That road that's paved with good Intentions leads where?

I didn't go to the protest this weekend in front of the Legco building over the government's proposal to build the world's most expensive railroad that will link Hong Kong with the greater Chinese high speed rail system. I am to old to be pepper sprayed and find local activist like Christina Chan to be such a repulsively shallow loud mouthed whiner that it would be a waste if the police sprayed me and her when they could spray her twice if I wasn't there.

The price tag for this rail link is 68.8 BILLION and that is just what the government will admit too. The finished product will likely be much more expensive than advertised. There are lots of reasons to dislike this rail link besides cost but the riotous nature of the protesters just legitimized the government because they agreed or at least did not disagree with the under lying assumption that everything, or most things in Hong Kong belong to the state. That is the real issue and that is what should be being protested. Until that presumption changes nothing else matters because we cannot be a truly free society until the government acknowledges our right to property.

The protesters should be out jousting with the police over the fact that the government of Hong Kong lays claim to almost every square inch of land and water in the SAR. The railroad is a symptom of the fact that we live in a feudal fiefdom that is ruled by a laird who is subject to his liege in Beijing. We are the manor serfs who till the land and produce income for the Laird and his liege. The government doesn't sell land they give long term leases for buildings to be constructed on the manor's estate. Even those disgusting money grubbing, triad controlled villagers in the New Territories that have a "right" to build their own house can only do so because the government allows them too. I am not sure this isn't a relic of the treaty signed with the Empire of China which was, in the 19th century still a feudal state. The population of the PRC is freer than we in this because they can OWN the land their house sits on. The right to property is, along with the freedom of association and conscience one of the three pillars of human freedom. Without all three a society is not truly free and generally where one is curtailed the others are too or shortly will be.

In Hong Kong, we live literally as serfs of the feudal manor. The civil service, or Royal Retainers, believes it is our place to live as they see to provide for us. The government does not view the rights we exercise as citizen to be inalienable but rather to be bestowed upon us by the benevolence of the Laird and we have those rights only so long as his munificence’s avails. Until THBT and his cronies and successors realizes that we have rights because we are human not because the government gives them to us we will never be free and that is true whether we vote for the laird from a alrger or small class of nobles.

Instead of being merely dissatisfied serfs demanding that the government give money to them rather than build a railroad the protesters should be clearly and plainly talking about how rights are bestowed not by a government but by God, or Nature, or History or Culture. But since they are HKU graduates I doubt they belive in God, history or culture and Al Gore says nature does not apply in Hong Kong. You can make the argument in any number of ways but it must be made that rights do not come from the government and exist externally to the government. Without doing that, the protesters will only be replacing one tyrant with another, probably worse one. I've never cared for either Stalin or Mao. What the protesters are actually wanting is that someone else, probably themselves should be the Royal Retainers. I guarantee that is what Beijing thinks whether it is what the "Post 80's" generation thinks or not. As such the protesters are worse than useless because they are simply legitimizing a more repressive response from the lord of the manor and his supporters. Remember, Machiavelli was absolutely right when he said that the primary objective of the state is to perpetuate itself. The Liard is not about to see himself replaced by a committee of serfs without a fight or to allow his leige to replace him because he cannot control his serfs. Especially since the serfs would do no better a job than he and probably worse.

What went on here Saturday probably brought us a little bit closer to the time when the PRC tanks, God forbid, come rolling down our streets. That is just an opinion but I think it is a sound one. Here is another. If you are going to start a revolution, make sure it is for a cause worth dying for. I wouldn’t die for the MTR. I don’t think many others would either.

I don't care how much they "Care" The road to Hell Hell is paved with the good intentions of people that cared. I don't want Christina Chan to make Hong Kong a Hell on Earth.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks the issue is bigger than a railroad

Oh Goody! Is it my turn now?

I am a little bit of a disgruntled employee right now. I was hoping to be promoted to the administrator pay scale when my next contract comes around and found out that is not going to happen because my department is being reorganized in a way that will forestall my argument of being an administrator. The job will not change but I will be struck at the top of the pay scale and not qualify for housing because of my wife's job. I don't really work for the money, we have enough, but I still feel rather like a jilted bride. I've put in 11 years for this school and have done a good job. And honestly, my job is about 80% administration. I deserve the jump in pay. The school I work for is a bit odd in Hong Kong because it does not take government funds and is supported completely by tuition and gifts from wealthy do-gooders who want their name over a door somewhere. (Not that there is anything wrong with do-gooders wanting to do that. Indeed, I wish there were more do-gooders to do that!) But, that means that my salary is actually lower than the equivalent position in a local school. I don't make the 80K or 90K a month like teacher at HKIS or CIS. With the economic downturn the school board are feeling pinched and are in a cost cutting mode. I can understand that but I don't have to like it.

This morning the really-pretty-very-smart-hard-working-loving-looks-25-years-younger-than-she-is Chinese wife and I were talking about the Bozo's (Apologies to real clowns) who make up the District Council and LEGCO in Hong Kong. Near the end of this conversation I said "You know, District Councilors make more than I do and it is considered to be a part time job. I've thought about running in the past. Maybe I should quit (The unnamed international school) and run for a District Council seat. I could work it 1/2 time. I'd have a shorter commute. Nobody would ask if I wanted to coach basketball. Plus, I'd make more money and have more fun all at the same time."

The wife was politely non-committal as to the merits of that plan.

But, if I read this article right then some of the various bumblers are going to quit and effectively call a special election. That means, unless I misread, no-incumbent. Amazingly, I am qualified to run for these district council offices, though not LEGCO unless I give up my US passport.

I may have to think about this. The history of politics is littered with the forgotten names of people who thought they knew better. Causeway Bay is international enough though that an English speaker with broken Cantonese could have a chance to win but would still be at a disadvantage versus the Cantonese speaker with broken English.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who would run if drafted and serve if elected

Top 10 List

I have a sort of list that I carry around in my mind of 10 inventions or ideas that have actually made our lives better rather than worse. It is a fuzzy list with items falling off and being added as the mood strikes me but normally looks something like:

10. Ball Point Pens - If you've ever had a fountain pen you'll understand.
09. The bicycle - The perfect urban transportation machine
08. Plumbing - both for sewage and fresh water delivery
07. Mechanical or chemical energy - Electrical, internal combustion engines, turbines and such
06. Telephones (Excluding cell phones)
05. Refrigeration as the agent of air-conditioning and to preserve food
04. Canned foods
03. Modern Medicine - especially vaccines & antibiotics
02. Air travel
01. Paper - and the associated printing presses it enabled

I also have a list of technological inventions or ideas that I believed have harmed civilization far more than they've helped it:

10. Cellphones/Mp3/diskman/walkman type things - Zombies-R-Us
09. Television - Encourages us to be lazy
08. Electric Can openers - the ultimate symbol of a decadent society
07. Socialism - Has killed more than 800 million people since 1917
06. McDonalds - God how I wish I had a Big-Mac and fries right NOW!
05. Computers - It seems to me they often make more work than they save.
04. Automobiles - A major cause of social alienation but oh so convenient
03. Motorcycles & Scooters - I think cars are less of a menace.
02. The Environmental movement - Only communist kill more people
01. Public education - More on this one later

That's So Retarded

The past couple of weeks have been real back breakers.

We renovated our flat in Causeway Bay but only paid “professionals” to do part of it. We had a non-weight bearing wall removed and the floor in that area redone and the area rewired. We would have had the professionals do the whole thing but they kept finding additional charges beyond the contracted price.

So, in the back of the flat rather than paying a painter and then paying him some more I did it all myself. I must admit that I still have the noble-savage bug and believe that every real man should know how to, and enjoy painting walls, building fences, sawing lumber, swinging a hammer and making furniture. Real men, or so my somewhat addled librarians’ mind thinks' know how to sweat and enjoy physical labor. But, painting in Hong Kong is just so frustrating because the painters are not only dishonest but stupid. They thin the paint thinking that it allows them to save a few dollars and then apply three or four coats of colored water rather than one or two coats of thicker paint.

That may, in fact save a tiny bit of cash except for three things that both relate to time.

First, it takes a lot more time to apply four coats than does one or two. If they didn’t thin the paint then they could finish faster and have more time for other jobs. They’d also spend a lot less time cleaning up because thicker paint drips less and makes less of a mess.

Second, thicker paint sticks to the wall better. But, because the painters here excessively thin their paint, every time you paint an interior wall you must remove the old paint. If you don't then the new paint softens the old paint and the whole mess pulls the old paint off the wall and you end up having to paint the same wall twice after scraping the weak old and your new paint off the wall. So, in addition to having to apply four coats of thin paint, local painters have to also remove the old paint which also adds to the time and mess.

Third, the thinned paint does not stay on the wall as long so you must repaint more often. This might make the painters feel they will have more work and thus a higher income but it is frustrating for residents to have to repaint their walls every three years.

So in a rather stupid attempt to save a few dollars of paint that is, most of the time paid for by the person who owns the flat anyway, painters spend more time to provide a lower quality job.

I'm not even going to get into the fact that they use small, cheap brushes, only 100mm rather 250mm rollers and I've never seen one use a heavy bodied paint sprayer to save time.

I’ve painted more than my fair share of interior walls. I worked as a house painter in college. We’d go into a duplex rented to students and have 12 hours to repaint all the walls and ceiling and then clean up so that it could be rented out again in 72 hours. We NEVER had to remove any old paint. Even if the tenants had painted walls a dark color like black or purple we’d just use a an undercoat like “Kilz” and then apply a white or beige or other neutral rental property color on top. Two guys, two rollers, two roller trays, and various types of rollers to cover the highly textured ceilings and less textured walls, plastic drop cloths, several brushes, scrapers for bad spots, a tube of spackling and caulk for cracks, some towels, goggles to keep paint out our eyes when painting ceilings and a boom box or radio. We generally had a Coleman cooler with some soda, water and lunch stuff as well. Most of the apartments and duplexes we painted were about 1000 square feet of living space not counting closets which would be a 1800 square foot flat in Hong Kong. We'd paint these flats in one day for $800.00 and we provided the paint which cost about $75.00 to $100.00. Not a bad job if we could do two a week and a good job if we did three.

In Hong Kong we’d have starved. We’d have first had to use a product called “Standard Retarder” to remove the old paint. You apply this like paint with either a roller or brush. Unlike modern water based interior paints this stuff stinks to high heaven and is the real reason that your neighbors complain when you repaint a Hong Kong flat. After the Standard Retarder sits on the wall a few minutes it softens the old paint which must be scrapped off. You then have to let the wall dry or else the new paint will not stick properly.

An additional problem is created because the painters here do not use drywall board or sheetrock to cover the concrete or brick. Once again the painters are being penny wise and dollar foolish. Instead they use gypsum powder and mix it with a gelatin to make plaster that is then spread over the wall. The plaster is then sanded and the multiple coats of overly thin paint applied. But the Standard Retarder also takes this off. So, you have to reapply the plaster before you can repaint. If the builders here would seal and apply a fungicide to the underlying concrete wall then cover that wall with sheetrock, tape and bed the sheetrock to cover the joints and the texture and paint with non-thinned paint, renovations in Hong Kong would be a lot easier. Subsequent repainting could just simply be applying new paint over old. But no, they work so that every time you paint you have to remove everything down to the bare concrete. This adds not only time and money but a significant amount of waste and trouble. As paint is considered to be a hazardous waste; removing it from the walls to throw into a land fill is also not an environmentally sound practice when it wouldn’t hurt anything to simply leave the old paint on the wall under the new. The net result is that a flat which Howard and I could have painted in 6 hours winds up taking 3 days for at least three guys working 12 hours a day. But, they spend less on paint.

Doing stupid things that waste money and time appears to be endemic to many levels of Hong Kong. Especially if someone in the government can find any type of short sighted savings. There must be something in the curriculum at HKU because all the civil servant types have a real problem seeing that short term saving often translate into long term expenses. For example; The EdB is going to stop allowing disabled students stay in the school system past the age of 18 despite the fact that non-disabled students who fail a year or two can be in government schools until they are at least 20.

That is as stupid as thinning paint.

These students could really benefit from a little longer time in school. An additional two or three years would allow many of them to gain enough skills and education to become productive members of society with jobs instead a lifetime of being supported by families or on the Hong Kong welfare rolls.

EdB says “They’ve already received more funding than non-disabled students so they are not entitled to more.” So not only are the knuckle-draggers in the EdB stupid dip-shits'; they are cold hearted bastards as well. I wonder how long it will be before someone in the hospital authority says: “Hey, all you people who have had a heart attack or all you losers with diabetes, you’ve already received more than you fair share of health services. No more doctors visits for you.” Since the Civil Servants are moved from department to department probably not very long. Since the civil-servants have their own hospitals and medical system they would be exempt from such decrees.

As a sidelight to this, you gentle reader might be interested to know that the EdB just gave out 4 land grants for new International schools. One of the ones approved was for a British boarding school for the wealthy brats of the upper class whose undisciplined hellions have to be locked away so they won't die of their cocaine addition before they complete secondary school. Many of the students in that school will not even be from Hong Kong or stay in Hong Kong after graduation. They also have other educational options. One land grant that was turned down was the proposal from the Hong Kong based International Christian School (ICS) for a new school expressly for students with moderate to severe disabilities that cannot be placed in an inclusive classroom. ICS wanted to create an affordable option for disabled students. EdB didn’t think that was as important as allowing spoiled trust-fund babies an opportunity to live in a dorm with other societal parasites.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks the entire EdB is really retarded

Another Reply from the EPD

The Environmental Protection Department replied again today. Here is what they had to say:

Dear Mr. Fai Mao,

Referring to your email, please be informed that the telephone No. '28383111' is an EPD hotline for general public to report pollution matters including smoky vehicle to EPD. In addition, we do not place posters in school about spotting smoky vehicle and encourage children to make such complaint. Thank you for your e-mail.

Now, don't miss understand. The program still appears to me to be either an egregious attempt to recruit citizens as spies or a total waste of time. Neither of those are good things for governments to be engaged in. However, it appears that who ever put up the posters in the school I work for was not doing something that is "officially sanctioned." Or, this guy could simply be unaware of that policy. I find it really interesting that who ever printed the posters put an emergency number on them, the web address of the EPD and the instruction to "Put this number on your mobile phone's speed dial."

I think it would be funny if these posters turned up all over town and somebody got arrested for improper use of an emergency number? But I have a sadistic sense of humor.

I must admit to being surprised that the EPD spent so much time on this.

Here are links to the previous post in this string
Post #4
Post #3
Post #2
Initial Post

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks that sometimes being Green is really being Red

Why does this remind me of Tin Shui Wai?

Sometimes there is nothing more to be said

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who has been called a reactionary

So why am I worried that so many officials here want to ape the British?

I find it enlightening in a sad way that it is no longer "Great Britain" but the "United Kingdom" They haven't been great in quiet a while.

More to the point, doing what the British do, indeed what the Europeans in general are doing and what Barrak Obama wants to do in the US is the single best way to create a PERMANENT underclass in Hong Kong.

LOOK at the actual average person in the UK. Look at the scum (Mr. Littlejohn's word not mine) that live there. Is the UK better off now than before their long, post WWII experiment with socialism? No. They are not.

What is really scary is that the people who live there can't see it at all for the most part. It would never occur to them that there might be a better way. They think they are smart, enlightened and humane when they are not and can't see how depraved they've become.

Hong Kong would do well actually learn from the mistakes of others rather than emulating them.

I am moved to compassion when I see the elderly here pushing carts of garbage down the street. However, when social workers actually talk to these people they often find that they do not want help and will not sign up for the CSS (Welfare) payments. I,as one of only 17 tax payers in Hong Kong would gladly have part of my tax bill go to helping these people. They don't want the help. There is a certain nobility in that. It also means that we should possibly find a way to make the recyclables they collect more valuable so that they can earn more money. This is a good way encourage recycling. It could even be self supporting by placing a "tax" on paper that is equal to the subsidy paid to the recyclers. Of course, there would still have to be a mill that wanted to recycle the materials but perhaps those could be opened here. Lots of people are going to need jobs soon. A mill on some otherwise uninhabited outlying island to make recycled paper products or that turned plastic bottles into nylon or soda-cans into aluminum billet might be feasible if the cost of land for the facility was not sky high. Notice, I am not normally considered be a "Green" many of the ideas proposed by environmentalist are at best silly. This is one that might actually make some sense.

Allow the stubborn old farts to collect garbage, if they won't take CSS but make hidden payments to them through a small price support on the materials they collect. Build some industries that work with those recycled product and sell the glass, plastic, aluminum and paper. These employ more people and the business pay taxes. Reduce the trash in the landfill and create wealth.

This going to become an issue as the economy gets worse this year. Lots more people than the construction workers in Macao are going to lose their jobs. The only thing that gives me hope is that occasionally the government has done things right. During the 1997 financial problems Hong Kong came under attack by international monetary speculators who were attempting to get us to drop the dollar peg. If that happened they would make a lot of money on exchange rates. However, the ordinary people here would have seen their buying power diminished. In a rare show of intelligence THBT, who was the financial secretary at that time simply used government reserves to buy piles of stock in Hong Kong companies. They also purchased Hong Kong dollars back to defend the peg. The government held those stocks until the market improved and then sold them for a profit.

We'll see.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger whose job is probably safe

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!

Hemlock has put a post up today that is a soapbox issue of mine.

The illustrations and explanations are very well done and it is simply a must read.

The way that flats have their size blown up by the developers here is probably my least favorite thing about Hong Kong

I think that one of the primary responsibilities of a government is to provide honest weights and measures and the HK government just look like such a bunch of crooks when it come to the size of flats in this city.

If you need any convincing to tell you that this practice is is unethical you must either work for a developer here, be a real estate agent here or be one of the government mandarins who work in the tax office

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who lives in a flat that is just over 800 square feet

Monopoly isn't just a board game

The post before last was one that I seem to have made before and is in effect, a laundry list of my political aspirations for the government of Hong Kong. There was one item though that was new and as I've thought about it over the last week or so I've decided that it might just be the best idea that I've ever had. So after some thought I am going to take some time on this rainy afternoon to flesh out that idea a little more fully.

The major issue that I have with Hong Kong is that the city is really run by a group of monopolies in the construction, banking and shipping industries. These monopolies use their power and influence to maintain outrageously high real estate values, incredible bank fees, and huge profit margins in their businesses at the expense of everybody else. Let me be frank, they have a right to make all the money they can. I am not begrudging them the fact that they are filthy-rich. I don't want what is theirs. But, the wealthy do, I believe have a duty and responsibility to those less well off, those whom they employ and to the greater society at large. Hong Kong businesses fail almost all of these areas. They expect employees to work too many hours for too little pay and don't care how how much their inhumane practices cost the greater society.

While not much of a defense big business can say it isn't just them. The small business here are just as abusive as the large. The work harder, longer, be more loyal to the company, don't grumble about your low pay and be grateful you've got a job culture has infected all levels of the society and it is very often true that the boss works as many hours as the employees. It still doesn't make it right; especially since often time the reason they must do this is because they have to pay confiscatory rents and fees. I realize that I am making a moral argument from what could be called a Western perspective that ignores Chinese culture; I don't care. (That doesn't mean I'm ready to adopt a 32 hour work week like France either!) Employers here do not value their employee's as humans. I think it was Voltaire who said, in reference to military service, that: "You cannot ask a man die for a few pence a day, to inspire loyalty you must electrify his soul." It appears to me that the same is true of a career. Companies cannot succeed by constantly hiring the lowest paid workers, working them to death and then training new workers. They will eventually run out of people who can or are willing to work in such conditions. Those that do work for you cannot be depended upon to produce a quality product. What that means is that the prosperity experienced in Hong Kong is, I believe essentially unsustainable, especially given the very low birth rate here because as soon as anyone can leave here they will. I can't say that I blame them.

But minimum wage and working condition laws will only go so far in redressing this problem. If, and I seriously doubt this would ever happen, Li Kai-Shing and the other tycoons suddenly all get religion and decide that they need to treat their employees as at least animals rather than machines or slaves and Wellcome and Park&Shop stop colluding and the construction companies start selling flats by the actual size and all of the other private issues that oppress the poor in Hong Kong went away the central issue, the biggest monopoly of them all would still exist. That monopoly is that the government owns every square millimeter of the land and sea in Hong Kong. Because of this Hong Kong will never be a free society.

I do not care if we have universal suffrage, a zero percent tax rate free, beer, cigars and cocaine for everyone over the age of twelve. You are not free if you have no right to property because without property you live here only at the government's whim. More to the point, because the government owns all the land and controls the population's use of it to maintain the extravagant and excessive pay scale of the THBT, Permanent Secretaries, Executive Secretaries, Adjunct Secretaries, Under Secretaries, Associate Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Special Secretaries, Temporary Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries to the Assistant Under Secretaries and the rest of the loafers , weasels and French cuff wearing Catamites pretending to be civil servants enjoy there will always be a rather large underclass in Hong Kong because it will always be expensive to live here because it cost a lot to support the over paid, under worked government.

In a perfect world the Mandarins of all flavors, genders, aftershaves and hair-dyes would voluntarily lower their pay and benefits out of shame and embarrassment over the cost to the poor that their lifestyles perpetuate. Indeed, they are worse than the worst of the tycoons. At least Li Ki Shing employees people. At least Park&Shop does sell groceries, the government here produces next to nothing except hot air, helps almost no one and yet takes up a huge percentage of the GDP. But, the Mandarins have no shame and the world isn't perfect. Therefore, the best that we could possibly hope for is to provide them some competition.

It is simply pathetic to see candidate after candidate for legco offering the same worthless, and ultimately unsustainable solutions to the social problems here. Subsidies, and welfare payments simply will not solve the issue of livability in Hong Kong. Giving the poor free money only starts an inflationary cycle in which everybody loses. Stupid. But then what do you expect from HKU graduates?

That is why, for the good of Hong Kong and its continued survival as "Asia's World City" I am advocating that Hong Kong and Shenzhen negotiate a "Free Trade agreement that includes open borders. The flat that cost 3.5 million in Hong Kong cost about 800K in Shenzhen. How many people in Hong Kong would be better off with a mortgage of 800K than 3.5mil? The reason the poor and middle classes can't live in Shenzhen now is that it is so troublesome to cross the border. If we were to remove the border check points then Shenzhen would effectively become a suburb of Hong Kong where the middle and working classes could pursue life, liberty and the latest variety of dim sum.

If the middle classes and working classes could live in Shenzhen they'd not need government subsidies for housing. This would free up government funds to help the truly needy. This would also cause the price of real estate in Hong Kong to plummet but that is where the government, which has squirreled away trillions in property taxes over the years could offer a ONE TIME bail out because after all it was the government that caused the problem.

But then, low and behold it suddenly it becomes more affordable to live and do business here in Hong Kong Kong. Suddenly factories can operate here because rents are lower. Suddenly taxes are collected on industry again. Suddenly 53% of the population don't live in government housing and a large number of Mandarins can be laid off because the Housing Authority can shrink.

The cartels that run Hong Kong have a presence in Shenzhen but they don't run the place. That means that banking services would be cheaper and better through competition.

That means that Wellcome and Park&Shop would have to compete with Carrefour and Wal-Mart and the price of food would come down because the property cartels that own the big supermarkets here could no longer keep the competition out by charging them excessive rent.

It means that land currently used as a no-mans-land to keep people from walking from there to here or here to there would be available for development as residential, commercial or recreational venues.

It would mean that Hong Kong would have to adopt a tax system and a municipal pay scale that could be supported by the population and that is more in line with other cities world wide.

It would mean that the Hong Kong government would have to really look at ways of improving services and controlling cost rather than build "Iconic buildings" on the old site of the old police barracks.

It would also mean that the government of Shenzhen would have to become more open, honest and accountable. That it would have to live up to the same level of freedom and rule of law that Hong Kong does. Since those ideas are things that are already in the Chinese constitution it should be possible and probably not too difficult.

Would a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and Shenzhen solve all of the social problems problems in Hong Kong? No, of course not, but is is a better place to start than anything being suggested by any political party in Hong Kong.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who should have Donald Tsang's (THBT) job or at least be in legco

Nancy! Nancy! Nancy! --- One more time

I have a rather morbid interest in high-profile murderer's and over the years and have had more than my fair of contact with them; even if I do say so myself.

I grew up a few strees over street over from the parents of Charles Manson's hatchet man Tex Watson who was the guy that killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate. They were nice people but with a son who sort of fell off the deep end.

When I was an undergraduate I worked the night desk in a budget motel and had the dubious honor of checking in Henry Lee Lucas and talked to him several times as he drank our free coffee in the lobby before he was arrested for murder and necrophilia; he was a scary guy even before I knew what he'd done.

I think that criminals fascinate us because we can in our more honest moments see ourselves in them. We wonder, could we be that evil? We receive a thrill, just a little shutter when we realize the answer is probably "Yes" and a grateful sense of moral relief when we can say; "But I'm not like him."

Anyway, with a history, and morbid personality like that it should not come as a surprise that I made a post in April about Nancy Kissel's attempted appeal and that I called her my favorite Hong Kong murderess. This turned out to be an interesting post in a number of ways because not only did I enjoy writing it but have continued to receive comments on it. It seems that somebody put a link to that post on one the several websites that deal with famous murderers. Since I was evidently the last person to write anything about this case the people who read that site see my post. Several have written to me to ask for more details and an update.

One of the more interesting emails came from the family of Nancy Kissel. This caused me a moment of guilt because I had been pretty flippant about her situation but they were polite and appreciative that someone was actually concerned about this case. They must have read my post completely because at the end I did call for her release though not because I think she is innocent. Another email came from the good old Mr. Anonymous who wanted to know how I could defend a known liar and murderer? He was a little less polite and I think may be a family member or friend of the murdered husband.

Well, the update is simple. Her appeal was rejected and Nancy Kissel will probably spend the rest of her sentence in Stanley prison which for those not living in Hong Kong is near the upscale area of Stanley Market. Her six-foot by eight-foot cell will probably be bigger than many two bedroom apartments here in the "Big Lychee" but still considerably less opulent than the digs of her former expat-housewife friends by a long shot. I don't know what the term "Life Sentence" means in Hong Kong. It could be "For the rest of your life" or it could be 12 years like in the UK or parole in about 15-17 years like the US. Whatever it means, she is going to serve it out.

However, my main point in my original post actually had nothing to do with Nancy Kissel at all. It had to do with the arbitrary nature of the justice system in Hong Kong. Nancy Kissel was simply my foil for a subject that has been a soap-box of in this blog for years. In a country with a justice system that functioned properly I'd have no problem with Nancy Kissel receiving a life sentence. Indeed; in a place where the justice system functioned properly I'd have had very little complaint about a death sentence. She is guilty of murdering her husband in cold blood with malice and afore thought (Premeditated for those of you in the US) after doping him with sedatives. Her self defense argument is simply ludicrous.

If her husband was as evil as she claims then Nancy should have packed her suitcase, loaded the kids in a taxi to the airport and left for home after leaving instructions for her lawyer to institute divorce proceedings.

 If her husband was really as abusive as Nancy claimed she'd now have 1/2 his rather substantial fortune and could have lived happily ever after with her New Hampshire handyman boyfriend.

However, the justice system in Hong Kong has every appearance of being arbitrary. Sentences vary wildly between judges for similar cases and there appears to be no rhyme or reason in how a sentence is derived.

Child molesters get off with a few years in the slammer for molesting over a dozen little girls after feigning remorse in a courtroom.

A man who beats a stray cat to death is put in jail for years.

If you run over an elderly couple while driving dangerously then then you get a slap on the wrist

If you steal $14,000.00 HKD because if you don't the triads are going to break the legs of your children you get multiple years in jail.

Engage in insider trading and make millions of US dollars through unethical behavior as the CEO of the Bank of East Asia and, oh wait, insider trading is not illegal here so David Li still goes golfing with THBT.

Justice is, at the risk of sounding like a tautology, only justice if it just and then only if it so to everyone. Because the HK justice system is so demonstratively lenient in many other cases, it was manifestly unjust to not be so in Nancy Kissel's case. If a serial child rapist can go to jail for 9 years then what is wrong with letting a woman, whose husband could reasonably have been thought to be abusive, off with time served? It isn't Nancy Kissel I am advocating for but for justice to honored in the Hong Kong legal system.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks he should have been a lawyer or judge

That time of year again

Tomorrow Hong Kong will probably be visited by a typhoon for the second time in three weeks. What fun! But more ominous than typhoon season is the fact that it is election season as well. Lots of legco seats are coming open and all the candidates are doing their dead level best to propose policies to help the poor that would actually hurt the poor and Hong Kong. We can deal with a typhoon. I don't know if Hong Kong can survive its politicians seeking short term, feel good fixes for systemic problems caused by an economy that is run by crooks, administered by incompetents who trained as yes men by the British and monitored by senile old communist who are afraid of losing power.

In case you didn't know, Hong Kong is an expensive place to live. This situation is made worse because of the exploitive nature of the society and the general dishonesty of the property development and banking cabal that really runs the place. I hate to say this because I hate Micro-Soft with a purple passion but Hong Kong CEO's could learn a lot from Bill Gates.

If the government REQUIRED companies to treat their employees like human beings rather than parts of the production machine, as Micro-Soft did and does voluntarily, then Hong Kong would be much closer to the beacon of freedom that some of its leaders think it is. Instead we have politician after politicians from party after party advocating subsidies for food, housing, fuel, rice, clothing, school fees, condoms and yum cha. Let's not even get into the fact that these would, over the medium and long term cause inflation, make the population dependent upon the government, reduce the desire of people to work hard and raise taxes to such a level that the economy would stall in a state of permanent stagflation with high unemployment like France or Sweden and end up causing riots when the subsidies had to be dropped as happened recently in Indonesia. Evidently economics is too complex a subject for our University of Hong Kong trained Mandarins to understand. They'd rather go warm and fuzzy because they know that Civil Servants like them will never go wanting anyway. So, they don't care if they ruin it for everybody else and starve the poor will claiming help them.

I guess it would never occur to any of them that maybe, just maybe they could eliminate or at least reduce the need for these subsidies if they fixed some of the systemic problem that make it so hard for people without lots of money to live here. While not comprehensive and not hierarchical here are some things that I think would help create a better society in Hong Kong for everyone, not just the super rich.

Change some laws.
Hong Kong desperately an anti collusion law. This would simply lower the cost of consumer goods. Other countries have these. They seem to work. Why does it take our government 15 years worth of studies to figure out how to implement one here? Couldn't we just copy the one from Canada or Australia? Could it be that the Mandarins here are in the pocket of the businesses that collude? Nah, couldn't be because we all know our government isn't corrupt.

Revoke the monopoly on companies that own various tunnels that cross the harbor. Then set the tunnel fees at a level that maintains the tunnels. All tunnels should have the same fee. This way traffic would use the tunnel that routes them best rather than the cheaper Hung Hom tunnel. This would also help with air pollution as well by getting vehicles to their destinations faster and by having fewer idling vehicles on the road waiting to enter the tunnel.

Housing
1. Require property agencies to list the actual area of a flat. This may, at first sound trite but it goes to the very heart of the matter. The way that the interior size of of flats is figured here is simply corrupt. Because it is corrupt at the most basic of levels then the whole system ends up being a scam. If my flat is 812 square feet then I should be taxed on 812 square feet not 1125 square feet. Likewise I should tell people, friend, potential buyers, or whoever that I live in an 812 square foot apartment. More importantly the developers in Hong Kong are able to make HUGE sums of money because they effectively inflate the cost of housing by claiming larger sizes each year for the same design of flat.

2. Require developers to use fewer subcontractors. This would save huge amounts. Rather than hiring a subcontractor that hires a subcontractor who hires a subcontractor, who hires a subcontractor who hires a subcontractor who hires a subcontractor who hires a subcontractor who then hires concrete workers couldn't Sun Hung Kai hire a girl to simply call the Union and say "Hey, we need 150 guys to build a building in Tai-Po. We'll pay union scale. They need to be there on Monday and the job will last 18 months." Hong Kong Land could then cut out most of the money they now pay the subcontractors to hire subcontractors and still increase their profit while lowering pricing at the same time.

3. Since Hong Kong and Shenzhen are both SAR's in China then sign an open borders agreement. This would cause the price of housing to fall in Hong Kong because it would give the residents here the ability live in Shenzhen and to cross the border without clearing customs. Think about this a minute. Entering Shenzhen requires basically the same type permit for the average Chinese citizen as does entering Hong Kong. If Hong Kong and Shenzhen the illegal immigration problem would not be affected at all. But, the free movement of goods and people between here and Shenzhen would benefit both. Everybody would benefit by this except for the evil and degenerate Hong Kong property developers.

Environmental Issues
We read and hear about all sorts of environmental issues from air pollution to plastic bags yet the so called green groups here consistently ignore things that could be done in Hong Kong that would be simple, save energy and money for the consumer and thus reduce the level of pollution.

1. Require all new automobiles, public buses and private coaches, not just taxi cabs to run on propane. This would get problematic with my open borders proposal above but I can see this happening before that because the oil companies here don't have the voice that the construction companies have. But, why not get Shenzhen to do this too?
2. The buildings here are incredible energy wasters. In the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and indeed most developed nations items like double glazed windows, ceiling fans, and insulated walls in buildings are almost taken for granted. Here we can't even get windows that come with built in bug screens! Rather than expensive and probably unworkable environmental proposals why not this:
A. Ceilings in all new flats should be at least 3 meters high because higher ceiling allow for hot air to rise and make the interior feel cooler
B. All windows should be double glazed in new construction or when replaced
C. Include awnings over windows in the design of new residential flats so that the interior of the flat is shaded.
D. Put ceiling fans in new flats

Making these four, simple changes in the construction of new buildings could probably save more energy and reduce pollution more than any of the schemes put forward by the idiotic Hong Kong greens

Economic
Here is where I lose a lot of people.
1. A 44 hour work week. This is a better option than a minimum wage. Indeed, if the government institutes a minimum wage without a limitation on the hours worked then, well you get the idea. However, limiting the number of hours that an employer can legally schedule a person without paying overtime will cause wages to rise because it will be more difficult for an employer to hire one person and work them 70 or eighty hours a week. Also, if you are one of the people here on the lower end of society who makes $12000 a month for 85 hours a week then when that job is reduced to 44 hours you can work two job if you want or maybe fire the maid and spend more time with your kids.

Now, would the dishonest, greedy, unethical and despicable employers here try to then cut salaries in 1/2 because they work hours had been cut in half? Yes, you bet they would and the obvious way to solve that problem is: set a minimum wage for both hourly and salaried employees. I must admit I do not like the idea of a minimum wage. In a perfect world I think that that it would do more harm than good. However, because the employers here are so unscrupulous that they are almost stereotypes of the evil businessman I think it is probably the only way to go. What do we set it at? Easy. Figure the cost of employing a foreign domestic helper including the insurance and return plane ticket. That is your minimum wage. If it is good enough for a Fillipino it ought to be good enough for a local Chinese. Furthermore, as an aside Hong Kong should cease the RACIST practice of allowing employers to pay Indonesian maids less than Filipinos simply because they come from Indonesia.

Education
1. Abolish the HKCAAVQ. Instead require universities, ALL OF THEM to meet the standards used by international organizations such as WASC. If these are good enough for Standford and Harvard they are probably good enough for the Open University of Hong Kong. the same goes for all of these fly-by-night "schools" that offer degrees in everything from Astronomy to Zidego Dancing. If they cannot show that they have met WASC standards, they can't offer the program.
2. Reduce the class size in the public schools to 30 from 44.

Judicial
1. Institute some mandatory sentencing for crimes. I've complained about this a lot over the years go read some of my previous post.
2. Depot any judge that received their legal degree from the formerly Great Britain that is now not even OK but the UK. (I'm an Anglophobe and proud)
3. Find some crime or invent some crime committed by Li Kai Shing, convict him and seize his assets. He has led the way in the abusive attitude exhibited by HK employers. I don't care how many buildings, hospitals and schools he has put his name on; the man is evil.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger with all the political answers

33 months for Stealing

Another court case in Hong Kong Yesterday

A man who had through stupidity gotten deeply in debt compounded his problems by borrowing money from a Triad (Loan Shark - Gangster - HSBC Executive). Could he pay it back? Of course not, he didn't have a job. So, rather than break his arms the Triads took pity on him and gave him a job in their financial services office. He was given a stack of fake and stolen ATM cards and Visa's, a list of usernames and passwords and told to go to ATM's and use them to try and withdraw cash. Evidently some of them worked because he had 14K on him when the local constabulary caught him which seems a lot for an unemployed guy of his social standing.

The judge called this a "Serious Offense" and gave him 33 months in prison. Maybe he should have run down a kid on a bicycle! However, you figure that he will be paroled in about 10 months of actual time less what he has already served so maybe the sentence isn't so severe. But still, this wasn't a violent crime. Nobody got hurt. I'm not sure that stealing from the Robber-Barron Hong Kong banks is even morally wrong.

Now for the tricky part that uses dodgy logic. Assume he serves the whole sentence of 33 months in jail for stealing $14K. That means that he was sentenced to one month one in jail for about every HKD $425 dollars he stole. So if you then multiple 425 by 10 you $4245.00 Does that mean that the life of a 7 year-old boy is worth less than $4500.00 in Hong Kong? Could the Scout Master who was responsible for running over a little boy have paid the family $5000 and called it square?

As I said in some important ways the logic is dodgy but it is solid enough to
show how messed up the judges in Hong Kong are. Indeed, it shows clearly that in Hong Kong the idea of the punishment fitting the crime is an unknown element of the justice system. Neither of these men received justice.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks maybe he should have trained as a judge

Walter Veltroni is the butt of Silvio Berlusconi's campaign jokes

We need this guy to move to Hong Kong

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who does not Think that Donald Tsang is very funny

Odds and Ends

Another judge issued an outrageously lenient decision here the day before yesterday. I've been fuming about it for a couple of days. A Boy Scout leader was letting two 13 year-old scouts drive his van when they ran over and killed a 7 year-old boy riding a bicycle. He then lied to the police about who was driving to protect the kids that he had irresponsibly allowed to do this. He received a whopping 10 months in jail for this crime and lost his drivers license for 2 years.

The judge basically pissed on the grave of this little kid and the bereaved family was understandably furious. The judge then issued the same stinking self-loathing platitudes acquired in his second class British University or HKU (Sycophantically British in methods and curriculum) about how "You can't bring the child back to life" bla-bla-bla that HK judges always spout after they let an obvious criminal off with a slap on the wrist. Someone needs to tell these pompous twerps that it isn't about bringing the child back to life. It is about punishing wrong doers.

Indeed, this whole incident isn't about the perpetrator at all in one sense. It is about justice for the little boy's family. I do not care how contrite man was. I do not care that he pleaded guilty. I do not care that he is a low risk to do this again. How many people are high risk for this type thing? It is about people driving automobiles having courtesy and respect for people not in their cars. It is about a safe and fear free society. It is about remembering that "mercy to criminals is injustice to victims."

After the trial the boys father said on camera that "he would be waiting when the man got out of prison and would kill him" Since threatening to kill someone is an offense this judgment has already caused another crime to be committed. The boy's father probably won't do that but if he does then both the murdered man and the murderer's blood should but on the judges hands.

Humans have an innate sense of justice. The scout master needs to believe that he has made recompense for what he did. The father of the boy needs to know that the man who was responsible for killing his son has been punished. The two boys in the van need to know that it wasn't their fault. Nobody got justice in this decision. Nobody gets closure Not the plaintiff, defendant or the accessories. The judge gets to go home and feel that he is a progressive, enlightened person.

May he someday know what it is like to have injustice thrust upon him.

The man sentenced should have been put away for 3 to 5 years. While heinous this was an accident and not premeditated murder. It was a mistake but, there are some mistakes that you shouldn't make. If you want to teach a 13 year-old how to drive then great, do it where nobody is going to get killed. He is not only responsible for killing a 7 year-old but traumatizing two 13 year-old boys for life. How would you have liked to be the 13 year-old driver? More than that it would allow him to come to grips with a terrible mistake. It would also give the boy's family time to accept their son's death and to forgive someone who has hurt them badly.

Injustice being masqueraded as justice is nothing new in Hong Kong. Especially if the crimes committed are against bicyclist, children or the elderly as I have so often pointed out in this blog. Indeed, if letting criminals off with a wink and a nudge were an Olympic sport Hong Kong would probably be a favorite for the gold medal.

Which brings me my other topic today.

I don't like the Olympics. I gave up on them several years ago. When I was a child they were special because it was amateur sport. The Olympics were also special when I was a kid because it was a chance to see how non-professional US athletes could compete with and often win against those from Iron Curtain nations who everybody knew took hormones (Today we call them steroids)and were professionally trained. You always groaned in the figure skating events if more than one of the judges was from East Germany because you knew that your nation didn't have a chance.

Now all the teams, players and athletes can be seen on ESPN playing for their regular professional team. So what makes the Olympics such a big deal anymore? It never occurred to me that the Olympics were not a political event. They were all about politics. Cold War political slogans were almost etched into the medals. That is why I find the posturing of both sides of various groups wanting nations to either boycott the Olympics or not kind of silly.

It is simply inconceivable to me that the IOC chairman could sit there with a straight face and say "We are not about politics" BS, pure simple BS is all that was. But did these French doctors who want to free Tibet ever advocate boycotting Olympics in other places besides China that have equally abysmal records on Human Rights? Did they support Jimmy Carter for making the US team boycott the Moscow games? Did they ever complain about judges from Communist nations that obviously fixed various events in the name of politics? No. So, why start now?

That said, I hope that if I were a 28 year-old bicycle racer who had made the US team Olympic cycling team that I'd have the moral courage to skip these games. I think that if a significant number of athletes refused to go on their own accord it would be a much more meaningful protest than if their nation simply refused to issue them a visa. If the government of The-Socialist-Paradise of (Insert any EU member) bans it athletes from going the PRC can chalk it up to politics. If athletes refuse to go because they don't want to be associated with a regime that is repressive, cruel and corrupt then the PRC could still chalk it up to politics but couldn't hide the fact that it isn't.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who has never been to an Olympic event

No cause for flu panic: scientist

I guess this scientist doesn't have an children.

That said the population here does tend to panic a bit over these things,

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who can understand why parents are concerned.

He should drive a mini-bus (Long and Rambling Post)

So, steal a lot of money in Macao and go to jail for 27 years. Kill a little girl through reckless driving in Hong Kong and go to jail for 4 months.

Hmmmm; it makes me wonder what would happen if a minibus driver stole 10 million and a government official killed a little girl?

The justice system in Hong Kong is simply broken. We need to replace every judge. If we can't do that then we need some mandatory sentencing for crimes like murder or manslaughter (Which is what this was) and negligent homicide. But, I'd really like to fire every judge in Hong Kong, revoke any pensions they might have and make them move their sorry butts back to the UK.

Speaking of the UK did anyone but me see the story of the blogger there that is under threat of arrest for complaining that the UK is letting proven terrorist into the country to preach in a London Mosque? Honestly, some might find this guy a bit over the edge; but I don't see that he is saying anything that is deserving of jail or even arrest. People of all political stripes say much more controversial things in other countries all the time. Especially since what he is saying is more or less true.

The concept of free speech is an important one to me but then I was born in the US not Europe. I can't see that he is that far out of line. It also seems to me that there is some differential enforcement going on here. Why do they arrest him for saying an Imam who advocates suicide bombers is a terrorist and not the people who called George W. Bush the heir to Hitler? Does the UK government not think that at least some Americans might be really offended by that? I'm not Mr. Bush's biggest fan but I certainly find the comments made about the US, most of which by the way are nearly completely false, by many UK citizens to be highly offensive. Why don't they worry about offending me or my religion? After all, If the average American is really the knuckle dragging Neanderthal that the Manchester Guardian makes us out to be you'd think they'd be afraid to offend us for the same reason they are afraid offending Muslims. Maybe a few Americans need to start calling for a holy war against Europe.

Nuke 'em 'til they glow! Or better yet, move there and take over the place. Turn it into "Eurmerica." Now there is an idea that's time has come!

"Eurmerica" is a concept whose time has come. Then Anti-Americanism would be a hate crime and US citizens could freely immigrate to countries like the UK and begin agitating for American law, American foods and American culture to be enforced as a sacred part of our culture. Actually that might be a good thing.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who believe in Liberty, Justice and Free Speech for all

A clarification

I had a comment from an anonymous reader complaining about my last post. he/she/it/they seemed to think that I was wanting to punish the school leavers. Actually nothing could be farther from the truth. But, when I reread my post I kind of see what they meant. I did come across as harsh. Indeed, I was trying to be harsh but my harshness was directed at the ERB and its nearly useless legion of social workers not the people they they spend millions on not helping. I didn't state my point as clearly as I could of. I was simply trying to say that there are better ways of helping dropouts than teaching them how to be a foot massage therapist.

I believe that many of the school leavers, and if you don't think that such people are destined to be loser, thugs and welfare slackers for the most part I'm sorry, would benefit from being part of an organization that allows them to gain some direction in their lives. The military has, in many countries been a major way that children of the poor or disadvantaged acquired the skills and social status to move out of poverty. That Hong Kong does not have a military means that the poor here are denied one of the best ways that the poor in other nations have of escaping poverty. At worst it would get these kids off the street for 6 years and give them something useful to do.

Military organizations are much more than people with guns. For every soldier that is in a combat unit there is at least one more in a support role behind the lines, sometimes more.

Here are some of the careers that someone could receive training for in a military unit.

Pilots (Helicopter and fixed wing)
Mechanic (Diesel, aircraft, automotive)
Logistics (Warehouses, inventory control, accounting, purchasing)
Administration (office skills, supervising, organization, communication, computer systems)
Food Service (cooking preparing service, environmental hygiene)
Medical (EMT, Nursing, Doctors, and other areas of health care)
Weapons training (Useful for becoming a police office after military service is complete.)
Physical conditioning (instills a healthy lifestyle)


Even a light infantry brigade would need all or most of these things.

The men and women that I know who have had some type of military service also have a great deal of self confidence, exhibit professionalism in their demeanor and dress, know how to be team players, how to both follow and give directions and exhibit a great deal of reliability. In other words, they make good employees and even better citizens.


Now, compare that list of attributes and skills to what the ERB is offering?

Which would help more people? Which would provide employers with better employees? Given the huge, immoral salaries of the bureaucrats in Hong Kong which would be a better use of money?

Oh yeah, one more thing. One of my pet gripes is people who are not grateful for what they have. I get tired of hearing and reading about young people, who are by the standards of many places in the world wealthy complain about how life is so tough for them. There really isn't any poverty in Hong Kong; nobody here starves. Even the poor have enough to eat. Sending a plane load or two of complainers off to Ethiopia to guard people who are starving and need protecting from Arab slave traders might make an impression on these kids that needs to be made. They might realize that they didn't have it so bad.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who believes it would do most teenagers good to march through the mud for about four years

Hong Kong Needs an Army

Hong Kong maintains something called the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) which is sort of a semi-governmental organization that was, I think first set up several years ago to help uneducated former factory workers make the arduous transition into new careers as security guards and convenience store clerks. That mission was achieved, I guess sometime ago to a resounding yawn of applause.

While not officially a part of the government the ERB does receive a huge pile of money from the government from the tax on domestic helper's wages. The weasels who control that money, quite understandably don't want to see their cushy, immorally high paid jobs come to an end. Talk about corruption. The government collects a tax and then hands it over to retired civil servants who then spend most of it on their own salaries while collecting a pension that is already many times the average income and spend the rest on salaries of professional do-gooders with social work degrees from HKU. As far as I know, there is no oversight on how this money is spent or any accountability as to whether the ERB actually accomplishes anything.

Machiavelli said that the major purpose of any government is to perpetuate itself. This organization has just proved him correct because they've just expanded their client pool by announcing that they are going to start retraining 15 year old school dropouts since the out of work factory workers have moved on or died off. Excuse me, how can you "retrain" a 15 year old? I am assuming that the ERB isn't talking about potty training. These little punks don't need retaining. They need to get a life.

These are punks, probably drug users who dropped out of school to play mahjong when they were 14, worked in a dai-pai dong until they were 18 (the ambitious ones anyway the others played video games or sprayed graffiti under bridges) and then complain that they have no career opportunities when they are 20. No fake! And now I am supposed to pay a tax for retraining these little creeps?

I have an idea.

The government should start a military unit and put these little slackers in it. Any brat who drops out of school before form 5 or who gets 6 zeros on the HKCEE and has an IQ over 85 should be required to spend the next 6 years in the HK military. Once they get trained up then the HK government could volunteer them for duty as peace keepers in a UN force, perhaps in East Timor or Darfur. Hey, HK could even join the war on terror and send them to Iraq. Assuming they survive after 6 years of military service they'd be mustered out having learned to read, bathe and gained a job skill of some sort depending upon their assignment. More than that, the percentage of thugs who drop out of school would plummet to nearly zero.

I'd even be willing to have my tax dollars to pay for their unit tattoos.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks every child should learn to march

O Little Town of Tin Shui Wai

I rewrite some carols for Christmas in Hong Kong every year. Most of the time they are somewhat light hearted but I found myself in a darker mood today. The words don't quite fit on this one but it still sort of captures what I wanted to say. For those not from Hong Kong; Tin Shui Wai is a government housing development that is miles from anywhere and filled with poorly educated, immigrants from the PRC. It has a very high suicide rate and of late has had several horrific murder suicides. In one a mother used duct tape to bind her children's arms and legs and then threw them from a 26th story window before jumping herself. The governments response has essentially been to be a sounding brass and clanging cymbal.

I'll probably post a more light hearted carol in a couple of days.

O Little Town of Tin Shui Wai

O little town of Tin Shui Wai,
How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep unemployed sleep
The silent stars drive by;
Yet the dark Mercedes hideth
The everlasting bureaucrat;
Whose hopes and fears for retirement years
Are fading as you die.

For children born of immigrants,
And gathered in one place
While parents work the siblings keep
their watch of indifferent love.
O buildings packed together
Proclaim the builder's greed.
In flats so small a barbie doll.
Would find them cramped and leave.

How silently, how silently
The wordless grief is given!
The hopeless lives of migrant wives
Their fate fixed for all time.
No ear may hear them falling;
‘till on the ground they lie,
Where hopeless grief collides with concrete
And all we can do is cry.

Where children bound hand and foot,
Pray simply be spared;
Their misery cries out to me,
Can we not do better by thee?
Where charity stands watching,
And LEGCO holds wide the door,
The dark night screams, the body breaks,
and the coroner comes once more.

O lonely child of Tin Shui Wai,
Descend not to the pavement, we pray;
Cast not out thy self but stay within;
Find some hope in life today!
There is be more for you than you see
More than the Donald Tsang could ever say;
For though it is true that he has ignored you
You don't deserve to die.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Christmas Caroling Blogger

Batman Couldn't live here

This is just funny.

The people in mid-levels are more concerned about the noise the plane doing the photography will make than the water quality in the harbor

That is just sad

Until Next Time
Fai mao
The Comic Book Hero Blogger