment of poll taxes, the 21st Century Jim Crow.

But it's not a lose-lose situation. There is one way to escape this dreadful fate: vote with the people.

Choose the candidate who receives the most votes nation-wide. Or, at least, pledge to vote for the candidate who wins your home state of Wisconsin.

You will be my hero, Jason Rae, if you use your access to the mainstream media to tie your vote to the popular vote and call on all the other superdelegates to pledge the same.

On the other hand, if you and your fellow superdelegates decide this election by choosing the candidate of your own liking, I will hold you personally responsible for destroying millions of Americans' last remaining morsel of faith in our fragile democracy.

Please do the right thing, Jason.

Sincerely,

Junichi

--Junichi

A PRINCPLED STAND?

sitting out of the general election?

All Things Considered had an interview today with Mark McKinnon - John McCain's campaign manager - and he told Michele Norris that if Obama becomes the Dem nominee, McKinnon will not manage McCain in the general election. When Norris pressed him to explain why, he said:

"I would be uncomfortable being in a campaign that, inevitably, would be attacking Obama...it would be uncomfortable for me and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign."

Naive as it may be, I read this is a principled stand on first glance...that McKinnon doesn't want to play a role in tearing down Obama as, presumably, is bound to happen if he and McCain are the two candidates.

I was talking about this with my wife and she had a different take. Given that McKinnon was part of Bush's team in 2000 - when they took down McCain in South Carolina on some incredibly shady, racial smear tactics - and she thinks McKinnon would excuse himself as a way to avoid drawing undue attention to his possible role in that campaign.

Thoughts?

--O.W.

McCAIN IN THE MEMBRANE

This is an excellent parody, although I am disappointed that nobody sang "I hate the gooks" or "Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father."

The part of this video that makes me chuckle the most is the woman who is imitating ScarJo at the mic.

--Junichi

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #133

The dog gone girl is his

This Week's Question:

Michael Jackson's Thriller is now 25 years old.

How has the album most impacted your life?

--Junichi

IT'S MY YEAR

--O.W.

BEST GEORGIAN NAME CONTEST RESULTS

What's my name?

A few weeks ago, I posted a contest asking readers to unearth some choice names by combing through a database of actual names for children born in Georgia during the past 18 years.

I guaranteed that I would choose the best name and bestow it upon either a future child of mine or the name of my current cell phone.

I narrowed down the 100+ gems contributed by you all to the following 22 names:

1. Aquemini
2. Assonia
3. Craymonyea
4. Daquantics
5. Deathony
6. Fartreze D'Angelic
   
7. Excedreanna
8. Extrasweet
9. Fartoon
10. Hhannerrikka
11. Kittisack
12. Lebardrick
13. Mountasia
14. No'Torious
15. Penisha
16. Porntip
17. Peachtreanna (my find)
    
18. Ramboy
19. Ramen
20. Shiteria
    
21. Smoothtavious
22. Urhieness

So many tempting choices. At least half of them avoid the pain of having to choose a second name for one's professional pole dancing career.

I really enjoy Urhieness, which is an actual Georgian boy's name. While it should be pronounced "Your Highness," it could also be mispronounced "Urine-ness," "Uranus," or "You're Heinous." There's just no downside!

Craymonyea has the benefit of sounding like a hybrid of Crayon and Pokemon, while still being an easy name for Jamaicans to pronounce.

Fartreze D'Angelic has a nice breezy, yet classy sound to it.

I like Extrasweet, No'Torious, and Smoothtavious, but I'm worried about names that are potential ways to describe people. (Most people I know named Chastity, Joy, and Melody are, respectively, promiscuous, depressing, and unlistenable.)

I am also tempted by Kittisack because it would be a nice tribute to the memory of my cat's neutered gonads.

But alas, I've chosen ... (drum roll please) ... Ramen. (Thanks, David!)

Given that any future son of mine will be half-Japanese and half-Lebanese, Ramen is the perfect name because it sounds like an Arab name -- especially if pronounced Rah'men or Ra'-meen -- even though it's actually a Japanese delicacy.

I talked the matter over with my wife.

She wholeheartedly supports the choice of Ramen as the name of my iPhone.


(Credit goes to Hank Fong for discovering that wonderful Korean baby portrait.)

--Junichi

BARACK OBAMA T-SHIRT

Probably not an official Obama shirt

After seeing somebody in San Diego sporting the above T-shirt, I actually understood -- for the first time -- why some women have voted for Hillary Clinton even though they prefer Barack Obama on the issues.

Clearly, the Republican Party doesn't have a monopoly on jackasses.

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That stupid shirt inspired me to design my own Barack Obama for President shirt:

Since the official Obama 2008 t-shirts are dull, I decided to make one of my own.

If you'd like an Obamania shirt, too, you can catch the fever here.

--Junichi

WHO SAYS ONLY REPUBLICANS STEAL ELECTIONS?

The People's Vote: Obama = 603, Clinton = 590

Who needs Diebold when you've got the Democratic Party figuring out a way to overrule the will of the voters?

From AmericaBlog:

Obama has the most delegates by virtue of your votes, our citizens. But Hillary has the lead in total delegates, 783-709. How is that possible? Because of a bunch of Democratic party officials got together and decided that they prefer Hillary, so they gave her the lead in spite of the fact that you, the voters, gave Obama the lead.

Who says Republicans are the only ones who know how to steal elections?

As we've explained before, in addition to the delegates each candidate wins based upon how well they do in each state, each state's Senators, Members of the House, Governor and certain Democratic National Committee officials are their own delegates and they get to vote too. But they don't get to vote like you get to vote. No. They're already delegates, and they get to choose who they throw their delegate vote behind. So what happens is that so far in this race Obama is ahead. But Hillary has a lead in Superdelegates over Obama, 2-1. Those Superdelegates - i.e., party officials that have nothing to do with your vote - have decided to give Hillary the lead in spite of your vote. How do you like that?

Now, if Hillary ends up having the lead in delegates but Obama wins anyway by getting most of the Superdelegates I'll be just as upset. This is no way to pick a president; a bunch of mostly-white mostly-rich mostly-men getting together and deciding if we're smart enough to pick our own candidate. If either candidate has fewer "real" delegates than their opponent, but wins by virtue of their Superdelegates, I think you're going to see a civil war. Imagine what will happen in the black community if a bunch of white Democrats are perceived to have taken the election away from the first black presidential nominee? Imagine how they're going to feel towards the Democratic party in the future? And for that matter, imagine how Hillary voters are going to feel towards Obama if she wins the real delegates but he wins by virtue of the Superdelegates?

--Junichi

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #132

Better than Snoop's "Sensual Seduction" video?

This Week's Question:

Is Heidi Montag a genius?

--Junichi

ARE ASIAN AND LATINO VOTERS RESISTANT TO THE IDEA OF A BLACK PRESIDENT?

Is Obama's Kryptonite in Chinatown?

For the past few months, I resisted the notion that Chicano/Latino and Asian American Democrats are more likely to vote for Clinton than Obama.

At a recent Poplicks staff meeting, Dr. Wang was trying to convince me of this.

But last night's exit polls have forced me to accept that reality.

In California, Obama won both the black vote and the white vote. Exit polls indicated that 49% of white voters chose Obama, while only 43% chose Clinton. 73% of black voters chose Obama over 25% for Clinton.

And yet, according to CNN, Clinton still prevailed in the Golden State because Chicano/Latinos, who constitute about 30% of the state's registered Democrats, chose Clinton by a 2-to-1 margin: 66% for Clinton, 33% for Obama.

Also, Cali's Asian Americans voted for Clinton by a 3-to-1 margin: 75% for Clinton, 25% for Obama.

These numbers line up with national exit poll data, which similarly reveal that Clinton handily beat Obama among Asian American and Chicano/Latino voters throughout the country.

While I would like to believe these numbers merely reflect the fact that different groups have different concerns, I'd be naive to think that the candidates' race played no part.

I am exhausted by the MSM's inane and pointless discussion of whether America is ready for a black president.

Nonetheless, there seems to be an under-explored side of that story: why Asian and Chicano/Latino voters are not as infected as others by Obamania.

I hate to hyper-generalize and conclude that this reflects that other people of color feel threatened when one specific minority group succeeds. After all, race or gender played no calculation in how I voted.

Yet, with most Democrats evenly split between two candidates with few policy differences between them, a 2-to-1 (Latino) and 3-to-1 (Asian American) disparity is statistically significant. I can't think of any obvious way to explain this disparity that isn't related to race.

Is it possible that non-black people of color are the most resistant to a black president?


Oliver Adds: Speaking of which...where the hell is ANY coverage that discusses the Asian American vote in CA? Last time I checked, the API vote is roughly equal to the African American vote and as Junichi notes above, API voters played a major role in giving Clinton the win, especially in countering both the White and Black voters who leaned Obama.

Yet you scour the news and it's barely mentioned despite the fact that the 75% margin is the most disproportional swing amongst any of the major demographic categories.

I'm still a little in shock of it myself. Had it been more like the Latino vote - 60/40, I could have understood that. But 75/25?

Should we blame S.B. Woo?

--Junichi

CITIZEN'S RIGHTS

Obama, if you must know. Take that Derek! ;)

--O.W.

FOR THOSE ON THE FENCE

Behind this man is a McCain presidency

According to pundits, there are still thousands of Super-Duper Tuesday voters sitting on the fence between Senators Obama and Clinton.

I thought about writing a long post on the (few) policy differences between the two, as well as my reasons for voting for Senator Obama.

But then, I saw part of this new national Washington Post/ABC News poll and it's pretty much all anybody needs to know ...

McCain vs Hillary
49% - 46%

McCain vs Obama
46% - 49%

Romney vs Hillary
41% - 53%

Romney vs Obama
34% - 59%

Although I realize poll numbers wildly fluctuate (looking at you, Rudy), this confirms my long-held belief that the difference between Clinton and Obama is a Republican presidency.

--Junichi

BARACK STAR

This Will.i.am production is a very effective pro-Obama propaganda video, even though it doesn't actually say much at all.

As far as Will.i.am messages go, it's certainly a step up from "Let's Get Retarded."

I'm impressed that he resisted repackaging his own song as follows:

Baby where’d you get your health care from?
Tell me where’d you get your health care from?
I got it from Obama!
I got it from Obama!
I got it from Obama!
I got it, got it, got got it…

Also, for your enjoyment, here's another indirect Obama endorsement in the guise of a message to Ralph Nader:

--Junichi

SALES SUICIDE

Pardon my French but W T F is wrong with the two ads by Sales**** during the Superbowl?

I mean, holy sh--, they were bizarre. If you saw them, you know what I'm talking about. Is this one of those "any publicity is good publicity"? Because, if so, then they should get ready to reap the spoils.

Where's the Sambo and Jewish merchant ads?

--O.W.

SNOOP TALKS POLITICS ON LARRY KING

Bonus: hear Larry King say "Gangsta".

--Junichi