Records

Listening to The World is Flat audio book by Thomas L. Friedman, first heard about it from Texas senior senator Kay Bailey Hutchison when she spoke at the Texas Young Republican Federation annual convention this past August in Dallas. Picked up the other three books of his from the library yesterday and will be going through them as well: Lexus and the Olive Tree, Longitudes and Attitudes, From Beirut to Jerusalem.

Finished listening to the audio book Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by M*A*S*H actor Allen Alda. An interesting book. I didn't know that he was involved in lobbying for the Equal Rights Amendment. I am glad that issue is dead because I certainly would not want to expose women to the poison gas of World War I, let alone all the modern chemical and biological weapons. And certainly we don't want to be involved in guaranteeing men's right to pregnancy.

We heard from Japan ambassador to the US Ryozo Kato at lunch today. I didn't realize that Japan is the second largest foreign investor in the US, after the UK. I would have guessed that Japan would be the largest. Japan is also the third largest creator of jobs in the US behind the UK and Germany.

It's going to hurt tomorrow pretty bad because we were doing leg sweeps today in Krav Maga class. We took turn bringing each other to the ground by pulling our partner off balance, putting him on one leg and then took that leg out. We also practiced bear hug release by breaking off a finger or two from the assailant. In training, for partner preservation, we stopped well short from doing the damage.

The White House Christmas greetings came in the mail yesterday. Scripture verse is Psalm 119:105.

My hosting server had some kind of file corruption yesterday so I was unable to access the server most of yesterday.

On my way to go shopping, I stopped by the library and voted early in the Carrollton city council special election.

Among the myriads of things I am thankful for is the cash dividend that AmeriVest is paying its shareholders, $3.50 per share, as part of its liquidation and dissolution of the company. With the properties still left to be sold, I think I will come out not too far behind of the investment cost I put in, stark contrast to the total loss I took when Boston Market went belly up and got bought by McDonald's back in 1999. Plus, my Lockheed Martin and 3M holdings are doing quite well.

I am somewhat unhappy to see my net income this pay cycle is decreased because federal withholding on Social Security and Medicare increase. Medicare, I suspect the increase is to fund the Medicare part D entitlement program. Now what's up with Social Security? I am going to find out.

After taking more or less six weeks off for political campaign, I was back at Krav Maga training last night. I also picked up my Yellow Belt certificate.

"Given our monstrous, overgrown government structure, any three letters chosen at random would probably designate an agency or part of a department that could be profitably abolished." --- Milton Friedman

Our church had our Thanksgiving service and then luncheon today because many will be out of town to be with their families this week, including the weekend. I and Vivian were out shopping for a 12-ft Christmas tree. Decorator Warehouse had one for over $700. Garden Ridge had one for $489.99, we almost bought it. Because we were told Sam's Club had one for about $300, we decided to check it out. We got one for $296.99 plus tax. The tree came in two boxes. We got back to church, put the tree up, without any instruction because there was none included. We also missed one section, the very top of the tree. So we called, then went back and got the top, along with the missing instructions. The employees at the Sam's Club on I-20 between Great Southwest and Carrier Parkway are real nice folks. They took care of the members well. While we were out getting the Christmas tree, everyone else stayed at church and put up all the smaller trees, outside lights, other decorations, .... Great job everyone!

Milton Friedman is gone. I would have loved to meet the man. A great mind. He received the Nobel prize in Economics the year I was born.

We heard from Ellyn A. McColgan, president of Fidelity Brokerage Company at lunch today. She talked about confronting retirement challenge, and the message is to plan for 85% of your pre retire income, and save more, save a lot more, and save even more.

An update on the Carrollton city council special election. Election day is Tuesday, December 5th. Early voting begins on Monday, November 20th at

1. Josey Ranch Lake Library at 1700 Keller Springs Road
2. Sandy Jacobs Government Center (formerly Denton County Government Center) at 1029 W. Rosemeade.

Schedule are as follow:

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 20-22, Nov. 24-25;
1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26;
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 27-29;
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 30-Dec. 1.

Six candidates and here is what I know about these candidates,listed in the order they are on the ballot:

1. Terry Simons, a good friend, a former council member, who resigned and ran for Denton county Justice of the Peace but lost in the Republican primary early this year. A plumber by trade and a member of First Baptist Church of Carrollton.

2. Jack Stotz, a retired facilities manager for IRS, campaign treasurer for Nancy Cline when she ran for the CFBISD Board of Trustees. A fellow classmate and graduate of the 2005 Carrollton Government Academy. A first term member of the Carrollton Planning and Zoning Commission. When Jack first announced, I checked his website, and except for the first page with the name Jack Stotz, there was Bob McCranie everywhere else. Bob McCranie, whose endorsement is listed on Jack's website currently, has made political contributions to John McCain, Michael Burgess, Barack Obama, Bob Garza and Democrat Gary Page, who ran against congressman Kenny Marchant in 2004 and 2006.

3. Paul Kramer is a professional engineer who works for Medical City of Dallas. He's sixty years old, with two grown children out of the house. Both of them are owners of small businesses in Carrollton. Feel he has the time to give back to the community. A member of Sojourn Church, which I attended for about two years in 1996-1997. If elected, he would be the only professional engineer on the council. With the city's infrastructure over thirty years old, need a lot of repairs and improvements, plus the city will be putting in new infrastructure for Transit Oriented Development with DART light rail coming to Carrollton finally, he feels that his expertise would help serve the citizens of Carrollton well.

4. Kathleen York, a photographer, who ran and lost in the Carrollton city council race in 2005.

5. Cathy Henesey, a recruiter, is a good friend, who ran and lost narrowly in the Carrollton city council race in May this year.

6. Najma Ghouse, whose last name is wrong on the city secretary website, is a real estate agent. She will be the first Muslim woman to contest in the Carrollton City Council Elections according to the muslim-calendar.com website. Her husband, Mike Ghouse, is quoted in the newspaper and on local TV station CBS 11 as against the resolution passed unanimously 6-0 by the Farmers Branch city council this week, which would 1) make English the city's official language, 2) fine landlords for renting to illegal aliens, 3) provide for Farmers Branch police to be trained to enforce immigration law.

This, the city of Belmont, San Mateo county, California, banned all smoking except in single-family detached residences, has gone too far. I am not an attorney but I can already see one law suit being brought because they are discriminating against folks who are not rich enough to afford a house. Or is there case law or precedence already? I can see that drinking in a car can lead to Driving While Intoxicated but what's the problem if one smokes in one's own car?

Ok, so now we have senator John McCain, mayor Rudy Giuliani, secretary Tommy Thompson, a committee to draft Condoleeza Rice, rumor of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford being a dark horse, what a crowded field. My horse in the race so to speak, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is still looking the best in the pack.

Senator Join McCain has filed paper for a Presidential Exploratory Committee. With him being pro choice, I think he will have a hard time securing the Republican nomination. My guess months ago was of a Mitt Romney/Kay Bailey Hutchison ticket in 2008 because both of them are very well like and electable. With senator George Allen out of the running, the chance for my prediction to come true just increases a little bit. I realize that governor Romney is a member of The Church of Latter-Day Saints or Mormon church. So was Oklahoma congressman and candidate for governor Ernest Istook. This article very much said what I think.

This is rather disturbing. Maybe we need a replacement for Admiral William J. Fallon?

A friend brought to my attention the first and second place in the General Reporting Award category of the International Picture of the Year.

I was out building with Dallas Habitat today at 1060 Bickers in Dallas.

I was thinking of going to the Japanese Film Festival at SMU but then realize that the one movie being shown tonight is animation. It's not exactly my favorite genre so I am just going to stay home and enjoy my books instead.

Did you know that the wife of Democrat Senator-elect Jim Webb of Virginia is of Vietnamese descent, an attorney name Hong Le. She has been quietly campaigning for her husband and turning out the votes among the more than 50,000 Americans of Vietnamese descent in the commonwealth of Virginia. This is significant because the margin of victory in that senate race is between 7,000 to 8,000 votes. Check out these clips on YourTube:

• Hong Le Webb video portrait


• Speaking at a Women Choose Webb rally


• Election night


• Rally with Clinton

Asher Intrater was a passionate and inspiring keynote speaker at tonight's Messianic Jewish Bible Instittute fundraising banquet at the Hilton Anatole.

I personally feel some of the losses nationwide more than others, because they are just great Republicans.

On the Senate side, Pennsylvania Rick Santorum, Missouri Jim Talent and possibly Virginia George Allen.

On the House side, Arizona 5th J.D. Hayworth, Florida 22nd Clay Shaw, Indiana 8th John Hostettler, Pennsylvania 4th Melissa Hart, whom I first met in 2004 at the Republican National Convention, and Pennsylvania 7th Curt Weldon.

A disaster in Dallas county tonight. Republicans lost the County Judge, the District Attorney, all the judicial races. Democrats just went in and pulled straight ticket. Republicans picked and chose and we had a dramatic dropped off from top of the ticket candidates to the candidates at the bottom of the ticket. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst won so Dallas county is not as blue as some are claiming.

Remember Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. It came true for me today, I met and shook hand with both president Bush and his political adviser, Karl Rove.

Thanks to governor Rick Perry and his most wonderful campaign staffs and volunteers, a handful of us were able to greet president George W. and Mrs. Laura Bush before he went on stage to address the crowd at Reunion Arena tonight.

Here is a picture of yours truly, Karl Ninh, with the "architect" Karl Rove

Went to see The Journey of Vaan Nguyen screening put together at the Angelika Dallas by the 3 Stars Cinema. Boris Palchik, who is on the board of 3 Stars, first introduced me to the organization. Met and said hello with Duki Dror, the director of the documentary. He proudly wore the ViFF shirt. Ysa Le, the founder of ViFF, was the first to inspire me and Hoang to start our VPS Film Festival here in the DFW area.

I was out walking for state rep. Bill Keffer this morning until lunch. Then I went and helped to put out yard signs around Tuesday's polling locations for judge Jay Patterson in the afternoon before picked up the ballots and all the election materials for my precinct 1409. I will be the election judge for my precinct on election day. Exhausted, primarily my legs gave out, I went home for a little bit. Afterward I went to pick up my VIP tickets for the rally with president Bush and governor Perry Monday night before headed over to Thuan and Hanh for a dinner get together.

One of the ways to judge a leader is by the staffers he surrounds himself with. By that standard, governor Perry is a great leader. Steve McCraw, the homeland security director knows his trade and has been doing an impressive job. The governor's campaign statewide field director Travis Griffin is an another example, effective and efficient, deliver on time what he said he would.

Spent the morning at a training put together by Intel and RogueWave. RogueWave folks introduced HydraSDO while Intel folks introduced Intel Threading Analysis Tools such as Thread Checker, Thread Profiler, and Threading Building Blocks.