Since I am a baseball fan and a Los Angeles Dodgers fan (cuz I grew up and lived in SoCal for almost 20 years), I just wanted to offer an observation regarding the trades that the Dodgers just made right before the non-waiver trade deadline today. First, I was glad to see that they did make some trades -- for the past few years, the Dodgers have been languishing near the bottom of their division, largely due to making no trades at all or rather lackluster ones. At least they’re showing that they’re actively trying to improve their team this time around.

Second, I noticed that they just traded for Hee Seop Choi, a Korean American first baseman. He’s a good player although he doesn’t have the monster power numbers that elite first basemen have, but he’s a solid addition to the Dodgers. But perhaps just as important, Choi is Korean and the Dodgers have lost much of their Korean fans since Chan Ho Park left a few years ago. I’m just wondering to what extent the Dodgers had his Korean ethnic identity in mind when they traded for him, perhaps as a way to regain their Korean American fans, in the metro area that contains the largest Korean population outside of Korea. Hmmm . . .

By now I’m sure that you’ve heard/seen/read about the Democratic National Convention that’s concluding tonight in Boston, MA. I haven’t written about it until today because, well, there wasn’t exactly any suspense in who was going to be the Democratic nominee.

Instead, one of the themes that’s been emerging from the convention that I find most interesting is how all the Democratic speakers at the convention have deemphasized their attacks on Bush and his administration and instead, are trying to focus on the positive message that the Kerry-Edwards campaign wants to deliver to “mainstream” voters.

As a tried-and-true liberal, I can’t help but be a little disappointed by the Democrats “playing nice.” I remember the moment when I became a Democrat and identified with the Democratic cause -- Mario Cuomo’s keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention (ranked as the 11th best speech of all time by American Rhetoric magazine). His eloquence, passion for justice, and hard-hitting stance were truly unforgetable.

On at least one occasion I heard some commentator remark after someone’s speech at this convention something to the effect that while that was a good speech, it certainly wasn’t “Mario Cuomo-esque.” That kind of sums up not just this Democratic convention but the whole Kerry-Edwards campaign in general, I think -- the fire, the passion, and the tough let-em-have-it attitude just isn’t there anymore. It’s been replaced by a “kinder, gentler” liberal message designed to woo moderates, independents, and undecided voters.

I’m not saying that this toned-down approach isn’t a good strategy. At this point, I’ll support whatever it takes to get W out of office. I’m just saying that it’s a little sad to see how the liberal/progressive tradition apparently has run its course in American politics . . . or has it?

I haven’t posted in a few days because . . . I just got done successfully defending my dissertation in Albany, NY, which means I am now officially Dr. C.N. Le, Ph.D. All I can say after 10 years of graduate school is, wow.

It really didn’t hit me after my defense when my committee members congratulated me and called me “Dr. Le.” It still didn’t really hit me later that night when I celebrated with my committee members and other friends. It’s only now hitting me that I don’t have to work on my dissertation any longer!

Of course, there’s plenty of work to do (i.e., publishing research articles in academic journals) but I’m gonna do my best to enjoy this for now -- I deserve it! Boo ya!!!

A recent CBS News article describes how jumping in front of subway trains in South Korea (and how the government is piping in soothing music and calm announcements to discourage such ‘jumpers’).

Again, I don’t claim to have all the answers but my guess is that the paradoxes and contraditions inherent in the traditional Asian cultural emphasis on group conformity and sacrificing individual gain for group benefits has something to do with it. In other words, when there is success, the whole group supposedly benefits. But when there are difficulties and failure, instead of the entire group being blamed, individuals are held responsible -- they didn’t try hard enough or that it was just bad luck.

It seems rather unfair, doesn’t it? When you succeed, everybody gets to claim some credit but when you fail, you’re left out in the cold. As a result of this contradiction, there are very little resources or services for people who are experiencing difficulties and therefore, people have nowhere to turn except to take their own lives, rather than face the ovewhelming social stigma attached with being a “failure.”

Having said that, the question becomes, is the complete opposite any better? That is, is society better off when the overall focus is on individual effort to success and that failures are often blamed on society or structural barriers? Kinda like the U.S., perhaps?

The 9/11 Commission released its final report today. While I haven’t read it from cover to cover, most articles, like this one from CBS News suggests that rather than blaming one personal or a group of people in particular, it describes a combination of factors that left the U.S. unprepared for what happened on September 11, 2001.

As a liberal, I would have liked the report to bash “W” more and criticize his administration’s lack of close attention to al Qaeda and its preoccupation with Iraq, but all in all, the findings seem fair to me. Especially true it seems is the finding that intelligence agencies such as the CIA, FBI, and Defense Department failed to properly share information on suspected terrorists, and that these failures were a significant part of what went wrong.

When I worked as a Research Associate for the Center for Technology in Government, the main project I worked on was a study of how government agencies use information technology to share information and data and to help them work more effectively across agency boundaries.

These are exactly the kinds of issues that we studied, but now these issues are not just about working more efficiently -- it’s about saving lives. I’m at least glad to see that these issues are now at the forefront of discussions on national policy.

I just treated myself for finishing my dissertation, etc. by buying Colin McRae Rally 2 from Amazon.com -- I deserve it. I don’t play video games that often but when I do, it’s almost exclusively racing games. Up to this point, I’ve concentrated on the “Need for Speed” series of games for the PC.

But rally racing is a totally different animal. The technique is totally different (a lot more sliding around), and it’s gonna take me a while to get good at this. But so far, I’ve been impressed by the game -- very challenging, engaging and fun!

This week has seen some pretty interesting developments in the ongoing turmoil and geopolitical soap opera known as the Israeli-Palestinean conflict. On the heels of the World Court ordering Israel to dismantle their wall that encircles the West Bank, today the United Nations voted 150-6 in favor of a resolution demanding the same thing. Not surprisingly, the U.S. was one of the six nations that voted against the resolution.

Both the World Court decision and the U.N. resoution are non-binding but by not complying with these clear opinions against it, Israel is blatantly telling the rest of the world “F*ck you, we don’t give a shit what you say, we’ll do whatever the hell we want to do!” Sound like the attitude of another country’s current administration? It’s absolurely astounding that Israel can be so defiant in the face of overwhelming international opinion.

Of course, not to be outdone, the Palestineans are putting on their own circus act in the form of Yasser Arafat facing internal rebellions over his continued unwillingness to allow much-needed political reforms to proceed within the Palestinean Authority. For decades now, Arafat has controlled Palestinean affairs with an iron fist and along with his rule has come loads of corruption and cronyism. He too is beginning to face overwhelming pressure (always from the outside but not internally as well) to relinquish some power so that the Palestinean Authority can proceed toward statehood.

Earlier, his current Prime Minister handed in his resignation (his first P.M. only lasted four months before becoming totally fed up with Arafat), which Arafat refused to accept. Then factions of Arafat’s own party stormed and burned down his offices in protest of his unwillingness to give up power. Now it looks like Arafat is backing down (for now) and giving into his critics’ demands.

I certainly don’t have all the answers -- I can only look at this situation, observe how both sides are behaving, and become totally exasperated, just like everybody else.

It’s been a hectic past couple of days on the dissertation front. After 10 years since I first began graduate school, I will be defending my dissertation next Monday July 26. If everything goes according to plan, I will pass the defense, my committee will not ask for any major revisions, and I will be able to print out my final copies to submit to my university by Tuesday July 27. Then I will be Ph.inally D.one!!!

Let’s hope everything does go according to plan . . . I’ve been down that road before.