HIP! HIP! HOOZAH!!!

Seriously, for too long, centre-leftists like myself have had to watch with growing dismay while the well-oiled Republican machine trampled all over the Dems, and the only defensive position the Dems knew how to adopt was the foetal position - "Please don't hurt me!"

It is SO refreshing to watch the Republicans pour petrol on themselves and play with matches. Yes, please marginalize all your viable centrist candidates! By all means, adopt a pogrom to weed out all independent thinkers! Those who hesitate to parrot the hardcore base must surely be RINOs, and [dramatic pause] SOCIALISTS!

For this and other contributions to the humbling of the Republican Party, I hereby nominate the Club for Growth for an award in the category of "Best Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound in a Comedy and/or Musical"!

Suicide as a Performance Art! Genius! I think it goes without saying that we need to ensure that the Club for Growth has the resources to continue their good work. Anybody got a link so I can pledge them my dollars?

Here, Dr Cole has provided an admirable andextensive piece breaking down the shifting alliances within Lebanon, who stands for what, who is backed by who, the clashing personalities, the impact of Hezbollah's recent internal aggresiveness, the backstage power play between Iran-Syria on one side and US/Saudia Arabia on the other. Very reminiscent of Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem" [read it!]. A powerful reminder that in Lebanon, there is no simple truth and there are hidden layers of meaning to everything.

And like clockwork, what does everyone focus on? That small comment about how this affects Israel and Netanyahu. Extrapolating from that comment some hackneyed assessment of the author's anti-semitism. Calls for the author's firing.

Quick, Dr Cole! The self-appointed AIPAC thought police are closing in! Repeat after me...

"Criticise Israel is thoughtcrime. Israel is right. Criticise Israel is thoughtcrime.Israel is right. Criticise Israel is thoughtcrime. Israel is right. Criticise Israel is thoughtcrime.Israel is right..."

Just my 2 cents.

I'm in Singapore, a local man, and I can attest to the fact that the author isn't too far off the mark. I can't speak for other asian countries, but it is true in Singapore that any caucasian man, irregardless of age or general physical apperance, would find it easier to bed and/or wed local girls that in any other context would be "way outta their league". Not just good looking svelte waitresses looking for a sugar daddy either (although there are plenty of those), but also successful, driven executive types too.

Can't blame'em really. At least in Singapore, the only caucasians you are likely to meet are expat executives who most likely are working for an investment bank, management consultancy etc. Therefore, as a general rule, expats you meet are likely to be more well off, well educated, and articulate than your average local boy. Add to that a lifetime's worth of Hollywood indoctrination on what handsome men are supposed to look like, and add to that the attraction of the unknown (a certain "Westerner mystique"). Quite a package, no?

Its actually quite a source of consternation for locals. Visit the forum websites of local newspapers, and invariably there is always at least one popular forum thread complaining about local girls who date caucasian men exclusively. Me, I don't care so much. Firstly, I'm married so the point is academic to me. Secondly, I have long noticed a certain ugly refrain in those complaints, as if to say that local girls somehow "belong" to us, and they are being stolen in some way, or that those girl's behavior amounts to some sort of betrayl. I don't buy in to that kinda thinking. In matters of the heart, an individual owes no duty except to one's own happiness.

Besides, its not like we don't have an alternative. Share with you a funny, true anecdote. In Singapore, a certain Govt department called the SDU is tasked with encouraging white collar types to marry, settle down and have kids. For that purpose they offer attractive subsidised tour holidays for singles. Not so long ago, they send a large contigent of single Singaporean men and women on a cruise and extended stay in Japan, in the hopes that there would be hook-ups. This backfired. When the cruise ship left Tokyo, there were a considerable number of Japanese women at the docks crying their eyes out. Seems like the Singaporean men stole their hearts because it turned out that Singaporean men were as successful as their japanese counterparts but a whole lot less chauvanistic! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.