It’s Pearl Harbor Day.
President-Elect Obama has selected Retired General Eric Shinseki to be Secretary of the Veteran Affairs Department. Shinseki is not only Asian-American (Hawaiian born), he was someone who disagreed with the Bush administration (or certainly Rumsfeld) on how to approach the war in Iraq.
Speaking of veterans, the veterans in our metro area are trying to fix their mom-and-pop businesses as they return from war. Tough situation.
Craziness in Canada – Hmmm… as much as we might be upset with things in the US, Canada’s constitutional crisis sounds… insane… I’d be worried if I were Canadian.
I agree with columnist Timothy Egan that it’s unfair that Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin get paid to publish books when no one really knows their ability to, say, write. But I’m surprised that he didn’t mention that the publishers are paying them for their names/notoriety alone – the publishers will just hire ghostwriters who will do the real writing. I just won’t pay for either of these books. And, like Egan, would rather see when Barack Obama will write again (well, after the presidency, obviously, but he’s a real writer).
And, last but not least: 1st Vietnamese-American has been elected as a US Congressman: lawyer Joseph Cao, to represent Louisiana. He’s a Republican, but I guess I can’t hold that against him; we’ll see what he can do, is the real issue.