My Life as Adoga

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...