Merry Sober Christmas

So I'm in Detroit Airport on Christmas day, after more than 18 hours of travel from Hong Kong via Tokyo, and waiting for a connecting flight. Given that I have about 5 hours to kill I thought I'd look for a friendly sports bar and enjoy an adult beverage. But much to my dismay the sale of alcohol is BANNED in the ENTIRE STATE OF MICHIGAN from Christmas Eve until 7am tomorrow!

I suppose Michiganders have known this and make arrangements. I mean what is Christmas without spiked egg nog and a bit of mulled wine? Yeah I know, it is the celebration of the birth of Christ the Saviour, who died to forgive our sins - but still - traditions are traditions! It's what my gandma used to call "Chistmas Cheer." 

I did manage a non-alcoholic beer nevertheless. 

Other than that, it's nice to be back in the USA for a bit, so here is a non-alcoholic Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

No Winter Here!

I grew up in Wisconsin and I'll head there for the Christmas holidays, but in the meantime I'm enjoying balmy Hong Kong. It is 23C today and beautiful. The upside of the economic downturn is that factories in China have scaled back production, resulting in less pollution to foul the air here.

Last weekend I also had the good fortune to go out on a friend's boat for a bit of tour around Hong Kong, from Causeway Bay around to Aberdeen and then over to Lamma Island for some seafood. Here's some pics of the day:

The pictures were taken with a BlackBerry 9000 (so-called BlackBerry Bold). 

Japan in Hong Kong

Here are a few shots from my favorite Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong: Sushi Kuu. The place is always packed, and the chef Mukogawa-san delivers consistent, quality food. In fact this is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants anywhere - and that is saying something after living 17 years in Japan! 

And just to prove I'm in Hong Kong - here's a shot from the roof of the Prince's Building from the balcony of a bar/restaurant called Sevvaa. The Bank of China tower is on the left and the HSBC building on the right. And there is even a Christmas tree at the lower right. 

Blagomania

What's not to love about this scandal! It's hope and change Chicago style! The governor of Illinois arrested at his home by the FBI, caught red handed in all kinds of graft. 

Growing up in Wisconsin, I remember family trips in the station wagon (a Vista Cruiser just like in That 70's show) where whenever we saw a car with Illinois plates, we knew it would likely be a traffic scofflaw. It was just assumed that people from Illinois were not law-abiding citizens like us cheeseheads north of the state line. 

And so I was never a believer in the myth that Obama was some kind of new era politician. You don't survive in Illinois politics at the Chicago or statewide level  without some kind of skill swimming with the sharks. I suspect that Obama is better than most at the fine arts of political sleaze, as demonstrated by his ability to walk through the muck and come out looking clean. 

Blagojevich himself seams to be a pathological liar. But then that's not any different than Spitzer, "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, Rangel, or the master: Bill Clinton himself (aka slick Willy!) 

Watching democrats and their apologists try to spin their way around this one is just way too much fun! 

Natural Born Citizenship

As an American living overseas, all this conspiracy theory talk about whether president-elect Obama is possibly not qualified to be president under the "natural born" citizenship requirement of the Constitution got me wondering. (Note: the title links to Ed Morrissey's commentary on this subject).

First of all, most of the discussion has been silent on the simple fact that Obama's mother is clearly a natural born citizen herself. I thought children of US citizens were automatically natural born regardless of where they were born. Apparently there is some minority legal scholarship that says otherwise, but you'd think a child of an American mother would be pretty clearly a US citizen. US Embassies around the world will get a baby of such US citizens a passport.  So wherever Obama was born (pretty clearly Hawaii) and whatever other legal contortions can be made, presumably if this even gets to the full Supreme Court, Obama's position is safe. 

But assume for a minute it weren't? What if, after all, Obama were not constitutionally qualified to be president? What then? Would the rules of succession apply? I suspect if Obama were ruled ineligble before the Electoral College meets, then the Electors would decide on the next president. If the ruling comes afterwards, what then? Probably the rules of succession. Either way, what a mess! 

That's why it won't come to that. It would be even more Mickey Mouse than Thailand shutting down it's main Bangkok airports at the height of the travel season!