BAILOUT PASSES SENATE 74-25: Our elites are like a man who inherited a garden, which, properly cultivated, could have lasted forever, but who instead decided to sell off the topsoil in lots to make a quick buck....
....the cataclysms in Washington make what goes on here in Taiwan seem mere neighborhood gossip, like reporting on the doings of ants when the elephants have decided to commit suicide, but I'm putting out the links today because, as Nietzsche once observed, the force of habit is such that even when the house burns down, we still make lunch in the ashes....
Paul Batt reports on his trip to the Obama fundraiser in Taipei. Several people sent me links to this interesting blog of a man walking around Taiwan in 80 days. Darren Melrose has great pics of the typhoon and its aftermath. Another storm is due this weekend, BTW. The Wild East on glocalization of English test scores in Taiwan. Global Voices Online on the LGBT parade. Wendell Minnick, one of the island's most important foreign correspondents and a longtime reporter on military affairs in Asia, has opened a blog containing some of his pieces. Here is a US official's speech from the US-Taiwan defense conference. Both Todd and I love to take pics of Taiwan's amazing butterflies. A-gu has another great piece on the continuing assault on RTI by the KMT. He also blogged on the re-introduction of Chinese classics in education. Steve reports on religion scholar David Jordan. fili reports on the Taichung Folk Park. Don't miss: The Taiwan Link has a long, excellent piece on defense and weapons relations between Taiwan and the US.
MEDIA: Don't miss Glenn Greenwald on the bailout. He's been on a roll lately. Could someone please send me a link to a similarly excoriating piece from a conservative point of view? Taiwan bank donates to save coral reefs. Taiwan News points out the anti-democracy aspects of Ma's Greater ROC, including its absurd claim to own Mongolia. Anyone who wants to know what expansionist Chinese really think should look at an old ROC map. Our Fisheries agency says locally cultured fish are free of melamine. Sure. CRS report on Taiwan-US relations. Global rises in prices of other commodities have led to 15% increases in the price of the lifeblood of Taiwan's political economy, cement. Sacred ibises observed in southern Taiwan. Taipei and NZ cooperate in controlling illegal fishing. A French judge has dismissed the Lafayette case. Reuters with a very long piece on the effects of Regional Adminstrator Ma's "opening" to China. Another laudatory travel article in a Canadian newspaper, this one on temples and religion. China and Taiwan explore for oil together. Slate looks at the Asian-American vote, and asks why no one ever writes about it.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of Chinese had suddenly gotten their feelings hurt." -- Karl "Goddamnit Turton" Smith.
[Taiwan]
Nice find on the Asian-American vote. I was quite surprised at the article's capability to distinguish Chinese from Taiwanese, but I guess they know better as they went onto even highlight the differences Taiwanese and Chinese, or even Taiwanese and Taiwanese have over the view of Taiwan and China.
ReplyDeleteAnd for conservative lashing out at the bailout, checkout Karl Denninger's blog: http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
At least, I think he's conservative...
----Could someone please send me a link to a similarly excoriating piece from a conservative point of view?----
ReplyDeleteNot really excoriating, but Ilya Somin on Volokh.com does not like the bailout one bit. I think the bailout proposal is blurring the usual ideological stances.
An Interview With Senator Jim DeMint On The Bailout Crisis
ReplyDeleteThe biggest creditor is China and that's a big part of this equation that's not being talked about. If America was not in such deep debt, we could deal with this problem much more effectively -- but China has essentially told the U.S. that we make good on all the debt that they're holding, which is nearly a trillion dollars, or they're going to stop lending us money.
To show that they're serious, they've already stopped lending us money and if we can't borrow money every day, literally hundreds of billions of dollars, we default on the loans that are coming due.
(via market-ticker ~ yep, a great site that I too have been following for over a year. Karl has been on top of the China economic extortion/Paulson treason angle for quite a while and finally received proof from more than on congressperson. (Demint and Sherman). See his latest youtube (today) here.)
Imo, this is the underlying factor of why Taiwan is losing its freedom. Wall St. banker greed that ultimately will destroy the dollar and along with it, Taiwan's security shield.
I would definitely think twice about digesting anything containing milk these days if I were in Asia. That stuff is scary and the Chinese didn't say anything about it because of the Olympics...
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteI'm quite disappointed that you still haven't got an explanation or a hypothesis on why the Obama and his lackey Biden won't sell out Taiwan. I'm not too fond of GOP however as you stated before, Democrats' language on Taiwan matter is quite disturbing. Obama might be a excellent choice for US in the area of domestic policies and restoring US international image, however I think after US regains her international standing and has the moral high ground to engage China, Taiwan is already been screwed over by the democrats and their cronies in State Department.
If I gonna choose a "lesser evil" then I say screw it. Hell, even the friggin' Cthuhlu is more suitable for POTUS imo.
"Taiwan is already been screwed over by the democrats and their cronies in State Department."
ReplyDeleteThis is true. And with the advisors O is surrounding himself with, there is little cause for optimism.
The only way I console myself is by thinking that Bush has not been great for Taiwan either. Perhaps Obama will not be as bad as I suspect. Fingers crossed.
China on Tuesday declined to release updated figures revealing just how many children have been affected by the tainted milk scandal, as it insisted it was working hard to boost confidence.
ReplyDeleteThe health ministry said it had new statistics showing how many babies were believed to have been left ill by the crisis, but did not release the data and gave no indication of if or when it would made the latest information public.
"We've not released the latest number of cases because it is not an infectious disease, so it's not absolutely necessary for us to announce it to the public," a health ministry spokesman told AFP.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSooNn1GgOgL-8sOUdRfC5Vzy1iQ