My Life as Adoga

My colleague posted this video of a ceremony to "heal" her child, whom she worries was being plagued by rogue spirits or ghosts. My colleague sent me this video because she remembers my stories of how my Slavic-influenced mother would perform a ceremony to ward off "the evil eye." Of odd interest to the international viewer: notice how the street sounds permeate the home, and the music in the start of the video... the garbage truck has arrived outside.

I have only just seen the official news report that former President Chen Shui-bian and his wife have been sentenced to life in prison for corruption during his eight years in office. Life imprisonment? For theft? And it wasn't even the kind of Bernie Madoff or Enron corruption that emptied the bank accounts of innocent people and left them bereft of financial security in their retirement years. A lifetime in prison? And this while the torturers and murderers who shot the victims of fascist Nationalist execution squads, who dragged people from their homes in the dead of night, remain unpunished to live out the remainder of their lives in comfort and the security of knowing that the machine will protect them? And this while those who supported the murder machines under the two Chiang regimes--the Squirrel and his archenemy the Incompetent--remain respected and free? Not a single person was sentenced to prison for their role in the executions and tortures of the White Terror years,

Michael Turton has a very perceptive article that fits well with my previous posting, although he's a bit more professional than I. His blog, which is really worth visiting, can be found at: http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/ Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Ma Administration Typhoon Shock Doctrine In The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein writes extensively on how governments use economic, natural, and social shocks to carry out social engineering that benefits elites while leaving ordinary individuals amid wrecked societies with decaying infrastructure, a smaller share of wealth, and diminished future prospects.* I've made this point before, but it is worth making again: the Ma government's response to the typhoon disaster in the south is identical to its response to the economic crisis last year. The only difference is in the speed of events. As I noted then , the crisis had been used by the Ma Administration in a classic shock doctrine way, as leverage to get the shellshocke

In yesterday’s Taipei Times newspaper (August 18) I read more of the horrible blunder that led to almost a week’s delay in the request for and arrival of international relief aid to help rescue and assist victims of rain-swollen Typhoon Marakot, which devastated the southern half of the island nation on August 8, 2009. [ See: “ Back in Taiwan , Ou Apologizes… ” ] What I am reading yet again informs my suspicion that Taiwan ’s civil service machine, its deeply entrenched network of bureaucrats, remains a holdover of Chinese Nationalist colonialism whose purpose is contrary to the survival and well-being of Taiwan and its people. Yesterday’s news (August 18) reports Ministry of Foreign Affairs chief Francisco Ou as apologizing again for a memo instructing all overseas offices and embassies not to accept foreign aid other than cash. Minister Ou, in classic Nationalist Party (Kuomingtang--KMT) fashion, then tried to push the blame onto the shoulders of others. Why do I say “c

Oh my goodness, the mess on my desk is that bad! I'm referring to the foot-high pile of papers and assorted documents that has been sitting there, well, for over a year according to the date on a news clipping I just unearthed midway through the pile. I see why I saved the article. I was inte rested in a front-page Taipei Times (4 December 2008) piece titled "Losheng Activists Block Demolition." The article is about the last holdouts of protesters and residents of the Losheng Leprosy Sanatorium in Taipei County (Sinjhuang City). The sanatorium was partially demolished to make way for an MRT line extension, despite protests and also despite promises from Ma the Incompetent who as a candidate promised to preserve the Japanese colonial era landmark (and the only home ever known by many or most of the patients). The quote that caught my eye was: "Sinjhuang Precinct Chief Hsu Yung-sheng said through a loudspeaker (to the students barricaded inside and protesters outside)

The view of some rock formations that the locals refer to as "the moon," as seen from the window of a passing car on the Second Southern Highway. The Moon Worlds of Kaohsiung County China Post Article Speeding along a serpentine country road through the unexceptional, low rolling countryside of Kaohsiung County, our scooters round a corner when abruptly the mixed woodland bordering the lane ends, the ground on the left falls away steeply, and an extraordinary ravine of crumbly, light brown earth unfolds to the left. The Americans call this type of landscape “badlands,” but to the Taiwanese they’re more like the surface of the moon: “Lunar World,” as they call them. These strange landscapes of barren clay soil eroded into bizarre knife-edge ridges, sharp pinnacles and graceful, curved arcs are a strangely beautiful if surreal element of the landscape in parts of northern Kaohsiung and southern Tainan Counties. Badlands landscapes are by no means unique to this region of Taiwan

Free Press Not So Free in Taiwan From the Taipei Times Thursday, May 7, 2009 (page 8) By Leon Chuang 莊豐嘉 A few days ago, US-based Freedom House released a global survey entitled Freedom of the Press 2009 in which Taiwan’s press freedom ranking fell by 11 places from last year’s list. It was no surprise that Taiwan’s ranking dropped, but the size of the fall is much greater than expected and very worrying. More worrying still is the fact that Hong Kong has been relegated from the “free” category to “partly free.” The lesson is that if Taiwan’s media cannot resist penetration by China, Taiwan will before long go the same way as Hong Kong. Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government should bear full responsibility for this black mark on the record of their first year in office. Unfortunately, all of them — from Ma to the Government Information Office — have brushed it off, saying rather unconvincingly that they would look into the matter. Their reaction is evidence of a gui

Some years ago I was talking with my friend Linda about the common assumption that economic growth is a prerequisite for the establishment of a democratic system, and democracy is vital to the health of human rights within a large society. Linda rebuffed my “common sense” argument, noting that there is very little in the history books to support the assumption that capitalism is a prerequisite for democratic action, and that democracies naturally encourage human rights throughout society. These are issues I’ve been thinking quite a bit of, lately. My contemplation began a couple of months ago when I had a friendly chat with another customer in a bookstore. As a businessman (born and raised in Taiwan, but now an American citizen living part-time in Shanghai, Taipei and Los Angeles) he was naturally dismayed by the poor economic performance of The Ineptitude’s government. He made a comment to the effect of (and I’m badly paraphrasing from a faulty memory) . . . “With the economy the w

The Wikipedia reference for the Tree Sparrow, which is apparently what my Siao Meinung is: a rarity in Europe and America (albeit present), but an abundance in Southeast Asia and China. And all this time I'd been confusing Meinung with the "House Sparrow" of my American childhood. Two big differences between the species: the Tree Sparrow is smaller, and there are no markings that distinguish male from female.

It probably didn't do any good, and it may even have hurt me, but on Saturday afternoon I had to speak out against stupidity. You see, that afternoon on my way home I had stopped by a pet shop to pick up dog food. Unfortunately, my choices of where to buy grub for my ravenous beast are pretty much limited to one "conveniently located" shop called Gu Gu Ji, in Neihu (Taipei City). This shop, part of a chain store outfit, drove their competition out of business by putting "purebred" puppies and kittens in their front window for sale. The cuteness of the animals brought people into the shop, making the competitor -- which was already at a disadvantage by being in a basement location -- less attractive because they were not a front for an animal breeder. As I waited to pay for my purchases I heard a man, in the company of his two daughters (seemed to be ages 4 and 7), tell the shop owner that he wanted to purchase a puppy for his children to play with