Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

He's good enough, he's smart enough, and doggone it, people on the Minnesota Supreme Court like him.

The election was nearly seven months ago, and after a close election (300 votes out of 3 million cast), recounts, court challenges, etc., etc., the Minnesota Supreme Court has finally declared former Saturday Night Live funnyman and current political author and radio host Al Franken the winner of that state's US Senate seat.

Iranian protesters, take note: Democracy can be slow. In fact, Norm Coleman could still mount legal challenges.

Al Franken has been a Kushibo favorite for years, particularly with his last few books, even if I don't agree with everything he says.

UPDATE:

Saying "the Supreme Court has spoken," Norm Coleman has conceded. "It's time to move forward," he added, joining everybody in the rest of the state who figured that out months ago.

I liked what Al Franken had to say in his acceptance speech:

I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator, Im going to Washington to be the second senator from Minnesota and that's the way I'm going to do this job. I won by 312 votes so I really have to earn the truth of people who didn't vote for me and let them know that I"m going to be working for every Minnesotan.

Nevertheless, the math is different now, with sixty Democrats or Democratic-caucusing Senators. We'll see how this works with things like health care (a Franken favorite as far as issues go), the Sotomayor nomination for Supreme Court, or even the Korea-US free-trade agreement.

1 comment:

Darth BabaganooshWednesday, July 01, 2009 8:23:00 AM
I liked his book too (well, I liked the Coulter books as well, but for different reasons), but his books are SO much better in the audio format. He's got a great storyteller's voice, and can deliver a dry punchline.
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Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

Oh, and play nice. Please don’t make me regret this.

九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.