Two busy links:

I am bogged down with a crapload of work that seems unlikely to clear for a couple more days, so you should be reading...

Frozen Garlic: The Courts are Run by the KMT:

When the Taipei District Court handed down its ruling last Friday, Ma’s lawyer made an interesting comment to the press. In his disappointment with the news, he turned to the reporters and said something to the effect of, “I hope no one ever says the courts are run by the KMT again.” This was a reference to an infamous statement from about 20 years ago. Hsu Li-teh 徐立德, who was then Vice-Premier, Hsu Shui-teh 許水德, who was then KMT Secretary-General, told KMT members not to worry about the legal consequences of their actions because, after all, “the courts are run by the KMT 法院是國民黨開的。” The courts have done little to dispel this notion over the past 20 years. Again and again, KMT members seem to acquitted or given very light sentences while DPP members seem to get the harshest treatment possible under the law.

The whole post is excellent, don't miss it.

J Michael relates the sad tale of the death of one of the Dapu 4 whose homes were bulldozed while the protesters were away: In Memorium: Mr. Chang Sen-wen:

I first met Chang Sen-wen (張森文) in front of the Executive Yuan on July 3. It was an excruciatingly hot day. He was in a blue shirt, wearing a straw hat, underneath a tent that had temporarily been erected in front of the EY. Next to him, his wife, Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), was giving interviews to reporters, making her case, as she had done dozens of times over the past three years, against the efforts by the Miaoli County Government to demolish their home and the small pharmacy they operated to widen an intersection on the way to a science park project.

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