All posts by Amok

What’s so heroic about WikiLeaks’ wiki-dump?

I am no enemy of Democracy, but I’m having a hard time with the massive wiki-dump from WikiLeaks.

One thing I will grant WikiLeaks. If a journalist had to use the Freedom of Information Act to get all of 250,000 cables, it wouldn’t have happened. It would have come back super-redacted with so many blackouts it would read like an undone New York Times crossword.

Still, the sheer almagamation of stuff is mind boggling, as opposed to the little details which are kind of interesting, but not screaming front page headlines.

A deluge, however, is still a deluge. 

Got to hand it to the New York Times, which has become the de facto Cliff’s Notes of the Wiki-dump. As a sub-sub-leaker, the paper leaked in true old-fashioned  journalistic style. It went to the Obama administration and asked for more redactions, some of which it followed. But then it published it anyway because it didn’t want to be left out in the cold when WikiLeaks let everything out anyway.  Hard to be a journalistic purist in the age of the net. It was the same kind of thing when the Times quoted the National Enquirer in salacious stories. Hard to be a prude when everything’s exposed.

Still, if the best headlines are what’s been in the Times so far (the Yemenis, China hacking Google, “Let’s make a deal” for Guantanamo prisoners, South Korea and the U.S. baffled over China, and Qadafi’s blonde nurse),  I still don’t find anything as outrageous as the fact that some diplomats are getting personal  info on foreign dignatiries.

In other words, the diplomats are working as spies which can be used for surveillance and data mining. That’s not supposed to happen. And if it is, then you wouldn’t want to expose our spies, now would you?

Some critics are calling for Hillary Clinton’s head over this. I’m not sure it’s at that level yet. But the leaks have shown that our diplomatic efforts are far less diplomatic than they appear.

Is that something to thank WikiLeaks for? I don’t think so. They just stripped our diplomatic force of their dignity making it harder to carry on and do the work they must do if we are to avoid the stupid wars we find ourselves currently involved in. That’s not worth the gossipy tidbits that seem to excite the foreign policy wonks.

Check out my other post at www.aaldef.org/blog

Emil Guillermo’s Amok: Since when did the “S” in TSA stand for sex? On pat-downs, victimization, and oh yes, that thing called the Fourth Amendment

So are you going through security this week in nothing but your birthday suit in protest to those pat-downs? Or do you want the pat-down?

Do you think some lonely people are taking red-eyes just for the late night pat-down?

Read my take on the TSA issue on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund site’s blog at

http://www.aaldef.org/blog/

Strange how the new angle being reported this morning  is about the “poor abused TSA agent,” as if victimization will get them some sympathy. It’s not my fault they end up being the face and fingers of a hapless bureaucracy.

A frequent flyer I know today in Florida told me how clueless these people really are.  A lot depends on who you get and where you are. These people are human, not robots. So the chances of getting a closet sex offender is actually pretty high. The flyer I know said she went through a full body scan and then was told she had to do the pat-down too. A double dose of intrusion.

When the flyer protested, TSA backed down. So now it’s optional? Or were they overreaching for the pat-down? Do you get the sense they are making it up as they go?

So be assertive. Know your rights.

Funny how most stories never mention anything about the Fourth Amendment and illegal search. Is all that out the window? It isn’t unless you want to give up your rights freely.

Also note how the leading voices on this issue against the pat-downs seems to be Republicans. I haven’t heard many Democrats speak out against it. And Obama? From this weekends comments, he feels your pain, flyer. But the grope? The green light’s still on.

Manny Pacquiao needs an exit strategy, so here’s one: The Manny come home, farewell fight and karaoke fest in the RP

His face was “bruised and plump.” He needed help to get on his feet. His fingers were swollen so badly he couldn’t sign autographs.

That was a Philippine newspaper reporter’s description of Manny Pacquiao, the day after he won.

You should have seen the loser.

Antonio Margarito was in the hospital, his face swollen with welts the size of Texas, his right eye shut and barely in place in his broken eye-socket bone.

This is why Manny Pacquiao needs to stop now.

On Saturday, the PPP (pound-per-pound) King of Boxing, won his 8th title in 8 weight divisions. What more is there to do?

He can wait for the winner of this weekend’s Martinez/Williams fight and go after the middleweight crown. Hey, 9 titles in 9 weight classes!  But then why not 10, or 12?

That’s the problem. Manny is so good, it’s not a fair fight unless he handicaps himself so severely. Like a thoroughbred forced to carry more weight, Manny has to do something that’s not as obvious as tying his left hand behind his back.  It’s necessary because he is so good he would destroy others his size or smaller. The only challenge is to keep fighting what I call “up-hill.” Fight bigger,stronger, but not necessarily better boxers.

Margarito was 17 pounds heavier and 5-6 inches taller than Pacquiao.  That’s not Mount Everest, but even Pacquiao admitted after the fight that Margarito had enough mass to absorb all of the Pacman’s punches.

Fighting bigger guys means knockouts will be fewer, fights will be longer, and the war of attrition will ultimately prevail.

Pacquiao’s speed enabled him to punch Margarito 411 times. The battering should have been obvious to the referee and to Margarito’s trainer who let the punishment go on.

And since this is boxing, Pacquiao got his share, 135 punches came from the stronger Margarito.

Punches start adding up and take their toll.  Inside and outside the ring.

By stopping now,  the Pacman saves his energies for his day job in the Philippine Congress, and his real passion in life—leadership.

Notice I said leadership, which is not politics, necessarily. Yes, congress is all about politics, but Manny’s gift goes beyond that. He’s got the most important trait for a leader: Charisma. People follow and listen. This is something that can be developed, hopefully, for positive purposes. But it is Manny’s true gift. His fists may have brought him fame, but his real gift is public service.

Like Obama did in 2008, there’s something about Pacquiao that inspires hope.

Perhaps it’s the back story that creates the foundation for a mythic life. The hardscrabble upbringing, the tale of a street kid who turns to boxing to help feed his family.  Boxing discovered and nurtured him  to the point where he is the most intriguing fighter in the sport.

So why stop there?

Because there’s  life after boxing, and to preserve it, there’s no better way than to end his pugilistic phase at the top.

Pacquiao has established his boxing legacy firmly. His championship track is like watching one of those charts of the evolution of man. Eight weight classes? The only one who could repeat what he’s done is another flyweight with the same expansive heart and spirit. And that’s not likely to happen—ever.

Margarito wasn’t even the best challenger. But he was bigger, by a lot. And if there were any doubters left about Pacquiao, seeing the champ destroy a bigger man was enough to etch the legend in stone.

But boxing is as much about greed as it is about legacy.  Manny’s problem here is coming up with a suitable exit strategy for all.

People keep mentioning Floyd Mayweather, as if that’s the ultimate. It is not. But how do you top that match up?

A Pacquiao farewell in the Philippines.

One big blowout. The “Thrilla In Manila” with a real Filipino champ eight times over, and it doesn’t matter anymore if it’s a lesser fighter. It’s the last-pay-day. The Finale. People would pay to see a finale.  Train for real in Baguio, then take a week to travel and train in different parts of the country, ending in one big blow out in the big city.

Think of what it would do for tourism. And balikbayans would go for balikboxing.

It’s the “Manny go home, farewell tour and karaoke.” The Datu goes out on top.

All you have to see is an image of an addled Muhammad Ali in a wheelchair to know it’s the right thing to

SNL/Hader’s Hu? Not sure about it, then watch it again. I thought we were done with Charlie Chan’s Showbiz?

Get past the ad and go to the open.  It’s about 8 minutes long.

Non-traditional casting aside, don’t you think there are enough unemployed Asian American actors out there to add to the realism of a comedy sketch?

http://www.hulu.com/watch/193087/saturday-night-live-scarlett-johansson?c=5:449