Monday, November 16, 2009

Daily Links, Nov 16th, 2009


I snapped this picture of a couple in a string store winding some of the product, yesterday in Lukang. What's being unwound on the blogs today?
MEDIA: Share your thoughts on Obama's visit to Asia via video with the NYTimes. NTU President says Taiwan students are slackers, not like in his day when they had to walk 40 kilometers to school in a typhoon every day, uphill both ways. With the election weeks away, vote buying is off to a rousing start. Taipei has 355 mental patients on the loose. The remainder are safely penned up in the legislature. The Korean model beats the West -- yes, it's true, one crisis proves that western models have failed. Taiwan and China ink the financial pact, can't wait to see how the KMT gave away the house this time. Enough concessions on Taiwan, says Japanese diplomat. Spineless president, spineless citizens, says Peng Ming-min. How to appease China without really trying. Another piece on Japan's approaching fiscal doomsday. John Tkacik argues for a free trade agreement between US and Taiwan, though the idea that the US could have sold 600K cars annually since 2004 in Taiwan is laughable -- in 2006 only 366K units were sold in Taiwan, in total. Philippines politician says RP should expand ties with Taiwan. I just love this headline: "Taiwan's environmental agency to stop illegal dumping" -- why is the EPA involved in illegal dumping? Another one of Peter Harmsen's excellent pieces on Taiwan for AFP, this one on baseball. One of the great things about writing about Taiwan in international publications is that you don't need to get any of your facts right.

MEDIA STUPIDITY: ^&#%^&!@#%!!! BBC, Reuters, AFP, and other news organizations breathlessly report the KMT propaganda on "new questions" in the assassination attempt on Chen, without a word of skepticism or any revisiting of things like the CIB's refutation of absurd claims that the shooting was staged. I tried to think of a witty thing to say here, but in the face of the world media exhibiting a collective IQ of 13, snark shrivels. ADDED: BBC images from the shooting.

RECOVERING: Send warm thoughts my friend Dan Bloom's way, he is getting over a recent heart attack.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike! Do you believe that Chen Yi Hsiung's drowning was an accident?

He's supposed to be the lone gunman or wannabe assassin whose body was quickly cremated by the police even without the family's consent.

ATOQ

Tim Maddog said...

Note this screwiness from the BBC photo set:
* (3 of 9) Here's a picture which isn't what we're going to tell you it looks like before we tell you it isn't actually that thing.
* (4 of 9) "[...] an 11cm cut across Mr Chen's stomach. [It wasn't a "cut." Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-picked forensics expert Henry Lee told us so.]
* (5 of 9) "[...] the bullet, which doctors had to remove from his body." [Uh, no. They found it bahind Chen's back.]

At least they didn't put "shooting" in quotes this time around.

Tim Maddog

Michael Turton said...

He's supposed to be the lone gunman or wannabe assassin whose body was quickly cremated by the police even without the family's consent.

ATOQ, Mrs. Chen cremated him the day he was found. The police had nothing to do with it.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/us/17visa.html

This is an interesting article--corrupt officials welcome! Democratic Taiwan officials go away! (juxtaposition mine).

Michael Turton said...

Yes, of course Chen was the assassin, found by following a chain of evidence.

You're welcome to provide evidence for your bizarre position that the President staged his own assassination. But there isn't any, is there?