Archive for the ‘News Log’ Category

Facism ... and Communism

Excerpts from Obama's inauguration speech:

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

Most of us should have no problem with this kind expression, but let me remind you that in Asia, there's a hyper-sensitive country with fragile feelings, which its regime still insists that communism is the only way forward

China's state television, CCTV actually broadcasted Obama's inauguration live on its news channel. If my memory serves me right, this is the first time they have done such thing, and I think CCTV should be praised for that.

However, its hyper-sensitivity eventually kicked in. The live pictures were cut moments after Obama mentioned "Communism". The relative paragraph in Obama's speech is also removed in the "full text" of the speech published on most Chinese websites.

Even as a Chinese, I have great difficulty of understanding where this hyper-sensitivity comes from. When he mentions communism, he clearly means Soviet Union. Well, we all know China is more of a capitalist country anyway. If Ministry of Truth has problem on how Obama weights communism and facism as kind of the same thing ... if you can read Chinese,have a look on how Minitrue finds an "appropriate place" for the CCP.

Despite the hyper-sensitivity thing, I think Chinese media generally did well this time. Yes they removed parts from the "full text" of the Obama's speech, but most of them were forced to do so. But look at the brighter side, Obama's remark made to the public airwave tells me that Live pictures on CCTV probably are in fact, live pictures and not delayed - now that's quite rare, especially for political events.

Yay, McCully's holiday is finally over

Few days ago I blogged in my Chinese Blog on Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade(MFAT)'s slow reaction to the Crisis in Gaza. New Zealand was like one of the very few Western countries which didn't have a offical response to the crisis there. It looked like that all MFAT people were enjoying their summer holiday and forgotten there was a war going on. Some even attributed MFAT's silence to the fact that John Key is a half Jewish, which I don't agree and many right wing bloggers fiercely attacked that suggestion.

But finally, Foreign Minister Murray McCully, issued a response today:

"New Zealand is deeply worried by the mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of the continuing Israeli ground offrensive," Mr Murray McCully said.

"We call for Israel to immediately cease military attacks and for Hamas to immediately cease rocket and mortor attacks.

"New Zealand also supports the intensive efforts of world leaders, including President Sarkozy of France, to halt the fighting.

"It is imperative both sides -- Israel and Hamas -- focus on the mounting humanitarian situation for the civilian population of Gaza.  Both sides have obligations to avoid putting civilians in danger."

Given the fact on the nature of the governing party we have, I wasn't surprised on this kind of the response at all, and I have to say, it's fairly balanced as both sides are responsible for the large amount of civilian casualties.

Xue's currently seeking bail

Most people who know me well in person know that there's a group of professions which I have no fond feelings - lawyers, real estate agents ...

Xue Nai Yin's Lawyer, is seeking a bail for his client. It's not because Xue paid him enough money so the lawyer worked hard to try to get him out, it's exactly the opposite   - Xue's run out of money, his lawyer needs to get him out so he can work and pay for the fees.

See.

71st Anniversary of Nanking Massacre

As some said, historical atrocities like the Nanking Massacre are forgiveable, but not forgettable. We remember our tragic past not just because of the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost,  we also remember how the such basic humanity was lost in this atrocity. It serves as a constant reminder that such a tragedy should never happen again to any member of the mankind - I also believe that if the outside world really cared of what was happening Nanking, the outcome would be totally different.

But as the author of the book "The rape of Nanking"  Iris Chang notes, she fears that: "this reversion in human social evolution, would be reduced to a footnote of history, treated like a harmless glitch in a computer program that might or might not again cause a problem, unless someone forced the world to remember it." The facts of this massacre are still largely unnoticed in rest of the world.

Remembering a historical atrocity is to remember the full picture of it, not just the hate involved. There were also people who cared, who did something to try to stop the tragedy, and we are forever graceful for them. John Rabe, despite of his Nazi Party member stuatus, saved at least 100,000 Chinese lives in Nanking Safety Zone.  John Magee, an American missionary who risked his life to secretly film the masscre in Nanking,  just wannted the world to know that should do something.

Lest we forget.

So the circle of life continues

I come from a very low decile secondary school  - budget blow out is kind of school's "regular" thing because most of the students are too poor to pay the "donation", and quite a lot of them come to school with an empty stomach, because their family are either too poor or just cannot bother to make a breakfast for their kids. Because of that, low decile schools usually have a special feature that cannot be found elsewhere - free breakfast for everyone, which itself isn't too bad really.

But anyway, these are also the common characteristics of the low-performance students.

So will increased fines for parents who allowed their kids to wag make any difference?

Well, it's that kind of National style "economic" thinking - like let the children wag is uneconomic to parents so the wagging won't happen. This is the part I don't agree with National Party: the world just doesn't run purely on economics, there are lots of other factors involved. For example, fine a beneficiary $3,000 dolloars for not registering their kids does nothing more than put another $3,000 dollars on taxpayers' account -  it's like transferring taxpayer's money left pocket to right pocket.

Guns 'n' Roses

Unlike most people of my age, I do not have any interest in any kind of rock music. I'm more of a fan of classic, country and pop music.

But if the is named  "Chinese democracy" ... well, the word "democracy" itself is enough to draw attention from the most sensitive government in the world, the Chinese government.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang was asked by BBC China correspondent, James Reynolds about the music, he replied:

"According to my knowledge, a lot of people don't like this kind of music - because it's too noisy, and too loud. James, I think you are a mature adult, aren't you?"

Actually I would agree the first bit, Classic and country music are far more gentle than rock, that's why I liked them rather than rock. But I just find it hard to believe that a foreign ministry spokesman, who frequently attacks others "hurt the feelings of Chinese people", to label rock lovers as "immature".

I don't think this smug, ignorant spokesman would never realise how many "immature" people out there who loved the band for more than two decades.

This sure adds to my collection of jokes from Chinese Foreign ministry. I have chinese blog entry on their laughable comments on human rights, if my collection accumulates to a reasonable level, I'll translate them to English or maybe create a hall of fame for them.