Far East Cynic

From E @ L :

Condemn Myanmar Junta – Sooner or later Myanmar will become a democracy. Sooner or later its military leaders will have to give way to an elected government.

Substitute ‘Singapore’ for ‘Myanmar’, ‘business’ for ‘military’ and you have the situation here[Singapore].

Is not always the right thing to do. Sometimes you should take it to a mechanic.

Tried to make some fixes to the place tonight-screwed it up royally. Finally after going round and round got back to “normal”. Thus no post tonight.

So drink these :

And talk to her-tell her what’s on your mind in the comments section:

Speaking of beer and babes-a Lan Kwai Fong landmark is closing tonight. Hardy’s bar will serve its last San Miguel:

I’ll let Hemlock tell you what you are missing:

Hardy’s, the last authentic pub in Lan Kwai Fong, closes its doors for the final time tomorrow night. Already, most of the fittings, pictures and decorative or other adornments that have been accumulated over 20 years have been looted, auctioned or stored away in case the institution comes back to life in alternative premises one day. And much nicer the place looks too, it must be said.

It will be a black-tie, invitation-only affair. No riffraff. I am scheduled to officiate over the early part of the proceedings at 7pm, when various members of the Antiquities Advisory Board will visit the pub to declare it not worth preserving. I will slink away soon after, in order to avoid what happens next. At 8pm, the first of the less-popular brands of beer will run out. At 9.30pm, the Filipino guitarist will attempt to break his record and sing Country Roads four times in a 30-minute period. At 10pm, guests will be entertained by the traditional misunderstanding between a waitress and a Mainland tourist. At 11pm, the San Miguel will be all gone, and the desperate clientele, unable to face the idea of leaving their womb-like watering hole for ever, will turn reluctantly to the never-opened bottles of cantaloupe brandy, chocolate-chili vodka and guava schnapps. At 1am, there will be a special, final pugilistic bout between Terry the nice-when-sober teacher and Norris the bulky accountant who took his seat, which will be broken up by the Nepalese barman after one uneventful minute. At 2.30am, the police will arrive to arrest one of their own off-duty members drunkenly refusing to pay his bill. Then things will start to go downhill – for the last time.

Sure wish I could have been there-or at least in Lan Kwai Fong. Instead I get to go to hell Korea next week-lucky me.

Got home yesterday and this was all over the news:

This is video of Japanese reporter Kenji Nagai being shot at point blank range by a Burmese soldier. The photojournalist was one of nine killed and 11 injured when the military junta ordered troops to fire into a crowd of pro-democracy demonstrators.

Even after being shot, Nagai attempted to continue video taping the attacks on protesters.

Today internet nodes out of Burma were cut.

I always find it interesting that while one of the reasons that the US invaded Iraq was to stop a brutal dictator-equally violent dictatorships continue elsewhere.  I personally do not believe that short of an invasion by India and China of Burma, little will change here-it will take more than Buddhists monks to bring the government down. Nonetheless, I continue to find it more a than a little hypocritical to say that we “had” to enter Iraq to change the middle east-while the US (as well as all of Asia) turns a blind eye to what goes on in other places.

Could not be anything to do with the oil? Nope, didn’t think so either.

Golf… is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well.-P. G. Wodehouse

And Lordy, my brother in law and I were surely tested. We went down to Sanford to play this course. All in all, a great way to spend the morning. Designed by Mike Strantz-with consulting working done by the Marquis de Sade-this course has so much trouble in so many places it actually forces you to play better golf. None of this grip it and rip it nonsense here! As they point out, “We do not guarantee your best round the first trip ’round The Road, but we are certain you will remember the ride! Prepare yourself for a battle like no other. ”

They are not kidding.

It is a course that would have E @ L spouting both Wodehouse quotes and profound explitives within the first 9 holes.

Most repeated quote of the day? “Where the hell is the f##king flag?”. Take a look here!

A yardage book is a must here-so my brother in law- put us on their mailing list so we could get a free one. Spam that will be well worth receiving. They paired us up with two guys from Florida-one is retired Navy, former F-4/F-14 guy. We played from the “Plow” tees. After 7 holes I was only 6 over, so I was beginning to believe my little adage about the course making you play smarter and better.

I was wrong. The back nine was an ordeal……………Our playing partner kept calling it the Bataan Death March. Which considering the amount of time we spent trying get out various hazards is probably an apt title.

And all of this in 95 degree heat with no wind.

Still in the end the old adage about a bad day on the golf course beats a good day at work applies here. Bring your A game and come play this course! Its worth it.

Just a short par 3-what could possibly go wrong?

Airfare to the United States? $1013 .

One week’s rental car at RDU airport? $194.

Round of golf with my brother in law? $45.

Being able to answer the phone at my father’s house and have the following conversation:

RNC Fundraising girl: ” Hello, is this Mr. Skippy?”

Me : “Why yes it is”.

RNC Fundraising girl: ” I’m calling to ask your support for the President as we enter the 2008 presidential election year. The Republican party values your steadfast support. Can we count on you for a donation?”

Me: “Not on your life, and definitely not before January 20, 2009- or hell freezing over- which ever comes first!”

RNC Fundraising girl:”I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

Me: ” Yes, you should be.”-Click!

Simply priceless!

True Story! My father contributes to the Republican party and they even have  a signed picture from the Decider and the AA Nazi in Chief. He happened to be outside when the phone rang-so I answered it. Just another great day in America.

Dad knows I have evolved politically. We just don’t talk about it. Especially since he has most of the same misgivings that I do on Iraq. (He’s told me so). He just can’t bring himself to vote for a Democrat and has not since he came of age in 1941. FDR-by the way- was something my Grandmother could pontificate for hours on, but that as Scarlett would say is for another day. Do the words “screwball socialist” jog any memories?

Getting to bash a GWB supporter in person? A great thing indeed. For everything else-there’s Master Card!

(Ozawa-san is the head of the DPJ-the largest opposition party, thus making him Japan’s version of Harry Reid).

Yasuo Fukada is Japan’s new Prime Minister. The S.O. has been keeping me up to date during our phone calls-and its a better subject than my mother’s nagging as to why she is not here.

Fukuda is the first prime minister whose father was also prime minister. Takeo Fukuda held the office from 1976 to 1978. It is also the first time since 1994, when Tomiichi Murayama became prime minister, that Japan will have a leader in his 70s. Murayama was 70 years old.

According to the S.O. its pretty clear there will have to be an election next spring. The Upper House signaled that concessions were not necessarily on the menu,  by voting for DPJ head Ozawa to be Prime Minister. The Lower House voted for Fukuda- thus under Japanese law the lower house vote is the one that counts. Abe and his cabinet resigned to the Emperor yesterday.

Ought to make for some interesting reading on the flight home this weekend.  If the S.O. is to be believed, the LDP may not want to make to many improvements to the Prime Ministers mansion just yet. She’s pulling for DPJ to win in the spring.  Me? I just want the Yen to stop getting stronger against the dollar.

Being here in North Carolina is a mixed review. Its nice to be with family and yet at the same time it is an accusation of sorts. Each time I return I can see that my mother is having a harder and harder time remembering things-yet one question she always can remember is, “When are you going to leave Japan and move here to be near your family?”. I cringe when it comes because I am not entirely comfortable with the answer, either of them, and the consequences that ensue from either one.

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Long day today, made longer by the airline. Have not been able to post the last couple of days because the wireless connection in the room was not working. Now I’m back at my parents house-mooching off of their broandband connection.

Tired and ready for bed. More to come-please stay tuned.

Writers block! I’ve been back for 3 hours and I should have finished this post a long time ago, but I just could not bring myself to start it ….for a whole bunch of reasons. I’ll try to explain.

Went to the ball game last night. True to form, I would just like to tell you all what the sports pages tell the world every day: The Bucs still suck!

However, I think the San Diego stadium is nice. Like I reported earlier, I blew the card and bought some field box tickets. It was a good decision. First of all, I was in the middle of a whole bunch of season ticket holders. They were fun people-although they gave me max grief about rooting for my hapless Buccos. They deserved to lose the game by a lot more than they did. Because if you look at the box score, the Pirates lost 5-3. Good close game don’t you think? Except, I’ve never been to a game where a Pirate pitcher-with the bases loaded twice-threw a pitch that hit the batter. Plus, the Pirates fielding was less than stellar. Still, since I have not been to an American baseball game in 8 years-last night was a real treat for me..

Bad things?  Hot dogs that cost 6 dollars and beers that cost 8. Who the F**k  thinks that’s a good or fair price? Hell, I can buy beer cheaper at a Yokohama Baystars game.

Good things? The stadium and the fact that every seat is a good seat. The people and their enthusiasm for the Padres. The last time I saw a Padres game they had a permanent reservation in the cellar. Now my beloved Pirates are there. Also the fact that I got on TV when the fan cam came around. Also watching the couple on the “kiss cam”, where the guy looked at the girl with what has to be described as the ultimate level of hopefulness-and the girl who looked at him with a look of disdain that could only be described as ice cold. The camera came back to them about three innings later. She still did not kiss him. Plus the couple behind me made fun of me for keeping score-which by the way, is one of my traditions at a baseball game. It gives me a reason to buy the program and a pencil, and it helps me to stay focused on the game and not the 3 hotties with nice ta-ta’s sitting in front of me wanting their picture taken. (They did have what Bullnav would call-”a hunter’s rack!”)

After a quick pass through the bars of the Gaslamp, I returned home by taxi driven by what had to be one of America’s latest immigrants.

Only to come back to the room turn on my computer open up my e-mail and see yet another reminder why I need to find another job. Ever meet a guy who could not coordinate any thing with other people and assumed that his bosses title gave him a Carte Blanche to be an asshole? I’m currently sparring via e-mail with one of those. A confident guy, who does not know his facts and makes decisions in a vacuum. The key to dealing with guys like him is to remain calm, do your homework, and remind him who works for who. Seems obvious, but there once was a time I did not know that.

Why do I think you are not surprised?

I’m in and sort of over my jet lag. Got done with business a little early today-what to do? Decided to go to the ball game tomorrow night and opted for 9 holes of twilight golf. Over at North Island. Which was interesting since they have changed the layout of the front 9.  Evidently it just opened recently so I got lucky. It’s cool being back where there is daylight savings time.

However even with that factored in it still did not get me back to the room till 7:30. I should have gone out tonight-but decided against it.  I need to be up early tomorrow.  So I stayed in and have slept off and on-and watched TV in my brief conscious intervals.

Which seem to be all O.J. all the time.  Anybody but me   feeling a sense of deja vu when they see “OJ Simpson behind bars” ?

I’m just sad we got no Bronco chase. And that the Dream Team cannot be put back together. Which on the surface it looks like OJ needs more than them this time. I think he’s screwed.

Staying in seems such a shame. I’ve not been back here in over two years and I am not sure when I will get back here again. There is lots to do here-but so much of it is so spread out and the only way to get there is to drive. Which means anything fun is not fun, because the road nazis are out. So staying in seems the more prudent option. Plus I’m still steamed about the whole Korea thing.

Nothing to see here tonight I am afraid. My mood is vexed and I am drawing a blank-except for possibly enjoying the fact that Alan Greenspan and I are in agreement about George Bush.  And about Bill Clinton. Bet that got a few of wacko’s all fired up!

I’m leaving on a jet plane! Heading for California then North Carolina.  I got to the airport too early, so now I’m bored in the lounge.

An idle mouse being the devil’s workshop, that means I’ve been drinking beer and exploring.

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Call it what you will it’s still pandering.And the practioniers of it have come out in force for the Prime Minister’s race in Japan.

Of course the issue will be resolved relatively soon. For others though its gonna be a long winter:

The war that is.

The debate about the war in Iraq these days strikes me a lot like the discussion that the rehab Nazi’s use in justifying the illegal and unconstitutional coercion of citizens into the ever growing and increasingly profitable AA based rehab industry.  If you think for yourself-or assert your rights under the Constitution-or worse yet try to get better on your own ( the way that most people “recover” BTW-whatever the hell that means) -you are in “denial”.

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Is not residing here, thank you very much.

I’m leaving for California on Sunday. Good news is the Padres are playing the Pirates while I am in town. I’m buying tickets!

The bad news is that I have to go to Korea one day after I get back ( I’m going to see my parents after being in SOCAL).  10 days in October and 24 in November. This is welching on the deal-I was not supposed to be back in  the prisonKorea till February. Bastards! Worst part? Its in Pusan , not even in Osan or Seoul.

Tonight we had a Sayonara party. With this news in hand, there was only one thing to do. Drink lots of these:

And wish I was getting one of these:

Or two!