Politics

Well, I am not referring to those in the office, which engineers rarely need to deal with. I am referring to the election in the States this week and the corruption incident in Taiwan.

On US: I found that I am paying more and more attention to the politics here.
- Back in year 2000 I only started to pay attention to the election when the news were all taking about the recounts, and I had little idea about the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
- I had no impression of the 2002 election. I actually never realized it happened.
- In year 2004, I was all for Kerry, and I remember refreshing CNN.com once every 10 minutes during the day to see the latest results. I even listened to one of the debates before the election.
- This year, I was reading news about the projections before the election, and also checking the news closely during the day. I even both to look up what GOP means. I got excited when I heard that the Democrats took over the House, and I refreshed CNN.com once every 5 minutes at night to see the latest counts in Virginia and Montana Senate race.

Nevertheless, I don't really consider myself American. Not yet.

On Taiwan: The latest incident in Taiwan really created a mess. And it was a mess even before this, when the "Red" organized the 天下围攻. When I talked to people in Mainland China about this, their first reaction was Taiwan's government was "too" democratic and it was not good, that this could be chaotic - just look at how they physically fight each other in the meetings.
But in my view I really appreciate the true democracy in Taiwan, and I am truly glad that there is democracy in a Chinese region (not country, to be politically correct). Guess what would happen if someone suspects President Hu of spending money inappropriately?