Showing posts with label Pork Barreling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pork Barreling. Show all posts

Pro-tips for this Chinese New Year: Binge Eat

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No hair cuts. No sweeping of floors. No wearing black. No beating your children. So many things you can't do during Chinese New Year. So hard to keep track of all of them.

Here's a thought. Don't. Instead, spend your CNY doing rather than not doing. Here are some things you could do this CNY if you were actually anything more than a big baby.



Binge eat

Yes. Eat all you can, then eat some more. The tank is half empty. Mind over matter. You can do it. But why binge eat, you ask?

Because it's the festive season and you're allowed to abandon all self-control? No. No one likes a glutton.

Because you deserve to enjoy yourself while you put yourself through the misery of bringing your three whiny rascals from house to house? No. Many years ago, you signed up for that. Deal with it, or use protection.

Because somehow no one gets heart attacks on auspicious occasions? Wrong again. Holiday seasons are usually when emergency rooms are overwhelmed by the very thoughtless victims of stress, heart attacks and excessive partying.

Here's why you should binge eat. It's because everyone around you needs to be reminded of what a success you've become--that you can now afford both the food and the medical bills. And who needs to worry about your figure when you have liposuction?

In fact, this applies to us all as a nation too. If the PAP hasn't reminded you yet of how far we've come since we were a tiny red dot surrounded by communist states ready to devour us, you simply haven't been reading The Straits Times. But you're reading this now and that's a start.

The story is really easy to summarize:
Long long time ago, we poor. Then PAP came. Now, we rich and you can enjoy CNY again this year. Got hongbao too. But only if you're old enough and live in the correct GRC. Also, please remember to vote for PAP next GE. Lee Hsien Loong is a fighter. Cancer can't beat nepotism.
More sage advice to follow. Click here for more.
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Let's Celebrate CNY with some Hong Bao Envy -- Starting with the PAP

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Chinese New Year is almost here and we all know how much we loved receiving hong baos when we were little. I remember my very first hong bao envy incident. My aunt had accidentally given my brother a $12 hong bao instead of the $8 hong bao which she had intended for us. When I found out, I was quite jealous of my brother. $4 more dollars. Imagine the number of marbles (yes we used to play marbles) I could buy with that.

Now Chinese New Year is back again this year (yes I have no idea why it just keeps coming back) and it's time to celebrate it once again with some hong bao envy.

PM Lee, why hong bao so small?
On Feb 3, PM Lee gave out a grand total of 377 hongbaos to elderly residents in Teck Ghee. Various other MPs all over Singapore also gave out hongbaos to people they deemed to be needy and elderly.

In response to that, keen observers from sites like therealsingapore have deduced a sinister motive behind the PAP's latest porkbarreling. According to therealsingapore, 

"The PA is supposed to be a community grassroots organisation which handles residents needs and is not supposed to be affiliated with the ruling party. However, in Singapore, the PA is consistently used as a political tool to help the PAP."
They have also cast doubts on the generosity of the People's Association towards opposition MPs.

Not wanting to be outdone, Singapore's opposition parties have attempted to conduct their own hongbao giveaways. But, of course there is no way they can match the generosity of our well-entrenched ruling party.

To match this hong bao envy, there have been cries of disappointment by Alibaba staff as the miserly Jack Ma, who has a net worth of $20.2 billion USD, says, "no hongbao for you this year because you guys sucked." It appears that Jack Ma too would like to save on giving out hong baos this year. $20.2 billion USD is simply not enough for him.

What do I think of all this? I think festive seasons like this bring out the best and the worst in people simultaneously. Extreme misers like Jack Ma will remain misers, and while politically astute MPs from the PAP may be truly generous, one has to wonder whether there are any strings attached.

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