Late Night Karaoke

HAPPY NEW YEARS
From The Land Of The Rising Sun

North Korean Workers In Shanghai (上海)

This is an article about a group of North Korean workers who came to Shanghai for training. I'm nether the author nor the translator of this material from the Chinese to English. This gives one a brief but insightful look at North Korean citizens.

I work for a German-owned company in Shanghai. I spent three months recently with 10 North Koreans. Now that they have returned to their country, I think it is necessary to write down my experience with them, and share with readers what little we know about this mysterious country.

North Korea bought some German equipments from a third country. The reason that they had to buy from a third country is because Germany like all other western countries, forbids the export of high-tech equipments to North Korea. But the manufacturer wants to make the money, so they found a way to sell the equipment through a country in Africa. The Germans agreed to train the workers to operate the equipments for free. Because a German company in Shanghai bought the same equipments, they decided to train the North Koreans in Shanghai, at the site of that German company. A contract was signed between the two German companies and the Shanghai company will train the North Koreans. Because I work in the HR department in this Shanghai company, my boss decided that I would be responsible for their living arrangements. Technical training was the responsibility of Mr. Lin, head of the workshop. The German boss took this task very seriously, and hired an ethnic Korean Chinese, Miss Kim, from a (South) Korean company as a translator.

The 10 workers arrived in Shanghai by train from Shenyang (a large city in Manchuria). Miss Kim and I went to pick them up at the train station. They were 7 men and 3 women, all wearing dark blue suits with dark red ties, identical Kim picture buttons on their left chests, and identical black suitcases. Suits didn't seem to be wool but rather mixed polyester and wool material, and seemed wrinkled. After twenty plus hours on the train, even though they had the soft sleeper compartments, they all seemed exhausted. So the first impression was a group of out-of-place people wearing out-of-style suits. Leaving the train station the company bus took us to a mid-scale hotel. In the lobby of the hotel, we introduced to each other through the translation of Miss Kim. Their team leader is a middle-aged man, Mr. Lee. Because there were odd numbers of men and women, and all rooms were double rooms, so my first questions was whether there were married couples in the group. This made them all break their seriousness and smile a little. No, no couples. So we asked for 6 rooms, the team leader and one of the girls each occupied a room by themselves. If needed, Miss Kim would stay with the girl. I briefly taught them how to use the room card, telephone, and the places for breakfast and dinner. I also told them that they can eat anything in the refrigerator, and that the final bill would be paid by the Germans. Before leaving, I called the boss using my cell phone to tell him that everything went fine. As I was talking, all eyes stared at the cell phone in my hand. They are really curious.

Next day they started to work in the workshop. I discovered that the team leader was not a trainee. His job was to watch his team members all the time, never leaving them alone. I left them with the head of the workshop, but Miss Kim had to stay with them. Lunch was the same fast food as all other employees, and there was fruits after the lunch.

At the end of the day, I went to the workshop again, and rode with them back to the hotel on the company bus. This was a big bus that had 40+ people on it. It was the company bus that took employees from the suburbs to work and back. It was filled up after we got on. The bus first detoured to their hotel and continued after letting them off. Their part of the ride was less than 10 minutes. As we waited for dinner time, I asked the team leader whether he had any requests or problems with our arrangements. He made several suggestions. First was to remove all phones from the rooms except his room. He said that was to prevent the workers to make unnecessary phone calls to incur additional expense. Second he wanted to remove all channels on the TV except for two Central TV channels (one for music and one for sports), so that the workers could rest better. Third he wanted to reserve the front two rows on the bus so that they could sit together. These were easy to satisfy so I immediately called the front desk of the hotel and made the arrangements. As I was talking to the hotel staff, I was told that they ate a lot. Both breakfast and dinner were buffets, and the ten of them ate more than 30 Chinese would eat. In addition, the hotel staff couldn't keep up with the rate they were consuming the cold drinks in the refrigerators.

Nine workers each was trained on a different post, and each had a Chinese master to teach and show them how to operate the machine. The tenth person just wondered around from one post to another. Miss Kim was also working between these nine posts. Because most of the time they were following the motions instead of talking, one translator was enough. My job also seemed to have become easier.

But then a series of things happened.

Two of the posts needed to use computers. As time went, the trainees started to know how to use the computers. One day the team leader saw a worker looking at some pictures on the computer during the break time. He got very angry, and through Miss Kim, demanded that the computer be removed, and the job be done by hand instead, that is, to compute the amount of the material added by hand, because in their country they don't use computers. The master asked the boss, and got a no reply. The team leader was told that the computers were not connected to the internet so that there wouldn't be anything offensive to North Korea on the computers. Then the team leader asked with some skepticism, why were there pictures on the computer? The master was speechless. Turned out he downloaded them from his own mp3, which was against the company rules. Of course everyone did it and as long as it didn't affect the job, no one paid attention. But this time the management couldn't look the other way, and the master was demoted. He was unhappy and just a few days later he got a job in another company. As the master left, the North Korean worker felt very sorry and asked Miss Kim whether the master would be arrested and that he felt responsible for it. Miss Kim laughed and said, he only violated the company rules, didn't break any law, so he wouldn't be arrested. We are free here. He will go to work in another company tomorrow. The North Korean was very puzzled. He didn't understand why it was so easy to change the job in China.

After the computer incident, it was the library incident. A very hard working North Korean girl was always asking questions on her post. Of course they were technical questions. Many questions even the master couldn't answer, so he asked the head of the workshop, Mr. Lin, an engineer. Mr. Lin explained to her in detail, and told her that she could find additional materials in Shanghai Library, and that he would take her there to get the materials. So this girl actually studied English in North Korea. She asked and got the permission from the team leader but the team leader demanded that he went with them. On Saturday the girl, Miss Kim, and the team leader rode on a car provided by the company for Shanghai Library. Mr. Lin was to meet them midway from his home. Shanghai Library was near several foreign consulates. The car stopped at the American Consulate in Shanghai, when the team leader screamed don't stop! Everyone was wondering what happened. The team leader shouted, why are we at the American Consulate? The driver was puzzled, said that they would wait for Mr. Lin and then go to the library together. At this time Mr. Lin got on the car. The team leader asked how far away is the library? The driver said it's not far, about a few minutes away by walking. The team leader said let's go back to the hotel. The engineer (Mr. Lin) got angry. He shouted, you agreed to come, but now we're halfway there and you want to go back. You have to give reason. Don't treat us like fools. The team leader soften his voice and said, I'm sorry, it's our government's rule that all travelers must stay away from foreign embassies, especially American and Southern reactionary embassies. So we must go back. Mr. Lin had no choice but to get off the car, and let the rest of them return to the hotel. They never went to the library.

Because the weekend had two days off, each Saturday and Sunday they could only stay in their rooms watching TV and could not go out. But there were only two channels to watch, so they were very bored. Miss Kim suggested that she could take them to visit some tourist sites in Shanghai. The team leader agreed but asked for a list of the sites and their descriptions. Miss Kim suggested Yuyuan Park, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Bund, the museum of the first congress of Chinese Communist Party, and Nanking Pedestrian Street. The team leader crossed out the museum, and agreed to all other sites. The company hired a mini bus, and I went along. All tickets were paid by the company. The first stop was the Oriental Pearl Tower. In the elevator up, one of them asked how many stories the next building had. I said it had more than 80 stories. Then they asked whether it was the tallest building in China. I said the tallest was in Taiwan. This was the tallest in Shanghai. But we were building a taller one and very soon the tallest building in China would be in Shanghai. Everyone loved the Yuyuan Park. We had lunch at the Nanxiang Dumpling Shop as planned and didn't have to queue because we had made reservations. Then we took pictures on the Bund, with the Oriental Pearl Tower in the background. A dramatic scene happened when we arrived at the Nanjing Pedestrian Street. The colorful signs, busy crowd, fashionable dresses of the people, all stunned the visitors. The team leader was looking at the scene but also keeping a watch on his team member. Finally when we stopped under a big advertisement for lingerie, the team leader shouted in Korean towards a work who was staring at the sign to stop, and said to Miss Kim that they should not look at the revisionist things any more, and should immediately return to the hotel. Miss Kim had learned the lesson from the library incident, and immediately led the group back the way they came, and called the bus driver to pick them up at the end of the pedestrian street. Despite the unhapppy ending, everyone was quite happy.

There were a few smokers among the trainees. When they ran out of cigarettes, the team leader allowed them to buy things from the little corner store across from the hotel, but disallowed them to go to the supermarket. Perhaps in his view, supermarket was capitalist. He also ordered his team members that they could only buy articles for use but not books, newspapers or magazines. So they went to the corner stores frequently, in addition to cigarettes, they also bought noodles, ramen, crackers, sausages, and bacon. It was beyond their imagination that they could buy all that stuff from a small corner store. In fact, the store had not sold bacon before, but when one of them asked for it, the next day the store carried bacon. It was obvious that the store owner liked these customers. The three women, they bought hygiene products but didn't know how to use them. Miss Kim taught them how to use them.

There were also a lot of little things that worth mentioning. Each of them had a mechanical watch, made in North Korea. They were very proud of their watches. But then they found out that in China most people didn't wear watches, only children had digital watches. They discovered that people used cell phones as watches. I already mentioned that they showed special curiosity to cell phones. They were quite surprised that everyone had a cell phone, even the cleaning lady had one.

When they learned that many of the company employees were from rural areas far away, and were hired without any paperwork from the local government, and that they all found their jobs by themselves after seeing the for-hire ads, they were shocked. They also saw beggars, and asked the masters why the beggars were not arrested. The answer was that begging was not against the law.

Three months passed, and it was time for their return to North Korea. Miss Kim and I sent them to the train station. The tickets were also paid for by the company. Unlike the identical black suitcases when they came, now each of them (including the team leader) had bags and bags of luggage, almost all foods. They have spent nearly their entire stipend here on these foods to bring back. To enter the station we must go through the security check. As the luggage went through the scanner, one of the bags had a problem. The security asked to see the content of the bag, a young man among them opened it, and in it had hundreds of cigarette lighters. These are forbidden to carry on a train, and there was only an hour before the train left. What do we do? I asked him how many there were. He said, very accurately, two hundred and thirty six. I took two hundred forty yuan and handed to him, and took the bag. He thanked me continuously. I do not smoke. Even if I did I wouldn't need that many lighers. But I knew that they had very little stipend and had almost no chance to come out of their country even for once. Two hundred yuan would let him to buy some more food in Shenyang at the next station. With the cigarette lighters I couldn't enter the train station. Before I turned around, I took a handful of lighters, about six or seven, and stuffed them into his pocket.

Then the team leader came to me, with translation by Miss Kim, he thanked me for helping them finish the task without incidents. They had 10 people when they came, and now they still had 10 people. There is only one transfer station in Shenyang, and hopefully no one would escape there.

I also finished my task, a task that was a little funny and a little sad.

After that, whenever I met someone who smoked, I would give him a lighter. It took me more than a year to give out all the lighters

Six In The Morning

I'm Not A Witch I'm You

And, I'm Under Investigation
Reporting from Baltimore —Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect the identity of a client who has been questioned as part of the investigation. The case, which has been assigned to two federal prosecutors and two FBI agents in Delaware, has not been brought before a grand jury.

When One Plays One Ethnic Group Against Each Other Through The Mass Media

Genocide Happens
Cote d'Ivoire is "on the brink of genocide," according to the country's new UN ambassador appointed by Alassane Ouattara, who is viewed by the UN, European Union, US and African Union as the winner over incumbent Laurent Gbagbo following last month's presidential election.

Youssoufou Bamba made the remarks after presenting his credentials to Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, on Wednesday, making him the first Ouattara government envoy to assume a diplomatic post since the November 28 poll.

Bamba warned that the tug-of-war over the presidency was pushing the West African country to "the brink of genocide".

"The situation is very serious," Bamba, 60, told journalists after meeting with Ban in New York.

"Houses have been marked according to your tribe. What will be next? Something should be done."

“Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away.”

“Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day,”
PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne’s Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved.
That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap.

In the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages have raced here, transforming this small prairie-bound city not far from the Oklahoma border for a brief time into a center of nostalgia for the days when photographs appeared not in the sterile frame of a computer screen or in a pack of flimsy prints from the local drugstore but in the warm glow of a projector pulling an image from a carousel of vivid slides.

Religious Intolerance

I'm Sure Your Just "Shocked"
A LETTER signed by 27 prominent Israeli rabbis’ wives calls on Jewish girls not to go out with Arabs or work in places where Arabs are employed.

The letter states: “There are quite a few Arab workers who give themselves Hebrew names. Yussef turns into Yossi, Samir turns into Sami, and Abed turns into Ami.

“They ask to be close to you, try to find favour with you, and give you all the attention in world. They know how to act with courtesy, as if they really care for you, but their behaviour is only temporary.

Are You Kidding Me?

He Has A Serious Side
Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine. In America's angriest political landscape in living memory, where bickering lawmakers pursue self interest ahead of the public good and the corridors of power resound to the word "no", one public figure proved this week that he stands alone in his capacity to get things done. He is Jon Stewart: comedian, host of The Daily Show and the country's unofficial satirist-in-chief.

Two months after enticing roughly a quarter of a million people to his "Rally to Restore Sanity", and a month after a poll pegged him as the "most trusted figure" in TV news, Stewart, 48, has successfully concluded a campaign to steer a piece of legislation called the James Zadroga Act through the US Senate. In doing so, he scored a signal victory against Republican members of the highest legislative body of the most powerful nation on earth.

We Don't Believe Your lying Eyes Or Your Words Either

What Was That You Said?

An activist decapitated, a journalist killed, a lawyer beaten, a magazine closed and an embarrassing legal case mysteriously settled out of court. In the past few days China's netizens have dug their claws into a smorgasbord of crimes and controversies in which the only constant is a reluctance to believe the official version of events.

Such is the scale of the trust deficit and the power of online opinion that police took the remarkable step today of welcoming citizen investigators to help investiagte one of China's most high-profile cases.

Following a huge internet outcry, they will look into the grisly death of Qian Yunhui, a villager whose neck was severed by the wheels of a truck on a quiet rural road in Xinyi, Zhejiang province, on Saturday.

Henry Kissinger Is Not A Person To Respect

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has been in the news recently over comments he made about the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel in conversations he had with then President Richard Nixon. These conversations which are part of the Nixon White House tapes were released earlier this month.

He tells Nixon that the “emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”

Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize yet he is far from being a man of peace or a humanitarian. He has a long record of Human Rights abuses spanning the globe beginning with his role as National Security Advisor through his tenure as Secretary of State.

Bangladesh In 1971, Bangladesh, which was at the time East Pakistan, declared its independence from Pakistan. The Pakistani military responded with a brutal military campaign that included massive killings and the estimated systematic raping of nearly 200,000 Bangladeshi women. When Daka Consul General Archer Blood and other American diplomatic staff began to protest the Pakistani army’s behavior to Washington, Nixon and Kissinger had him dismissed. During the height of the atrocities, Kissinger sent a message to Pakistan General Yahya Khan, congratulating him on his “delicacy and tact” in his military campaigns in Bangladesh. When Kissinger received word that massive famines were going to spring up in the country in 1971, he warned USAID to try to avoid helping, saying that Bangladesh was “not necessarily our basket case.” Soon after becoming secretary of state, Kissinger downgraded the American diplomatic staff who had signed onto a protest of Pakistani atrocities in 1971.

Cambodia: Kissinger was one of the chief masterminds of the Nixon administration’s secret and illegal bombing campaign of Cambodia — he wanted the bombing of “anything that flies, on anything that moves” and warned that it must be secretly done to avoid congressional scrutiny — the extent of which was not discovered until President Bill Clinton declassified related documents in 2000. By the end of the American bombing campaign of Cambodia, the country was perhaps the “most heavily bombed country in history.” The bombings killed more than a half a million people, and were a major factor in the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge.

Indonesia and East Timor: In 1975, President Gerald Ford and Kissinger met with Indonesian’s leader, General Suharto. During the meeting, Ford and Kissinger essentially gave “full approval” to Suharto to invade neighboring East Timor. In the resulting invasion, hundreds of thousands of Timorese civilians were massacred. Kissinger repeatedly denied that he had such conversations with Suharto, but these denials were found to be false after the declassification of government documents in 2001.

Given this appalling record of Human Rights abuses the Washington media and government establishment still fawn over Henry Kissinger believing him to be a great statesmen when he is nothing more than a thug.

Organ traffickers target Nepal’s poorest

KAVRE: Seven years ago, Nepalese farmer Madhab Parajuli faced an agonising choice: lose his small plot of farmland to mounting debts, or sell one of his kidneys to an organ trafficker.


In desperation, Parajuli accepted the trafficker’s offer of 100,000 rupees (1,400 dollars) and travelled to India to have the organ removed – a decision he now bitterly regrets.

“I didn’t get paid until we got back to Nepal, and then only around a third of what I’d been promised,” the 36-year-old told AFP in his home village of Jyamdi, around 30 miles (50 kilometres) east of the capital Kathmandu.

Wealthy Nepalese people suffering kidney diseases travel to India for the transplant operation, said Rishi Kumar Kafle, a Kathmandu doctor specialising in nephrology who is executive director of the National Kidney Center.

“In Nepal only the patient’s blood relatives and spouse are eligible for kidney donation. Therefore, those looking for a donor outside this travel to India for transplant,” he told AFP.

He said the paucity of healthcare in Nepal means kidney disease often goes undetected until it is too late, leaving the victim with a choice between expensive dialysis treatment or an illegal transplant.

Six In The Morning

Rewrite History

That Way No One Will Know The Truth
The Army'sofficial history of the battle of Wanat - one of the most intensely scrutinized engagements of the Afghan war - largely absolves top commanders of the deaths of nine U.S. soldiers and instead blames the confusing and unpredictable nature of war.
The history of the July 2008 battle was almost two years in the making and triggered a roiling debate at all levels of the Army about whether mid-level and senior battlefield commanders should be held accountable for mistakes made under the extreme duress of combat.

An initial draft of the Wanat history, which was obtained by The Washington Post and other media outlets in the summer of 2009, placed the preponderance of blame for the losses on the higher-level battalion and brigade commanders who oversaw the mission, saying they failed to provide the proper resources to the unit in Wanat.

Don' Criticize Are Kangaroo Court

We Like Are Kangaroo Court
MOSCOW HAS chided the West for criticising the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, telling it to stop meddling in a case that has fuelled major doubts about the independence of the country’s legal system.

Mr Khodorkovsky and his former partner in the now defunct Yukos oil firm, Platon Lebedev, were found guilty this week of embezzlement and money laundering, and are expected to have their current jail terms extended to 2017 in the coming days.
The United States, major European states and the European Union have expressed deep concern over a trial that is widely seen as part of prime minister Vladimir Putin’s drive to neutralise a man whose vast wealth and independence made him dangerous adversary.

The Party Has Been Banned

Communists Aren't Much Fun
IT WAS only a matter of time before Chinese authorities decided to shut down The Party , an achingly hip and archly outspoken magazine published by Han Han, a dashing racing car driver, sex symbol, novelist and the most popular blogger in the world.

Issue One of The Party , which has a less edgy title in Chinese – Solo Chorus – was China’s trendiest ever magazine, selling 1.5 million copies. It was characterised by beautiful calligraphy on plain brown paper, with lengthy articles and mostly monochrome pictures or the kind of washed-out colour photographs favoured by style bibles like Monocle or Wallpaper .

It is not an overtly political magazine, but the subtext questions some of the mores of contemporary Chinese society. The photos in the magazine are the kind of images of China you see more of in Western arthouse magazines.

Why Does The Right Wing Hate The Media?

They Just Might Tell Truth Which Is Just Wrong In Their Small Minds

The Hungarianshave been Europe's heroes twice in the last few decades. The way they fearlessly faced off against Soviet tanks in 1956 and fought for their ideals remains unforgotten. In 1989, they courageously opened the borders that separated Eastern Europe from freedom. And in the initial years following the fall of communism, many saw Budapest as a possible model for the successful development of a democracy and market economy. Hungary, the land of the Magyars, was also a land of hope.

But that seems long ago now. The rotating chairmanship of the European Union, which Hungary assumes on Jan. 1, will not represent the culmination of a successful story.

It's Not Enough That Their Son Or Brother Is In Jail

So We'll Jail The Rest Of The Family
Iran has arrested the family of a Kurdish student whose execution, scheduled to take place on Boxing Day, was delayed because of protests outside the prison in which he has been held for three years.

A source close to the family of Habibollah Latifi, 29, a student activist, said his parents and his three brothers and three sisters were arrested on Monday night.

Human rights activists fear Iran might carry out the death penalty in secret.

You Can't Make Me Go

I Wont I Wont I Wont
A delegation of three West African presidents who met with incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo to deliver an ultimatum to step down or face force has left saying more meetings were needed.

West African presidents Boni Yayi of Benin, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde met Gbagbo on Tuesday to deliver an ultimatum from the ECOWAS regional bloc to step down as leader of the world's top cocoa grower or face removal by force.

The delegation planned to travel to Nigeria to report back to the bloc's chairman, Goodluck Jonathan.

"The chairman will negotiate a date for our return, but it would be soon," Cape Verde's president said.

The foreign minister of Gbagbo's government, Alcide Djedje, when asked about the timing of the next meeting, said it would be "around January 2."

From: The New Yorker

THE CRISIS IN A NUTSHELL: 2010, IN THEIR WORDS
Posted by Samantha Henig

“We will not stand for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid hijacking of our freedom and democracy so they can impose their socialist ‘utopia’ of higher taxes, restricted access, inferior quality, and deadly inefficiency on the best health care system in the world.” —Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee

“There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I’d like my life back.” —Tony Hayward, the former C.E.O. of BP

“We hope President Obama will now respect the will of the people, change course, and commit to making the changes they are demanding. To the extent he is willing to do this, we are ready to work with him.” —John Boehner, the next Speaker of the House


“Hasn’t [America] used the bomb? Hasn’t it stockpiled them? Who should be concerned about nuclear weapons; should they be concerned or should we?” —Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

“‘Refudiate,’ ‘misunderestimate,’ ‘wee-wee’d up.’ English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!”—Sarah Palin

This Is How "Not" To Be A Journalist

If your goal is to become a journalist please to follow the example set by this interviewer who instead of asking probing questions creates a narrative that sounds like she works for the U.S. government.

Asia Over Night

My Ego Is So Big Only I Can Confront Myself

Or: I'm A Megalomaniac
Executives of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan decided Monday to put to the vote before the Diet session starts next month whether a Lower House ethics panel should summon scandal-tainted power broker Ichiro Ozawa to testify about a political fund scandal.

On Dec. 20, Ozawa, a former DPJ president, told Prime Minister Naoto Kan he would not appear before the Lower House Deliberative Council on Political Ethics even if it voted to summon him.

A vote is not binding.

The ethics panel is expected to convene early next month.

Ozawa's defiance puts DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada in the position of having to weigh whether to have Ozawa explain his side of the story as a sworn witness before the Diet, which the opposition bloc has clamored for.

Which Kind Of Enemy Are You?

Are You The Real Enemy? The Enemy Of My Enemy Or You Want To Be My Enemy But Don't Know Where To Start
The Defense Ministry on Monday said it will describe the North Korean regime and military as an "enemy," instead of the old expression "main enemy," in its white paper 2010 due out on Thursday.

This is the first time the defense white paper has described the North Korean regime as opposed to the country as an enemy.

The white papers from 1995 to 2000 took North Korea as the "main enemy." Since 2004, they described the North as a "serious threat" or a "direct and serious threat."

Silence Is Golden Doesn't Bode Well For A Politician

Let's Face It They Never Shut-Up
The Criminal Court on Tuesday ruled not to cancel the bail of Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Promphan and imposed addition conditions barring him from taking part in a political assembly of more than five people.
The court also issued a gag order for Jatuporn to stop spreading information with repercussion on his case. Jatuporn's gag order will not apply to his speeches from the House floor.

On Monday, Department of Special Investigation director general Tharit Pengdit argued for the cancellation of Jatuporn's bail on ground of his alleged spread of false information designed to influence the investigation into his terrorism charges in connection with the riots in April and May.

Those Damn Commies They Just Can't Win

I Guess They Haven't Gotten The Word. That Whole Marxist Leninist Thing Was A Failure
PILI, CAMARINES SUR: The number of communists in the Bicol region is declining. Major Gen. Ruperto Pabustan of the Army’s Ninth Infantry Division told The Manila Times that the communist insurgency in the Bicol region is waning and has been experiencing a “natural death” during the past two years.

“Records show that the numbers of the CPP-NPA [Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army] members have been drastically reduced for the past two years. From its strength of about 520 members in January 2009, we have reduced their number by 242 thereby dwindling their strength to its lowest number of 278 regular fighters. The significant reduction of government’s enemy is attributed to 49 rebels killed, 125 surrendered, 25 captured, 39 apprehended and four arrested this year,” he said.

Six In The Morning

Yes, Republicans Are And Always Have Been Hypocritical

Earmarks Are Pork Barrel Spending So Let Us Pursue Them With Gutso
No one was more critical than Representative Mark Steven Kirk when President Obama and the Democratic majority in the Congress sought passage last year of a $787 billion spending bill intended to stimulate the economy. And during his campaign for the Illinois Senate seat once held by Mr. Obama, Mr. Kirk, a Republican, boasted of his vote against “Speaker Pelosi’s trillion-dollar stimulus plan.”
Though Mr. Kirk and other Republicans thundered against pork-barrel spending and lawmakers’ practice of designating money for special projects through earmarks, they have not shied from using a less-well-known process called lettermarking to try to direct money to projects in their home districts.
Mr. Kirk, for example, sent a letter to the Department of Education dated Sept. 10, 2009, asking it to release money “needed to support students and educational programs” in a local school district. The letter was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the group Citizens Against Government Waste, which shared it with The New York Times.

We Really Don't Want You Using Our drugs To Execute Prisoners

Especially On Those With Mental Health Issues
British diplomats have complained to the US government about a drug imported from the UK being used in the execution of death row prisoners.

Officials from the British embassy in Washington said they were "dismayed" and "very concerned" that UK-sourced sodium thiopental, a barbiturate injected to induce unconsciousness, would be used in future executions. They have also objected to its use in the execution of Jeffrey Landrigan, a death row prisoner who reportedly suffered from mental health problems.

In a letter sent to the Department of State, a copy of which has been obtained by The Independent, the British officials also warn that it would be illegal for the drug to be used again – such as in the planned execution of Edmund Zagorski in Tennessee – because the imported compound has not been officially approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

China Tells The Pope To Shut It

What Is China's Government Afraid Of? People Thinking For Themselves Or Just Jealous
WHILE THERE has been no official response from the communist government to Pope Benedict XVI’s criticism of China in his Christmas message for limiting freedom of religion, a state newspaper came out yesterday with a strongly worded editorial warning the Vatican to stop meddling in Beijing’s business.

“The pontiff sounded more like a western politician than a religious leader . . . before the pope attacks China’s internal affairs, he may want to rethink the Vatican’s so-called role as a protector of religious freedom,” said the Global Times , the English-language edition of the People’s Daily.

Imprisoned Because He Dared To Provide Healthcare to The Poor

Unlike His Government: He Remembered First Do No Harm
HUNDREDS OF human rights activists demonstrated in India’s capital, New Delhi, yesterday protesting against the harsh life sentence handed down to a highly regarded paediatrician and human rights activist on charges of aiding Maoist rebels.

For decades Binayak Sen (60) worked among tribal communities in India’s central Chhattisgarh province to rally depressed, impoverished and neglected locals to fight for their rights.

He was convicted of waging war against the state by a local court in the state capital Raipur on Christmas Eve.

We The People Really Like Our Ex-Communist Dictator

We Want More Authoritarian Rule
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was one of the first to congratulate "the great European leader" Alexander Lukashenko on his re-election, calling the Belarusian leader's country a "bastion of dignity and prosperity in the middle of a Europe agitated by the insatiable greed of transnational capital."

In his congratulatory cable, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to "yet another golden chapter of the brilliant history of the great people of Belarus."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also offered his congratulations, though with a touch of a guilty conscience. The election in Minsk, he said, was an "internal affair," characterizing Belarus as one of the countries that is "closest to Russia, regardless of its political leadership."

If Not For The Massive Ego Of This Politician There Would Not Be A Crisis

Power Is More Important Than A Stable Country
Fears of renewedfighting in Cote d'Ivoire have grown, following a threat from West African neighbours to force out Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent leader, if he does not soon heed international calls to step down from power.

West African leaders are giving Gbagbo an ultimatum this week to step aside, though he has shown no interest in doing so since the demand was made on Friday.

While doubts exist about whether the region could carry out such a military operation, Alassane Ouattara's camp remains confident that help is coming soon.

"It's not a bluff," one senior Ouattara adviser said on Monday on condition of anonymity. "The soldiers are coming much faster than anyone thinks."

Random Japan

2010 Roundup

JANUARY
Bored in space
It was reported that Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi celebrated New Year on the International Space Station with hanetsuki (hitting a shuttlecock with a battledore) and kakizome (writing the first calligraphy of the year).

It depends on your definition of “disaster”
After kicking up a national storm by claiming that “[a]dvanced medical care allows those to live who would once have been weeded out by natural selection,” the mayor of Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, lashed out at his critics via the city’s community PA system, which was set up for use during disasters.

That works out to ¥.00000000003/hr
The Diet is set to consider a bill that would provide compensation ranging from ¥250,000 to ¥1.5 million to former detainees of labor camps in Mongolia and Siberia. Some 600,000 Japanese, mostly servicemen, were thought to have been imprisoned by the Soviet Union after World War II, and approximately 100,000 are still alive.

This just in: asbestos is bad for you, too
For the first time ever, a Japanese court acknowledged that smoking causes health problems.

You hachi-go, Chad!
Attention-craving wide receiver Chad Ochocinco (né Chad Johnson) of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, who wears jersey No. 85, is considering changing his name again next season, this time going with the Japanese version: Chad Hachi Go.

FEBRUARY
Because nothing says “security” like around-the-clock surveillance
A neighborhood association coughed up ¥2.85 million to install 16 security cameras in an effort to advertise Akihabara as “a safe place that people can visit with a sense of security.”

A boost for the ladies
A Kyoto-based underwear manufacturer has begun renting high-end bras to fashion-conscious but cash-strapped women for ¥727 a month.

Apparently, the other 30 percent enjoy holding a burning mass of tobacco close to their face
A survey revealed that 70 percent of Japanese smokers in their 20s are addicted to nicotine.

Transcendental mediation
It was reported that the tech-savvy monks at Jodo-Shinshu Honganji, Japan’s largest Buddhist sect, have set up a suicide prevention hotline.

MARCH
Oh, right, “spices”…
A 31-year-old Iranian man who owns a spice trading company was busted in Osaka for being involved in a drug trafficking ring.

“Give me your tired, your geeky, your huddled masses…”
In a bid to lure international fans of Japanese subculture, the city of Kitakyushu is planning to build an “otaku complex” that will include a manga museum.

For example, you would never pet a stick
In awarding damages against a transportation company whose truck killed a seeing-eye dog, a court in Nagoya said, “Guide dogs are not just walking aids for the visually impaired and are distinctly different from walking sticks.”

Apparently, parts I and II were lighthearted romps
A new book called The Great Tokyo Air Raid: Records of Korean Victims, Part III was described as the “first comprehensive study of the damage done to Korean residents in wartime Tokyo.”

“Sorry, we can’t cure stupidity”
The newly established Consumer Affairs Agency is mulling whether to cancel an information hotline that was intended to combat a rise in food mislabeling scandals. Instead, the agency said that “two-thirds of the about 500 cases reported each week were general consultations or complaints, such as being tricked into buying an expensive item.”

I'm Pouting

Now I'm Stomping My Feet

Taking Gifts

No One Will Notice

The Cats

Made Him Angry

Kim Jong-un's Gifts Get Derailed

A train packed with birthday gifts for the North Korean leader in waiting, Kim Jong-un, derailed in a possible act of sabotage this month, a radio station in Seoul which broadcasts across the border, has reported.

Open Radio for North Korea, a non-profit station which often cites sources in the North, said the train, laden with presents including televisions and watches, came off the rails near North Korea's border with China on 11 December.

"The security service has been in an emergency situation because a train departing Sinuiju and headed for Pyongyang derailed on 11 December," the radio station quoted a source in the security service in North Phyongan province as saying. The city of Sinuiju is a trading gateway.

As his citizens starve and live in squaller this over indulgent fool has a train load of Birthday Gifts sent to him.

So How's Security In Afghanistan?

U.N. Maps Show Risks in Many Districts Have Increased Despite Troop Surge

In the October map, just as in March's, nearly all of southern Afghanistan—the focus of the coalition's military offensives—remained painted the red of "very high risk," with no noted improvements. At the same time, the green belt of "low risk" districts in northern, central and western Afghanistan shriveled.

The U.N.'s October map upgraded to "high risk" 16 previously more secure districts in Badghis, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Parwan, Baghlan, Samangan, Faryab, Laghman and Takhar provinces; only two previously "high risk" districts, one in Kunduz and one in Herat province, received a safer rating.

When you have a central government that most Afghans don't recognize and seen as corrupt my all the players in the country why should one except more security.

The assessments of the U.N. accessibility maps, based on factors such as insurgent activity, political stability, coalition operations and community acceptance, contrast with President Barack Obama's recent statements that hail the coalition's progress in the war.

"Today we can be proud that there are fewer areas under Taliban control and more Afghans have a chance to build a more hopeful future," Mr. Obama told American troops during a visit to the Bagram Air Field northeast of Kabul earlier this month.

According to preliminary statistics compiled by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, which provides advice and coordination to NGOs working in the country, the number of insurgent-initiated attacks rose 66% in 2010 from the previous year.

"The country as a whole is dramatically worse off than a year ago, both in terms of the insurgency's geographical spread and its rate of attacks," said Nic Lee, director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. "Vast amounts of the country remain insecure for the unarmed civilians, and more and more areas are becoming inaccessible."

Why is so difficult to understand this adage which is so true.
Afghanistan is the place where empires go to die

Yes, North Korea Is Isolated

North Korea is a country that thrives on contradictions, paranoia and absolute control by its authoritarian government. With this has come an isolation that almost resembles actions taken by the Japanese during the Tokugawa Shogunate which lasted until the arrival of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships begetting the Meiji Restoration dragging the country into the modern era. The difference is that one country chose to remove its self from the greater world while the other ‘North Korea’ achieved its banishment through actions taken in pursuit of government policy.

North Korea’s general population lives in abject poverty thanks to Juche (self reliance) leaving its economy near collapse it not for trade and aid from its only trading partner and political ally China. Further adding to the North’s woes is the policy of “Military First” instituted by Kim Jong-il in what North Korean experts say was a bid strengthen his hold on power.

A six-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, that ended last Tuesday offered carefully monitored glimpses of a land where reality and fantasy are routinely conflated. While there were no obvious signs of impending collapse or political intrigue swirling around the fate of North Korea’s ailing leader, the visit offered hints of why the North might be particularly eager now to resume international aid and trade.

New apartment buildings — apparently for officials — grace the city center. But the pyramid-shaped, 105-story Ryugyong Hotel remains a shell nearly 25 years after construction began. While it was recently sheathed in glass, other abandoned construction projects scar roads outside the city.
Elsewhere, especially in northern provinces, residents report that child beggars haunt street markets, families scavenge hillsides for sprouts and mushrooms and workers at state enterprises receive nominal salaries, at best. Workers in Pyongyang are said to be much better compensated.

Six In The Morning

It's A Good Thing Republicans Are Paranoid

That Way They Can Hate All Those Not Like Them
When Republican lawmakers take over the House and gain strength in the Senate after the new year, a decadelong drive to overhaul the immigration system and legalize some of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants seems all but certain to come to a halt.

When New York Republican Peter T. King takes over the House Homeland Security Committee in January, he plans to propose legislation to reverse what he calls an "obvious lack of urgency" by the Obama administration to secure the border.

Among other initiatives, King wants to see the Homeland Security Department expand a program that enlists the help of local police departments in arresting suspected illegal immigrants.

What's More Important? If A Drug Actually Works Or The Companies Profits?

The Companies Profits Of Course
French politiciansof both the right and left are facing severe embarrassment and legal recriminations with the forthcoming publication of an official report on what could become the worst health scandal in the country's history.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised "the most complete transparency" on how a drug which is now suspected to have killed up to 2,000 people was officially approved, and subsidised, for 33 years by the French health service.

Despite repeated warnings from scientists in France and abroad, the Mediator drug was prescribed to 5,000,000 French people, originally to fight diabetes and later as an appetite-suppressing, slimming pill.

Can't Afford A Home?

Here's An Usual Alternative
For 27-year-old Dong Ying, Beijing is a city of dreams. Two years ago, the sports teacher relocated from a small city in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang to the Chinese metropolis. Here, she hoped, her wishes for a more interesting life would be fulfilled.

Since then she goes from fitness club to fitness club every day, working as a trainer. She pedals, she bends and straightens and basically ensures that the affluent city residents stay in shape. To reach her students, she spends four hours each day travelling on the city's subway.

This Hit List Was Not Created By The Mafia

The Police Helped It Along
AUSTRALIAN police in Afghanistan have helped compile secret intelligence files on insurgent leaders later targeted in capture-or-kill missions by special forces soldiers.

The Pentagon has confirmed that Australian Federal Police officers are ''assigned to work with'' a joint police task force in Kabul that produces files used by military commanders to "shape the battlefield" - a term often used to describe the capture-or-kill raids mounted by elite troops in Afghanistan.

The Black Helicopters Are Coming

It's A Melt Down
GULFPORT, Miss. — The planned overthrow of the United States government ended rather prosaically this fall, with a giant pile of mashed-up trucks in a muddy scrap yard a mile or so off the Interstate.
The crew at Alter Metal Recycling has been piling up the old trucks since the summer and sending them to Alabama, for melting down and reincarnation as everything from cars to washers and dryers.

The process is pretty standard, said Troy Brooks, the yard supervisor. But these trucks were a little different.

“There were a lot of rumors flying around about them,” he said.

Don't Cry For Me India?

Maybe It's A Walla Walla Sweet

Reporting from New Delhi — There is much that divides India and its traditional rival Pakistan: families long separated by partition, divided Kashmir, fear of a fourth war between the nuclear adversaries. But when it comes to the Great Onion Crisis of 2010, grateful India has found a friend across the border.

Onion prices across India have more than doubled to as much as 90 cents a pound this month, sending shock waves through vegetable market and kitchen alike in a country where many subsist on $1 a day. Some have taken to the streets in protest bedecked in onion garlands.

"Ever Had Biriyani Without Onions?" screamed a headline in the Mid Day tabloid.

In Russia Justice Is Not Blind: It's Just Controlled By The Kremlin

Mikhail Khodorkovsky already imprisoned for Tax Evasion is now being accused of Stealing the Money he didn't pay taxes on

Mr Khodorkovsky's fate is technically in the hands of Judge Viktor Danilkin, but analysts say the decision will probably have been taken in the Kremlin.

A guilty verdict would prove that President Medvedev, who came to the power promising to end "legal nihilism", has not been able to step out of Mr Putin's shadow. An innocent verdict would demonstrate that Mr Medvedev seriously wants to be his own man – something that has appeared doubtful because his liberal words have hardly been reflected in his deeds during the two-and-a-half years of his presidency.

Even though Dmitry Medvedev is the President of Russia the real power rests with former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. With that in mind and the fact that Mr. Putin is a rather authoritarian individual how could anyone who runs afoul of Vladimir Putin except the Justice Syatem in Russia to be free and independent.

U.S. Tried To Stop Spanish Torture Investigation

Between 2003-2005 lawyers working for the U.S. Justice Department wrote a series memos outlining the justification for the use of torture in President Bush’s War on Terror. Written by Jay Baybee and Steven Bradbury the memos provided legal cover for torture of detainee’s even though U.S. law , International Conventions and Treaties which expressly outlaw these abusive measures.

These ten techniques are: (1) attention grasp, (2) walling, (3) facial hold, (4) facial slap, (5) cramped confinement, (6) wall standing, (7) stress positions, (8) sleep deprivation, (9) insects placed in confinement box, (10) the waterboard. You have informed us that the use of these techniques would be on an as-needed basis and that not all these techniques will necessarily be used. The interrogation team would use these techniques in some combination to convince Zubaydah that the only way he can influence his surrounding environment is through cooperation

Neither man has been prosecuted for these violations in the United States even though they are clear violations of laws against violations of human rights. That hasn’t prevented the Spanish judiciary from pursuing the case.

WikiLeaks: How U.S. tried to stop Spain's torture probe

Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.
Rather than a resolution, though, a senior Spanish diplomat gave the former GOP chairman and housing secretary a lesson in Spain's separation of powers. "The independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected,'' then-acting Foreign Minister Angel Lossada replied on April 15, 2009. Then for emphasis, "Lossada reiterated to Martinez that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case not affect the overall relationship.''

The cause for alarm at the U.S. Embassy was what a U.S. diplomat called a "well documented'' 12-inch-tall dossier compiled by a Spanish human rights group. In the name of five Guantánamo captives with ties to Spain, it accused the Bush legal insiders of laying the foundation for abuse of detainees in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Of particular concern was that a swashbuckling Spanish magistrate, Baltasar Garzón, might get the probe under Spain's system, which gave judges extraordinary investigative powers.

Six In The Morning

The Congressional Garage Sale

Those Sneaky Lobbyists Buying Your Government
Numerous times this year, members of Congress have held fundraisers and collected big checks while they are taking critical steps to write new laws, despite warnings that such actions could create ethics problems. The campaign donations often came from contributors with major stakes riding on the lawmakers' actions.

For three weeks in June, for instance, the members of a joint House and Senate committee worked to draft final rules for regulating the financial industry in the wake of its 2008 meltdown.

What's The Best Way To Silence The Out Spoken?

Use A Law from The British Mandate
The Israeli military is making rare use of an emergency regulation enacted by the British Mandate in 1945 to order the temporary banishment of a Palestinian activist from his home city of Jerusalem.

Adnan Gheith, 35, faces expulsion for four months from the city because of his part in protests at mounting encroachment by Jewish settler groups in the politically ultra-sensitive Silwan neighbourhood of inner-city Arab East Jerusalem.

Silwan is the primary flashpoint in the struggle between the settlers and Palestinians for control of key sectors of East Jerusalem.

Robert Mugabe President Of Zimbabwe?

OK! Its De-facto Dictator
HARARE, Zimbabwe — The warning signs are proliferating. Journalists have been harassed and jailed. Threats of violence are swirling in the countryside. The president’s supposed partner in the government has been virulently attacked in the state-controlled media as a quisling for the West. And the president himself has likened his party to a fast-moving train that will crush anything in its way.
After nearly two years of tenuous stability under a power-sharing government, fears are mounting here that President Robert Mugabe, the autocrat who presided over a bloody, discredited election in 2008, is planning to seize untrammeled control of Zimbabwe during the elections he wants next year.

Somehow All Is Not As It Seems

The Taliban Still Fight On Undeterred

JUMAH KALA, Afghanistan —The villagers gathered on mounds of dirt to watch as the American armored vehicles rolled in. The streets were narrow and banked by high mud walls; the bulky vehicles could barely squeeze through. The villagers had not seen a coalition patrol here in at least two years, they told the American commander as he stepped out to greet them.
“And how long has it been since you’ve seen the governor?” the commander, Capt. Aaron T. Schwengler, asked the villagers as they crowded around him.
“Ten years,” one man said through an interpreter.

When Christians Invade

An Atheist Country
She attended a morning church service, joining in the carol singing led by a cassock-wearing choir, and then watched a nativity play performed by children from the congregation.
But Miss Zhang's Protestant church is an illegal one, and its 1,000-strong members have grown used to worshipping in a variety of office buildings across Beijing in an effort to avoid the scrutiny of the authorities.
A 25-year-old graduate and junior manager in an engineering company, Miss Zhang has been a Christian for four years. She says many people, including her parents who are local government officials and members of the communist party, think she's "crazy" and question both her faith and the wisdom of being a Christian in a communist country.

You Mustn't Investigate Allegations Of Torture

Because It's Against The Law
It was three months into Barack Obama's presidency, and the administration -- under pressure to do something about alleged abuses in Bush-era interrogation policies -- turned to a Florida senator to deliver a sensitive message to Spain:

Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.

Would You Help Us Spy On Our Citizens?

Wikileaks reveals pressure on US drug wiretapping

Publishing the secret cables, the New York Times said governments wanted information on political adversaries.

Panama and Paraguay are two of the nations cited.

Panama's government says President Ricardo Martinelli's request on wiretaps had been "misinterpreted" by the US envoy.

In a cable from August 2009, President Martinelli is reported to have "sent the Ambassador a cryptic Blackberry message that said: "I need help with tapping phones."

Then US Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson, says: "He made reference to various groups and individuals whom he believes should be wiretapped, and he clearly made no distinction between legitimate security targets and political enemies."

George W. Bush would have agreed to do it as his administration was illegally wiretapping Americans.

Johann Hari: The under-appreciated heroes of 2010

Under-Appreciated Person One: Bradley Manning. While we were all fixated on Julian Assange, the story of the young American soldier who actually leaked the classified documents passed almost unnoticed. If Manning was mentioned at all, it was to be described as an impetuous, angry kid who downloaded the documents on to a CD and leaked them as a result of a "grudge" or "tantrum".

Here's what really happened. Manning signed up when he was just 18, believing he would be protecting and defending his country and the cause of freedom. He soon found himself sent to Iraq, where he was ordered to round up and hand over Iraqi civilians to America's new Iraqi allies, who he could see were

To say that solitary confinement isn't torture should talk to Jose Padilla if that were possible.
What Bradley Manning did was follow the law.

Six In The Morning

I'll Play Scrooge To Your Grinch

And Don't Forget To Hand Over All The Damn Money
Daniel J. Langevin was 35, mentally ill and broke. He had been living in psychiatric institutions on and off since his early 20s.
A friend who visited him at the Rochester Psychiatric Center in February 1995 remembered that Mr. Langevin had pain in his jaw, eye and face that was not getting much attention from the staff. A week later, he was discovered unconscious, with a near-fatal infection spreading to his brain and other organs.

Mr. Langevin sued New York State, which operates the hospital, and probably would have won a sizable award.

Dissent Is Allowed as Long As You Don't Offer Any Dissent

Keep Quite Or It's Off To Prison
CARACAS, Venezuela — The National Assembly has approved a sweeping set of laws that impose penalties for spreading political dissent on the Internet, grant decree powers to President Hugo Chávez for 18 months and prevent legislators from breaking with his political movement.Despite an outcry here by critics, pro-Chávez lawmakers rapidly approved the measures in the closing weeks of the year, before a less pliant legislature convenes next month with a bigger opposition presence.

I Really Really Really Am President
The West African regional bloc Ecowas has told incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo to stand down or expect to face "legitimate force".
If You Don't Believe Me I'll Stomp My Feet and Hold My Breath
The statement came at the end of emergency talks on the crisis sparked by a disputed election last month.

The 15-member bloc and other international bodies have recognised his rival Alassane Ouattara as winner.

The Ivory Coast's Constitutional Council says Mr Gbagbo was elected, citing vote-rigging in some areas.

The election was meant to unite the country after a civil war in 2002 split the world's largest cocoa producer in two.

On Thursday state television, one of the key elements keeping Mr Gbagbo in power, was taken off the air in areas outside Abidjan.

With Elbows Swinging And Credit Cards Flying

Shoppers Race Into Christmas
On the last day day of shopping before Christmas, Cornell Lewis had an armful of bags packed with leather boots, watches and a remote-controlled helicopter set — mostly gifts for his nieces and nephews.

But Lewis, 44, didn't get these gifts at a mall, like many shoppers on Christmas Eve. Indeed, he went to a place without sprawling malls — downtown Los Angeles. There, he joined throngs of lively gift-givers going shop to shop in Chinatown and the toy district.

"You can get the same items here for half the price," said Lewis, a retail manager who lives in Hollywood.

Jesus Doesn't Want Me On The Radio

But, The Pope Doesn't Mind
Pope Benedict's Christmas message for the UK was broadcast as the Thought for the Day on Radio 4's Today programme.

He said he prayed for the sick and elderly and "those who are going through any form of hardship".

In his message, he recalled his recent UK visit with "great fondness" and said he was glad to greet listeners again.

Emerging Superpower Can't Produce Weapons

So, Others Do It For Them. Isn't That Wonderful
MOSCOW - The Moscow Machine-Building Enterprise Salyut on the east side of town has put up a massive Soviet-style poster advertising its need for skilled workers. The New Year's party at the Chernyshev plant in a northwest suburb featured ballet dancers twirling on the stage of its Soviet-era Palace of Culture.

The reason for the economic and seasonal cheer is that these factories produce fighter-jet engines for a wealthy and voracious customer: China. After years of trying, Chinese engineers still can't make a reliable engine for a military plane.

Six In The Morning

North Korea says it is ready for 'holy war' using its nuclear deterrent following major live fire drills by the South.

North Korea's minister of armed forces has said its military is prepared to wage a "holy war" against South Korea using its nuclear deterrent after what he called Seoul's attempt to initiate conflict.

Minister Kim Yong-chun repeated Pyongyang's charge on Thursday that the South is preparing to start a war by conducting the live fire drills close to the border of the North.

He was quoted by North Korea's KCNA news agency, which regularly threatens the South, but which had up to now been relatively restrained in its criticism of the miltiary drills.

In a show of military might, South Korea started a major land drill in the Pocheon region on Thursday morning, between Seoul and the heavily armed demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas

Yes, ladies and gentlemen Atheist North Korea wants a?
Holy War!

Iran has released a string of top al Qaeda militants from detention so they can rebuild the extremist organisation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border

Citing Pakistani and Middle Eastern officials speaking anonymously, the Times said Iranian authorities were giving covert support to the Islamist militants as they fight against Nato troops.

“In many cases they are being facilitated by Iranian Revolutionary Guards,” The Times quoted a senior Pakistani intelligence official as saying.

The Times said those released include Saif al-Adel, a high-ranking Egyptian al Qaeda member on the FBI’s most wanted list for alleged involvement in the deadly 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa.

Iran a country that doesn't support terrorism only when it does

Loopholes let companies get lucrative deals with Iran, Cuba, North Korea

Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has granted special licenses allowing American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.
At the behest of a host of companies — from Kraft Food and Pepsi to some of the nation’s largest banks — a little-known office of the Treasury Department has made nearly 10,000 exceptions to American sanctions rules, approving deals involving countries that have been cast into economic purgatory, beyond the reach of American business.

Your terrorist Loopholes at work. Remember Profits Over Terror

17 Facts About China That Will Blow Your Mind

China's economy grew 7 times as fast as America's over the past decade (316% growth vs. 43%)

China's GDP per capita is the 91st-lowest in the world, below Bosnia & Herzegovina

85 percent of artificial Christmas trees are made in China. So are 80 percent of toys

If he spent his ENTIRE YEARLY INCOME on housing, the average Beijing resident could buy 10 square feet of residential property

China has more pigs than the next 43 pork producing countries combined

Chinese consume 50,000 cigarettes every second

America's fastest "high speed" train goes less than half as fast as the new train between Shanghai and Beijing (150 mph vs 302 mph

China's enormous Gobi Desert is the size of Peru and expanding 1,400 square miles per year due to water source depletion, over-foresting, and over-grazing

China has 64 million vacant homes, including entire cities that are empty

The world's biggest mall is in China... but it has been 99% empty since 2005

Nearly 10,000 Chinese citizens each year are sucked into unsanctioned 'black jails'

By 2025, China will build enough skyscrapers to fill TEN New York-sized cities

By 2030, China will add more new city-dwellers than the entire U.S. population.

There are already more Christians in China than Italy

Chinese are almost twice as likely to believe in evolution as Americans

China executes three times as many people as the rest of the world COMBINED... and uses mobile execution vans for efficiency.

When you buy Chinese stocks, you are basically financing the Chinese government. Eight of Shanghai's top ten stocks are government owned

Bonus: Chinese GDP could overtake the U.S. in less than 15 years

Wiki World

Easing Tensions In Korea; Hold More Artillery Drills

That's right South Korea will hold an even larger live-fire drill I'm sure in an attempt to make everyone feel good.

South Korea will hold its largest-ever live fire drill near the military border with North Korea in a show of force just as tension on the peninsula was easing after Pyongyang's attack on a southern island.

The drill on Thursday, involving the largest number of personnel in a peace-time exercise, comes after the South's artillery exercise on Monday on the island of Yeonpyeong. The move is bound to infuriate the North.

North Korea this week offered to re-admit UN inspectors to its nuclear-weapon programme, leading to speculation of a resumption of the six-party disarmament talks and a general sigh of relief around the world that the crisis had passed.

"Yes, it will be a show of force against that," an army officer said when asked if the shelling of Yeonpyeong last month was a factor in the new drill's planning.

Remember to put on a happy face about a government that is about to Man-Up and increase tensions on the Korean peninsula.

When North Korea attacks with the fax

North Korea is retaliating for a November artillery attack -- with an onslaught of faxes to South Korea, an official said Wednesday.
Earlier this month, faxes started arriving at South Korean companies, South Korean Unification Ministry deputy spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said Wednesday. The faxes blame South Korea for the November 23 artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island.
"Responsibility for the attack lies with the South," states the fax, according to Lee. "Groups in the South should rise up against the South Korean government."

Yes, lets's blame someone else for are own stupidity.

Every Country Needs One: Their Own Death Squad

The British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organisations as a "government death squad", leaked US embassy cables have revealed.
Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been held responsible for hundreds of extra-judicial killings in recent years and is said to routinely use torture, have received British training in "investigative interviewing techniques" and "rules of engagement".

Investigative Interviewing Techniques Just another creative way of saying torture or as Dick “Shotgun” Cheney would say enhanced interviewing techniques.

Since the RAB was established six years ago, it is estimated by some human rights activists to have been responsible for more than 1,000 extra-judicial killings, described euphemistically as "crossfire" deaths. In September last year the director general of the RAB said his men had killed 577 people in "crossfire". In March this year he updated the figure, saying they had killed 622 people.
The RAB's use of torture has also been exhaustively documented by human rights organisations. In addition, officers from the paramilitary force are alleged to have been involved in kidnap and extortion, and are frequently accused of taking large bribes in return for carrying out crossfire killings.

Why does this remind one of what the U.S. military did in El Salvador during the 1980’s training its military in these same operational methods during that countries civil war?
Let’s see: Extortion, kidnapping and extra-judicial killings all these human rights violations occurred in El Salvador.

Asked whether it believed it was appropriate for British officers to be training members of an organisation condemned as "a government death squad", and whether courses in investigative interviewing techniques might not render torture more effective, an NPIA spokesman said the courses had been approved by the government and by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Become Spies Like Us

So you live in say China, Singapore or some other upstanding authoritarian or semi-authoritarian country you know that they are spying you be it by overt or covert means. Even that microphone masquerading as flower big brother is your best friend. But you don’t live East Germany where half the population is informants for the Stasi you live in America where the government would like half the population and all police agencies to become spies.
Doesn’t that sound great you could be just like Wild Bill Donavan or Maxwell Smart or perhaps the Pink Panther?

Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.
The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The government's goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States.

So, if you live in the United States and have hunger to spy on your neighbors, friends or relatives or have a strong authoritarian bent then this program is your cup of tea. Think of all the fun one could accusing people of crimes they have never committed. Happy Times Are Here Again

Random Japan

ALL NIPPON SCAREWAYS
It was revealed that an ANA flight was about 30 seconds from crashing into a Hokkaido mountain before a warning went off, spurring pilots into quick action to avoid catastrophe. An air-traffic controller was blamed for the near mishap.

In another near-miss, an ANA flight taxied onto a runway where a JAL Express plane was about to land at Osaka airport in 2009 because a pilot misheard a flight number.

The Japan Coast Guard officer who made public controversial video footage of a collision with a Chinese fishing boat through YouTube, said he first sent the clip to CNN but they tossed the SD card in the trash because they didn’t know what was on it.

Now here’s a switch. Japan’s defense ministry apparently received notice from the Nagasaki government saying they’d be delighted to host some new submarines at the Sasebo base.

STATS
1,000
Estimated number of residents in Niigata who were forced to evacuate their homes after a World War II-era mine was found at a construction site

42.2
Percentage of people in Asia who believe “Japan’s influence on their countries has waned,” according to a survey by Dentsu

58,000
Signatures on a petition submitted by a group called “Save Kotomitsuki” asking the Japan Sumo Association to reinstate the former ozeki, who was kicked out of the sport for his part in a baseball gambling scandal

NOT COOL, DUDES
A 46-year-old woman who was arrested for sending a knife and a threatening note to a Tokyo elementary school was also charged with sending a stuffed animal with a knife stuck through it to anime voice actor Show Hayami.

Construction of an underwater observation station in Miyakojima is apparently killing off nearby coral, prompting a local environmental group to call for a halt to the project.

Toyota announced that it will shell out for repairs on the faulty cooling systems of about 650,000 Prius cars made between 2004 and 2007.

Reigning world figure skating champion Mao Asada is having a tough go of it under new coach Nobuo Sato. The 20-year-old opened the season with a career-worst eighth place at the NHK Trophy and then finished fifth at the Trophee Bompard in Paris.

Mr. Fish

Finds A Fish

This Truck

Hates Politics

This Cop

Needs To Be Cuffed

Hopes high for Zac's Japan in 2011

By Shintaro Kano
While 2010 hardly started on a high note for Japan, it certainly has ended on one under new coach Alberto Zaccheroni.

‘‘Some players still don’t realize how good they are, and some don’t realize how good we can become as a team,’’ Zaccheroni says. ‘‘We are capable of getting much stronger,’’ said the Italian, who marked his debut as national coach with a home win against Argentina in October, Japan’s first victory ever over La Albiceleste in eight meetings.

The Samurai Blue came into the year with question marks about their chances in South Africa under Takeshi Okada, and after a poor buildup to the World Cup highlighted by a home defeat to South Korea on May 24, even the Japanese supporters—who are among the kindest in the world—started throwing their hands up.

Fears growing over land grabs
Foreigners buying here; Japan may be tardy overseas
By HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writer
When the news first broke in June that a Hong Kong-based investor had two years earlier purchased more than 50 hectares of forest in Kucchan, near the Niseko ski resort in Hokkaido, shock waves ran through local residents.
Then in September, the Hokkaido government confirmed that several other parcels covering more than 400 hectares were also in the hands of foreign investors.

Since then, fears have been growing that foreign interests are increasingly buying up aquifers in Hokkaido.

Ichiro Ozawa Must Resign From The Diet

Ichiro Ozawa former Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Japan once again refused a request to appear before the Diet Ethics Panel over his involvement in campaign funding scandal which involved falsifying a campaign financial report. The irregularities came light when it was revealed that he had loaned ¥400 million to Rikuzankai The fund raising arm for his campaign to purchase land in Tokyo for the building of a legislator’s dormitory.

Ozawa’s intransigence concerning this issue has been unbelievable it’s as though the laws of Japan and the ethics rules of the Diet don’t apply to him. At least, in his mind that seems to be the case.

Even if the Diet Ethics Panel votes to have Ozawa testify he can simply refuse as they have no legal authority to compel him to appear before the committee. Unlike the U.S. Congress which has the legal authority to compel anyone to appear before them because they have Congressional Subpoena Power. Refusing to do so is a violation of U.S. law which can lead to a charge of Contempt of Congress and if convicted one could be incarcerated and have a monetary fine levied against them.

Ichiro Ozawa clearly feels he’s above the fray given that attitude and his contempt towards the Diet’s given authority one must conclude that the resolution of this situation will come about when he is forced to resign his seat in the Diet and face the legal charges laid against him. Otherwise his actions will embolden lawmakers facing similar legal and ethical actions against them to not comply with any legal authority.

It’s beyond time for the leaders and memberships of the Democratic Party of Japan to grow a spine and force Ichiro Ozawa to face reality accept reasonability for actions and face the consequences.