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Obama Link

A friend posted this on FB..thought I'd keep this..

PETALING JAYA: Dr Konrad Ng is amused that his Malaysian roots got noticed halfway round the world, thanks to his link to Democrat candidate Barack Obama.
An assistant professor at the University of Hawaii in Manoa (UHM), Ng, whose family originally comes from Sabah, is married to Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro.

Not too long ago: Watching an Independence Day parade in the US four years ago were (from left) Michelle Obama, her daughter Sasha, Obama, Malia, Maya, Ng, and their daughter Suhalia. - AP

Maya and Obama have the same mother.

In an e-mail interview with The Star, Ng, 34, said that his father, Howard, was born in Sandakan and his mother, Joan, in Kudat.

“I have many relatives who live throughout Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and the two towns where my parents came from,” he said. His parents subsequently settled in Canada and Ng was born there.

Maya was born to Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian businessman, and Ann Dunham, a white American cultural anthropologist, who is also Obama’s mother.

Maya, who is Obama’s half sister, is married to Ng whose parents originally came from Sabah. Ng said his parents return to Malaysia once every one to two years.

“It remains an important place of origin to them. In addition to a large, extended family, they have many good friends in Malaysia. I try to visit Malaysia every few years; it is a special country and feels familiar to me,” said Ng.

Maya, who was born in Jakarta, also cherishes her Indonesian roots.

According to Ng, she is active in the local Indonesian community and continues to speak Indonesian when she can. She visits Indonesia every few years.

Ng described Obama as exceptionally brilliant.

“He has a thorough understanding of the challenges we face and sound judgment on how we should address these challenges.

“Barack is a dedicated family man and cares deeply about transforming the world into a better place so that all families will have the same opportunities to do better.

“South-East Asia is a place of connection for him and a region that he understands well. It gave him numerous examples of alternative modes of communication and perspective.

“Maya, Barack and I have talked about the beauty of South-East Asia and our mutual desire to visit again,” he said.

Hillary for Secretary?

By GAIL COLLINS
Published: November 15, 2008

Is she going to be Barack Obama’s secretary of state?

It’s been quite a while since we’ve had an opportunity to discuss the Clinton-Obama dynamic, and it does feel good to be back. Forget bankrupt automakers and retail sales numbers. It’s May, and we’re in Indiana arguing about gas prices.

Barack and Joe and Hillary, together again. Just like the YouTube debate, only with more maps.
Obama invited Clinton to Chicago this week for a talk. It isn’t entirely clear whether he offered her the job. But if it was just a courtesy get-together, he really should have tried texting. Now he’s got her fans geared up all over again.

On Friday, a speaker at the City University of New York Women’s Leadership Conference mentioned the story about Hillary’s possible appointment and several hundred women burst into applause. All around the country, the news reminded old Hillary supporters of a nagging pang of disappointment, the feeling that the great election bandwagon had left something behind. Good luck telling them that it’s actually going to be John Kerry.

While there are many excellent arguments for offering Clinton the job, one of the best is that until now, Senator Kerry was supposed to be the front-runner for State. Does that sound right, people? When one is out searching for the nation’s top diplomat, does it make sense to pick a guy who gets low scores in sociability? Although Kerry has many excellent qualities and his children appear to be very fond of him, if there was a contest for Senator You Would Least Want to Have a Cup of Coffee With, he would be a good bet for top 10. Politicians often brag that they never forget a name, but Kerry is one of those guys who can’t even remember a face.

Clinton is the exact opposite. Plunk her down anywhere and she’ll catch sight of somebody who she met at the Conference of Concerned Problem-Solvers and engage them in a spirited dialogue on what’s going on with that muskrat preservation project in East Engorvia. And she can do that abroad, too, since — as was mentioned a time or two during her campaign — she has already visited 82 countries.

True, there’s 112 countries to go before she runs the table. All the more incentive for her to make sure Obama gets a second term. And on a slightly more elevated level, there’s the fact that the rest of the world would be thrilled with her appointment. She would give our diplomatic outreach a power and gravitas that it hasn’t had for years.

I know, my little Obama hyperpartisans. You spent a year of your lives trying to keep Hillary out of the White House because she voted to let the Bush administration invade Iraq. And now, your man is talking about letting her be the point person on foreign policy. What happened to the transformative change?

We have been through all this before. Candidates who promise to bring everybody together are talking about meeting in the middle. The only people who think Barack Obama is a radical are you and Joe the Plumber.

On Friday, the junior senator from New York was keeping her own counsel. She made a scheduled appearance at the New York State Public Transit Industry Fall Conference in Albany and assured the unexpectedly large delegation of reporters that she was not going to say anything that they would be interested in hearing.

While that did not exactly move the story forward, the event did throw some light on one surprising part of the nation’s current political dynamic. Has anybody noticed how eager Democratic senators seem to be to get out of the Senate? Really, we were under the impression that a safe Senate seat was quite a cushy gig.

The thing is that although there are indeed occasional perks, like fawning staff and an official three-day workweek, a senator’s calendar does tend to get crammed with many variations on the theme of Public Transit Industry Fall Conference. Secretaries of state also go to a lot of boring meetings; however, very few of them take place at an Albany Holiday Inn.
But I digress. Here are four good reasons why Hillary Clinton would be a great pick for secretary of state:

1. She would not let the vice president run our foreign policy. Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney, but we just do not want to go there again. We have scars.

2. Obama could live out his fantasy of following the Abraham Lincoln model and filling his cabinet with a team of rivals without having to make Sarah Palin secretary of commerce.

3. Clinton already has a supply of pantsuits sufficient to get her through six months of peace negotiations in the Middle East without coming home for a change of clothes.

4. She might do a terrific job

A Walk Down the Lane

I took M to GardenCity after school, one day...had a few errands to carry out and in my attempt to put M to sleep, I strolled along...taking pictures of my most favourite shops (for actually shopping and window shopping!); all the while thinking to myself, how much would this place change when I get back in a few years....


Ahh..the Witchery...love love love the clothes..yet to own a piece from this shop!!

THE tea shop......soo good!

My usual stop if I need anything for anything...

The BAG shop for me!

The Makeup shop for me! Prescriptive, Stila..

The new Swedish stationery store...very nice place!!

HOUSE for cool kitchen-y stuff....

Flowers simple clothes (they hv those "layers" and "wrap" disguising those unsightly rolls!!)

Most favourite place for candles...candles...candles!!

What can I say about ol' faithful DJ & Myer!!

My old time favourite must-stop shop....now i "see" but don't buy...tsk!

School Daze

Well, it's homeschooling time for my kids. I must say I love it ..... and so does the kids. J, not surprising, took to it like duck to water and going through his PACEs brilliantly. He is taking 7 subjects; being Maths, English, Science, Social Studies, Word Building, Bible and Literature & Creative Writing. M's curriculum is learning to read and basic numeracy. while J pretty much works independently, M requires constant supervision - except when she wants to do her colouring!

We started Sunday and because today, I kept them home (mild coughs and they were going swimming at school today - not when its cold!), they kept up with their PACEs. Anyway tonight, I got the Hubs to supervise for me, for I decided to face the piles of laundry needing folding..since last week!!