September 2003 Archives

Busybody American Leftist

Again from the ULSCMP, this story. Seems Martin Sheen (who plays a "president" on TV) knows what's best forthe HK people in a letter he drafted on behalf of the terrorist organization PETA:

Hollywood film star Martin Sheen has called on Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to heed appeals to permanently close the territory's live animal markets.
In a letter to Mr Tung written on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Sheen said the live markets were cruel to animals and caused epidemics, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).


He said the animals were housed in crowded, filthy conditions.

Sure, cause a ruckus in another country where manners will prevent the people who live there to tell him to "shut the fuck up".

It's typical of an American liberal to go somewhere and preach that "I know what's best for you, do what I say now!"

Sheesh.

Conrad in HK has his say here; just wish I was as diplomatic.

Well, Duh!

In today's unlinkable South China Morning Post...

The historic July 1 mass protest was the most significant political event Hong Kong has experienced since the handover, the United States Consul General in Hong Kong James Keith said overnight (HK time).
"It was a remarkable episode, one that will go down in the books as perhaps the single most important event in Hong Kong's short political history since the handover in 1997," Mr Keith told the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC

Mr Keith said the demonstration reflected some commonly held views among Hong Kong's middle class, adding that it was directed at the SAR government - not the central government in Beijing.

"It was not just a referendum on the property market or the government's fruitless efforts to stem the tide of unemployment and it was not a walk in the park during a local holiday by an essentially apolitical people," he said.

Well, I think that this is mostly right. People I know over here who flew home (to HK) to participate in the march were demonstrating their displeasure against the puppet, er appointed-by-Beijing Tung regime because of their stupidity in ignoring the wishes of the HK people but also because they put Beijing's dictates ahead of the specific needs of Hong Kong.

It was a direct demonstration against the Tung regime and an indirect slap at the Central Gov't for forcing the issue through their Tung administration puppets.

Seems for the moment, the Central Gov't has gotten the message. Tung, well, we will see...

Well, not yet. Off to Asia in November. It's mostly a "visit the friends, escape San Francisco (where you can shit and piss on the street)" trip. Plus a side trip to Bangkok because I've never been there before.

So the trip will look like this:

SFO to HKG (for the day)
HKG to SIN
Sometime during this stay, there's a trip to Bangkok and/or KL involved here
SIN to NRT
Explore the parts of Tokyo and Kyoto I haven't seen yet
NRT to SFO
Back to purgatory...

But the trip should be hella fun; I've got tix in SQ Raffles Class!

Ha Ha Haaaah!

More fun news from Asia via the BWG.

To sum it all up, HK is going to try to impose a smoking ban. Read the BWG's entry on the subject; it sums up my position as well.

Sheesh. What happened to choice?

Well, it's been a nice summer, but as the seasons begin to change and the chill (relatively speaking) returns, so has that nasty thing called SARS.

Hope it's a misdiagnosis (which happens) because if it's not, the patient caught it from someone else. And hopefully that someone else is NOT in Singapore.

Hmmm. So Singapore is beginning to relax a little.

That's nice. But don't go too far, lest ye become like "San Francisco, cesspool of the nation", complete with the filth and lack of mores that makes liberalism what it is...

It's the little things in life that change that portend bigger changes ahead.

During my many visits to Hong Kong, the locals told me that HK is truly dead when you begin to hear putonghwa on the MTR announcements.

Well, according to the unlinkable South China Morning Post, it's happened.

"The MTR Corporation is going after the mainland tourist dollar by promoting its train services and malls at the border and at mainland visa counters. And this month it will make its train and platform announcements trilingual, rather than using just English and Cantonese."

The communist government has tried to crush Cantonese dialect (and pretty much everything else) in favor of putonghua, with the exception of Shanghainese because much of the communist leadership hails from there.

Historically, it's easier for a dictatorship to keep control when everyone is forced to speak the same language (think Yugo-Slavia during Tito and then after). I hope, for Hong Kong's sake, that this small change in everyday life is not part of something darker in future.