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Yes We Can (Si Se Puede!)

tedy gunawan — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:36:36 +0000

/*My apologies for the extended hiatus. I was on strike and am now officially back. */

America has taken a new brave step. Obama is the 44th. The impossible is possible. Yes We Can!

~~pending further update.

kudos

tedy gunawan — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:30:54 +0000

i should really be studying tonight..but i cant help to do a postmortem to a gigantic step Democrats have taken in IN and NC.

while my opposition to Clinton is clear, i must admit she has shown that she is a fighter despite many odds against her. her interview with Fox clearly showed that she can engage well with those who oppose her strongly.

but the time has come for the Dems to rally behind a nominee and the choice couldnt be starker this time. A pro-war vs pro-peace candidate. Obama is now the only candidate who is opposed to authorising and waging the Iraq war.

kudos to HRC for running a hard-fought campaign. it has been quite an inspiration to observe (to some extent).

Obama has won!

tedy gunawan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:24:54 +0000

Finally..after a long gruesome battle, Obama has won the Democratic nomination. The rules are clear: the candidate who has the most delegates win. Obama now commands an insurmountable and impossible to overtake lead in the pledged delegates. No politically realistic scenario can deny his being at the top of the ticket. Unless of course, he’s a muslim, he’s a terrorist, he has sex scandal, oh wait, the last time i checked, it was ok to have sex scandal in the White House (not in NY).

at the end of the day, the question we should be asking is, whose campaign are you proud of? There’s no single doubt in my mind that it’s Obama.

Not just another fight..

tedy gunawan — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:25:20 +0000

On the back of Wyoming’s victory, it’s important to understand why Democrats need to settle the nomination fight now.

Everyone knows that there are no ’sameness’ in this election cycle – nearly all old rules in politics are already thrown out of the door. From the fund raising phenomenon, participation of young voters, to the unpredictability of candidates in both parties. Only as recent as 3 months ago, Clinton was dubbed the ‘inevitable’ nominee. Few people already wrote off McCain so early in the game and no one was taking Obama that seriously. But there’s one rule that will always stay true – one day is a long time in politics.

Fast forward to now, a number of people are calling Clinton to quit – myself included. The fact that she’s still in the game reflects the ’stubbornness’ of her well-oiled machine and a testament that this is simply not the typical election. In any other Democratic nomination fight, Obama would have simply become the nominee.

In my last post, i mentioned about the delegate math that is not on Clinton’s side. Her only hope of course is on superdelegates – the elders in the smoke-filled room to decide who is worthy of their support. Oh, and the other thing, to seat Florida and Michigan delegates back in the convention despite Obama’s name not even in the ballot in Michigan. The irony is, apart from the fact that she signed a pledge not to campaign and indirectly imply her agreement that the party rules agreed 1 1/2 year ago stand, Harold Ickles who is part of Clinton’s campaign has been shouting the loudest to ensure those delegates are seated despite the fact that he was the one who voted for the ban in the first place!!

The fight now has reached a point of no return. It’s simply destructive. Weeks ago, she shouted ‘Shame on you Obama’ on flyers which were already out weeks before – as if its new revelations. She claimed that Obama shouldnt have used tactics on the scripts of Republican playbook. What has she done then? Her infamous 3 AM ad is a clear fear-mongering exercise out of the same playbook she ‘despised’.

Recently, her attacks have increased to the point where she even praised her Republican opponent, McCain, for sharing the same credentials reducing Obama’s to just ‘one speech’ in 2002.
She literally feeding the Republican counterpart on attack points for Obama. I guess, when you are bound to lose everything, you are prepared to do almost anything!

So we say to her, “Shame On You Lucifer!”

my oh my

tedy gunawan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:45:00 +0000

if you think you have seen it all in Gore vs Bush (2000) or Bush vs Kerry (2004), you are completely mistaken.

the fight for the 44th is as hot as it can get for now, 22 months away from the E-day. The level of news coverage is unprecedented. But you should not be surprised. The 2008 contest is an open field day with neither the incumbent or vice president seeking the office. 1952 was the last such scenario was played.

Who are the players?

From the Republican side, maverick Senator Cain is leading the pack with Rudy Giuliani (former mayor of New York), Mitt Romney (former governor of Massachusetts), New Gingrich (former speaker) as well as Condoleza Rice (Secretary of States) as possible contenders.

From the Democrats, Hillary ‘Lucifer’ Clinton is ahead. Barrack Obama (Senator from Illinois), John Edwards (former Vice President Candidate in 2000), Joe Biden (Senator from Delaware), Bill Richardson (Governor of New Mexico), and many more.

Michael Bloomberg (current New York City mayor) might enter the race as a possible independent, following the paths of Ross Perot in ‘92 and Ralph Nader in 2000.

My preference for the final showdown is well known with the two banners on the right side of this blog. McCain vs Obama would be a sight to see. But being pragmatic about the whole process, i can foresee this combination as the final tickets from both parties:

Spot the difference!! Both have woman and both have black on the tickets. Now you call that a history in the making. Why this is so?

Firstly, Democrat’s stronghold is both woman and black voters. The Lucifer can win the Democratic primary given her domination and enormous campaign warchest thats envied by many candidates. Obama on the other hand, is a relatively newcomer in the scene. He is considered as inexperienced but his charisma and his skin color threatens the smooth ride of the Luficer. So solution….when you cant win over your enemy, make the first move and befriend him. The Lucifer will undoubtedly bring him as the VP candidate on the ticket.

Then what follows is just a pure logic. The Republican has to counter that with another dream ticket. With Powell now out of the US political scene, Rice is the only person with enough exposure and to some extent credibility, to be put on the ticket.

With this final combination, i predict McCain ticket will trump the Lucifer by a small margin. but first, McCain has his own battle to fight with the party faithfuls. He is seen as too liberal and his strong stance on the Iraq debacle will continue to overshadow him winning the primary outright. But his honesty and unwavering principles are to be admired. Unlike the Lucifer, he sticks to the his principles no matter how good or bad it becomes in the end.

Anyway….Cant wait… cant wait….(seem so far away!)

Obama has decided to run!

tedy gunawan — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:07:16 +0000

the wait is finally over…. Obama has announced his candidacy to be the 44th!

dethrone

tedy gunawan — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:45:22 +0000

Q: What does it take for a King/Queen of England to be dethroned?
A: Marry a Catholic.

Q: What does it take for a Miss USA to be dethroned?
A: Nudity, sex and drinking.

the good, the bad and the ugly

tedy gunawan — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 08:15:45 +0000

i have been meaning to look for a bumper sticker showcased in Denton’s God on My Side. only today i have managed to get around to doing it…. i thought it’s quite funnie:

Verizon Cents

tedy gunawan — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:55:53 +0000

Adrian beat me to this post, but i think it deserves another mention not only because it is now the top rated post in youtube, but also due to the sheer stupidity of the people in verizon’s call center for their inability in differentiating $0.002 and 0.002 cents.

George who now set up a blog dedicated to ‘fighting’ this, seemed to have a lot of patience in explaining to various customer representatives of Verizon about the issue. If i were him, i wouldn’t know how long i would have lasted.

This is the part when i found it really amusing:

G: Well, let me just start out with a basic question.

M: Okay.

G: Do you recognize that there’s a difference between “point zero zero two dollars” and “point zero zero two cents”?

[pause]

M: Point zero zero two dollars?

G: Do you recognize that there is actually…

M: …and point zero zero two cents.

G: Yes, do you you recognize there’s a difference between those 2 numbers?

[pause]

M: No.

and even the Floor Manager got really confused:

A: What do you mean .002 dollars?

G: [big sigh] Okay, I think I have to do this again. Do you recognize that there’s a difference between one dollar and one cent?

A: Definitely.

G: Do you recognize there’s a difference between half a dollar and half a cent?

A: Definitely

G: Then, do you therefore recognize there’s a difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents

A: No.

G: No?

A: I mean there’s… there’s no .002 dollars.

G: Of course there it’s.. it’s two..

A: There’s .002 cents is what you’re quoted, and that’s what I do show that you… you paid, or that ya know, you’re paying for the kilobyte usage.

G: Okay. [sigh] I don’t.. I don’t know a better way to express this. .002 dollars is the same as .2 cents.

A: Okay. Well how would you… What would .002 dollars look to you?

G: It’s point…

A: Obviously, a dollar is “one, decimal, zero, zero” right? So what would a “point zero zero two dollars” look like?

G: I don’t know…

A: I’ve never heard of .002 dollars. .002 dollars, it’s just not…

G: This is just… this is just math we’re talking about… this is…

A: …not a full cent.

G: That’s right. And…

For the whole recording you can hear it from here:

and here’s the full transcript.

After this phone drama, he did put in a written complaint and here is what he got:

Dear George Vaccaro,

Hi George. My name is Nikki and I understand your frustration regarding the data charges on your bill. I am happy to assist you today.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and confusion this has caused. Per the remarks in the account, I have found that the customer service representative provided the correct pricing information. However; due to the miscommunication, I am willing to credit half of the data charges which would be $-36.00. Please reply to this email if you would like to accept this offer.

It has been a pleasure assisting you today, and we appreciate your business. Should you have additional questions or concerns, please reply to this e-mail.

Sincerely,

Nikki
Verizon Wireless
Customer Service

UNBELIEVABLE!

given that this just happened a couple of days ago, it would be interesting to see how this will be resolved!

UPDATE – the issue seemed to be resolved with verizon offering a full credit ‘refund’ as per email below:

Dear George Vaccaro,

Thank you for your reply. Again, I apologize for the miscommunications regarding this issue and for your frustration and inconvenience as a result.

In review of your account a previous representative has credited for the data charges in question for $71.79. You may take this amount off of your current amount due. In the future please keep in mind that it is .002 dollars per KB while in Canada.

It has been a pleasure assisting you today, and we appreciate your business. Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Michelle
Verizon Wireless
Customer Service

Webb delivers VA to DNC

tedy gunawan — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:55:53 +0000

gop

Originally uploaded by emailtedy.

While it’s not yet confirmed (pending certification and possible recount), Allen is expected to concede the VA senate race to Webb giving DNC the control of Congress for the first time since ‘94.

7800-votes out of 2.3m are what separating the two.

i’m glad that Kerry’s gaffe didn’t dent Dem’s chances at all. Americans have spoken. The war-for-oil must be ended. A new dawn has begun!

While i’m no fan of Pelosi, i’m glad with the context in which she will become the first woman to hold such high elected post. I will be following closely how the Dems will chart the crucial two years. Lucifer already won NY with 67% of the votes – a crucial platform to launch her bid to re-capture the White House. Pelosi-Clinton are the women to watch!