The Foreigner in Formosa

Satire or Reality?

Which is which?

1)  Doctor Who Attempted to Save Neda Soltan to be Prosecuted by Iranian Government

2)  Iran’s Guardian Council Declares Neda Soltan Alive

Supreme Leaders

Downright weird to see President Ma Ying-jeou's admirers in Taiwan refer to him as the country's "supreme leader."  Not exactly the sort of title one expects to see in a democracy.

But hey, if THEY'RE comfortable with that, then let's run with it.

And so (to borrow a line from Mark Steyn), here he is, His Hunkalicious Munificence the Supremely Supreme Leader of Leaders (Peace Be Upon Him):

(Supreme Leader Ma Ying-jeou image from Javno.com.  Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei image from The Independent)

I don't know about you, but I'm having trouble deciding just which of the two is more Hunkalicious . . . and who is more Supremely Supreme.

Matt Groening, Say It Ain't So

From Jay Nordlinger, at National Review:

I’ve always been of two minds about China products — the majority of what Wal-Mart stocks. Globalization has unquestionably been a boon to the Chinese — ordinary Chinese — which is so gratifying. Of course, globalization has been a boon to most everyone else, too. But how do you tell which products from China are free-labor products and which are slave-labor products — items from the Laogai, or Gulag? You cannot, as far as I know.

I once interviewed a man — a Falun Gong practitioner — who, between bouts of torture, was made to manufacture Homer Simpson bedroom slippers. You placed your foot where Homer’s mouth was. He also made Christmas lights.

(Homer Simpson slipper image from UKexpert.co.uk)

Acer Volunteers To Serve As China's Cyber-Censor

Thank you, chairman J.T. Wang.  I now know what computer brand NOT to buy.

(Acer chairman image from the Taipei Times.  I'll say this:  Murdering Chinese free speech obviously pays well.)

Open The MRT Doors, HAL

A few kinks still need to be worked out on Taipei's new Neihu Mass Rapid Transit line.  Perfectly understandable, and no one's at fault for that.

Except -- just a few years ago, Taiwan's High-Speed (bullet) train experienced SIMILAR growing pains.  And back then, Taiwan's pro-KMT news media fell all over themselves blaming former President Chen for the problems.

No doubt, the media's collective conscience will be stricken by the unfairness of their previous coverage, and we'll soon hear a crescendo of criticism directed at Taiwan's current KMT president about these Neihu mishaps.

(cue the crickets)

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POSTSCRIPT:  As I said, no one's to blame for the Neihu MRT glitches, so I'll not ape the sleazy pro-KMT media and blast President Ma Ying-jeou for this.

One thing Mister Ma doesn't deserve a pass for though, is the Maokong Gondola, which was built on his watch as Mayor of Taipei.  Hizonner wanted a piece of infrastructure on his political resume (which always looks good when you're running for president) so he rushed the project through.

Rushed it through -- without permitting an environmental impact study.

Ma's piece of crap ran for 3 whole months, then was shut down after a freak meteor strike utterly predictable typhoon-related mudslide undermined one of the support pillars.

(Typhoons in TAIWAN?  Why, whodathunkit !)

Now, bear with me for a moment.  Imagine you're an upper-middle manager in a major corporation.  You're given 39.3 MILLION U.S. dollars for a project.  A factory . . . or a gondola, let's say.  So you cut corners, finish the job, and get that big promotion.  Three months later though, your factory has to be shut down for safety reasons.  The good news is, you've got your promotion.  The bad news is, it'll take TWO YEARS to get the thing up to code.

Thanks to your fine managerial skills, the company's stuck with a 39.3 million dollar white elephant.  At least if you'd stuffed the money under a mattress, the company would still have its capital.  Better yet, if you'd put it into bonds, the company'd still have its capital, plus interest.

Instead, they've now got to throw good money after bad to fix YOUR idiotic mistakes.  Heckuva job there, Sparky.

(Ma Ying-jeou on Maokong Gondola image from the Taipei Times)

Siege Perilous

Heh.  A Taiwanese columnist starts an anti-communist group, and leaves a chair conspicuously empty for Taiwan's notoriously pro-Communist president, Ma Ying-jeou.

Castle gossip has it that "Sir Ma" was unable to attend, due to a prior commitment.  Out on one of those quests of his.  One serving wench informed me he was out slaying a ferocious dragon, which I find quite improbable, given that we know Ma prefers to FEED them instead . . .

(BTW, is there a round table here, somewhere?)

(Image from Sunday's Taipei Times.)

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UPDATE:  The columnist, Paul Lin, explains.

UPDATE #2:  A very funny version of "C'est Moi" from a 1982 HBO production of Camelot.  Skip forward to 6:30.  Highly reminiscent of KMT media treatment of Mr. Ma Ying-jeou.