Freedom Ain't Free

A Secure Border a Country Makes

2010-11-25T20:22:00.006-06:00

This story from Taiwan News shows Taiwan treating it's borders as if they were the borders of a country. Nothing here about getting Beijing's approval or help. Borders, language, and culture are considered to be minimal characteristics of a country. The native Taiwanese (85% of population) have a distinct language and culture apart from the Chinese. Treating Taiwan's border as something to be secured and making reciprocal visa-free agreements with other governments shows that the government of Taiwan is acting like the government of a country.

NIA, the gatekeeper of national borders
Following in footsteps of England, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada, the European Union is reported to see the visa-free treatment for Taiwan clear its floor recently, a move commonly seen as a shot in the arm for substantial exchanges between Europe and Taiwan.
In response to growing demand from tourists to visa-waived countries and an array of problems following the exemption, including smuggling and human-trafficking, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) has stepped up its efforts to cement the guard of national borders with a series of seminars, forums and staff training since its establishment on Jan. 2, 2007.
Click here to read the full story.

My Hail Mary Message to Sen. Nelson

2010-01-25T00:05:00.010-06:00

On 12/23/2009, in the midst of taking my wife and children from Pflugerville over the hills and through the woods to Grandmother's house in Birmingham, AL we stopped in Tyler at a Subway to eat a late lunch (while tornado warnings were being broadcast). I had the impending Senate Obamacare vote on my mind being quite upset with what the Obamabots were doing up there in Harry Reid's twisted chamber. So I faxed Ben Nelson a simple message that I later revised a bit and faxed to the following (including Senator Nelson) the next day (Christmas Eve):

Sen. Michael F Bennet, Colorado DC Fax Number: 202-228-5036

Sen. Ben Nelson, Nebraska, DC Fax Number: 202-228-0012

Sen. Mary Landrieu, Louisiana, DC Fax Number: 202-224-9735

Sen. Mark Pryor, Arkansas, DC Fax Number: 202-228-0908

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas, DC Fax Number: 202-228-1371

Sen. Robert Byrd, West Virginia, DC Fax Number: 202-228-0002

Sen. Jim Webb, Virginia, DC Fax Number: 202-228-6363

Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia, DC Fax Number: 202-224-6295

Sen. Jon Tester, Montana, DC Fax Number: 202-224-8594

Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut, DC Fax Number: 202-224-9750

Sen. Mark Begich, Alaska, DC Fax Number: 202-224-2354

Sen. Evan Bayh, Indiana, DC Fax Number: 202-228-1377

I named the MS Word doc file that I sent the efax from, Hail Mary.doc. Here is my Hail Mary message to Sen. Nelson:

The Honorable Senator Ben Nelson

720 Hart Senate Office Building

United States Senate

Washington,

DC 20510

Tel: 1-202-224-6551 | Fax: 1-202-228-0012

Dear Senator Nelson,

PLEASE, FOR YOUR OWN
POLITCAL SAKE, FOR THE SAKE OF THE NATION AND ESPECIALLY FOR THE SAKE OF THE
UNBORN,

VOTE AGAINST
THE HEALTHCARE BILL THIS WEEK.

IT WILL ONLY TAKE AWAY OUR
FREEDOM AND WILL DISTROY THE GOOD HEALTH CARE MOST AMERICANS CURRENTLY HAVE
ACCESS TO.

AMERICANS WILL
NOT FORGET WHEN THEY VOTE IN THE NOV 2010 GENERAL ELECTION. REPUBLICANS WILL
TAKE OVER THE U.S. SENATE AND HOUSE AS A RESULT!

A Concerned American Citizen,

Timothy E. Bradberry

P.S. Though I am sending this FAX independently of any other citizen, my views reflect those of most Americans according to scientific polling results (Rasmussen, etc.).

Well, Sen. Nelson didn't heed the warning and now he is paying the political price.

Click below to read John Fund's editorial, "Ben Nelson's Purgatory":

The Nebraska senator's health-care vote has killed him politically.

And here are a few more stories illustrative of the Senator's apparent political demise:

Nebraskans so disgusted with Ben Nelson they can’t even eat around him

The the "Cornhusker Kickback" termed the biggest blunder in modern history in this story:

Anatomy of Anger

And here is Sen. Nelson, the seller-out of the unborn, for 30 pieces of silver, so to speak:

Both parties must re-evaluate divisive health care reform

"Formosa Betrayed" - Coming to theaters near you (including in Austin) February 28, 2009

2009-10-25T04:08:00.019-05:00

I have it on good authority that Formosa Betrayed will be shown in theaters in the Austin area beginning on February 28, 2009 (the 62nd anniversary of the 2-28 Incident in Taiwan). See press release below announcing Distribution.

1680 N. Vine St., Suite 906, Hollywood, CA 90028

| P: 323-465-8885 | F: 323-465-8886 |

info@formosathemovie.com | www.formosathemovie.com

For Immediate Release:

SCREEN MEDIA FILMS PICKS UP “FORMOSA BETRAYED” HOLLYWOOD, CA – October 23, 2009 – Screen Media Films has picked up worldwide rights to Formosa Betrayed, a political thriller set in the 1980s, which made its international debut at the Montreal World Film Festival.

Formosa Betrayed is the initial project for Formosa Films, a newly formed production company created by actor/writer/producer Will Tiao. Adam Kane (Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Mercy) directs his feature debut.

Story is inspired by actual events. An FBI Agent investigates the murder of an Asian professor at a small college. Agent follows the fleeing killers to Taiwan, where he finds himself on a collision course with the FBI, the State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and the Government of the Republic of China.

James Van Der Beek plays the FBI Agent and Wendy Crewson plays a US diplomat in Taiwan. John Heard, Tzi Ma, Will Tiao, Leslie Hope, and Kenneth Tsang round out supporting cast.
Tiao, a former international economist with the Clinton and Bush Administrations, raised the funds for the $8 million project from private equity based on concept, and has nearly 300 investors in the project. Investment bank Berthel Fisher Financial Services provided completion funds.

Formosa Betrayed recently screened for Members of Congress in Washington DC, which was highly attended due to heightened interest in US-Taiwan-China relations. Film also recently won Best Picture and Best Actor for Van Der Beek at the San Diego Film Festival, and Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival.

In addition to Montreal, San Diego, Washington DC and Philadelphia, Formosa Betrayed has also screened at Hollywood Film Festival, New York Asian American Film Festival, DC APA Film Festival, and will be screening at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival and St. Louis International Film Festival.

Formosa Betrayed is to be released in theaters in February 2010 in 15-20 North American cities.

Screen Media will rep worldwide rights and begin selling territories at the European Film Market in February 2010. Deal was brokered by Ben Weiss at Paradigm and Kevin Mills of Kaye & Mills LLP. In addition, Formosa Films and Berthel Fisher have announced the creation of a new $20 million fund, focused on television and film production. Formosa Films is already in prep on two film projects starting in Spring 2010 – JUVY, about juvenile delinquents, with Kane to direct and Tiao to produce, and THE DOORMAN about the underground goings-on of the Plaza Hotel, with Abel Ferrara to direct and Tiao to produce.

Contact:
Formosa Films
Evita Huang
info@formosathemovie.com
1680 Vine St., Suite 906
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 465-8885

October 8, 2009

Selected Formosa Betrayed Media Coverage

October 8, 2009

Variety – "’Moon’ Shines on Hollywood Festival"

October 8, 2009

Screen Daily – “HFF Announces Line-Up, Hollywood Movie Awards Nominees”

October 5, 2009

ABC Radio Australia – “New movies addresses Taiwan’s turbulent past”

October 1, 2009

Express Night Out – “Moving Pictures: Asian Pacific American Film Festival Offers Something for Everyone”

September 27, 2009

NBC San Diego – “Bang For Your Viewing Buck”

September 27, 2009

NBC San Diego – “Varsity Blues to Global Blues”

Understanding Taiwanese Identity: Strange Threesome

2009-08-09T14:45:00.009-05:00

I'm on the email list of a fellow son-in-law of Taiwan, Jerome F. Keating, who happens to live there in Taipei and happens to write about the politics of the island nation. I was particularly intrigued by the title of his latest essay, Me, Freddy Lim, Chiang Kai-shek, Art and Taiwanese Identity: Confessions of a Rainbow-Chaser, which I am hereby sharing with the readers of my blog, few though they may be.

I've met Freddy Lim (and he's one of my Facebook friends) and I've visited Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall before it was renamed to Democracy Hall, which name it seems now was only temporary. Too bad it's name has been changed back to CKS Memorial Hall. I would have liked to have visited a Democracy Hall in Taiwan.

Which reminds me of my personal attempt to use art to inform the discussion of Taiwanese Identity and Taiwan Independence. I'm speaking of the independent film, Formosa Betrayed in which I am invested, in part to memorize my late son, Daniel Maximus-Ping Bradberry and his late Taiwanese Grandfather, Mr. Chung, who lived though the White Terror period (1949-1987) in Taiwan when CKS, his son Chiang Ching-kuo, and the the rest of the Kuomintang (KMT) met their needs at the expense of the majority of the Island, i.e. at the expense of the native Taiwanese people.

You can watch the Formosa Betrayed trailer on YouTube by clicking here.

Back to Freddy. I will never understand his music and have no desire to listen to it, but I do understand his passion to display his and his fellow countrymen's Taiwanese Identity and commitment to keep Taiwan free and independent. If you are into black metal music there is no other artist I could steer you to and certainly no more loyal partiot of Taiwan that is trying to use his art to reach out to world with the message that Taiwan is for the Taiwanese and freedom loving people, period.

You can check out the wiki page for Freddy's band, Chthonic, here.

Me, Freddy Lim, Chiang Kai-shek, Art and Taiwanese Identity: Confessions of a Rainbow-Chaser

by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Taiwanese will not find their true identity as an island nation until they fully realize the indoctrination and brain-washing they endured under Chiang Kai-shek (CKS). They will not find their true identity until they realize that he had nothing to do with them except to take advantage of them in their hour of need and to exploit them in his hour of need. It is for this reason that one of the saddest and most disappointing things to recently happen in Taiwan has been the changing of the name of Democracy Hall back to that of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. This move is a step backwards for democracy in Taiwan and symptomatic of Ma Ying-jeou’s attempts to fabricate past credibility for his Sino-centric (not Taiwan-centric) government.

Allegedly there was to be a discussion of the matter of this name change (read that a move typical of Ma’s lip service hypocrisy). However, totally lacking was any detailed record or publication of this discussion and its proportion, i.e. who specifically was for the re-naming and who was against it, what polls were taken, what percentage of the people supported it etc. No, before Taiwan knew it and while the Kaohsiung World Games distracted the country, the name was changed back. Perhaps Ma felt a discussion with Taiwan-basher Kuo Kuan-ying was sufficient.

For this reason I found myself drawn into a strange but real threesome, between myself, Freddy Lim and Chiang Kai-shek. Strange? Here was I a university professor, writer, and former Manager of Technology Transfer on Taipei and Kaohsiung’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Systems, Freddy Lim the lead singer of Chthonic a popular Taiwanese black metal band, and CKS the dead dictator responsible for bringing the latest group of beggars that wanted to take over the temple of Taiwan (乞丐趕廟公).

It was during this same name restoration that I imagined Freddy stole a thought from my mind. For when I first heard that the name of the dead dictator (CKS) was going to be restored to the memorial, I pondered. If Taiwanese could not stop this name from being forced down their throats, then how could they protest it? What could they do particularly with the huge statue of CKS there?

First I imagined that teams of loyal followers of Su Beng would periodically and symbolically douse the walls of that white marble mausoleum with red paint to symbolize the numerous deaths that CKS was responsible for in both 2-28 and the subsequent white terror period. This constant red stain on the marble walls would be a steady reminder of the barbarism of that man. If a more dramatic action was desired, I pictured some loyal Taiwanese getting a bazooka or shoulder missile launcher and from a distance placing a shot right through the chest of the statue of CKS. A statue with its guts blown out; now that could be a possible solution.

Then symbolic expressions flitted through my mind. What would be the way for a more symbolic criticism? The statue is gigantic; it could not be removed by simply lifting it by crane. When installed, the memorial had been built around it. In Kaohsiung, which had a smaller statute, it had to be cut up and taken away in pieces.

But what if the statue did not need to be removed entirely? What if the head were simply cut off and the body of the statue left there decapitated. That would be a more practical solution and yet highly symbolic. A large sign could be put in the lap of the statue stating “Let this be the end of all dictators and enemies of Taiwan’s democracy.” What could be a more fitting sign of Taiwan’s developing democracy coming to terms with its past than the headless statue of a past dictator?

It was at this point that in reading the news, I found out that Freddy Lim had already stolen my thoughts. Stole them? Well alright, this heavy metal singer didn’t really steal my thoughts; he probably doesn’t even know who I am. Instead, he simply beat me to their expression. Recently Freddy and the band had produced a new video cum song featuring the beheading of CKS and the burning of appropriate flags to boot.

This was a blending of art and reality. I knew Freddy and Chthonic from various sources and had heard them at the Free Tibet concert in Taipei this past July. They put their money where their mouth or where their music is. Heavy metal may not be your cup of tea, but whether one is into heavy metal or not, one cannot dispute Chthonic’s loyalty to Taiwan and making it a part of their art. There are no current Taiwanese musicians who feel and simultaneously express their sense of Taiwanese identity more stridently than Freddy and his band. Many singers and musicians may be Taiwanese at heart but not wanting to offend the China market they will keep their thoughts to themselves or play them low key.

Chthonic’s music on the other hand expresses the myths and history of the country. They see it as a nation with its own identity. They even make it part of their art. True, art does not always need to make such protest statements. Art can and often exists without them, but in these troubled and tumultuous times, Taiwan needs more artists like Freddy and Chthonic.

Other writings can be found at http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome

About the Movie, Fomosa Betrayed

2009-07-18T16:49:00.007-05:00

Last year I found the story below on the www.forumosa.com website but I probably read it first in my hard copy of the Formosa Foundation Newsletter (to download the particular issue, click here). I've been wanting to post it to this blog for a long time, forgetting that it had come from the Formosa Foundation Newsletter. However, the folks at Forumosa (not a Taiwanese friendly site, to say the least) insisted that they would do nothing about an offensive video loop and comments I did not want to subject my referrals to, that was next to the Forumosa post of interest. The video loop is an icon for a Forumosa.com user called "cake", who apparently is a Night Market Cop., in case you want to look him up. "Cake" copied the text from Formosa Foundation Newsletter without attribution. In this post I'm making proper attribution and avoiding that offensive video.

The story below is actually a portion of a five page story titled, Hollywood Goes Taiwanese:
Major Motion Picture Formosa Stars James Van Der Beek.

The movie is now called Fromosa Betrayed. Formosa Films, LLC considered changing the name to Formosa, but that was short lived. See Formosa Foundation, Volumi III, Summer 2008 for the story below in its context. See the official website for the movie Formosa Betrayed here http://www.formosathemovie.com/ .

History:

Many Hollywood films have tried to shine a light on Chinese culture and politics for American audiences, though none has yet to do so from Taiwan’s unique political perspective. While films such as Red Corner, The Last Emperor, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, are among the most well-known American films dealing with Chinese culture, those movies did not deal specifically with the political and social issues facing Taiwan and America.

Formosa Betrayed will enlighten a global audience on the real story behind Taiwan’s political history, by focusing on the tragic murder of a Taiwanese professor who was killed solely for his courage to speak out for an independent and democratic Taiwan.

Based on actual events which happened to Taiwanese professors and graduate students throughout the United States in the 1970s and 80s, Formosa Betrayed will expose for the first time the brutal techniques that the Nationalist Chinese Government on Taiwan used to quell dissent in their desire to reunite Taiwan with mainland China.

Most people outside of Taiwan and China are unaware of the history surrounding Taiwan’s political status. Formosa Betrayed will be the first opportunity for a mass audience to get a glimpse into the human story behind Taiwan’s struggle for identity on a world stage.

Story:

Formosa Betrayed is a feature film detailing the murder investigation of a Taiwanese-American professor at a Midwestern college in the early 1980s. The detective assigned to the case is a young FBI agent looking forward to an exciting career serving the United States government. However, he must solve the case before he can move on.

In his search for the murderers and their accomplices, the agent learns that there is a student spy network which focuses on the political and social activities of Chinese and Taiwanese-American students on the campus. He discovers that these “student spies” are ubiquitous on college campuses in the United States where there are Chinese and Taiwanese students.

His search for the killers takes him to Taiwan, where he learns that the suspects are members of the Chinese Mafia who have been hired by the Nationalist Chinese Government in Taiwan to silence political dissidents. He discovers that the true reason for the professor's murder was to silence an outspoken advocate of Taiwanese democracy and independence, and thus he was seen as a threat to the legitimacy of the government on Taiwan – a key U.S. ally. The hit was sanctioned by those at the highest level of power.

In his efforts to bring the killers and their accomplices to justice, he finds himself on a collision course with the U.S. State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and ultimately the highest levels of the Nationalist Chinese Government in Taiwan. In the meantime, he is aided by a mysterious woman who is tied to the Taiwanese Independence Movement and by others with competing agendas.

In the end, the detective begins to understand the complex nature of politics, identity, and power in Taiwan-U.S.-China relations – and how this relationship affects the lives and destinies of the citizens of all three countries – including his own.

Links to Reviews, et al:

New York Times Online Reviews
IMDb Listing
The Movie Trailer on YouTube
Formosa Betrayed Tagged Page

The Cost of Freedom

2009-07-02T22:18:00.005-05:00

After almost three months of no posts I finally break the silence with this.

Eric Odom sent the story below in a message to members of the Facebook Group "American Liberty Alliance." All I did was give it a title. The text is attributed to an unnamed sender of an email message to Eric.

The Cost of Freedom = Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The Redcoats jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the
protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They gave you and me a free and independent America.

The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

Why Taiwan Matters

2009-04-13T22:56:00.003-05:00

The following speech was given by Gordon Chang (author of The Coming Collapse of China (2001) and of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World (2006), being delivered last Friday on Capitol Hill at the conclusion of the March for Taiwan. It explains why Taiwan really matters to free countries; that is to what's left of free countries and their freedoms.

Will Taiwan Prevail?
By Gordon G. Chang

Speech given at
March for Taiwan
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
April 10, 2009

By car, by bus, and by foot, you have come here. And there is one reason why you have done so. You have done so because Taiwan is important. It is important to you, it is important to me, it is important to others.

It is, for instance, important to the world’s most powerful—and most important—democracy. The United States needs to defend each and every free society from the world’s authoritarian states. And why do we need to do that? Because autocrats see themselves threatened by the presence of free people anywhere. Unfortunately, they cannot just live and let live. They cannot tolerate people who govern themselves. So the United States cannot defend itself and it allies without also defending the free people of Taiwan.

Taiwan is especially important because that small nation, by its mere existence, bedevils the most important dictatorial government of our time. The nine old men who sit on the Politburo Standing Committee rule the People’s Republic of China, a nation of 1.5 billion souls, but they feel mortally threatened by Taiwan, a country of just 23 million. These 23 million prove that people, some of whom are Chinese, can govern themselves. By governing themselves, they make everything the Communist Party says about itself an obvious lie. Taiwan is important first and foremost because it is an inspiration to people everywhere, proving that a small nation can stand up to a large regime.

Yet today those 23 million people face their most dangerous moment, and we must ask ourselves just one question: Will their young democracy survive?

These days, Taiwan looks weak, and China appears mighty as Beijing goes from strength to strength and from victory to victory. Things are going so well for Beijing that we are told that this is “China’s Century.” What place does Taiwan have in a century belonging to China? Not much of one. If all the experts are right, then an independent Taiwan is doomed. If they have correctly analyzed historical trends, then you, free Taiwanese, have no future. You will be colonized by the People’s Republic.

This imbalance means that we are at a point in history when almost anything can happen.
For many of us, it is inconceivable that a vibrant young democracy would willingly agree to join the world’s largest authoritarian state. Yet some tell us that is exactly what will happen—and that it should occur soon.

Why? Many in the pro-China camp say that Taiwan cannot compete with Chinese industry and therefore should integrate with it. From this point, they then say Taipei should reconcile with the Mainland’s leaders so that the island’s business community can participate in the booming economy across the Strait. Political integration with Beijing is Taipei’s only option, and, should Taiwan fail to unite with the People’s Republic, it will be left with nothing. According to this view, the people of Taiwan have no real choice.

Recent statistics, they argue, prove their point. Taiwan’s economy contracted a stunning 8.4 percent in the last quarter of 2008. This year, exports tumbled 35.7 percent in March,
28.6 percent in February, and 44.1 percent in January.

We are told that, in view of the precipitous fall in the economy, Taiwan needs to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement, or ECFA, with China. In short, the prevailing belief is that Taiwan needs China.

But these experts have it wrong. Taiwan does not need China. And tying Taiwan’s economy to China will be a disaster. Forgive me if the following discussion of the Chinese economy is too detailed, but this is the issue on which almost everything turns.

As bad as the Taiwanese economy appears, China’s is worse. China, at this moment, has the world’s fastest slowing economy.

According to official statistics, gross domestic product, the best measure of national economic performance, skyrocketed 13.0 percent in 2007, and it was, in all probability, higher than that. Poor sampling procedures did not properly take into account the output of small manufacturers, then the most productive part of the economy. So, if you want a figure, China’s economic growth in 2007 was about 15 percent.

Now, although Beijing doesn’t admit it, economic output is contracting. No economy has fallen further or faster than China’s. Not even Taiwan’s.

The reason for the dramatic collapse in China is clear. China has an export-dominated economy, and its exports are in freefall. They have declined every month since November. In January, they fell 17.5 percent. In February, they were down a staggering 25.7 percent. The Chinese government has indicated there was another double-digit fall in March.

And the prospect for the coming months is bleak. Orders for Chinese factories appear to be down by a third to a half this spring, the beginning of high season for the export sector. That’s not surprising because even the optimistic World Bank predicts the global economy will contract this year for the first time since World War II and international trade will decline the most in eighty years. The downturn is resulting in declining consumer demand not only in developed economies but also in emerging ones. That’s especially bad news for a China that is extraordinarily dependent on foreign markets. An exceptionally high 38 percent of its economy is attributable to exports.

In good times, an export economy is a blessing. In bad ones, however, it is a curse. As we saw in the Great Depression, it was the current-account-surplus countries that had the hardest time adjusting to deteriorating economic conditions and, consequently, suffered the most. That is proving to be the case now as well. China’s economic model, which delivered prosperity in a period of seemingly unending globalization, is particularly ill-suited to current conditions.

So Taiwan cannot rely on China to rescue it from this crisis. There is no realistic possibility of exporting more to China to feed China’s export machine because China’s export machine is itself faltering.

Some might argue that Taiwan can tap into the Chinese consumer market. That argument does not hold much water because Chinese consumers, reacting to negative news both from home and abroad, are pulling back at this time. We know that because China’s imports are also falling. They were down 43.1 percent in January and 24.1 percent in February.

Those atrocious numbers are a warning of not only further export falls but also—and more importantly—future declines in consumer spending. Another sign of weak consumer sentiment is the 1.6 percent drop in the consumer price index for February. That was the first fall in more than six years. Deflation is on the way.

Unfortunately for China, in the coming months exports will continue to plunge and consumer spending will decline. Beijing in November announced a $586 billion spending program to stimulate investment, the third leg of the Chinese economy. The plan, however, won’t work to create sustainable prosperity. It will undoubtedly create a “sugar high” in the next few months, but that will be temporary because the spending will be creating a bigger state economy and a smaller private one. In any event, technocrats in the Chinese capital are not going to be using their cash to benefit foreigners, even Taiwanese. That state money is going to state-owned enterprises and state projects.

So China has the world’s worst performing economy, and the prospects this year are dreadful. Further tying Taiwan’s economy to China’s is, quite simply, horrible strategy. It is absolutely the worst thing Taipei can do at this moment.

Yet Taiwan is not the only country that is making a mistake by contemplating a closer relationship with China. So is the United States. There are those in Washington who, in the desire to establish an informal alliance with Beijing, would like to see China absorb Taiwan in order to remove a potential source of disagreement. As Dennis Blair, then an admiral and now director of national intelligence, said in 1999, Taiwan is “the turd in the punchbowl.” Such a view, in addition to being morally repugnant, is also strategically short-sighted.

It is short-sighted for six reasons. First, it is highly debatable that the U.S. can maintain stable relations with a communist superstate that believes it should push aside America and dominate the international system. The Washington-New York axis may buy into the notion of a grand alliance with Beijing, but such an arrangement would go against ingrained American values and would not survive popular opinion in the U.S.

Second, Taiwan is an important country in its own right. It is economically powerful, and it is embedded into global supply chains.

Third, because Taiwan has become an inspiring symbol of the success of representative governance and free markets, to help it fail means gutting our own values and bolstering China’s model of authoritarianism and rigged markets. Unfortunately, many in Washington don’t believe in supporting democracy. They have forgotten every crucial lesson of the 20th century.

Fourth, our Asian policy is anchored on defending Japan. As a quick glance of a map will reveal, the main island of Taiwan and its various outlying islands protect the southern approaches to our Japanese ally. It would, therefore, be difficult for America to defend Japan if Taiwan became the 34th province of the People’s Republic. If we can’t defend Japan, South Korea would become surrounded and would surely fall into Beijing’s lap as well. With its two formal alliances gone, the United States would be out of Asia. The only thing that holds the Chinese in check is America, and Taiwan is the key to keeping the United States in the game.

Fifth, ceding Taiwan would undoubtedly embolden a territorially hungry Beijing. China asserts sovereignty over Japanese islands and the continental shelves of five southeast Asian countries.

Incredibly, it appears to maintain that the entire South China Sea is an internal Chinese lake, thereby impinging on the right of free passage on, under, and over international waters.

And the United States, even though far from Asia, is now becoming China’s target as we saw last month with Chinese ships harassing the Victorious and Impeccable, two unarmed information-gathering vessels.

Giving up Taiwan would only embolden China to press its claims with even more confidence and vigor—and it would bolster Beijing’s weak legal positions by inheriting Taipei’s territorial rights. So the place to stop the Chinese from pursuing their aggressive ambitions is Taiwan.

Sixth, abandoning Taiwan would send a horrible message to American allies, friends, and foes in the region. If we pushed Taiwan into the arms of China, no nation would ever want to help the United States in Asia—or elsewhere—in the future.

In short, America needs something it has not had in decades, a strong Taiwan policy. Instead, we have had the uninspiring equivocation of the Bush administration, which has been continued by Obama’s. Washington policy of “strategic ambiguity” has just encouraged the Chinese to test American resolve.

We have not been able to develop a sound Taiwan policy, even though it is so important for us to do so, largely because of our perceptions of China and our hopes for its future. We are trying to engage Beijing so that it becomes a “responsible stakeholder” in the international system. Yet over time, the Chinese, as they have become more powerful, have become more aggressive. So in pursuit of an unattainable goal—making the Chinese regime our friend—Washington is undermining its own strategic objectives.

It’s time for we Americans to demonstrate that we keep commitments to free peoples. We need to do that especially at this moment because hardline governments are on the march. So defending Taiwan is defending America.

So, let’s do all we can for Taiwan so that it can meet its challenges. And I am confident that it will do so. Why? For one thing, an arrogant China will overstep with one provocation too many. Hardline governments always create their own enemies. But there is a more fundamental reason why Taiwan will prevail. That’s because of you.

For all that you have done in the past and for all that you will do in the days and years ahead, I admire you, I support you, and I salute you.

Let freedom ring. Long live a free Taiwan!

"Hey Kid" (囡仔) 全曲試聽 - Taiwanese hip hop

2009-03-02T15:02:00.004-06:00

See below for unofficial hanji (Chinese) and English versions of lyrics.

歌詞:
續來戒嚴三十八年白色恐怖
管你外省本省客家河洛還是原住民
黨看你不爽你就馬上無去
林義雄老母二個查某子全部殺死
雷震批評蔣介石被關十年
殷海光寫冊被監視逼死
宋楚瑜全面禁止台語節目
連布袋戲歌仔戲也要講北京話
勇敢的台灣人打拼追求民主自由
政治改革的美麗島農民抗爭的五二零
關的關死的死鄭南榕為言論自由
點起的那把火還未燒完
囡仔你就要會記
他們的流血流汗艱苦犧牲給你自由的空氣
不可忘記民主革命才開始
無經過寒冬的風雪看不到春天的花蕊

囡仔你就要會記
歷史教咱錯誤可以原諒但是不能忘記
轉頭回來了解你對叼位來
才有法度知道要對叼位去
囡仔你就要會記
歷史有講別人的意見有時候會給你生氣
互相了解互相尊重鬥陣才會出頭
鴨霸剝削有一工就換你無底躲

我祝福你可以好勢
我祈求你會曉分別
我希望你可以改變以後的社會
我祝福你可以好勢
我祈求你會曉分別
我希望你可以改變不義的一切

多一個勇健的台灣囡仔
台灣就多一塊敲不破的活氣磚角
所以每工要運動喝八大杯煮過的水
不要吃煙毒喝茶不喝咖啡
一禮拜要看一本冊知識就是力量
認識越多自己做主的信心越強
學校上課要專心聽無就要問先生

"Hey Kid" (囡仔) 全曲試聽: http://www.myspace.com/juichuanchang

Lyrics (English):

What ensued was thirty-eight years of the martial-law era called "White Terror"
Doesn't matter if you're a Mainlander, Formosan, Hakka, Holo, or Aborigine
If you mess with the Party, you'll vanish in no time
Or be butchered like the mother and two daughters of Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄)
Lei Jhen (雷震) was imprisoned for ten years for criticizing Chiang Kai-shek
Yin Hai-guang (殷海光) was under surveillance for his political articles until he died
James Soong (宋楚瑜) banned all the Taiwanese TV shows
Even puppet shows and Taiwanese Operas must be aired in Chinese
Brave Taiwanese souls fought and struggled for democracy and freedom
Beautiful Island Incident for political reform, 520 Farmer Protest
Jail after jail, kill after kill
Jheng Nan-rong (鄭南榕) burst into flames that'll last forever for free speech
Hey, kid, you must remember
Their blood and sweat, torment and sacrifice, gave you the air you're breathing
Don't forget the revolution for democracy has just begun
You won't see the spring buds if you don't go through the winter snow

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you've come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn and you'll have nowhere to hide

I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you'll change society in the future
I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you'll fight injustice and oppression

One more strong Taiwanese kid
One more unbreakable brick of the Taiwanese spirit
So you must exercise every day and drink eight glasses of boiled water
No cigarettes and drugs. Drink tea, not coffee
Read a book every week because knowledge is power
If you know more you'll have more control of your life
Pay attention in school. Ask questions . . .

*Listen to the complete track of "Hey Kid" (囡仔) here:
http://www.myspace.com/juichuanchang

Joy Behar vs. Ann Coulter

2009-02-20T23:23:00.003-06:00

What a riot this interview is. Conservative Ann Coulter cleans Liberal Joy Behar's clock. Must view video for all conservatives.

Warning: Some language not appropriate for my ears, but I got through it alright :-)

Ma’s Policies Make Taiwan's Recession Deeper and Wider

2009-02-18T09:50:00.005-06:00

Taiwan's GDP is projected to contract for three more quarters --- 6.51 percent in the first quarter, another 6.85 percent in the second quarter, and 2.67 percent in the third -- before swinging back to a rise of 4.50 percent in the fourth quarter.

"This is likely to be the longest recession in Taiwan's history so far," Shih Su-mei, [Minister of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics], told reporters.

From Agence France-Presse (AFP) story:
Taiwan in recession as economy contracts record 8.36 pct
Wed Feb 18, 7:53 AM

Commentary

Ma Ying-jeou’s government has tried hard to make a “disabled” Ma look “good.”

First, Ma’s government, making all kinds of policies only to show off “homework done” without any deliberate planning, has not and never will confess any wrong doing or wrong policies that have pushed Taiwan toward a deeper and longer recession. With the recession so clear and near, Ma’s government is still using “+5.8% growth” as the basis for its 2009 budget while everyone has warned that Taiwan will actually have a negative growth for the next few years.

Besides that, to make Ma look “superb”, his government lowers the income level of poverty, so the numbers of the poor suddenly drop as the numbers of families who can’t afford to take care of the ill and handicapped increase dramatically. In fact, businesses are facing financial difficulty just as Ma tells people to be as frugal as "he is" and as the government raises each of the three utility bills.

The KMT makes the Taiwanese. i.e. the DPP and on former President Chen Shui-bian "Abian", who have little power or are in jail, respectively, the easy scapegoats. As soon as Ma steps up, the economy in Taiwan steps down. To make use of the United States, as the KMT always does, the KMT people in Taiwan are blaming this recession on the US market. That indeed is part of the problem but connecting at the hip with China, as Ma has been so eager for Taiwan to do, is at least equally causitive.

Taipei Times Editorial: Eroding Justice (in Taiwan)

2008-12-01T19:28:00.006-06:00

The following Open Letter No. 2 to Taiwan's Minister of Justice was published in the Taipei Times Tuesday, December 2, 2008 as an Editorial. I have lightly edited it for spelling and format, have not changed anything else except what is enclosed in brackets,, thus [ ], and have highlighted in bold font the text that was shown in bold and enlarged text on the upper right of the letter as published. I also used the Wiki link tool to generate a linked version of the text before copying it to this blog. I made no attempt to make the wiki links non-trivial or to create my own additional wiki links, though some might be useful.

Eroding justice: Open letter No. 2

Tuesday, Dec 02, 2008, Page 8

The Honorable Wang Ching-feng

Minister of Justice

Taipei, Taiwan

Dear Minister Wang [王清峰],

In an open letter to the Taipei Times published on Nov. 25, you responded to our joint statement regarding the erosion of justice in Taiwan. We appreciate your acknowledgment of the sincerity of our concerns, and are grateful to receive a prompt and serious reply.

Based [on] the information available to us, however, we remain concerned about choices made by prosecutors in applying existing legal authority and strongly believe in the need for reform. Please allow us to highlight a number of specific points:

1. The procedure of “preventive detention”: This procedure is obviously intended for serious criminal cases in which the suspect is likely to flee the country. In his Nov. 13 article in the South China Morning Post, Professor Jerome Cohen states that “it ought to be invoked rarely.”

Yet, during the past weeks, it has been used across the board, and it has been used only against present and former members of Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] governments. This casts severe doubts on the impartiality of the judicial system. We also wish to point out that the people involved were detained under deplorable circumstances, and that they were not even allowed to see relatives.

2. Your open letter contains the argument that when they were detained, the present and former DPP government officials “were all informed of the charges that had been brought against them.” This is simply not correct. When they were detained, they were subjected to lengthy interrogations — in some cases for up to 20 hours — which bore the character of a “fishing expedition,” and do not represent a formal indictment in any legal sense. In most cases the prosecutors had had months to collect information; if they did have sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, they should have formally charged the persons and let them have their day in a scrupulously impartial court of law. That would be the desirable procedure under the rule of law in a democratic society.

3. Your open letter also states that the persons involved had “the right and ability to communicate with their attorneys to seek legal assistance.” It neglects to mention, however, that in all cases where people were detained, the discussions with the lawyers were recorded and videotaped while a guard took notes. This information was then immediately transmitted to the respective prosecutors. We don’t need to point out that this is a grave infringement on international norms regarding lawyer-client privilege and makes mounting an adequate defense problematic at best.

4. On the issue of leaks to the press, your letter states that, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, information from ongoing investigations can only be disclosed by spokespersons of the prosecutor’s offices and that unauthorized disclosure is subject to criminal prosecution. The fact of the matter is that during the past weeks, the media have been filled with information on the ongoing investigations that could only have come from the prosecutors. We may point out one example, but there are numerous others:

Only few hours after former minister of foreign affairs Mark Chen [陳唐山] was questioned on Nov. 3, Taiwan’s Apple Daily newspaper ran an article saying that “the prosecutors are thinking of charging Dr Chen in relation to the case.”

The issue of violation of the principle of secret investigation was also raised by Shilin District Court Judge Hung Ying-hua [洪英花], who strongly criticized the present situation and procedures followed by your ministry in a Liberty Times article on Nov. 17.

We may also mention that we find it highly peculiar that no steps whatsoever have been taken against the various prosecutors who leaked information, while we just learned that the Ministry of Justice is now taking steps against Mr Cheng Wen-long [鄭文龍], the lawyer for former president Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁], who supposedly “leaked” information to the press. The ministry sent a formal request to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office asking the office to investigate and prosecute, and sent a formal request to the Taiwan Lawyers Association that asked the association to review the case and see whether Cheng should have his license revoked.

It is our understanding that the statements Mr Cheng made were in relation to former president Chen’s views on Taiwan’s situation and its future, and an expression of love for his wife, but did not have any bearing on the case against him. We hope you realize that if the ministry proceeds along these lines, this will be perceived as a direct confirmation of the strong political bias of the judicial system.

5. Your letter states that it is untrue that Taiwan’s judicial system is susceptible to political manipulation. If this is the case, how can it be explained that in the past weeks, only DPP officials have detained and given inhumane treatment such as handcuffing and lengthy questioning, while obvious cases of corruption by members of the KMT — including in the Legislative Yuan — are left untouched by the prosecutors or at best are stalled in the judicial process?

We may also refer to expressions of concern by Professor Cohen and by lawyer Nigel Li [李念祖], who expressed his deep concerns about preventive detentions in the China Times’ editorial for Nov. 9. In the editorial, Mr Li praised remarks made by prosecutor Eric Chen [陳瑞仁], who was part of the legal team prosecuting the special fund cases, that the prosecutors’ offices should “avoid the appearance of targeting only one particular political group.”

The fact that the Special Investigation Task Force was set up under the DPP administration or that the prosecutor general was nominated by former president Chen is not at issue here. The problem is that the present system is being used in a very partial fashion.

We may add that the fact that you yourself have publicly discussed the content of the cases does create a serious imbalance in the playing field, and undermines the basic dictum that a person should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Under the present circumstances it is hard to see how the persons involved — including former president Chen — can have a fair trial in Taiwan.

6. Lastly, a statement by the US State Department is interpreted in your letter as an “endorsement” of Taiwan’s legal system and the procedures followed. It should be noted that in international diplomatic language, the term “we have every expectation” means “we are concerned and we will watch the situation closely.”

For the past two decades, Taiwan has faced a difficult situation internationally. What has given Taiwan important credibility in democratic countries around the world has been its democratization. We fear that the current judicial procedures being used in Taiwan endanger this democratization, and endanger the goodwill that Taiwan has developed internationally.

In conclusion, we do remain deeply disturbed by the erosion of justice in Taiwan, and express the sincere hope and expectation that your government will maintain fair and impartial judicial practices and quickly correct the present injustices. As an editorial in the Nov. 20 issue of the London-based Economist indicated, Taiwan is “hungry for justice,” and we also hope that your government will be willing to initiate judicial reform that would move Taiwan toward a fully fair and impartial judicial system that earns the respect and admiration of democratic countries around the world.

Respectfully yours,

(in alphabetical order)

Nat Bellocchi, Former American Institute in Taiwan chairman

Coen Blaauw, Formosan Association for Public Affairs, Washington

Gordon G. Chang, Author, “The Coming Collapse of China”

Assoc. Prof. Stéphane Corcuff, University of Lyon

Prof. June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami

Prof. Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin

Dr. Mark Harrison, University of Tasmania

Prof. Bruce Jacobs, Monash University

Richard C. Kagan, Professor Emeritus, Hamline University

Jerome Keating, Author and former associate professor, National Taipei University

Assoc. Prof. Daniel Lynch, University of Southern California

Prof. Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania

Assoc. Prof. Donald Rodgers, Austin College, Texas

Prof. Terence Russell, University of Manitoba

Prof. Scott Simon, University of Ottawa

Michael Stainton, York Center for Asia Research, Toronto

Prof. Peter Tague, Georgetown University

John J. Tkacik Jr, Senior Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

Prof. Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania

Prof. Vincent Wei-cheng Wang, University of Richmond

Gerrit van der Wees, Editor, “Taiwan Communiqué”

Assoc. Prof. David Curtis Wright, University of Calgary

Stephen Yates, President of DC Asia Advisory and former deputy assistant to the vice president for national security affairs

Spinning Taiwan-China for Obama

2008-11-29T13:27:00.007-06:00

In his editorial, For America, a welcome thaw between China and Taiwan, Syd Goldsmith, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan's Kaohsiung Office, seems to see the Taiwan-China relationship through "Ma colored" (ostensibly blue) glasses. For him to write, "Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou offered to move the process [i.e. agreements providing for direct air, shipping, and postal links, and food safety] forward after taking office in May, and there has been a palpable reduction in paranoia about sovereignty on both sides", is for him to ignore the 34.9% of Taiwanese who indicated in polls last year that immediate or eventual independence, or indefinite extension of the status quo was their preferred resolution of the sovereignty issue.

For this slice of Taiwan's population there is not palpable reduction in paranoia these days. What instead has been palpable (painfully so for those unfortunate people who didn't get the word about the prohibition on free speech--on showing the colors, wearing T-sheets with pro-Taiwan nation messages, and playing Taiwanese music anywhere near the visiting and venerated ARATS official) has been the batons of Ma's police, the forceful removal of the colors (ROC flags), and CDs, from the citizen's possession, and the beatings by Ma's police of some.

Also palpable is the sense that time seems to be going backwards in Taiwan, back to the White Terror period, where the KMT's one party grip on power was maintained by the Chiang family's paranoia and military police iron fists, a paranoia fed by the acquisition of dictatorial power (ostensibly to "take back China") and the requisite intolerance of even a single opposition party. Ma's recent jailing of some members of the opposition DPP party is supportive of this narrative, though certainly the scale is tiny in comparison with the arrests and assassinations in the historical White Terror period. However, modern media offers Ma something that the Chiangs did not have (in it's full form). With the arrest and detention of the big fish, former President Chen Shui-bien, Ma, taking the role of high priest of the Chinese compatriots on Taiwan, has one man on which he can place the sins of the Taiwanese people against the Chinease people. Now that he has Chen Ma can simply let the media do the dirty work of flogging and driving nails. By making an example of Chen, blaming him for all that "evil talk" of independence and for the state of enmity built up between China and Taiwan from 2000 to 2008, Ma can cover over the sins of the "misguided" 35% of the Taiwanese that Mr. Goldsmith doesn't know about or disregards.

"As the ARATS chairman's recent visit shows, we are witnessing a maturing relationship in which the antagonists have agreed to put aside the issue that has divided them for 60 years in favor of getting practical benefits that they want," writes the former AIT director. Hm, "the issue that has divided them for 60 years"?....oh yes, the civil war between those Nationalists, like Ma, comprising maybe 15% of the population of Taiwan and the Chinese Communists. More than eight-five percent of the population were dragged into the war against their will. I thought that that issue, as far as Taiwan is concerned, was put to bed by the 1992 Consensus. Of course since 1992 China has built up a cache of over 1000 missiles targeting Taiwan. So I guess the consensus was a bit one sided. Oh, maybe he means the SOVEREIGNTY issue (that's what the war was really about). Well, if a maturing relationship means China gets its way with Taiwan on the sovereignty question, then my advice to Taiwan is "if it’s inevitable, then relax and enjoy it" cause it's going to last a long long time.

Goldsmith continues, "Beijing's leaders have long acted on the premise that China can bring Taiwan back to the motherland with a gentle but powerful economic embrace that will eventually convince the people of Taiwan where their interests lie. This has been complemented by the never-abandoned threat to take the 'renegade province' back by force if Taipei declares independence."

Kind of gives you goose bumps, doesn't it? "A gentle but powerful embrace" sounds like what I was saying: TAIWAN, YOU ARE BEING FORCED TO HAVE INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA. If it’s inevitable, then relax and enjoy it. As Goldsmith channels past and present day Chinese Communists, it's as if they are saying, "Taiwan, you will either make love to me freely or I will force you to do so. Either way you're mine." A mature relationship? Sure, in a macabre kind of way.

Goldsmith covers more ground than I wish to comment on here but getting to his main objective in writing the op ed. As the title of the blog alludes to, Goldsmith is putting a spin on the Taiwan-China issue for the comming Obama Administaion. He is trying to make the case that Obama may in fact get a free ride across the Taiwan Strait--that the recent Ma-induced thaw between China and Taiwan might mean that diplomatic capital can be redirected to other hot spots on the globe.

I don't think so. In case they've read Goldsmith's op ed and are reading my blog (yeah, right), let me give Obama and Hilary a little bit of advice. Firstly to Secretary of State apparent, Ms. Clinton, please understand that the eye must always be kept on the ball, no matter what the conditions on the field. And in case you don't already know, the "ball", in terms of our interests, is the democracy, Taiwan, not the communist dictatorship, China. And for you, President-Elect Obama, please note that the bureaucrats in the State Department hold the line between China and Taiwan, not the President of the United States. The ship of State is not easily turned/directed.

Awakening China: Chinese people do not need a pro-Taiwan “white” man opinion on the development of mainland relationship and possibly, future integration with Taiwan

2008-11-28T00:58:00.004-06:00

The China Watcher blogger who posted Awakening China: Chinese people do not need a pro-Taiwan “white” man opinion on the development of mainland relationship and possibly, future integration with Taiwan claims not to be a racist and yet uses the term "white" man to describe her/his antagonist. BTW, is the name "China Watcher" a "he" or a "she" name (of course, my blog ID, "Freedom Ain't Free", is similarly gender neutral, so for the record, I'm a white man, like China Watcher's antagonist, not only in terms of race and sex but also similar in political viewpoints regarding Taiwan and China)?

In the mind of those Taiwanese who would agree with "white man", such as my Taiwanese wife, the ethnocentricity of the non-racist "China Watcher" glosses over the viewpoints of a lot more than 30% of the population of Taiwan. That 30% number was in response to a question about whether talking to China would benefit Taiwan. In polls taken before last Spring's Taiwan Presidential election (and tracked over a period of 13 years prior) a strong majority of Taiwanese leaned toward some form of independence, with maintaining the status quo (de facto independence) and deciding the matter in the future being the preference of 37% of the population and unification now or eventually garnering only 11.6% support, which was somewhat higher than the 7.7% that wanted independence now. If you add up all those favoring de facto or de jure independence, you get a whopping 76.9% of the Taiwanese, a super-majority.

Also, China Watcher, holding in low regard Western style democracy would not see any problem disregarding the rights of the minority of the 30% (6.9 million people), much less perhaps, the rights of the super-majority of 76.7% (up to 17.7 million people). After all, it is the "Mandate of Heaven" that keeps the minority lording rule over on the majority and that constitutes Chinese dynastic governance of Chinese and non-Chinese peoples to antiquity.

The reason that I must say "up to 17.7 million people" is because the survey data was of Taiwanese respondents, being based on ethnicity only 85% of the population. It would be interesting to know the make-up of the population included in the survey that China Watcher cites.

Never before, have so many common folks like China Watcher participated so willingly in spreading the emperor's propaganda so far around the world.

Awakening China: Chinese people do not need a pro-Taiwan “white” man opinion on the development of mainland relationship and possibly, future integration with Taiwan

Source of Taiwanese polling data cited by "Freedom Ain't Free"
Trends in Core Political Attitudes among Taiwanese from Election Study Center, N.C.C.U., Center, important political attitude trend distribution

Ma's Taiwan = Police State

2008-11-19T21:10:00.002-06:00

PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Two police officers remove an injured protester from a street demonstration after protesters broke through a police blockade in Taipei yesterday (11/06/2008).

SOURCE: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/photo/2008/11/07/2008032082

China & Taiwan crime fighting partnership?: Give me a break!

2008-11-12T23:14:00.011-06:00

In reaction to this story, Taiwan, China to engage in joint crime-fighting: MAC chief, I sent comments to the editor of the government controlled Internet "news" organ eTaiwannews.com. I've edited those comments and posted them below for all to read--since I do not expect eTaiwannews.com to publish them.

Dear eTaiwanNews Editor,

Give me a break!

Just exactly what activities will come under the umbrella of "crime" that the PRC and Taiwan will "cooperate" to fight? Will the recent protests related to the visit of the ARATS official be classified as crimes? Will free speech and displaying the national colors in public, within the site of a CCP member, be classified as crime? Will the playing of Taiwanese nationalistic music and the wearing of pro-Taiwan independence T-shirts be considered a crime? Will those who promote Taiwan independence be considered criminals?

The recent events in Taiwan in which police did treat all of the activities mentioned above as crimes brings to my mind China's so-called "Anti-Secession law" which was "promulgated" on March 14th, 2005.

Let's review that "law" in light of the Ma Administration and recent events in Taiwan. Note that the titles for the various articles of the "law" reproduced below have been added by me, as a literary device.

Article 1 - THE JUSTIFICATION

"This Law is formulated, in accordance with the Constitution, for the purpose of opposing and checking Taiwan's secession from China by secessionists in the name of "Taiwan independence", promoting peaceful national reunification, maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, preserving China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and safeguarding the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation."

It is obvious from Article 1 that 85% of the population of Taiwan, that is the Taiwanese, do not have their fundamental interests safeguarded by this "law".

Article 2 - THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN

"There is only one China in the world. Both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China. China's sovereignty and territorial integrity brook no division. Safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity is the common obligation of all Chinese people, the Taiwan compatriots included.

Taiwan is part of China. The state shall never allow the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces to make Taiwan secede from China under any name or by any means."

No wiggle room here. Screw the historical facts and recent democratic developments on Taiwan. The Chinese have the Mandate of Heaven, created by telling the lie, not thousands, but millions of times--and by suborning perjury of countless presidents and state department spokespersons around the globe to say likewise--that Taiwan belongs to China.

Article 3 - THE FIRST NON SEQUITUR

"The Taiwan question is one that is left over from China's civil war of the late 1940s.

Solving the Taiwan question and achieving national reunification is China's internal affair, which subjects to no interference by any outside forces."

Damn Lie. The Nationalist squatted, in part, on Taiwan in 1945 at the bequest of the Allied Forces and then, in full, in 1949 to save their ass from Mao's Communist forces. But the island was by peace treaty Japanese territory from 1895 to 1952 because the final peace treaty with Japan was not signed until September 8, 1951 and did not come into effect until April 28, 1952. By that time the Chinese Civil War was essentially over and effectively a lost cause for Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalists. How could the Taiwan question have anything to do with the Chinese Civil War of the 1940s. That is simply a fabrication by both the Communist and the Nationalist Chinese promulgated on the unsuspecting public all over the world in almost every story derived from Chinese written press release after press release ad nauseam.

Article 4 - THE SACRED DUTY "Accomplishing the great task of reunifying the motherland is the sacred duty of all Chinese people, the Taiwan compatriots included."

Here we see the explicit statement of the Mandate of Heaven (i.e. "sacred duty"). "Taiwan compatriots" is a overused paternalistic Chinese Communist reference to those whom they identify with on Taiwan. I wonder if they mean everyone in Taiwan who has a little Mainland derived blood (98%) or just the less than 15% of the population that extracted itself directly from twentieth century China vis-à-vis the late 1949 Chinese emigrants to Taiwan, and their direct decedents. According to recent polls, if they took a vote on unification in the near term in Taiwan they would find that the number of compatriots might be less than 10%. How can that be a Mandate from anywhere or anyone, much less from a Heaven that the aethist Chinese don't even believe in?

Article 5 - THE SECOND NON SEQUITUR

"Upholding the principle of one China is the basis of peaceful reunification of the country.

To reunify the country through peaceful means best serves the fundamental interests of the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. The state shall do its utmost with maximum sincerity to achieve a peaceful reunification.

After the country is reunified peacefully, Taiwan may practice systems different from those on the mainland and enjoy a high degree of autonomy."

There they go again, throwing logic into the wind. In order to "reunify the country", it has to have been unified at sometime in the past. Tell me a time in the past 113 years when China and Taiwan/Formosa were unified......just one time will do......I thought not.

The next article sounds rather familiar when comparison with the policies and procedures of the Ma Ying-jeou Administration.

Article 6 - CROSS-STRAIT INTERCOURSE

"The state shall take the following measures to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and promote cross-Straits relations:

(1) to encourage and facilitate personnel exchanges across the Straits for greater mutual understanding and mutual trust;

(2) to encourage and facilitate economic exchanges and cooperation, realize direct links of trade, mail and air and shipping services, and bring about closer economic ties between the two sides of the Straits to their mutual benefit;

(3) to encourage and facilitate cross-Straits exchanges in education, science, technology, culture, health and sports, and work together to carry forward the proud Chinese cultural traditions;

(4) to encourage and facilitate cross-Straits cooperation in combating crimes; and

(5) to encourage and facilitate other activities that are conducive to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and stronger cross-Straits relations.

The state protects the rights and interests of the Taiwan compatriots in accordance with law."

Yeah, right...protect the RIGHTS and INTEREST of Taiwan COMPATRIOTS (remember they're less than 10% of the population if we mean though longing fornear term unification with a society not even close to having freedom and human rights)!!!

Article 7 - CROSS-EYED NEGOTIATIONS

"The state stands for the achievement of peaceful reunification through consultations and negotiations on an equal footing between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. These consultations and negotiations may be conducted in steps and phases and with flexible and varied modalities.

The two sides of the Taiwan Straits may consult and negotiate on the following matters:

(1) officially ending the state of hostility between the two sides;

(2) mapping out the development of cross-Straits relations;

(3) steps and arrangements for peaceful national reunification;

(4) the political status of the Taiwan authorities;

(5) the Taiwan region's room of international operation that is compatible with its status; and

(6) other matters concerning the achievement of peaceful national reunification."

The negotiation points listed in this Article are also strangely familiar for they sound exactly like the things Ma is currently "negotiating" with his Chinese Communist friends. How sweet, Mister Ma. Only problem is that the "equal footing" must have been tilted in China's favor and "Taiwan region" does not sound like a free and democratic place.

Article 8 - THE NUCLEAR OPTION

"In the event that the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from China, or that major incidents entailing Taiwan's secession from China should occur, or that possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, the state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The State Council and the Central Military Commission shall decide on and execute the non-peaceful means and other necessary measures as provided for in the preceding paragraph and shall promptly report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress."

TRANSLATION: If, according to our timetable, we do not coerce the people of Taiwan to surrender their sovereignty over their territory to us, we will blow them all to Hell (though we're atheists who don't believe in such a place), seize their territory and we couldn't care less about the United States and their so-called "Taiwan Relations Act" because we have calculated that they won't have the will to do a darn thing in the face of our military action.

Article 9 - THE INDEMNIFICATION

In the event of employing and executing non-peaceful means and other necessary measures as provided for in this Law, the state shall exert its utmost to protect the lives, property and other legitimate rights and interests of Taiwan civilians and foreign nationals in Taiwan, and to minimize losses. At the same time, the state shall protect the rights and interests of the Taiwan compatriots in other parts of China in accordance with law.

TRANSLATION: If you're one of us, we'll do our darnedest to steer our armaments away from you, but if you're one of those obstinate freedom loving Taiwan patriots, you're toast and we will hunt you and your relations down and either make you confess your sins against the Chinese People and submit to reeducation or we make damn sure that your DNA is wiped from the human stream.

CLOSING STATEMENT

How can a free and democratic country and a communist authoritarian dictatorship cooperate on fighting crime when the latter defines free expression of democratic ideas criminal and runs tanks over those who practice such crimes? What a joke! Or, as one TV reporter was known to exclaim in the face of nonsense, "Give me a break!".

Timothy E. Bradberry
Pflugerville,TX

Republican Activist Booted from Valero Gas Station

2008-11-01T22:32:00.010-05:00

Saturday afternoon, donning a McCain-Palin T-shirt bearing a McCain-Palin button, a Michael Williams button, and my CTRA President name tag, and wearing a hat bearing a Ronald Reagan for Governor button, a McCain-Palin button, and a Constable Bob Vann pin, I was walking around a Valero gas station politely asking customers if they had voted yet (i.e. early voted).

If they said yes, I would genuinely thank them for exercising their right to vote (even if they voted for Obama). They seemed to warm to that expression of gratitude. If they said they were not registered to vote or were not a citizen, and thus could not vote, I thanked not voting explaining that some people vote illegally. If they were registered to vote and indicated that they had not yet voted, I would urge them to vote on Tuesday, November 4th, offer them some literature about, and my personal knowledge of, the Republicans that were on the Travis County ballot and try to persuade them to vote Republican in at least some of those races.

Even if they said they were voting for Obama I would suggest that if they were not planning to vote a straight Democrat ballot they might consider some of the down ballot candidates on the R team. Then, depending on my perception of their receptivity, I would mentioned the Supreme Court candidates and why we needed to keep those Rs in office (i.e. to keep the court functioning in a non-activist manner, to interpret and apply law so that lawmaking would be left to the legislature, where as a representative body of the people it rightly belongs), and then move on to Jerry Mikus (if they lived in HD 50).

It was quite enjoyable and they seemed very appreciative of the conversation and information, especially the Republicans. :-)

I started out in the morning at a Velero station in Pflugerville at which I bought a tank of gas and later a Diet Coke. During my very enjoyable interaction with customers at that station one customer I spoke with asked me to visit a car wash where his son Danny worked, and to give information to his son Danny. After a little while I did just that. I went to the car wash, found Danny, gave him the literature, and got my car washed and waxed while there. Of course, I took the opportunity to talk to more people and hand out more campaign literature. It was a different situation than at Velero. There were fewer and a much more sedentary clientele (i.e. they hung around for a long time). I decided that the gas station was a better place to do what I was trying to do (exercise my free speech rights).

In the afternoon, as I mentioned at the beginning of this report, I went to the other Velero station, near US183 and Spicewood Springs Road, in Austin. After spending about 90 minutes there, during which time my only purchase was a Diet Coke, a clerk came out to me as I was asking yet another customer if he had voted yet. She informed me that "they" could not have me doing what I was doing at their store, claiming that I was harassing their customers. She said I had to leave. I told her that everyone I had talked to (and I filtered out no one based on outward appearance or even presence of a non-R bumper sticker) did not seem to be bothered by my conversation with them and that I was in no way trying to harass anyone. I asked her if any customers had complained about my activities, to which she would not answer yes or no.

Earlier I had been in the story and talked to another clerk, a young man, who said he does not vote, did not want to vote, and was just "along for the ride" in this society. I don't remember seeing the young female clerk at that time. I talked with the male clerk out in back of the store later on and right before I left. He did not seem to be bothered by our conversation. Before I left, I went back into the store and asked if the manager was in. The clerk said no and then I asked for her name and the manager's name. She said her name is Angela and the manager's name is Dora. She did not tell me her or her manager's last names. I was not angry, but I told her that it seemed like she was harassing me rather than me harassing anyone. She simply said "may I help you" a couple of times and then asked me to leave because she had a customer to attend to whom I did not see walk up behind me. So, I left.

My guess is that she was on the other team (a Democrat) and that she wanted me to leave because I was a Republican who was hurting her team. I could be wrong. I do not think I was harassing anyone, unless perhaps I asked an illegal alien (whom of course would not have "illegal alien" written across his or her forehead) if he or she had voted yet. Like I said, I did not discriminate in my selection of customers to approach....maybe I should have.

Michelle Ma Belle - Obama's Greatest Liability

2008-10-31T01:23:00.007-05:00

With Philip J. Berg, Esquire having taken his case against Obama to the US Supreme Court and with other similar law suits challenging Senator Obama's "qualifications" to serve as President of the United States having been filed, it appears that Obama's greatest liability, a liability that may very well undo his bid for the White House, is his wife Michelle's hot temper and loose tongue.

Shocking development: Mrs Obama decides enough is enough: "My husband was born in Hawaii and adopted by his step father, does that make him unpatriotic; she asks", on a direct telephone to API.

The Michelle Obama tapes to be aired any day/time from now: API and Fox News Network (USA) in a final agreement on the airing days/time.

Michelle Obama tapes Reveals: Raila Odinga, Kenya’s Prime Minister is in the Priority list of the First guests to the White House if Obama wins the US Presidency.

The intended release of Michelle Obama tapes stirs trouble in many circles.

API/Fox News deal: Sean Hannity show and Greta Van Susteren’s show “On the Record” to air the Michelle Obama tape in less than 24 hours.

Related Stories

Obama’s campaign manager offers 3 million dollars to API in connection with Michelle Obama tape to be aired by Fox News Network

Obama’s grandmother banned by The Kenya Police from giving interviews that may jeopardise Obama’s Presidential victory on November 4th.

A Black woman crying to the American people: Please give me Barack Hussein Obama as the next President - it is our time to rule you, she seems to be saying.

A Clarion Call for Honest Reporters

2008-10-22T22:02:00.004-05:00

Like a breath of fresh air is a man who is committed to proclaiming truth. The article below was written by one such man; by a Democrat, and God bless him for so proclaiming, even at the risk of being ostracized those of his own party.

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
By Orson Scott Card

Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.

An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

Click here to read the full article.

A Letter Report on Barack "Barry" Hussein Obama, Jr.

2008-10-17T21:49:00.007-05:00

Editorial Note: Peggy Bower's original letter report did not include the hyperlinks provided below, had different paragraph break locations, and no section titles. Additionally, minor editorial revisions and one substantive correction to the text has been applied. I have linked names, places, organizations, book titles, etc. to their Wikipedia entries, which may or may not be accurate and/or up to date.

- Timothy E. Bradberry

October, 2008

My 2008 Election Letter

by Peggy M. Bower

I am not in the habit of buying or reading liberal books, but every once in a while I just have to “see for myself.” So I bought one of the most liberal books on the planet—Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. I had heard about the “dedication” page—couldn’t quite believe it, but here it is:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical; from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer.

—Saul Alinsky

Saul Alinsky's Book

Hillary Rodham wrote her senior thesis about Alinsky when she was a student at Wellesley College. As soon as her husband became President, the White House requested that the thesis be locked away from public availability. Wellesley complied. After Clinton left office the ban was lifted. Today, a person may enter the archives room to “view” the thesis, but no one can make photocopies.

Barack Obama, as a student at Columbia University, became an admirer of Alinsky, and his first job was to follow in his steps as a “community organizer” in Chicago (ACORN—Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now—hired Obama to train its staff). Saul Alinsky (1909-1972), was a Jew who had enough religious training to quote Scripture when it suited him, while at the same time he claimed to be agnostic. From his book dedication it is obvious that he forsook the faith of his forefathers, and came down on the “dark side” of his religious questions. According to Alinsky, the history of the world is a series of cycles in which groups of people called the Have-Nots find ways of overcoming groups of people called the Haves—so that the Have-Nots can become the Haves. Then the cycle starts over again. The Haves always become evil and they try to keep the Have-Nots down. Overcoming the Haves is therefore a noble cause.

Alinsky was often accused of being a Communist. In an interview with Playboy in 1972, he said, “I’ve never joined any organization—not even the ones I have organized myself....Anybody who tells you he was active in progressive causes in those days and never worked with the Reds is a *&^#%* liar. Their platform stood for all the right things, and unlike many liberals, they were willing to put their bodies on the line.” He wasn’t referring to "Red State" Republicans. In order to support “change” and the overthrow of the Haves, Alinsky wrote a couple of books, and started training community organizers who would serve as the change agents.

The job of an organizer is to go into a town, or section of town, where the Have-Nots dwell. The job is easier if the Have-Nots are already dissatisfied, and they invite the organizer in to help them overthrow their “suppressors” and obtain power. If the people have not yet realized what their complaints should be, the organizer talks with the people, identifies the problems, and verbalizes the problems in their own vernacular. He wins the confidence of the suppressed, suggests inventive ways of using whatever resources they have at hand, leads them to victory, and becomes their hero. Alinsky doesn’t state that last part, but it is certainly implied and is the obvious net result of the sequence of events.

Barack the Community Organizer

Barack Hussein Obama has made himself the ultimate community organizer hero by expanding his community to the entire United States of America. His vague message of change involves throwing off some of the foundational supports of our blessed nation. In September, as reported by Investor’s Business Daily, Obama said, "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

In 1992, Obama helped form an organization, Public Allies, that he plans to use as a model for this national service corps, which he calls “Universal Voluntary Public Service.” Public Allies (PA) strives to place young adults into paid one-year “community leadership positions” with non-profit or government agencies. They are required to attend weekly training workshops and three retreats. The training methods mimic Saul Alinsky’s training for community organizers, and its real mission is to radicalize American youth, and use them to bring about “social change.” PA boasts in one of their own documents, “Our alumni are more than twice as likely as other 18-34 year olds to engage in protest activities.” One recruit enthusiastically reported, “I get to practice being an activist and get paid for it.” Our government now funds about one half of PA expenses through Clinton’s AmeriCorps. Obama wants to expand it to a fully tax-payer funded “boot-camp” for radicals that would preempt military service.

Obama's Social Associations

Obama never seems to have spent much time with “normal folks.” His mother, Anne Dunham was a rebellious child who gave her parents a difficult time, and never repented. She had two failed marriages—one to Barack’s father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., who had a Muslim background but did not practice any religion and claimed to be an agnostic (Sound familiar?); and, the other to Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian who was a practicing Muslim and who took Barack (Barry) to mosque with him. After several years in Indonesia, Barack was sent back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. He says in Dreams from My Father that he felt abandoned. He felt less abandoned when he drew close to his first real mentor—poet, former publisher, and writer for newspapers, Frank Marshall Davis—an admitted Communist and member of the Communist Party USA.

Davis was black, and his second wife was a white socialite. They moved from Chicago to Hawaii. Barack’s grandfather sought out Davis to befriend and mentor the boy because he thought that Davis’ mixed race family would be a comfort to him. Davis had many discussions with the boy —not only about race, but about politics. Davis and Barack’s unemployed grandfather enjoyed smoking marijuana together. That may have been why Barack felt free to be open about his own use of drugs in high school and college. And Davis’ talk of his work in Chicago may have played a part in Obama being drawn to Chicago to become a “community organizer” right after college. A former school mate at Punahou High School said that Barack hung out with a group of “druggies.” Obama says in Dreams from My Father, “I had learned not to care, I blew a few smoke rings. . . . Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack though.”

Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour (born Donald Warden), who was a mentor to Black Panther founder Huey Newton, asked former Manhattan Borough President, Percy Sutton, who is also a former lawyer for Malcom X , to write for Obama a letter of recommendation to Harvard Law School. Dr. Al-Mansour told Sutton that he was raising money for Obama’s graduate school education. In the same conversation he told Sutton that he (Al-Mansour) represented top members of the Saudi Royal family seeking to do business and exert influence in the U.S. The 88-year old Sutton babbled on about these connections in an interview on a New York all-news cable station early in 2008 (as reported by Investor’s Business Daily, September 5, 2008).

Obama and Tony Rezko

Tony Rezko was born in Syria, but has operated restaurants and developed real estate in Chicago. He was actually a slum lord in Chicago. Obama was finishing law school at Harvard when Rezko sought him out to offer him a job. Though Obama did not accept the offered position, he went to work for the rather sleazy law firm where Rezko was a client, and whose senior partner soon left to become Rezko’s business partner. Why would Obama go to work for such a firm when he had been President of the Harvard Law Review, and could have had a plum job with a prestigious law firm, or probably could have clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court? Rezko helped the Obamas with the financial aspects of buying a large and expensive house right across the street from him. Rezko is now in prison for using his connections to state boards to demand kickbacks from companies that wanted to do business with the state.

Obama and Bill Ayres

Obama has long been friends with unrepentant terrorists Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dohrn (they are a “couple”), who bombed several government buildings, including the Pentagon, back in the sixties. They escaped going to prison on technicalities. In 2001, Ayers said that he had no regrets for his actions and wished he could have done more.

Ayers and Dohrn hosted a fundraiser in their home when Obama first ran for Illinois State Senator. Obama has served on several boards with Ayres, including the Woods Fund, which made $40,000 and $35,000 grants to the Arab American Action Network, headed by Rashid Khalidi. (Khalidi has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror, and is a harsh critic of Israel. Khalidi also held a political fund-raising event in his home for Obama in 2000.) Obama and Ayers also funneled money to ACORN through the Woods Fund. (ACORN is now under investigation for voter registration fraud in a dozen key states for this election.) Obama dismisses Ayer’s behavior because the actions took place “a long time ago,” and Ayers is now a “respected professor of education at the University of Chicago."

Actually Ayers is simply following one of Saul Alinsky’s teachings—that to be more effective in bringing about “change,” you might have to cut your hair and put on a suit. Ayers is still the same radical that he was back in the sixties, but instead of evoking ire from the public by bombing buildings, he is just teaching his radical ideas to college students and public school teachers! He and Obama have worked together on “projects” for Chicago’s schools, and are of the same ilk.

Obama and the Church

Obama had never attended a church until he became a community organizer in Chicago. He was advised by a liberal Catholic priest that most blacks were associated in some way with a church, and that joining a church would be of benefit to being accepted in the community. He said in a TV interview that I watched that he decided to join the United Church of Christ (perhaps a misnomer) because he didn’t have to change any of his beliefs to join. Jeremiah Wright, his “pastor” of 20 years, used his pulpit to preach Black Liberation Theology, and frequently made complimentary mentions of Louis Farrakhan. He claimed that whites in America created the virus that causes AIDS in order to kill off blacks. After 9/11 Wright said that America deserved such a strike. You probably saw on TV a clip of the sermon in which he raved, “. . . No, no, no, not God Bless America—God *&^#%* America!”

Obama and the Current US Financial Crisis

At least three financial advisors to Obama’s Presidential campaign (snopes.com says it ain't true, but some say snopes is covering for Obama) are tied directly to our financial crisis. Franklin Raines, Chairman and CEO at Fannie Mae, was forced to retire when auditing discovered severe irregularities in accounting. He left with a “golden parachute" valued at $240 million. The Court ordered that he return $50 million. Tim Howard, Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae, “cooked the books,” and “resigned under pressure” taking only $20 million with him. Jim Johnson was a former executive at Lehman Bros., and later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO when it was discovered that his compensation was not accurately reported—it was $21 million, not $6 million. He left with a bonus of $28 million. In addition to being a financial adviser to Obama, he ran his Vice-Presidential Search Committee.

His Liberalness Barack Hussein Obama

Obama has the distinction of being THE MOST LIBERAL MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. His percentage of liberal votes beats those of Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank. When he was in the Illinois State Senate he actually voted twice against a bill to give medical care to babies who were born alive after a botched abortion. (Such babies were being left alone in a room to die.) He testified that giving assistance to such babies would weaken Roe v. Wade.

Conclusion

It sickens me to think that Barack Hussein Obama might be elected President of our country. If we elect him, then we deserve the consequences that will follow. May Americans be alert, attentive, dedicated, and patriotic. May we not be mesmerized by a mellow voice enticing the masses and calling for change—just for the sake of change.

Media Ignore Obama’s Radical Abortion Record

2008-10-16T22:02:00.002-05:00

The Democratic presidential candidate has voted to protect partial birth abortion, and to deny care to infants who survive botched abortion attempts.

By Matthew Balan
Media Research Center
October 14, 2008

The liberal news media has subjected Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to intense scrutiny concerning her overall pro-life view on abortion, among other issues. On the other hand, they have been all but silent on Barack Obama’s intensely liberal record on the abortion issue, particularly his support of partial-birth abortion and his opposition to legislation that would have protected infant abortion survivors from dying of neglect.

In MRC’s October 9 Media Reality Check, "Media Silence on Abortion Aids Radical Obama," Rich Noyes and I outlined how the news media have been out to lunch on examining Barack Obama’s radical pro-abortion stance during the Democratic campaign for the presidential nomination. The report found that the network evening newscasts "barely mentioned Obama’s pro-abortion stance during the primaries — from the launch of his candidacy in January 2007 through the end of the primaries in June 2008, just six out of 1,289 network evening news stories about Obama (0.46%) mentioned his position on abortion; none discussed it in any detail." The media as a whole also punted on Obama’s August 16, 2008 attack on pro-lifers, who in his view, were "lying" about his record as an Illinois state senator of opposing legislation, identical to a federal law, which would have protected infant survivors of abortion. Only a day later, Obama’s own campaign backtracked and admitted that he had indeed voted against this legislation...Click here to read complete story.

Indoctrinate U - The Deleted Segment on Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground

2008-10-12T22:11:00.009-05:00

From the Indoctrinate U Team

TERRORIST PROFESSORS

A man named Bill Ayers has been in the news lately as Senator Barack Obama's connections to the 1960s-era domestic terrorist have become an issue in the presidential campaign. It reminded us of a segment cut from an earlier edit of "Indoctrinate U," one that we've just released.

In this deleted scene, we told the story of how 1960s campus radicals morphed into today's academics. Three of those radicals were Ayers, his now-wife Bernardine Dohrn, and Mark Rudd. Together, they led the Weather Underground, a group committed to the violent overthrow the U.S. Government.

To bring about their hoped-for communist utopia, the Weathermen bombed dozens of targets around the country including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and military recruiting stations. The Weathermen murdered two police officers and a security guard while robbing an armored car. They targeted the families of judges, celebrated the Manson murders, and through legal technicalities, most of them avoided jail.

Decades later, they're still unapologetic. In an interview published on September 11th, 2001, Ayers told The New York Times, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."

What does all of this have to do with higher education? Watch the video to find out.

The Travis Monitor: Three men who brought down wall street

2008-10-04T11:24:00.001-05:00

Old news to some, perhaps, but this story about Obama's corrupt advisers who "brought down Wall Street" needs to be shouted from the rooftops of Main Street.

The Travis Monitor: Three men who brought down wall street

Honk to Save Our Homes

2008-10-03T06:30:00.005-05:00

From Newsmax.com

Demand Congress Protect Taxpayers Not Speculators
FAX All Congressmen - Tell Them No Bailout – Prosecute Offenders!

How did we get here?

FOLLOW THE MONEY AND CORRUPTION! A Lending Policy created by democrats for democrats run by democrats monitored by democrats enforced by community organizer democrats and profited from by democrats.

The following information is condensed from an article by Stanley Kurtz. O's Dangerous Pals.

Fannie and Freddie acted in response to Clinton administration pressure to boost homeownership rates among minorities and the poor. However compassionate the motive, the result of this systematic disregard for normal credit standards has been financial disaster. ONE key pioneer of ACORN's subprime-loan shakedown racket was Madeline Talbott - an activist with extensive ties to Barack Obama. She was also in on the ground floor of the disastrous turn in Fannie Mae's mortgage policies.

Obama Trains ACORN Staff in Shakedown Tactics

It would be tough to find an "on the ground" community organizer more closely tied to the subprime-mortgage fiasco than Madeline Talbott. And no one has been more supportive of Madeline Talbott than Barack Obama.

When Obama was just a budding community organizer in Chicago , Talbott was so impressed that she asked him to train her personal staff.

He returned to Chicago in the early '90s, just as Talbott was starting her pressure campaign on local banks. In those years, he also conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN's up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott's drive against Chicago 's banks.

Obama Funds ACORN

More than that, Obama was funding them. As he rose to a leadership role at Chicago 's Woods Fund, he became the most powerful voice on the foundation's board for supporting ACORN and other community organizers. In 1995, the Woods Fund substantially expanded its funding of community organizers - and Obama chaired the committee that urged and managed the shift.

That committee's report on strategies for funding groups like ACORN features all the key names in Obama's organizer network. The report quotes Talbott more than any other figure; Sandra Maxwell, Talbott's ACORN ally in the bank battle, was also among the organizers consulted.

More, the Obama-supervised Woods Fund report acknowledges the problem of getting donors and foundations to contribute to radical groups like ACORN - whose confrontational tactics often scare off even liberal donors and foundations.

Indeed, the report brags about pulling the wool over the public's eye. The Woods Fund's claim to be "nonideological," it says, has "enabled the Trustees to make grants to organizations that use confrontational tactics against the business and government 'establishments' without undue risk of being criticized for partisanship."

Obama Aware of Intimidation Tactics

The Woods Fund report makes it clear Obama was fully aware of the intimidation tactics used by ACORN's Madeline Talbott in her pioneering efforts to force banks to suspend their usual credit standards. Yet he supported Talbott in every conceivable way. He trained her personal staff and other aspiring ACORN leaders, he consulted with her extensively, and he arranged a major boost in foundation funding for her efforts.

And, as the leader of another charity, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Obama channeled more funding Talbott's way - ostensibly for education projects but surely supportive of ACORN's overall efforts.

In return, Talbott proudly announced her support of Obama's first campaign for state Senate, saying, "We accept and respect him as a kindred spirit, a fellow organizer."

In short, to understand the roots of the subprime mortgage crisis, look to ACORN's Madeline Talbott. And to see how Talbott was able to work her mischief, look to Barack Obama.

Tale of a Busted Commentator

2008-09-12T07:55:00.004-05:00

Below are some heart felt comments I attempted to post to The Huffington Post (THP)on this anniversary of 9/11 regarding this story: Obama References Bush Failings On 9/11: "Let Us Remember That The Terrorists Responsible For 9/11 Are Still At Large"

The Illinois senator added: "Let us remember that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice."

Excuse me, Senator Obama..sir, the terriorists most directly responsible for the attacks of 9/11 are burning in Hell along with their collaborators and compatriots all around the world; having been killed in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere where, due to the leadership and initiative of Georgia W. Bush and the United States military, elements of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are being systematically hunted down and killed, thus enhancing the security of freedom loving and peaceful people everywhere.

That is the kind of justice that is needed on this anniversary of 9/11. That is the kind of justice that the next administration needs to provide. That is the kind of policy that a McCain-Palin administration would have the courage to pursue. What about a Obama-Biden administration? What kind of justice would you pursue? A long jail sentence?

When I attempted to post my comments in the comment section to the article on the THF website I got the following response:

This comment is pending approval and won't be displayed until it is approved.

Hey, that's cool. I can appreciate that there needs to be some community standards and controls so that obscene material is not published in their blog, even in the comment section of their articles.

Guess what? Those blowhards at The Huffington Post chose not to publish my comments.

Nice censorship job. And on top of that, while I was searching to see if my comment had been approved I was found out by Huffington Post “Security Forces” and in place of my name and a live “post” button, those stinking Stalinists put the following:

Post a comment

Sorry, but you have been banned from commenting

I guess I must have violated community standards, or something. Perhaps in the terms of service it says something like, “you will speak no ill of terrorists and Democratic candidates and you will only use the word H-E-L-L as an expletive, not as a place name.”

Oh well, looks like I’m busted.

How nice and opened minded of those Huff ‘n Puffers. I guess this experience is an example of how free speech will be curtailed and what kind of speech we can expect the Left to censor should, God forbid, Obama win in November.

Palin, a Rare Woman

2008-09-09T12:30:00.001-05:00

Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that read,

"Well behaved women rarely make history"

I guess that means Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Heath Palin is a rare woman indeed.

Understanding Taiwan Politics

2008-09-06T22:29:00.006-05:00

Jerome Keating, a fellow son-in-law of Taiwan who actually lives immersed Taiwan politics (in Taipei) rather than just writing about it, explains in this essay the cultural and historical background of realpolitik in Taiwan.

In case you are not familiar here are a couple of terms that will help you better understand Dr. Keating's essay:

(1) Wild Lily is the name of a student movement in 1990 led by students seeking democratic reforms on the island.

(2) Red envelopes containing cash are given out on special occasions such as weddings and on Lunar New Year. Red envelope is also an euphemism for a bribe.

Taiwan's Political Gravy Train in Search of a Wild Lily
Thursday September 04, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

While hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets to show their displeasure with the ineffectual performance and potential betrayal of the country's sovereignty by Ma Ying-jeou in his first 100 days, other media headlines have been discussing the so-called "money laundering" scandal of the former president, Chen Shui-bian. Chen had wired (via his wife) some twenty million US dollars to bank accounts overseas. While it is being investigated as to whether it is actually laundering, some felt betrayed; some felt justified, and many others were shocked. Regardless of that, what this does is expose how Taiwan politics is and has been one big, long, and continuous gravy train.

Surprised? Shocked? You shouldn't be. It should be a wake-up call to examine the real problem that plagues Taiwan. It is a problem that predates Chen Shui-bian, an age old Taiwan problem that is three-fold, human, cultural, and historical.

Click to read the whole article

Paraguay to reverse support for Taiwan at UN

2008-09-01T23:04:00.005-05:00

By PEDRO SERVIN — 10 hours ago

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay will reverse its historic support for Taiwan at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, and also is reconsidering its relations with communist regimes.

President Fernando Lugo said his government wants to maintain diplomatic relations with all countries of similar interests.

"Paraguay's foreign policy will be independent under my government and will not accept conditions," Lugo said in a local television interview Sunday.

Paraguay, the last South American country to recognize Taiwan, has supported the island since 1957, voting every year in support of resolutions to admit Taiwan to the assembly. Nations that recognize Taiwan don't have diplomatic relations with communist China, which considers the island a renegade province.

But Lugo's election last April ended 61 years of one-party, conservative rule under which Paraguay distanced itself from communist countries. The leftist president, who was inaugurated Aug. 15, said he wants to establish relations with China, which has boosted its diplomatic and trade ties with Latin America in recent years.

Lugo also said he is considering an invitation to visit Cuba from former President Fidel Castro.

But Lugo says he is not following in the footsteps of another South American leftist leader, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has established close ties with China and Cuba.

"I will not be influenced in any way by President Hugo Chavez," Lugo told Channel 2 television in Asuncion. "My government will not copy any foreign political model. We have our own reality different from that of other nations."

In return for Paraguay's 51 years of support, Taiwan has sent millions of dollars to the impoverished country for low-income housing, agricultural development and scholarships. Even now, Paraguay's senate is considering accepting a new donation from Taiwan of $71 million.

"We will no longer vote (at the U.N.) for Taiwan despite the fact that we recognize the aid the country has provided," Lugo said.

It wasn't clear what impact the new president's position will have on Taiwan's latest offer of help.

Bristol Palin is Pregnant

2008-09-01T12:45:00.003-05:00

I wonder how we (the base) will react to this news that Palin's daughter Bristol, 17, is 5 months pregnant, and that McCain knew of this when he chose Palin last Friday. What will the Dems start saying about Palin's fitness for office in light of her not keeping her daughter on the moral straight and narrow (as if the left does a better job of keep their daughters in line - rather they discard the evidence). You can bet they will try to make political hay out of this one. It seems that Bristol got pregnant just before Trig was born. Sure hope the father of the baby and Bristol will be afforded some bit of privacy by the media....but I'm not holding my breath.

Ma Ying-"dove" Moves Taiwan Towards Unilateral Disarmament

2008-08-31T16:51:00.013-05:00

The stories below published this weekend show that the new President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-"dove", as I have dubbed him, of the KMT Party is apparently trying to one-up (or is it one-down) former US President Jimmy Carter in the "dove" and National Security categories. Ma "dove" sees China through rose/blue/red colored glasses, seemingly unconcerned about defending Taiwan against an attack from the mainland, which of course will never happen if he gives away Taiwan's sovereignty to the Communist Chinese. In Western parlance his move would be considered traitorous warranting impeachment. Is it any wonder that the Taiwanese have taken to the streets, many calling for Ma's resignation.

Taiwan military maintains vigilance against China
The Associated Press
Published: August 29, 2008

HSINCHU, Taiwan: Seven Mirage fighter jets roared down the runway at a sun-dappled Taiwanese air force base Friday, a stark reminder that even as the island improves its ties with rival China, it maintains readiness for a military showdown with its old foe.

The exercise was part of a two-day show of force by the Taiwan military that also included the deployment of a Lafayette frigate off the southern Taiwanese coast and a drill by combat engineers on the northern part of the island.

Since taking office almost 100 days ago, President Ma Ying-jeou has turned the corner on his predecessor's aggressive anti-China stance, beginning regular direct flights across the 100-mile (160 kilometer) -wide Taiwan Strait and opening Taiwan's doors to significantly increased numbers of mainland tourists.

Ma also has vowed to seek a formal peace treaty peace with Beijing — the two sides split amid civil war in 1949 — and work toward reconciling his desire to conduct independent foreign relations for the island of 23 million people with China's insistence that Taiwan remain an integral part of its territory....Read full story...

Taiwan to cut military spending amid warming China ties: report

TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwan plans to scale back its military spending in 2009 amid warming ties with rival China, it was reported Saturday.

Military spending will be 315.2 billion Taiwan dollars (10 billion US), a decline of 10.4 billion Taiwan dollars on this year, the United Daily News said, citing a draft budget pending parliament's approval.

It will account for 17.2 percent of next year's government budget, the report said, but the move has drawn criticism from opposition lawmakers....Read full story...

Report: Taiwan drops plan to develop missile that can hit China

Asia-Pacific News

Aug 31, 2008, 21:48 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan has dropped plans to develop cruise missiles that can reach China, seen as the country's ongoing efforts to seek peace with China, a newspaper reported Monday.

The United Daily News quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Taipei has dropped plans to develop cruise missiles that have a range of 1,000 kilometres.

Since Ma Ying-jeou from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party took office on May 20, he has been promoting greater exchanges with China to ease cross-Strait tension...Read full story...

Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama

2008-08-31T00:25:00.006-05:00

Some on the left and right are saying that Sarah Palin does not have the experience to be Vice-President, that McCain has left the reservation on this decision. Here is a comparison of the top of the Democratic ticket with the bottom of the Republican ticket. Leaving the two senior Senators out of the picture, because they could be considered to cancel each other out in terms of experience, ask yourself which ticket has the right experience for the job. Click above on the title to this post to view the comparison.

Followup: Gov. Sarah Palin for Veep

2008-08-29T21:28:00.008-05:00

To read the original post, click here --> Freedom Ain't Free: Gov. Sarah Palin for Veep

I'm not adept at picking stocks and I don't gamble on sports, or anything for that matter. So I figure my political prognosticating might fare similarly.

So when, via this blog and a cross post to the Travis Monitor, I "advised" Senator McCain last week to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate I did not consider my pick as having much of a chance of being selected. Why, I couldn't even pronounce her name right, much less did I think McCain would "listen" to me or any member of his base.

It appears he has "listened" to his base, or at least The Maverick did our will unbeknown. This is perhaps the first time he has "listened" to us. Let's pray it won't be the last. Once he and Sarah win he will have many opportunities to "hear" from us.

Not withstanding Michael Savage's nay saying I think Gov. Palin brings a net positive to McCain's ticket, enough to energize the base and make McCain more than just the lessor or two evils, more than just an alternative to the Obamanation that would make a desolation of the America that so many have sacrificed so much to build.

Too bad I only entertain myself with Intrade rather than being a part of the plotted data.

09/16/08 CTRA Meeting Announcement

2008-08-28T22:39:00.009-05:00

The Domain: A Deal You Can Refuse

A Presentation
to
The Central Texas Republican Assembly
(CTRA)
by
Brian Rodgers
Founder, Stop Domain Subsidies
http://www.stopdomainsubsidies.com/
on
Tuesday, Sept 16th @ 7 p.m.
at
TCRP Headquarters
10711 Burnet Road, Suite 315
Austin, TX 78758
(located in the Compass Bank Building,
just north of intersection of Braker and Burnet)

Refreshments provided
Event Charge: $5.00, at the door

RSVP by Friday, Sept 12th
to
Tim Bradberry
dadofping@peoplepc.com

Board of Directors meeting @ 6:00 p.m.
(open to CTRA members only)

SPEAKER BIO

Brian Rodgers is a real estate investor who has made it his mission to stop the city from rebating any of the sales and property tax money promised to Simon Property Group Inc., owner of the Domain and the nation's largest mall developer. He says the campaign is about fairness: for small businesses, for taxpayers.

The charter amendment he sponsored aims to prevent the city from giving tax incentives to projects that have retail components. It would also prohibit the city, in effect, from paying the owner of the Domain shopping center the sales and property tax rebates negotiated in a 2003 agreement.

The Stop Domain Subsidies group had to collect more than 18,000 signatures from the city’s registered voters — 5 percent of the qualified voters — to put the amendment on the ballot. The amendment will be put before voters in November.

Brian Rodgers has been in business in Austin for 25 years, and has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from UT-Austin.

Gov. Sarah Palin for Veep

2008-08-22T23:59:00.005-05:00

Now that Senator and "Borker-in-Chief" Joe Biden has been announced as Obama's Veep pick my advice to Senator McCain is to add a proven winner to his ticket, someone who can balance out the negatives that he has with the base of the Party, someone who will inject charisma into his otherwise dead pan political delivery.

That someone, I contend, is the most popular governor in the country, Alaska's Sarah Heath Palin. She will put an attractive, knowledgeable and strategic face on the "drill here, drill now, and pay less" imperative that the majority of Americans are demanding, and she is poised to duke it out with the AFI-CIO and Biden.

RealClearPolitics.com contributer Jack Kelly sums up Palin's upside thus:

At 44, Sarah Louise Heath Palin is both the youngest and the first female governor in Alaska's relatively brief history as a state. She's also the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating that has bounced around 90 percent.
...
...
Sarah Barracuda. Miss Congeniality. Fire and nice. A happily married mother of five who is still drop dead gorgeous. And smart to boot.
But it's mostly because she's been a crackerjack governor, a strong fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially in her own party.
Ms. Palin touches other conservative bases, some of which Sen. McCain has been accused of rounding. Track, her eldest son, enlisted in the Army last Sept. 11. She's a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular churchgoer, she's staunchly pro-life.

Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal said Sen. McCain should run against a corrupt, do-nothing Congress, a la Harry Truman. If he should choose to do so, Gov. Palin would make an excellent partner "The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who have crossed Sarah," pollster Dave Dittman told the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes.

Sen. Barack Obama's support has plunged recently among white women. Many Hillary Clinton supporters accuse him -- I think unfairly -- of being sexist. Having Sarah Palin on the ticket could help Sen. McCain appeal to these disgruntled Democrats.
Click here to read the full Jack Kelly article.

There is a bit of downside to Palin that seems to me to have been conjured up recently by Democrats in Alaska and by national Union bosses who may just be attempting a little sabotage.

Having a reputation for extreme zealousness in cleaning up corruption, Palin has recently been accused of unethical behavior herself. This charge stems from her having a deadbeat ex-brother-in-law (her sister Molly's ex-husband, Mike Wooten) who, though apparently having significant ethical challenges of his own as a State Trooper and in his personal life, has retained his job way longer than seems reasonable.

After an Alaska State Department of Public Safety internal investigation, which was carried out before Palin became Governor, Wooten suffered only a 10 day suspension for his documented unethical behavior, which included DUI, violating state hunting laws, assault, using his badge in an oppressive manner, etc. The union provided him with an "advocate," union representative John Cyr, during an internal investigation of his misconduct.

[Wooten was suspended] for 10 days. He also was punished for illegally shooting a moose and using a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson. The trooper admitted to using the Taser on his stepson in a "training capacity" and said he shot a moose on his wife's tag, but didn't think the act was illegal.
Cyr said the Public Safety Employees Association filed a grievance regarding the 10-day suspension and the punishment was later reduced to five days.
See Agency leader changed ruling in trooper case.

This union representative has been advocating for Wooten for over 3 years, currently as the executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association (interesting promotion - from State Trooper and PSEA Rep in 2005 to executive director of the PSEA in 2008 - wow!).

Recently Palin was accused by the PSEA of having a vendetta against her sister's ex-husband such that she used her influence as Governor (they say) to pressure Wooton's commanders to fire him, and when the commanders refused to do so she retaliated (they say) by firing Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008.

Legislators are seriously considering hiring an independent investigator to examine whether Gov. Sarah Palin, her aides or her husband pressured commanders to fire Trooper Mike Wooten, and whether she then fired the state's top cop when Wooten stayed on the job. Palin denies anything like that happened.

See Is Wooten a good trooper? (7/27/08).

Last month John Cyr, as "the spokesman" for the union, released a bunch of Wooten's information to the press, ostensibly to show his "client" was being railroaded, but more likely to attempt to trash Gov. Palin.

...a spokesman for the troopers' labor union, the Public Safety Employees Association, held a press conference saying Wooten has been unfairly targeted by the governor's family.
The spokesman, John Cyr, also released a several-inch-thick file of the troopers' own investigation into charges from Palin, her husband, Todd, and other members of her family that Wooten committed unethical and illegal acts, which they said included drunken driving and illegal hunting.
See Palin denies accusation over firing of Monegan (7/18/08).

My guess is that the Alaska union feels a bit threatened by a governor who wants to clean house and take them to the mat and perhaps the AFL-CIO has commanded the Alaska Public Safety Employees Association to do "whatever it takes" to poison Palin's chances of being picked by McCain as his VP and taking her "anti-union tactics" national.

That alone is proof positive that she is the right woman for the job of McCain's running mate and our Vice-President of the United States.

Russian Hackers That "Attacked" Georgia Were Mostly a Volunteer "Cyberarmy"

2008-08-22T20:14:00.007-05:00

As Russian Tanks Rolled, Army of Internet Hackers Hit Georgia’s Web Sites

Hacker attacks that accompanied the Russian military offensive in Georgia were not the work of the Russian government as Georgia claimed, but of a loose network that had previously targeted pornography and gambling sites, Internet experts say.

The first attack started just after 2 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Aug. 8 - more than 12 hours after Russian tanks rolled through the Roki tunnel into Georgia - according to the Shadowserver Foundation, a volunteer group that monitors hacker activity.

Within hours after fighting erupted, Russian hackers had established a site, StopGeorgia.ru, that showed a list of Georgian Web sites targeted and which sites had been brought down, and allowed visitors to download a simple program to enable their own computers to join the attack, said Kimberly Zenz, a Russia specialist with Internet threat intelligence outfit iDefense.

Click here to read the complete article.

Olympic Reporting with Chinese Characteristics

2008-08-20T20:33:00.004-05:00

Here is an example of Olympic reporting with Chinese Characteristics.

The link below is the source from which story below has been copied in its entirety, for this blog's readers' convenience. Please patronize ESPN who owns all rights to this story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3542649&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

LIFE OF REILLY

by Rick Reilly

Getty Images

Beijing's 21 Olympic Edicts

2008-08-14T00:41:00.000-05:00

THE 21 EDICTS FROM THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT'S PROPAGANDA UNIT
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

During the official telecast, we can refer to Taiwan as "Chinese Taipei". In ordinary times, refer to Taiwanese athletes as "those from the precious island ...

Click here to see all Sydney Morning Herald stories on this topic.

China's Latest Scapegoat

2007-07-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

I don't find anyone much discussing the latest example of China's unique approach to dealing with individual and national misdeeds (let's call them both "greed") and face saving in the eyes of the International community (let's call this propaganda).

In the past, we've heard described capitalism with Chinese characteristics (i.e. "the marriage between unchecked power and ill-gotten wealth" [1]), Christianity with Chinese characteristics (i.e. the Three-Self Church), and the Internet with Chinese characteristics (Lenovo and Dell hardware running a lot of pirated software, with Free-World based companies Yahoo and Google teaming with China's own Baidu, etc. to spy on Chinese netizens and censor Internet content that the dictators in Beijing consider a threat to their grip on power).

Recently we have been reminded of justice with Chinese characteristics (i.e. when the world is questioning the safety of your exports, find a scape goat and execute him. Yeah, that'll show 'em who's boss and just how serious you take the matter AND by the way, remember Tienanmen). Blogger John E. Carey calls the latest example of justice with Chinese characteristics (though he does not use that phrase) cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, in the People's Republic of China, though cruel, it is not unusual.

[1] The dark side of China's dazzling economic boom, by Minxin Pei, Commentary, SF Chronicle

China: Guilty Again of Cruel and Unusual Punishment

By John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom
July 10, 2007

China’s state television and the official Xinhua News Agency said that China had executed Zheng Xiaoyu the former State Food and Drug Administration director.

Zheng Xiaoyu managed China’s operation to review and approve food and drugs from 1998 until 2005.

During Zheng’s tenure his agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to previous state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

Photo courtesy of Xinhua.

Zheng, 63, was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth $832,000 when he was in charge of the State Food and Drug Administration.

At the time of his conviction, nearly all China watchers predicted that his sentence would be downgraded to life imprisonment, which is frequently the practice in such cases. In fact, in recent memory, there are no known senior officials that actually met their executioners even after a death sentence.

This execution was a needless act of cruelty to assuage the fears of the west about Chinese-made products and to “save face” for the Chinese leadership.

Listen to how China’s government spokesman characterized the execution.

“The few corrupt officials of the SFDA are the shame of the whole system and their scandals have revealed some very serious problems,” agency spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said at a news conference held to highlight efforts to improve China’s track record on food and drug safety.

SFDA stands for the State Food and Drug Administration.

So China, to lesson its own shame and to regain its market share, heartlessly executed a bureaucrat whose crime was looking the other way for less than a million dollars.

We deplore this killing as a needless and wonton abuse of human rights. This one man is not the cause or source of China’s massive breakdown of proper procedures, checks and balances. His death adds nothing to China’s reputation and does nothing to restore western confidence in China’s products.

Related:

China Planning a Surreal Facade for Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008

The Peaceful Majority - by Wm Haynes

2007-07-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War Two owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.

Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this
moment in history.

It is the fanatics who march.
It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.
It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.
It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill.
It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.
It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority," the "silent majority" is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population, it was peaceful as well, but Chinese
Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Author and Speaker Steve Wohlberg on Harry Potter and Wiccan

2007-07-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

This story is published on the Canada Free Press website

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/christian062507.htm

Author Contends Harry Potter Fuels Wiccan Growth Among Teens and that Witchcraft 'Spells Trouble' for Society

By Christian Newswire
Monday, June 25, 2007

FRESNO, Calif., June 25 /Christian Newswire/ -- Pottermania will sweep the globe with the July 2007 release of both J.K. Rowling's seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the fifth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. With millions of copies poised to fly off bookshelves ("Accelerato!"), forecasts are that the latest book will become the fastest selling title in history. Global interest in the boy wizard will soar higher than Quidditch players seeking Golden Snitches.

While most consider all anti-Potterism to be downright Mugglish, concerns remain among many parents, especially in light of today's surging interest in "Wicca" (witchcraft) among teens. While millions devour Harry Potter novels, increasing numbers also frequent Wicca websites, cast "Love and Money Spells," and practice "white magic." Is it all just fun and fiction, or is something truly supernatural going on? Something dangerous?

Steve Wohlberg, bestselling author of Exposing Harry Potter and Witchcraft: The Menace Beneath the Magic (Destiny Image, 2007) has read all the Harry Potter books. He also understands that Wiccans love nature, don't believe in a "Christian devil," and wouldn't hurt a fly (or owl). He is no rabid witch basher, but believes in religious freedom. Nevertheless, Wohlberg is concerned about both Hogwarts and the Craft.

"There's plenty of real occultism embedded in Rowling's fantasy works," Wohlberg contends, "and in spite of naïve popular opinion, Pottermania is aiding Wicca's growth." Even the founder of a major Witchcraft school agrees (his online training center is called a "Cyber Hogwarts"). Wohlberg warns that when Wiccans summon "nature spirits" in their rituals, they are entering dangerous territory. "Occultism has a dark side," he warns, "and practitioners can easily become trapped like a fly in a spider web." Ex-witches themselves share riveting testimonies in Wohlberg's book.

Steve Wohlberg is the Speaker/Director of White Horse Media (Fresno, CA). TV producer (Amazing Discoveries, Israel in Prophecy, Hour of the Witch), radio host (World News and the Bible), and the author of 14 books, he's been a guest on over 500 radio and TV shows, including CNN Radio, USA Radio, American Family Radio, Cable Radio Network, Information Radio Network, Focus 4, and The Harvest Show.

For interviews, contact Steve Wohlberg at (559) 977-9744 (cell) or at steve@whitehorsemedia.com. Visit www.avoidharrypotter.com

"China, tear down this gate!" - a Dan Bloom essay

2007-06-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

China, tear down this gate!

by Dan Bloom, in Taiwan
reporter.bloom@gmail.com

Longtime observers of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have said, "The China question is open as long as the CCP rules China." And as long as the gate of freedom in China remains closed, as long as this scar of a gate is permitted to stand, it is not the China question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all humankind. Yet, today there is a message of hope inside China, a message of triumph, where slowly people are trying to take matters into their own hands and set up a democratic movement inside the country that can finally replace the CCP. It can happen and it will happen.

Leaders of democratic countries around the world understood the practical importance of liberty -- that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. China will learn that soon enough.

In fact, even now, in a limited way, the current leaders of China may be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Beijing about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts and
Internet sites are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the CCP? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Chinese system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Chinese communists can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

President Hu Jintao, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for China and Hong Kong and Macao and Taiwan, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate of tyranny, and replace it with a gate of freedom! Mr. Hu, replace this gate! Mr. Hu, let freedom ring!

I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict the leaders of China today -- and I know that my country will use all its efforts to help overcome these burdens. When freedom finally comes to the Chinese people, they and their leaders will be surprised how
wonderful it feels.

Today represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to cooperate with China to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world. The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront.

As one looks at China today, from across the sea, one can perhaps catch a glimpse of some words crudely spray-painted upon the gate, perhaps by a young Bejinger: "This gate will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across China, this gate will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The gate cannot withstand freedom.

Update on China's Poisoning of the Food Supply

2007-06-21T20:43:00.001-05:00

As reported on

US inspection records are showing that imports from China are unfit for human consumption.The US Food and Drug Administration has detained more than one thousand shipments at ports containing tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic cosmetics and counterfeit medicines. Consumer activists and politicians, upset about contaminated food products, are demanding action. With the numerous pet deaths and tainted food, they would like to slow food imports from China, but such a move would be next to impossible. Because of its low costs and wages, China has become virtually the only source for certain food products, including wheat gluten and ascorbic acid, reports this article in “The Washington Post.” Politicians are in no hurry to enact regulations to keep food costs low. Many US firms have factories in China and actively pursue that market, and thus do not want any disruptions in the growing flow of trade. Likewise, China wants to gain a foothold in the US meat market, so US regulations are slowly easing. For now, the US prohibits meat products from China, but some meat products, labeled as vegetables, slip by the inspectors. Also, in 2006, the US hurriedly changed rules, before a visit by the Chinese president, allowing firms to send chickens raised in the US on a round trip to China for processing, then returned for sale in US markets. Increasingly aware about their food, consumers ultimately control the market, and with every purchase can make a choice on saving money or demanding safety. – YaleGlobal

Click on the words below to access the full YaleGlobal article on this topic.

Tainted Chinese Imports Common

Tainted Chinese Imports Common - Rick Weiss. Posted by Sophie Beach :: 2007-05-19, 09:20 PM

Reports: It's not unusual for FDA inspectors to find tainted, unsafe Chinese products being imported to USA

Right Wing Dog on "Tainted Chinese Imports Common"

More Chinese roulette

Epoch Times - "Tainted Products Continue to Flow out of China"

Isaac Asimov's "All Four Stanzas"

2007-06-17T15:21:00.000-05:00

All Four Stanzas
By Isaac Asimov

Introductory Note. Unless you're already well acquainted with our "national anthem," this interesting piece by the late Isaac Asimov will be an eye-opener. It was for me. It's especially appropriate at a time when there is much talk of tossing out this difficult-to-sing and difficult-to-comprehend old song in favor of something that better suits Ray Charles' voice. You'll understand the song much better after you read Mr. Asimov's explanation.--Hardly Waite, Gazette Senior Editor.

I have a weakness--I am crazy, absolutely nuts, about our national anthem.

The words are difficult and the tune is almost impossible, but frequently when I'm taking a shower I sing it with as much power and emotion as I can. It shakes me up every time.

I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking my life in my hands, I announced I was going to sing our national anthem--all four stanzas.

This was greeted with loud groans. One man closed the door to the kitchen, where the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud and distracting. "Thanks, Herb," I said.

"That's all right," he said. "It was at the request of the kitchen staff."

I explained the background of the anthem and then sang all four stanzas.

Let me tell you, those people had never heard it before--or had never really listened. I got a standing ovation. But it was not me; it was the anthem.

More recently, while conducting a seminar, I told my students the story of the anthem and sang all four stanzas. Again there was a wild ovation and prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem and not me.

So now let me tell you how it came to be written.

In 1812, the United States went to war with Great Britain, primarily over freedom of the seas. We were in the right. For two years, we held off the British, even though we were still a rather weak country. Great Britain was in a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as the United States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia. If he won, as everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain would be isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American war.

At first, our seamen proved better than the British. After we won a battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, sent the message "We have met the enemy and they are ours." However, the weight of the British navy beat down our ships eventually. New England, hard-hit by a tightening blockade, threatened secession.

Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and in 1814 was forced to abdicate. Great Britain now turned its attention to the United States, launching a three-pronged attack. The northern prong was to come down Lake Champlain toward New York and seize parts of New England. The southern prong was to go up the Mississippi, take New Orleans and paralyze the west. The central prong was to head for the mid-Atlantic states and then attack Baltimore, the greatest port south of New York. If Baltimore was taken, the nation, which still hugged the Atlantic coast, could be split in two. The fate of the United States, then, rested to a large extent on the success or failure of the central prong.

The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814, took Washington, D. C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay toward Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1000 men in Fort McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take Baltimore, they would have to take the fort.

On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland and brought along as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come to the ship to negotiate his release. The British captain was willing, but the two Americans would have to wait. It was now the night of September 13, and the bombardment of Fort McHenry was about to start.

As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the night, they heard bombs bursting and saw the red glare of rockets. They knew the fort was resisting and the American flag was still flying. But toward morning the bombardment ceased, and a dread silence fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered and the British flag flew above it, or the bombardment had failed and the American flag still flew.

As dawn began to brighten the eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared out at the fort, trying to see which flag flew over it. He and the physician must have asked each other over and over, "Can you see the flag?"

After it was all finished, Key wrote a four stanza poem telling the events of the night. Called "The Defence of Fort M'Henry," it was published in newspapers and swept the nation. Someone noted that the words fit an old English tune called "To Anacreon in Heaven" --a difficult melody with an uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reasons, Key's work became known as "The Star Spangled Banner," and in 1931 Congress declared it the official anthem of the United States.

Now that you know the story, here are the words. Presumably, the old doctor is speaking. This is what he asks Key

Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

"Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a fort. The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

"The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure.

In the third stanza, I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise.

During World War II, when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so here it is

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n - rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto--"In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears.

And don't let them ever take it away.

--Isaac Asimov, March 1991

For first time, US officials admit that a key document used to claim that Taiwan is a part of China had no legal basis

2007-06-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

Key document on Taiwan is non-binding, says FAPA

By Max Hirsch
Staff Reporter
Sunday, June 17, 2007
TAIPEI TIMES

A key document used by Beijing and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to justify their claims that Taiwan is a part of China never had any legal binding power, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) said, citing a letter from a senior official at the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Founded in 1982 by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chai Trong-rong, FAPA is a Washington-based interest group that seeks to build up support in the US for Taiwan independence.

The association said in a statement last week that the 1943 Cairo Declaration, signed by US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Republic of China (ROC) dictator Chiang Kai-shek at the end of WWII, is merely a "communique" and thus non-binding, according to NARA.

Among other provisions, the communique states that Japan shall "return Formosa," or Taiwan, to "the Chinese."

"The document is merely a moment in time," FAPA president CT Lee said in the statement. "[It's] a declaration of intention regarding world affairs among three leaders."

"Although important at the time," Lee added, "it does not have any legal binding power almost 65 years later enabling either the KMT or [China] to derive territorial claims from."

In response to a FAPA letter of inquiry as to the declaration's status, NARA Assistant Archivist for Records Services, Michael Kurtz, wrote in a letter dated June 5 that "the declaration [is] a communique, and does not have treaty series or executive agreement series numbers."

According to FAPA, the document's archival status as a "communique" and neither an official agreement nor a treaty, negates any legal claims based on the declaration by China or the KMT that Taiwan is a part of China.

"This marks the first time the US government has officially gone on record to elaborate the lack of legal binding power of the Cairo Declaration, and thus voids the basis of both the KMT's and Beijing's mythic 'One China Principle' claims," the association said in the statement.

Despite its status in the US National Archives as a communique, however, the declaration is included in a US State Department publication titled, "Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America," Kurtz wrote, without explaining the apparent contradiction.

The KMT has long cited the declaration as the legal basis for ROC's claim on Taiwan; Beijing has also referred to it to augment its claim that Taiwan is a part of China, the statement said.

The Cost of Freedom

2007-06-13T00:30:00.000-05:00

This blog is about freedom, specifically the cost of freedom and why we should never, never, never, never stop paying the cost.

The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance
-Thomas Jefferson