Kim Yu-na makes the Olympic Gold pay off.  Pour a little sugar on it!

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Well, it seems I woke up today in an alternative universe.  Specifically, Bizzaro World.

You see, on Bizzaro world everything is basically the opposite of what it would be on a normal, rational planet.

I guess you get the idea.  Now, how did I figure out I’d somehow been transported through some kind of time-space continuum to wake up on this bizarre planet?  Here’s some evidence:

In California, a group of high school students were sent home under threat of discipline for the crime of wearing t-shirts depicting, wait for it, the American flag!  I know it is shameful behavior for these kids to wear such a hateful symbol in a public school.  But it gets worse!  They had the audacity to wear the flag on Cinco de Mayo!  Of course, the Chicano students were wearing their Mexican flags but the in your face intrusion of Old Glory was so culturally insensitive.  Hard to believe this outrage happened in the good ol’ USA.

Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the specter of racial segregation in a public school raised it’s ugly head.  It seems a group of white children went on a field trip and the black kids were not allowed to participate.  Or something like that.  I’m colorblind, so maybe I got it backwards.  But still.

Of course, we are all happy that the would-be Times Square bomber was captured.  In an odd twist, it turns out he was an Islamic fanatic from Pakistan.  Because as we all must surely know by now, it is Tea Party adherents who pose the real threat of terrorism.

Speaking of terrorism, there has been some concern that maybe the boys from TSA let their guard down.  But no worries, our airport security is the capable hands of true professionals like these.  They have a BIG job to do, so let’s not be DICKS about it, ok?

Hmm, I do so miss planet Earth.

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Another Friday, another yoja.  Allow me to introduce Ms. Lee Chae Yeon.

And here she is performing her hit single “Two of Us” .

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Spin like this is a “news” story makes you wonder.

Bottom line, more than 7 in 10 Americans do not see the Tea Party as racist.  But that’s not a story, is it?

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Especially from all you Tea Baggers!

Three days after he decried the lack of civility in American politics, President Obama is quoted in a new book about his presidency referring to the Tea Party movement using a derogatory term with sexual connotations. 

OK then, I see where you are coming from Mr. President.

And while we are on the topic of hypocrisy, there’s this.

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It is hard to believe my sweet granddaughter is turning 5 years old today.  Where does the time go?

How special is this day?  Well, in Korea it is a national holiday.  Appropriately called “Children’s Day”.

Happy Birthday Gracie!

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Had some nice weekend weather.  Took advantage with a 3 hour bicycle ride along the Hangang Saturday and on Sunday afternoon made the journey across Seoul and then hiked up to see Dosonsa Buddhist temple.  Let’s go to the photos:

I don’t often ride the buses here in Seoul, but I did on Sunday.  And here’s a photo of the bus stop in Itaewon to prove it.

An Itaewon street scene

“where is that damn bus anyway?”

oh, here it comes…

There ain’t nothing wrong with riding the bus by the way.  They are clean and relatively comfortable.  And sometimes not crowded…

But as it turns out this bus wasn’t going to where I wanted to be, so it was off the bus and onto the subway…

Ok, I think this train is right…

Maps are quick to note “you are here” but rarely shed much light on where you are going…

Not many travelers joining me on the platform…

Fellow riders…

Transferred to another bus and an hour later was on the streets of Uidong…

Old style house…

Bukhansan Park attracts lots of hikers traversing the numerous trails…

…but I followed the road that followed the stream flowing down from the mountain on which the temple sits…

…where I observed some of the last blossoms of my last spring in Korea…

After a walk/climb that tired me out more than I care to admit, I reached the temple gate…

I’m not a Buddhist so I can’t tell you much about these idols…

But it was a fine day to be out and about enjoying them..

Nice overlook of Seoul from the temple grounds…

Buddha’s birthday is May 21 and his follower’s have purchased traditional lanterns to hang on the temple grounds.  I’m thinking you write a wish for blessings to hang with the lantern or something like that.

Some of the detail on a temple building…

The man of the hour.  You can see the discoloration on Buddha’s belly.  See folks stick their thumb in the navel and rotate the hand counter clockwise and receive Buddha’s blessing.  It was probably a good thing that I kept my shirt on to avoid any possible confusion…

And so ends another fine Sunday adventure in Korea…

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In the news today a couple of more examples of the double standards of the media I’ve been talking a lot about.

I mentioned in a recent post that it was odd that critics found fault with the Tea Party because it allegedly consists primarily of angry white men while the President got a pass for saying “It will be up to each of you to make sure that young people, African Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again.” I was taken to task by a commenter for playing the race card myself.  But what I was trying to point out is that the left sees a racial motive for any dissent to Obama’s policies, while liberals are given a free hand to play racial politics without criticism.  I find this hypocrisy disgusting.

Now comes this opinion piece in the Washington Examiner noting the same thing:

Two front-page lead headlines appeared in Washington newspapers this week bearing on race and politics. One passed without notice, the other inspired a minor outpouring of the usual overheated commentary that is typically aimed at journalistic critics of political correctness. The unnoticed headline appeared in Express, the commuter tabloid published by the Washington Post. It said civil rights leaders wonder if Arizona’s new law aimed at stopping the flood of illegal immigration into the state is “borderline racist?” The other headline appeared in the Washington Examiner atop a story reporting President Obama’s partisan appeal to the groups that “powered” his 2008 presidential victory, namely “young people, African-Americans, Latinos and women” for their support in the 2010 elections. The Examiner head said “Obama disses white guys.”

The reaction to “Borderline racist?” was silence. The reaction to “Obama disses white guys” was typified by the hyperventilating Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, who called the Examiner “reactionary,” then nodded in agreement as his guest, “political analyst” Richard Wolffe described our headline as “a sad and pathetic attempt to distort, with this toxic mix of malice and ignorance.” Strangely, Olbermann didn’t bother to tell his audience that Wolffe, a former Newsweek reporter, is now Obama’s pet propagandist and is granted exclusive access as he writes adulatory campaign tracts like his recently published “Renegade: The making of a president.”

Which headline was more accurate? Express insinuated racist motives for Arizona officials because they approved a law that directs local police to do something that is already legal, which is to stop somebody on reasonable suspicion that they may have broken a law. Whether the law is racist is a matter of hotly contested debate, yet the Express headline can be read as declaring it definitely so. By contrast, the Examiner headline simply stated a truth made clear by the 2008 election returns. Exit polls show that about 47 percent, or 32 million of Obama’s 69 million votes for president were cast by men, 18 million of whom were white males. Thus, about one fourth of Obama’s total vote came from white males. Yet in seeking to re-energize for the 2010 campaign the voters who “powered” his 2008 victory, Obama ignored this constituency. Does Obama consider white men a drag on his coalition, or has he given up on them because of their declining support for his policies in opinion polls? Either way, “disses” is exactly the right term to describe it. The double standard is clear: Those on the left who routinely describe voters primarily by their racial and ethnic identities have no problem when their favored candidates do so. But they get bent out of shape whenever someone else reports the rest of the story.

The other example is the media’s portrayal of Tea Party participants as potentially dangerous anti-government terrorists encouraging violence against political opponents.  Of course, not one example of actual violence has been offered up in this demonization campaign.  Now, when might we expect the headlines and hand wringing over stuff like this:

Three people were attacked and at least two others were arrested. The people assaulted were part of the Minutemen demonstration, a group in favor of Arizona’s new immigration law.

They said a large group of immigrants’ rights supporters followed them to the BART station on Market Street and started punching and kicking them, and calling them names.

“They said we were racists, and we were against them, and against their town, and against San Francisco,” said Parker Wilson with the Bay Area National Anarchists. “What they were saying, they said we need to get out and called us racists, and that we need to go home. And then they just attacked my friends and me.”

I rail against the double standard because it is dangerous to ignore what is happening here.  It is a blatant attempt to stifle legitimate dissent  and debate.

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Hey, I know I’m late with this week’s Yoja.  What can I say, the weather turned nice and I’ve been outside doing stuff.  So, don’t blame me, blame Ms. Park Eun Ji.

That’s right, our yoja this time is a working girl….as in a television weather reporter.

To be honest, I can’t understand much of what she says.

But I love the way she says it.

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