lisasong.com

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With input from ZX, I am trying to compile a list of liberal online magzines, blogs in China.

1. ???????Currently suspended. Very liberal/provocateur?

2. ??, http://wangyi.fyfz.cn/blog/wangyi/, lawyer? legal scholar? Rule of law issue

3. ??/????, High quality collection of liberal voices, variety of topics, mix of scholars and commentators

4. ????http://caogen.com/, supposed to be grass-rootsy, a bit nationalistic and second-rate scholarship

5. ?????http://www.yhcqw.com/?intra-Party history review by party liberal faction

6. ????http://www.tecn.cn/, bona-fade scholarship, elite columnists, rich contents 

7. ????http://www.douban.com/group/zhuxunqin/, fans of a history professor who I share a lot POV with

Heard Nina Totenberg’s piece on Dick Cheney. She is such a masterful narrator that from her piece out comes the relief of a character central to one of the messiest and most divisive period in the U.S. history.

I hate Dick Cheney. He is at a very different level than other politicians I found disagreeable, such as GWB, Gingerich, even Lieberman or Helms. Those characters may be colorful but none is as subversive or conniving as Cheney. He is determined to use his knowledge of the rules and laws of a Republic to turn it into an Empire. If Jefferson were alive today, he surely would say: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of people like Dick Cheney. ”

Rantings aside, I am still not clear on how some of the transgressions instigated by Cheney passed all the institutional checks, most notably, the Congress? Some things may be more complicated than I thought. The other day, I saw Charlie Rose interviewed Michael McConnell, who argued that wiretapping foreigners on American soil is not materially different from bugging by CIA (in foreign land only by law), which is always legal. It strikes me as a reasonable argument. Is this all? If so, how come it is reflected so poorly in the media? Or why would media define it as a wholesale invasion of privacy? Or why that characterization sticked?

Anyway, I am getting the Angler book to find out more.

Just heard Samuel Huntington passed away. Fitting for a guy who was so inspired by his work but found himself utterly lost afterwards.

SH is one of the few political philosophers who is lucky enough to see his grand predictions proven in his life time (Toffler is a one hit star in comparison). I never read his “The Soldier and the State”, but heard enough about it. His next book, “Political Order in Changing Societies”, shock-and-awed me. Migdal said the same book inspired his generation to refocus on the State. To me, it was the Order part that is still reverberating. His quote of Lipperman at the beginning of the book is one of those things that you can read thousands of different ways into it.

Then comes the “Clash of Civilizations”. Many people tangled over the “Clash” theme but it was the “Civilization” dimension that distinguished Huntington. It is ironic that the author of the proposition against which Huntington argues in the book, Francis Fukuyama, wrote the blurb on the cover. Is it a token of submission or respect? I don’t know.

I am about to read his thesis on immigration. This choice didn’t come naturally but since it is Huntington, I’d read it even if he says he talked to Jesus.

Went with Haiyan’s family and friends to Lake Tahoe between 12/23-28 and skiied there for three days. I have to say these were the best skiing days ever.

Skiing is a sport that has heavy overhead and sunk-cost: before ever hitting the snow, one has to collect all the gears: helmet, goggle, gloves, pants, jackets, hats, poles, skis, boots, cell phone, and/or walkie-talkie, … what else I am missing here? Then driving hours on the road, then change, walking on boots with skis on shoulder for quarter a mile to buy tickets that cost hundreds of dollars. A good set of skis with boots and binding could easily go above a grand.

Learning skiing is also pretty tricky: the learning area (the green runs) are mostly in the lower part of the mountain where snow is either too thin or too slashy–either one could be a show stopper for a beginner.

So why do I ski?

A friend (Robinette? o bro where art thou) told me once, almost apologetically, “I know it is something I should do, but I never picked it up”. It certainly is a symbol of coolness. At least that is what drove me into it, against every thing I hold dear. The ice-rink-like runs in MD/PA/WV almost killed me many times over. I only started somewhat seriously when Song brought me to WA in 98, the year NW had record snow.

After Tahoe, however, I am a true skiier–skiing for skiing’s sake. Thanks a lot to YP and LS: their reputation as skilled and diehard skiiers preceded our acquaintance. They brought me to the back side of the Northstar, and I never looked back.

We spend the first day in Squaw, which was already very good. After two day’s of white-out snowing, the third day was heaven. Every wintery color was in its purest state under a bright sun shining through the thin air over Sierra Nevada. The contrast of colors is so strong that it physically hurts naked eye. When a breeze blows by, the snow flakes fly off the trees and sparkle like bullions of tiny crystals permeating the space around me.

Coming off the lift, standing at the top of the freshly groomed runs, I felt the calling. That sealed it for me.

Too bad that I didn’t explore Squaw more and didn’t go to Kirkwood as YP and LS recommended. But I gave it all on the last day.

Came back from vacation and saw my old boss Terry Drayton is on Seattle Business’ cover. As I was writing a message to congratulate him, I discovered he and his company, Count Me In, are in a deep legal mess.

It looks like Count Me In used membership fees that they are managing on behalf of the little league teams for its own operational use.  Some commentators are outright nasty, calling Terry “the Little League thief”. The Godfather of Seattle start-ups, John Cook, thinks the accusation is serious enough to warrant an indepth interview, which revealed a  distraught chief executive on the defensive (”This is not my legacy“)

I worked for Terry at HomeGrocer. He was the kind of leader that inspire loyalty: energetic, articulate and decisive. When WebVan started with billions dollars of funding, hoping to “do it all and end it all” in the online grocery business, I asked Terry why we were still focusing on high-end clientele only. He said it clearly, without any hesitation, that it is the only way the online grocery business could take hold.  Eight years later, I asked him the same question and he gave me the same answer. I had doubts eight years ago but now found myself coming around to his point of view.

Regardless of business acument, personally, I thank him for giving me one of the best moments in my IT/programming life. Therefore, it is quite painful reading through the interview he gave to Cook. I only hope and pray for the negativity to blowover soon and Terry to go back to his old self.

It is hard having not written anything for a long while. But a well-written essay is like a good meal that can jolt me into action.

The opening paragraph of Frank Rich’s column was the most delicious part:

WE like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean,  … So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down. Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not [even] a memorable villain  … He is smaller than life.

Well said. Recently, I watched the 95 movie Nixon where Antony Hopkins played the most Shakespearean President in history. Now another, “Frost and Nixon”, is playing. As I was watching the trailer, I was just thinking along the same line …

Heard the news that Caroline Kennedy is going after Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.

The Kennedy clan’s history is at the same time a tragedy and a mockery of American democracy. When Ted ran for his brother’s Senate seat at age 30, his opponent bitterly complained, “Sir, if your last name is anything but Kennedy, you would have been finished … Your credentials is a laughing stock.” (History Channel’s documentary on the Kennedys) As if to prove his opponent right, Ted won the election, committed several scandals–including one where someone got killed and another one got raped, grew a large brain tumor, but remained to this day the beloved chosen representative of the people of Massachusett.

And he is among the lucky Kennedys who survived the Natural Selection. In other words, several other Kennedys felt so certain that no man-made law could touch them that they challenged God but lost.

Yet year after year, a Kennedy is going to Washington.

Reminded me of what Shakespeare said about Julius Caesar (through the mouth of Cassius while trying to talk Brutus into killing the tyrant of the Republic):

Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say till now, that talk’d of Rome,
That her wide walls encompass’d but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.

Having trouble with my two web hosts recently.

ePowHost.com: they lost my files. I don’t know whether it was a mistake, or someone hacked it or what. Searched Web and saw others had similar problem with other hosts. I wonder whether they are all resalers of the same vendor?

Anyway, ePowHost is now just playing dead: they never replied to any of my inquiries, including how to get a refund.

dot5hosting.com: the site that I host terra-bonita.com. Terribly slow and downs all the time during the summer. It is clear that they are not capable of running this business: everything was behind.

Finding a new host is not fun: I need at least 200G space, MySQL 5, DB remote access and 10 or more addon domains. It is just incredible how hard it is to find a site with all those features. A couple of candidates (awardspace.com, bluehost.com, fastdomain.com) were so close, but in the end I gave up because of others reviews, some of which painfully reminded me of what I have now.

Just some interesting facts:
1. The big three at first asked for $34 Billion loan. Congress ready to dish out $15 Billion. Their total market cap? $14 Billion.
2. The big three’s manufacturing capacity is 17 million cars. In 2007, Americans bought only 14 million cars (domestic and foreign).
3. Ford pays, on average, $71 an hour to its workers. The Japanese U.S. plants pay $49/hr. Source see NYT.
4. The auto sale declined the most when gas price peaked after summer. Recently, there is a sales rebound despite poor economy. Trucks rebounds the most. Small cars may actually declined.

Thoughts:
- Undoubtedly the auto industry will shrink and restructure. However,
- The current difficulty is largely due to past sins. In terms of cost structure, the auto industry may be on the rebound. (in Ford, new employees are paid $53/hr)
- The auto industry lacks the vision and business foresight? Well, how about blaming “the American Dream” for a change? How many Americans can stand up and say, “I had nothing to do with this”?

Said a lot more yesterday. But I’d better stick to what I know