tBlog - Saturday

Saturday

Blog For Free!

Archives
Home
2008 December
2008 August
2008 May
2008 April
2008 February
2007 November
2007 April
2007 February
2006 October
2006 June
2006 April
2006 March
2005 December
2005 November
2005 October
2005 September
2005 August
2005 July
2005 June
2005 April
2005 March
2005 February
2005 January
2004 December
2004 October
2004 September
2004 August
2004 July
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
2004 March
2004 February
2004 January

My Links
Marmot's Hole
Korea Lies...oops, Times
Korea Weather
cathartidae
Goldbrick in Seoul
Rathbone Press
Incestuous Amplification
Budaechigae

tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images

Sponsored
Blog

Saturday

07.16.05 (6:39 am) [edit]

We have had simply said, a crappy summer here so far. The promised high pressure seems to be setting in as I write this so the chances of beer and steaks this evening seem very good.

Courtesy of Pooper, here is how I rate on the white trash scale:

I am 10% White Trash.

I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

I have received serveral e-mail asking me to continue to provide my take in Korean affairs. The fact is, Korean topics are so repetitive and inane that it simply gets broing. This however, was pretty good:

[b]Our attention also goes to the words of President Roh Moo-hyun, who stated about a month ago that there might be a ``cutthroat diplomatic war with Japan and we will never move back nor take a wait-and-see stance.’’ He even declared that Japan should be disqualified from being a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Japan is now vigorously approaching powerful international status backed by yen diplomacy. It is high time for the president to act.[/b]

This of course comes from the Korea Lies. It always amuses me how Korea sees itself as some sort of big player in the world and even moreso in Asia. To repeat what has been said too may times:

Korea is not a player. It had it's chance in the mid 1990s but lost it due to it's childish ravings and actions. China is now the centre of Aisa and Japan is making a killing selling technology to it. Practically anything made in Korea now can now be, or soon will be, made in China at a lower price. If Korea wants to even maintain the standard of living it has, it had better be careful what it does diplomatically to Japan, which will turn off the tech tap it sees fit. However, Korea is not capable of acting in it's own interest and will continue to self destruct.

To whit:

[b]Earlier this year, three global pharmaceutical firms – GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Wyeth – also left this country. These companies, not big manufacturers or employers, had different reasons for leaving. But their departures point to a common issue that requires serious attention[/b].

Now, I wonder if the genius editor can for one second see the connection between the article I quoted first, the Race Riots of 2002 and Japan bashing for local consumption? I doubt it. Take a look at this particularly Korean piece of logic:

[b]The biggest reason is a rigid labor market. Wages in Korea are five to 10 times higher than China and India, and even higher than in Ireland. [/b]

No, the biggest reason is that Korea is seen as a backwards, xenophobic backwater run by a president who hasn't even finished high school.

Another brilliant pieceof logic, Korea Lies style:

[b]All this indicates that the Roh Moo-hyun administration’s pledges to make Korea a good country to do business in have ended up as empty slogans. As a result, even Korean firms are going abroad in search of a better environment. The government needs to take extra care to prevent its policy to reform chaebol from developing into an overall anti-business sentiment.[/b]

I always scratch my head when I read or hear this kind of thing. One one hand the Lies urges Comrade Roh to imporove the business climate, which cannot happen because the Dear Leader runs the labour unions. There is a reason the KFTU was illegal for so many years, years when Korea's economy grew at double digits. On the other hand, the Lies urges Comrade Roh to further persecute the Cheabol, the engine that keep Korea out of a depression. Go figure.

Yet another Gem:

[b]Amnesty to Affect 6.5 Million People

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The ruling Uri Party said Friday that it will propose President Roh Moo-hyun set the scale of pardons on Aug. 15, Liberation Day, at 6.5 million people, including 400 on special pardon. [/b]

Translation: 400 total scumbags have bought their way out of jail and to cover it up, we will forgive a pile of speeding tickets. The fact that Korea has absolutely no rule of law will be further reinforced. I got a couple of tickets over the years in Korea and my girlfriend at the time told me to wait until August 15 because they would be nullified. She was right, too.

[b]The opposition GNP said it will seek a revision of the law governing presidential pardons aimed at significantly limiting the president's power to grant special amnesty.[/b]

Not a bad idea in my book but unlikely to happen. Teh Chosun once again offers its blunt and realistic take on the situation:

[b]The ruling party itself has effectively admitted that the hidden aim of the amnesty is to save its own "comrades," "elder brothers" and "friends" who have been put behind bars for accepting illegal campaign funds in the presidential election. The millions and millions of traffic offenders, people who have broken food sanitation regulations and reserve force members punished for failing to respond to training summons are being let off as a mere foil for that handful.[/b]

I am sure Comrade Roh and his jailed Keystone Commies, not to mention his mob, went wild when the read this. Congrats to the Chosun for printing the truth.

posted by: party pooper (reply)
post date: 07.20.05 (9:51 am)

This tradition of giving out mass pardons is unbelievable. Why would any Korean bother following the law when no one is held accountable? I know why Roh is doing it (what a hypocrite for claiming he would fight corruption), but why does the Korean populace put up with this?

THIS is what Koreans should be demonstrating about if they really have any interest in the well-being of their country

posted by: kimchipig (reply)
post date: 07.20.05 (5:02 pm)

Honourable Pooper, what you wrote is completely reasonable But remember where you are....

posted by: DD (reply)
post date: 07.21.05 (9:05 pm)

One of the things I have learned administering a university here is that Korea is not a "legal" society in Western sense. What I mean is that not all important things are written. Agreements in Korea, even very significant ones, are usually verbal, and people are often extremely reluctant to write down commitments, to document conversations and thought processes, to publicly record rules and decisions based on them, or to speak their mind in print. Several colleagues have suggested to me that these traditions are an unhappy side effect of the Japanese occupation, but I don't think that's right. I think they are deeply cultural.
These traditions give Koreans an advantage over Western countries in some things and a disadvantage in others. If I wish to "borrow" someone else's technology, for example, vague or nonexistent intellectual property law obviously gives me an advantage. If I wish to defend my own technology from theft, on the other hand, tight, well-defined law gives me the advantage, since then I can sue the thieves. Similarly, if I have time and money to invest, weak law discourages me from innovating because my competitors will simply steal my innovations and second-source them. It encourages me to divert my investments into safe things, such as precious metals or Shanghai condominiums.
Thus it may turn out that creeping legalization is not a disease to cure but a natural development required for further economic advancement. Unfortunately no one knows for sure. Koreans will just have to decide whether to allow it or not, and then see what happens.
In making this decision, it may help Koreans to consider that Westerners' enthusiasm for writing is related to their religious traditions. The central concept is Lex Regis, or "the law is king." The idea is the a set of rules, written down in plain view, acquires moral authority greater than that of the people who made them because the writing is permanent and doesn't fade away the way our memories do. Writing, in other words, is something "holy" to which everyone, including the king, must submit. Expressing yourself in writing allows any third party to witness what you said at a later date and thus forces you to be responsible. The reason you don't change law capriciously, deliberately misinterpret the law's intent or allow important relationships to be merely verbal is that such behavior is immoral. Lex Regis is related to the Greek concept of Logos, the logic of the universe, an idea that became incorporated into Christianity and then spread throughout Europe.
The transition to rule of law in Europe took many centuries and was extremely difficult politically. In 1644, about the time Shakespeare suggested to kill the lawyers, a book entitled LEX REX by Samuel Rutherford appeared in Scotland and England. The case it made for supremacy of the law was considered so seditious by the king that it became punishable by death to own a copy this book, a situation that persisted until 1688. Similar events took place somewhat later on the continent.
History thus suggests that Koreans should wait a bit before killing all their lawyers.
Robert B. Laughlin, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics, is president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

posted by: CANADIANS (reply)
post date: 08.17.05 (9:57 pm)

KILLER BLOG KIMCHIPIG> I HATE USA TOO> KEEP IT UP>

posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 08.21.05 (5:22 am)

Corrrection: I do not in any way hate the USA. I disagree with the fascistic policies of the Bush adminstration and the way the war against Islamo-fascism is being waged. The "war on terror" is being used as an excuse to remove civil liberties and enforce a theorcacy on America.

posted by: penis enlargement (reply)
post date: 06.10.06 (10:19 pm)

Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.