What are the Brits up to and why are Prince Charles,Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the British Parliament conniving to play "Mutt & Jeff" footsie with the Dalai Lama and masking the visit of this "political monk" as a "spiritual one" ? And why are some Buddhists from the Shugden Society protesting against the Dalai Lama ? Pray tell, what the Brits up to again?
http://www.westernshugdensociety.org/en/a-day-of-protests-in-london
http://www.dailymotion.com/cesarharada/video/x5irw8_dalai-lama-protest-london-22-may-20_news
The Dalai Lama being hosted by Prince Charles:
http://www.dalailama.com/news.254.htm
Read Brendan O Neill's latest blog about the Dalai Lamam for a perspective:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_oneill/2008/05/down_with_the_dalai_lama.html
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Multiracial in America-half a century after the launching of the Civil Rights movement and the Campaign vs Racial Segregation-Is America better off ?
Read up on the state of racial relations in America in the following three links; you will be surprised at the sordid state of multiracial America after half a century of civil rights campaign:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24765917
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/us/29portland.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/27/MNK610P4C8.DTL
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24765917
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/us/29portland.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/27/MNK610P4C8.DTL
Mea Culpa from "Hollywood Cruella," Sharon Stone - the "Ms. Mean" with a Heart of Stone.
The latest on "Hollywood Cruella," Sharon Stone, the Ms. Mean who bashed China during the Cannes Film Festival.
Her "mean-spirited" remarks about the Chinese peoples about Karma, the suffering which resulted from the devastation of the Sichuan Earthquake has triggered backlash.
And Christina Dior, who used her as a "poster girl" has decided to drop her like a stone from its China advertisements.
Another French "faux pas" after the boorish hooliganistic Paris attacks on a wheelchair-paralympic Chinese female torch relay bearer, orchestrated by Parisian mayor Alphonese Delanoe and French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and after the fiasco of French-owned Carrefour ?
Karma for "Hollywood Cruella"?
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080529114629.g5r494wg&show_article=1
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23488308-details/Dropped+like+a+stone%3A+Dior+axes+Sharon+ads+as+she+says+sorry+over+'quake+karma'+comment/article.do
Chinese netizens are not mollified ! Why should they?
http://english.sina.com/china/p/1/2008/0529/164224.html
Her "mean-spirited" remarks about the Chinese peoples about Karma, the suffering which resulted from the devastation of the Sichuan Earthquake has triggered backlash.
And Christina Dior, who used her as a "poster girl" has decided to drop her like a stone from its China advertisements.
Another French "faux pas" after the boorish hooliganistic Paris attacks on a wheelchair-paralympic Chinese female torch relay bearer, orchestrated by Parisian mayor Alphonese Delanoe and French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and after the fiasco of French-owned Carrefour ?
Karma for "Hollywood Cruella"?
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080529114629.g5r494wg&show_article=1
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23488308-details/Dropped+like+a+stone%3A+Dior+axes+Sharon+ads+as+she+says+sorry+over+'quake+karma'+comment/article.do
Chinese netizens are not mollified ! Why should they?
http://english.sina.com/china/p/1/2008/0529/164224.html
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Warm Springs in East Asia portends significant shifts in Asia-Pacific
These past two weeks, the eyes of the world have remained gripped by calamitous stories surrounding the Sichuan Earthquake.
There is another eathquake happening in that part of the world. It is a "political" one. And this political earthquake is closely tied into the rescue, recovery, and relief efforts.
Major significant political "seismic" shifts are being felt in East Asia, as state visits first from Russian newly-installed President Medvedev visited Beijing, followed by South Korean president Lee Myun Bak changed the p0litical atmosphere in the region, and portends a shift in international relations. The new "strategic partnership" that is being pr0moted between China and South Korea will do much to tamp down the political tensions in the Korean peninsula and focus on the task of a "win-win" situation to bolster the economic integration in the Korean peninsula with the economic juggernaut of China, Inc. .
To add to this, the major political earthquake felt across the Taiwan straits has been the visit by KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung's visit to Beijing. This "earthquake" diplomacy has added to the thawing of relations and racheting down of tensions across the Taiwan Straits.
Following Hu Jintao's visit to Japan after Beijing's "warm springs" initiative to reach out to Japan and the Japanese peoples, there are signals coming out from Beijing that Japan and the Japanese peoples should weigh on friendly terms given that Japanese relief and assistance in post-Sichuan Earthquake recovery and reconstruction is now actively solicited by China.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/24/content_8245261.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/28/content_8272418.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121203083998728525.html?mod=hpp_asia_whats_news
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/28/content_8272634.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121200030475126813.html?mod=hpp_asia_whats_news
There is another eathquake happening in that part of the world. It is a "political" one. And this political earthquake is closely tied into the rescue, recovery, and relief efforts.
Major significant political "seismic" shifts are being felt in East Asia, as state visits first from Russian newly-installed President Medvedev visited Beijing, followed by South Korean president Lee Myun Bak changed the p0litical atmosphere in the region, and portends a shift in international relations. The new "strategic partnership" that is being pr0moted between China and South Korea will do much to tamp down the political tensions in the Korean peninsula and focus on the task of a "win-win" situation to bolster the economic integration in the Korean peninsula with the economic juggernaut of China, Inc. .
To add to this, the major political earthquake felt across the Taiwan straits has been the visit by KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung's visit to Beijing. This "earthquake" diplomacy has added to the thawing of relations and racheting down of tensions across the Taiwan Straits.
Following Hu Jintao's visit to Japan after Beijing's "warm springs" initiative to reach out to Japan and the Japanese peoples, there are signals coming out from Beijing that Japan and the Japanese peoples should weigh on friendly terms given that Japanese relief and assistance in post-Sichuan Earthquake recovery and reconstruction is now actively solicited by China.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/24/content_8245261.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/28/content_8272418.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121203083998728525.html?mod=hpp_asia_whats_news
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/28/content_8272634.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121200030475126813.html?mod=hpp_asia_whats_news
New towns, new houses springing up to house 5 million displaced refugees without homes-construction boom to provide rapid temporary housing
Consider how China and its citizenry are mobilizing and providing the support network to take care of those rendered homeless by the Sichuan Earthquake.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24849101
Compare how the U.S. government and its relief agency, FEMA, and America's citizenry are coping with the aftermath of the Katrina and Rita hurricanes and its aftermath post-2005 after the flooding of New Orleans and the devastation left behind America's southern Gold Coast.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24861652
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24849101
Compare how the U.S. government and its relief agency, FEMA, and America's citizenry are coping with the aftermath of the Katrina and Rita hurricanes and its aftermath post-2005 after the flooding of New Orleans and the devastation left behind America's southern Gold Coast.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24861652
First-hand report-structural engineer chronicling what he saw in Sichuan and the structures which collasped and structures which withstood the shocks
http://www.miyamotointernational.com/
A structural engineer visited the Sichuan region right after the quake and chronicled his visit. Below is Day One. You can read the rest at the link above.
May 18, 2008- 10:30 am Chengdu, China
We are joined by a TV news crew from NHK (Japanese Broadcast Corporation) who worked with us and reported on our observations of the damage and the reasons for it.
Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province with a population of over 10 million. It is a modern city. NHK meets us at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chengdu. We depart for Juyuan Township, Dujiangyan City, where a middle school collapsed and buried 700 kids. They insist that we wear masks since the smell of death is overwhelming.
11:49 am Juyuan Township, Dujiangyan.
We drive on Highway 213 which runs through beautiful woodlands to get to Juyuan. The population here is well over 50,000. This town is 60 km from Chengdu and about 50 km from the fault rupture. We park our van and walk through a devastated retail and residential street to reach the Juyuan Middle School.
We witness a large mound of rubble, the remains of the school that once housed 1000 students. 700 kids died here and 20 are still missing. The collapsed building is constructed of non-ductile cast-in-place concrete columns and beams, and precast concrete floor planks. Infilled walls are unreinforced masonry. Juyuan Middle School was built in 1996 which is relatively modern.
However, the non-ductile detailing of concrete elements and unreinforced masonry turned out to be the killers. This type of construction has always performed very poorly in strong earthquakes; it has been outlawed in California, for example, since the mid 1970s.
We enter a damaged, but not collapsed, school building right next to the rubble. The damage is slight. This may be due to better orientation (for the earthquake forces to which it was subjected) of the building and better construction quality. A local man tells us that the collapsed building had a one story addition on top of the existing 2 levels.
This may have contributed to this tragedy. Next to the rubble is a large soccer field covered with white powder. We were told that 700 dead middle school children lay here a few days ago. The white powder is for disinfection...
1:30 pm
We arrive at the Juyuan elementary school. This is a 4-story concrete building that appears to be of similar construction to Juyuan Middle School. But the difference in damage is phenomenal.
There are few shear (diagonal) cracks in the shear walls and minor pounding damage between buildings, but no collapse! This building was built in 2007 - brand new! The lack of major damage tells us that the latest Chinese construction practice, if practiced widely, may be much better.
Unfortunately, the danger associated with older non-ductile concrete structures is not China's problem alone - It is a worldwide problem. We must address these buildings in any seismic hazard area to avoid future tragedies.
The principal of the school asks us to evaluate the building for safe entry. Apparently the town has not established a building inspection and safe entry tagging system for buildings. We use a standard California rapid inspection technique to assess the structure and recommend repairs needed prior to re-occupancy. It would really help if they had a similar inspection regime as California and Japan, where we have thousands of trained volunteer engineers to inspect and tag buildings for safety - Red for no entry, Yellow for limited entry, and Green for safe entry.
2:15 pm
About a mile or so from the collapsed middle school, we see an office complex under construction. It is almost completed and the construction type is similar to the elementary school. Damage was limited to non-structural components. We run inside the building. The NHK producer and cameraman run after us. These guys are dedicated! We sometimes run to minimize the time inside of the damaged buildings. In this building, we see a lot of suspended ceiling panel failures. There is no wire bracing... of course. This simple bracing system would have minimized the damage and the business interruption to this building.
3:30 pm Xing Fu Township, Dujiangyan
We enter the City of Xing Fu, with a population of over 300,000. The downtown is approximately 50 km from the epicenter. We park our van and walk through the downtown streets. Our first impression is that damage in Xing Fu is limited. The locals point out the elementary school.
We pass a little tunnel-like gate to enter the school grounds... I could not believe my eyes - Total collapse of a 4 story school building. We meet a young mother who is carrying a picture of a little girl. She tells me that this was her 7-year old daughter who died under the rubble. I have 3 young kids also. I think about them when I see the picture of a little girl... The construction type and vintage is the same as what we saw this morning in Juyuan. This can be avoided with proper earthquake strengthening and rehabilitation.
4:30 pm
We try to drive to the epicenter by continuing on Highway 213, but the road is closed by the police just outside of town. The danger of land slides make it impossible to go further today.
4:45 pm
We return to Xing Fu to continue our survey. On an eerily, quiet, abandoned street, we come across a half collapsed, 5-story concrete apartment building. The corner of the structure totally collapsed into the street. It appears that the soft story columns failed and lost their capacity to support the structure above. Interestingly, immediately next door is an almost identical building with minor damage. Construction quality and possibly some vital structural details are the likely difference here.
On the way back to our van, we are surrounded by the local folks who beg us to inspect their mid-rise apartment buildings for safety. We do the best we can to help...but the numbers are overwhelming.
6:10 pm
For the last stop, we visit a hospital that collapsed on top of 200 patients. It is a 1980s concrete building. I must say that it is hard not to be depressed to see so much death and destruction all around. I hope the lessons from this earthquake will be acknowledged by governments and contractors around the world, so we can save lives.
We will head closer to the epicenter tomorrow...
A structural engineer visited the Sichuan region right after the quake and chronicled his visit. Below is Day One. You can read the rest at the link above.
May 18, 2008- 10:30 am Chengdu, China
We are joined by a TV news crew from NHK (Japanese Broadcast Corporation) who worked with us and reported on our observations of the damage and the reasons for it.
Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province with a population of over 10 million. It is a modern city. NHK meets us at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chengdu. We depart for Juyuan Township, Dujiangyan City, where a middle school collapsed and buried 700 kids. They insist that we wear masks since the smell of death is overwhelming.
11:49 am Juyuan Township, Dujiangyan.
We drive on Highway 213 which runs through beautiful woodlands to get to Juyuan. The population here is well over 50,000. This town is 60 km from Chengdu and about 50 km from the fault rupture. We park our van and walk through a devastated retail and residential street to reach the Juyuan Middle School.
We witness a large mound of rubble, the remains of the school that once housed 1000 students. 700 kids died here and 20 are still missing. The collapsed building is constructed of non-ductile cast-in-place concrete columns and beams, and precast concrete floor planks. Infilled walls are unreinforced masonry. Juyuan Middle School was built in 1996 which is relatively modern.
However, the non-ductile detailing of concrete elements and unreinforced masonry turned out to be the killers. This type of construction has always performed very poorly in strong earthquakes; it has been outlawed in California, for example, since the mid 1970s.
We enter a damaged, but not collapsed, school building right next to the rubble. The damage is slight. This may be due to better orientation (for the earthquake forces to which it was subjected) of the building and better construction quality. A local man tells us that the collapsed building had a one story addition on top of the existing 2 levels.
This may have contributed to this tragedy. Next to the rubble is a large soccer field covered with white powder. We were told that 700 dead middle school children lay here a few days ago. The white powder is for disinfection...
1:30 pm
We arrive at the Juyuan elementary school. This is a 4-story concrete building that appears to be of similar construction to Juyuan Middle School. But the difference in damage is phenomenal.
There are few shear (diagonal) cracks in the shear walls and minor pounding damage between buildings, but no collapse! This building was built in 2007 - brand new! The lack of major damage tells us that the latest Chinese construction practice, if practiced widely, may be much better.
Unfortunately, the danger associated with older non-ductile concrete structures is not China's problem alone - It is a worldwide problem. We must address these buildings in any seismic hazard area to avoid future tragedies.
The principal of the school asks us to evaluate the building for safe entry. Apparently the town has not established a building inspection and safe entry tagging system for buildings. We use a standard California rapid inspection technique to assess the structure and recommend repairs needed prior to re-occupancy. It would really help if they had a similar inspection regime as California and Japan, where we have thousands of trained volunteer engineers to inspect and tag buildings for safety - Red for no entry, Yellow for limited entry, and Green for safe entry.
2:15 pm
About a mile or so from the collapsed middle school, we see an office complex under construction. It is almost completed and the construction type is similar to the elementary school. Damage was limited to non-structural components. We run inside the building. The NHK producer and cameraman run after us. These guys are dedicated! We sometimes run to minimize the time inside of the damaged buildings. In this building, we see a lot of suspended ceiling panel failures. There is no wire bracing... of course. This simple bracing system would have minimized the damage and the business interruption to this building.
3:30 pm Xing Fu Township, Dujiangyan
We enter the City of Xing Fu, with a population of over 300,000. The downtown is approximately 50 km from the epicenter. We park our van and walk through the downtown streets. Our first impression is that damage in Xing Fu is limited. The locals point out the elementary school.
We pass a little tunnel-like gate to enter the school grounds... I could not believe my eyes - Total collapse of a 4 story school building. We meet a young mother who is carrying a picture of a little girl. She tells me that this was her 7-year old daughter who died under the rubble. I have 3 young kids also. I think about them when I see the picture of a little girl... The construction type and vintage is the same as what we saw this morning in Juyuan. This can be avoided with proper earthquake strengthening and rehabilitation.
4:30 pm
We try to drive to the epicenter by continuing on Highway 213, but the road is closed by the police just outside of town. The danger of land slides make it impossible to go further today.
4:45 pm
We return to Xing Fu to continue our survey. On an eerily, quiet, abandoned street, we come across a half collapsed, 5-story concrete apartment building. The corner of the structure totally collapsed into the street. It appears that the soft story columns failed and lost their capacity to support the structure above. Interestingly, immediately next door is an almost identical building with minor damage. Construction quality and possibly some vital structural details are the likely difference here.
On the way back to our van, we are surrounded by the local folks who beg us to inspect their mid-rise apartment buildings for safety. We do the best we can to help...but the numbers are overwhelming.
6:10 pm
For the last stop, we visit a hospital that collapsed on top of 200 patients. It is a 1980s concrete building. I must say that it is hard not to be depressed to see so much death and destruction all around. I hope the lessons from this earthquake will be acknowledged by governments and contractors around the world, so we can save lives.
We will head closer to the epicenter tomorrow...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
A snapshot of the post-Sichuan Earthquate recovery and rebuild tasks and the enormous mobilization efforts mounted by both government and laobaixing
http://english.sina.com/china/1/2008/0527/163652.html
More on the post-earthquake work of aftershocks and broken infrastrustures and the feverish work to excavate to divert water away from overflowing lakes and tributaries and to prevent flooding and prepare for the wet season coming ahead in a few months:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24835920
More on the post-earthquake work of aftershocks and broken infrastrustures and the feverish work to excavate to divert water away from overflowing lakes and tributaries and to prevent flooding and prepare for the wet season coming ahead in a few months:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24835920
Race matters in America -- two articles worth reading about America's social trends and ethnic-racial divide
Jeff Yang, a social-commentatorand former editor of now defunct "A" Magazine, writes about Asian and Asian-American pop culture in America and how the new generation of "white-bread" Asians born, raised, and educated in America may be disconnected from old media and into new media in the following think-piece on "Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month," i.e. May.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/05/27/apop.DTL
Next, another interesting article about racial apartheid in California's prison systems, divided amongst the races and racial "Macon-Dixon" lines, underscoring that after half a century of civil rights to integrate and get the races to come together, the racial fault lines are not being bridged and it shows in California's prison system:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/27/MNK610P4C8.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/05/27/apop.DTL
Next, another interesting article about racial apartheid in California's prison systems, divided amongst the races and racial "Macon-Dixon" lines, underscoring that after half a century of civil rights to integrate and get the races to come together, the racial fault lines are not being bridged and it shows in California's prison system:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/27/MNK610P4C8.DTL
Monday, May 26, 2008
Hollywood Movie Star Sharon Stone Sounds off about Sichuan Earthquake being "Karma" for China over TIBET - Disgusting and Despicable !
Here's an absolutely disgusting and despicable comment from another Western Hollywood star, Sharon Stone, saying that Sichuan Earthquake is "karma" payback for China for "mistreating" Tibet and the Tibetan peoples:
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/102463.html
The depth of Hollywood boorishness and ignorance is shockingly abysmal.... and Ms. Stone's lack of knowledge is sadly reflective of the Southland pits we call Hollywood which is in a downward spiral nowadays from mediocrity to mediocrity. Time for the non-Western world, especially New Cinema outside Hollywood for the roadkill. These boorish Hollywood-types are beyond redemption.
A good response from fellow blogger Bevin Chu is very apropos; click on his latest China Desk blog linked below in answer to Sharon Stone's "Karma" remarks:
http://thechinadesk.blogspot.com/2008/05/sharon-stone-calls-china-earthquake.html
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/102463.html
The depth of Hollywood boorishness and ignorance is shockingly abysmal.... and Ms. Stone's lack of knowledge is sadly reflective of the Southland pits we call Hollywood which is in a downward spiral nowadays from mediocrity to mediocrity. Time for the non-Western world, especially New Cinema outside Hollywood for the roadkill. These boorish Hollywood-types are beyond redemption.
A good response from fellow blogger Bevin Chu is very apropos; click on his latest China Desk blog linked below in answer to Sharon Stone's "Karma" remarks:
http://thechinadesk.blogspot.com/2008/05/sharon-stone-calls-china-earthquake.html
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Memorial weekend angst - California crumbles - White bread Democracy in distress - Taiwan misruled - Good Riddance Ah Bian! Don't Ape American,Taiwan!
This weekend, America and Americans commemorate Memorial Day in memory of its wartime dead.
A nation which was once led magnificently by the Greatest Generation, half a century ago through the horrors of World War II, which boldly inspired and empowered the world to think and envisioned about a free society unfettered by bigotry and intolerance and participatory democracy, and motivated with the "can do" spirit, the innovative and daring which fired up an economy which is unparalleled, is today besieged and in distress..... crumbling from within by a social-economic-cultural meltdown. Pax Americana is now Meltdown Americana.
No doubt about it..... the decline of America is real and intensifying; and that crumbling from within is exacerbated by misgovernance, bad politics, shotsighted leadership, a civic meltdown amidst a dumbed-down citizenry which have lost focus on the fundamental requirement that a free society and a free press must also be responsible intelligent, not parochial, narrow-minded, ignorant and reckless.
"White-Bread democracy", as I call it, has become an exercise in hyper-self-indulgence, ego-tripping, taking without giving, self-conceit, lack of discipline, and worse, no consciousness about taking care of the "whole" collective. What kind of democracy is thise when it is about rights, but not about responsibility and intelligence?
For China and its people, at 1.3 billion people, this model of "White-Bread" democracy would only create total chaos and pandemonia. A small island of 23 million inhabitants who tried experimenting with it has ended up in a "little monster" for Ah Bian and his misrule and misgovernance of Taiwan.
80% of Americans polled responded that America is going in the wrong direction. But sadly and perversely, they don't have a clue about what to do to change course and reform from within.... instead of bashing brown and yellow immigrants and yes, lately, China, the new bogeyman.
And worse, many Americans simply don't care, or too dumb, too drugged to even think about what to do. The dumbing down of American society is downright frightening for the world. And it is supposed to the the last standing Great Superpower of this world.
From my perch at Spatium Trientis, I am seeing perversion, banality, incivility which have seeped into California's social-cultural-economic fabric.
Fareed Zakaria is right. California is no longer leading the way, but a "basket case" of political misrule, bad social prioritizing, misgovernance, selfish boorishness and vulgarism. The state which once boasted itself as being the world's fifth largest economy, Hollywood, and that daredevil innovative bravado have become a gridlocked state mired in "food fights," civil inanities, and boorishness of the likes of a dysfunctional mush unable to see the big picture of globalization.
Our latest projection indicates that California is strapped with a fiscal budget shortfall ranging between US$ 14 billion to US$ 20 billion. And the state governmental "bean counters" still don't have a clue about the exact figures. The state can't pay its bills for basic fundamental services; can't maintain and repair its decrepit roads and highways.
At this writing, on this Memorial weekend, gasoline has hit over the US$ 4 a gallon mark. Home foreclosures have skyrocketed. Jobs are evaporating. Johnny and Jane can't afford to drive their humongous gas-guzzling SUVs anymore, much less make their car payments. Financial stresses have caused a social tidal wave in public predatory behavior, anti-social aggression, road rage, and sociopathic perversions. Drugs, alcohol abuse, and acting out hooliganism are on the rise.
At the airports, American Airline is now charging US$ 15 to check in a piece of luggage if you travel. Airfares have hit the roof, and American air carriers are financially in distress, and can't pay their overpaid pilots.
Just on education alone, our "Mr. Hollywood", Governator Arnaud Schwazenegger plans to cut funding to the state's public schools, from universities now to the elementary schools, by the tune of at least US$ 4 billion and counting. Education is being starved; educrats and the labor unions which wield a stranglehold on the "gravy train" of public finance continue to extort, fleece, and pressure for more public "dole-outs" with nothing to show for it, other than a bloated, lazy, and mendicant state bureaucracy staffed by "feather-bedders," slackers, and downright public cheats.
Yesterday, a city across the bay from San Francisco, i.e. Vallejo, declared municipal bankruptcy, because it can't pay the salaries of its bloated police and firemen. A city with 120,000 inhabitants has 2/3 of its city annual budget devoted solely to pay policemen and firemen, feeding off the trough, with overtime pay coming out of their gazookas. Click on the story about this unprecedented municipal bankruptcy:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/24/BAAF10S5VS.DTL
This is one more signal of California imploding from within. And our public officials, in their usual official corruption and misfeasance, are too busy engaged in the "pay to play" politics of special interests that California is notoriously known for. You pay if you want access. That's the name of the game. And the labor union bosses are focused on enhancing their turf, in pension fund contributions, oblivious to the fundamental fact that globalization has passed California by......... without it.
And our stupid dumb "Green" privileged white kids, suffused with naivete about environmentalism, talks about global warming, following the Pied Piper, Al Gore, in hyping up the "Inconvenient Truth" about the earth in their "egghead" quest while their own state of California melts down from incivility, food fights, and downright boorishness and a drug and alcohol scourge of immense proportion. Bonkheads and druggies now rule the day, with Greenies among some of these mau mau activists.
In the meantime, Black street urchins in California's inner cities, L.A., Oakland, and San Francisco feel so aggrieved and ignored that they have launched "jihad" with their random violence and "drive-bys." The signal is: "If America has no place for us; then God Damn America !" Shades of prophesy from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. And White folks are in denial.
Fareed Zakaria has correctly stated that California's "basket case" is typified by the fact that its once much vaunted college and university system, the renowed University of California Berkeley and University of California Los Angeles, among other public educational institutions, are now so badly mismanaged, underfunded, and abused by a cadre of "deadweight" adminsitrators and "brain-dead" academics that it is on the road to mediocrity.
In the meantime, the educrat "bean counters" know how to fix this mess.... simply raise tution, with abandon.... and sock it to the poor starving students and their increasingly financially stressed parents.
This is the future of California..... "white bread democracy" gone awry with imbecility, perversion, and downright boorishness and unbriddled greed. And more greed. And more greed.
No one cares anymore about the overall public good. Just maximizing personal benefits, lining one's own pockets, and damn the rest.
That "Gold Mountain" which used to inspire songs like California Dreamin has now become a nightmare.
At least, across in Asia-Pacific, in Taiwan, we are seeing a different stewardship. After eight years of political inanity, food fights, tribalism, corruption, and yes, "white bread democracy," Ah Bian is gone.... gonzo. And the 23 million inhabitants of Taiwan can breath a sigh of relief. Good riddance, Ah Bian. Click on what a Taiwan writer wrote about 8 years of misrule by this evil man pretending to be Taiwan's leader. Is California not that far behind with our rascals, scoundrels, and charlattans running the state down the toilet ?
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the%20china%20post/david%20ting/2008/05/20/157224/Goodbye-and.htm
A nation which was once led magnificently by the Greatest Generation, half a century ago through the horrors of World War II, which boldly inspired and empowered the world to think and envisioned about a free society unfettered by bigotry and intolerance and participatory democracy, and motivated with the "can do" spirit, the innovative and daring which fired up an economy which is unparalleled, is today besieged and in distress..... crumbling from within by a social-economic-cultural meltdown. Pax Americana is now Meltdown Americana.
No doubt about it..... the decline of America is real and intensifying; and that crumbling from within is exacerbated by misgovernance, bad politics, shotsighted leadership, a civic meltdown amidst a dumbed-down citizenry which have lost focus on the fundamental requirement that a free society and a free press must also be responsible intelligent, not parochial, narrow-minded, ignorant and reckless.
"White-Bread democracy", as I call it, has become an exercise in hyper-self-indulgence, ego-tripping, taking without giving, self-conceit, lack of discipline, and worse, no consciousness about taking care of the "whole" collective. What kind of democracy is thise when it is about rights, but not about responsibility and intelligence?
For China and its people, at 1.3 billion people, this model of "White-Bread" democracy would only create total chaos and pandemonia. A small island of 23 million inhabitants who tried experimenting with it has ended up in a "little monster" for Ah Bian and his misrule and misgovernance of Taiwan.
80% of Americans polled responded that America is going in the wrong direction. But sadly and perversely, they don't have a clue about what to do to change course and reform from within.... instead of bashing brown and yellow immigrants and yes, lately, China, the new bogeyman.
And worse, many Americans simply don't care, or too dumb, too drugged to even think about what to do. The dumbing down of American society is downright frightening for the world. And it is supposed to the the last standing Great Superpower of this world.
From my perch at Spatium Trientis, I am seeing perversion, banality, incivility which have seeped into California's social-cultural-economic fabric.
Fareed Zakaria is right. California is no longer leading the way, but a "basket case" of political misrule, bad social prioritizing, misgovernance, selfish boorishness and vulgarism. The state which once boasted itself as being the world's fifth largest economy, Hollywood, and that daredevil innovative bravado have become a gridlocked state mired in "food fights," civil inanities, and boorishness of the likes of a dysfunctional mush unable to see the big picture of globalization.
Our latest projection indicates that California is strapped with a fiscal budget shortfall ranging between US$ 14 billion to US$ 20 billion. And the state governmental "bean counters" still don't have a clue about the exact figures. The state can't pay its bills for basic fundamental services; can't maintain and repair its decrepit roads and highways.
At this writing, on this Memorial weekend, gasoline has hit over the US$ 4 a gallon mark. Home foreclosures have skyrocketed. Jobs are evaporating. Johnny and Jane can't afford to drive their humongous gas-guzzling SUVs anymore, much less make their car payments. Financial stresses have caused a social tidal wave in public predatory behavior, anti-social aggression, road rage, and sociopathic perversions. Drugs, alcohol abuse, and acting out hooliganism are on the rise.
At the airports, American Airline is now charging US$ 15 to check in a piece of luggage if you travel. Airfares have hit the roof, and American air carriers are financially in distress, and can't pay their overpaid pilots.
Just on education alone, our "Mr. Hollywood", Governator Arnaud Schwazenegger plans to cut funding to the state's public schools, from universities now to the elementary schools, by the tune of at least US$ 4 billion and counting. Education is being starved; educrats and the labor unions which wield a stranglehold on the "gravy train" of public finance continue to extort, fleece, and pressure for more public "dole-outs" with nothing to show for it, other than a bloated, lazy, and mendicant state bureaucracy staffed by "feather-bedders," slackers, and downright public cheats.
Yesterday, a city across the bay from San Francisco, i.e. Vallejo, declared municipal bankruptcy, because it can't pay the salaries of its bloated police and firemen. A city with 120,000 inhabitants has 2/3 of its city annual budget devoted solely to pay policemen and firemen, feeding off the trough, with overtime pay coming out of their gazookas. Click on the story about this unprecedented municipal bankruptcy:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/24/BAAF10S5VS.DTL
This is one more signal of California imploding from within. And our public officials, in their usual official corruption and misfeasance, are too busy engaged in the "pay to play" politics of special interests that California is notoriously known for. You pay if you want access. That's the name of the game. And the labor union bosses are focused on enhancing their turf, in pension fund contributions, oblivious to the fundamental fact that globalization has passed California by......... without it.
And our stupid dumb "Green" privileged white kids, suffused with naivete about environmentalism, talks about global warming, following the Pied Piper, Al Gore, in hyping up the "Inconvenient Truth" about the earth in their "egghead" quest while their own state of California melts down from incivility, food fights, and downright boorishness and a drug and alcohol scourge of immense proportion. Bonkheads and druggies now rule the day, with Greenies among some of these mau mau activists.
In the meantime, Black street urchins in California's inner cities, L.A., Oakland, and San Francisco feel so aggrieved and ignored that they have launched "jihad" with their random violence and "drive-bys." The signal is: "If America has no place for us; then God Damn America !" Shades of prophesy from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. And White folks are in denial.
Fareed Zakaria has correctly stated that California's "basket case" is typified by the fact that its once much vaunted college and university system, the renowed University of California Berkeley and University of California Los Angeles, among other public educational institutions, are now so badly mismanaged, underfunded, and abused by a cadre of "deadweight" adminsitrators and "brain-dead" academics that it is on the road to mediocrity.
In the meantime, the educrat "bean counters" know how to fix this mess.... simply raise tution, with abandon.... and sock it to the poor starving students and their increasingly financially stressed parents.
This is the future of California..... "white bread democracy" gone awry with imbecility, perversion, and downright boorishness and unbriddled greed. And more greed. And more greed.
No one cares anymore about the overall public good. Just maximizing personal benefits, lining one's own pockets, and damn the rest.
That "Gold Mountain" which used to inspire songs like California Dreamin has now become a nightmare.
At least, across in Asia-Pacific, in Taiwan, we are seeing a different stewardship. After eight years of political inanity, food fights, tribalism, corruption, and yes, "white bread democracy," Ah Bian is gone.... gonzo. And the 23 million inhabitants of Taiwan can breath a sigh of relief. Good riddance, Ah Bian. Click on what a Taiwan writer wrote about 8 years of misrule by this evil man pretending to be Taiwan's leader. Is California not that far behind with our rascals, scoundrels, and charlattans running the state down the toilet ?
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the%20china%20post/david%20ting/2008/05/20/157224/Goodbye-and.htm
Friday, May 23, 2008
Fareed Zakaria says it like it is: "Americans, shape up, you are losing out in the new world of globalization." California is a "Basket Case"
Fareed Zakaria, author of "The Post-American World -The Rise of the Rest" has been telling it like it is about the resurgence of the non-Western world.
In Los Angeles this week, he again laid out his thesis on the "inconvenient truth," about why America needs to change and to reform from within before it is too late. The signs of America's decline is everywhere.
Mr. Zakaria posits the declining system of education and decaying infrastructure, and worse, its political gridlock. Click on the story below:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-et-zakaria23-2008may23,0,7142427.story
Regarding California (crumbling from within with broken and decaying infrastructures, fiscally broke with a US$ 14 billion to $ 20 billion budget deficit shortfall for fiscal year 2008-2009), Zakaria said:
"When I was growing up in India," he said, "we looked to California to see what the future is going to look like, to see the most interesting trends and innovations. [The state had] the extraordinary ability . . . to provide a kind of broad measure of prosperity to all its citizens. It had the best education system from kindergarten through post-graduate. It had a great system of highways, great parks."
Now he calls California "a basket case." He said its "fiscal balance sheet is fraudulent because it has not taken into account the massive pension liabilities of all state workers. It has not built a new campus in decades; meanwhile, it has built new prisons. The education system is collapsing. . . ."If we want to succeed and thrive in a Post-American world," he said, "rather than blaming foreigners -- in the California case, blaming Mexicans -- we should get our own house in order."
How true indeed, Zacharia is telling it like it is about the "Inconvenient Truth" that many Americans are in denial about.
Click on Amazon.com on Mr. Zakaria's book, "The Post-American World - the Rise of the Rest"...
http://www.amazon.com/Post-American-World-Fareed-Zakaria/dp/039306235X/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211597378&sr=8-1
In Los Angeles this week, he again laid out his thesis on the "inconvenient truth," about why America needs to change and to reform from within before it is too late. The signs of America's decline is everywhere.
Mr. Zakaria posits the declining system of education and decaying infrastructure, and worse, its political gridlock. Click on the story below:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-et-zakaria23-2008may23,0,7142427.story
Regarding California (crumbling from within with broken and decaying infrastructures, fiscally broke with a US$ 14 billion to $ 20 billion budget deficit shortfall for fiscal year 2008-2009), Zakaria said:
"When I was growing up in India," he said, "we looked to California to see what the future is going to look like, to see the most interesting trends and innovations. [The state had] the extraordinary ability . . . to provide a kind of broad measure of prosperity to all its citizens. It had the best education system from kindergarten through post-graduate. It had a great system of highways, great parks."
Now he calls California "a basket case." He said its "fiscal balance sheet is fraudulent because it has not taken into account the massive pension liabilities of all state workers. It has not built a new campus in decades; meanwhile, it has built new prisons. The education system is collapsing. . . ."If we want to succeed and thrive in a Post-American world," he said, "rather than blaming foreigners -- in the California case, blaming Mexicans -- we should get our own house in order."
How true indeed, Zacharia is telling it like it is about the "Inconvenient Truth" that many Americans are in denial about.
Click on Amazon.com on Mr. Zakaria's book, "The Post-American World - the Rise of the Rest"...
http://www.amazon.com/Post-American-World-Fareed-Zakaria/dp/039306235X/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211597378&sr=8-1
The "Can Do" Chinese relief and recovery workers responding to the Sichuan post-earthquake reconstruction working in a breakneck and breathtaking pace
From Sichuan and the field reports, anecdotes of breathtaking and breathnecking reconstruction and rebuild work by Chinese masses of workers and volunteers have astonished many observers and reporters, foreign and Chinese.
During World War II, America's "greatest generation" of workers provided the prodigious tireless work in support of America's wartime industries and civilian support work.
This "can do" generation of wobblies and working Americans have since passed on and faded away; and in their place came the new American generation of slackers, the post-War baby-boomers, and now the X'ers and Y'ers.
But that "can do" spirit has been transferred to China onto Chinese workers who are now the new "work horses" in the post-Earthquake dazzling work to rebuild. The tasks are gargantuan..... just temporarily housing 5 million homeless and building temporary huts and tents, clearing the earthquake debris, providing power and utilities, and new village town, county, and city infrastructures and designing a coherent grid.
Three years is the ambitious timeline announced by the Chinese Central government and the provincial government for Sichuan to recover, and rebuild. And all Chinese are mobilizing and harnessing their energy and resources in unison to make it happen.
Just as an illustration, consider what James Areddy of the Wall Street Journal reported on how the telecommunications network of China Mobile, China's biggest telecommunications company servicing the country with wireless cellphones, have mobilized, reengineered, rehooked on and rebooted its broken telecommunications network; I don't think the new generation of Western workers, especially European and American "cannot do" work force, can do these work anymore on the timeline and schedule set by their Chinese counterparts :
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/05/22/getting-back-on-the-line-in-sichuan/
Consider further that this time around, the Sichuan Earthquake saw most of the Chinese masses of laobaizing galvanizing and working behind their government leaders, in particular impressed by its national leaders; read further:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302774.html
During World War II, America's "greatest generation" of workers provided the prodigious tireless work in support of America's wartime industries and civilian support work.
This "can do" generation of wobblies and working Americans have since passed on and faded away; and in their place came the new American generation of slackers, the post-War baby-boomers, and now the X'ers and Y'ers.
But that "can do" spirit has been transferred to China onto Chinese workers who are now the new "work horses" in the post-Earthquake dazzling work to rebuild. The tasks are gargantuan..... just temporarily housing 5 million homeless and building temporary huts and tents, clearing the earthquake debris, providing power and utilities, and new village town, county, and city infrastructures and designing a coherent grid.
Three years is the ambitious timeline announced by the Chinese Central government and the provincial government for Sichuan to recover, and rebuild. And all Chinese are mobilizing and harnessing their energy and resources in unison to make it happen.
Just as an illustration, consider what James Areddy of the Wall Street Journal reported on how the telecommunications network of China Mobile, China's biggest telecommunications company servicing the country with wireless cellphones, have mobilized, reengineered, rehooked on and rebooted its broken telecommunications network; I don't think the new generation of Western workers, especially European and American "cannot do" work force, can do these work anymore on the timeline and schedule set by their Chinese counterparts :
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/05/22/getting-back-on-the-line-in-sichuan/
Consider further that this time around, the Sichuan Earthquake saw most of the Chinese masses of laobaizing galvanizing and working behind their government leaders, in particular impressed by its national leaders; read further:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302774.html
Thursday, May 22, 2008
What if the "Big One" hits California with a 7.8 or higher Earthquake ? This morbid scenario is sobering when compared to Sichuan and its aftermath
Consider the possibility of another "Big One" in California as it did in 1906, completely devastating San Francisco and causing a major fire which destroyed the city. Click on:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080521/D90Q9RQ81.html
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080521/D90Q9RQ81.html
Mianyang Stadium Relief Center not New Orleans Astrodome-China's aid and relief work much more orderly and well-organized.
It took three days for America's National Guard to mobilize in response to the Katrina hurricane disaster which struck the Gold Coast in 2005; in Sichuan, it took the PLA less than an hour to mobilize and send in parachuting troops in and trekking on froot on inaccessible roads to do rescue work.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the solidarity and cohesion of China's masses of peoples, government, the Communist youths, NGOs, volunteers, youths, students, and media have demonstrated how quickly and extraordinary China's 1.3 billion people can act and mobilize.
Thus far, it may not be completely without flaws, but given the circumstances, the efforts, from all walks of life, governmental or ordinary masses, have been impressive. What is truly astonishing is the almost total dearth of anti-social behavior including predatory looting or vandalism.
Chinese officials and central and provincial officials are meeting and coordinating efforts, setting up certain timelines and goals which they are working feverishly to achieve, with a coherent national mobilization plan, harnessing China's vast pool of citizenry, from all walks of life.
The suveyors, engineers, and planners have been dispatched to start the major infrastructural work which will be initiated pronto, without further delay.
Here's a sample of some of the set goals being set as achievable "benchmarks":
Within 30 days (1 month), the goal is set that 98% of those whose homes are destroyedm are displaced or without housing will be temporarily housed by emergency construction of styrofoam-made or other temporary huts, or by tents; there are some 5 million peoples right now which needs to be housed; and the massive mobilization and rebuild efforts have just been herculean and massive. And the rush to provide temporary housing is frantic and massive, with tent manufacturers working overtime to supply pronto:
http://english.sina.com/china/1/2008/0522/161780.html
Within three (3) years, it is being mapped and planned that Sichuan's damaged towns, cities, and infrastructures will be rebuilt and new towns, cities, and centers will emerge to replace the damaged cities, including Mianyang, Wenchuan County, and other major townships , counties, and cities devastated by the 8.0 earthquake. New cities will be sprouting up and these will be better built, better designed and better planned.
There are now over 4,000 orphans who are in deep of adopting parents, for nurturing; and China's masses are pouring their hearts out to adopt these children.
Consider the discipline, coherence, and solidarity of all of China's masses, the laobaixing, 老百姓,as they work and volunteer together to rebuild. The comparison between one site, the Mianyang stadium housing temporary refugees and what happened in in America 2005 in New Orleans Astrodome, with the Katrina Hurricane and New Orleans Flooding could not be more different.
Read on:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/22/1052482.aspx
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the solidarity and cohesion of China's masses of peoples, government, the Communist youths, NGOs, volunteers, youths, students, and media have demonstrated how quickly and extraordinary China's 1.3 billion people can act and mobilize.
Thus far, it may not be completely without flaws, but given the circumstances, the efforts, from all walks of life, governmental or ordinary masses, have been impressive. What is truly astonishing is the almost total dearth of anti-social behavior including predatory looting or vandalism.
Chinese officials and central and provincial officials are meeting and coordinating efforts, setting up certain timelines and goals which they are working feverishly to achieve, with a coherent national mobilization plan, harnessing China's vast pool of citizenry, from all walks of life.
The suveyors, engineers, and planners have been dispatched to start the major infrastructural work which will be initiated pronto, without further delay.
Here's a sample of some of the set goals being set as achievable "benchmarks":
Within 30 days (1 month), the goal is set that 98% of those whose homes are destroyedm are displaced or without housing will be temporarily housed by emergency construction of styrofoam-made or other temporary huts, or by tents; there are some 5 million peoples right now which needs to be housed; and the massive mobilization and rebuild efforts have just been herculean and massive. And the rush to provide temporary housing is frantic and massive, with tent manufacturers working overtime to supply pronto:
http://english.sina.com/china/1/2008/0522/161780.html
Within three (3) years, it is being mapped and planned that Sichuan's damaged towns, cities, and infrastructures will be rebuilt and new towns, cities, and centers will emerge to replace the damaged cities, including Mianyang, Wenchuan County, and other major townships , counties, and cities devastated by the 8.0 earthquake. New cities will be sprouting up and these will be better built, better designed and better planned.
There are now over 4,000 orphans who are in deep of adopting parents, for nurturing; and China's masses are pouring their hearts out to adopt these children.
Consider the discipline, coherence, and solidarity of all of China's masses, the laobaixing, 老百姓,as they work and volunteer together to rebuild. The comparison between one site, the Mianyang stadium housing temporary refugees and what happened in in America 2005 in New Orleans Astrodome, with the Katrina Hurricane and New Orleans Flooding could not be more different.
Read on:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/22/1052482.aspx
Which one is the real DOLLY ? Listen to the Words; but Watch the Action." 听其言 看其行 Ting Qi Yan Kan Qi Xing !
While the faith-based mainstream Buddhist NGOs, e.g. from Tzu Chi Foundation, Soka Gokai Nicheren Buddhists, HKG Buddhists United Organization mobilized and poured their hearts out out in humanitarian and charitable work in the rescue and relief efforts in the aftermaths of Sichuan's earthquake and the Myanmar cyclone calamity, the political monk from Dharamsala, as usual, is on his "PR" snake-oil pitch to promote "Team-Tibet-Shangri-la" in the Western world.
The first stop in Germany ended up becoming a dud. German chancellor Angela Merkel, the European "point person" to hector and bad-mouth China, was suddenly muted, and conveniently slipped away in Latin America, while the Dalai Lama visited Germany.
Now, the next stop, in London, is also becoming a public relations disaster. The Brits recognize that the solidification of China's 1.3 billion peoples is not an easy nut to crack. And British prime minister Gordon Brown had quietly diminished the London visit from a "political" one, with full "head of state" treatment at Downing street, to a "spiritual" one, circumlocuting the London visit by using the Archbishop of Canterbury as the host to the Dalai Lama, in lieu of his prime minister's office.
Consider that Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, not exactly a friend of China nor the Chinese peoples, has also recognized the implications if he were to host the Dalai Lama, at his offiical residence, as a "political" visit, rather than a "spiritual" one.
The Brits are a very duplicitous ex-colonial peoples. They know that no Chinese will let this disrespectful insult pass without payback eventually, at China's own time, own bidding, under China's terms. Read on what the Dolly is up to. Which is the real Dolly, pray tell ?
Dalai Lama says human rights must feature in China ties
IANS Wednesday 21st May, 2008
London: The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, warned Britain and other western nations Wednesday not to forget human rights in their efforts to forge closer links with China.
'The economy is important, but human values are more important,' the 72-year-old spiritual leader told a news conference in the imposing Westminster Hall next to British Parliament in London.
He understood the importance of economic relations and believed it was wrong to isolate China, said the Dalai Lama, who also had strong words of praise for the Chinese authorities' response to the earthquake in Sichuan.
'I was always against the isolation of China. Not good. China is a very important nation we must respect. As Tibetans say, if you are a true friend, a close friend, then it is important to make clear the wrong things about your friend in a friendly manner,' said the Dalai Lama.
He also made a direct appeal to the people of Tibet not to disrupt the passage of the Olympic torch through Tibet next month.'I appeal particularly to inside Tibet to not disturb...the torch when they visit,' said the Dalai Lama.'I made clear right from the beginning we fully support the Olympic Games. The Olympic Torch is part of that. We must respect, we must protect that.'
In answer to questions, the Dalai Lama even suggested that he would be prepared to visit the Beijing Games in August, if he were invited, and if current talks with China on Tibetan autonomy proved fruitful.'It very much depends on our meeting. If the situation in Tibet and some kind of long-term solution happens, then I am happy to go there - if the invitation comes,' said the Dalai Lama.
But later, he said it would only become clear after the Games whether the Chinese were serious about the talks or whether they were 'only for the Olympics'. 'That we have to see.'The Dalai Lama also appeared to reject suggestions that Britain, and other western nations, were kow-towing to the Chinese and seeking not to offend Beijing over the delicate Tibet issue.'Basically my visit is non-political. The media politicizes,' he said in a clear reference to widespread criticism over a decision byBritish Prime Minister Gordon Brown to meet the religious leader at a venue outside Downing Street, the seat of the British government.
The Dalai Lama said he would use his meeting with Brown Friday to thank him for the 'genuine concern' the British leader had shown for Tibet.'Of course, during our meeting I will express my appreciation that the prime minister is showing genuine concern for Tibet - so I want to express my thanks,' said the Dalai Lama.Although Brown is the first major Western leader to meet the Dalai Lama since the recent unrest in Tibet, he has chosen to do so at the Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and not the seat of government.
Brown's spokesman stressed Wednesday that the substance of the meeting, and the fact that it would take place at all, was more important than where it was being held.British government sources have said that human rights issues would be raised in the talks.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed Wednesday that Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, would receive the Dalai Lama for private talks at his London residence, Clarence House, Thursday.The two men, who have met before in 1991, 2001 and 2004, would plant a tree in the garden of Clarence House to commemorate the current visit.
Speaking in broken English, and dressed in the traditional crimson robes of a Buddhist monk, the Dalai Lama prompted laughter when he described himself as 'semi-retired' and eager to make 'some preparation for my next life.''I have to take my own rebirth - hopefully a more positive rebirth, not a negative rebirth,' he said.
Read further on the back flank of the Dalai Lama's "Team Tibet-Shangri-la" in Dharamsala, and elsewhere in the WEST. Who's in charge, pray tell ?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/world/asia/22tibet.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
The first stop in Germany ended up becoming a dud. German chancellor Angela Merkel, the European "point person" to hector and bad-mouth China, was suddenly muted, and conveniently slipped away in Latin America, while the Dalai Lama visited Germany.
Now, the next stop, in London, is also becoming a public relations disaster. The Brits recognize that the solidification of China's 1.3 billion peoples is not an easy nut to crack. And British prime minister Gordon Brown had quietly diminished the London visit from a "political" one, with full "head of state" treatment at Downing street, to a "spiritual" one, circumlocuting the London visit by using the Archbishop of Canterbury as the host to the Dalai Lama, in lieu of his prime minister's office.
Consider that Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, not exactly a friend of China nor the Chinese peoples, has also recognized the implications if he were to host the Dalai Lama, at his offiical residence, as a "political" visit, rather than a "spiritual" one.
The Brits are a very duplicitous ex-colonial peoples. They know that no Chinese will let this disrespectful insult pass without payback eventually, at China's own time, own bidding, under China's terms. Read on what the Dolly is up to. Which is the real Dolly, pray tell ?
Dalai Lama says human rights must feature in China ties
IANS Wednesday 21st May, 2008
London: The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, warned Britain and other western nations Wednesday not to forget human rights in their efforts to forge closer links with China.
'The economy is important, but human values are more important,' the 72-year-old spiritual leader told a news conference in the imposing Westminster Hall next to British Parliament in London.
He understood the importance of economic relations and believed it was wrong to isolate China, said the Dalai Lama, who also had strong words of praise for the Chinese authorities' response to the earthquake in Sichuan.
'I was always against the isolation of China. Not good. China is a very important nation we must respect. As Tibetans say, if you are a true friend, a close friend, then it is important to make clear the wrong things about your friend in a friendly manner,' said the Dalai Lama.
He also made a direct appeal to the people of Tibet not to disrupt the passage of the Olympic torch through Tibet next month.'I appeal particularly to inside Tibet to not disturb...the torch when they visit,' said the Dalai Lama.'I made clear right from the beginning we fully support the Olympic Games. The Olympic Torch is part of that. We must respect, we must protect that.'
In answer to questions, the Dalai Lama even suggested that he would be prepared to visit the Beijing Games in August, if he were invited, and if current talks with China on Tibetan autonomy proved fruitful.'It very much depends on our meeting. If the situation in Tibet and some kind of long-term solution happens, then I am happy to go there - if the invitation comes,' said the Dalai Lama.
But later, he said it would only become clear after the Games whether the Chinese were serious about the talks or whether they were 'only for the Olympics'. 'That we have to see.'The Dalai Lama also appeared to reject suggestions that Britain, and other western nations, were kow-towing to the Chinese and seeking not to offend Beijing over the delicate Tibet issue.'Basically my visit is non-political. The media politicizes,' he said in a clear reference to widespread criticism over a decision byBritish Prime Minister Gordon Brown to meet the religious leader at a venue outside Downing Street, the seat of the British government.
The Dalai Lama said he would use his meeting with Brown Friday to thank him for the 'genuine concern' the British leader had shown for Tibet.'Of course, during our meeting I will express my appreciation that the prime minister is showing genuine concern for Tibet - so I want to express my thanks,' said the Dalai Lama.Although Brown is the first major Western leader to meet the Dalai Lama since the recent unrest in Tibet, he has chosen to do so at the Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and not the seat of government.
Brown's spokesman stressed Wednesday that the substance of the meeting, and the fact that it would take place at all, was more important than where it was being held.British government sources have said that human rights issues would be raised in the talks.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed Wednesday that Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, would receive the Dalai Lama for private talks at his London residence, Clarence House, Thursday.The two men, who have met before in 1991, 2001 and 2004, would plant a tree in the garden of Clarence House to commemorate the current visit.
Speaking in broken English, and dressed in the traditional crimson robes of a Buddhist monk, the Dalai Lama prompted laughter when he described himself as 'semi-retired' and eager to make 'some preparation for my next life.''I have to take my own rebirth - hopefully a more positive rebirth, not a negative rebirth,' he said.
Read further on the back flank of the Dalai Lama's "Team Tibet-Shangri-la" in Dharamsala, and elsewhere in the WEST. Who's in charge, pray tell ?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/world/asia/22tibet.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
An astonishing look at how the PLA forces responded to Sichuan Earthquake - AP reports - Compare with U.S.National Guard 2005 Katrina Hurricane Relief
China's top military officers speak out on earthquake response, as reported by the Associated Press ( May 18, 2008):
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/18/asia/AS-GEN-China-Earthquake-Military.php
BEIJING: China's military said it responded immediately to China's worst earthquake in three decades, using every means possible to reach victims.
In a rare public appearance Sunday, top officers from the People's Liberation Army told reporters they sent their first team to the disaster zone within 14 minutes of last week's earthquake.
"We feel our troops should be able to quickly respond to any danger, including carrying out diversified military operations. So, in peaceful times our troops are prepared to respond to natural disasters," air force Maj. Gen. Ma Jian of the PLA's high command said.
A total of 113,080 soldiers and armed policemen were mobilized by rail, road and on foot in China's massive rescue operation. All branches of the military were involved, including the airforce, navy and China's missile corps, the 2nd Artillery.
China's ruling Communist Party's mandate in part rests on being able to deliver aid in emergencies. The PLA, the world's largest standing army with 2.3 million members, has a central role and has seen its funding increase by double-digit percentages every year for the past 18 years.
The first 200 armed police entered the epicenter of Wenchuan county on Wednesday after walking for 21 hours to cover a distance of 55 miles (90 kilometers), said Hu Changming, spokesman for the National Defense Ministry.
Helicopters were used to drop relief supplies into Wenchuan after two days of rain immediately after the quake that prevented flights.
Troops have been shown repeatedly on live TV, sometimes using their hands to dig out buried survivors in areas unreachable by heavy equipment due to blocked roads.
Some rarely-seen assets were used, including Blackhawk helicopters bought from the U.S. in the 1980s. Many military convoys had their license plates removed or covered up as part of standard orders to maintain operational secrecy — even in a civil emergency.
Nuclear facilities jolted by the quake were secure, Ma said. Military police and soldiers from the army were sent to protect the facilities, he said.
"I can say responsibly that they are all safe," he said, not giving any details on whether any sites were damaged.
China's nuclear safety agency ordered staff to be on standby in case of an environmental emergency following last week's magnitude 7.9 quake that rocked Sichuan province, home of several key atomic sites.
The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety said China reported "light damage" to unspecified nuclear facilities that were being dismantled before the quake.
Thierry Charles, the group's director of plant safety, said Chinese authorities immediately shut down nuclear sites for inspection. He said China's nuclear safety agency, NNSA, had reported no leaks of radioactivity since the quake.
China has a special military earthquake relief team that was first sent to the scene and included members who worked in the earthquake that hit northern Pakistan in 2005, killing 78,000 people, Ma said.
"Every rescue operation, we acquire a wealth of experience that provides very good reference for the next time," he said.
China initially resisted foreign search and rescue teams. But it eventually reversed the decision and welcomed specialist crews from Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Singapore, among others.
China needs to rely on the cooperation of the international community for assistance during large natural disasters, said Hu, the defense ministry spokesman.
Throughout the whole rescue operation, China had given priority to professional rescue teams, said Col. Ma Gaihe, director-general of the operations and logistics support bureau of the army.
Related link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/18/asia/AS-GEN-China-Earthquake-Military.php
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/18/asia/AS-GEN-China-Earthquake-Military.php
BEIJING: China's military said it responded immediately to China's worst earthquake in three decades, using every means possible to reach victims.
In a rare public appearance Sunday, top officers from the People's Liberation Army told reporters they sent their first team to the disaster zone within 14 minutes of last week's earthquake.
"We feel our troops should be able to quickly respond to any danger, including carrying out diversified military operations. So, in peaceful times our troops are prepared to respond to natural disasters," air force Maj. Gen. Ma Jian of the PLA's high command said.
A total of 113,080 soldiers and armed policemen were mobilized by rail, road and on foot in China's massive rescue operation. All branches of the military were involved, including the airforce, navy and China's missile corps, the 2nd Artillery.
China's ruling Communist Party's mandate in part rests on being able to deliver aid in emergencies. The PLA, the world's largest standing army with 2.3 million members, has a central role and has seen its funding increase by double-digit percentages every year for the past 18 years.
The first 200 armed police entered the epicenter of Wenchuan county on Wednesday after walking for 21 hours to cover a distance of 55 miles (90 kilometers), said Hu Changming, spokesman for the National Defense Ministry.
Helicopters were used to drop relief supplies into Wenchuan after two days of rain immediately after the quake that prevented flights.
Troops have been shown repeatedly on live TV, sometimes using their hands to dig out buried survivors in areas unreachable by heavy equipment due to blocked roads.
Some rarely-seen assets were used, including Blackhawk helicopters bought from the U.S. in the 1980s. Many military convoys had their license plates removed or covered up as part of standard orders to maintain operational secrecy — even in a civil emergency.
Nuclear facilities jolted by the quake were secure, Ma said. Military police and soldiers from the army were sent to protect the facilities, he said.
"I can say responsibly that they are all safe," he said, not giving any details on whether any sites were damaged.
China's nuclear safety agency ordered staff to be on standby in case of an environmental emergency following last week's magnitude 7.9 quake that rocked Sichuan province, home of several key atomic sites.
The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety said China reported "light damage" to unspecified nuclear facilities that were being dismantled before the quake.
Thierry Charles, the group's director of plant safety, said Chinese authorities immediately shut down nuclear sites for inspection. He said China's nuclear safety agency, NNSA, had reported no leaks of radioactivity since the quake.
China has a special military earthquake relief team that was first sent to the scene and included members who worked in the earthquake that hit northern Pakistan in 2005, killing 78,000 people, Ma said.
"Every rescue operation, we acquire a wealth of experience that provides very good reference for the next time," he said.
China initially resisted foreign search and rescue teams. But it eventually reversed the decision and welcomed specialist crews from Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Singapore, among others.
China needs to rely on the cooperation of the international community for assistance during large natural disasters, said Hu, the defense ministry spokesman.
Throughout the whole rescue operation, China had given priority to professional rescue teams, said Col. Ma Gaihe, director-general of the operations and logistics support bureau of the army.
Related link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/18/asia/AS-GEN-China-Earthquake-Military.php
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Doing the right thing for and by its peoples; China's leaders and ordinary masses 老百姓, , unite and mobilize to rebuild, work for a stronger CHINA
It is not the time for "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" yet.
The rescue, relief, recovery efforts demonstrated in Sichuan and China's southwest in the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake are not entirely 100% efficient or show no mistakes and deficiencies. Far from it. But considering the circumstances, the work was a real feat and all Chinese have stepped up to the plate, inside China, across the Taiwan Straits, in Macau, HongKong and overseas among diasporic Chinese overseas.
And one thing is made loud and clear --- the efforts of all Chinese, from the top to the bottom, ordinary masses of laobaixing, 老百姓, have been very heartening in their solidifying and coming together'; 1.4 billion peoples in unity, together, putting aside their differences, and focused on their humanitarian efforts, in solidarity and empathy with their fellow countrymen, showed amazing synergy and deserve our kudos.
The events these past week demonstrated that nineteen years after June 4th, 1989, Tiananmen, the China that Westerners like to bash and demonize is no longer the China of today, at this time, at this juncture.
The difference is all Chinese, inside and globally, are all in agreement, working in concert, and in support for a better, improved, and stronger China.... economically, socially, politically, and culturally. Descendants of the Yellow Emperor, Yan Huang Zi Sun 炎黄子孙.... culturally and lingually bonded together, sharing an affinity beyond politics and ideology.... working harmoniously and in sync for a common cause altruistically to help fellow men.
That is an astonishing feat.
China is no longer the "sick man" of the world. And the world especially the WEST better take note. Consider what some of the netizens are blogging in blogosphere in praise of China's two most prominent "5th generation" leaders, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, and their efforts in mobilizing the Chinese peoples and harnessing the resources of the state in unison to respond to Sichuan:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/21/content_8219903.htm
Compare the US$ 60 billion the U.S. federal government allocated for Katrina hurricane relief in 2005, and grade the results and performance. The difference in performance level is wide.
Look to China's allocation of renminbi 70 billion (U.S. $ 10.14 billion) to rebuild the earthquake-damaged areas in China's southwest, and watch as the Chinese peoples and its government work their hearts, their brawns and their brains out to make a better future of their society.
Five years from now, you will marvel at the hugh difference.
Is there hope for China ? Absolutely. And amazingly, the fact that many of China's youths now realize that beyond material advances and milestones, China must chart its own way free of Western interloping and beyond the Europeanised vision of democracy.
Look for China and its peoples to chart its own path, by its own way, in their own pace. That resurgence is going to transform China in the near and long-term.
The rescue, relief, recovery efforts demonstrated in Sichuan and China's southwest in the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake are not entirely 100% efficient or show no mistakes and deficiencies. Far from it. But considering the circumstances, the work was a real feat and all Chinese have stepped up to the plate, inside China, across the Taiwan Straits, in Macau, HongKong and overseas among diasporic Chinese overseas.
And one thing is made loud and clear --- the efforts of all Chinese, from the top to the bottom, ordinary masses of laobaixing, 老百姓, have been very heartening in their solidifying and coming together'; 1.4 billion peoples in unity, together, putting aside their differences, and focused on their humanitarian efforts, in solidarity and empathy with their fellow countrymen, showed amazing synergy and deserve our kudos.
The events these past week demonstrated that nineteen years after June 4th, 1989, Tiananmen, the China that Westerners like to bash and demonize is no longer the China of today, at this time, at this juncture.
The difference is all Chinese, inside and globally, are all in agreement, working in concert, and in support for a better, improved, and stronger China.... economically, socially, politically, and culturally. Descendants of the Yellow Emperor, Yan Huang Zi Sun 炎黄子孙.... culturally and lingually bonded together, sharing an affinity beyond politics and ideology.... working harmoniously and in sync for a common cause altruistically to help fellow men.
That is an astonishing feat.
China is no longer the "sick man" of the world. And the world especially the WEST better take note. Consider what some of the netizens are blogging in blogosphere in praise of China's two most prominent "5th generation" leaders, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, and their efforts in mobilizing the Chinese peoples and harnessing the resources of the state in unison to respond to Sichuan:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/21/content_8219903.htm
Compare the US$ 60 billion the U.S. federal government allocated for Katrina hurricane relief in 2005, and grade the results and performance. The difference in performance level is wide.
Look to China's allocation of renminbi 70 billion (U.S. $ 10.14 billion) to rebuild the earthquake-damaged areas in China's southwest, and watch as the Chinese peoples and its government work their hearts, their brawns and their brains out to make a better future of their society.
Five years from now, you will marvel at the hugh difference.
Is there hope for China ? Absolutely. And amazingly, the fact that many of China's youths now realize that beyond material advances and milestones, China must chart its own way free of Western interloping and beyond the Europeanised vision of democracy.
Look for China and its peoples to chart its own path, by its own way, in their own pace. That resurgence is going to transform China in the near and long-term.
"Arcis Pravus" Latin for "Depraved Citadel" -- San Francisco's vulgar and rude inhabitants - America unravels from within.
In the name of "free speech" and "freedom of expression, click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfNqVU75bvw&feature=related
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/05/18/BAFE10OMG3.DTL&o=1
Europeans and North Americans look to San Francisco as the destination for the ultimate fun and play city.... with its stunning topography of over 47 hills, spectacular views of a bay unrivaled in its physical beauty.
Conde Nast Travel Magazine has consistently rated San Francisco as the # 1 tourist destination, year after year.
Never mind the aggressive street bums wallowing in street corners, slimy hands out, trolling for quarters, many of them drug addicts, drunks, or downright mental cases (There are some 10,000 street bums called "homeless" in San Francisco)....... tourists can't enjoy and get enough of San Francisco's street ambience. And true, what they can't do back home.... they try to experiment and expand in the "liberal" "free for all" atmosphere that San Francisco is notoriously known for. Never mind the "rip-off" hotel prices; never mind parking meters in the city's streets which charges the equivalent of almost half-a-day of wages in a 3rd world country, for eight (8) minutes of parking, i.e. US $ 0.25 dollar for 8 minutes of damn parking.
Never mind that San Francisco, a city less in size and less in number of inhabitants (800,000 inhabitants) compared to San San Jose ( 1,000,000 inhabitants), the city in Silicon Valley, carries four times the city budget of San Jose, at US$ 6 billion, and growing exponentially because of a "fat heavy" City Hall, saddled by political appointees, by fleecers, featherbedders under arcane labor union work rules, and lazy civil servants pretending to do public service.
If San Francisco is a microcosm of what is considered "hip" or "cutting-edge" or "innovative" in America, look no further than the increasingly utterly banal and vulgar manners of its urban gentry, many of them young, hip, affluent, and yes, absolutely self-centered, hyper-selfish, and consumed by a hedonistic lifestyle obsessed with fun and games, booze, smoke, dope, and sexual freedoms. Leave it to the immigrant minorities, the ethnics consisting of brown and yellow people to do all the grunt work. By latest count, 95% of the food service workers who bus the tables, clean the dishes, serve the diners in San Francisco's restaurants and fast-food joints are immigrants, mostly Latino or Asian. White San Franciscans no longer work these jobs, except as Starbuck's baristas. These folks play more than work; urban chic, urban slackers, and urban hedonism, with abandon, with booze, dope and chemical dependency rampant.
Given these, how can these people compete with CHINDIA, or China, Inc. or Japan Inc. or Vietnam Inc. ? The world of globalization has passed this city by the Bay by and left it in the dust.
By latest count, there are more than two dozen legit medicinal marijuana clinics dispensing marijuana, in the name of "medicinal" purposes. Masked as "legal cannabis clinics," these are city-validated retail businesses selling marijuana to any consumer who pays US$ 50 to a doctor who will issue a certification that the "patient" needs a "bong" to relieve pain.
Folks, this is the city which became North America's only Olympics torch relay stop, which boasted that its citizens successfully waylaid the torch and stopped it from running its six-mile course in this city by the bay.
To boot, this is the city where there are 200,000 ethnic Chinese inhabitants, with a history of settlement spanning over a hundred fifty years since the discovery of gold in 1849. A city that the Chinese aptly called, "Gold Mountain," i.e. Gum San.
And the white folks look upon the Chinamen as "invisible" and looked upon their welcome of the Olympics torch on April 9, as the machination of that foreign government called China, and its San Francisco consulate, purportedly "busing" in by the busloads and orchestrating a "Chinese invasion" of San Francisco !
Talk about historical amnesia. Consider the latest in San Francisco perversity, its annual ritual called a marathon in the streets of San Francisco, called the "Bay to Breakers" marathon.
It was held last Saturday, May 17th, 2008. Read about the "vulgar" "hooliganistic," downright "perverse" behavior of these San Franciscans, and the audacity they showed in utter uncivil and rude behavior in the name of civil liberties and "anything goes."
This is a city where its China-basing "Team Tibet-Shangri-la" street protesters don't even know where TIBET is located in a map. Click on:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/21/BAJK10PM0S.DTL
"Where's Tibet on the map, dummy"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kzNWi5h8Hs&feature=related
Welcome to San Francisco. The American city which is viewed by Europeans, westerners, and white Americans as "hip," "meditarranean," and "cutting edge.
Good grief, China's cities may be congested, polluted, and gripped by traffic gridlock. But the Chinese peoples know their problems; they have 'fessed up to it; and they are headed in the right direction to fix the problems, hopefully sooner rather than later.
But America's cities, like San Francisco ? With perversity, banality, vulgarity galore ? And drugs, dope, alcohol, and predatory behavior rampant ?
China and the Chinese people cannot and must not be CNN. And yes, China's youth must not behave and ape San Franciscos' youths --- peeing and defacating in the streets, getting drunk, drugged, and on dope.
These walking monsters, when they grow up, and start having families, will breed more "walking monsters," i.e. selfish, vulgar, lacking in basic manners and fundamental civility.
Isn't the Europeanised view of "human rights" and civil liberties fantastic ?
You can peeing and defecate with abandon in the name of democracy and freedom ! And somebody else will clean up after you.
Welcome to San Francisco. Welcome to the city which knows how ....... to lecture others about being "green," yet are hypocrites when it comes to polluting, defoliating, and messing up their physically beautiful city.
Talk about the epidemic of "affluenza" which has dragged America down. From empire to predatory vampire. In a little more of a century of hegemony, supremacy, and lording it over other nations in this earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfNqVU75bvw&feature=related
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/05/18/BAFE10OMG3.DTL&o=1
Europeans and North Americans look to San Francisco as the destination for the ultimate fun and play city.... with its stunning topography of over 47 hills, spectacular views of a bay unrivaled in its physical beauty.
Conde Nast Travel Magazine has consistently rated San Francisco as the # 1 tourist destination, year after year.
Never mind the aggressive street bums wallowing in street corners, slimy hands out, trolling for quarters, many of them drug addicts, drunks, or downright mental cases (There are some 10,000 street bums called "homeless" in San Francisco)....... tourists can't enjoy and get enough of San Francisco's street ambience. And true, what they can't do back home.... they try to experiment and expand in the "liberal" "free for all" atmosphere that San Francisco is notoriously known for. Never mind the "rip-off" hotel prices; never mind parking meters in the city's streets which charges the equivalent of almost half-a-day of wages in a 3rd world country, for eight (8) minutes of parking, i.e. US $ 0.25 dollar for 8 minutes of damn parking.
Never mind that San Francisco, a city less in size and less in number of inhabitants (800,000 inhabitants) compared to San San Jose ( 1,000,000 inhabitants), the city in Silicon Valley, carries four times the city budget of San Jose, at US$ 6 billion, and growing exponentially because of a "fat heavy" City Hall, saddled by political appointees, by fleecers, featherbedders under arcane labor union work rules, and lazy civil servants pretending to do public service.
If San Francisco is a microcosm of what is considered "hip" or "cutting-edge" or "innovative" in America, look no further than the increasingly utterly banal and vulgar manners of its urban gentry, many of them young, hip, affluent, and yes, absolutely self-centered, hyper-selfish, and consumed by a hedonistic lifestyle obsessed with fun and games, booze, smoke, dope, and sexual freedoms. Leave it to the immigrant minorities, the ethnics consisting of brown and yellow people to do all the grunt work. By latest count, 95% of the food service workers who bus the tables, clean the dishes, serve the diners in San Francisco's restaurants and fast-food joints are immigrants, mostly Latino or Asian. White San Franciscans no longer work these jobs, except as Starbuck's baristas. These folks play more than work; urban chic, urban slackers, and urban hedonism, with abandon, with booze, dope and chemical dependency rampant.
Given these, how can these people compete with CHINDIA, or China, Inc. or Japan Inc. or Vietnam Inc. ? The world of globalization has passed this city by the Bay by and left it in the dust.
By latest count, there are more than two dozen legit medicinal marijuana clinics dispensing marijuana, in the name of "medicinal" purposes. Masked as "legal cannabis clinics," these are city-validated retail businesses selling marijuana to any consumer who pays US$ 50 to a doctor who will issue a certification that the "patient" needs a "bong" to relieve pain.
Folks, this is the city which became North America's only Olympics torch relay stop, which boasted that its citizens successfully waylaid the torch and stopped it from running its six-mile course in this city by the bay.
To boot, this is the city where there are 200,000 ethnic Chinese inhabitants, with a history of settlement spanning over a hundred fifty years since the discovery of gold in 1849. A city that the Chinese aptly called, "Gold Mountain," i.e. Gum San.
And the white folks look upon the Chinamen as "invisible" and looked upon their welcome of the Olympics torch on April 9, as the machination of that foreign government called China, and its San Francisco consulate, purportedly "busing" in by the busloads and orchestrating a "Chinese invasion" of San Francisco !
Talk about historical amnesia. Consider the latest in San Francisco perversity, its annual ritual called a marathon in the streets of San Francisco, called the "Bay to Breakers" marathon.
It was held last Saturday, May 17th, 2008. Read about the "vulgar" "hooliganistic," downright "perverse" behavior of these San Franciscans, and the audacity they showed in utter uncivil and rude behavior in the name of civil liberties and "anything goes."
This is a city where its China-basing "Team Tibet-Shangri-la" street protesters don't even know where TIBET is located in a map. Click on:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/21/BAJK10PM0S.DTL
"Where's Tibet on the map, dummy"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kzNWi5h8Hs&feature=related
Welcome to San Francisco. The American city which is viewed by Europeans, westerners, and white Americans as "hip," "meditarranean," and "cutting edge.
Good grief, China's cities may be congested, polluted, and gripped by traffic gridlock. But the Chinese peoples know their problems; they have 'fessed up to it; and they are headed in the right direction to fix the problems, hopefully sooner rather than later.
But America's cities, like San Francisco ? With perversity, banality, vulgarity galore ? And drugs, dope, alcohol, and predatory behavior rampant ?
China and the Chinese people cannot and must not be CNN. And yes, China's youth must not behave and ape San Franciscos' youths --- peeing and defacating in the streets, getting drunk, drugged, and on dope.
These walking monsters, when they grow up, and start having families, will breed more "walking monsters," i.e. selfish, vulgar, lacking in basic manners and fundamental civility.
Isn't the Europeanised view of "human rights" and civil liberties fantastic ?
You can peeing and defecate with abandon in the name of democracy and freedom ! And somebody else will clean up after you.
Welcome to San Francisco. Welcome to the city which knows how ....... to lecture others about being "green," yet are hypocrites when it comes to polluting, defoliating, and messing up their physically beautiful city.
Talk about the epidemic of "affluenza" which has dragged America down. From empire to predatory vampire. In a little more of a century of hegemony, supremacy, and lording it over other nations in this earth.
The Dalai Lama is getting a dosage of his own medicine - "Mau Mau" in London from Buddhist sect decrying his "religious dictatorship" LOL!
Read Brendan O Neill's blog from London's "Spiked"; after his "snake oil" pitch in Germany, the Dalai Lama is on his way to London to promote his "TEAM TIBET-SHANGRI-LA" agenda with the WEST, and guess what? He is being "dogged" with his own dosage of "mau-mau" protest by another Buddhist group, accusing him of being a "religious dictator" :
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5170/
Read further about the story of the Buddhist group protest planned against the Dolly in London:
May 21, 2008 04:17am
Protest planned against Dalai Lama
A BUDDHIST group has announced plans to picket public appearances in Britain by the Dalai Lama, accusing him of restricting religious freedoms in his homeland and among exiled Tibetans.
The Western Shugden Society, a branch of Tibetan Buddhism that reveres a god denounced by the Dalai Lama since 1996, said demonstrations were planned outside Britain's parliament and at several other locations on his 11-day tour.
The 72-year-old monk - widely respected in the West and courted by celebrities but accused by Beijing of fomenting trouble against Chinese rule in Tibet - arrived in Britain today on the second leg of a five-country tour.
One Shugden follower, Kelsang Pama, said Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, lawmakers and Western media were mistaken in portraying the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner as a champion of human rights. Instead she said that he sanctioned the outlawing of their worship of the deity Dorje Shugden "for no valid reason" and the expulsion of practitioners from monasteries, and that he forced Tibetans into abandoning support for the movement.
"He comes to the West, talks about religious freedom, love and equanimity but then his actions are not following his speech," she said. "Why do we accept this from this person when any other leader in this world is questioned?" In particular, she said it was now not clear when the Dalai Lama was speaking as a religious or a political leader. Pama, also known as Helen Gradwell, said his actions were affecting Buddhist monasteries particularly in India as well as inside Tibet.
Indian police have suspected Shugden supporters of involvement in threats to the Dalai Lama and even the murder of a respected Tibetan scholar and two of his followers. But Pama insisted they were a peaceful movement and "not against the Dalai Lama," also rejecting other claims that they have the tacit support of the Chinese government. Instead she said they were trying to secure talks with the Dalai Lama or his representatives over a theological dispute.
"The moment the Dalai Lama will start a meaningful discussion we will stop our demonstrations," she said.
Tsering Tashi, the Dalai Lama's representative in London, said later that they respected the Shugden Buddhists' right to protest but said their allegations were untrue. "It (their worship of Dorje Shugden) goes against the very concept of the teachings of the Buddha. It degenerates Buddhism into a spirit worship," he said. The group had not made any formal request to meet the Dalai Lama or his representatives, he added.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5170/
Read further about the story of the Buddhist group protest planned against the Dolly in London:
May 21, 2008 04:17am
Protest planned against Dalai Lama
A BUDDHIST group has announced plans to picket public appearances in Britain by the Dalai Lama, accusing him of restricting religious freedoms in his homeland and among exiled Tibetans.
The Western Shugden Society, a branch of Tibetan Buddhism that reveres a god denounced by the Dalai Lama since 1996, said demonstrations were planned outside Britain's parliament and at several other locations on his 11-day tour.
The 72-year-old monk - widely respected in the West and courted by celebrities but accused by Beijing of fomenting trouble against Chinese rule in Tibet - arrived in Britain today on the second leg of a five-country tour.
One Shugden follower, Kelsang Pama, said Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, lawmakers and Western media were mistaken in portraying the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner as a champion of human rights. Instead she said that he sanctioned the outlawing of their worship of the deity Dorje Shugden "for no valid reason" and the expulsion of practitioners from monasteries, and that he forced Tibetans into abandoning support for the movement.
"He comes to the West, talks about religious freedom, love and equanimity but then his actions are not following his speech," she said. "Why do we accept this from this person when any other leader in this world is questioned?" In particular, she said it was now not clear when the Dalai Lama was speaking as a religious or a political leader. Pama, also known as Helen Gradwell, said his actions were affecting Buddhist monasteries particularly in India as well as inside Tibet.
Indian police have suspected Shugden supporters of involvement in threats to the Dalai Lama and even the murder of a respected Tibetan scholar and two of his followers. But Pama insisted they were a peaceful movement and "not against the Dalai Lama," also rejecting other claims that they have the tacit support of the Chinese government. Instead she said they were trying to secure talks with the Dalai Lama or his representatives over a theological dispute.
"The moment the Dalai Lama will start a meaningful discussion we will stop our demonstrations," she said.
Tsering Tashi, the Dalai Lama's representative in London, said later that they respected the Shugden Buddhists' right to protest but said their allegations were untrue. "It (their worship of Dorje Shugden) goes against the very concept of the teachings of the Buddha. It degenerates Buddhism into a spirit worship," he said. The group had not made any formal request to meet the Dalai Lama or his representatives, he added.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Massive recovery & reconstruction underway in Sichuan- housing with US $ 460 Styrofoam temporary huts - 5 million homes for displaced people needed
Consider the magnitude of the disaster of the 8.0 Sichuan Earthquake and how quickly China and its ordinary people have responded to harness China's resources, to mobilize, and to extend rescue and relief assistance to the victims; and now, after one week, to provide emergency shelters to 5 million people left homeless and in need of emergency shelters.
The quickness of the response, the massive scale and spirit of the entire nation of 1.3 billion people working together to rebuild is indeed impressive and unprecedented. Not to ignore that there are real shortfalls and deficiencies which will need remediation and critique. But overall, the rescue and relief efforts that have been exerted deserves praise and gratitude.
Especially noteworthy is the almost minimal incidence of public predatory misbehavior, misfeasance, ant-social behavior, property crimes and looting, compared to what happened in Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. One wonders why, indeed ? Yes, why ?
Consider the latest update from Sichuan, China:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121127191480606617.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
And ask yourself why there is order in the midst of incongruity, with minimal predatory behavior in one of the refugees' tent cities, with hardly any thefts, disorderly conduct.... which points to China's laobaixing's ability to presevere and "eat bitterness" in times of crisis:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001585.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008052001690
Comparing Sichuan, look back to Katrina in 2005; consider and compare how the United States federal government in Washington D.C. performed in the aftermath of the 2005 Katrina Hurricane Disaster, after the hurricane struck New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississipi and the Gold Coast, and its aftermath as critiqued six months later by Ron Paul, Texas congressman and GOP libertarian presidential candidate, and as assessed by Wikipedia bloggers in the links below:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul305.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina_disaster_relief
The quickness of the response, the massive scale and spirit of the entire nation of 1.3 billion people working together to rebuild is indeed impressive and unprecedented. Not to ignore that there are real shortfalls and deficiencies which will need remediation and critique. But overall, the rescue and relief efforts that have been exerted deserves praise and gratitude.
Especially noteworthy is the almost minimal incidence of public predatory misbehavior, misfeasance, ant-social behavior, property crimes and looting, compared to what happened in Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. One wonders why, indeed ? Yes, why ?
Consider the latest update from Sichuan, China:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121127191480606617.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
And ask yourself why there is order in the midst of incongruity, with minimal predatory behavior in one of the refugees' tent cities, with hardly any thefts, disorderly conduct.... which points to China's laobaixing's ability to presevere and "eat bitterness" in times of crisis:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001585.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008052001690
Comparing Sichuan, look back to Katrina in 2005; consider and compare how the United States federal government in Washington D.C. performed in the aftermath of the 2005 Katrina Hurricane Disaster, after the hurricane struck New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississipi and the Gold Coast, and its aftermath as critiqued six months later by Ron Paul, Texas congressman and GOP libertarian presidential candidate, and as assessed by Wikipedia bloggers in the links below:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul305.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina_disaster_relief
Some thoughtful ideas from an ethnic Chinese overseas, a Huaren, i.e. a yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙 to Taiwan President Ma Ying Jeou
For all global Chinese in the Diaspora, over 40 million scattered throughout the world in all the continents of the world, Asia, North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Russia, the Middle East, Australasia, May 20, 2008 was a moment in history which is not only bitter-sweet, but a seismic shift in world-view.
The inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou, 57, as Taiwan's new president ushered in a remarkable break and major shift from the political gridlock of eight years under tribalist-pro-independence DPP President Chen Shui Bian.
Eight years of counter-productive "food fights," "tribalism, " wasted dollar diplomacy," "political grandstanding""official graft and corruption scandals" while Taiwan languished and the forces of globalization swept Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world.
Ah Bian and his party, the DPP, literally mismanaged and misruled Taiwan politically, economically, and culturally and ran it to the ground, and he and his narrow-minded minions literally froze Taiwan into a "time warped dead zone" which saw China mainland soaring and superceding Tawain, in major frog-leaps in the new challenging world of globalization.
Now, with a new era, it is time for Taiwan's 23 million inhabitants to look to the future; and even more important, to think and act "out of the box." Time to act, and time to act boldly, courageously, and intelligently. No time to be wasted in any more inane counter-productive tribalist "food fights."
Think about the opportunities open for the inhabitants of Taiwan to apply their human and capital resources in the efforts to rebuild the earthquake-damaged provinces of Sichuan and China's Southwest. Think about a renewed China with its vast economic, educational, cultural, political infrastructures in need of improvement and better management.
Think about applying Taiwan's enormous management skills and experience in infrastructural projects to rebuild China, with its educational, business, manufacturing, environemental engineering, transit, housing infrastructures in dire need for constructive and creative planning, design, and implementation. Taiwan's strength can be creatively applied across Taiwan Straits inside China as the decibel level of political rhetoric and posturing get deemphasied and diminished. Conversely, the opportunities for Taiwan to open up for mainland Chinese tourists and business networking can be expanded with less political barriers and hurdles.
Yesterday, when I saw and experienced 1.3 billion peoples inside China, from all walks of life, government, soldiers, rescue workers, NGOs, factories, students, workers, professionals, academics, young and old, altogether take a moment of pause, in mourning, for 3 solid minutes in memory of those who died in the Sichuan earthquake May 12, I felt an emotional catharsis, and an energy which I know has spread among all the the descendants of the Yellow Emperor, i.e. yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙 .
Here are some of my concrete ideas on how Ma Ying-Jeou can undertake some initiatives and act boldly:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/157332.htm
More news on Ma Ying Jeao's installation as Taiwan's new president:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/157176.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0521/p04s04-woap.html
Some background about the 1992 Taiwan-China Consensus, which should serve as a framework for normalization of relations across the Taiwan Straits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Consensus
My earlier blog entitled "I have a Dream" posted earlier at Spatium Trientis:
http://spatiumtrientis.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-have-dream-by-chinese-martin-luther.html
The inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou, 57, as Taiwan's new president ushered in a remarkable break and major shift from the political gridlock of eight years under tribalist-pro-independence DPP President Chen Shui Bian.
Eight years of counter-productive "food fights," "tribalism, " wasted dollar diplomacy," "political grandstanding""official graft and corruption scandals" while Taiwan languished and the forces of globalization swept Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world.
Ah Bian and his party, the DPP, literally mismanaged and misruled Taiwan politically, economically, and culturally and ran it to the ground, and he and his narrow-minded minions literally froze Taiwan into a "time warped dead zone" which saw China mainland soaring and superceding Tawain, in major frog-leaps in the new challenging world of globalization.
Now, with a new era, it is time for Taiwan's 23 million inhabitants to look to the future; and even more important, to think and act "out of the box." Time to act, and time to act boldly, courageously, and intelligently. No time to be wasted in any more inane counter-productive tribalist "food fights."
Think about the opportunities open for the inhabitants of Taiwan to apply their human and capital resources in the efforts to rebuild the earthquake-damaged provinces of Sichuan and China's Southwest. Think about a renewed China with its vast economic, educational, cultural, political infrastructures in need of improvement and better management.
Think about applying Taiwan's enormous management skills and experience in infrastructural projects to rebuild China, with its educational, business, manufacturing, environemental engineering, transit, housing infrastructures in dire need for constructive and creative planning, design, and implementation. Taiwan's strength can be creatively applied across Taiwan Straits inside China as the decibel level of political rhetoric and posturing get deemphasied and diminished. Conversely, the opportunities for Taiwan to open up for mainland Chinese tourists and business networking can be expanded with less political barriers and hurdles.
Yesterday, when I saw and experienced 1.3 billion peoples inside China, from all walks of life, government, soldiers, rescue workers, NGOs, factories, students, workers, professionals, academics, young and old, altogether take a moment of pause, in mourning, for 3 solid minutes in memory of those who died in the Sichuan earthquake May 12, I felt an emotional catharsis, and an energy which I know has spread among all the the descendants of the Yellow Emperor, i.e. yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙 .
The descendants of the Yellow Emperor, when they unit and work together, can move mountains.
"The Dragon awakes." Ju Long Jue Xing 巨龙觉醒.Here are some of my concrete ideas on how Ma Ying-Jeou can undertake some initiatives and act boldly:
1. Stick with and work in good faith to "walk the walk" and "do the do" on the 1992 Taiwan-China Consensus, and don't deviate and undermine the spirit of detente, peace, and harmony, and normalization of relations across the Taiwan straits.
2. Jettison any notion of the "I" word or any creative subterfuges which have been mischievously attempted by Ah Bian and the DPP, with colossal failures. The Dalai Lama and Tibet's "double-talk" between the "A" word, and the "I" words are duplicitous moves which have proven to be counter-productive and breed mistrust. The Dalai Lama has no credibility whatsoever in the eyes of all the Chinese peoples. Learn from his bad mistakes in "doublespeak." You can't speak with a "forked tongue" in dealings among Chinese.
3. A Cultural Resurgence ( 文化复兴 Wen Hua Fu Xin) must be initiated by all Taiwanese to probe and carefully reform the direction of Taiwan society, more particularly in determining what foreign, especially Western, values, are worth adopting or adapting, and which should be abandoned and cleansed out. This is particularly acute among many of Taiwan's youths, who are becoming culturally ambivalent, and lost in their rootlessnes, confusion, alienation from their Chinese, Asian, and Confucian roots.
4. Look towards Asia-Pacific for the "win-win" colloboration and synergy in charting the future of Taiwan in the challenging new world of globalization. That synergy and "brain power" of Taiwan's 23 million agile inhabitants can combined with the resurging emerging "soft power" of China and the rest of Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Eurasia, in new initiatives which do not necessarily look to Europe or the United States as the destination or the model.
5. Debunk any residual Colonial Mentality, 殖民主义思想 Zhi Min Zhu Yi Si Xiang still harbored by many of Taiwan's 23 inhabitants that, (a) "The American Moon is Rounder! 美国月亮比较圆 Mei Guo Yue Liang Bi Jiao Yuan; (b) The white man's fart smell fragrant. Bai Ren Pi Hao Xiang 百人屁好香. None of these propositions hold any credence. All farts smell bad. It is foolish and asinine for Taiwanese, in the islands of Taiwan or overseas in North America and Australasia to maniacally pursue the status of "honorary whitehood" 名誉白人 Ming Yu Bai Ren, or otherwise jettison the notion that Taiwanese are Chinese, once and for all. Taiwanese must stop trying to be "yellow monkeys" aping everything American, from Hollywood schlock and hip-hop and all that "c"rap. Taiwan's youths can do better with their own creative fire and creative juice, using their own idiosyncratic environment instead of imitating blindly anything and everything Western.
6. Open up Taiwan's links to China mainland at a "user-friendly" pace, without the bureacractic maize which had hindered cross-Taiwan straits relations, and ditto, from Beijing's Central government.... time is of the essence. The Chinese peoples across the Taiwan Straits need to work efficiently, and in the most effective way to rebuild China and make Chinese society a better society, environmental-wise, infrastructure-wise; And Taiwan can assist greatly in this regard.
7. Govern cleanly, smartly, and responsively. Don't rely on the Western and European powers to help you lead Taiwan. The Western and Europeanised notion of "democracy" and "human rights" is not necessarily the right fit for peoples of Taiwan and the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. Look at the inner strengths of Chinese civilization for alternative concepts and models of governance. Don't be a Western ape.
Clearly and absolutely, the future of Taiwan is one which is inextricably linked to China.
The challenges of globalization is upon Taiwan to think differently and creatively, i.e. as borders open, societies truly become more diverse, and yes, Western Colonialists 西方殖民主义 Xi Fang Zhi Min Zhu Yi is seeing and experiencing its waning days, and Pax Europa and Pax Americana further dim, and much of old Europe and the United States continue its precipitous moral, cultural, ad economic decline.
Taiwan's 23 million peoples must link up with China's 1.3 billion Chinese, plus 40 million diasporic Chinese scattered throughout over 135 countries around the world to work for a more harmonious world, a much better world, free of the political "food fights" and inanities that we saw lately in the Western world.
Yes, we can do better, together, collectively, cooperatively, joining the "brain power," the "brawn power," and the "human and capital resources" of all global Chinese.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/157332.htm
More news on Ma Ying Jeao's installation as Taiwan's new president:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/157176.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0521/p04s04-woap.html
Some background about the 1992 Taiwan-China Consensus, which should serve as a framework for normalization of relations across the Taiwan Straits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Consensus
My earlier blog entitled "I have a Dream" posted earlier at Spatium Trientis:
http://spatiumtrientis.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-have-dream-by-chinese-martin-luther.html
Monday, May 19, 2008
"What's your problem, mate? What's wrong with Wo Ai Zhong Hua 我爱中华 ?"
I want you to read this piece of commenary by one Michael Fullilove, an Aussie academic now a visiting fellow with the Brookings Institutution, a liberal-centrist "think tank" in Washington D.C.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4140c1ae-253c-11dd-a14a-000077b07658.html
This Westerner posits the utterly ludicruous and absurd view that the ethnic Chinese in the diasporic communities around the globe who rallied and supported the Beijing Olympics games and protected the torch in its various stops recently were the aggressors.
He again rehashed the ridiculous view that the Chinese consulates in many cities mobilized and bused in the ethnic diasporic Chinese overseas to support China and the Olympics torch, and that they had aggressively attacked protesters in Seoul, in Canbrerra during these various stops of the Olympics torch through these various foreign cities. What kind of crock is this ?
What a ludricruous piece of disinformation coming from a distorted arrogant Western mind, through his utterly biased prism. Again, full of Western hubris, arrogance, surliness and haughtiness.
Mr. Fullilove further posits that : " if the diaspora consciousness of overseas Chinese were to harden permanently into the kind of aggressive nationalism seen recently, then international public opinion would turn and interstate friction likely follow. In that case, the diaspora could end up reducing China's influence, rather than multiplying it."
Hey, mate. What are you talking about ? Aggresive nationalism ? Who's aggressing who ?
Who were the aggressors and who were the aggressees in London, Paris, and San Francisco, to begin with, pray tell ? Who were the ones who started the bullying and who became the shills amplifying this China hate and demonization, mate ?
This wicked myopia and warped blindsidedness coming from this Western academic bespeaks an attitude which is supercilious and distorts the truths of what transpired with the Olympics torch.
The fact is ethnic Chinese overseas, as yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙, are protecting the dignity of the Chinese people in hosting these Olympics games this year in Beijing.
Guess who is doing the bad-mouthing, the sabotaging, the hectoring, the disrespecting, and who's engaged in the strident China-bashing and demonization.
For this Fullilove to completely twist this around and attribute to the ethnic diasporic Chinese for engaging in "aggressive nationalism" is hogwash, and downright disinformation.
You be the judge. Read up on this drivel coming from another biased Westerner who can't stand and won't accept China's resurgence 文化复兴 Wen Hua Fu Xin !
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4140c1ae-253c-11dd-a14a-000077b07658.html
This Westerner posits the utterly ludicruous and absurd view that the ethnic Chinese in the diasporic communities around the globe who rallied and supported the Beijing Olympics games and protected the torch in its various stops recently were the aggressors.
He again rehashed the ridiculous view that the Chinese consulates in many cities mobilized and bused in the ethnic diasporic Chinese overseas to support China and the Olympics torch, and that they had aggressively attacked protesters in Seoul, in Canbrerra during these various stops of the Olympics torch through these various foreign cities. What kind of crock is this ?
What a ludricruous piece of disinformation coming from a distorted arrogant Western mind, through his utterly biased prism. Again, full of Western hubris, arrogance, surliness and haughtiness.
Mr. Fullilove further posits that : " if the diaspora consciousness of overseas Chinese were to harden permanently into the kind of aggressive nationalism seen recently, then international public opinion would turn and interstate friction likely follow. In that case, the diaspora could end up reducing China's influence, rather than multiplying it."
Hey, mate. What are you talking about ? Aggresive nationalism ? Who's aggressing who ?
Who were the aggressors and who were the aggressees in London, Paris, and San Francisco, to begin with, pray tell ? Who were the ones who started the bullying and who became the shills amplifying this China hate and demonization, mate ?
This wicked myopia and warped blindsidedness coming from this Western academic bespeaks an attitude which is supercilious and distorts the truths of what transpired with the Olympics torch.
The fact is ethnic Chinese overseas, as yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙, are protecting the dignity of the Chinese people in hosting these Olympics games this year in Beijing.
Guess who is doing the bad-mouthing, the sabotaging, the hectoring, the disrespecting, and who's engaged in the strident China-bashing and demonization.
For this Fullilove to completely twist this around and attribute to the ethnic diasporic Chinese for engaging in "aggressive nationalism" is hogwash, and downright disinformation.
You be the judge. Read up on this drivel coming from another biased Westerner who can't stand and won't accept China's resurgence 文化复兴 Wen Hua Fu Xin !
How the Brits and their BBC now spin the story about the rescue and relief eforts in Sichuan and comparing the Myanmar rescue and relief efforts
BBC reports comparing Sichuan and Myanmar rescue and relief efforts:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7407927.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7407927.stm
CHINA observes 3 days of national mourning in memory of Sichuan Earthquake victims - solemn period for grief and reflection.
Click on images and reports below as the Chinese mourns; hope dims for any more survivors a week after 8.0 (adjusted from 7.9) Earthquake; 35,000 confirmed dead, and rising; at least 240,000 injured hospitalized; and 10 million inhabitants either rendered homeless or suffered damages on their homes - China coheres and stand united to rebuild and keep faith for a renewed and stronger China :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121117970381103133.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/19/content_8203338.htm
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200805/20080520/article_360207.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-05-19-china-quake_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china20-2008may20,0,4428951.story?page=1
China's ordinary citizens, laobaixing, 老百姓 try to keep up a positive face and cheer up fellow Chinese stricken by grief, by mounting street gatherings with "xia you" "Jia you," 加油signs. Images below:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/19/content_8208594.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121117970381103133.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/19/content_8203338.htm
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200805/20080520/article_360207.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-05-19-china-quake_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china20-2008may20,0,4428951.story?page=1
China's ordinary citizens, laobaixing, 老百姓 try to keep up a positive face and cheer up fellow Chinese stricken by grief, by mounting street gatherings with "xia you" "Jia you," 加油signs. Images below:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/19/content_8208594.htm
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Great commentary from fellow blogger Bevin Chu weighing in on "The White Man's Burden" from China Desk
Read the following great piece of writing from fellow blogger, Bevin Chu, from Taipei, responding to a privileged "white-man" writer, suffused with "The White Man's Burden" lording it over the poor Chinese in his condescending manner and arrogantly as a colonial Sahib of the 21st Century.
The subject of Bevin Chu's piece from his blogsite China Desk, linked to Spatium Trientis, is entitled, "Back Talk - What do You Want from us?" - a rejoinder in follow-up to the much circulated poem by the Anonymous Chinese, "Enough is Enough."
Click on:
http://thechinadesk.blogspot.com/2008/05/backtalk-what-do-you-want-from-us.html
The subject of Bevin Chu's piece from his blogsite China Desk, linked to Spatium Trientis, is entitled, "Back Talk - What do You Want from us?" - a rejoinder in follow-up to the much circulated poem by the Anonymous Chinese, "Enough is Enough."
Click on:
http://thechinadesk.blogspot.com/2008/05/backtalk-what-do-you-want-from-us.html
How Chinese-Americans in America's most "Asian" city, San Francisco, mobilize in response to the Sichuan Earthquake relief using its vast network
At least one-fifth of San Francisco Bay Area inhabitants in the nine (9)-counties of eight (8) million people consist of ethnic Chinese of various backgrounds, many of whom are native-born San Franciscans, while others are foreign-born immigrants from mainland China, from Taiwan or from HongKong, or from other parts of Southeast Asia....and even others from Latin America.
This convergence of many ethnic Chinese from different areas and regions of the world, some born here in California, while others from China and Asia-Pacific who settled here as high-tech professionals, underpinning the Silicon Valley work force, or as merchants or workers has seen a galvanizing and mobilization effort because of recent events enveloping China and the WEST.
The ethnic Chinese used to be divided politically, but recent events have galvanized and cohered them together. This is a remarkable phenomenon.
Recently, given the ugly controversy and disrespect shown by part of liberal San Francisco over the Olympics torch relay "pit-stop" into San Francisco on April 9, 2008, in America's only torch relay stop, and the controversy over TIBET which ensued, there has been a major awakening.
And in the catastrophic aftermath of the May 12th earthquake in Sichuan Province, China..... there has emerged a renewed effort by the many diverse Chinese groups in the San Francisco Bay Area to unite, mobilize, and work together for a common cause. Click on a report by Anna Ustinova of the San Francisco Chroncle, the mainstream English newspaper in San Francisco, about the mobilization efforts.
Ustinova, the San Francisco Chronicle reporter noted in her report: "Chinese Americans in the Bay Area speak different languages, come from all walks of life and have different political views. But this year, with China in the international spotlight, the community has come together, observers say."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/18/MNTD10O1SP.DTL
This convergence of many ethnic Chinese from different areas and regions of the world, some born here in California, while others from China and Asia-Pacific who settled here as high-tech professionals, underpinning the Silicon Valley work force, or as merchants or workers has seen a galvanizing and mobilization effort because of recent events enveloping China and the WEST.
The ethnic Chinese used to be divided politically, but recent events have galvanized and cohered them together. This is a remarkable phenomenon.
Recently, given the ugly controversy and disrespect shown by part of liberal San Francisco over the Olympics torch relay "pit-stop" into San Francisco on April 9, 2008, in America's only torch relay stop, and the controversy over TIBET which ensued, there has been a major awakening.
And in the catastrophic aftermath of the May 12th earthquake in Sichuan Province, China..... there has emerged a renewed effort by the many diverse Chinese groups in the San Francisco Bay Area to unite, mobilize, and work together for a common cause. Click on a report by Anna Ustinova of the San Francisco Chroncle, the mainstream English newspaper in San Francisco, about the mobilization efforts.
Ustinova, the San Francisco Chronicle reporter noted in her report: "Chinese Americans in the Bay Area speak different languages, come from all walks of life and have different political views. But this year, with China in the international spotlight, the community has come together, observers say."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/18/MNTD10O1SP.DTL
The Dalai Lama's "Cold Spring" Visit to Germany - "Political Monk" in saffron robe in Western tour to China-bashing countries-First Stop-Germany-Dud!
German Chancellor Angela Merkel quietly slipped away conveniently on a Latin America trip and was not able to meet the Dalai Lama, as the "political monk" on saffron robe launched his PR "China bashing" trip to rally his Western base of worshippers in the lead-up to the Beijing Summer Olympics games.
This "snake oil pitch" in the WEST evidently is not getting the anticipated "hoo-hah" from Germany.
While other traditional buddhists from other Buddhist groups focus on charity and humanitarian relief efforts in Sichuan and Myanmar, this Tibetan Lama "wolf in monk's robe" is executing on his machiavellian moves to play the "Western card" to derail China and bad-mouth the Chinese people.
This inopportune "PR" trip to his Western benefactors started on the wrong footing. His German sponsors have now turned "cold" and turned "tail."
Read on about how German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not be around to do a "photo op" with the Dolly, knowing what "German" interests in China will be the "designated hostage" if Germans play "dirty" China-bashing politics :
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcYvlDeCX_7KyI5ag2tGO0tFD27w
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051500726.html
This "snake oil pitch" in the WEST evidently is not getting the anticipated "hoo-hah" from Germany.
While other traditional buddhists from other Buddhist groups focus on charity and humanitarian relief efforts in Sichuan and Myanmar, this Tibetan Lama "wolf in monk's robe" is executing on his machiavellian moves to play the "Western card" to derail China and bad-mouth the Chinese people.
This inopportune "PR" trip to his Western benefactors started on the wrong footing. His German sponsors have now turned "cold" and turned "tail."
Read on about how German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not be around to do a "photo op" with the Dolly, knowing what "German" interests in China will be the "designated hostage" if Germans play "dirty" China-bashing politics :
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcYvlDeCX_7KyI5ag2tGO0tFD27w
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051500726.html
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Great Idea from Japan to build temporary huts costing US$1,300 per unit which be be built in 2 hours to house 10 million left homeless
Japanese innovation has a great idea which should be adopted by China to provide emergency shelter to the expected 10 million peoples displaced and left homeless from the 512 Earthquake.
This ingenuity is a card-board made temporary hut which can be assembled in 2 hours costing US$ 1,300 per unit. It can house five people.
Read further the details the story about how this temporary cardboard-made hut can assist in post-Earthquake temporary emergency shelter for those left homeless from the quake; the Octagon pre-fab hut looks like a Mongolian yurt and can be assembled in two hours:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121098978696800679.html?mod=2_1575_leftbox
China should consider this regimen pronto. Time is of the essence.
This ingenuity is a card-board made temporary hut which can be assembled in 2 hours costing US$ 1,300 per unit. It can house five people.
Read further the details the story about how this temporary cardboard-made hut can assist in post-Earthquake temporary emergency shelter for those left homeless from the quake; the Octagon pre-fab hut looks like a Mongolian yurt and can be assembled in two hours:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121098978696800679.html?mod=2_1575_leftbox
China should consider this regimen pronto. Time is of the essence.
"Shit-Disturbing" Dalai Lama continues to bash China in European PR trip while Sichuan Earthquake victims' suffering is ignored by his Buddhist Sect
What kind of buddhist is this Dalai Lama ? His sect of supposed Buddhist Lamas and their "talk the talk" moralizing about compassion, charity, and harmony is just talk..... all talk.... nothing but talk. "Snake oil pitch" is what it is.
When it comes time to "walking the walk," or "doing the do," the Dalai Lama and his sect of Buddhists are nowhere to be seen.
While lives remain to be saved after 5 days of rescue work in progress in Sichuan, and the 50,000 dead victims (and rising) from the Earthquake rubble of the 512 Sichuan Earthquake remain to be extricated, and their families mourn, massive outpouring of charity and compassion have been mobilized all throughout the Buddhist world by true men and women of Buddhist faith.
Their noble efforts outshine the "shit-disturbing" Dalai Lama and his Dharamsala "b.s." followers.
Notable in the immediate rescue and relief efforts is the Tzu Chi Buddihist Foundation and their selfless charitable work in mobilizing their network of Buddhist charitable workers around the world to respond to the disasters in Sichuan, Myanmar, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Missouri. Tsu Chi started in Taiwan and has been one of the first Buddhist charities which responded to the natural disasters not just in Sichuan, but in Myanmar, in Katrina-New Orleans, Oklahoma-Missouri-Tennessee cyclone aid and relief.
I am truly awed by the noble work of the Tsu Chi Buddhist followers who are selflessly devoting themselves in charitable relief work unconditionally for all who suffer, including those victims in Sichuan and Myanmar.
http://www.tzuchi.org/global/
Japan's Soka Gakai's Nichren Buddhists is anothe group with 10 million buddhists who have responded with their charitable donations and relief work to the Sichuan Earthquake relief; amazing noble gesture:
http://qr.showchina.org/Messages/Focus/Focus005/05/t20080516_343185.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/nichiren_3.shtml
Guess where's the "Shit-Disturbing" Dalai Lama is at this time? He is in Germany on another "PR" campaign to China bash, China demonize and to capitalize on his celebrity status in the WEST. To think that in Sichuan province, there are still many ethnic Tibetans now buried in some of the rubbles of the disastrous earthquake which struck Sichuan, with its various ethnic minorities, including many of China's 55 ethnic minorities settled in some parts in Sichuan devastated by the earthquake, including, I am sure, many ethnic Tibetans in those rubble.
What kind of buddhists are these Tibetan Lamas? Read up on the Shit-Disturbing Dalai Lama in Germany:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j6_fZUv6ir-dXQqwDrljvxPgHnog
Buddhists are supposed to be about Compassion. Peace. Charity. Living it. Doing it. Not just hyping it up. Talking about it. Your Holliness.
The WEST may worship the Dalai Lama as the living reincarnate of a Living Buddha. To me, he is nothing but an opportunist and worse, a predator. A wolf in monk's robe, as Chinese authorities correctly describes him.
Now is not the time to bash China and the Chinese people and go on a road trip to pitch your "China bashing" snake oil, Dolly ! What kind of buddhist are you, pray tell ?
When it comes time to "walking the walk," or "doing the do," the Dalai Lama and his sect of Buddhists are nowhere to be seen.
While lives remain to be saved after 5 days of rescue work in progress in Sichuan, and the 50,000 dead victims (and rising) from the Earthquake rubble of the 512 Sichuan Earthquake remain to be extricated, and their families mourn, massive outpouring of charity and compassion have been mobilized all throughout the Buddhist world by true men and women of Buddhist faith.
Their noble efforts outshine the "shit-disturbing" Dalai Lama and his Dharamsala "b.s." followers.
Notable in the immediate rescue and relief efforts is the Tzu Chi Buddihist Foundation and their selfless charitable work in mobilizing their network of Buddhist charitable workers around the world to respond to the disasters in Sichuan, Myanmar, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Missouri. Tsu Chi started in Taiwan and has been one of the first Buddhist charities which responded to the natural disasters not just in Sichuan, but in Myanmar, in Katrina-New Orleans, Oklahoma-Missouri-Tennessee cyclone aid and relief.
I am truly awed by the noble work of the Tsu Chi Buddhist followers who are selflessly devoting themselves in charitable relief work unconditionally for all who suffer, including those victims in Sichuan and Myanmar.
http://www.tzuchi.org/global/
Japan's Soka Gakai's Nichren Buddhists is anothe group with 10 million buddhists who have responded with their charitable donations and relief work to the Sichuan Earthquake relief; amazing noble gesture:
http://qr.showchina.org/Messages/Focus/Focus005/05/t20080516_343185.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/nichiren_3.shtml
Guess where's the "Shit-Disturbing" Dalai Lama is at this time? He is in Germany on another "PR" campaign to China bash, China demonize and to capitalize on his celebrity status in the WEST. To think that in Sichuan province, there are still many ethnic Tibetans now buried in some of the rubbles of the disastrous earthquake which struck Sichuan, with its various ethnic minorities, including many of China's 55 ethnic minorities settled in some parts in Sichuan devastated by the earthquake, including, I am sure, many ethnic Tibetans in those rubble.
What kind of buddhists are these Tibetan Lamas? Read up on the Shit-Disturbing Dalai Lama in Germany:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j6_fZUv6ir-dXQqwDrljvxPgHnog
Buddhists are supposed to be about Compassion. Peace. Charity. Living it. Doing it. Not just hyping it up. Talking about it. Your Holliness.
The WEST may worship the Dalai Lama as the living reincarnate of a Living Buddha. To me, he is nothing but an opportunist and worse, a predator. A wolf in monk's robe, as Chinese authorities correctly describes him.
Now is not the time to bash China and the Chinese people and go on a road trip to pitch your "China bashing" snake oil, Dolly ! What kind of buddhist are you, pray tell ?
China's "Old Ways" shaken by Quake; more "openness." You must be kidding - It has always been there; only the arrogant West ignored it !
Consider the following Los Angeles Times report about China's new "openness" loosened up by the Sichuan Earthquake.
The problem with this "spin" is that all this time, the biased Western press, staffed by Westerners with their "cultural prisms" and bags and baggages carried from their social-cultural conditioning, never transcended their stereotypical imagery of the Chinese as faceless, amorphous, inaccessible masses of "blahs."
How wrong are they, including many so-called "China experts," and many of these Western expats studying and living inside China, in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, who can't get off their "privileged" status as foreigners, albeit, Westerners, suffused with a "superiority complex." Click on the L.A. Times story and see how they spin it:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chipolitics17-2008may17,0,824582.story
The problem with this "spin" is that all this time, the biased Western press, staffed by Westerners with their "cultural prisms" and bags and baggages carried from their social-cultural conditioning, never transcended their stereotypical imagery of the Chinese as faceless, amorphous, inaccessible masses of "blahs."
How wrong are they, including many so-called "China experts," and many of these Western expats studying and living inside China, in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, who can't get off their "privileged" status as foreigners, albeit, Westerners, suffused with a "superiority complex." Click on the L.A. Times story and see how they spin it:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chipolitics17-2008may17,0,824582.story
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Updates from Sina.com on Sichuan Earthquake; Russian, Korean, Singapore rescue teams join Japanese, Taiwanese, & Hong Kong "expert" teams to Sichuan
http://english.sina.com/z/080512sichuanquake/index.shtml
Russian, South Korean, Singaporean rescue teams arrive to join Japanese, Taiwan, and HongKong "search and rescue" teams with more equipment in valiant efforts to save lives and assist China's 130,000 rescuers.
http://english.sina.com/china/1/2008/0515/158984.html
More from the Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chinaquake16-2008may16,0,473879.story
Russian, South Korean, Singaporean rescue teams arrive to join Japanese, Taiwan, and HongKong "search and rescue" teams with more equipment in valiant efforts to save lives and assist China's 130,000 rescuers.
http://english.sina.com/china/1/2008/0515/158984.html
More from the Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chinaquake16-2008may16,0,473879.story
Arrogant and Boorish German Der Spiegel columnist weighs in with his "Euro-Moralizing" over Sichuan Earthquake - "Jian You 贱友 - bad friend" !
At a time like this, after a horriying earthquake, and before the dead are even buried, here comes a moralizing German "Jian You 贱友 - bad friend," Wieland Wagner, weighing in and bashing China again, with his privileged arrogant, white supremacist view wired in from Shanghai, a former Western colony with special foreign concessions with signs, "No Chinese and Dogs allowed !" These arrogant bastards still of Shanghai as their "foreign concession."
Just see how much hubris, haughtiness, chutzpah, and how "hooliganistic" these Western expats and journalists are today while moralizing from their "high horse" from their foreign expat enclaves in Shanghai and Beijing. They still think they are in the colonial era in Asia. 无经无义
"Get off your high horse, Dude;" And have some basic manners, Herr Wieland Wagner, please ! This German named Wieland Wagner, obviously lack basic fundamental manners and does not have any decency with his dire moralizing and complete absence of "delicadezza." You are in house in mourning and you have the arrogance and rudeness to tell your hosts what to do with their country and society. Gimme a break.
What a boorish and vulgar man. "Jian You 贱友 - bad friend"
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,553174,00.html
China does not need these types of European "white supremacists" moralizing China and to the Chinese. Let them fix their own problems back in their own vapid and boorish society in Germany. And let them clean after their own smelly white asses.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, obviously leads a country in rapid decline and implosion. They can't even do any basic work anymore in Germany without foreign import labor, most of whom are "brown" and "yellow" migrant workers doing their damn "grunt work. "
"Mag-Lev" technology ? Glad China did not buy an overpriced "bill of goods."
Brendan O' Neill, iconoclast blogger from London, weighs in from his blogsite, "Spiked" and call these so-called Western "experts" what they truly are, ...... moral pornographers; and there are plenty of these moralizing and pontificating pornographers these days in Asia !
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5144/#news_as_porn
Just see how much hubris, haughtiness, chutzpah, and how "hooliganistic" these Western expats and journalists are today while moralizing from their "high horse" from their foreign expat enclaves in Shanghai and Beijing. They still think they are in the colonial era in Asia. 无经无义
"Get off your high horse, Dude;" And have some basic manners, Herr Wieland Wagner, please ! This German named Wieland Wagner, obviously lack basic fundamental manners and does not have any decency with his dire moralizing and complete absence of "delicadezza." You are in house in mourning and you have the arrogance and rudeness to tell your hosts what to do with their country and society. Gimme a break.
What a boorish and vulgar man. "Jian You 贱友 - bad friend"
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,553174,00.html
China does not need these types of European "white supremacists" moralizing China and to the Chinese. Let them fix their own problems back in their own vapid and boorish society in Germany. And let them clean after their own smelly white asses.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, obviously leads a country in rapid decline and implosion. They can't even do any basic work anymore in Germany without foreign import labor, most of whom are "brown" and "yellow" migrant workers doing their damn "grunt work. "
"Mag-Lev" technology ? Glad China did not buy an overpriced "bill of goods."
Brendan O' Neill, iconoclast blogger from London, weighs in from his blogsite, "Spiked" and call these so-called Western "experts" what they truly are, ...... moral pornographers; and there are plenty of these moralizing and pontificating pornographers these days in Asia !
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5144/#news_as_porn
Critical Moments - 72 hours after Quake, Japanese, Taiwan island expert teams join China's rescuers in frantic move to save lives in disaster rubble.
Japan and Taiwan have enormous experiences with earthquakes and disaster rescue "search and rescue" missions.The Japanese and Taiwanese have suffered from seismic tremors and nature's seismic shocks in one of the most seismically active parts of the world more than many other peoples. And they have specialists and "search and rescue" teams for quick response.
Experienced Japanese and Taiwanese earthquake teams, with sniffing dogs and "search and rescue" equipments, including sensors and nooks and crevices cameras and fibre optics sensors, are being rushed in to join the over 100,000 Chinese rescue workers to work against the clock to save lives and dig through the rubble for signs of life. Click on this critical moment 72 hours after the big 7.9 earthquake:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121083757999794937.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Experienced Japanese and Taiwanese earthquake teams, with sniffing dogs and "search and rescue" equipments, including sensors and nooks and crevices cameras and fibre optics sensors, are being rushed in to join the over 100,000 Chinese rescue workers to work against the clock to save lives and dig through the rubble for signs of life. Click on this critical moment 72 hours after the big 7.9 earthquake:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121083757999794937.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Grim News from Sichuan - Death Toll Mounts - 50,000 feared dead - More in Earthquake Rubble ! Mourning and grief swept survivors and kin. !
The news is full of horrors and grief. The Heaven is crying for the victims of 5-12.
Here's the update from Associated Press from today's Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chinaquake16-2008may16,0,473879.story
Here's the update from Associated Press from today's Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chinaquake16-2008may16,0,473879.story
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
China's emotional premier Wen Jiabao moves all Chinese in China and globally amid quake effort 溫公移山
溫公移山 ! China's Premier Wen Jiabao 溫家寶總理 has moved all Chinese with his emotional hands-on efforts and selfless plea and mobilization of all efforts to rescue and provide relief to Sichuan Earthquake victims. Click on aboout China's 溫公 ---- Wen Jiabao, 溫家寶總理.溫公移山 ! 愚公移山 !
溫公移山 ! 愚公移山 !
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8176032.htm
The fable of the "Old Man who Moved a Mountain" is reported as a reminder of Old Man Yu 愚公, and his perseverance and steadfastness; China needs more old men like Yu 愚公, and Wen 溫公 :
http://www.fables.org/crown_thistle/oldman.html
溫公移山 ! 愚公移山 !
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8176032.htm
The fable of the "Old Man who Moved a Mountain" is reported as a reminder of Old Man Yu 愚公, and his perseverance and steadfastness; China needs more old men like Yu 愚公, and Wen 溫公 :
http://www.fables.org/crown_thistle/oldman.html
Video Netizen Bloggers from China 土豆网 and video.qq feed videos of Sichuan Earthquake covering news in breath-taking speed and poignancy! 我们悲伤，我们坚强！
Click on and watch Tudou.com 土豆网 and its "YouTube" video coverage of the Sichuan Earthquake site and the running rapid news coverage using new internet blogging technology. The convergence of "brawn power" and "brain power" applied to the rescue and mobilizations efforts are just stunningly powerful. Click on the videos feed from 土豆网Sichuan :
http://www.tudou.com/events/tudou/earthquake/?iid=17754516
Or try Video.qq.com with its videos:
http://video.qq.com/v1/group/actinf?cid=1044
我们悲伤，我们坚强！
http://www.tudou.com/events/tudou/earthquake/?iid=17754516
Or try Video.qq.com with its videos:
http://video.qq.com/v1/group/actinf?cid=1044
我们悲伤，我们坚强！
Massive relief aid efforts under way - how You can help world-wide - beyond governments and through NGOs locally and direct to China "天下為公 世界大同“
There is an outpouring of humanity and humanitarinism in response to the catastrophic calamities of this year, the Annus Horriblis of natural disasters.
In Myanmar and in Sichuan and elsewhere in Central China, massive rescue efforts are being undertaken to save lives first and foremost. I am pleased to report that there is humanity in common peoples, above and beyond governments, and mau mau protesters. These are the doers not talkers.
Special note is made on some real genuine buddhists, not the protesting "mau mau" "shit-disturbing" types. It is the genuine sincere humanitarian work of 慈濟基金會, the Tzu Chi Foundation .
Te Tzu Chi Buddhists,慈濟基金會, originally started from Taiwan, have now spread their non-governmental charitable work throughout the globe, in their unconditional charitable work, free of politics and politization, strictly humanitarian and compassion. They have worked very tirelessly to relieve pain and suffering. Our kudos to Tzu Chi 慈濟基金會 and their charitable work; they have initiated work quietly to provide succor to all victims of the natural calamities, including Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Myanmar, and no Sichuan Province, China, check them out by clicking:
http://www.us.tzuchi.org/usa/home.nsf/home/index
And Xinhua News, China's premier news source, has risen to the occasion to provide breath-taking up to the minute fresh accounts of the efforts being mobilized and devoted to rescue and save lives.
But further, outside of the epicenter of the earthquake, the support from the descendants of the Yellow Emperor has been overwhelming.
Spatium Trientis has been keeping abreast with the stirrings inside and outside of China, not from government(s), but from the ethnic Chinese inside and globally, organizing and mobilizing to provide aid, relief and succor. Consider what
is happening in China in terms of aid relief efforts, as reported by Xinhua:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/14/content_8170688.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/14/content_8171571.htm
"Blood is thicker than water." yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙 are pouring their support all over the globe.
The massive outpouring of charity and magnanimous contributions from the ethnic Chinese yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙, outside of China in the overseas Diaspora, as well as from HKG, Macau, and Taiwan, have been massive, quick, and amazingly unconditional.
I wished that their charity and hearts would extend further out also to all victims of the recent natural catastrophes, especially Myanmar. Peoples of Myanmar must not be forgotten. And they are still digging out from their devastation left after the horrific cyclone.
Click on for some updates on the massive relief aid effort. Wall Street Journal reported on the outpouring from HKG and MACAU. Taiwan is also mobilizing.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/05/14/charity-begins-at-home/
In the San Francisco Bay area, both local ethnic Chinese newspapers, the Sing Tao and the World Journal have also joined in the fund-raising relief aid efforts with their own mobilization campaign.
Our local mainstream English newspaper, the SF Chronicle also reported on the mobilization effort by the Sichuan province Chinese now living in the Bay Area and their outpouring of aid and relief support.
Read up on the San Francisco Chronicle report on just one local community in America, namely, San Francisco, is doing to mobilize to provide relief :
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/14/MNQC10LKO0.DTL
In San Francisco Chinatown, ethnic Chinese community groups, including the Chinese American Association of Commerce, and the Chinese Six Companies are also mobilizing to raise relief funds. That effort is being echoed all throughout over 150 San Francisco Bay Area ethnic Chinese community groups, from all walks of life, different countries of origins, backgrounds, professions, family and clan associations...... all ethnic Chinese overseas.
Even, San Francisco Chinatown Salvation Army has also mobilized to lend relief aid support; in addition to the San Francisco Bay Area Red Cross. Also, consider an NGO such as "Give2Asia."
http://www.give2asia.org/page12020.cfm?CFID=14963300&CFTOKEN=61734785
But when it comes time to quietly lend a hand in funds and relief aid, it is always the ethnic Chinese overseas, globally, and in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and all throughout Southeast Asia, Australasian, North America, Latin America, and Europe who respond enthusiastically and without any pre-conditions.
"Blood is thicker than water."
But I sincerely hope that this time, the charity and humanitarian efforts must not lose sight of the equally horrific disaster in Myanmar, and the sufferings of the peoples of Myanmar.
The poor masses, i.e. the "lao bai xing" 老百姓 of Myanmmar also deserve all global Chinese help and magnanimity.
It is a manifestation of us Chinese as a people thinking forward as "one world, one harmony. and one peace."
"天下為公 世界大同“
Don't you think so ? e-mail me at : edwardmliu@gmail.com
Somehow, I stop hearing "TEAM TIBET" and the Dalai Lama talking any more ? Where's "TEAM TIBET-SHANGRI-LA" and the Westerner "Eden" fanatics and zealots all of a sudden ? After all, there are many ethnic Tibetans in Sichuan province, and the victims include ethnic Tibetans in damn thar inaccessible hills?
FREE TIBET ? FREE MARIJUANA ?
How about SAVE TIBETANS? SAVE SICHUAN, Dude ? And SAVE MYANMAR !
In Myanmar and in Sichuan and elsewhere in Central China, massive rescue efforts are being undertaken to save lives first and foremost. I am pleased to report that there is humanity in common peoples, above and beyond governments, and mau mau protesters. These are the doers not talkers.
Special note is made on some real genuine buddhists, not the protesting "mau mau" "shit-disturbing" types. It is the genuine sincere humanitarian work of 慈濟基金會, the Tzu Chi Foundation .
Te Tzu Chi Buddhists,慈濟基金會, originally started from Taiwan, have now spread their non-governmental charitable work throughout the globe, in their unconditional charitable work, free of politics and politization, strictly humanitarian and compassion. They have worked very tirelessly to relieve pain and suffering. Our kudos to Tzu Chi 慈濟基金會 and their charitable work; they have initiated work quietly to provide succor to all victims of the natural calamities, including Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Myanmar, and no Sichuan Province, China, check them out by clicking:
http://www.us.tzuchi.org/usa/home.nsf/home/index
And Xinhua News, China's premier news source, has risen to the occasion to provide breath-taking up to the minute fresh accounts of the efforts being mobilized and devoted to rescue and save lives.
But further, outside of the epicenter of the earthquake, the support from the descendants of the Yellow Emperor has been overwhelming.
Spatium Trientis has been keeping abreast with the stirrings inside and outside of China, not from government(s), but from the ethnic Chinese inside and globally, organizing and mobilizing to provide aid, relief and succor. Consider what
is happening in China in terms of aid relief efforts, as reported by Xinhua:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/14/content_8170688.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/14/content_8171571.htm
"Blood is thicker than water." yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙 are pouring their support all over the globe.
The massive outpouring of charity and magnanimous contributions from the ethnic Chinese yan huang zi sun 炎黄子孙, outside of China in the overseas Diaspora, as well as from HKG, Macau, and Taiwan, have been massive, quick, and amazingly unconditional.
I wished that their charity and hearts would extend further out also to all victims of the recent natural catastrophes, especially Myanmar. Peoples of Myanmar must not be forgotten. And they are still digging out from their devastation left after the horrific cyclone.
Click on for some updates on the massive relief aid effort. Wall Street Journal reported on the outpouring from HKG and MACAU. Taiwan is also mobilizing.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/05/14/charity-begins-at-home/
In the San Francisco Bay area, both local ethnic Chinese newspapers, the Sing Tao and the World Journal have also joined in the fund-raising relief aid efforts with their own mobilization campaign.
Our local mainstream English newspaper, the SF Chronicle also reported on the mobilization effort by the Sichuan province Chinese now living in the Bay Area and their outpouring of aid and relief support.
Read up on the San Francisco Chronicle report on just one local community in America, namely, San Francisco, is doing to mobilize to provide relief :
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/14/MNQC10LKO0.DTL
In San Francisco Chinatown, ethnic Chinese community groups, including the Chinese American Association of Commerce, and the Chinese Six Companies are also mobilizing to raise relief funds. That effort is being echoed all throughout over 150 San Francisco Bay Area ethnic Chinese community groups, from all walks of life, different countries of origins, backgrounds, professions, family and clan associations...... all ethnic Chinese overseas.
Even, San Francisco Chinatown Salvation Army has also mobilized to lend relief aid support; in addition to the San Francisco Bay Area Red Cross. Also, consider an NGO such as "Give2Asia."
http://www.give2asia.org/page12020.cfm?CFID=14963300&CFTOKEN=61734785
But when it comes time to quietly lend a hand in funds and relief aid, it is always the ethnic Chinese overseas, globally, and in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and all throughout Southeast Asia, Australasian, North America, Latin America, and Europe who respond enthusiastically and without any pre-conditions.
"Blood is thicker than water."
But I sincerely hope that this time, the charity and humanitarian efforts must not lose sight of the equally horrific disaster in Myanmar, and the sufferings of the peoples of Myanmar.
The poor masses, i.e. the "lao bai xing" 老百姓 of Myanmmar also deserve all global Chinese help and magnanimity.
It is a manifestation of us Chinese as a people thinking forward as "one world, one harmony. and one peace."
"天下為公 世界大同“
Don't you think so ? e-mail me at : edwardmliu@gmail.com
Somehow, I stop hearing "TEAM TIBET" and the Dalai Lama talking any more ? Where's "TEAM TIBET-SHANGRI-LA" and the Westerner "Eden" fanatics and zealots all of a sudden ? After all, there are many ethnic Tibetans in Sichuan province, and the victims include ethnic Tibetans in damn thar inaccessible hills?
FREE TIBET ? FREE MARIJUANA ?
How about SAVE TIBETANS? SAVE SICHUAN, Dude ? And SAVE MYANMAR !
The Sichuan Earthquake rescue and relief efforts show China's quantum leap in a more open society with savvier citizenry feedback especially by youths
Here's a critique from the International Herald Tribune:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/13/asia/response.php
Xinhua News, China's official news, is moving very fast in providing updated news to keep the public informed and apprised.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121068752691788385.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Blogging and blogsites among netizens and microbloggers using sites like Tianya, and video live-feed have changed the nature,scope, and breath of news and information flows. Click on:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/category/earthquake/
Here's what Li Yuan, a former Xinhua editor and foreign correspondent, now a Wall Street Journal staff member, wrote in her column, about the change in coverage and how China's officials are handling the earthquake rescue and relief efforts:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121071387507389525.html?mod=2_1575_leftbox
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/13/asia/response.php
Xinhua News, China's official news, is moving very fast in providing updated news to keep the public informed and apprised.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121068752691788385.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Blogging and blogsites among netizens and microbloggers using sites like Tianya, and video live-feed have changed the nature,scope, and breath of news and information flows. Click on:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/category/earthquake/
Here's what Li Yuan, a former Xinhua editor and foreign correspondent, now a Wall Street Journal staff member, wrote in her column, about the change in coverage and how China's officials are handling the earthquake rescue and relief efforts:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121071387507389525.html?mod=2_1575_leftbox
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Jia You 加油 ! Reaching for the "Impossible Dream" - a Successful Beijing Olympics 08/08/08, against all odds, despite adversity
How much more powerful can you move the spirits than through the power of song, especially from a Filipino youngster, who can sing. A proud fellow Asian who can use the power of song to move people.
Spatium Trientis is mesmerized by the powerful voices of our Filipino singers, especially in this very timely and poignant song, "The Impossible Dream," to cheer all the peoples of China to jia you ! 加油 jia you ! 加油 jia you 加油 !
Don't let natural calamities drag China and its spirits down. In times like this, cool down, and let some good music soothe the pain.
Listen to a Filipino teenage male singer, Jed Madala, cheer all of us up with his "Impossible Dream" sung with passion and commitment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx4ST7-8co4&NR=1
And listen again to Charise Pempengco, the Filipina Singer with a powerful voice, singing "You Will Never Walk Alone" dedicated to the victims of the Myanmar and the Sichuan Eearthquake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyIkvQ7-yBQ&feature=related
Take a break.
Spatium Trientis is mesmerized by the powerful voices of our Filipino singers, especially in this very timely and poignant song, "The Impossible Dream," to cheer all the peoples of China to jia you ! 加油 jia you ! 加油 jia you 加油 !
Don't let natural calamities drag China and its spirits down. In times like this, cool down, and let some good music soothe the pain.
Listen to a Filipino teenage male singer, Jed Madala, cheer all of us up with his "Impossible Dream" sung with passion and commitment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx4ST7-8co4&NR=1
And listen again to Charise Pempengco, the Filipina Singer with a powerful voice, singing "You Will Never Walk Alone" dedicated to the victims of the Myanmar and the Sichuan Eearthquake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyIkvQ7-yBQ&feature=related
Take a break.
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