Imelda Marcos Has A New Pair Of Walking Shoes

You remember Imelda Marcos the wife of former Philippines Dictator Ferdinand Marcos who once owned 1,220 pairs shoes. After being thrown out of office lived in Hawaii until returning to Manila. So what is Imelda up to now?
Running for Congress
No that is not a joke. She is doing this so that she can restore the "Good Name" of her husband Ferdinand. Considering that he obtained wealth through corruption, kick-backs and illegal contracts. His government ruled through the military.

To most people, the reign of Ferdinand Marcos, the former Philippines dictator, is synonymous with rampant corruption and the brutal suppression of dissent. But not to his widow, Imelda, who kissed Marcos's glass casket yesterday as she launched an unexpected bid for a congressional seat in national elections to be held on 10 May.

"He was our best ever president," declared the flamboyant 80-year-old, resplendent in tangerine blouse and matching trousers, set off by jade and diamond jewellery. "During his time, we had territorial integrity, freedom, justice and human rights. Whatever else people may say, those were the best times ever for the Philippines."

If she wins the shoe shopping will commence.

South Korean Navel Vessel Sunk

The demarcation line between North and South Korea in the West Sea has always been disputed with both nations claiming a group of small islands which are divided by the internationality recognized border. Over the years there have been numerous naval engagements involving these islands with deaths on both sides.

South Korea is investigating whether a naval ship sinking off the west coast of the peninsula was hit by a torpedo fired by the North.

The 1,500-ton vessel, which had more than 100 people on board, started sinking between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time (8 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET) near the island of Baengnyeong in the Yellow Sea. There were unconfirmed reports it had already sunk.

This incident comes just one day after the North Korean government had issued threats against the United States and South Korea for making contingency plans in the case of a crises or the collapse of the North Korean government.

U.S. Senate Hearing On North Korea Falls To Temper Tantrum

North Korea has always been a security concern for the countries in Northeast Asia and the United States since the Armistice ending the Korean was signed at Panmunjom in 1953. With no formal Peace Treaty the governments of South Korea and the United States reached agreement on a joint Defense Treaty thereby allowing the U.S. military to station troops in the South at a level commiserate with its security needs. At present there are an estimated 28,000 troops on the ground down from a Cold War high of 38,000.
In the intervening years sign the secession of hostilities the North has made threats of all manner and shape. At times those threat have become all to real. Capitan Author Bonifas stationed at the Joint Security Area which separates North and South Korea was killed when he a small force went to trim a tree branch for which they had permission. Capt. Bonifas and another U.S. service member were killed after being attacked by North Korean soldiers.

In 1996 the North landed a three person special operations reconnaissance team on the shores near Gangneung. Their mission was to gather intelligence on nearby Navel installations and return. That never happened. Instead the reconnaissance team the crew of the submarine which brought them to South Korea abandoned ship and attempted to escape back to North Korea its believed only one made it.

There have been many other such incidents most involving both nations Navel forces mainly in what the Koreans call the West Sea.

North Korea has had an operating nuclear reactor since 1967 with a second reactor completed in 1972 which were of Russian design giving North Korea the ability to produce weapons grade plutonium even though that wasn't its original design function. There had always been suspicion that North Korea had produce this weapons grade material. 1993 proved to be watershed year when the North Korean government announced it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signalling to the world that their suspicions about the Norths nuclear were true. In the ensuing years a deal was negotiated between the Korea's and the United States which became known as the Agreed Frame Work providing for the construction of a nuclear reactor which produced electricity but incapable of producing weapons grade material. That agreement fell apart in January of 2002 after George W. Bush gave his Axis of Evil speech. Since then North Korea has tested two nuclear devices. Even after the Six Party Talks involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. attempt to reign in North Korea's nuclear program it ended in failure.

So this week a Senate committee was scheduled to hold hearing on North Korea those scheduled to testify included the Commander of U.S. Forces in Hawaii and the Commander of U.S. Forces Korea. Those hearings never took place as Republican Senators using a little known rule which requires unanimous consent of the its members to hold hearings after the conclusion of the Senates business. So these two commanders who had literally flown great distances to testify were unable too because the Republicans are acting like Little Emperors.

North Korea is an unstable and unpredictable country which has the ability to produce nuclear weapons and is completely paranoid about the outside world why would anyone cancel a hearing involving security on the Korean peninsula.

Because they lost the Health Care Reform fight.

North Korea Executes A Scape Goat

In November of 2009 North Korea decided to revalue its currency and what most experts believed was an effort to reign in free enterprise and the black market. What ensued was almost a complete lost of wealth not only by those involved in private markets but anyone who had any kind of savings. Why? Because the government regulated the amount that could be exchanged making the rest worthless. Given that North Korea's economy has basically collapsed there were demonstrations against the new policy. Something which has never been seen before.

As North Korea is an authoritarian dictatorship someone had to take the blame for a failed policy constructed by Kim-Jong Il. One must remember that Kim is quite paranoid about what information the citizens of North Korea have access to. Many believe the currency revaluation was done to destroy the North's small but fledgling free market experiment because it allowed open trade with China and people could view for themselves the positive changes the program brought those willing to participate.

Pak Nam-ki is your Scape Goat

North Korea has executed a ruling party official blamed for the botched currency reform last November which led to runaway inflation and threatened new food shortages, in what is an attempt to contain civil unrest.

Pak Nam-ki, the 77-year-old head of planning and finance, was executed by firing squad in Pyongyang last week according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Mr Pak, who had been purged in January, was executed for "deliberately ruining the national economy" as a "son of a big landowner," Yonhap reported.

Google May Have Ended Censorship In China

According to news reports Google may have removed filters from its internet search engine in China. If true, with Google's high profile it could increase pressure on the Chinese government to remove what is known as the Great Fire Wall. However, given the governments desire to keep its citizens ignorant of the outside world a further crackdown on internet use could be forthcoming.
I say may have because its impossible to know from here in Japan as internet access is not restricted

BEIJING - Web sites dealing with subjects such as the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, Tibet and regional independence movements could all be accessed through Google's Chinese search engine Tuesday, after the company said it would no longer abide by Beijing's censorship rules.

Despite a report in the China Daily that Google China was still filtering content on its search engine and the firm's own insistence that its policies had not changed, people in Beijing found that it wasn't necessarily the case.

NBC News, using the publicly accessible Internet, tried searching for three sensitive topics normally blocked in China.

Japan Arrests Anti-Whaling Activist

Japan conducts whale research each winter in the Southern Ocean when in fact Japan is using a Loop Hole to conduct commercial whaling. Over the years various environmental groups have staged protests attempting to halt the practice. In last few years Sea Shepard an anti-whaling group has used ships, laser pointers and the throwing of rancid butter at the ships crew.

During Japans most recent hunt one of its ships the Shonan Maru 2 rammed the Sea Shepard vessel Addy Gil during a confrontation causing the ship to sink. On February 15 Peter Bethune captain of the Addy Gil boarded the Shonan Maru 2 in an attempt to make a citizens arrest of its captain over the ships sinking. Captain Bethune was detained by the ships crew which immediately set sail for Japan where the captain was arrested by the Japanese Coast Guard.

Under Japanese Law a person can be detained for 23 days without charge and can be questioned without a lawyer present. All of which can be used against the accused at trial.
Don't think for a moment that any trail conducted in Japan won't be nothing but show as the Sea Shepard group has embarrassed the Japanese government with its activities.

Around Asia

I'm sure the lines are forming

The place where the body of Pol Pot, the former Khmer Rouge leader, was unceremoniously burned in a pile of rubbish is set to be the latest location from Cambodia's dark recent history to be transformed into a tourist spot.

In a controversial move that underlines the increasing allure of the country's genocidal history and the importance of tourists to Cambodia's coffers, the government has decided to "preserve and develop" Anlong Veng. The jungle town in the far north of the country was the last stronghold of the rebel movement responsible for the deaths of up to 2 million people. In a statement, the authorities in Phnom Penh said the town will be transformed into a "historic tourism site for national and international guests to visit and understand the last political leadership of the genocidal regime".

Making money off of a War Criminal

Rural Internet

India is to embark on an ambitious scheme to provide all its 630,000 villages, no matter how remote, with broadband internet access.

The plan is to use the internet to improve education and health services in areas blighted by poverty and to help to bridge the cultural chasms that still separate India’s regions and castes. It would also enable the country’s outsourcing businesses, clustered in cities such as Bangalore, to serve Western clients from the most isolated hamlets.

The government-run scheme will focus initially on the northeast, an area in the grip of several insurgent battles, as well as the poorest tribal and border regions, which often lack reliable mobile telephone coverage, let alone the internet.

Bringing information and education to those most in need

Out smarted

The government intends to impose rules on Internet users, but these attempts could be rendered irrelevant as the Web goes mobile.

Since last year, Korean users have been required to make verifiable real-name registrations when leaving comments or posting files on Web sites with more than 100,000 daily visitors, as part of the government's steps to curb cyber-bullying and libelous claims on the Internet.

However, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is finding it difficult to enforce the same regulations on the mobile Internet, which looks to be on the verge of exploding due to the popularity of the Apple iPhone and other smartphone models.

By the Smartphone

Who needs a Tropical Paradise?

For someone who has become accustomed to the convenience of the omnipresent vending machine in Japan, trying to get something to drink after the cafes and supermarkets have closed in France can be a nightmare.

Most likely you will find yourself giving up the search thirstier than when you started.

The reason being there are no vending machines on the streets. If one were to set up a vending machine, chances are that before serving anyone, the device would soon be destroyed and the merchandise inside stolen, I am told.

When you can have Vending Machine Paradise

Uh that Smell

An intensive care paramedic and three ambulance crews met a Jetstar flight on arrival in Queensland this morning after six passengers fell ill on board.

Ambulance officers assessed the passengers, who complained of nausea and headaches, during the Brisbane-to-Mackay flight.

Four cabin crew were also checked after they reported feeling off-colour.

Flight JQ882, with 182 passengers on aboard, landed after 8am this morning.

Can't you Smell that Smell

Korea Where Teachers Can't Speak Freely

Many rights are enshrined in the Constitution of Korea one of which is Free Speech yet because there is a National Security Law which allows the government to decree almost by fiat any cause, organization and right which in all its paranoia believes threatens its power to be illegal. Its the 21 century and Korea is a Republic, so why is the government attacking 15 union teachers for criticizing the government and willing to prosecute Kim Sang-gon, the 60-year-old top educator of Gyeonggi Province for his refusal to discipline them for exercising their Constitutional Right of Free Speech. One of the prosecutions main arguments is that teachers are role models for their students and thus they shouldn't have the right to speak out. Teachers are indeed role models for their students and when in their private time they feel compelled to point out the foibles of government which is a right given them they shouldn't remain silent. In speaking out as citizens and not as teachers they are being exemplary role models. Students need to understand these rights and know that when a miscarriage or abuse of their legal rights has taken place speaking in defense of these rights is an acceptable form of redress.

What the Public Prosecutor is doing isn't protecting the students but showing them that governments no matter their political ideology will subvert the rights of its citizens for questioning or criticizing policies they disagree with.

LDP Leader Rewrites History

Sadakazu Tanigaki the Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party has taken a page of America's Conservatives and decided to reinterpret or rewrite history. Recently Tanigaki remarked that the Democratic Party of Japan was guiding the nation towards a Fascist one party state. Now I don't know what his fascination with that particular political philosophy is? Because this not the first time he's used that analogy.

That said Mr. Tanigaki's party ruled Japan for more than fifty years. Japan wasn't a multi-party state as Mr. Tanigaki seems to believe it was a one party state ruled by the Liberal Democrats. Usually one party states are associated with varying forms of authoritarian rule: Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar are a few examples of this. However there are examples of supposed nations founded on the principle of governance through electoral politics that were and are one party states: Mexico from 1929 to 2000 under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional or PRI) , Singapore since independence under the Peoples Action Party, Germany from the end of World War II until 1982 under the Christian Democratic Union and Malaysia under the United Malays National Organisation still in power today.
So, Sadakazu Tanigaki Super Genius decides that his parties more than fifty years of rule never happened. As mentioned this isn't the first time that the Sara Palin of Japan has made reference to Fascist and the Democratic Party of Japan. In November after Yukio Hatayama had given his first speech before the Diet Tanigaki somehow in all his George W. Bush brilliance extrapolated that speech into comparisons with Hitler and the speech's he gave at meetings of the Hitler Youth. Its simply amazing that this person is the leader of anything other the Cat Herding Association.

Clear Thinking AT Its Best

Everyone knows about the Great Firewall of China and its ability to keep information from its citizens yet someone might think they could have a basic understanding of certain issues.

Mr Yao, 29, who plays for the Houston Rockets NBA team, has returned to the United States with his wife ahead of the birth of their child, which is reportedly due in July.
The unborn child has already captured the public imagination in China, with fans trying to guess how tall he or she will eventually grow to be.
Both Mr Yao, 7'4" tall, and his wife Ye Li, 6'2", are basketball players. Both of Mr Yao's parents were also basketball players. "This child will be a third generation basketball star!" wrote one anonymous commentator on a Chinese internet forum, with relish.

Its true that any child born in the United States does automatically become an American citizen however that doesn't mean the child wouldn't be a Chinese citizen. as the child clearly would be. Additionally it the child born is a boy he would have to decide at 18 which country he would be a citizen of because all males aged 18 to 24 must register for the military draft. It just goes so show you how much fear, paranoia, bias and xenophobia exists in China.