I'm Just a Canary in the Data Mine

I received a really strange comment yesterday on a post I made nearly a year ago.

This past spring my Mother-in-Law was in the last stages of life; dying in a Hong Kong hospital. I wrote several very angry post about her treatment in the hospital and the experience of my wife and myself while going through this situation. After she died I simply let the matter drop. It isn't good to dwell on topics like that. You can't be angry at people forever.

I also had other parts of my naval to gaze into.

What is slightly upsetting about the comment I received yesterday is that it appears to be a pre-recorded message aimed at blog post with words like "Hospital" or "Health Care" in the text or title. It is obvious from the short comment that they didn't read the entry and it is signed by an insurance company.

I guess I should be happy that someone or even something is actually hitting my pages.

So in an effort to obtain even more computerized traffic on my blog I submit the following paragraph.

Viagra, Hospital, Health Care, Sex, George Bush, John Kerry, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, United States, Animal Rights, Vegetarian, Disease, Iraq, Michael Moore, Feminism, Global Warming, Ozone, WTO, Anti-WTO, Pornography, Jesus, John McCain, Pope, Rap, Swift Boat, Cusine, Insurance, Children, Parent, Hip-Hop, Education, University, History, Google, Human Rights, Poverty, Industrial, Pollution, Save the Whales, Charels the Prince of Wales, Dianna the Princes of Wales, Communist, AIDS, Communism, Prince Harry, Capitalism, France, Rush Limbaugh, Wine, Mel Gibson, Alcoholism, Drug Use, Addiction, Disfunctional Families, Freedom of Speech, Abortion, Satan, Satanism, Politics, Right Wing, Boycott, Left Wing, Erectile Disfunction, Mass Media, Fashion, Exercise, Welfare, Travel, Food, Homosexuality, Gay Rights, Space Shuttle, Nuclear Weapons, AARP, Menopause, Orgasim, Retirement, Castro, Chavez, Iran, Islam, Muslim, Koran, Bible, Veda, Hindu, Buhdda, Jew, Christian, Crusade, Jihad, Real Estate, Fast Food, Health food, Vitamins, Acupuncture, Meditation, The New York Times, Alternative Lifestyle, Alternative Medicine, Cancer, Astrology, Dating, Over population, Birth Control, Anti Christ, Atheist, Dog, Cat, Pets, Fox News, Divorce, Treatment, ADD, ADHD, Cable TV, Learning Disabilities, Autism, Ausberger, Immigration, Guns, Gun Control, Justice, Space Aliens, UFO, Abduction, Kidknapping, Capital Punishment, 9-11, 9/11, Military, Election, Israel, Hamas, Terrorism, Ossam bin Ladin, Al Queda, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Nixon, Nixon Nixon, Hitler, Madonna, The Beattles, ELVIS.

Have fun with this one data miners!

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Shamelessly Self Promoting Blogger

Billable Hours

Gee I wish I were a lawyer sometimes

I sometimes read the "Powerline Blog" and boy do those guys have a lot to say.

It makes me feel lazy by comparison because I don't post everyday and I don't write the long detailed post they put up very often.

But then I remember that there are three of them.

Thus each one can write some. Also because they are lawyers they can make a lot of money per case and thus maybe work less. I'd like to have more free time. I show up for work at 7:00 AM and work until 5:00 PM or later. That doesn't give me much time to check, polish and refine my post.

I need to have more billable hours and less actual work hours to write more.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The librarian blogger who sometimes wishes he were lawyer blogger.

Apologies

I didn't realize that yesterday was MLK day in the US.

That is not an insignificant day in the scheme of things.

Take me out to.......

Today should be a holiday.

At the very least it should be one of those fake holiday's like "secretaries day" or "Moustache" day" that they have in the US where the calendar list it as a holiday but nobody gets time off.

Today marks the point where we are 30 day from the beginning of Baseball spring training.

I need some hotdogs. And some peanuts. And maybe some lukewarm watery beer! Lousy ballpark nachos would be welcome about now. Crackerjacks, oh my God, crackerjacks!

It is time to celebrate. Ball-night, bat-night, cap-night, jersey-night, refrigerator magnets and all the assorted major league swag are on their way.

It is time to remember watching Charlie Hough throw his knuckleball. It is time to remember Billy Martin. It is time to think that maybe even the Tigers, Cubs or the Rangers could win the World Series.

I can almost hear Eric Nadel right now. I can remember Dick Rizzenhover with his tremendous homerun call; Mark Holtz and how he sounded like the guy next door. I'd even settle for those homers that call the Yankee games

I remember Jose Canseco having a flyball hit him in the head. I remember Willie Horton punching George Brett in the jaw during a brawl down the third-base line. I remember listening to Kenny Rogers throw a perfect game. I remember two of Nolan Ryan's no-hitters.

There's nothing better than base-ball on the radio. It starts in a month.

Oh boy, this is a good day.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The always wanted to be able to throw a knuckle-ball in the major leagues blogger

For a while

I'll return next week.

Response to Mr Lee

This post is a response to a comment. You can see the comment below but as the response was very long I decided to post it as a post.

There also appears to be something wrong with my browser that is mangling words.

Mr. Lee,

Thanks for being polite. Let me take your points one at a time.

You Wrote
First of all I agree that hunger strike is a futile gesture unless they were willing to go through with it, which they didn't because it only lasted for 4 days(?)

I'm glad we agree on something.

Please read my previous post on this conference. I am not necessarily a supporter of the WTO but I like the protesters even less. Indeed, I could in no way shape or form be called an advocate of big or world government

You Wrote
But you seem to be suggesting that the Korean farmers wanted to come and destroy HK. Understandably, many HKer's had this view thanks to the climate of fear the media had created, not to mention the violence from past WTO meetings such as Seattle & Genoa. But if you really knew what was going on and instead of feeding from the one-sided reporting from the likes of TVB and tabloids you would have a far more objective view. Fortunately, a sizeable bunch of HKer's did go and see for themselves and rallied to support and applaud the protestors as they marched by. Good to see a bunch that weren't entirely ignorant & not brainwashed by TVB reporters

I live in Causeway Bay. Right across the street from Victoria Park, next to the public library; I had to walk through the protest to go to and come home from work. Therefore, I am not just reporting what I saw on TVB. I am writing about what I saw and walked through. Indeed, the TV stations here tried to present the protest as a party, using terms like "Festive atmosphere" to describe the back end of the protest.

I did indeed make it a point talk to them. What I found was that they would not tolerate any deviation from their party line. If that is unfair then I'm sorry that is how they present themselves. Kind of anything goes unless you disagree with me. I spent quite a while on Monday evening in Victoria Park. I talked with them. More than that. I am old enough to have talked with them for a long time. If not these folks then other with more or less the same agenda.

These protesters may not have wanted to destroy Hong Kong but I don't believe that the Koreans didn't want violence. At the very least they came here planning to cause trouble. The riots they started are not a one off event. They do it every time. I also believe they were looking for trouble because they said as much before hand. They came expecting trouble. You cannot say, in effect., "We'll come prepared for anything" and still call yourself a basically peaceful protester.

Starting about Tuesday I saw the Korean farmers wearing what looked like body armor made out of some sort of sack stuffed with straw. They had helmets. They were openly carrying big sticks, bamboo poles and other objects that could be used as clubs. They were wearing painters mask and face shields. If they were not expecting violence then why wear that? They WERE at least to this passerby, behaving in a very passive aggressive manner. It was not very pleasant to stand at the crosswalk with them. Think about it. If they didn't start anything the police wouldn't have either. To say any thing else is simply unbelievable.

The fact that there was not more trouble is not that the protesters didn't want it but rather that Hong Kong took rather extraordinary measures to insure that the situation would not get out of hand

Most of the local Hong Kong people that I could see at the protester were actually spectators. There were not that many participants Though there were some. Certainly when it really got violent many of them left.

You Wrote
How can you criticize someone that you haven't talked or interacted with. From my time spend with the Koreans, they were a friendly courteous bunch, they would've been more happier if they haven't been pushed to the brink of poverty. And that goes for the Phillipinos, Indonesians, Mexicans and other nationalities.

As I said above. I talked with them and more than that I look at who they are. Once again I refer you to my previous post. You had groups at this protest that wanted diametrically opposing things. Some, like those from Indonesia wanted greater access to markets in developed countries like Korea and Japan. Others, like the Koreans want their country to maintain high trade barriers to keep lower priced goods from less developed countries out. It appears to me the protesters from Zimbabwe should have been battling the protesters from South Korea. It also tells me that they either don't know what is going on in the WTO or they have another agenda.

I did interact with them and I did talk to them. I made it a point to do so. I've written about this in previous post.

It is also simply untrue to say that the Korean farmers have been "Pushed to the brink of poverty" It is simply a lie. They admitted as much when ATV interviewed them. They have an income of well over USD $50,000. The truth is the have a good living because Korea keeps its trade walls in place. That impoverishes people else where. Besides, if they were in poverty then how did they afford the travel expense? They show up at all of these meetings. If I were in poverty I'd have better uses for what little cash I had than to fly around the word protesting? I saw them complaining about their debt load. Well, I come from a farming area. the debt load they talked about does not seem that much different from the US farmers I used to bail hay for in Texas as a teenager. Depending upon the size of the farm USD$1 million debt might not be excessive for an income of $50,000 a year.

That income, incidentally probably places the Korean farmers in the top 10% to 15% wealthiest people in the world. Hardly poverty strickened. Operation debt for a business and poverty are different things.

You Wrote
The so-called 'terrorists' you claim didn't touch one single HK citizen. (Did you also notice the hundreds of HK protestors?)

I called the protesters terrorist thugs because they were attempting to influence political events by violence. Yet they are not part of an official army or national militia. Here is a definition of a terrorist I pulled out of dictionary.com
Terrorist
adj : characteristic of someone who employs terrorism (especially as a political weapon); "terrorist activity"; "terrorist state" n : a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities.

Just in encase you don't know what terrorism is here is a definition

Terrorism
n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

That is exactly what these people are trying to do. They are by definition, terrorist. That doesn't mean they are Ussama bin Laden but they are terrorist never-the-less because they are trying to threaten or intimidate governments through the use of force but are not part of a national army. But, ok we can use the term bullies if you like.

You wrote
Not one single store window was smashed. They picked up their own rubbish after a rally. They even gave back the police their riot shields.

There were no windows broken because the stores were closed and the rolling storm doors pulled down and locked. If you were at the protest you would have seen this. To not mention it is disingenuous. Other buildings had their plate glass windows boarded up with plywood. I have pictures posted of this in previous post that prove this.

The bricks used in Hong Kong sidewalks were GLUED together so that they could not be pried up and thrown. They are still glued down go look at them

The overhead walkways were covered with chain-link fence to protect the automobiles below.

With the crowd control measures in place by the police it would have been difficult for the protesters to do more damage without lots of work. But, is that a reflection of the protesters or the preparations of the Hong Kong police?

Let us also not forget that there are something like 30,000 PLA troops in Hong Kong. While they were not needed (thankfully) the fact that they could have possibly been called upon may have had some deterrent effect. More likely it was the preparation and diligence of the Hong Kong Police. I have no doubt that if the police had been less resolute the protesters would have caused more problems. Or, have you forgotten Seattle?

I also freely admit that if I were Donald Tsang I would have used the PLA to supplement the police.

You wrote
The majority of criticism comes from their actions on tnightghS 17day 17th717th7th. It was a clash that nobody wanted. (sic). A Korean even restrained an Indonesian because the stick he used to hit the Police was too big & dangerous. . I did see a few that chose my violent measures such as throwing projectiles at unarmored officers, but when you stageneralizinging a group by a few individuals' actions then that would be ignorant

It is not, in my experience true that the violence was primarily limited to Saturday night. What is true is that the HK police did a very good job keeping violent people under control. There was violence every day.

Let's not even talk about the first day of the protest when the Korean Farmers set a big sign or alter looking thing on fire and then used it as a battering ram to try and break the police cordon. Is using a burning battering ram against a police barricade minimal use of force? Would the body armor worn by police keep them from getting burned? That was on the first day. But you obviously don't remember that.

The truth is there were a series of escalating and increasingly violent action planed and initiated by the protesters, primarily the Korean farmers, throughout the week. It was planned and thought out. It was obvious to anybody who watched it. Day one violent, day two peaceful march day three, more violence, day 4 less. What the protesters were doing is trying to wear down the Hong Kong police. The protesters could rest or even go shopping. The police outnumbered 4 to 1 were working 12 hour shifts and had to be on guard 24 hours a day. That is why the major push came on17th, because they'd hoped that the police would be tired. The non violent people played their part in this by staging protest all over Hong Kong which stretched the police lines and made it potentially possible for the violent ones to break the cordon. Indeed, why did the non-violent people not go to the front of the protest and interpose themselves between the police and the violent minority? That would have stopped the violence. It would have also made the point that they were were NOT passively supporting the violence.

I looked I didn't see this happen. Were they perhaps afraid of the Koreans? The non-violent people like that goof in the chicken suit or the woman dressed liMinnienie Mouse only appeared after the Violent break through attempt had failed.

Remember. I was there.

You Wrote
Instead the Koreans chose to use brittle plywood which wouldn't penetrate the riot poliarmorour & shield

If the Koreans were so intent on not hurting the police they should not have hit them with anything at all. Your argument is simply silly on that point. They could have marched up to the police line presented their demands and then sat down and say 46 verses of "The Internatonale" or play cards. It would have made the police look silly and gotten their messaacrossoss with greater clarity.
By the way, Let me hit you with a brittle piece of plywood. Wear a Kevlar vest if you want. Let's see if you think it hurts.

That some of the people engaging in terrorism were not willing to go as far some of the others is beside the point. The fact that it might not penetrate armor doesn't mean that it could not cause bodily harm. It was an act of violence that was intended to cause harm or provoke a more violent response from the police. Hitting someone with a ply wood club is assault.

You Wrote
The Koreans wanted to make their voices directly heard to the WTO delegates, while the Police needed to protect the delegation.

Once again, I refer you to my previous post, if these people are upset with the trade policy of their country then they should elect leader who support those positions. Korea, despite being a some what repressive place does have an elected government and multiple parties. Membership in the WTO is voluntary. So Korea doesn't have to follow its recommendations. But, South Korea also appears to me to be a rather violent place as there have been a number of violent labor riots there over the years.

Indeed. This is how I feel that trade agreements should work. I don't like extra governmental organizations like the WTO. There are a host of reasons, some of them more valid than others that a nation might not want to let the goods of another nation within its borders.

If these farmers want their voices heard they should do it at the ballot box in their own country, not with a club against the helmet of a Hong Kong police officer; period, full stop, end of argument. What they did is beyond the pale and was a criminal act.

You Wrote
Therefore violence occurred, not because the protestors wanted a fight.

B.S.

It is as simple as that.

They said before hand and have said at each of these meetings that they would refrain from violence only if all of their demands were met. You said yourself that the Hong Kong police did not engage in police brutality. Ask yourself, "Who started the violence?" It wasn't the police. Thus it must have been the protesters. So if they didn't want to be violent then why were they violent?

Did TVB or maybe the CIA pay some thugs to start something and blame it on the Koreans?

You Wrote
In fact both sides wanted to use the least amount of force.

In a sense you are correct here. The terrorist, excuse me, bullies, wanted to use only so much force as was needed to achieve their ends. The police wanted to use only so much force as was needed to keep the terrorist, eh bullies, from achieving their ends.

You Wrote
I also say that there was no police brutality involved except how they treated them in prison

I don't actually know if I agree or not. I don't know what went on in prison (actually a jail as a prison is for those who have already been convicted) However, I do from my days as a college radical know that anytime you were arrested at a protest you yelled brutality. I find it difficult to believe that the police would show so much restraint at the protest when they could have justifiably used more and then got mean when nobody was looking. Maybe it happened but I am not going to take a terrorist word for it. However, I don't know.

You Wrote:
They were charged with "illegal assembly"', as were 900 others! And not all were Koreans. So why was it whittled down to these 14? They seem to be scapegoats to me.

A couple of things are important here. It appears to me that Hong Kong uses somewhat archaic legal language. In the US or Canada or many other places the charge would have been more like "inciting a riot" or maybe, since the arrest were made about 3:00 AM "Loitering". They may have also been arrested for something they were accused of having committed at an earlier time. We will have to wait until their day in court today.

I will say this, though it may not be true, it does appear that the judiciary in Hong Kong drug its feet. Two weeks is a long time to wait for an arraignment. But, maybe that is the way it always works in Hong Kong.

More than this, what would you be saying today if they had detained all 900? Would you then be calling the police NAZI pigs accusinging them of using excessive force? Does Hong Kong have the ability hold that many people. Maybe they do maybe they don't, I don't know.

The ones they held may have been held because they were organizers or leaders rather than simply guys in the crowd. Once again, we'll have to wait until today when they have their court appearance.

As I said above I don't have much argument on this point. However, I am not sure that foot dragging before an arraignment rises to the level of brutality. I do think the Taiwanese student should have been retained. I would bet a dollar to a doughnut hole he will not ever return for his day in court.

However, it is the South Koreans who are the organizers and leaders of these protests. So maybe, the HK government is trying to just prosecute the big fish.

I think that the arrest were made because a significant percentage of the protesters started a fight and had been identified as being at that meeting I don't think it is any accident that the final night of the WTO meeting was relatively violence free. I think most of the terrorist were in jail.

You Wrote
Your example of being arrested in South Korea for the same thing is contradicting. It is a different scenario from HK because as you saS. Korearea is indeed a autocratic state in disguise so you would get your ass severely beaten. Assaulting the police? Only if you manage to really hurt them.

Ok, insert any country you wish. If I break the law in Canada should Canada be unable to prosecute me because I am a protester from another country? What about Australia, France, England, the US? I know for a fact that countries like Mexico and Thailand have lots of non-citizens in their prison systems. There are a fair number of Mexican nationals in US and Canadian prisons. I personally know of one Hong Kong citizen who is in a Canadian prison. Singapore hold expatriots and even executes them. If these people broke the law, whether in a protest or not, they should be hauled before a judge and have their charges reviewed. If they are guilty of breaking a law in Hong Kong then they should be rehabilitated or punished under Hong Kong law.

Hong Kong cannot simply dismiss their charges and say "Oh well" because it would undermine the entire legal system.

Read up on the law my friend. As far as I know if you threaten someone in such a way that they believe you have the intent to harm them it is assault whether you actually wound them or not. The charge may be mitigated with a word like "attempted" but it is still essentially the same thing. When the protesters hit the police shield wall with sticks they committed assault of some form.

You Wrote
100 million worth of damage? Like the few fences that were broken here? Only if they're expensive diamond plated fences.

The actual figure is HKD$250,000,000 paid by the government. I don't know how much of that went to security designed to keep protesters away from delegates but less than half is a fair guess. Some of the restaurants on Lockhart Road were loosing HKD $20,000 a day. Damage is not only property damage. I'm being generous

You Wrote
Furthermore, I noticed the newspaper's use of the word 'threaten' which is exaggerated. It makes it seem that 1000 farmers will descend on HK to mount a commando-rescue operation. Utterly bad journalism and fear mongering

Indeed! Just exactly what about the behavior of these protesters would cause me not to be afraid they were going to cause trouble? I saw a Korean man making the threat on a news broadcast. The threat was that if any of the arrested Koreans serve jail time or have to pay fine they were coming back and that they didn't want trouble but...... Once again TVB may not be the most reliable news station in the world but it is hard to say he was misquoted. I guess the translator could have misquoted him. If so I'm sorry

You Wrote
WAKE UP PEOPLE AND STOP BEING LIKE SHEEP
I say: Prophet, heal thyself

Until Next Time
Fai Mao

The Anti-WTO - One last time (Hopefully)

The 14 terrorist arrested by the HK police during the Anti-WTO protest two weeks ago are awaiting their day in court. They want to be released without charge and be able to go back to Korea to continue with their farming job. But, they can't leave because the HK government is holding their travel documents. They are out on bail and sitting in a booth dressed like peaceful Buddhist monks doing the hunger strike thing.

That's fine with me. I don't care if they are hungry when they appear in court. I don't care if want to wear funny clothes either. This is the kind of things little kids do to try and their way. "If you don't let me I'm gonna hold my breath"

It does bother me that they are now trying to pretend to be so non-violent when they were arrested for inciting and participating in a riot.

What a bunch of juvenile cowards these people are!

I disagree with these people but I'd have some respect for them if they didn't wimp out like this.

If they were sincere about their protest they'd view their incarceration as a badge of honor. If they truly believed in their cause they be willing to pay the price.

Hey as a child I used to watch civil rights marches in Alabama on the TV news. The people trying to revoke Jim Crow didn't try to avoid the punishment of the corrupt government they were trying to over throw. They reveled in it.

I'm sorry guys Thoreau not only went to jail but he refused to let others pay his fines. That is the essence of a civil-disobedience protest. He didn't hurt anybody, he didn't fight and he didn't beg for mercy. Maybe they should read Walden Pond. When you engage in violence you are a terrorist thug.

More than that, if you or I could avoid prosecution for a crime by simply claiming "I was protesting" then no laws could ever be enforced, ever. Crime would not only pay but would be come the norm. It doesn't matter what their nationality is or where they committed their crime. These people came here and broke a law that I, a Hong Kong citizen would have been jailed for breaking. They should be equal, not more than equal to me before the Hong Kong law.

Covering yourself in a protest flag does not absolve guilt. Trying to not be responsible for your actions because you were protesting does make you look like a coward; or maybe a paid operative.

Think about it. These thugs planned to come to Hong Kong and cause lots of trouble. But, because they were protesting they feel that they should be let off the hook for the property damage and lost business to the area merchants they caused. They have even had members of the South Korean legislature here begging for clemency. Worse, the legco member Martin Lee came to their defense!

Gee. Maybe I should go to Korea protest something, assault the police, cause millions of dollars of property damage and then claim "I was engaged in a protest so you can't prosecute me!" I could use taped footage of the South Korean Legislators asking for these freaks to be released as evidence.

If someone from Hong Kong engaged in this type of violence in South Korea would Martin Lee go to Korea and beg that they receive special treatment because they claimed to be protesters?

I've got news for Martin Lee, if you support these thugs you cannot be a supporter of democracy in Hong Kong or claim to favor the rule of law.

Indeed, I would expect that if I went to South Korea and broke the law, especially in a premeditated way that I would be jailed. Given that South Korea appears to me to be a some what semi-fascist police state, I'd expect to be severely beaten as well.

To their credit the HK government other than Martin Lee has said that they will not let their judicial decision be influenced by non-citizens. I hope they don't back down on this one. Donald Tsang needs to show he has a backbone and the police need to stop apologizing for their treatment of these thugs.

The South Korean farmers socialist union thing has threatened to send 1000 farmers to protest if these baboons (Apologies to real baboons) are sent to jail or fined. I think the HK police ought to simply say "Molon Labe."

Bring it on guys. It's time to crack your heads and throw your sorry butts in jail.

Until next time
Fai Mao
The increasingly belligerent anti-anti-WTO blogger

Pavlov's cat

Quick question.

If Pavlov had used cats would he have had the same results?

If the results had been different, how much would education look different?

Now if Shrodinger had used a dog the results would not have changed at all.

But, Pavlov and cats. I don't think so.

Sweet Home

While recuperating from the flu over Christmas I was stuck in the house. Not having anything else to do my wife and I doped up on cough syrup and walked down to the video store and purchased a bunch of old , older and not so old movies. All in all, sitting on a recliner, drinking Chinese medicinal tea and watching movies is not a bad way to spend a Christmas vacation, even if you are sick.

One of the movies we saw was The Big Fish which is a Tim Burtom film about a man who returns to Alabama for his fathers' death and funeral. The man's father was someone who enjoyed telling telling tall tales and overand over and over again. Over the years the fathers stories had alienated the son who grew tired of his fathers' embellishments. The father reminded me of my grandfather who had so many wild tales that he told over and over again until we all knew them as well he did. Unlike the son in the movie I never grew tired of the tall tales. What made the movie special was that at the funeral many of the people who the son thought were fictional creations actually came to pay their last respects at the funeral. There were the giant, the dwaven ringmaster - werewolf, the siamese twin Chinese singer and many people from the town of "Spectre." The son realized that perhaps his father's life was a little more eventful than he had come to believe.


Strange for a Tim Burton film, this one made me cry. I was lonely for the voice of my grandfather. I was homesick for Alabama.

It made me think. Is there any other State in the US that that can provoke such evocative images in literature as Alabama? It is a small and fairly insignificant place. Yet when you look at the literature that takes place in or is written by authors from Alabama it is a giant.

I did a search of the library of Congress and found just a huge list of things using Alabama as a Subject. I'm sure that other larger states have similar amounts but I was surprised by this number of entries.

What is truly interesting is how so much of the literature set in Alabama has the good and evil set so close together. Atticus Finch against the unjust court system in To Kill A Mockingbird. The happy little girl who gets polio in My Last Days as Roy Rogers, are two that come to mind. Forest Gump is another one that comes to mind. Helen Keller was from Alabama as was Bull O'Conner. I think that is how it is in our real lives. We all, each of us live double lives. We all have to deal with our predudice and yet are all concerned and wishing for the best for our fellows.

I think that one of the reasons that these images strike me so directly is that I see how close they come to mirroring my family experience. It is really strange. People who are not from Alabama have a negative image of the place. But, it is my experience that the image is false. Maybe it is just jealousy. Maybe ignorance. I don't know. All I really know is that the movie Big Fish made me want to move back to Alabama. But, my Chinese wife would rise up in armed revolt if I tried to move there.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who sometimes wishes he were in Alabama rather than Hong Kong

Fear and Trembling and a Sickness unto Death

I was sick over the Christmas New Year holidays.

I mean really, really, really, really, really, sick.

If this is the flu that coming this year look out.

I was in bed from December 18th through December 28 and was sick a week before and still haven't cleared completely up.

Look for a longer post tomorrow.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The recovering from an illness blogger

Anti-WTO thugs finally leave town.

The protesters and negotiators have finally left. What a relief!

I think that most of the people in Hong Kong are glad they are gone. This conference cost the city 250 million Hong Kong Dollars in overtime, preparations and logistics not to mention lost sales and the trouble and danger to residents.

Sunday was a fairly quiet day as over 900 of the protesters were arrested on Saturday night and many others were injured and others were, I think scared off by the police response to their terrorism the night before. That was scary stuff. You'll see the "ATV" logo on the corner. They are my source for this.

Here is a link to some video It works for me I hope it works those not on my servers. This is right as the tear gas was launched.

At 7:10 PM after all protest were supposed to have been over by 3: the police announced that if the protesters did not disband they would place everyone under arrest. Locals were warned to leave as there were lots of idiots watching. I guess they thought it was going to be a typical non-violent HK protest. At about 7:30 they began firing tear gas and charged with batons. They loaded protesters into buses and took them to a special holding facility.

Of course there were the obligatory defenders who claimed "Brutality" because the HK police did not put up with the "I'm limp and you're going to have to drag me" nonsense. They simply slapped the baboons until they got up and walked.

Sunday was much more peaceful but about 1 in 15 of the protesters were either in jail or wounded so a lot of the trouble makers were gone.

interestingly enough, ATV interviewed several of the Korean farmers. They make over USD $50,000 a year. They claimed to work 365 days a year. (Begging the question then how were they here?) They also interviewed some muckity muck from Zimbabwe. He want instant access to all markets. I'd laugh at this evil fool if it were not so sad. Zimbabwe used to be a developed nation with a trade surplus until Robert Mugabe started murdering people. The poor are doing worse under a native dicrtator than they ever did under colonial powers.

I would have done a better job of reporting this if I hadn't had a cold.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Glad they are Gone Blogger

Protesters get violent

As I predicted the protesters got really violent yesterday. They split up into several groups to spread the police thin. They broke the cordon lines and rampaged all day. All cross harbor buses were suspended and over 900 of them were arrested.

I have some pictures that I will post soon.

The problem was made worse by silly HK locals who came to watch.

Prayer Walk by the Anti-WTO

Yesterday the Korean protesters did a three steps bow down prayer walk used by Buddhist monks on pilgrimages. They wanted to appear to be more peqaceful. We'll see.

There was also some guy, I think he's Canadian, running around in chicken suit saying the WTO is worse than Bird flu.

You know, I think I liked these guys better when they were just violent thugs.

Fai Mao

Chestnuts Roasting in an Open Barrel

Hong Kong is a strange place but it is at Christmas when the strangeness is in full bloom or at least full view.

There are writers such as David Marshall who write about the hidden hand of God in Chinese culture. His books are often insightful on many levels but the fact remains, if you didn’t grow up here, culture wise, China is a different planet from the Western world. But, one area where the cultures overlap is chestnuts. This traditional Christmas or winter snack is probably more popular in China than it is in North America. In China and also in Hong Kong and Taiwan you often find old men with a push cart fitted with a barrel of burning coal roasting chestnuts and selling them to any hungry passers by on chilly nights. I don’t really like chestnuts. There is something about the texture that feels wrong in my mouth. However, I always appreciate these street chestnut vendors.

Other hawkers selling cheap watches, clothing or tourist trinkets are more trouble than they are worth but the roasting chestnuts simply smell good. I guess it is like the roommate I used to have who loved the smell of coffee but didn’t drink it. The smell of roasting chestnuts provides a rich homey and wholesome smell in many Chinese cities that are in dire need of such smells.

Once you get beyond chestnuts Christmas in Hong Kong kind of defines the words: “Crass, Materialistic, Shallow, and Meaningless.” The lights of the buildings are a hodgepodge of Christmas New-Year and Chinese New Year. It doesn’t seem that it matters much what holiday is being celebrated as long as someone spends money on it.

And then, just when I’m not looking for it this billboard pops up in front of my bus.

(A picture will be inserted when I get my camera working again)

There are also double deck buses with a manger scene painted on the side and the words “Celebrate the true meaning of Christmas” sponsored by a shopping center in Mong Kok.

The last two years I’ve seen a choir singing carols in Chinese in front of the public library near where I live. I think they are from a Chinese language church but I really don't know who they are or why they choose that spot.

There is a manger scene and a church in the public square Christmas decorations in front of the Legislative Council building.

Maybe I’ve been too quick to judge Christmas in Hong Kong. Or, maybe David Marshall is onto something.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Its Beginning to look a Lot Like Christmas Blogger

More and Less on the WTO

Yesterday the police had some of their riot shields stolen and the protesters especially the Koreans were a little more violent. Many had their face wrapped in Saran-wrap or wore clear visors or goggles over their faces. This made the peper spray less effective. Looks to me like it is time for tear gas. They managed to break the police cordon and beat up a couple of officers. However, the police returned the favor by knocking a few protesters loopy with batons. The Koreans had a coordinator or cheerleader of some sort behind the lines yelling instructions through a bull horn. I'd be willing to bet that if they try that again he'll get a rubber bullet in the chest.

I think the police were taken a bit by surprise yesterday because the day before they'd managed so well. I bet the Koreans try to escalate today and the police respond better. I really feel for the police. They are working 12 hour shifts and have to be ready all the time. The baboons can go and sleep and protest when they want. I would assume that by now they'd be tired. I would be.

I should also say that most of these people haven't been that violent. However, they have not condemned those that have either. The time or two that I've walked through Victoria Park this week I've not felt threatened and contrary to my fears they don't appear to have trashed the park, at least not yet. This is a real eclectic group and they seem to be protesting both sides of this issue.

Others appear to be simply what I would call political tourist. I think they show up at these things and protest for the fun of it. It probably doesn't matter what the issue is. It is enough that they feel morally superior for having protested.

One positive thing the protesters did yesterday was to protest at the EU and Japanese embassy's. At least they are not blaming the US for everything. If they really wanted to get smart they'd protest the New China News Agency which is the mainland's voice here and publisher of the propaganda rag "The China Daily." China has not only high trade tariffs but dumps products at below cost in third world nations to destroy local production and dominate the market. China also manipulates its currency so that it has a competitive advantage abroad. You want to protest unfair trade? Protest China.

Sorry no pictures today. The batteries on the camera were dead

Pictures of the WTO Protest

The first picture is Victoria Park. While not as large Hyde Park or Central Park it is a real jewel. There is a 700 meter jogging trail, 4 playgrounds, a roller rink and incredibly beautiful landscaping. The protesters have pretty much taken it over. The tents you see are the booths the protesters setup for their "Cultural Fair." They are not normally there.


This is a picture of Hennesey Road taken from a 116 bus. You can see the leading edge of the protest coming up from the side street that was the designated as the protest route. The protesters didn't like this arrangement because they thought it didn't give them enough exposure. It also keeps them penned in between building that do not have any alleys. That makes it harder for them to riot because they can't get around the police. What is really interesting is the lack of traffic on Hennessey Road. These baboons have been a major source of economic distress to local merchants.

This is a picture of Sugar Street. If you look carefully you can see 20 to 25 police officers on this street. There are only about 20,000 protesters which is a small amount considering that Hong Kong had a protest last week that had nearly 300,000 locals. With 9000 police on duty the protesters are only able to gain a little better than 2 to 1 advantage and the Hong Kong police are pretty well trained and are required to be in good physical condition. Also, as mentioned above the routing keeps the protesters in a narrow front so that they cannot get around the police. BTW there were less than 100 police needed for the local protest with 300,000 people.

This is the 12 story Sogo Department store in Causeway Bay. It is kind of a Japanese version of Neiman Marcus and I've never seen them pull the rolling doors down while they were open before. They were searching everyone going into the store. They were also especially vigilant for shoplifting as these protesters have a have a history shop theft.

This is a crosswalk where I have to cross the street. If you look on the right you can see a police officer in dark blue kevlar jacket with his back to me. That is the front of the police cordon. The locals are just walking or in some cases jeering. This is not a very popular group.

This is the glass front of a large hotel. The man in distance is a plain clothed police officer who asked to see my ID.

Commendations

I must apologise to the Hong Kong Police for my disparaging statements about them last week.

They were measured, profesional and did their job well in a difficult situation. Good job!

I left work early yesterday to make sure I could get home. I ended up walking past the front of the protest and took some pictures.

I'll have more, and not very nice things to say about yesterday this afternoon. But the pictures are posted above.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Photo-journalist Blogger

Diametric Conundrum

I walked through Victoria Park yesterday afternoon on my home from work. I was surprised that there were so few protesters there. I guess they were all down by the convention center in Wan Chai.

There is a group of statues in Victoria park that were brought to Hong Kong by a Dutch artist.

They depict starving people in Africa. In sort of a shocking way, they are really quite good. He seems to be a nice guy and his English is actually quite good. (Please note I'm not reflexively critical of these people) He brought these statues from Denmark as part of the Anti-WTO protest.

There were two things that did bother m about this exhibit however.

First
He had problems setting the statues up because he didn't have insurance for them as he was required to have and should have known he needed. It seems to me that one should, when one is visiting a country be aware of the laws of that country and try to obey them. I cannot for the life of me see how it is unreasonable for the Hong Kong government to require him to have insurance for the statues. If he was going to bring them here he should have brought them here legally rather than having them delivered and then arguing.

Second
If he is so concerned about about the starving in Africa why did he make artwork about it? Why doesn't he take the money invested in creating and shipping his statuary and donate it to a charity like World Vision and ask that it go to famine relief and anti-poverty programs in Africa? It would appear to me that for the cost of the statues and shipping he could have probably helped many.

Granted, I don't know anything about this guy's personal life. But, I bet he doesn't give a huge percentage of his income to charity. Instead he wants others to help those he is concerned about. I think he should spend less time trying to raise my awareness of the problem and more time trying to help those he is concerned about through direct action. Let me use Jane Goodall as an example. Suppose she'd made statues about chimps rather than living with them? Would she have raised awareness of the life and biology and behavior of chimps? Yes, but she accomplished more by moving to Africa and working with chimps.

Maybe this guy should give up his art and take up social work.

Other Thoughts
It is interesting that this guy is protesting for the relaxation of trade barriers and the Koreans and Japanese are protesting to keep them up. Yet both of these groups happily march, chant and riot together? Why? I would think that they would be fighting each other. There are only two possible reasons that I can think of that cause such disparate groups to work together when they want apparently different ends.

The first is that they are unaware of each others position. That seems somewhat unlikely considering that they broadcast their position with the help of bullhorns.

The second and I believe the correct answer, is that the protest against trade is a smokescreen. I believe that the real reason that international socialist groups protest the WTO is not trade practices but rather because they want to start the (In their minds) inevitable revolution of the proletariat to overthrow the oppressive Capitalist. If so, the issue wouldn't matter so long as the end is achieved.

It also apparently doesn't matter how many people get hurt along the way; how many lies they have to tell; how many must starve or how much misery they have to propagate or maintain.

Last Observations
There was a protest organizer on TV last night being interviewed by a Chinese language television station. He basically said that the protesters here want to be peaceful and not cause any trouble. However, he said if they are denied access to areas they want to protest in or continued to be harassed by the police that might change. I live right across the street from where these protest are being staged. I've not seen any harassment. I have seen the Hong Kong Police requiring the protesters to obey more or less the same laws that the people of Hong Kong have to obey when protesting something. Indeed, from my point of view, Hong Kong has bent over backwards, or possibly just bent over for these people. Having seen the Hong Kong police in action for several years I'd say they tend to be way to soft soap in dealing with rowdies. This guy is simply full of it.

All I can say to this guy is go a head; make your veiled threats. You are a guest here and should obey our laws. Civilized people (As the people of Hong Kong have proven themselves to be) don't give into threats and they don't engage in behavior like yours. Just last week there was a protest against the government in Hong Kong that drew nearly 300,000 people not your paltry 20 to 30 thousand. The whole thing was done peacefully and respectfully. If you can't refrain from making threats then maybe the 9000 police deployed against you need to be a little more proactive. I hope if you want to get down and dirty the Hong Kong police bust your head and ship your butt back to wherever you came from with a black-eye contusions all about your ears.

Until Next Time Fai Mao

Out Early

I leave for work really early and there were no low life's out in the park protesting yet. I hope the don't try and disrupt the buss service going home.

I missed an opportunity to confirm my status as a prophet on Friday.
I was going to say that I expected some of the protesters to show up on TV complaining the hotel wouldn't let them stay. However, since I didn't claim before hand I won't claim it now.

That happened. A group of Koreans were on TV complaining that the hotel didn't honor their reservations. Having worked in a hotel for many years I know what actually happened.

They reserved the room without a credit card and then showed up wanting to pay cash without a deposit. Can you say "Skip"

Or, possibly they showed up and tried to put 15 people in a room

Or, possibly the protesters name appeared on a list of people that have damaged rooms or skipped in the past.

Or, possibly they cheesed off the desk clerk and (s)he was simply being belligerent because (s)he know that they could sell the rooms anyway. (If you don't think this happens you've never worked in a hotel.)

Hotels will refuse to sell a room for all of these reasons

Hotels don't just refuse reservations without cause. However, if you give them cause they will never let you back.

Jingle Bells - Hong Kong Style

Rushing through Mong Kok in a Kowloon Motor Buss
Over the bumps we go
Talking all the way
Bells on Cell Phones Ring
Making spirits bright
Oh, what fun it is to sing a Cell Phone Song Tonight

Cell phones ring, cell phones ring
People answer "Wai?"
Oh what fun it is to ride in a buss tonight

Until Next time
Fai Mao
The I'm Somewhat Cynical About Christmas in Hong Kong Blogger

Peace Activist in Iraq

I was not planning to write about this because the WTO has been taking my time.

I need to be careful what I say because one of the people I work with knows one of these four and I don’t want to cause unnecessary conflict at work.

I feel these people are at best not helping and at worst causing the warfare to last longer. If I were them, I wouldn’t go here is why:

They never seem to help both sides. Maybe I’ve just not seen it but that is the way it looks. If they really wanted to promote peace then it seems to me that they would reach out to both sides not reach out to one and vilify the other. That is not promoting peace but taking sides.

To paraphrase the former US Secretary of State Colin Powell “The US is not an empire. When we have gone to war in foreign countries the US has only taken the amount of land needed to bury their dead.” I think he forgot about the Mexican war but in this case the point is valid. This is not a war about oil or building an empire. If it were about oil, as I’ve said before the US would have invaded Canada. If the insurgents/resistance/terrorist/what-ever-you-call-them stop fighting the US will leave as soon as a government can be installed. Thus helping the opposite side in Iraq prolongs the war and the suffering of the Iraqi people.

If the issues above do not deter people from conducting “Peace missions” into Iraq then good on them. However, please do not try to play both ends of the stick. If you get taken hostage then endure your incarceration as a trial for your faith and instruct your family and friends before you leave that they are not to go to the media and plead for your release. If you are placed in front of a video camera simply announce that you are in Iraq to feed the hungry or heal the wounded in the name of Christ and would be happy to die for your faith as a witness to your captors.

Until Next Time

Fai Mao

The Peaceful Non-Peace Activist

This is a picture of our late pet Dai Ang Gia
I use his photo in my profile so that people can't tell who I really am.

Next Week

Next week I may or may not be able to post much. At present we do not have Internet at home due to a disagreement with the ISP. The Anti-WTO protesters will literally be right across the street and if they get out of hand I will not be able to post because I might not be able to get to work.

Or, I might get to work and not be able to get home. Then I'd have to sleep in my library and have lots of time.

Alternately, the protesters might have a good time peacefully playing bean bag toss with the Hong Kong police and everything will be just fine. Fat chance, but we'll see.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Unsure About Next Week Blogger

Welcome New Readers

This blog is now being aggregated by the "Blogs4God" blog. It may generate some traffic. Then again, maybe not. In any case, I probably need to watch my mouth.

The complete web site is:

http://www.blogs4god.com

until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Self Promoting Blogger

Strange and Stranger

Grrrrrrrr, I have to get political again.
I must also offer apologies in advance for my language in this post. These people just make me so mad that I could chew rock and spit sand.

We had some WTO protester wanna-be come by the school yesterday and try to pass out fliers to the students.

They passed out these double-sided fliers but all I can say is: "What a bunch of liars."

The first thing I noticed about this flier is how many of the groups have the word "People", "People's," or "Struggle" in their name which are often code words for Communist. I find no small amount of irony in the fact that communist come to China (Hong Kong is part of China) to complain that China isn't communist enough.

I also find it interesting that communist would drop these off at a Christian school. After all aren't we a tool of the state to keep the masses oppressed? Not to mention the persecution visited upon Christians in communist countries everywhere. Having a lot of "Gall" does not even begin to describe them at this point.

However, let us talk specifics here. One of the major purposes of the WTO is to allow access to markets in developed countries by UNDEVELOPED counties. The protesters are against that and are, in fact, trying to maintain the privileged position of certain groups within a group of DEVELOPED countries. S. Korea is a highly developed, industrial country with a high standard of living and a strong economy. Yet, rather an allow agricultural products into their nation from underdeveloped nations they offer huge government subsidies to farmers and raise prohibitive tariff walls. This keeps the poor in underdeveloped countries poor and gives the S. Korean farmers a free ride.

Thus, Thailand or Cambodia or Vietnam cannot sell rice, apples or meat products to S. Korea which has very high import duties and restrictions. According to the news here these same farmers in S. Korea are upset because the government is now going to allow a whopping 8% of the rice consumed in S. Korea to be imported rice. Lots of people, myself included, have lots of bad things to say about Micro-soft. However, whatever else may be true it isn't true that they used government trade barriers to build their 98% monopoly in software sales and they certainly aren't dumping their products on the market at a low cost. In this regard, Micro-soft is more honest than the policies supported by the Anti-WTO protesters.

Given that the protesters claim to support one thing (A more just society) and actually support the opposite through the use of lies, half-truth and not revealing who they are I can only say that they appear to me to be EVIL. You cannot achieve a good end through evil means without the end becoming evil.

I also have to ask; "Why would these people come here to recruit students for their protest?" When I look at the groups promoting this I do not really see much that our students would have in common with them. I can come up with only two answers. One, they want to make their protest appear more local which would hide or augment their international socialist (Actually fascist) agenda. While dishonest this is probably their motive. They probably want to make people think that everybody supports them except George W. Bush and the Pope.

Two, they may also be looking for sacrificial lambs. I attended my share of left wing protest rallies in college. (Primarily because there was generally something to eat and girls in halter tops - yeah what can I say except I've grown up since then) I know from being there that it was a common tactic to try and see that if anyone got hurt it was a local. Locals get more sympathy than out of town protesters in the local media. We'd look for local volunteers who would be willing to let the local police bash them for the publicity. It is amazing what a couple of beers or 3 minutes smoking some Mary-Jane will do for your reluctance to volunteer for this kind of thing. What if these guys didn't do the volunteer thing? What if they want our students for cannon fodder? What if they can't convince them with alcohol or drugs? Why not lie about it? After all these are Christians who are supporting the corrupt dictatorship of the proletariat, so let them take an unwitting beating for the cause.

Does that sound harsh?

Well, then why did they tell some very explicit lies to recruit the students? They told our students that the HK government had concluded a "secret deal" to sell the water supply to a private company. This deal would raise the cost of tap water in Hong Kong by two or three-thousand percent. Well, if this deal is so secret how do they know about it? I'm sorry this is just Bull Shit. But, even if it was true, why would the price of tap water rise by 2000 percent? What happened when telephone monopolies were broken up? The price when down and quality went up that's what. This is just an attempt to create hysteria and round up a few uninformed teenagers to attend their rally.

Besides, if they are not concerned about rice farmers in Cambodia, Thailand or Vietnam then why are they concerned about the tap water in Hong Kong? Liars, evil, disgusting liars is all they are.

Moving on

Some of the other groups deal with immigration and women.

These people want nations to basically open their borders and let any starving, illiterate and untrained barbarian crowd into more prosperous areas. This would only make everyone poor and result in wealthy nations becoming impoverished. While the wealthy nations do indeed bear some responsibility for the poor in other areas it is not true that every person with enough to eat has enough to eat because they stole food from the poor. While there is much that could be done to alleviate hunger allowing the starving to move from rural China, Malaysia or France to Singapore, Hong Kong or Shanghai would probably only make them worse off than they were before. People advocating a completely open international immigration policy are, at best mis-guided.

Women and children are exploited in many nations around the world. There is no question about it. You will not get an argument otherwise from me about it. However, the issues I see these people promoting have little to do with making the lives of women and children better.

I am going to be blunt. It is my experience that Asia has huge problems with, prostitution, child prostitution, forced labor and pornography and generally speaking in many countries the abuse of women and children is wide spread. Where ever you see such things happening they are the result of one of three things: Immoral Tourist, Socialism, and Islam. It isn't Christian missionaries (The occasional Catholic Priest excepted) who abuse women and children. It isn't even the big multinational corporations like Nike.

Immoral tourist are the life blood of the sex trade in Asia. It is maintained and is supported in large part by Asian men and by liberal (socialist for those of you in Europe) tourists who go to places like Bangkok to party with the little girls. Because of endemic governmental corruption, the abusive attitudes of local officials or low value placed upon the lives of females in Islamic societies and the poverty caused by the socialist governments, there is a large supply of women and children who must be prostitutes or starve. Who do you see in the seedy whore houses in Asia? Korean, Japanese, Germans and British tourist, that's who. Probably those rich Korean farmers again. After all, if they can fly to protest all these WTO conferences they could surely take time off for a fling in Phukett.

These are the people who would consider anyone sexist who supports sex as a component of marriage and views non-marital sex as a sin. But you know what, it isn't the Christians living in a monogamous relationship that fuel the sex industry in Asia. There simply are not enough fallen Baptist ministers to keep the pedophilia market up and running.

But the groups here want to talk about "Reproductive rights" aka abortion. They want to pass out condoms to prevent AIDS. The people they want to help need more than that.

I want to hang a few "Johns" by their penis as an example to others who think that supporting the sex industry, through their desire to have sex with a child, is appropriate. If they think I'm not civilized then so be it. If They think that is not a "Christian" response then I guess I'm a terrible sinner. But I don't screw little boys for money and in the relativistic society they want it makes me better than they are. So there!

The groups protesting the WTO do not support rights for either women of children. They are simply EVIL. They claim to support the defense of the poor and stand for social justice. They don't They simply hide their selfishness behind political sounding platitudes.

Oh, how could I forget. They don't like the US. I defy anyone to look at the US trade deficit and tell me that it is hard to sell imported goods in the US. You can't do it. Does that make the US blameless in everything? No, of course not but it does mean that when it comes to free trade the US is better than most. But, then again, these people are not interested trade that provides jobs and keeps people in third world countries from starving.

It looks to me that the real reason these people do not like the US is that it isn't a wonderful socialist paradise with no social problems like France.

Growl. Spit. Bang my hand on the table. Why is it that these people are always given such a free ride? I wish these baboons would just go home. (Apologies to real baboons who are generally nicer, smell better and more honest than the Anti-WTO protesters)

___________________

It gets worse.

On last nights' local news the police chief of Hong Kong said that police are ready for anything. They've been issued rubber bullets, bean bags and if worst comes to worst, they have tear gas.

Great, non-lethal bullets and bean bags. I think Hong Kong is going to have a hard week next week.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The reluctant Anti-AntiWTO blogger

Another Hong Kong Christmas Carol

Last year I posted a Hong Kong version of the 12 Days of Christmas and Jingle Bells

That can be seen at:
http://faimao.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_faimao_archive.html

This Year I thought I'd try again

Walking in a Hong Kong Wonderland

Tram bells ring are you listening?
In the street lights are blinking
Its crowded tonight
What a frenetic sight
Walking in a Hong Kong wonderland

Gone away is bluebird
We killed them all because of flu birds
We'd rather not cough
As we walk the along
Walking in a Hong Kong wonderland

In the crosswalk we can see an old man
pushing a cart full of paper brown
He'll say: Can you help me
We'll say: No, Man
But you'll be there by sundown

Later on we'll conspire,
As we push our stock price higher
As we live and we die
In our flats in the sky
Walking in a Hong Kong wonderland

When we get old
We'll retire
In Canada or Australia
We'll frolic and play
Though far far a way
Walking in a Hong Kong wonderland

Until next Time
Fai Mao
The Christmas caroling blogger

A Pot of Crabs

There are a lot of Indonesian maids in Hong Kong.

They are cheaper than Filipinos and amazingly speak Cantonese thus, many people are hiring them rather than the more traditional Filipino maids. You can tell the difference rather easily. The Indonesian maids are Muslims and wear scarves over their head and part of their face and the Filipino maids, being primarily Catholic don't.

I am not big on domestic servants anyway but but given the choice I'd take the Filipino every time. I could deal with food here and talk about the Chinese love of pork and the Halal restrictions against it. However, I'm thinking more subtly and perhaps even more bigoted. One of the main jobs of these maids is to care for children. I wouldn't want my kids raised by a Muslim. I find it to be a completely intolerant and narrow-minded religion. I can not imagine a worse influence on children than Islam. It is a bigoted, racist and intolerant religion. It is spread and maintained almost solely by fear, force and intimidation and free societies would do well to shun it. I find the concept of being intolerant of what I consider to be intolerance to be a fascinating one.

That said; I cannot help but have sympathy for these young women. They come from a repressive, oppressive and backwards culture and I am happy for any of them that manage to escape it. I wish more would. They all seem so sad. I pray for each of the maids I see on the street that they would discard the veil of self-righteousness that they cling to and find true freedom and true love and true submission in Christ.

I causally know a guy who managed to date one of these Indonesian maids for a short period of time. He said that a lot of these maids would like to abandon Islam but are afraid that their family back in Indonesia will be punished or that they will be ostracized or even hunted down and killed by their families. If they begin to fall away from Islamic ideas then one of the other maids will surely gossip about them and the word will reach their village. They cannot escape even if they want to, unless they turn their back on their families and friends forever. I wonder what my reaction would be if I were in such a situation?

He described their culture here in Hong Kong as a pot of crabs. I'm not a big shell fish eater so I don't know but evidently if you go crabbing you place the crabs you've caught in a bucket or pot. As you catch more the crabs pile up on top of each other and the top crabs are closer to the rim of the pot. Eventually the crabs on top try to escape because they can reach the rim of the pot. However, before they climb out the other crabs catch their legs and pull them back in. Thus, none of the crabs escape their fate because those to far down from the rim won't let those higher up climb out.

How sad.

What a picture of Islam.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger without a domestic Servant

The March

Yesterday there was a march for Universal suffrage in Hong Kong

nearly 300,000 people out of a population 8 million were there.

They broke no windows.

They didn't riot

They didn't rampage through any shopping areas.

They didn't beat anybody up

They didn't assault the police.

There were, as far as I know, no arrest.

Let us see if the G7 Protesters can do so well.

A Klingon Christmas

I found a web site that translates words into Klingon. So, in my never ending quest to make fun of the more materialist and crass elements of popular culture I translated words like "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" as well as various Bible verses that deal with Christmas into Klingon. I then printed these out on brightly colored paper and decorated my library for Christmas in Klingon.

Nobody got the joke!

The kids here in this school have never seen Star Trek. The current series "Enterprise" Isn't carried here and neither are re-runs of TOS, DS9, Voyager or TNG. (If you don't know what those abbreviations are then you've not watched much Star Trek. ) They've also never seen the movies.

I must really be getting old.

Or, I need to buy a bunch of Star Trek novels and do a library display on TV shows that have become popular fiction!

Philosophic Idealism, or Jacob's Ladder

This is part three of this series

Previous Post in this series
1. Educational Philosophy
2. Before We Begin

Philosophic Idealism; Jacob's Ladder

I'm not really satisfied with this post yet and it will be edited as time goes by.

It needs to be understood that when we speak of Philosophic Idealism we are speaking of a very broad collection of thinkers. They encompass Theist, atheist, Agnostic, Monist, Dualist and Existentialist from many cultures and time periods.

In order to be a Philosophical Idealist you must only believe one thing. That what is true descends from the general to the specific and is not built up from the specific to the general. Idealist ground reality in something thought to be higher, nobler, more rational or in some way more real than what we immediately experience.

At least in a metaphorical sense, most Idealist believe that truth is spelled with a capital "T" and comes from Heaven, that it is discovered or revealed not invented. Just as Jacob saw a ladder stretching to Heaven and heard God making promises to him from the top of the ladder; Idealist believe that by following their philosophic ladder they can see, find or discover a higher truth. If you think that this sounds strange to you then you probably should not consider yourself an Idealist. (Though you might be surprised if you really thought about it.)

Perhaps the most well known of the Philosophic Idealist is one of the earliest; Plato. While there were philosophers in Asia that wrote about similar ideas at the same time as Plato, or even earlier, nobody put it all together like he did. Plato is one of the most important people of all time. You really cannot over estimate his influence on civilization. To paraphrase Alfred North Whitehead, you have Plato and everyone else is a footnote (1).

So what is it that makes Plato so important? The answer is, at least as far as we are concerned, the theory of forms. Perhaps the clearest illustration of what Plato means is through the well known cave allegory that is found in book 7 of the Republic. The picture of prisoners in a cave naming shadows and believing them to be real things because they have never seen anything else is a powerful one. We can imagine the predicament they are in and understand their misconception. We can also see how it would enlighten them if they were able to turn around and see the actual thing that cast the shadows.

Plato is saying that what we see is often times a distorted picture or shadow of reality. We should look for the true "Form" rather than simply name shadows.

When we make an argument from natural law, or a universal principle we are thinking and reasoning like Plato. We should look for the truth behind the everyday occurrence. This does not necessarily imply an appeal to any kind of deity (Though others did and have used Plato to make such an appeal as Plato himself did.)

Besides the Theory of Forms, Plato has exerted tremendous influence upon education through his use of what has become known as the "Socratic Method." Socrates was Plato's mentor and is the main character in much of Plato's work. Socrates was a teacher who stood in the market and discussed issues of philosophy with his pupils. He developed an inductive, question and answer pedagogy that has continued to influence education to this day. Jesus used this method when dealing with both His disciples and opponents and I believe you can see its influence in the works John Dewey and Maria Montesori as well as the psychology of Henry James and in classrooms in many places today.

The Socratic method uses a series of leading questions to enable students to discover a truth or idea that the teacher is trying to convey.

Here is an example of Platonic thought using a Soratic method as it might appear in a classroom.

Teacher: Do you know what gravity is?
Student: Yes, I do
Teacher: Tell me, what do you know about it?
Student: Gravity is a force in the Universe. It is the law of attraction that holds things together.
Teacher: Is it everywhere?
Student: Yes, it is everywhere.
Teacher: And does it affect all things?
Student: Yes, it affects all things
Teacher: So you would call gravity a universal or absolute law of the universe?
Student: Yes, I suppose you could say that.
Teacher: So there is at least one law that applies to everyone in the universe. Are there others you can name?
Student: Yes, there are several, the speed of light, entropy, perhaps chemical bonds and the way that elements are organized to name some. There may be more.
Teacher: If there are universal physical laws that govern the universe might there not also be some universal laws that govern our behavior?

At this point the true object of the lesson has become obvious. The student is going to have to either show that moral laws are in some fundamental way unlike physical laws or to find out how a universal moral or behavioral law would work. There doesn't have to even be a cut and dried answer.

This is a powerful teaching tool. These type of arguments and this pedagogy can really help students to clarify issues and come to grips with difficult issues. But, it is first and foremost a type of philosophy.

Next: Philosophic Realism or the Aristotelian tower of Babel

They're almost here

This past weekend a group of 20 G7 Protesters arrived in Hong Kong to scout out places to riot. They complained that the area assigned to them was not public enough.

The Chief of police was also on TV saying that if the protesters get violent the HK police would bang a few heads. Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it.

Camp

Next week is the school camp for middle school.

Am I a bad educator if I say that I don't like to spend three days and three nights in the company of 4 sixth graders?

I didn't think so.

The Ugly Canadian

I had to go to a conference the other day.

Teachers, even in international schools have to keep their certifications up to date. So, I went to hear some consultant talk about ESL even though I'm not an ESL teacher and never plan to be.

Amazingly enough, I enjoyed the speaker for the most part. She was funny reasonable and only a bit strange. The problem was lunch. There were teachers there from all over Asia. One I ran into was a Canadian teaching at a school in Japan. Her first question to me was "Did you leave the US to get away from George Bush?" Before I could answer she dropped off into the most vile anti-American diatribe I've heard in months. I hate to say this but I've met lots of Canadians like this. Usually when I was on vacation in Florida. I always thought it was palm tree envy.

Actually, I left the US, in part though not completely to get away from Bill Clinton but I didn't say that. I simply said "I came to Hong Kong in 1997 way before Mr. Bush was elected; my wife is Chinese and this is home." It is a good evasive answer especially since it is true. It is also a good way to change the subject and get out of a potentially explosive argument. I've never been able to argue effectively with ideolouges from any political stripe because they aren't interested logic or truth. Ideolouges they are interested in their ideology and how it makes them feel.

I call what this woman did the "I'm normal like everybody else" complex. We all want to think that everybody thinks like we do. She assumed that because she was an American-hating-George-Bush-hating-Canadian, that I must be an American-hating-George-Bush-hating-Texan.


I think that many non-socialist do what I did. We pass the question off and move on. I think this gives the more left leaning people the idea that there are more of them then is actually the case. I can't say if the opposit happens but maybe it does. I attribute this to the admonition to be polite that many people are taught as children. You know the Thumper Rabbit principle; "If you can't say something nice then don't say any thing at all."

I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I do it because I don't like to be vilified and then blamed for being a villain. I can't speak for other people.

Unlike her, I realize that my politics are waaaaaaaay out there. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. That's why I try to keep political opinions to myself

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Closet Anarchist Blogger

Give Thanks - Even in Hong Kong

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

I like it because it basically can't be ruined.

Christmas is no longer a religious holiday but an excuse to spoil children. New Year's eve is simply an excuse, as if any was needed to get drunk. July 4th doesn't play well outside the US. San Jacinto day is only a big holiday in Texas. Memorial day is not celebrated in Hong Kong and they don't even want to learn about Labor Day here!

However, I find that many of my Chinese friends find Thanksgiving to be a wonderful holiday. They enjoy, what for them are exotic foods and the history of the holiday is a good introduction to American history. One year we had a group of mainlanders eat Thanksgiving with us. While they found some of the foods not to their taste others they really liked. But what was really great was that they came away from that table with a new and I think better and more true vision of America.

It is hard, I guess unless you are a turkey or a ham to not like Thanksgiving.

It is also I think, hard to grumble about people being genuinely thankful for having enough food and and adequate housing. If ever there was a good reason to start a holiday then Thanksgiving is it. Europeans don't seem to understand the holiday but the Australians I've met do. I don't know why this is.

I find it interesting that even the commercial aspects of Thanksgiving are still somewhat wholesome. Watching the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving day with our brothers and fathers and wives and mothers is a good thing. Indeed, the only day that I am a fan of American football is on Thanksgiving day. Washing the dishes together. Baking the pies and setting a table for Thanksgiving are moments that many remember as their fondest moments of childhood. The Thanksgiving day parades. The sandwiches. The casseroles! The three weeks of post Thanksgiving weight loss which is ruined by Christmas parties! It simply doen't get any better than Thanksgiving.

In my family Chinese vegetables such as Bok-Choi have replaced broccoli and taro once replaced sweet potatoes but we celebrate Thanksgiving every year.

This year our daughter will be gone and so my wife and I have arranged to have two seamen from a visiting US navy ship come and eat with us. The group that organizes this is hoping that some of the ex-pat families here will reach out to the sailors and make them feel less homesick. In my case I think the opposite will be true. Thanksgiving day is one of the two or three times a year that I really feel like an alien in Hong Kong. It will be a good thing to have my countrymen in our humble flat and eat and talk and drink some beer and maybe watch the Cowboys via cable tv.

So, this year. Whoever you are, wherever you are from; take some time on November 24 and give thanks. You'll feel better for having done it.

Until next time
Fai Mao
The blogger who gives thanks

Before We Begin: Part 1: Some Parameters

Previous installments of this series

Introduction
http://faimao.blogspot.com/2005/11/educational-philosophy.html


Before we Begin : Part 1

One of the buzz words in education the past 10 years or so has been the theory of "Multiple intelligences" which advocates teaching students based upon a variety of learning styles which are equated with "intelligence". I think when this fad started it claimed that there were seven types of intelligences and others have since added about 19467 types of intelligences to that number.

While there is great and demonstrated merit in a pedagogical sense to tailoring lessons to the interest, needs and culture of the learner, the theory is, I believe, philosophically and physiologically speaking, nonsense.

Thinking differently is not a different type of intelligence, it is simply using intelligence differently.

Underlying the multiple intelligence theory, it appears to me, is the assumption that people learn differently. That may be. Indeed, I would be surprised if it were not true. However, learning differently because of personality or heredity is not a form of intelligence.

I may be splitting hairs here, but the point is still a valid one. There are not a multitude of intelligence types, there are only learning styles.

I am aware this might all be viewed as semantics but I believe that the multiple intelligence theory is guilty of using terms in a fuzzy and confusing way. This is never a good thing and appears to me to be a rather larger problem in education than in other fields; though it could be that I read more in education than in other fields. However, the point here is to show that the theory of multiple intelligence has used a whole raft of philosophical terms and slightly altered the definitions of the words. In philosophy, words are tools. They have very specific meanings that are different from normal parlance. Thus, it is important to get your terms right or you generate confusion.

(Incidentally, I have just revealed a part of my educational philosophy)

Admittedly , I don't know much about learning theory but learning and intelligence are not the same thing though they may be related to each other, or be dependent upon each other.

I do, however, know something about what philosophers call epistemology or the nature of knowledge. Epistemologically speaking, there are only three ways to discover knowledge (thus learn) and two over arching paradigms to frame those three ways of obtaining knowledge. Every human has, does or will use these. There are no exceptions. If you think, and you are not an animal because research has shown that animals think in pictures not words, then you think using these structures.

That means that there are at most, only six ways (3- ways of knowing X 2-paradigms) to think about any problem. In reality, as we shall see there are only three that concern educators.

This is important to know because before one begins thinking about their educational philosophy it is good to know the form you place those thoughts into. It really does make a difference how you think about something.

While the various approaches to thinking have somewhat multivariate names, depending upon whose book you read, I will use the terms "Idealism," "Realism" and "Sophistry" to set them apart. All forms of thinking fall into these broad categories and there is seldom any overlap and what overlap there is caused by either confusion sloppy thinking. Once we understand the definition or meaning of these categories and see how we think we will be able to begin formulating an educational philosophy.

Next: Before we begin Part 2: "Idealism: Or Jacobs' Ladder"

Until next Time
Fai Mao
The gives you just enough to get interested blogger

Educational Philosophy

My undergraduate is in History with a minor in Asian Philosophy and Political Science which is effectively a pre-law degree. That degree got me a job cooking barbecue in a grocery store deli. Now don't get me wrong. I don't believe the sole purpose of education is to gain a foothold in the job market, but it helps. That degree simply begged for more education.

I also have an MLIS with a concentration in archives and academic libraries. This is the degree that provided job skills and got me out of the grocery store and away from the front desk of a hotel. While I was training to be a preservation administrator, I have ended up as a school librarian. Such is life.

My Ph.D. is in educational Philosophy. At this point, it is an open question as to whether I am a philosopher who supports himself by being a librarian or a librarian who dabbles in philosophy.

I pursued the PhD simply because I wanted one. Indeed that is the only reason to subject yourself to the mental anguish and stress of obtaining this degree. It is conceivable that I could find a position in a School of Education, a Department of Philosophy, or a Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Not that I'm a Polimath, but my degrees are broad and I have experience and publication in these areas. However, because international schools in Asia pay rather well, all of the jobs would probably entail a cut in pay to go along with the rise in occupational status. In this area, if no other, I'm a materialistic pragmatist, I'd rather have the money.

That doesn't mean the PhD has not changed my outlook about my job or education in general. It has. My philosophical studies have altered my view of what, why and how I do my job. I have come to believe that one of the major problems with education world wide is that too many educators do not work from a consistent, coherent or self recognized educational philosophy. This not only makes their job harder, it means that their students often receive a less thorough education than they could.

This is bothersome in two ways

First, it is bothersome because despite my gruff exterior, I believe that students deserve the best education that society can afford to give them. Not just for economic advancement but because if done properly, education makes them better people. This statement is in itself a rather complex philosophical statement which could take pages and pages to unpack. I'm not going to do that here simply because I don't want to. I have other fish to fry.

Second, it is bothersome because I feel compelled, because I see the problem, to do something about it. This is probably the legacy of the parable of the "Good Samaritan" I was taught in Sunday school as a child. I have been trained since childhood that to see a problem and to not try to correct it is sin. This is also a complex issue that deals with psychology much more than philosophy. I don't know much about psychology but I'm convinced that neither do psychologist. So I'll leave this alone a well.

However, I am going to, at least on an irregular basis, start posting on the subject of educational philosophy. I need to do this because I don't see teachers or teacher librarians working through these issues. These post make become the rough notes for an academic paper.

Then again they may not. We'll see what happens.

The goal is to create a document that can be used as a foundation that teachers, administrators and school support staff, especially at Christian schools and International schools in Asia can use to gain insight into their educational philosophy. I'd like to be able to help schools develop their educational philosophy into a coherent system. I think it would improve their instruction.

We'll see how it goes

Until next time

Fai Mao
The Educational Philosopher