Updates

I was floored this morning when I happened to see former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (Asian America’s governor?) plugging his new movie on “FOX and Friends.” Given the big stories of the day (the Lance Armstrong interview, Manti Te’o, the upcoming Obama inaugural), one of Fox’s blond c

With the Obama administration mirroring the Bush administration when it comes to the extension of wiretapping and surveillance laws, it seems that any die-hard believer in democracy must add to his or her list of New Year’s resolutions. In 2013, make this the year you FOIA yourself. To FOIA is to

The formal name for it is the “American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012,” but I don’t know anyone who feels all that relieved after what informally should be named “The Imperfect Compromise to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff of 2012.” The president signed H.R.8 yesterday, but it could have been so much more. W

So how does anyone really understand the GOP’s side on the Fiscal Cliff talks? I wouldn’t get too wrapped up with it, if I were you. Imagine John Boehner as Grandmaster Flash rapping, “Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge.” And then maybe, because you know he’s really doing some form of poli

As the details of Newtown come trickling in, now is the time for a little perspective and personal reflection. Once upon a time, I wrote a satirical piece on gun violence in America. I’m a typical common sense American. (You can tell by my commentaries, can’t you?) When it comes to guns, I love th

This week, President Obama said right-to-work laws were actually “the right to work for less money.” I can relate. Emil For Real knows the power of right-to-work laws. That was my DJ name circa 1974 in Texas, a classic right-to-work state. But I wasn’t in some burg outside of George Bush’s ranch

If a picture tells a thousand words, maybe it’s good that we have that photo of Ki Suk Han desperately trying to pull himself off a New York subway track as a train approached him. It’s really all you need to know about American society right now. You don’t need the metaphor of a fiscal cliff. Tha

California’s Asian Americans seem in synch with an approach that would tax the wealthy. A new post-election poll this week showed that 65 percent of Asian American voters supported an initiative that would raise taxes on those over $250,000 in income to fund public education. Another 76 percent supp

If you’re one of the fantasists out there salivating over the Thanksgiving trailers of the upcoming film, “The Hobbit,” then you’re probably turning a blind eye to the news that 27 animals died in the production of the movie. Twenty-seven. That’s 3 horses, 6 goats, 6 sheep, and 12 chickens. The mo

Hmmm….Petraeus rhymes with “Betray us”? I don’t think he did, but it sounds like the mindset of the highly decorated, super-achieving general who found himself undressed in e-mails. It’s reported he’s so guilt-ridden for his lack of discretion that he has done the honorable thing in his mind. He’

For the GOP, election night on Tuesday was like a political version of Hurricane Sandy. It left a Romney-led party trounced and bewildered, staring at a brand new landscape it had failed to prepare for — a totally new American electorate, rich in diversity and growing in number. Politics isn’t ju

If you are suffering from what I call “pollsy,” the state of being bombarded by one campaign poll after another, do yourself a favor. Ignore most of them. Save your energy for the only one that counts. On Tuesday, November 6, the general election takes place, and it could be the most important vote

Baseball is still America’s pastime, though the final game of the World Series on Sunday may have been eclipsed by the fear of Hurricane Sandy, as well as the public’s love of that other game, the brutish football. Indeed, Sandy’s enormity, claiming lives, destroying property, and leaving millions w

I’m still not a fan of how Saturday Night Live portrayed Chinese factory workers with black wigs, black-frame glasses and ching-chong accents two weeks ago. But the program may have redeemed itself by unveiling a tour-de-force performance by the unbelievably talented Bruno Mars. Make that Asian Am

I called it the “New Charlie Chan-ism” when it surfaced on Saturday Night Live two years ago with its depiction of Chinese President Hu Jintao at a mock press conference. But this past weekend SNL’s “Charlie Chan” style is back, and it’s actually worse. Did you see the SNL skit where they show the

After the Supreme Court hearing earlier this year on the Affordable Care Act and this week’s hearing on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin and affirmative action, I have a new appreciation for tea leaves. They have far greater predictive powers compared to any actual courtroom hearing if you’r

If you’re one of those undecided Asian Americans out there (32 percent nationwide, according to the recent National Asian American Survey), you really only have one question that should tip the scales for you: Where do the candidates stand on affirmative action? That’s right, for Asian Americans th

Who is the choice of Asian Americans in the 2012 presidential election? Forty-three percent of likely Asian American voters support President Obama while just 24 percent back Mitt Romney, according to the new National Asian American Survey, the most comprehensive political look at Asian American po

If the Democrats had answered the Republicans’ Clint Eastwood star-turn by going Gangnam-style at its convention (imagine a hybrid donkey-horse dance and the repetitive phrase “Hey, Sexy Lady”), who knows the kind of bounce the president would have had. As it is, most polls are putting Obama’s post

How good was President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention? In many ways, he’s hurt by the same thing that hurts all exceptional people of color who have done extraordinary things. You’re always hampered by such high expectations. And no one is expecting you to get there, aga