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North Korean Photo Exhibit of North Korean Atrocities Opens

Shaa, like we will see that any time soon. North Koreans are getting all upset about the poor girls who were accidentaly run down by the tank thing in South Korea last year. They should be upset by all the South Koreans killed by North Korea over the years:

Pyongyang, January 30 (KCNA) -- A photo exhibition showing the U.S. imperialists' killing of South Korean schoolgirls was opened at the central youth hall here on Jan. 29. On display are photos showing the struggle of the South Korean people and students to condemn the U.S. imperialist aggression troops for driving an armored car over South Korean schoolgirls Sin Hyo Sun and Sim Mi Son to death, punish the criminals and drive the U.S. troops out of South Korea.
��� Exhibited are photos showing the U.S. military court announcing the results of deceptive investigation and giving a verdict of not guilty to the criminals and the bereaved families getting angry at it.
��� Other photos show candle-light demonstrations, hunger strikes, protest visits and other forms of anti-U.S. struggle of the South Korean people of all strata demanding punishment of the U.S. criminals, an open apology of Bush, total revision of the unequal South Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement and withdrawal of the U.S. troops.
��� An opening ceremony of the photo exhibition was attended by presidium members of the north headquarters of the national alliance of youth and students for the country's reunification, members of its central committee, officials of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, youth and students in Pyongyang.
��� Kim Kyong Ho, first secretary of the central committee of the youth league, made an opening address.

How about an exhibit of the following:

orth Korea on October 9, 1983, attempted to assassinate Korean President Chun Doo-hwan while he was visiting Myanmar. North Korean terrorists planted time bombs at the Aungsan Mausoleum where a South Korean delegation was waiting for the arrival of the president. The bombing killed 17 Korean officials including several cabinet ministers, and wounded 14 others.
One of the terrorists was arrested by the Myanmar authorities. It was revealed that three North Korean terrorists (a North Korean army major and two senior Lts.) had been involved in the terrorist bombing, and they were acting under the direct orders of Kim jong-il..

Or maybe:

Later the woman was handed over to Korea. She spoke Chinese and Japanese fluently and pretended to be a Chinese when she arrived in Korea. But later she was identified as a North Korean agent named Kim Hyun-hee (26). She revealed that her companion was Kim Sung-il (70), and that they planted a time-bomb, hidden in a radio set and a liquor bottle, in the overhead baggage compartment of the plane so that the plane would explode in the air. She added that they committed the terrorism after being directly ordered by Kim Jong-il for the purpose of hindering the 1988 Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Seoul.
On March 27, 1990, she was sentenced to death after a trial in Seoul, but she was granted a special amnesty in consideration of the extenuating circumstances that she repented sincerely, and that she had been merely a tool of Kim Jong-il.

If that isn't spectaular enough for you:

Around 10:00 p.m. on January 21, 1968, patrolling policemen spotted a band of prowlers downtown near Chongwadae (the presidential residence) in Seoul, and began to question them. The prowlers began to fire submachine guns and throw hand grenades at random, destroying 4 street buses that were passing by, killing a number of passengers.
In the fire fights, the police shot 5 of them to death on the spot and captured one of them, but the captive killed himself when he was taken to the National Police Headquarters. In the course of the fire fights, the chief of the Chongro Police Station, Choe Kyu-shik, was killed.
During the moping-up operations which lasted until February 3, the Korean military and police were successful in capturing 1 alive, and killing 28. They were members of a 31-man commando team, called the 124th unit, dispatched from North Korea for the purpose of blowing up the Korean presidential residence in Seoul. Two of them escaped death and fled back to North Korea.

I could go on, but you get the picture... Even if the North Koreans don't.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:01

Cool Retro-Commie, Axis of Evil Member War Posters

Those wacky North Koreans have appear to have gotten into the soju cabinet and then taken pen to hand to create the following modern masterpieces (click on them to see them bigger):

Merciless Punishment To the US!	Americans, Don't Indiscriminately Go Wild!
(It says: International Atomic Energy Agency on the scarecrow) Razor Sharp Judgement Given to Americans and Murderers	A Heavy Blow to Coercion. Merciless Chastisement to Punishment!

I will have to go home and get the dictionary before I can properly translate their silliness. Look for it in an update.

UPDATE: OK, I grabbed a dictionary (they sure talk funny up in North Korea!) and got as close as possible. I am probably wrong on a couple of the nuances (not being North Korean and all) but you get the gist. Now go on out there and Chastise People Mercilessly!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:04

Columbia University Big Brain Is an Idiot

Corsair the Rational Pirate may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but let me take a shot at one Jeffrey D. Sachs: professor of economics and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and an idiotic blowhard.

This morning I stumbled across this detritus washed up on the internet (It's All About the Ooooiiilll):

All around the world people ask: What is the real motive for the Bush administration's threatened war with Iraq? Is it to curb weapons of mass destruction? Is it more personal, an act of vengeance by a son against the man who attempted to assassinate his father? Is it to defend Israel? Is it to reinvent the Middle East as a more democratic region, as many of the Bush administration's leading voices insist? Or is it, as some suspect, so that America can get its hands on Iraqi oil? The Bush administration has offered a range of justifications for its plans, although with a fairly consistent emphasis on weapons of mass destruction. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz talks about making Iraq the "first Arab democracy." Many in the Bush administration argue that aggressive policies toward Iraq can ultimately bring down autocratic governments in the Middle East the same way that the Reagan administration supposedly brought down the "evil" Soviet empire.

Outside of America, almost nobody buys these arguments. Most believe that oil ranks at the top of America's list of motives.

So all the Bushies want to do is take over the oil fields and steal from the Iraqis the only reason anyone pays any attention to them. One reason for this is:

On the other hand, even if the United States ran Iraq as a protectorate, which isn't likely, oil prices probably wouldn't collapse. Given the damage Saddam has done, it would take some time to get output up from its current 2.5 million barrels a day to the 3.5 mbd Iraq produced before he came along

Any oil coming out of Iraq won't be coming for quite some time. The place is a mess and will take years to get back up to speed. So it does nothing for us in the short run. In the long run it might wake some oil available on the open market nad drive down the price of it. Oooh, what a horrible thing that would be for the entire world! In case you forgot, oil was used as a weapon against us in the early 70s. It is not quite the weapon now that it was then (due to more countries producing) but what is wrong with us holding on to one end of this weapon so that it can't be used against us?

A more fruitful question than an inquiry into America's motives is how the United States will act once war comes. Here we don't have to rely on second-guessing individuals. We can examine America's behavior in recent history.

Looking at the historical record, it is difficult to believe that the United States will give the Middle East a democratic makeover. Today's Middle East is a construction of the United States and Europe. Its despots and monarchs owe their positions to the machinations and connivance of the West. Even if America goes off to war waving the banner of democracy, the results are likely to be less glorious. In the end, this will likely be a war for Iraqi oil.

Throughout the 20th century, Arab self-determination, democracy and economic reform took a back seat to oil. When the British inveigled Arab chieftains to fight on behalf of the British empire in World War I, the Arabs were not rewarded with sovereignty at the Great War's end, but with ongoing British and French suzerainty.

So British and French perfidy nearly 100 years ago means that we will do the same thing today? We can see that in the way that we have taken over Afghanistan (like the British did all those years ago) and made it into our little colony. Oh, we haven't?! First off who would want to and secondly I suppose we are never allowed to change our stripes?

And just where is all this "Arab self-determination"? Arab governments are run by rapacious dictators looking out for their own personal Swiss bank account. They have had more than enough years to set up a functioning government that didn't include torture and fear. Funny, I don't seem to see it. Must be because they are all total losers who can't do it on their own. They need someone to come in from outside and impose it on them Someone like us!

More great examples follow:

Consider the CIA-backed coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mussadegh. In 1951, Mussadegh nationalized Iran's oil industry, prompting a British boycott the next year and then U.S.-backed intervention (which toppled and jailed the popular prime minister) in 1953.

A similarly instructive case is the West's support for a military crackdown in Algeria after democratic elections in early 1992 threatened to bring the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) to power. When the FIS seemed headed to victory, Algeria's army stepped in to prevent continuation of the vote. Western governments, led by France but with U.S. backing, gave moral and financial support to Algeria's generals.

So again we have to go back 50 years to find some American evil. And then of course we get tarred with France's anti-democratic brush (again!). I suppose it would have been better to let the FIS win and institute sharia law so that women who get raped subsequently get stoned to death for having sex outside of marriage (etc etc, we all know how evil and stupid sharia is).

The he makes this observation:

A good window on postwar U.S. policy in Iraq can be found in key documents written by and for the Bush administration before Sept. 11, when the analysis of the Middle East was much less infected by today's fears. Probably the most interesting document is a study entitled "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges of the 21st Century," produced by the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Texas and the Council on Foreign Relations.

The study makes clear two points. First, Iraq is vital to oil flows from the Middle East, as it sits on the second-largest reserves in the world. The report agonizes over the fact that for economic security reasons America needs Iraqi oil, but that for military security reasons the United States can't allow Saddam to develop the oil. The implication seems clear: The United States needs a new Iraqi regime for its energy security. Democracy is not mentioned anywhere in the study.

OK, so a study called the " Strategic Energy Policy Challenges of the 21st Century" never once mentions democracy? I guess the reason for this is that it is not called "Democracy Policy Challenges of the 21st Century." Stupid moron.

The Bush administration may believe that it is going to war to fight for democracy in the Middle East, but U.S. support for real democracy stands to be an early victim. Sadly, a war fought for oil will be one that further destabilizes international politics and society, and undermines the true security of the United States and the world

Not sure where he get his conclusions. If we fight a war and manage to both increase democracy (witness Japan and Germany after one of the wars of the last century he is so fond of citing) and secure for us a great big pile of oil, then things will get worse in the world than they already are. A diminishing of Islamofacism, weapons of mass destruction, and oil as a weapon can be considered a bad thing? Maybe in Columbia but out here in the real world I say let's get started.

Maybe this guy should better be handled by someone else in the blogosphere but I gave it a shot.

UPDATE: Great article in Tech Central Station related to this very thing.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:52

"God was definitely in control"... Too Bad No One Else Was

Seatbelt non-wearing buffoon gets thrown out of his car, hangs on a wire and thanks god for putting the wire up (I guess):

Thompson lost control of his Jeep on Monday evening after another car suddenly turned in front of him. Thompson's Jeep clipped the other car and rolled over and over, possibly five times, witnesses said.
The Jeep's fiberglass top was ripped off, and Thompson, who was not wearing a seat belt, flew through the air, bouncing off three power lines and falling onto what he thinks was a telephone wire and grounding wire. His leg caught in one wire, and he grabbed for the other.
"I just kept saying a prayer over and over," he said Tuesday from his home in the suburb of Blue Springs.

Maybe you should have been reciting the page of the Missouri driving law where it clearly states:

IT'S THE LAW
Missouri law requires all front seat occupants in passenger cars and persons under 18 years of age operating or riding in a truck to wear safety belts; additionally, children ages 4 or older but less than 16 must be secured in a properly adjusted and fastened safety belt wherever seated in any motor vehicle. All children under age four (4) riding in a motor vehicle must be secured in a child safety seat or vest. This includes all cars, pickup trucks, vans and buses manufactured with safety belts. It does not include public carriers for hire such as taxicabs and commercial buses.

Then the blockhead wouldn't have been flying though the air and getting all tangled up in telephone wires.

Let us review. You can't thank god for the good stuff unless you also blame him for the shitty things that happen to you. Was it god's fault you can't drive defensively? If not then don't give him the credit for dangling you over the street. I assume that all the people who die in traffic accidents deserved it since god did not intervene in their cases to miraculously save them? How about it was luck? You got lucky although the whole driving around without a seatbelt in a truck prone to rollover was kind of stupid.

Maybe god can pull a Wizard of Oz and give this moron some brains.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:41

What I am Listening To

All of you readers (OK, both of you) please go and check out the All American Rejects as they are a hot hot hot group putting out great great great music. (Dayum, was that stupid enough?)

Seriously... Have a listen.

Band Website
IMDB
Amazon
MTV (watch the video!)
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:37

So Much for Keeping the Peace

And you thought you had it rough in the American military! Just remember, don't argue with a South Korean major:

Korean peacekeeper shoots fellow officer

An army captain working on a South Korean peacekeeping medical team in Bagram, Afghanistan, was shot and killed by his senior officer, the Joint Chiefs of Staff reported yesterday.

The victim was identified only as Captain Kim, and the senior officer as Major Lee. It was the first casualty by gunfire suffered by the Korean Peacekeeping Forces, which were stationed in Kyrgyzstan in February 2002 and moved to Afghanistan last week. They have been providing medical aid.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 07:53

Yay! I Got My First Illiterate Rant!

A certain Alex Hadady (who has sent missives to other bloggers) sends me the following illogical rant complete with little smiley emoticons, left-wing gibberish, and CAPITAL LETTERS:

Subject: YOU ARE AN IDIOT :)
To: corsair@philben.net

NOTHING ON YOUR WEBSITE HAS ANY VALUE AT ALL.
YOU ARE A COMPLETE SELF-DELUTED LOSER THAT DOESN'T
KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT US FOREIGN POLICY....I WOULD BE
SURPRISED IF YOU CAN EVEN READ A MAP ;)

I was not informed that my website had to have value?! I thought this was a non-profit operation. As for being "SELF-DELUTED", I am sorry but that phrase has no value. And I can at least read the map that shows you just about�. Here. Waaaay out in left field.

OH, AND SPEAKING OF BACKWARD COUNTRIES, IF YOU THINK
THE USA IS SO "ADVANCED", HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE JERRY
SPRINGER SHOW, WITH THE LOWLIFE, BACKWARD, UNEDUCATED
CROWD ON THAT CRAP THEY CALL A SHOW ??

Yeah, don�t you hate that show? And the people who watch it and know about the crowd on it. And then write about it to others in ALL CAPITAL letters? And then use it to brand the whole country as backwards and stupid. That would be like calling all Muslims terrorists because of the actions of� well, I was going to write "a few" but we all know that is not correct. How about we say the actions of a "significant minority"? Wouldn�t want to look like that sort of mouth-breathing, gap-toothed, two-hole outhouse user. Would we?

AND ABOUT 9-11.....WE DID START THE WAR ON TERROR, YOU
MORON....IT WAS WHEN THE FIRST AMERICAN M-16 FOUND ITS
WAY INTO THE HANDS OF AN ISRAELI SOLDIER AND HE KILLED
A PALESTINIAN KID WITH IT ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1951, ALSO
CALLED "DARK TUESDAY". GEE, THE DATE SOUNDS FAMILIAR,
DOESN'T IT ??
OH, BUT YOU KNEW THAT, RIGHT, GENIUS ??
GET A LIFE, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP ;)

Did a google search on "Dark Tuesday" and couldn�t find shit that had to do with Israel. Oh and just maybe Mr. Hadady has his head up his ass (shaa, you think so?) when it comes to his facts about when the U.S. government was handing out M-16s like so much candy:

The operational debut of the M16 appeared to go quite well when the rifle was first issued to troops in the battle in the Ia Drang Valley of Viet Nam in early November, 1965. Lieutenant Colonel, later Lieutenant General, Harold G. Moore Junior reported "brave soldiers and the M16 brought" the allied victory. But as the number of M16s "in country" increased, so did the reports of their failure in combat. In May, 1967, one Marine wrote home about it:

And then we end with this cheery opprobrium:

P.S. HOWARD ZINN IS A RESPECTED AUTHOR AND A GREAT
ACTIVIST WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING
ABOUT.....UNLIKE YOU, YOU IGNORANT FUCK :)

See, now I am going to get all depressed. Howard Zinn THINKS he knows what he is talking about. There is a big difference. Especially since he suffers from the same "head up his butt" disease that seems to have infected the eloquent Mr. Hadady. You really should look into a cream or a patch or a pill or something to get that fixed right up. Might do better with the ladies as well.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:39

"International" Night at School Last Night

Corsair the Volunteering Parent was helping out at the oddly named "International" Night at school last night due to Corsair Jr.'s affiliation with the fourth grade. I was privileged to spend 2 hours chopping up various forms of meat for the assembled masses to eat and enjoy (had they seen what I was doing with the meat it might not have been such an enjoyable moment).

What was the strange part was the almost total lack of anything resembling "international" food. For our meat menu we had baked ham, hamburgers, pizza (it had meat on it) and baked chunks o?chicken. Nary a foreign spice, odd breading, or inedible piece of slaughtered animal so beloved by the natives to be found. I suppose you could make the stretch that hamburgers were from Hamburg (German cuisine) and the pizza was form Italy (Italian cuisine). I am not sure where chickens evolved (Mesopotamia?) so I am not sure which food family in which to include those.

This would be Corsair Jr's second elementary school since joining the public education system. In the first one (located much closer to Washington DC) we had a similarly named night of foods of the world. Only in that school we actually ended up eating the culinary delights of a dozen different third world countries. Mexican, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Korean, and a host of others were included. I suppose the relative "tan-ness" of the school-aged population was somewhat to thank for that. Here in the great white 'burbs we have seen our exposure to the International portion of the human spectrum needed to really put on a good international food night diminish drastically.

The foods at the previous school were provided by the parents of the kids while last night's fare was bought by the PTA and cooked by a coterie of beige parent volunteers (Corsair the Only Man representing the testosterone-fueled gender). I suppose asking these parents to provide for a Pot Luck sort of meal would have overwhelmed us with tater tots and fish sticks. I do, however miss the variety of foods I was able to sample and, in many cases make fun of ("They eat this?!?") at our last International night!

Maybe I will take the reigns next year and force these people to expand their palates?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:54

Now This Is Cool!

Imagine coming across this thing while you are hiking in the woods:(click to see a bigger picture)

Chinese researchers announced Wednesday the discovery of a feathered dinosaur that glided on four wings - a diminutive plumed dragon that could be a long-sought evolutionary link between dinosaurs and the first true birds.

As remains of nature's earliest experiments with avian flight, they rank among the most important fossil finds of the past century, several experts on avian evolution said. They reveal the distant past as a foreign country in which creatures soared on four wings, not two, and predators prowled in pelts of down.

The curled and crushed skeletons of Microraptor gui, as the new creature is named, preserve clear impressions of long aerodynamic feathers. The feathers form airfoils along spindly arms and legs in what appear to be both forewings and hind-wings. The dinosaur also has a long feather-fringed tail.

The new discovery lends weight to the idea that feathered flight began with creatures like these flapping between the treetops of ancient forests, not with small downy dinosaurs skittering along the ground as many other experts have theorized.

``It's an incredible discovery, the kind of thing that we've wished for, well, for centuries now,'' said paleobiologist Kevin Padian at the University of California at Berkeley who studies the origins of flight.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:51

OK, This is Just Silly and Juvenile

I know! But it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this picture:




So I am not as classy as I thought! Big deal.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:38

They Don't Like to Be Linguists Either

This story in USA today makes this point:

WASHINGTON -- The American troops likeliest to fight and die in a war against Iraq are disproportionately white, not black, military statistics show -- contradicting a belief widely held since the early days of the Vietnam War.

In a little-publicized trend, black recruits have gravitated toward non-combat jobs that provide marketable skills for post-military careers, while white soldiers are over-represented in front-line combat forces.

This is in reaction to those who are always claiming that it is only the poor minorities that will die in any war instigated by fat cat white folks in Washington whose sons will not have to die. Or something like that.

Well, Fighter Pilots are not the only affected job. From personal experience Corsair the Ex-Air Force Korean Linguist can tell you that of the hundreds of airmen that he served with over the years in the linguist field (mainly Korea and Chinese), the vast majority were white (more than 98%). I knew maybe two blacks who had taken Korean. That is similar to:

Examples:

* Of the Army's 45,586 enlisted combat infantryman, 10.6% are black.

* Of the Air Force's 12,000 pilots, 245, or about 2%, are black.

* In the Navy, 2.5% of the pilots are black.

Senior Air Force officials say they are troubled by the number of black pilots and plan to do better.

What does that say about education, language skills, desire or recruitment strategy? Did blacks want to be Korean Linguists (god knows why) but were steered to less "intellectually demanding" jobs by racist recruiters? Were they "redlined" before they ever got in? I find that hard to believe. Did they think they couldn't do it because they had never been challenged in school? Did they reall all want to work in the chow hall so they could get a good job at the Roy Roger's Restaurant when they got out? Surely more than 2 could have gotten through the gates of the Defense Language Institute (DLI) if they had really wanted to.

Some stats: My basic Korean class (47-weeks, 6 hours a day of nothing but Korean... enough to drive you crazy) had a washout rate of about 30% (which was about average for those times). We started with 27 people in class (24 Air Force, 2 Marines, 1 Army) and ended up with 18 (15 Air Force, 2 Marines, 1 Army). Everyone who washed was white so whites can claim any superiority there. Of course everyone in the class was white so you would expect only whites to wash out. Intermediate Korean (47more weeks of pain) had 12 people and no blacks either.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:31

Ewwww... I Mean... Ewwww.

Far be it for virile, hunk-o-man Corsair to disparage other people's choice of fashion (shaa, you think I have a straight face when I say that) but, well, this sort of thing has just got to go:

WANT to keep abreast of the latest in male fashion? Well, the message from Milan is to say goodbye to Mr Macho and hello to Mr Androgyny.
The provocative direction � featuring male models with fake breasts under figure-hugging knitwear � was sent down the catwalk by outrageous British designer Vivienne Westwood in the mens' autumn winter 2003 shows held this week.

And while the effect may look outrageous today, fashion commentators reckon Sydney men may just end up adopting it � in a few years' time.

OK, while there may be nothing wrong with that (ewww) I do not see it happening in a couple of years, decades, or millenia to the He-man, Woman Hater's Club members of the male section of the US.

And anyway, I don't think this is the correct way to change most men's minds:

Jumpers came in tones of soft camel and rose, featured blouson sleeves and ruffled cuffs, and were teamed with fetching slim-hipped pants and cute peek-a- boo bonnet-style scarves.

Even the catwalk pose took on a feminine trait � gone was the tough guy stance.

It was replaced by a coy swivel of the hips contrived to give the model the slimmest silhouette possible.

"Coy swivel of the hips"?!?? Eww.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:33

Time to Fish or Cut Bait, Koreans

Seems that rampant cases of USFK machinery killing poor, unsuspecting Koreans are happening all around us! Time for the protesters to get out their headbands and masks and start a'demonstratin', isn't it?

USFK Trailer Runs Over Woman in Inchon

A military trailer belonging to the United States Forces Korea (USFK) ran over and killed a Korean woman in Pupyong, Inchon, police said yesterday.

The victim, a 45-year-old woman identified only as Park, was crossing a street when she was hit by the trailer at around 12:25 p.m., according to police.

An initial investigation revealed that the accident occurred when the driver, a 31-year-old Korean national named Park Sang-jin, ran a red light and hit the woman, who was suffering from a hearing impairment.

Police are continuing to look into the exact circumstances of the accident.

Wait a minute! I see a marked difference in this story compared to those in the past... Did you catch the part where the driver was a "31-year-old Korean national named Park Sang-jin"? I gues that means that we will start hearing "Fucking Korea" songs and seeing candlelight vigils proclaiming to all and sundry that Koreans are the embodiement of evil. I wonder if restaurants will put up signs proclaiming "Koreans not Welcome Here"?

I doubt it.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:03

I Know! Let's Just Not Have One!

People who can not seem to get through the day without resorting to beseeching some invisible person in the sky for guidance seem kinda... I don't know... Pathetic? You people have a brain, make use of it!

Unless you are in the government. Then I guess you need all the damn help you can get:

he Maryland state Senate paid unusual attention yesterday as the Rev. James Kirk, a Presbyterian pastor, opened the day's legislative business with a prayer. Some senators watched with their eyes wide open. Three television news crews rolled tape.

The chamber was waiting to hear whether the minister would utter the name -- Jesus -- that has touched off a minor tizzy in recent days. Three guest preachers have invoked the founder of Christianity in the past week, violating informal Senate rules that the opening prayer be inclusive of all religions.

First of all it is silly to do the silly prayer in the first place. This is a law making body, not a revival meeting. I would rather the lawmakers here base their decisions on the best way to curtail my freedoms on their education and experience not some dusty old book (any dusty old book) written thousands of years ago. Secondly it is silly for these people to get all upset when their pet priest invokes some diety they may not believe in... What the hell did they expect? Dudes a preacher, fergoshsakes! Of course he is going to call on his delusional buddy in the sky!

Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Montgomery) was more reserved, saying she wanted to prevent further outbursts but did not see a need to change the current guidelines.

"We have had some of the most beautiful invocations in the past that haven't addressed any specific Lord or God or whatever you want to call it," she said, "and I think it would be a shame if that stopped.

Wow! Non specific pap delivered by someone who is not allowed to say what he really thinks (mainly that everyone who does not believe exactly as he does is going straight to hell). Sounds like a party to me.

Just cut it out and get to the part where you raise my taxes and make something else I like illegal.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:20

Oh, Really?
Letter in the WaPo this morning:

South Korea, Grateful Ally


Tuesday, January 21, 2003; Page A16

Contrary to Robert D. Novak's Jan. 6 op-ed column, "Perhaps It's Time South Korea Tried Its Wings," President Kim Dae Jung has always been grateful to the United States for saving his life when he was a victim of anti-democratic forces. During his presidency, he has consistently advocated democracy and reiterated in public speeches that the United States is Korea's foremost ally. He is not anti-American by any measure.

Contrary to Mr. Novak's opinion, most Koreans believe that the U.S. troops in Korea are the linchpin of the Korea-U.S. alliance and are necessary for peace on the peninsula and order in northeast Asia. In a major public opinion poll conducted this month, 76 percent of respondents favored the stationing of U.S. forces in Korea.

Recent candlelight vigils have not been intended as anti-American demonstrations. They have focused on revising the Status of Forces Agreement between Korea and the United States and have been based on the premise that U.S. troops will remain in Korea.

The Korean government has been working diligently with the United States to make the Status of Forces Agreement more equitable and understandable to both peoples.

SOO DONG O

Minister for Public Affairs
Embassy of the Republic of Korea
Washington

Actions speak louder than words.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 07:37

Now There is Something You Don't See Everyday
Cool picture on Yahoo showing something you don't often see in South Korea these days... People who actually don't beleive that North Korea is good and wonderful just because they are Korean Brothers under the skin..

South Korean protesters attend an anti-North Korea (news - web sites) rally in Seoul, January 19, 2003. About 30,000 protesters rallied in the the South Korean capital on Sunday, calling on North Korea to re-enter a global nuclear treaty. They also voiced their opposition to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea (news - web sites). REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 07:57

An All Pirate Weekend, Ye Landlubbers!

Arrrrrh, me matey! Naturally the forces of Piratedom are able to overcome all avian and mythological competiton. Who, however will win this epic battle of Pirate versus Pirate? Let us all hope for a tie! If we can't have that we should have a rousing good time of swashing and buckling and "avast, ye" and rum swilling general merriement. Sort of like the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disney before they wussiefied it by taking out all the good stuff.

Anyway get set for a wild ride!


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 07:15

Now This is Funny!


Wonderful was to save the priest's time and money:

Porn Shop Near Church Offers 'Clergy Discount'

Churchgoers Face Perverted Double-Sided Sign

POSTED: 8:49 a.m. EST January 17, 2003
STEWARTVILLE, Minn. -- A pornography shop's sign offering a "clergy discount" has drawn the wrath of its churchgoing neighbors. A double-sided sign stands outside the adult store in Stewartville, Minn., in view of people entering and leaving Midwest Baptist Church. People driving toward the church, read: "And God said go out into the world and have great sex. God's gift to women. Amen and amen."

People leaving see: "No need to mail order. Gay videos in stock. Clergy discount. Have good sex. Hallelujah!" The church's pastor, the Rev. Joseph Grimaldi, says the store's owner is "not only thumbing his nose at the laws of the township -- he's thumbing his nose at the laws of God." He adds, "I just hope I'm not too close when the lightning strikes."

I don't seem to remember the law of god that you can't make a joke or advertise... Maybe old Joe could point me in the right direction. And anyway, when the lightning doesn't strike, as it surely won't (witness the total lack of charred lightning-strike victims at last year's Godless March on the Mall in Washington DC) will that finally prove that there is no god and that praying and wailing and prostrating yourself doesn't do a damn bit of good? Somehow I didn't think so.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:09

Welcome To Third World Banana-Land... AKA Washington DC

Washington spends more time self-inflicting wounds upon itself than any other city in America. But are they worried about that? No! They seem to spend much of their time and energy trying to become a state! And for the life of them they can't figure out why no one supports them in this little endeavor!

The latest outrage perpetrated on the good citizens of DC is the shameful way in which the Teachers' Union has been used as a personal ATM machine by the top "leadership" for the last five years:

An audit released last night alleges that more than $5 million was looted from the Washington Teachers' Union over the last seven years by union officials and others, an amount far greater than previous estimates of improper spending.

The audit, prepared by a private firm at the request of the union's parent, the American Federation of Teachers, said three former union officers -- president Barbara A. Bullock, her assistant Gwendolyn M. Hemphill and treasurer James O. Baxter II -- diverted the money to themselves, their relatives and others for personal benefit.

Shoulda spent some of that money on a personal stylist, bitch! Maybe you coulda bought something to get some of that ugly off of ya!

So now you have the hardworking *snicker* teachers *giggle* of DC (highest per student spending of any jurisdiction in the area, lowest results) sending in their hard-won simoleans every month to the union that is supposed to represent their interests and this hag o'riffic decides to get her nails done!

In an affidavit filed last month in a criminal investigation, the FBI said that more than $2 million in union money was misspent, much of it on luxury items such as furs, art, jewelry, silver and custom-made clothes.

I just wish I could see the "luxury" items this wanker and her buddies decided to buy. I bet it was a whole lot of stretch leopard skin pants, Tupac velvet paintings and hair dye! Eww, I can just imagine her smelly house. Makes the Russian Presidents house look understated and Scandinavian, I imagine.

The driver made out a'ight too!

In addition, Bullock's chauffeur, Leroy Holmes, allegedly received more than 200 checks totaling more than $1.2 million from Hemphill. He cashed the checks, sometimes depositing the funds in Bullock's account and sometimes providing proceeds to Hemphill, who returned a portion to him, the audit said. It said Holmes believed that his 2001 salary as a chauffeur was $105,000, an amount higher than the salary of any other union employee besides Bullock.

One Hundred and Five Thousand Dollars to drive a car around the city with this smelly bitch in the back! Now that I think about it, it appears that this man wasn't paid enough! He should still go to jail, however for being stupid.

Don't think Hizzoner the Mayor is going to get away scot free (since he seems to have his hand in a lot of shady dealings):

Among the improper expenditures were political contributions, according to the audit. In 2000, Bullock contributed $9,000 to the Democratic National Committee and $2,000 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign and charged the payments to the union's American Express account, the audit said, adding that those funds have since been returned to the AFT.

The city's Office of Campaign Finance this week began investigating whether Mayor Anthony A. Williams's reelection campaign failed to report in-kind contributions from the union. The mayor and his staff have denied any wrongdoing.

Oh, they always deny any wrongdoing. Especially after being caught doing wrong!

As News4 first reported on Monday, thousands of signatures on the mayor's petition for re- election may be invalid. Even Scott Bishop, the campaign's hired hand in charge of getting the signatures, told News4 that half the 10,000 signatures are probably invalid. Bishop said the campaign turned in unchecked signatures "just to look good."

Another campaign worker said the 10,000 names -- five times as many as legally needed -- were intended to scare off challengers to the mayor. Now, they're scaring the mayor's supporters. Just how bad is it? When News4 on Tuesday sought to ask the mayor about the discrepancies, he left a senior government seminar on ethics, of all things, by heading out the back loading dock door at UDC. Reporters still caught up with him. The mayor said he was checking into the signature issue, but said he wanted to focus on campaign issues "not about who got what signatures." He told reporters to talk to his campaign. He got in his car and left. Still, the blunt assessment by campaign aide Bishop that half the signatures were invalid stunned supporters of the mayor who were scrambling to contain the latest Williams administration ethics scandal. A year ago it was a murky web of improper fund-raising that led to a house cleaning in the mayor's office and a scathing inspector general report.

This was the same mayor who wanted to be the Anti-Marion Barry.. You know, the former mayor jailed for buying crack from a whore in a hotel.

Yet the good citizens *giggle* of DC just seem to keep on electing these crooks and losers to office. Maybe when they wake up and see that they are a laughing stock and that the rest of the country couldn�t give two whits whether they have representation or not they will begin to clean house and start acting like the "Capital City" they are supposed to be and not a dumping ground for morons, incompetents, and confidence men.

Bah on all of them!

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:02

Do The Right Thing... Until They Sue Your Ass

You know the movies where the big-hearted teacher descends into the hell that is the inner-city school promising to "make a difference in these kids lives" and wins over the initially disturbed little cretins with love and understanding and musical instruments? And how the music swells in the background in the end when the tough girl/boy who initially rejected the loving embrace of the kindly teacher comes to see the errors of her/his way and ends up hugging our hero as they walk our of the school into the future? You know that one? Turns out it really is all fiction.

When Joshua Kaplowitz decided to "make a difference" he found out why it is so hard to recruit people for inner city schools. Seems they are filled with pint sized crimminals, uncaring fat-asses who would rather bother good teachers than do their jobs, and parents who are out to make a quick buck off the school system using lies and deceit.

Here are some of the inmates running the asylum:

My optimism and naivet� evaporated within hours. I tried my best to be strict and set limits with my new students; but I wore my inexperience on my sleeve, and several of the kids jumped at the opportunity to misbehave. I could see clearly enough that the vast majority of my fifth-graders genuinely wanted to learn�but all it took to subvert the whole enterprise were a few cutups.

On a typical day, DeAngelo (a pseudonym, as are the other children�s names in this and the next paragraph) would throw a wad of paper in the middle of a lesson. Whether I disciplined him or ignored him, his actions would cause Kanisha to scream like an air-raid siren. In response, Lamond would get up, walk across the room, and try to slap Kanisha. Within one minute, the whole class was lost in a sea of noise and fists. I felt profoundly sorry for the majority of my students, whose education was being hijacked. Their plaintive cries punctuated the din: �Quiet everyone! Mr. Kaplowitz is trying to teach!�

And now for the supportive (shaaa) administrators:

I had read that successful schools have chief executives who immerse themselves in the everyday operations of the institution, set clear expectations for the student body, recognize and support energetic and creative teachers, and foster constructive relationships with parents. Successful principals usually are mavericks, too, who skirt stupid bureaucracy to do what is best for the children. Emery�s Principal Savoy sure didn�t fit this model.

To start with, from all that I could see, she seemed mostly to stay in her office, instead of mingling with students and observing classes, most of which were up at least one flight of stairs, perhaps a disincentive for so heavy a woman. Furthermore, I saw from the first month that she generally gave delinquents no more than a stern talking-to, followed by a pat on the back, rather than suspensions, detentions, or any other meaningful punishment. The threat of sending a student to the office was thus rendered toothless.

And finally the venal and disgusting parents:

My elation was short-lived. As I had surmised, this whole case finally came down to money. Even after my acquittal, even after the accuracy of Raynard�s story had been seriously undermined, his mother and her big-firm lawyers aggressively pursued multi-million-dollar damage claims on the civil side. Yet even as the lawsuit dragged on and the legal cloud over me caused me to lose a job opportunity I really wanted, I refused to entertain Raynard�s mother�s offers to settle the case by my paying her $200,000�a demand that ultimately diminished to $40,000. The school system had no such scruples; it settled the mother�s tort claim in October 2002 for $75,000 (plus $15,000 from the teachers� union�s insurance company�chump change compared with the cost of defending the litigation). It wasn�t $20 million, but it was still more money than I imagine this woman had seen in her life�a pretty good payout and hardly deterrence to other parents in the neighborhood who felt entitled to shanghai the system.

Go and read the whole thing and be thankful that you don't live in the sleaze pit that is DC. Unless you do then do the right thing and get out!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:44

Reality, Say Goodbye to North Korea

I was perusing this morning's WaPo when I come across another article about North Korea. I know I am starting to sound like a broken record here but this one had a great quote in it straight from the feverish mind of a radical hash addict. I present for your approval a statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry:

The U.S. loudmouthed supply of energy and food aid are like a painted cake pie in the sky.

Now if you are like me you imagine some far out hippy lying in a bean bag chair with long, stringy, unwashed hair, a tie dyed vest over a colorful puffy shirt, some of them little rectangular granny glasses perched precariously on his nose and no shoes on his smelly feet. Sort lof like our friend below:





Not a pretty sight, is he?

Here is the whole statement.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:38

Why Do I Care?

A reader (thanks for reading!) sends an email asking �Why do you care?� about the whole South Korea/North Korea situation.

Your disgust with South Koreans for showing friendly regard for the North and less-than-friendly regard for the U.S. is curious to me. As an American myself, I can say that I really can't bring myself to care whether the South Koreans want the U.S. military in their country. You have stated that you think they're making a bad decision with their public demonstrations to evict the U.S. military, and I suppose you've made a couple of valid arguments to support that opinion (economic stability, danger of Northern invasion). Yet I remain in the dark as to why you would be bothered by such an outcome as though it were your country.

When I started this little experiment in online rumination the tagline I made up for my blog was: �I am Corsair the Rational Pirate and I have little patience for irrational morons.� I have strayed left and right of this position over the last year but keep coming back to it (I think). I see in Korea at the moment a rising tide of stupidity predicated on nothing more than to see the status quo change.

Young Koreans aren�t all that knowledgeable in the ways of the world. This comes from having to go through the Korean school system which is focused exclusively on getting good marks on the college entrance exam which can determine what you do with the rest of your life. Studying for the test, therefore is the one and only thing that high school students do. Often before, during and after school and until the wee hours of the morning. This doesn�t leave a lot of time to learn what the rest of the world is really like.

In the US, kids in high school goof off and college students study hard (I speak from experience). In Korea exactly the opposite occurs. Korean college is for drinking, partying, and making the ever important connections to others in your class that will help you advance throughout the rest of your life. These are the people who will help you get jobs, a spouse, home and business loans and anything else that needs a personal touch.

This lack of effort leaves these previously over achievers with a lot of free time on their hands which they put to good use by demonstrating about whatever the cause du jour is at the moment. In 1919 students throughout the country began a liberation movement from Japan. In the 80s it was the military dictatorship and unionism. On and off unification with North Korea has been the issue. Korean students demonstrate because previous classes demonstrated and sometimes actually made a difference.

Once these kids finish school they have others issues to deal with so the fervor to sit in the street and chant slogans and clash with the combat police diminishes.

I spent four years in Korea and many more studying about them and their ways. It is painful, therefore to see them taking a position as idiotic as whether North Korea is a better friend for South Korea than the United States. I wonder if these demonstrators know nothing about what North Korea is really about? Do they not know of the self-inflicted suffering of the North Korean people? Do they not know of the terrorism and drug running and kidnapping and counterfeiting of the North Koreans? Do they not know what would happen to all of them the minute North Korean troops rolled into Seoul? I keep asking myself �Are they that stupid?�

At some point you just want to throw up your hands and say �Fine! Let them party with North Korea if they are so inclined. We are out of here!� Like a bunch of spoiled children maybe they need a little tough love. Don�t get me wrong. The Koreans I know and worked with were wonderful people and I loved being in Korea and I would go back there tomorrow if I had a chance. But when you see your flag being torn up in the streets and hear about the popularity of groups singing �Fucking USA� and see signs in windows declaring �Americans Not Allowed� well then you begin to feel a sense of betrayal at what was once a wonderful friendship.

That is why I care. Koreans seem to be throwing away what they have for the chance to get into bed with the bad guys. If that is what they want, they should hold a referendum tomorrow on whether they want the US to stay or go. If they ask us to leave, fine. Just don�t ask us to come back.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:12

Koreans Are Not Very Worldly

Seems that someone took a survey to plumb the depths of South Korean naivite. For the longest time in Korea it was illegal to listen to North Korean radio or watch North Korean TV. North Korean written propaganda was also prohibited. All that the people in South Korea knew about the people in North Korea was what the government told them (which, I imagine was none too flattering). Since the internet and the rise of a more democratic society in South Korea the people there, you would think, would get a much better idea of the horrors going on in their northern neighbor and the types of people who live up there. That is why it is sad to see statements like:

"If the United States left, I wouldn't mind," says Kim Young Ran, 29. "If North Korea wants nuclear weapons, I think they should have them. The U.S. and so many other countries have them. There's no way North Korea will attack us with their nuclear weapons. I don't think so. We're the same country. You don't bomb and kill your family. We share the same blood."

The fact that North Korea already invaded once which led to the deaths of millions of Koreans seems lost on some. Or the unending terrorism of the North on the South over the past 50 years. Nuclear weapons are not a problem since it shows the Americans what "we" can do, I guess. No worries about Seoul being turned into a "sea of flames" anymore I guess.

Now we have a survey of Koreans and their views on North Korea and the world:

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Nine out of 10 South Korean college and high-school students would welcome North Koreans into their neighborhoods as friends and neighbors, according to a recent poll.

In a poll by the Unification Ministry's research institute of 1,125 students from six universities and eight high schools in the Seoul-Kyonggi Province area, the poll also revealed that 55 percent they would be willing to marry a North Korean.

Sure, the poor starving farmers who eat grass and boiled corn stalks. How about the murderous party member who ratted out his friends during his bloody climb to the top position in Apartment Collective #65 Floor 5 Kim Jung Il Brigade? You want him eyeballing you while you wash your car?

When asked to specify which foreigners they would like to befriend, North Koreans topped the list with 89.9 percent, followed by Americans with 84.9 percent, Chinese with 83.4 percent, Russians with 81.9 percent and Japanese with 80.8 percent.

A good sign there. We beat out Somalia and Krygizistan too!

Just over 88 percent said they would tour North Korea if relevant restrictions were removed and 19.8 percent said they would even settle down in the North.

I plan on touring the insane asylum that is North Korea once they start letting people in just for the shock value. And as for living there, I guess there are hardy pioneers in every society. Being able to go without food, water, electricity or Internet access sure sounds like a fun way to live.

If the two countries are reunited, 91.3 percent said the differences in thinking between North and South Koreans could lead to conflict and confrontation. More than 53 percent said South Korea's flag should be used after reunification, 60.4 percent insisted the name "Republic of Korea" should be maintained and 50.3 percent said South Korea's market economy should be retained.

Only 50.3 percent want to maintain their level of economic viability? You know the one that made South Korea into the Asian Tiger that is it? The one that puts food on the table and "Dance Dance Revolution" in your living room? What system, pray tell would they like to gravitate to? Monarchy? Dictatorship (already had that, thought they were done with it)? An anarcho-syndicalist commune where you take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major...well, you get the picture.

Korea wasn't known as theHermit Kingdom for nothing.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:28

Must Be the Latent Interior Decorator in Me

But, well, damn if that ain't the ugliest furniture you ever saw!

You would think that the leader of the ex-Soviet Union, ex-Russian Monarchy, current Russian Mobocracy could afford something a little less... hideous! I mean it looks like there should be doilies and Elvis paintings and big bowls full of dried flower petals. Yuck.

Maybe Putin can get the Japanese guy to send him some nice, restrained Japanese furniture. Some wood, some bamboo, no curlicues... Ick.




















posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:34

Wonder What He Did With The Fork and Spoon?


Real big-brain sort attacks train full of passengers with a plastic knife and subsequently gets arrested:

BIG SANDY - Passengers aboard an Amtrak train apparently took matters into their own hands Sunday when a man wielding a plastic knife threatened to kill them while screaming profanities against America.

"It could have been a lot worse. The passengers did a fantastic job of restraining him," said Big Sandy Police Chief Ronnie Norman.

According to arrest reports, passengers already had Gerardo Damien Bedia, 21, restrained in an upstairs compartment when Big Sandy Police Officer William Lakes arrived on the scene just before 8 p.m. Sunday.

I'd a tapped him upsde his head with my plastic baseball bat.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:48

It's All About the Admiral Lees


(At least I think it is Admiral Lee) Great final line in an article about Anti-Americanism in South Korea (which I seem to have made a career of at the moment) in the Korea Times:

Several in the audience agreed with Park, saying that American and South Korean leaders should be more active in promoting closer ties. Some even suggested that if American troops are withdrawn from this country, it would result in an exodus of foreign and local investors and create financial chaos on the Korean peninsula.

There you have it. Should we decide to leave what message would that send. At least in the case of the Philippines we left (at least the Air Force did) when a volcano blew up and destroyed our biggest base. In the case of Korea we would be leaving perfectly good bases and infrastucture. If I was a foreign business I would be on the next plane out expecting that the Americans know something and are getting out of Dodge while the gettings good.

This would, of course hurt the Korean economy way more than any military exercise or petty crime committed by US GIs.

So what is it going to be, Korea? You want us and jobs or your "pride" and xenophobia and rice lines?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:34

Our Friend Kim Jung Il


Newsweek is doing a whole "Up close and personal" with "Dr. Evil" Kim Jung Il this week. A few choice exerpts:

Kim Jong Il is a movie fan. He once said that if he hadn?t become his country?s ruler, he might have become a film critic or producer. He is the author of a book entitled ?On the Art of the Cinema,? and is said to have a library of some 20,000 videos. (His favorites, in addition to James Bond, include the gory ?Friday the 13th? teen-slasher flicks, any movie with Elizabeth Taylor, and Daffy Duck cartoons.)

[snip]

A well-rounded 5 feet 3, he cuts a slightly ridiculous figure dressed in a Mao suit, wearing high-heeled shoes and sporting a pouffy bouffant hairdo. But to his subordinates, he is simply ?Great General.?

THE LAST STALINIST
It is all a grotesque charade. His fantasyland is a charnel house. While he lives like a brandy-swilling 18th-century French nobleman, more than 2 million people have died of starvation in North Korea over the last decade. Political prisoners are beaten or left to die in Soviet-style gulags. Kim himself is the last Stalinist, a weird, vicious remnant of communist oppression that has collapsed everywhere else on the planet.

It is said that whole lanes of roads are dedicated to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in case their cars would want to drive on them. So no one else is allowed. I have seen stories that say when KIS would go and visit a school or office the door he used could not be used again by ordinary mortals so another had to be built right next to it. Spilling beer on a KJI placemat is like writing your own death warrant. The place is a loony bin!

Kim set about creating his own mythology as a demigod even before he succeeded his father. Korean schoolchildren were taught that he was born on a sacred mountain, his birth heralded by double rainbows and strangely singing birds. (He was actually born in a hovel in Russia, outside Vladivostok.) Kim runs North Korea like a cult. Preaching his father?s dogma, Juche, or self-reliance, he has played on his country?s traditional hatred of foreigners and Confucian deference to authority. Though thousands have tried to flee to China or South Korea rather than starve, many North Koreans cling to Kim?s utopian promises, expectantly awaiting bountiful harvests that never come. Uneducated and wretchedly poor, they have been brainwashed by decades of pseudo-Marxist-Leninist agitprop. Young Army recruits have been taught that if they are captured, American soldiers will suck blood from their necks.

A whole country full of "wagga wagga wagga" wierdness.

really can't add much more than what is written in the article, so go and read it.

Well, one more:

or many years the then Dear Leader favored Hennessy VSOP cognac, but in 1992 he switched to Hennessy Paradis, at $630 a bottle. In 1994 Hennessy confirmed that Kim was its single biggest buyer of cognac for two years running. When, at the pleading of his doctors, Kim quit smoking (three packs of Dunhills a day), every senior officer in the North Korean Army was required to quit smoking with him.

Smoking and drinking and partying with Swedish models... Dayum, why can't I be a ruthless dictator?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:58

Looks Like Lunch To Me!




According to Yahoo:

North Koreans, who have defected to the South over the years, hold a prayer meeting for the unification of the Korean peninsula and for a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear problem at the Tong Il observation platform near the demilitarized zone separating the two nations in Paju, South Korea (news - web sites) on January 7, 2003. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)

Of course, if those pigeons ever make it over the DMZ into North Korea they will immediatly become somone's next meal.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:13

It'll Probably End Up Being Me...

If the Fundies have any say over the matter:


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 07:58

Encouraging Signs From Korea

Well, encouraging in so much as the outright hatred of the US is starting to get toned down. In early December it was not difficult to see hundres of thousands of Koreans in the street demonstrating against the US. Mainly, I think because their friends were out there and it was a party/group kind of thing. Because relationships are so important in Korea it is vital that you see and be seen with your group if you want to maintain your status as a group insider.

Once the weather changed and the holidaysstarted maing serious inroads into people's social calendars, the protests began to die down. The "One-Million March for Peace in Korea on New Year's Eve" turned out to have no more than 30,000 people attend. ANd recetnly there have been only "hundreds" at these events.

And just yesterday it turned out that the government has started stepping up its tactics against the protesters:

The police action took place at 6 a.m. on New Year�s Day, and the nine activists in the park were temporarily detained.

Sit-in protests had been held there after religious leaders took turns staging hunger strikes for nearly a month over the accident last June.

Police acted at the request of City Hall, which is said to have voiced concerns that the protests were harming the city�s appearance.

You know, I was on a hunger strike this morning. From 6:00 am when I had breakfast to 10:30 when I had a snack. I then let my buddy in the cube next to me stage a hunger strike until noon when he went out for pizza. All in all a very productive protest.

I hope things will calm down and the Koreans can move on to the next issue that will get them all hot and bothered for a couple of weeks... Until the one after that.



posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:32

The Barbarians Are At The Gates

Read a piece in the WaPo this morning that got my dander up (never knew I had any until I read this story and now my dander is all over the damned place). Seems that the Metro System in Washington is being taken over by baby thugs:

The aforementioned group of youths at the door become the primary focus of my attention. There are six or seven of them -- one girl. I'd say they range from 10 to 13 years old. No school today, I think to myself. Two of the boys methodically play games on their cell phones -- all concentration. The language the others are using with one another is pretty coarse and foul. As the train grows more full at each stop, they stay sprawled as if the car were empty. New passengers step over their legs, which are extended into the aisle.

OK, I used to take the Metro everyday from Vienna to my job in Northwest (Friendship Heights station). At certain times of the day at certain stations (Metro Center mainly) you would come across these groups of thug-wannabes with their giant, puffy coats, work boots, and tennis visors worn upside down and sideways. Many of them would be acting out as young folks tend to do but at a much louder and much more coarse (verbally) way than I remember being during my misspent youth. I never would have been as loud and obnoxious during my forays to San Francisco on the BART system. Yelling and racing around and using language that I am sure their grandmothers would not appreciate (at least I hope they wouldn't). And all at really high, shrieking volumes so that masonry would be seen to be falling from the ceiling.

Not every group and not every day. But that element was there.

Here is where the woman loses me:

The boy in front of me has an odd posture: almost in a fetal position, slouched far, far down. New passengers walking by eye him curiously. Finally, I lean forward to see what he is doing. He backs up, standing in the aisle now, but hunched over -- and resumes drawing on the seat in pen. I don't remember what it was he was drawing or writing. No rainbows or butterflies, though. As I have obviously seen him, and he has obviously seen me see him, I must call him out -- he's vandalizing a full train during rush hour, after all.

"What are you doing?" I ask in a tone I think is curious but stern.

"I'm drawing, bitch. What does it look like I'm doing?"

I freeze, redden. He looks up now. He is staring at me hard. I hold the stare, but I have no idea how to respond. He must be -- what? -- 11.

"You can't do that," I say finally, and while we are not speaking loudly, everyone near us is taking note.

No one says anything.

"Listen, bitch, if you don't want me to rob your North Face [my jacket] you better shut the [expletive] up."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, if you wanna keep your North Face shut the [expletive] up."

This exchange goes on for one or two more rounds. I say nothing substantial. The 11-year-old continues to threaten me. I realize we are at my stop. The woman beside me, who has obviously witnessed the entire event, stands up and says, "Excuse me," as she would normally to make her way out of our seat and off the train. I pick up my things. I can feel all eyes on me as I leave.

That's it? You get up and walk away from an 11-year old? What kind of Lord of the Flies sort of society is this? Who is the adult in this exchange?

So what does this woman think we should do?

I have no idea what happened when I exited the train and emerged onto the street. Maybe someone said something or did something firm about the child's language or his action and got results. Maybe the kid kept on drawing, a car full of adults paralyzed while a handful of adolescents learned the lesson that fear and violence are power, and that those who evoke it get what they want.

After replaying the incident a number of times in my mind, I'm not sure what I could have done or said to get the desired outcome, i.e., cessation of vandalism.

What you could have done? How about threaten the little vandal with police intervention? How about walking to the end of the car and telling the sub-literate driver to call the police and have the sub-humans arrested? How about whipping out the cell phone and calling 911 and lodging a complaint? How about standing up and loudly declaring that you are "as mad as hell and I am not going to take this anymore (here is a longer one)" and asking your fellow passengers to detain these uncivilized cretins until the authorities can be contacted? How about just doing something other than letting the lowest amongst us walk all over you? Show the little monsters that words and deeds have consequences and they shouldn't expect to get anywhere in life on attitude and threats. How about that?

Instead she thinks we should do the following:

I know my approach wasn't successful. I am sure, too, that we have a problem. It is clearly a problem that some children have experienced this kind of threatening dialogue enough to replicate it confidently in public.

But it is perhaps a bigger problem that a group of grown-ups allowed uncertainty, perceived differences or maybe just apathy to excuse their responsibilities as adults in this society to mentor our youth.

What should we do? Well, we can reduce economic disparity, work to strengthen social networks and make equitable our systems of education. We might also try to take ownership of that which happens in our society by actively engaging in it, even when it means authentically interacting with strangers from time to time. It might be helpful, too, to openly discuss our mistakes and failings. So, as for the Metro ride, what would you have done?

Sure, yeah, that could work. If only Todd Beamer and crew had tried that sort of nonsense with the Flight 93 hijackers maybe they could have talked them into landing the plane and giving up. So the writer of this piece should have told the rowdy youngsters that it was OK to vandalize public property and threaten the citizens of Washington DC because she was working to "strengthen social networks and make equitable our systems of education". I am sure they would have immediately realized the errors of their ways, offered to make restitution to her and the Metro system, and offered to help that old woman across the street.

Shaaaa.

These were barbarians that needed to be civilized, forcefully if need be. Obviously their families have abrogated their responsibilities in this regard. If so then someone else needs to step in and teach a few people what it means to live in a modern society where you play by the rules or you get punished. Seems to me that there is not enough of that going around in DC and elsewhere.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:04

Bwahahahaha!

Now this is funny!

Sad, but true.


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 07:16