Daily Links, March 16, 2010 + UPDATED meetup info

Drew flipped me this photo from China posted to a bike forum with the invitation to caption this photo. Good luck!

BLOGS

• Peking Duck with an excellent post comparing brainwashing in China to the recent decision by the Texas School Board to brainwash its own students by omitting and distorting US history. When you legitimate your values via Transcendent Absolute, be it the Laws of History, God, Allah, or the State, the end result is always the urge to control the minds and bodies of others.What is your god but a claim to my mind?
• Dixteel on the health care issue, says if Taipei City repays its debt, no fee raises for NHI will be necessary. Just another way in which the rest of the island subsidizes the lifestyle of those in Taipei.
• David writes on Tears and Transitional Justice, reminding us that for all the debates about the death penalty, there is no debate whatsoever on how KMT officials and the associated torturers and murders of the martial law era are to be punished.
• Photos of rally for Tibet.
• Michael C with more pics of our trip to Laos.
• 1.3 billion people left sobbing: Dodgers prefer Taiwan to China.
• Taiwan Airpower on the U2 training for Taiwan
• Drew with an excellent piece on our saturday ride around Chingshui, an area rife with interesting local history. A little local knowledge really helps improve rides through urban areas. Drew also writes on his excellent local bike shop and gives advice on choosing your Taiwan bike.
  
• May the Froth Be With You.
• ESWN, always a great place to find T&A, has a post collecting information on the nude woman in Hualien who appeared in Google Drive-by.
  

MEDIA

• Textbook example of how China uses the manufacture of "tensions" to attempt gain leverage over the US: China blames US for recent "tensions". Luckily it seems, from watching US officialdom, that the Obama Administration is slowly waking up to the reality of China, the demon summoned by US elites into the international system, which can neither be banished nor shoved back into its pentacle. China Matters argues that the Obama Administration is rolling back Chinese influence in Africa.
  
• John Tkacik's remarks that ECFA is a bad idea draw return fire from KMT officials. Also in that article, DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen observes that identification with Taiwan does not necessarily mean support for Taiwan nationalism. Interesting to see a public acknowledgment of that fact by a DPP leader.
  
• The Taipei Times today prints another anti-science propaganda screed from Bjorn Lomborg, the Screwtape demon of denialism. Isn't it time to stop giving the corporate anti-science crowd a voice in Taiwan's most important newspaper? And no, I'm not giving a link to that poisonous crap. Instead, Climate Progress has a discussion of a new book about Lomborg.
• Rising pay, labor shortages in China have Taiwan industry sourcing staff from Taiwan, or even moving back.
• Ma promotes ECFA to farmers, saying no ag imports will be allowed. They are not needed; smuggling is already rife. There's a good story there, local journalists!
• Criticism of government's plans to lower housing prices by massive infrastructure investments in Greater Taipei. Can someone explain to me how local improvements lower housing prices? "What? A park and metro going in next door? I think I'll drop the asking price on my house!"
  
• "It was not very strange, then, that Wen juxtaposed an ECFA and peaceful unification on Friday last week, because one is a natural and necessary prerequisite for the other." Good commentary.
  
• Central bank is monitoring hot money inflows.
• Why China drags its feet on Iran. A CS Monitor piece that misses the key advantage China gets by inexpensively reinforcing America's crazed obsession with the Middle East, keeping it from a vigorous effort to confront China in Asia and elsewhere. Once again showing that Israel's most important occupied territory is American foreign policy debates.
  
• Civic groups urge government to stop building reservoirs. Like health fees, water prices are too low, encouraging overuse. Building more dams conserves water use the way building more roads lowers vehicle use.
  
• DPP candidate for Kaohsiung stupidly claims the DPP mayor of Kaohsiung had him under surveillance.
• The Apple Daily argues, like a number of other publications, that elections are preventing progress in Taiwan.
• The Smangus Three win the in Taiwan High Court. Good news for aborigines, says Wild at Heart
• Taiwanese-American Goodwin Liu nominated for Ninth Circuit Court by Obama (Wiki).
  

UPCOMING BIKE RIDES AND HIKES:
If you want to come along, everyone is invited!

• April 3-4 (tentative): Biking the East Coast Rift down 193
• April 10-11: Reprise of recent ride in Nantou: from Shuili leaving at 10:00 AM to give Taipei residents time to join (take HSR/early train to Taichung, then local train to Shuili) to Hsitou the first day, second day to Shanlinhsi and then down to Linnei for train back to Taipei. Date moved up one week due to friend's wedding. Note to JM: time to unpack that Cannondale.
• April 24-25: East Coast two day ride -- first day to Changbin, second day leave early to make afternoon train in Taitung and home via south link line and Kaohsiung HSR.
• April 24: Drew is going on a Paris-Roubaix Tribute Ride. Taichung-Kaohsiung on Highway 17. 260km in one day.
• Check Pashan for updates on their latest hikes.
  
• As always, let me know if you are coming down to Taichung with a bike on the weekend. Although it appears that Taichung is located in a strange tesseract that has no direct connection to Taipei, for the denizens of Taipei appear quite unable to find it and often pass by without stopping.
  

EVENTS: Next meet up is the 20th, same time and place as always. Speaker is Pavel Suian Ph.D. Professor at Bogdan Voda Unviersity, Romania.Born in Transylvania, Romania, in 1940
Studies of law and international relations in Romania and Amsterdam University (Holland). Ph.D. in international relations.
Topic: Romania as it experienced Communism and later changed directions.

UPDATE: After the meeting, Linda Arrigo will guide a tour of the White Terror cemeteries above Liuzhangli station. $150 cab ride.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!