Another Week Another Year

My summer vacation started today. I still have to go back to the library salt mine for another week to finish up loose ends and to prep stuff for next year; however, that last week is always a relaxing time because I get a lot of planning done which is always fun. More than that, the end of each school year gives me an opportunity to look at what I do and how I can do it better next year. This year I had an odd thought about that.

Part of my professional development this year was to read more juvenile literature. I've been re-reading "The Count of Monte Christo" simply because I really enjoyed the book as a kid. I am constantly interested to see which books continue to be popular and which sort of fade away. This is one that I would have thought would fade away. It hasn't, students still read it despite its length and complexity if not as often as Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket.

Something struck me and made me think about my role as an educator while reading this book. That something was the prison education of Edmund Dantes. Sure, there are problems with a man living on gruel training himself into a top flight swordsman in a dungeon with only a stick to use as a sword but the other part of the education of Edmond Dantes is entirely believable. The priest had a few books that he used to teach Dantes to read and write. He also gave him a broad understanding of history, philosophy, science, rhetoric, aesthetics and mathematics. This is something that any educated person, with a few basic text should be able to do with a willing pupil and unlimited time. Despite the huge advances in technology since Napoleonic times the knowledge needed for living hasn't really changed that much. I don't need to know exactly how my computer works to use it. I really don't need any more knowledge of mathematics, science, biology or any other subject in my daily life than the average educated person in the 18th century. And, the things that separated a gentleman from a boor in the 18th century still separate polite from boorish company today. I'm not talking about wealth or power but manners, ethics and morality.

That thought made me ask, "What does it mean to be educated?" In a very real sense that is the theme of The Count of Monte Christo. After his escape Dantes has to learn the limits of vengeance, the cost of hatred, the necessity of justice, the power of forgiveness and the strength of love. This moral education was mainly theoretical instruction while he was in prison because to learn these lessons requires interaction with society and he didn't have that in prison. They are a set of lessons that Dantes could not complete until he escaped and almost didn't learn until it was too late.

Yet it was this moral theory taught to him by an imprisoned priest that allowed Dantes to return as more than a pirate and to overcome his lust for vengeance if only just barely.

This made me wonder. Is the essence of education basically intellectual or moral? I'm not sure I have an answer for that question. It is the question that will fill my summer as I prepare for the coming academic year. The answer will help to inform my selection of materials and how I interact with students in the coming years.

Am I a saint or merely a priest? Am I a Count or am I a priest? Do I believe because I know that I am believed in?

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is a librarian not a priest.

That Day so Long Ago

Today is an infamous day in Chinese history. If you don't know why then you probably live in China. I am not going to write about that event directly today because I don't want there to be any possibility that some knuckle-dragging-aparatchnik can say "See that event which really didn't happen is only a lie to discredit China in the eyes of Westerners. Despite the fact that China is now my country too, this is a fight that needs to be fought by those with bridgeless noses and almond shaped eyes.

HOW MANY TEARS by Mark Heard.

Gunmetal gray for golden rules
White hot steel for the comfort of fools
Molten wills in iron hands
Forge new sons for the Motherland

How many tears will fall down
How many tears must fall
How much blood will stain this ground
How many tears must fall

Hidden mounds in jungle dust
Youthful voices forever lie hushed
Poets and peasants know the truth
But what in the world can one man do

How many tears will fall down
How many tears must fall
How much blood will stain this ground
How many tears must fall

A mother’s eyes ache with her hatred
Her lips they are crippled with fear
She waits for the news that she don’t want to hear
How many tears
How many tears
How many tears must fall down

Ain’t no funerals
Ain’t no prayers
Ain’t no blood in the Government Square
Reign of terror
True and tried
Dries the eyes before they’ve cried

How many tears will fall down
How many tears must fall
How many tears will stain this ground
How many tears must fall
How many tears
How many tears will fall down

From Dry Bones Dance

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who saw his wife shed some of those tears

Staring down the big 50

I have a new blog that is tied to this one.

This is still where I will post my normal thoughts complaints and meditations. However, the Hong Kong to Shanghai on Two Wheels blog is where I will post information about a rather long bicycle tour I am planning for next year. I will cross link all post there to this blog as well

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger with multiple interest

What Did the Hong Kong Government Learn from the British?

I find it amazing that there is not more of an outcry here about the over-the-top pay and benefits of Hong Kong officials.

I wish that someone, anyone would raise this as a political issue here.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who believes that the HK Civil Service is way over paid

Good Bye Mr. Potato Head

Joseph Yam announced that he will retire from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority this fall. What is the chronic political malcontent to do without names in high positions that are easy to make fun of? Who ever replaces him cannot possibly have that goofy hair and non-carbon-based life form lack of personality.

It is possible that they can answer questions better than he did, have some fiscal principals that they are willing to defend other than keeping the tycoons money safe. I admit that all of these are long shots but they are theoretically possible.

Suppose the new guy let's call him Mr. Lai, (given that this is Hong Kong he'd probably have a first name like "Gonna Tell" which would make him the perfect candidate for a government official) actually makes banks explain the risk to illiterate investors or requires investors that cannot read or write to have a proxy that can explain to them the risk involved?

Suppose Mr. Lai brings Hong Kong into line with other developed nations with rules against insider trading?

Suppose Mr. Lai initiates rules that require greater transparency in banking and finance charges?

Suppose Mr. Lai prohibits banks from colluding to keep their fees and charge exorbitantly high?

Well, if supposes were rose as they (Who ever they are) say, he'd immediately garner a massive popular following.

It would also mean that Mr. Lai would have to change his name because he'd be the only honest man in government.

It would also mean that the people who control the Hong Kong financial services sector had been snookered by an honest man.

In that case, maybe he wouldn't need to change his name.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who isn't a tycoon

Brazen Hussey's and Such

Was watching Jenny Lam pontificate on the TVB last night during the news. They showed Tony Chan the Fung Shui master that claims Nina Wong left him, not her family her fortune strolling into the courthouse though a forest of microphones with a big grin on his face. The wife leaned over and asked, "Does he have no shame?" She seemed incredulous that he would not be skulking around.

Lots of people seem to feel that way because the wife isn't the only one who I've heard commenting on his behavior. I find it odd that people would think that he'd behave any other way. After all there are only two choices with Tony Chan. Either he is telling the truth, in which case he has nothing to be skulky about. Or, he is trying to pull off a huge scam in which case he has more than his fair share of chutzpah and wouldn't want to look skulky so as to ruin his chances of stealing a 700 million. I go with the second option. He is a Fung Shui Master after all and Fung Shui makes Western Astrology look like a hard science. The Guy has to know that he is a fraud. He is evidently good at it. He also seems to enjoy what he does.

In other news Richard Li of PCCW was found guilty of trying to manipulate his stock buy back scheme yesterday. He should take the Tony Chan approach. Rather than buying back the PCCW shares he should simply come up with some way to take the shares. How about filing for bankruptcy? Tony Chan may very well, given the history of moronic decisions handed down by judges here in Hong Kong win his case. Not the least of those decisions was the one that gave Nina Wong her husband's fortune when she presented a hand written, unsigned, undated, unwitnessed will that contradicted one that was signed, dated and witnessed. Richard Li is at least making a cursory attempt to obey the law, just barely. In a sense I feel sorry for the guy. He can't help it if he is dumb as a sack of hammers. It doesn't take much brains to see that land line telephone companies are in trouble and that is the foundation of PCCW's business. They've added some cable TV and Internet but they are in a very competitive market.

I can sort of understand why he wanted to take his remaining cash and retire. Especially since he tried to sell the company last year and the government wouldn't let him since the buyer was an Australian. However, in Medieval time every alchemist in the world would have wanted to talk to Richard Li because they'd want his opposite. He seems to have an uncanny ability to turn Gold into dross. Paracelsus might have thought; "If I can reverse his polarity I might can turn lead to gold if he stands nearby."

That is a scheme Tony Chan might even approve of.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who isn't a tycoon

Hotel California - Hong Kong Style

The saga of the travelers quarantined the the Wan Chai Metro-Park hotel has been pretty amusing, unless you're one of the folks trapped there.

I can't really blame the Hong Kong government for the quarantine. It is actually the appropriate thing to do. I can blame them for the way they handled the events since they initiated the quarantine. I find it really funny that after trying to feed 300 people twinkies for breakfast and rice boxes for lunch and dinner everyday for a week they have now given them about $4000.00 HKD worth of coupons to HK Disneyland, Ocean Park, the Ng-Ping 360 and other tourist attractions. They aren't even free coupons but discounts. Do they really think that any of the tourist trapped in that hotel will EVER want to come back to Hong Kong? Holy Cow! If they believe that I've got a good deal on a bridge that is for sale in New York City!

They could have handled this much better. But, being bureaucrats trained by the British to simply follow rules and not think they didn't.

More than the government I blame the owners of the hotel (China Travel) and the manager. The manager, with the support of the owners should have gone door to door and talked to every guest (prisoner?) in the hotel. He should have simply said;

"I am sorry for this. It is beyond my control. But, while you are quarantined here please feel free to use the facilities, including the fitness room, the bar, room service, the pool, and restaurants. Free of charge. In fact, we are also going to provide a free buffet in the bar 24 hours a day for the duration of this quarantine. Please help yourself the food and drinks are all free. We will have the NBA playoffs or European Football matches on the big screen TV there as well. So come on down and relax."

You also have 60 minute of free telephone usage if you need to contact your family or friends overseas.

We want to make the best of a bad situation and we want you to come back. We want you to know that we appreciate your patronage of our hotel.

Oh, I almost forgot, we've organized a ballroom dance party in the banquet hall this evening. Come and waltz away the evening with us, there will be free champaign and appetizers until 2:00 AM "

That action would have bought the hotel chain more good will and created more customer loyalty than any amount of advertising. The manager should have then gone down stairs to the government and simply said:

"No rice boxes! No twinkies! My chief is here. I want you deliver what he asks for. We will feed our guest from our restaurant and you will pay for it. Your HES staff members that are assigned here are welcome to eat. The people in this hotel are my guest, not criminals. You will respect their need and desire and my judgment in this matter or I will have your head on a platter for supper"

Instead the hotel wanted to charge the guest for a weeks worth of rooms.

I am reminded of the last verse of the old Eagles song "Hotel California"

The last thing I remember, I was
running for the door.
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before.
"Relax," said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

That could have been written about the Metro-Park Hong Kong

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who was Front Desk Manager, Night Auditor and Comptroller in a hotel

Long lost loves

In bicycle slang a rider's favorite bike is sometimes called his "True Love" and 30 years ago this week I bought a bicycle at the end of April that still qualifies as my true love. It was an odd bike for me at the time because I was an aspiring racer and it was a touring frame. However, I didn't have a car and needed a bike I could put racks on and use to carry groceries. The owner of the bicycle shop played in a 1950's rock band and needed a period instrument. I had an old Fender guitar and amp that I traded him for a used Dawes Galaxy Frame and $150.00 USD worth of wholesale parts. I'm sure the Guitar was worth more than that in terms of cash but I got the better end of that deal by miles and miles and miles of smiles.

I don't know how a 1970's Dawes was fitted out at the factory. I honestly have no idea. I built my frame up with a chromed double-butted fork, a TA Cyclo-Touriste crank with what was then called "Alpine" gearing and today would be called a "Compact double" That means a 34/50 tooth chain ring set and a 13-28 6 speed freewheel. Suntour VX-Road derailleurs, bar-end shifters and hubs rounded out the drive train. The bike sat on wide Ambrosio tubular rims that I doubt could be found today but then neither could the 32 mm wide silk corded touring tubulars. The obligatory Brooks B-17 saddle, SR stem and Randoneur bars plus Dia Compe Centerpull brakes rounded out the basic bike. A rear rack and Silca pump along with Campagnolo pedals and toe clips finished it off. After I rode the bike about a month I stripped it back down to the bare frame and had the frame repainted a metallic brown and the Nervar lugs outlined with yellow pin stripes, new decals were applied and the whole thing clear coated. All-in-all I spent about $200.00 more on the bike than the credit given to me by the shop. A $350.00 bike back then was the rough equivalent of a $1000.00 bike today so it was nice bike.

But the cost was a bargain. This bike was just special. The long wheelbase and slack angles provided an amazing ride especially when combined with the comfortable Brooks saddle and wide tubular tires. It just seemed to float. With a rear rack, fenders and generator light the bike weighed only about 27 pounds which is lighter than many Mountain Bikes today.

I sold my Japanese made racer that summer and the next racing bike I purchased was from Italy. But, it was the Dawes that I would choose to ride. Yes, it steered like a barge. No, touring bikes don't climb hills well. But it was stable, tracked true, insanely comfortable and magnificently versatile. What it lost in going up the hills it more than made up for in descending the other side. Plus, the fancy lugs and pin striping made it gorgeous. I loved this bike.

I have had my current bike for 9 years since 2000 but I bet I rode that Dawes more in a month than I've ever ridden my Battaglin. The Battaglin is a Triathlon frame. Even though I've refitted it with flat bars, a tall stem and triple crank it is still a triathlon bike. It accelerates fast. Turns on a dime. Is really fun in a lot of ways but it rides like a jackhammer and has tires so narrow that if I am not careful fall into the slots of Hong Kong storm drains. Because I've developed some problems with my ankles I can no longer do the Triathlon thing. I would like to ride more and not so much for exercise as pleasure. Since my job is right beside the long bike trail that runs up to Tai Po I could but it is just so hard to make myself get out. I need a bike I want to ride. A bike I don't have to think about, that I can trust not so much with my health and safety as with my enjoyment.

I have been hording bike components for several months. I don't like a lot of the more modern stuff. Bicycle components since about 1995 have too many gears, are too ugly, not repairable and look like cheap plastic even though they cost like they are made of gold. I've managed over the last several months to collect an almost complete NOS Suntour XC-Pro drive train except for a set of Ringle hubs. I'm planning to build a new bike and relegate the Battaglin to the wind trainer. This new bike will have wide enough tires to not fall in to a storm drain grate. Be geared low enough for a middle-aged guy to enjoy riding, be able to mount a rack as well as fenders if I want while running 32 mm wide tires and do all sorts of things I currently cannot do with my retired Triathlon bike.

It will probably be a (Growl, curse, grumble, mutter) Mountain bike frame which means ugly, designed for 650C wheels and a suspension fork with an aluminum frame. I wish it could be another Dawes Galaxy. I don't think I can afford one of those frames on my school librarian salary even if they were available in Hong Kong. They're welded now anyway so I couldn't have that great pin striping around the fancy lugs. But even a welded Dawes would be a Dawes.

Shortly before I got married in 1986 I was run off the road by a gravel truck. I landed on a concrete culvert and while I was not hurt the crash separated the rear triangle of my Dawes from the main frame. My wife allowed me to buy a Cannondale touring frame as a wedding present. I rode that until we moved to Hong Kong in 1990. It was a great bike. It wasn't my Dawes. Nothing else will be. Nothing else will ever come close.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who still misses his first true love.

I agree with Jackie!

Jackie Chan has taken a lot of flak over his statement.

My question is "Why?" Is he not entitled to his opinions? More than that, I agree with him though for different reasons.

The Chinese, especially those on the Mainland need to be controlled. They cannot be free because they have had a government for 60 years that has told them that there is no such thing as morality, and that ethics are a ploy by the establishment to keep the poor poor. Therefore, is it any wonder that that there are now hundreds of millions of Chinese who have no qualms about cheating, robbing stealing and behaving as if there is nothing important except them personally getting rich?

Freedom only works in a moral or at least ethical society. Chinese society is neither. Maybe it will not always be so.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who still hopes for a free China

The Age of Pirates or Modern Politics?

I am a big fan of pirate video games. They are my favorite genre of game. Sid Meyer's "Pirates" is a great game. I've also played "Port Royal" versions 1 & 2 and "The Age of Pirates." I am currently waiting for "The Age of Pirates 2" which is due out soon. I've looked into "Pirates of the Burning Sea" but don't like the mass online games. Of course all of these pale compared to the best pirate video game ever produced which was "Sea Dogs." The rights to the Sea Dogs sequel were purchased by Disney and the game was changed at the last minute into the "Pirates of the Caribbean" game. This was sad because Sea Dogs 2 would have been a better game and the PotC game was not great unless you download one of modification builds from the good guys at Pirates Ahoy. But, despite the so - so game, the PotC movies are possibly my all time favorites and I generally have a Pirates marathon when the really pretty-smart - looks 20 years younger than she is wife goes away for business.

One of the best scenes in any pirate movie is the opening sequence in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie where all the people are being hanged for being, knowing or having even the slightest association with a pirate. The condemned are shuffling along in their chains to the gallows when one small boy starts to sing and before long the whole row of people waiting to die are singing this pirate song:

Yo, ho, haul together,
hoist the colors high.
Heave ho,
thieves and beggars,
never shall we die.

The king and his men
stole the queen from her bed
and bound her in her Bones.
The seas be ours
and by the powers
where we will we'll roam.

Yo, ho, haul together,
hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
never shall we die.

Some men have died
and some are alive
and others sail on the sea
– with the keys to the cage...
and the Devil to pay
we lay to Fiddler's Green!

The bell has been raised
from it's watery grave...
Do you hear it's sepulchral tone?
We are a call to all,
pay heed the squall
and turn your sail toward home!

Yo, ho, haul together,
hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
never shall we die.

The reviewers who didn't understand that movie didn't listen to the song.

Something else that I find interesting about this movie is how it so accurately reflects politics today. Pirates, real pirates like those in Somalia of course are criminals. But what if we lived in a world where everyone was a criminal? What if the criminals were more honest than the law abiding? What if the law where only a shell for something more evil still?

In PotC3: At the World's End, Jack Sparrow is hunted by Davy Jones because he made a Faustian bargain with the devil and the bill is due. But Davy Jones himself is captured and used by men more evil than he who are in the government and who wish to bend the world to their own political and economic ends. Thus, the real pirates are not Jack Sparrow, Hector Barbarossa, Will Turner, Sau Feng and Elisabeth Swan but the very government. It is a tricky double plot for the pirates are still pirates but they are also heroes.

That is kind of like many great leaders. Whether Thomas Jefferson, Sun Yat Sin or Mastapha Kemal all great leaders can be viewed as either heroes or villains. Sometimes, many times in fact, they were indeed both.

It is an odd thought that an evil government threatens the liberty of honest people and criminals alike. But it is true. When justice is denied to one group it is denied to the other. When a government usurps the freedom of its citizen it becomes a piratical entity and must be opposed. It is all the sadder that often time those who lead us against great tyrants are themselves small tyrants.

When people or governments, who should know better, usurp history twisting it to an end that furthers a World View rather than bending their World View around the facts of history they become intellectual pirates. They steal our history, my history and plunder the present for their own gain. In doing so they have taken far more than material wealth. They have taken our cultural heritage by refusing to admit the good in our past but only the mistakes. They are evil and must be opposed.

My concern is that at least for the moment, those greater Pirates appear to have won. The politically correct, the socialist idiots, the lies of the political left and those who call evil good appear to have carried the day. In doing so the pirates have become the authority and I have been reduced in their eyes to a pirate simply for wanting to live as a free man. I am forced to ally myself politically with those I do not trust and whose motives I question. I wonder, if we will very soon be reminded of Elisabeth Swan when she asked "What will they see when they look at us? Will they see us cowering on a derelict ship or will they see free men?" I wonder if there will be anyone but me to man the guns and work the sails? I hope so.

But I don't like being a pirate nearly so much in real life as I do in a video game.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who seems to be saying "Yo Ho' a lot of late.

"A" before "E" except for 60% of the time

I really enjoyed the essay linked to above.

More on this later

Pedophile gets record 45 years in jail

Unfortunately, this didn't and wouldn't happen in Hong Kong. Here the slime would have pleaded guilty, showed remorse, and then be given 9 months in prison an a date with nice 20 something year-old female social worker who had just graduated from HKU.

The courts in Hong Kong should take a few lessons from the Israelis.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who does not have any sympathy for child molesters

20 picked up in ICAC raids over highway contracts

Not to sound petulant but I thought that the reason Hong Kong pays its Civil Servants such extraordinary salaries is so that they will not accept bribes. I'm sure the government will conclude that this means they need to pay the already over paid, under worked troglodytes even more to ensure that they cannot be bribed. That then begs the question, "Why do we need the ICAC?"

Here is a thought. Fire the entire civil service. Reset the pay scale to 1/2 of the current level. Abolish the over the top retirement and separate medical program (Civil servants even have their own hospital) Draw up a set of professional ethics that every civil servant must adhere to and have them sign it. If they violate it they go to jail. Make them use the health system they foist upon the population. Indeed, that is a good policy for any state that has a socialized medical scheme. The government officials should have to use it to the exclusion of any other. Anyone who wants their job back can then have it at the lower pay and benefits level.

I see that civil servant in the back over there yelling "But that violates the basic law! The government can't give any civil servant less money than they made in 1997!" I've got news for you friend, the basic law is meaningless. The government does more or less whatever Beijing wants. Besides the IRD violates the basic law when it assumes that all expatriots are tax cheats and makes them pay their taxes a year in advance yet the basic law says we are innocent until at least charged with a crime. By working on the presumption of guilt the IRD violates the basic law. The same is true when the police conduct mass breathalizer test on motorist, even if they catch a few drunks the cost is a massive reduction in personal freedom. You don't mind that. The labor department discriminates against Indonesian minorities by allowing employers to pay Indonesian maids less than those from the Philippines that is racial discrimination. The list of the ways that Hong Kong civil servants violate the basic law in ways great and small everyday is quite long. Therefore, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Fire them all.

If I am going to live in a fascist society then I want the governmental officials to be subject to the oppressive laws just as I am subject to them. It limits the brutality the state is willing to engage in if Joseph Yam or York Chow or Albert Au are subject to those laws.

It also turns a fascist state into one that simply has some rather draconian laws. Severe penalties can be a cultural norm. Having leaders who are above the law is not, it is evil. Paying civil servants 4 times the going rate for the same job in the private sector means that the state gets greedy civil servants who are more concerned with keeping their jobs than serving a civil society. That may not be evil but it is certainly not smart either. I also think that the evidense shows it does not make them less likely to take bribes.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who will accept a draconian state but not a fascist one

Hemlock Blacklisted

Well, well, well.

So Hemlock has been blacklisted by Google. Notice, there is no issue with Malware or viruses. He is just “Blacklisted”

I hope he wears this as a badge of honor but it means that he is going to have a hard time getting off this list.

Hemlock is not a blog for little kids but I cannot fathom why he would be blacklisted.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who hasn't been blacklisted yet

We're #2

If THBT and the rest of the Hong Kong worked for AIG they'd be in deep trouble!

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who deos not make nearly so much money

Malaise

There is a somewhat funny saying: “An optimist believes that we live in the best of all possible worlds and a pessimist is afraid that the optimist is correct.” The really smart, pretty, hard working and looks twenty-five years younger than she is wife has been telling me that I have become too pessimistic. I think in some ways she is right but I maintain that I am trying to look on the bright side except there isn’t one. That is part of why I’ve not been posting much. I can only write so many caustic essays. Kind of the Thumper Rabbit principle, “If you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all.”

But there is some good news. The late Nina Wong’s Fung Shui Master Boyfriend is about to get charged with fraud. He evidently forged the will that gave him the fortune that she stole from her even later husband’s family. That’s good. I still don’t like China-Chem very much but at least the crooks who earned the money have what is theirs. I think Nina Wong had her husband murdered and forged a will to gain control of the company and there is perverse humor in then seeing someone do to her what she’d already done.

Many places, most of them fascist including Hong Kong have gun control. Hong Kong also has “Tree-Control” As with most things a government does it works poorly. Recently a dying tree fell and killed a teenage girl. The tree couldn’t be cut down without government permission which evidently takes years to get. So, we can’t get an anti-air pollution law with teeth, murderers get 8 months in jail but people are prosecuted for cutting down a dying tree.

We’ve also had a series of scandals involving pharmaceutical companies that have packaged out-of-date or defective drugs. A lot of people would attribute this to “The profit motive” I don’t. I attribute it to the “I have no ethics because I grew up in the Hong Kong educational system” motive.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is trying to find good things to say

The Future Present

Kind of an odd essay.

Until Next Time
Fai mao
The Blogger who should post more often

Help, I just ate my lipstick!

Question: Many male fashion designers are homosexual. I do not know if this man is or not but assume he is. If true then by looking at these fashions is it safe to assume that at least some homosexual men hate women? Can you be a homosexual misogynistic?

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who has no fashion sense

Signs of the times

Not that this does not need to be done but really. Is this the best they can think up?


Until Next Time
Fai Mao

The Formal Complaint

I sent the letter below to Albert Ho who is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as a follow up to my series of letters with the EPD. I included my real name and links to the various Emails I've received from the EPD.

Councilor Ho,

I do not think that you are my geographical representative; I have looked on the Lego-Co web page but the geographical areas for the various members are not listed as far as I can find. However, since I know that you and your party have an interest in the area I am concerned about I thought it might be appropriate to send you this letter voicing my concern over the activities and programs of a governmental department that I find very disturbing.

Recently a student group in the school I work for placed posters around our campus with a telephone number and the URL of the Environmental Protection Department. The posters encouraged students to “Put this number on your speed dial and use it” The number is to report vehicles that they think are emitting excessive exhaust to the EPD. After contacting the EPD in a series of Emails I discovered that this is indeed an EPD program and they do encourage people to report smoky vehicles using that number. While I complain, as do many others in Hong Kong of the poor air quality this program is simply evil and I, and I believe many others, would appreciate the Legislative Council requiring them to put a stop to it.

This program should be stopped because one of the hallmarks of a Fascist state is that it encourages citizen to spy on one another. This program is, ideologically speaking, little different from the practices of having children report “anti-revolutionary” attitudes of their parents during the Cultural Revolution in the PRC. The fact that the consequences to the drivers turned in by this program are trivial is beside the point. I believe that history shows us that any time a government can abuse power it will. The less accountable the government is the more likely the power will be abused. I cannot imagine many government officials less accountable than Hong Kong bureaucrats. How long will it be before they decide to stop sending simple warning letters to the drivers reported and issuing summonses to have their vehicle turned up?

This program should be stopped because it also violates our right in Hong Kong to face our accusers in court. The report is anonymous. Suppose a number of your political critics all sent your license plate number in using this program and then found a way to publish the fact that you had been cited 12 or 15 times for a vehicle with excessive smoke in the exhaust? Would such an action damage your reputation? The potential for abuse of a program like this by non-governmental factions is as great as the potential inside the government; probably more so. And yet, if you were harassed by a person or group using this program you would have no way to face them, stop them or defend yourself. If you believe that the press in Hong Kong would seek to tell your side of the story then you are mistaken. While less physically painful than being bludgeoned by a baseball bat the political effect would be the same.

This program should be stopped because it is useless and provides no benefit to Hong Kong. Assuming that the officials in the EPD are more enlightened than I have given them credit for and take steps to prevent abuse, if all that occurs is for a warning letter to be sent to vehicle owners then I must ask: “What is the benefit of the program?” There is already a yearly inspection for all vehicles in Hong Kong. Any vehicle that emits excessive pollution should be dealt with at that time. Is a warning letter from the EPD going to scare someone into repairing their automobile three months early? If there are no “teeth” in a program like this it is useless. If there are “teeth” it is Fascism. In either case it is a program that needs to be done away with.

This program must be ended because it will not do Hong Kong any good to obtain large goals such as universal suffrage if our society is held hostage to programs administered by government organs that encourage citizen to spy upon one another. Open societies are based upon trust and mutual respect. They are also based upon toleration. This type of program encourages citizen, in this particular case secondary school student, to develop an intolerant and accusatory attitude to those around them. A society where citizens are constantly looking for flaws in others that can be reported to the government or to bully them into particular modes of behavior is not a society I want to be a member of.

This program should be stopped because it does not matter how laudable the goal if the means used to reach the goal are evil the program is evil. This program is evil because the means are evil. That is particularly true in this case because the only thing this program accomplishes is to make work for a clerk at the EPD and to give people reporting smoky vehicles a feeling of self-righteous moral superiority for having turned someone in as a polluter. Great evil is done because small evils are allowed. None of us wake up and say “I am going to become a great sinner today.” Instead, we chip away what is good letting the end we desire justify a little loss of ethics, honor and morality here and there until we are what we hate and do not understand how we became what we are.

There are many things we could do to improve air quality in Hong Kong. This program is not one of them. Sir, please see to it that the EPD ends it soon.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who does not believe that the end justifies the means

The Final EPD Email

This arrived in my mail box today from the EPD:

Dear Mr. Fai Mao,

Again, please note that the number 2838 3111 is open for public to report pollution complaint to us to follow up. It is not necessary to send us the poster you mentioned. Anyway, thank you for bring this matter to our attention.

Notice I did not post the senders name or their Email. Unlike previous Emails this one came from a real person with a non-public Email. I will honor their privacy by not revealing who they are.

However, the telephone number IS for the public to complain about smoky vehicles and that would mean that the people encouraging middle school and high school students to "Put this number on your Cellphone" to call are, in fact, legally encouraging children to spy upon adults and society at large.

Despicable.

The Basic Law in Hong Kong gives us the right to face our accusers. Except in this instance.
The Basic Law in Hong Kong says we are innocent until shown to be guilty. Except in the matter of taxes and this instance.

There is already a vehicular inspection program in Hong Kong so this program is a waste of funds and manpower.

The government either needs to follow the law or admit that they take orders from Beijing and that the Basic Law is a sham.

Holy Cow! I hope that Hu Jintau comes to Hong Kong and his Red Star limo gets reported for smoking like an old-man in a brothel. I hope every school kid in Hong Kong reports him and the EPD sends him a letter.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger rides the bus

Another Alcoholic Judge

This is not a joke.

Eric Au-Chun Kit side-swiped a car then careened down the road and rear-ended a motorcyclist who died at the scene. He refused to be tested for his blood-alcohol level until an hour after the accident and was, at that time found to be still three times over the legal limit .

This was not his first offense. He is a habitual drunk driver.

He was given what amounts to a slap on the wrist yesterday for this crime given his obvious disregard for the law and the safety of others. He had his driving license suspended for 5 years. He was also fined. He was then given a 4 year in prison term. Tell me, do you need a driving license in prison? So how is that different from a 1 year suspended license?

The man he killed had a wife and two small children. Do they get off in four years? Yet this brother of a "Rising Canto-pop Star" according to the SCMP offered a paltry $70,000 to compensate the victims; which is probably not even the cost of the motor cycle the man he killed was riding.

After the accident he claimed the sun was in his eyes and that the motorcycle just suddenly appeared in front of him. In other words because he was drunk his pupils were dilated and his reactions were slowed. What a moron! He is so stupid that he does not even know what the sysmtoms of being drunk are.

There is a movement in the US to charge people who kill someone while driving drunk with murder. Though in Hong Kong the prison sentence for murder would be about the same unless you are Nancy Kissel. Yet still such a measure here would at least say that slime bags like Eric Au-Chun Kit are not welcome in this society.

I can't help but wonder if the apparent pathological leniency of the judges in Hong Kong in cases like this isn't because they are all boozers themselves?

Eric Au-Chun Kit. You are slimy, no good, self-centered, ignorant bastard and you you should be put in prison for the rest of your natural life for your crimes. Your wealth should be confiscated and given to the children of your victims. If you received justice then maybe Nancy Kissel would feel better because then she would be able to see that the courts were not picking on her.

Eric, if I were you, I'd hang myself in shame of what I'd done. But you have have no shame. You're just a drunken brat. At least you'll be off the streets for 4 years.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who believes that justice is seldom served in Hong Kong.

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

Headless Body in Legless Story

Sometimes Mark Stein is just too good for words.

If this guy was a moderate Muslim then what about the fanatical ones?
Before someone says: "Well, Christian preachers and Jewish Rabbis murder their wives too!" you need to remember they are condemned by their own religion for it. What this man did was not a crime under Sharia law but rather a virtuous act. You would be very hard pressed to find any group other except Islam that propagates a legal code as barbaric as Sharia Law.

I started to not post this but then I've seen other posting about it.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who probably is an insult to Islam

Renaming the University Department

The Really smart, looks 25 years younger than she is, pretty, hard working, loving and sexy wife works for an institution of higher learning here in Hong Kong. They are trying to rename their department and are offering a HKD $500.00 prize to the winning entry. I would not know this except I was in her office this afternoon and heard the professor in the next office talking to himself as he worked on is entry. When I realized what he was doing I got my MP3 out and recorded the soliloquy which is transcribed below
____________________________________________

Geez, I really want to win that prize! Let me think, Think, think!

How about: Department of Politically Correct Education

But wait, the word "Department" is exclusionary and as academics we desire a non restrictive, open environment that will never do. We don't want to have our students compartmentalized into preexisting formulas designed to keep them from being able to think for themselves but knowledgeable enough to perform the menial repetitive work that the conspiracy of the bourgeois and religious leaders have planned for them.

How about: Center for Politically Correct Education

But wait, the word Center implies a locus of control which has connotative resonance, in most personal narratives, with the male centered hegemony favored by masochistic reactionary forces of non-deconstruction exclusively heterosexual thinkers. It is a code word for the oppression of women and minorities!

How about: Support Group for Politically Correct Education

But wait, the word "Education" is indicative of route learning pedagogy which reinforces the idea that we are unable to rise above our gender, class, race, sexuality or religion. Education can mean that someone is imparting knowledge or facts to us in a preexisting format that has been developed to further the oppression of the poor and lowly. We can't use the word education!

How about: Support Group for Politically Correct Learners

But wait, the words "Support Group," are not right. Isn't there a little bit of a negative connotation in them? It isn't like we are all a bunch of alcoholic heroine addicts. I mean I'm sure some arn't. We need a phrase with a more positive conotation.

How about:Sharing Group of Politically Correct Learners

Now we are getting somewhere. But it still isn't right. I mean we aren't "Sharing" we are "Instructing." But we want to avoid the word "instruction" because it is too similar to "education" and makes us appear to be so rigid so, how about Enlightened? Yeah, that's good

How about:Enlightened Group for Politically Correct Learners

Oh my God! That is so good.

But wait, isn't that a bit arrogant? I mean it is true but you don't want to put people off so why don't we add the word "Reasonably" to the front. That makes us look humble and looking humble is a good thing.

How about: Reasonably Enlightened Politically Correct Learners

Better but not quite. I mean people know we are Politically Correct because we are so smart. Do we have to rub it in? Hmmmm, maybe we could drop that term but going with just "Reasonably Enlightened Group Learning" sounds kind of vague.

How about: Reasonably Enlightened Transmitters of Learning

Yeah that's good because it brings the focus back. But it isn't enough. We are a university after all and that means there must be a professor and a student. We may see ourselves as guides to help our students become the self-actualized beings trapped inside their oppressed, gender confused bodies but we want them to know that we accept them. We are not trying to change them into agents for the majority. Hey wait a minute!

How about:Reasonably Enlightened Transmitters of Acceptance Learners.

Something is wrong grammatically there. I guess it could be "accepted learners" that might work. But then those who were not accepted would suffer irreversible psychic damage.

How about: Reasonably Enlightened Transmission of Academics to Learners.

Not quite, almost, but not quite. Still a little bit too much Moses on Mount Sinai. And we are not all learners, some of us are professors. But the word "Student" is so passé. Disciple! That's it disciple! Our students are our disciples! They carry the good news of progressive education to the whole world. John Dewey would like that term.

How about: Reasonably Enlightened Transmitter of Academic Diciples

Nope. Damn! I need another word. We don't transmit disciples we train them and send them forth! That's it

Reasonably Enlightened Trainers of Academic Disciples

Trainers is a bit of a stretch because after all we merely provide them with the tools to create their own personal narrative that they can then use to reach other confused proto-intellectuals. Our disciples are not merely parroting us. They are finding their own way to be relevant in an absurd, irrelevant world. I've got it

Reasonably Enlightened Trainers of Academically Relevant Disciples

Yeah almost, almost. But our students then go out and start training little children as disciples. I think I really need to put a little of that mission in this. OK. They become disciples and then they are hired based upon their experience. Experience - the philosophy of experience is Existentialism and their existential experiences is how they are relevant and then once they move into schools they are bringing relevance to those schools.

What about: Reasonably Enlightened Trainers of Academically Relevant Disciples Existentially Dispersed

That's good! That very good. My mother always told me I was genius.

But the acrostic won't work

Reasonably Enlightened Trainers of Academically Relevant Disciples Existentially Dispersed

Maybe we should just call it the The Department of Special Education

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is not very politically correct

Banning Books for Environmental Health

You can't make this stuff up.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who owns lots of old books

The Reply to the Reply

I wrote a short note to EPD today in reply to their second letter to me yesterday

Ms Li,

What you have engaged in is classic Orwellian double speak. In other words you talked around the issue without answering the question. My specific complaint is that groups such as "Roots & Shoots" in Hong Kong are placing posters in schools that tell children to put your complaint number in their cell phone and to report any vehicle with black smoke immediately. You are effectively making children law enforcement officers and encouraging them to conduct covert surveillance operations. This is another way of saying that you want children to spy on adults. Encouraging people to spy on one another is immoral, encouraging children to do it is worse by several orders of magnitude.

We will see if they reply again.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who likes to bother government flunkies

The NAZI Bureaucrat Replies (Again)

My reply yesterday to the non-reply I received from the EPD was a polite "I know the license was invalid. I just thought you might like to see what people think of your policies and you have no other contact address."

So today this reply comes:

Dear Mr. Fai Mao,

Thank you for your email. Regarding measures for the reduction of emissions from motor vehicles, over the years, the government has adopted from time to time various measures to reduce vehicular emissions including the tightening of the emission limit for newly registered vehicles, adopting better fuel quality and incentive scheme for the replacement of in-use vehicles with environmental friendly vehicles etc.

- Show quoted text -

In other words:

We're just doing our jobs bla, bla, bla, bla. Don't understand your question, bla, bla, bla. What does that mean? bla, bla, bla Must follow orders; bla, bla bla. Two hour lunch break, bla,bla,bla. Civil Service jobs are for life, bla,bla,bla. Warning bla,bla,bla, Warning, Bla,bla,bla, Warning, bla,bla,bla. Resistance is futile. bla,bla,bla You will be assimilated.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who should really know better than to expect a cogent answer from a government policy wonk.

The NAZI Bureaucrat Replies

This morning I had the following Email:

Dear Mr. Fai Mao,

Thank you for your complaint on 5.2.2009 regarding excessive emission from a vehicle 123yyy.
Please note that we cannot take action on this case as 123yyy is not a valid vehicle registration under the register of Transport Department.
Thank you again for your concern on the environment.

C.S. Li
Mobile Source Control Section (1)
Environmental Protection Department

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has no way to simply contact them unless you are spying on someone so I filled out their form and posted a link to my post about this evil scheme in the online form.

It does not even look like a human read the reply. If he'she/it did they didn't read the post otherwise they'd have responded differently.

Until Next Time

Not Yours to Give

The post below is an except from the book: The life of Colonel David Crockett, which is in the Public domain. Given the constant calls by various segments of the populous here as well as other places for government handouts due to the financial problems that have recently been in the news, I thought it might be an insightful read. The book is still in print through the University of the Pacific Press.

In case some of the Asian and European readers of this blog don't know, David Crockett is better known as "Davy Crockett". He was a frontiersman, explorer, and congressman from Tennessee. He died at the Alamo in the Texas revolution.

The war referred to in this excerpt is the war of 1812


Not Yours To Give

One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.

Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made homeless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.

"I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and--'

"'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett, I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.'

"This was a sockdolager . . . I begged him to tell me what was the matter.

"'Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest. . . . But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'

"'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.'

"'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true?'

"'Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.'

"'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.

"'What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he.

"'If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.

"'Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.

"'The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.

"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'

"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

"'Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'

"He laughingly replied: 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.'

"'If I don't,' said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'

"'No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.'

"'Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-by. I must know your name.'

"'My name is Bunce.'

"'Not Horatio Bunce?'

"'Yes.'

"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'

"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had every seen manifested before.

"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.

"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him--no, that is not the word--I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted--at least, they all knew me.

"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

"'Fellow-citizens--I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.'

"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

"'And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.

"'It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.'

"He came upon the stand and said:

"'Fellow-citizens--It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'

"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.

"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday.

"There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men--men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighted against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is "at home on the wild fronteer"

Enviro-NAZISM is not being a responsible citizen

How wonderful! On the day I have time to post again I am given a topic that sets my blood boiling.

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is encouraging children to call a number and report the license plate of vehicles if they see "Black Smoke" in the exhaust.

This sounds, at first hearing, innocuous enough but isn't. Having citizens SPY on each other is one of the hallmarks of a Fascist government and that is exactly what this is, just like what happened in the Cultural Revolution, and in NAZI Germany and is still happening in North Korea and Zimbabwe. What is next? Having kids turn their parents in for disagreeing with THBT?

In a practical sense, though ideologically less severe is the problem of someone simply sending your license plate in out of spite, malice or boredom. Suppose they do this MULTIPLE times. This looks like a practical joke waiting to happen. It also looks like a nearly anonymous way to harass someone you simply don't like.

It would be worse if the EPD did more with these complaints than sending the owner of the vehicle a "warning letter." Taiwan used to offer a bounty to people who turned in cars that didn't meet pollution control standards. School kids would go to parking lots and copy down license numbers and turn in thousands of cars because the probability was that at least some of them would fail and they could then collect the bounty. I know this happened because I have friends in Taiwan and their son earned walking around money this way. What happens if the EPD decides that if a driver is reported for this three times then they must go and get their vehicle inspected at a cost of three or four hundred dollars per whack or pay a traffic ticket?

On the other hand, in a sense, if all the EPD do is send a warning letter then what is the point? After all, if I have a car that is in need of service, with clogged fuel injectors, bad valves or fouled spark plugs that causes the engine to emit more pollution than it should I'd probably know it. Performance suffers, fuel efficiency suffers and the vehicle does not run right; not to mention I'd see the smoke in the rear view mirror. So, what is the point of a warning letter? If I'm driving a car like that and haven't fixed it then a simple letter with no legal teeth is useless.

It would appear to me that a program like this really has only two purposes.

1. To allow people who want to flaunt their environmental conscience to feel important by doing something when they are, in fact only padding their sense of Self Righteousness .
2. To allow the government to say it is doing something about a problem when it isn't

Neither one is good reason.

This program is evil. Simply evil. The fact that they are trying to "Save the Earth" makes it even more so because it gives a certain segment of the population the impression that they are helping to reduce pollution when they are not. It also potentially alienates others from environmental programs that would be useful and for which government and community support is needed.

If the EPD is so concerned about vehicular pollution then why not do something that would actually reduce it instead of having a program like this?

Why not require automobiles to pass a pollution control emissions test yearly? (This may be done already. Since I don't drive I can't say.)

Why not standardize the fees for all the tunnels so that drivers take the tunnel that is the most direct route rather than waiting at the one that is cheapest for 30 minutes with their engine idling? This would make a huge difference in the amount of air pollution emitted each day

Why not require all vehicles in Hong Kong to run on Propane? If someone wants a car that can be driven in China then let them park it in Shenzhen or pay a huge license fee and let them know that they will not be able to gas it up in Hong Kong.

Why not give a subsidy to the bus companies and MTR so that they can lower fares to encourage ridership?

Why not allow the use of electric scooters on roads in Hong Kong? Electric cars are impractical but several companies make one person scooters that can travel at about 50 to 60 Kph with a 50 Km range; perfect for many Hong Kong commuters

Why not restrict delivery times to business so that delivery trucks do not clog the streets at rush hour?

Why not take steps to make Hong Kong more bicycle and pedestrian friendly?

Why not make the MTR put up some parking garages at some of the stations in the N.T. so that people could drive to Tai Wai and then take the train on in? Park & Ride, hmmmm, where have I heard of that idea before?

Because doing the things listed above would take civil servants who were more concerned about reducing pollution than simply keeping their over paid, iron-rice-bowl jobs. Because it would not be something the construction cartels that the civil servants use to brown their noses want.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who believes that pollution is a real problem that needs solutions not based in the Cultural Revolution

Back in the Saddle

What a month.

I've had a daughter visiting. The job has been nuts. Chinese New Year. Then, to top it off I got the flew.

There is a reason for not posting.

Hopefully I'll be able to get going again soon.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger with a busy life

I believe I can I fly, I believe I can touch the (Bam hits sidewalk)

Robert Heinlein once said "Never underestimate the power of stupidity."

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is a chronic malcontent but not a Super Hero

Warning! Warning! Warning!

This has been a brutal two weeks for old actors with cult followings!

First: Patrick McGoohan, then Richardo Montalban and now Bob May have all died.

I realize there is a lot going on in Hong Kong right now but how can the world survive without "The Prisioner", "Fantasy Island" and the Robot from Lost in Space?

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who watches old TV shows

How to get out of China

I've received a lot of comments, not all of it in the comments section of the blog about the experience of being robbed in Shenzhen. I was careful while there to get copies of all the documents and will be posting a step-by-step walk through of what you need you need to do if this happens to you shortly. One thing I can't do is post some photos of the various buildings since one of the things stolen was the digital camera.

Until that time. If you need help with a situation like this then please email me. I will see if I can walk you through the process


Until Next Time
Fai Mao

Help I'm Trapped in China or What I did on My Christmas Vacation or My Life in a Dingy Hotel

Note: I posted this from Shenzhen. I was able to hack around the PRC censors and see the blog and post to it but could not make any corrections to the spelling or grammar

The past two weeks have been some of the most stressful I can remember. Probably by next year I will look back and laugh at this Christmas but that is difficult right now. Actually, I will never laugh at the past two-weeks. They will never be funny and time will never take the edge off the experience of my last two weeks.

The very pretty, looks twenty-years younger than she is, really smart and loving wife and I were robbed in Shenzhen on Christmas eve while returning from a week-end excursion to a Hot-Spring. The robbers took almost everything we had except for my Hong Kong ID and my Visa. They stole all of my wife's ID including her Visa, ATM, Insurance cards, HKID, Chinese ID and my US Passport. They also took most of the clothing we were not wearing a digital camera, MP3 most of our cash and things like family photos in my wife's wallet that were precious to her. We were simply cleaned out. This suddenly turned what had been a rather pleasant trip to a Hot-Spring into a 15 day nightmare.

The only thing that kept it from being unimaginably worse was that the thieves didn't get my visa card. There were two reasons this was extremely fortunate.

First; we were able to borrow a phone and call the emergency number provided by the bank and that was printed on the back of my card that allowed us to cancel Kim's Visa card and ATM card and leave a message with the branch manager of the bank where our primary accounts are to not let anyone withdraw money unless they were in person at the University of Hong Kong Branch and approved by her. Since they had all of my wife's ID it was theoretically possible that a middle-aged Chinese woman could go to a branch of the bank, submit all the required ID's and look enough like my wife to make a huge withdrawal since it would not be difficult to look enough like an ID photo to fool a bank teller. We were able to avoid this because we could call the emergency number and called it within 15 minutes of the theft so neither the visa or ATM could be used.

Second; we were in sudden need of a hotel. Not all Chinese hotels take a non-Chinese Visa but most now do and we were able to find a fairly clean if ragged hotel that didn't cost an arm-and-leg a night. The Visa saved our bacon and kept us off the street that night.

We borrowed a cellphone and called my wife's sister in Hong Kong. She came up the next day and loaned us 3000 Yuan, a cell phone, a couple of canvas bags and various other small items that proved as useful as the cash in some ways. The night before the manager of the restaurant "Man Xin Fat Food" (No that isn't a typo their sign is misspelled) where the robbery occurred had given us an additional 200 yuan. I cannot thank the man enough for his generosity. It wasn't much but it was incredibly kind.

The cash that Ping brought us enabled us to pay the fees that the PRC requires to get our travel document replaced. Otherwise I guess we'd have had to have gotten jobs or hit the street as beggars. It is one of the cruelest of truths that you need money to get out of the PRC if you are the victim of a crime. The catch 22 of not having any money because you've just been robbed does not seem to register on the officials in China.

The next step after filing the police report and getting some cash was to go to the Bureau of Internal Security on Christmas day (Not a Holiday in China) and fill out the paper work to get our exist visas replaced. We were odd ducks in that my wife needed one document and I needed another. It turned out that my wife was able to fill out a form, pay about 500 Yuan and then get a stamped, initialed and dated form that allowed her to re-enter Hong Kong the next day after a 24 hour wait. Because I'd come into Shenzhen with a US passport I couldn't do that. I had to go to Guangzhou and get my passport replaced before I could get an exit Visa. This was frustrating because while I am still technically a US citizen I live in Hong Kong and have permanent residency there. I can even vote in Hong Kong elections. I could produce a valid Hong Kong ID and only needed to get past the Chinese Immigration booth and walk 500 meters or so. Anyway, the PRC is the PRC and despite the fact that the only thing that either my or my wife's paperwork needed at this time was to be stamped and initialed by a supervisor we were told to leave and come back the next day. So we did.

We were first in line on December 26 to pick up our now "Processed" paperwork. After giving us a bit of run around to make some photocopies, get some photographs and the like everything was stamped, initialed and glued. Kim could go back to Hong Kong and I had permission to Guangzhou to get my passport replaced. This is where the frustration really began to kick in. The only thing the paperwork needed was to be signed by another clerk. They could have done it the day before but didn't. 

Well, we rushed to the train station and hopped on the bullet train to Guangzhou. We arrived at the US consulate which is across the street from the train station at about 11:20 only to find that it had closed at 11:00 that day. Growl! Curse! Throw things! Yell at the security guard! Growl, curse throw a few more things and growl some more!

We found an inexpensive hotel (The Ping-An Hotel) and settled in for the week-end. It didn't help that the emergency number listed for US citizens in need of help was answered by an answering machine in Putongwah and that the message was said so fast and with such a bad accent that my Putongwah speaking wife could not understand what was being said. However, we spent the next couple of days doing walking tours of Guangzhou. This helped to take the edge off some of my frustration by Sunday. I was still upset at the embassy for closing early on the 26th. However this ended up not making but one day's difference.

On December 29th we got to the embassy at about 8:30. I was a little irritated at this point because I found that they open for immigration, tourist and student visas at 8:00 but for US citizens at 9:00. However, I was the first in line. I went to the window, submitted my documents, paid the USD $100.00 and then had them tell me the photos made in Shenzhen were the wrong size and had the wrong background. Growl! Curse, stomp back down stairs get more photos with the proper background and dimensions, stomp back up the stairs, cut in line turn everything in and wait for the processing to be finished. By starting at 9:00 AM I had my new emergency passport in hand by 11:45. We then ran across the street and bought tickets for the bullet train back to Shenzhen and thought: "This is almost over!"

It wasn't!

Not by 8 days it wasn't

Since the Bureau of Internal Security is closed for a whopping two hours for lunch from 12:00 until 14:00 and our train arrived in Shenzhen at 12:47 we checked back into the Railroad Hotel and grabbed some quick lunch ourselves before taking the metro three stops to turn in my passport. We got there just after 14:00 took a number and waited until after 4:00 before we were called. The clerk gave me the make a few photocopies, get a receipt from a window upstairs and three new signatures run around again and then I was given a bill for 980 Yuan which I promptly went upstairs and paid. After running back down stairs and pushing the next number out of the way the officer-clerk-sadist-paper pushing-party apparachnik stamped the bill and said my visa would be ready in five working days. But since there was week-end and New Years day in between those five days it would be 7 days. Because we had not turned the paperwork in before lunch that day didn't count so 5 becomes 8.

The wife had a conference to go to and had to leave after this point. I spent the next 8 days in a dingy hotel and window shopping.

One interesting thing I discovered is that I can see my blog in the PRC but cannot post to it from China.

This was not a good Christmas break.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who will staple his travel documents to his chest the next time he goes to Shenzhen