Factotum

 

 

It has long been a practise of dictatorships, oppressive regimes, tyrants, etc, to play down the seriousness of situations which show them in a negative light. The Tibetan-Chinese protests of 2008 give us two very different figures:

http://www.tchrd.org/press/2008/pr20080325.html

Having just read an interesting open letter:

http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cshih/ (removed)

 

Dear Visitors,

 

Dracula: Gothic legend of an undead creature roaming the night looking for victims to suck their blood. Ma Ying-jeou ( 馬英九): modern legend of an uncaring creature roaming Asia looking for Taiwanese victims to throw to the mercy of China. Similar? OK, not entirely. BUT....wait a minute. Take a look at a photo of Dracula. Now, take a look at a photo of Ma Ying-jeou....

 

 

Recent updates on China & the Olympic situation:

As newly elected Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou seeks to promote better ties with China, the doors have been opened for Chinese Tourists to fly direct to Taiwan from China, for the first time in almost 60 years. Some Taiwanese locals hope the influx of new tourists will bring money, helping the economy. The first plane-load of Chinese arrived on Friday the 4th of July and were treated to a 'red-carpet' welcome at Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport. The tourists were given a tour of the Presidential Office and some members of the group were quoted as "yearning for democracy". A very shrewd move by the KMT to rub the noses of those Chinese into the kind of freedoms they could have been living under had Chairman Mao and the communists lost the civil war?  

Some facts: 
official chinese statistics for sufferers of HIV and AIDS put the figure at slightly less than 1 million people, however the chinese authorities' strict restrictions on free journalism and their crack-down of human-rights activists could mean that figure is much higher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_China#Activism ;

Last Saturday (5th April) Ma Ying-jeou, the newly elected Taiwanese President, was in Taoyuen for the anniversary of the death of Generalissimo Chaing Kai-shek. Chaing Kai-shek was Taiwan's un-elected president of the ROC (Republic of China). Well, not so un-elected, as although the ROC had a democratic constitution it was a one-party state made up almost totally of non-Taiwanese Chinese mainlanders who voted themselves for the Generissimo keeping him in power. 

With General Elections looming in Taiwan, it seems the people who voted in the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) have lost faith. This loss of faith could mean a return to the old rule of the KMT (the Kuomintang). One reason for the turn-around could be blamed on the economy; polls taken in January 2008 by CommonWealth Magazine indicated that as much as 72% of the population interviewed were unsatisfied with Taiwan's economic performance. But is it just about money? President's Chen's family have done a fantastic job for the KMT. His son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, was convicted of insider-trading and sentenced to a jail term of 8 years and 4 months. President Chen's wife has also had a run-in with the law over insider-trading, but is probably better known for her indictment over allegedly falsifying expenditure records from the President's national security account. And then there's Vice President Annette Lu, indicted on corruption charges and embezzlement for writing off expenses with flase receipts from a special government account. 

Politics always temps those of weaker wills who, when presented with a little authority, abuse the trust placed in them by the voters. It's always happened and always will. The strong character should have the decency to accept their failures and part their post with the little respect they have left. Anyone can make a mistake, but who has the courage to admit that they made a mistake? Not Taiwanese politicians, apparently. Or maybe not politicians in general. "Sexual relations" springs to mind. 

Freedom of speech is the idea that everyone can say what they like without fear of censorship. The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed  in international law through human rights organisations, Article 10 of The European Convention on Human Rights and Article 19 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Anyone can be free to expression whatever opinion they wish, your choice is only to listen or not. So why then does China use a Golden Shield Project (金盾工程) to censor the internet, by blocking certain IP addresses, webfeed blocking and URL filtering? Remember: China itself is one of the 192 member states of the United Nations, an organisation whose rules for membership include: 

1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations. 

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) have announced that they will picket the memorial service of recently deceased Australian actor HEATH LEDGER. The WBC published a news release the same day as his death which stated: "God hates the sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as 'Brokeback Mountain' - and He hates all persons having anything whatsovever to do with it. Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there...". The WBC, an organisation known for it's anti-homosexual, anti-semetic, anti-Islam, anti-American, anti-Irish, anti-Canadian, anti-...etc, views seems to thrive upon negative, headline-grabbing, attention-seeking statements. HATE is a favoured adjective. Although they use the name 'Baptist' in their title they are in no way connected with any known Baptist conventions or associations. Officially they are not even recognised as a Bible believing fellowship, much in the same way as Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda cannot be construed as Qur'anic followers. They have made comment on various individuals as well as horrific world events, including: the September 11th attacks in New York "God had caused the terrorist attacks as a punishment for tolerance of homosexuality, and that it was God's will that those who suffered in the attacks should die"; the death of Diana, Princess of Wales "Princess Di was a filthy whore, and was killed by God in the midst of her whoredoms"; the Virginia Tech massacre "Your military chose to shoot at the servants of God today, and all they got for their effort was terror. Then, the LORD your God sent a crazed madman to shoot at your children"; and Louis Theroux (after his 2007 documentary) "demon-possessed BBC documentary maker". On the 8th of July 2005, the day after the bombing of the London Underground, in which 55 people dies, the WBC released a statement that read: "Thank God for the bombing of London's subway today - July 7, 2005 - wherein dozens were killed and hundreds seriously injured. Wish it was many more.". Pastor Fred Phelps is quoted as saying: "Oh I am so thankful that that happened. My only regret is that they didn't kill about a million of them."  It's all very disrespectful and sensational. It's all very sick. But it's not out there on it's own. After 9/11, Al-Qaeda released a video which claimed: "The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate, with God's permission. There are thousands of the Islamic nation's youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live". Are Al-Qeada and the WBC linked or just diferent branches of the same hate-tree? There's just too much talk about hate from people who are supposed to be ardent supporters of religion and God. Apparently these people are telling us that God hates, not loves. And that must be a message that millions of other Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus just never found in the Qur'an, Bible, Torah, Tripitaka or Bhagavad Gita. Did everyone get it wrong? Or is Atheism the only real answer?