tedsta.com >> tedy

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.

she’s human??

tedy gunawan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:51:40 +0000

while ignoring her flip-flops on Iraq war and NAFTA, the recent Bosnian trip scandal finally shed a glaring truth about the ‘person’ who will do almost anything politically convenient to win!

HRC finally admitted that she misspoke, but what a remark it was:

“So i made a mistake..that happens..It proves that I’m a human, which you know for some people it’s a revelation.”

I’m sorry to say but that doesnt prove that you are human. Your admission that you were wrong was the revelation! (but only after a video countering your convenient story proved otherwise!)

See video on Bosnian trip here:

For NAFTA flip-flop, see video here:

diggin a deeper hole

tedy gunawan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:09:21 +0000

remember HRC arguing on ’semantic’, pressing Obama to ‘reject and denounce’ Farrakhan’s comment at the Democratic debate? Well being double-standard like she always is, she at first, ‘regret’ that the racist remark was made by her supporter, Ferraro and more recently ‘reject’ the comment. we are waiting for her to ‘denounce’ it given that her current position is short of her own standard.

i like Edsall’s Grinch-Stole-Christmas analogy on Clinton’s Campaign:

If the Clinton people knee-cap Obama, it would be like killing Santa Claus Xmas morning in front of the children. The children won’t forget or forgive.

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!”

Lucifer concede please!

tedy gunawan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:23:22 +0000

I gave my greatest respect for Lucifer’s campaign in defying the calls of many to let go of her dream. Yes, she won Ohio, Texas and Rhodes Island. Does she have a convincing case to go forward?

No.

Because simply the maths dont add up! Democratic Party is apportioning delegates based on candidates’ share of the primary/caucus results. It’s not a winner-take-all approach like the Republican. With Obama already leading before the March 4th and a net gain of approximately only 10 for Lucifer from the recent contests, it’s unlikely that Lucifer will win any meaningful pledged delegates count.

Superdelegates are her only hope and its unlikely that they will be abandoning the wishes of many young voters who came out in large numbers to participate. This is a hypocritical stance especially since its the party who shouted ‘Bush disenfranchised voters in 2000.

Thanks to Slate’s Delegate calculator, i tried to put 60-40 win for her in every contests left and she will still be short by 15 pledged delegates (1612-1597 for Obama). It’s impossible.

Alter is more realistic in the final projections, here is what he said:

Let’s assume that on Saturday in Wyoming, Clinton’s March 4 momentum gives her an Ohio-style 10-point win, confounding every expectation. Next Tuesday in Mississippi, where African-Americans play a big role in the Democratic primary, she shocks the political world by again winning 55-45.

Then on April 22, the big one—Pennsylvania—and it’s a Clinton blowout: 60-40, with Clinton picking up a whopping 32 delegates. She wins both of Guam’s two delegates on May 3 and Indiana’s proximity to Illinois does Obama no good on May 6. The Hoosiers go for Clinton 55-45 and the same day brings another huge upset in a heavily African-American state. Enough blacks desert Obama to give North Carolina to Hillary in another big win, 55-45, netting her seven more delegates.

May 13 in West Virginia is no kinder to Obama, and he loses by double digits, netting Clinton two delegates. Another 60-40 landslide on May 20 in Kentucky nets her 11 more. The same day brings Oregon, a classic Obama state. Ooops! He loses there 52-48. Clinton wins by 10 in Montana and South Dakota on June 3 and the scheduled primary season ends on June 7 in Puerto Rico with another big Viva Clinton! Clinton pulls off a 60-40 landslide, giving her another 11 delegates.

Given that I’ve put not a thumb but my whole fist on the scale, this fanciful calculation gives Hillary the lead, right? Actually, it makes the score 1,625 to 1,584 for Obama. A margin of 39 pledged delegates may not seem like much, but remember, the chances of Obama losing state after state by 20-point margins are slim to none.

So please concede for the good of the party.

Yes We Can!

tedy gunawan — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:36:35 +0000

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Genius!

Merry Xmas….

tedy gunawan — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:53:06 +0000

Ho ho ho.. Merry Xmas everybody…

It has been quite a year and while the upcoming last days of 2007 will be spent at work, i’m savouring every moment now i’m back in Melbourne.

Pre-boxing day sale reconnaissance has been amazing with my first-time experience in the 24-hour Chadstone madness. You can complain all you want about shops closing early in Oz but there’s one important trading day right before Christmas where shoppers were out in force.. jam packed!

Dave and Shan provided me with the pool comfort after such a long abandonment of simple life pleasure.

Jelita and Dazza have been too kind in bringing back old memories. and this year, they decided that i needed a new scent as my Christmas gift. So thoughtful that they actually ’surveyed’ how the smell will mix with other smokey odour. hahahaa

By the by, after a year (it was last year when i posted my desire to get BB8800), i decided its worth the wait to get BB8820 (WiFi). Thanks to my aunt who gave it to me as my Xmas present last year but didnt really get 8800 then due to the lack of its WiFi feature…. My RazR V3 has been serving me well in the past 3 years or so… i love its form factor and simplicity and its bold blackness.. but its due to retire… been having problem with its software and some of its call buttons lately… but BB8820 is comin soon, most likely i’ll get to play with it in the second week of Jan… this festive season pretty much shuts and slows down everythin…..

Anyway.. tomorrow will be the big day where we will be getting up early and knockin on those shops at 6am. Crazy? Yes!

In the mean time, party hard.. have a good Merry Christmas and take care of each other especially when travelling!

RUDDslide

tedy gunawan — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:51:49 +0000

OMG….not only Johny has lost the govt, he has lost his own seat - creating history in itself…..this is by far the most satisfying election result in a long long long long time!!!

the hero is of course RUDD. 6% swing against the government, the biggest since Fraser’s ‘Nothing-Can-Save-The-Gov-General’ election…

i’m too excited…

it’s time and it’s time to deliver! I will be the first person to put my hands up in criticising the new Rudd Govt effort in executing those campaign promises:

-Education revolution
-End the blame game
-Investment in infrastructure especially broadband
-Ratify Kyoto
-Tear up Work Choices

5 points Mr Rudd….. you have 3 years.. and the clock is tickin!

past vs future

tedy gunawan — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 07:12:11 +0000

when i received a postcard from a friend currently in Rome, i couldnt hide my excitement. but beneath it is a message that resonates within:

“It’s really a ‘closed’ & ‘aloof’ and ‘out-of-touch’ church scene. Clinging to the past and afraid of the future!”

Like so many facets of life, the Catholic Church proud of its tradition but caught in the midst of the greatest advancement of human civilization. people who are uncertain about the future will only retreat to the things they know well. isolation and seclusion is what define and confine them. unfortunately, unless it’s ready to take that leap of faith to embrace the future and be the lead actor and agent of change, it will always be seen as the great barrier - where the only play it can yield is in defense.