Last Call for Intl Debate Academy Slovenia 2010

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This is a letter that Bojana Skrt sent to the 112 attendees of IDAS 2010. 

There is still room due to our new luxurious hotel with indoor pool.

It is top instruction in the WUDC format and there will be an excellent tournament at the end. 

The price is very reasonable. Room and food included.

Organized by Za in Proti (ZIP) and World Debate Institute, University of Vermont.

Contact Bojana Skrt at bojana.skrt@siol.net 

============================

Dear all, 
We are very glad you decided to participate at IDAS 2010  and we are all looking forward to host you in Slovenia. With your help IDAS 2010 will again be a great event.  It seems this year IDAS with more than  100  participants and trainers from  20  countries: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China,  Croatia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland,  Italy,  Kosovo, Macedonia, Netherlands, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, will be the biggest ever.  Please, check IDAS web page and blog for the program  and all updates. 
Website: http://debate.uvm.edu/idas.html 
Blogsite: http://internationaldebateacademy.blogspot.com/ 

CHANGE OF LOCATION The very important news is that due to the bigger number of participants we moved IDAS from Ormož to Kranjska gora, which is  the other part of Slovenia. Kranjska gora is 80 km north from Ljubljana, in Julian Alps, very close to Austrian and Italian border.  The venue is Hotel Špik in a small village 3 km before Kranjska gora, called Gozd Martuljek. The hotel is much better than the Hotel Ormož, it has an indoor pool and very nice working rooms.  So, do not forget to bring swimming clothes with you.  The rooms are 4-beds, 3- beds and limited number of 2-beds. 

 
Here is the web address if you want to check the hotel, Kranjska gora and Gozd Martuljek:  
www.kranjska-gora.si/home 
www.gradtur.si/zima/slovenija/gozd_martuljek/hotel_Spik.html 
www.slovenia.info 

Because we did move to Hotel Špik, we can still accept applications – so, please, share the information about IDAS with everybody who might be interested. 

 
EU PROJECT Participants from: Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Italy, Macedonia and Slovenia participate at IDAS 2010 as part of project entitled “»DEBATE ANSWERING THE CHALLENGES OF IMMIGRATION AND MUTLICULTURALISM«  supported by European Union’s  Europe for citizens program.  There will be a few additional events organized during IDAS because of this project. Consequently, there will be also lecture topics and some debate topics connected with immigration and multiculturalism issues, role of EU in the world and similar.   And of course there will be lots of EU logos all around the venues. 
SCHOLARSHIPS  FUND Special thanks go to Bickell&Brewer foundation,  which gave us 2000 EUR for scholarships, which was divided among 21 participants asking for scholarships. I am sorry for not being able to award all the participants seeking scholarships, due to the limited  resources we have. I do hope you will be able to come anyway and would be able to get missing funds for some other donor. 

More: 
1. In case you can not come, please, inform me immediately – we need to know how many people are coming. . 

2. Schedule 
We start on  Saturday, the 20th t – registration starts at 16.00, the programme starts at 20.00. We finish on Sunday, the  28th around 14.00.  
        
2. IDAS 2010 tournament venues 
In Ljubljana  we will be staying in high school dormitory Dijaški dom  Bežigrad, the adress. Kardeljeva ploščad 28, www.ddb.si, There are  mainly   three bed rooms. The dorm is 3 minutes walk from the tournament venue.   The ones who are coming for tournament only – you can check in after 14.00 on Friday. 
If you need an extra night in Ljubljana on Thursday or Sunday you need to make your own reservation. VERY IMPORTANT – YOU CAN NOT BE IN DIJAŠKI DOM BEŽIGRAD  FOR EXTRA NIGHTS. You need to make reservations in some other hotels  - there are plenty of low costs options in Ljubljana which can be booked via Internet. 

The tournament will be held at Faculty of administration, University of Ljubljana, www.fu.uni-lju.si 

3. Registration fee  
The registration fee 250 EUR covers the whole Academy  -  from dinner on the 20th  to breakfast on Sunday, the 28th.  
 

Tournament only 
The registration fee for the ones who are coming only for the tournament  is 60 EUR, it covers the accommodation and food from dinner  on the 26th till breakfast on the 28th. You should plan your departure from Ljubljana in the afternoon. 
The participation fee doesn't cover any extra nights. All the extra nights should be paid by you directly to the hotel. If you need an extra night in Hotel Špik in Gozd Martuljek, please, inform me about it and I will make the reservation. 
Registration fee  should be paid  in cash at registration. In case somebody prefers to pay via bank transfer, please, let me know and I will send you our bank account info. 
Everybody from  Hotel Špik, Gozd  Martuljek  will leave together  by rented  bus from Hotel Špik  to  Ljubljana, no extra fee for this travel. 

6.Travelling to Gozd Martuljek
There are buses for Kranjska gora from Ljubljana.  You should go to Gozd Martuljek, Hotel Špik ask the driver to stop at the Hotel Špik. The other option is taking a train from Ljubljana to Jesenice and than in Jesenice taking a bus to Gozd Martuljek. If you are coming from Austria, you go from Villach to Jesenice, train or bus.  
Here is the Ljubljana – Kranjska gora bus schedule: 06:30 a m , 07:30 a m, 09:30 a m, 10:30 a m. 12:30 p m  13:30 p m 14:30 p m 16:30 p m, it costs 8,75 EUR, it takes 2 hours. 
Here is the Ljubljana – Jesenice train schedule: Ljubljana 06:50, Ljubljana 07:27,  Ljubljana 09:27, Ljubljana 09:45 Ljubljana 11.26,  Ljubljana 12:50 Ljubljana 14:41, Ljubljana 15:25,  Ljubljana 15:33, Ljubljana 16:55, Ljubljana 17:50,  Ljubljana 18:55,  Ljubljana 20:48m, Ljubljana 23:50, it costs 6,75 EUR, it takes 1,20 minutes. Jesenice are 25 km away from Gozd Martuljek. 
The last bus from Jesenice to Kranjska gora goes at 17.57, than taxi is an option. 
If you want to book a special transport, especially from the airport, but can be done from Ljubljana train/bus station as well, you can send an email to borut.markun@siol.net – they do have vans and cars and doing pick us services. The same is true if you want to come from the airport to Ljubljana or vice versa. 

7. Visas 
In case you need visa for entering Slovenia and I didn't send you the visa invitation letter yes, please, contact me immediately – we do not have lots of time left. 

8. COUNTRY EXHIBITION 
It is the habit that we organize a country  fair.  This means you need to bring some items – food, drink, things, posters, music …. which present your country the most.  More  information about this and other social events will be given by our social directors Helena Felc and Gregor Janžek. 
 

9. SMOKING 
Slovenia has very strict smoking law – you are not allowed to smoke at any public places, no restaurants, no hotel room – meaning you can only smoke outside. 
 

10. WEATHER 
We are going to be in Alps, meaning can be cold, not necessarily, but can be bellow zero Celzius, can be snowy. But, it might be also still warm. Have this  in mind when packing.  
 

11. WIRELESS 
I was told it is available at least in some parts of hotel. 

12. EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBER
Bojana  + 386 41423377
 

That’s it for now. If you have any additional questions, please, feel free to ask. Really looking forward meeting you all in Slovenia, Bojana 


--
Bojana Skrt 
direktorica 
Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga 
Svetosavska 24, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija 
www.zainproti.com 
+386 (0)41 423377

Labour Unions Protest at Songshan Airport, Taipei

This morning, on a tip from a friend, I found myself at Songshan Airport in Taipei witnessing a protest by labour unions, who criticised both the Council of Labour Affairs and Japanese Airlines Corp for making 70 airline attendants redundant.  This was an early protest planned to coincide with the arrival of direct flights from Haneda Airport in Japan and Songshan.  The police were informed of the impending protest and restricted protest to outside the Terminal building, screening all people who wanted to go in (asking them if they had a ticket and where they were going).  The protest started early and sparsely, as seen left below, then almost magically (this happens a lot in Taiwan) suddenly there was a good group of 30-40 people ready with vests and signs.

 

There were probably around 20-30 police also at the event, not including plainclothes and other airport security officials.  Just like at the LGBT parade the day before, CID recorded the event for prosperity.  These guys below were quite friendly.  I asked the young officers on the right if they were videoing to build a database of faces.  They explained that they were only junior officiers and couldn't say too much or talk too long because their boss might not be too pleased.  Throughout the morning, these CID guys recorded pretty much everything.

The protest takes shape ...

Friendly but focused chaps.

The rear of the protest.  There were speeches, chants and even two songs.

The police cordoned over the path but released the cordon each time the crowd moved 'forward' along the walkway, in front of the entrances to the terminal.

A senior officers overlooks the scene ...

... whilst protestors hold a press conference.

And the police watched on.

A weeping woman relates her angle on the reason for protest.

Not wanting to let the side down, the authorities delicately formed a neat two line move. Guys in front ...

... ladies at the back. One policewoman explained that they were there to 'manhandle' the female protestors, something we also saw in the Dapu land seizure case.  

The guy on the right was very senior and his disdainful poker face stayed the same the whole morning.

There were probably 20-30 media personnel there to cover events and give interviews.  Yours truly was interviewed by TTV.  I told them that protest was perfectly normal in a democracy when alternative forms of negotiation or legal recourse had failed.  I said that it is very important for people to trust that the law will be practiced and that it is applied consistently.  Taiwan was a very normal democratic country.  The interviewer then asked me if I thought the protests were inconveniencing travellers so I said 'no more than check in and handling your luggage'.

This woman's husband had been laid of after a lengthy term with the company just before he was about to retire and collect his pension.  The Japanese company were accused of deliberately laying off workers just before they were to collect retirement payments and the CLA of failing to implement existing law that is designed to protect workers from this kind of 'austerity measure'.

The Green Party was represented at the event by Li Ying-hsuan, Taipei City Council candidate No. 6 for Neihu / Nangang.  Her campaign platform has been built around labour issues.

The woman in blue and the man in the tracksuit behind her made impassioned speeches.

The crowd sat in for the speeches then later stood up and moved along.

The boys and girls in blue ever present and keeping an eye on things. 

Look closely and you can see what looks like the edge of a kind of whiteboard on a pole next to the wall.  That's the noticeboard the police use to announce enforcement of the Parade and Assembly Law.  I asked a less friendly officer if they were going to use it and he said yes.  When I asked if he knew that the law was a relic of the white terror and made in 1990 (my bad chinese - I wish I knew the term for 'early post-martial law period'), he brushed me off and walked over to the wall to prop the board up.

When everyone moved up the walkway, the rushing press snapping and shooting away whilst back-pedalling furiously made the event more exciting than it really was.

The protest came to a halt in front of some windows where signs were held high supposedly for visiting Japanese company VIPs to see.  I left shortly after.

These very young officers were quite amused with me.  I half joked with them not to beat anyone but make harmony together.  Not a thing I would do in China or any other country but maybe my own. They laughed.

Finally, one criticism.  I got chatting with an elderly visiting Japanese couple who both understood my poor Chinese, the husband of which had lived in Taiwan for five years some time previously.  I explained that the current government was very China friendly and that I thought China was ramping up tensions over the Senkakus.  I felt also had to apologise because the labour union march had at times a distinctly patriotic, if not outright xenophobic, atmosphere.  Certain speeches raising the issue of Senkakus and songs that seemed to call for quite violent revenge featured which upset me, and to my knowledge also upset Candidate Li who used her speech to support the protest on principal of law whilst avoiding blaming nations for individual corporate behaviour.   I reiterated to the Japanese couple how much Taiwan had welcomed me and how it welcomes Japanese friends too.  

LINKS:

• Space Shuttle - An era of lost opportunities
• Legislators delay visit to Senkaku islands, for now.
• I think this was probably a good idea - US reversed policy and declares genes can't be patented.

The Oil Slick that is Charlie Crist

There is a reason why, this entire election season I have used the same refrain when it came to Charlie Crist.

I said that you'd pry this Senate Seat..

" from his COLD.DEAD.HANDS."

I meant it too, and I believe all of it...

from his refusal to drop out and become an ' independent', to his courting of the so-called moderates...to this latest con game of ' Bill Clinton said that Kendrick Meek agreed to drop out. '

FROM HIS COLD.DEAD.HANDS.

So, what do I read today?
TPM.com

Crist Adviser: He Would Caucus With The Dems In The Senate
Everyone knows that Republican Marco Rubio is ahead in the polls for the Florida Senate race, helped in part by a split in the anti-GOP vote between independent (and ex-GOPer) Charlie Crist and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek. Crist has often refused to say for certain which party he would caucus with if he were elected. But as the Wall Street Journal an adviser to Crist says that he would caucus with the Dems if he were to win the election:

That's a big "if." Mr. Crist is trailing Republican candidate Marco Rubio in most polls. But the declaration by Florida trial lawyer John Morgan sheds light on one of the many mysteries in the Bill Clinton-Charlie Crist-Kendrick Meek imbroglio.

"Crist is going to caucus with the Democrats," Mr. Morgan said. "I don't think there's any ifs, ands or buts about it. It would be, in a very tight year, almost like a Democratic pickup in a solid Republican state."

This followed the recent story that former President Bill Clinton, who had supported Meek, attempted to get the Dem to drop out of the race and endorse Crist, who would reportedly then caucus as a Democrat.

Morgan told the Journal that the likelihood of Crist organizing as a Dem was unrelated to any potential deal, and Crist's campaign has denied that Crist ever agreed to caucus as a Dem as part of the Clinton-Meek maneuver.

Of course, this is probably all hypothetical. The TPM Poll Average currently gives Rubio 44.6%, Crist 30.2%, and Meek 19.6%.

I call absolute and utter bullshyt on this.



How convenient.

How convenient, the weekend before this election, this just happens to drop.

GMAFB.

Some 'advisor' tells this?

Are you really falling for this bullshyt?

It is the weekend before the election, and still, you do not have CHARLIE CRIST

ON TAPE

making a statement of any sort vowing to caucus with the Democratic Party.

If it was that important, why aren't the words coming out of Crist's mouth himself?

UH HUH.

I think that the posters have figured most of this out.

The man got MARRIED for pete's sake.

And, you don't think the OIL SLICK was the one who leaked this to the press?

Come on, now.

And, for those who support the Oil Slick over Meek without any commitment from the Oil Slick are ridiculous and pathetic.

IF the GOP takes over the Senate, bet on this...Charlie Crist will say, ' I don't know you....' to those Democrats clamoring for Meek to drop out of the race. Just like this clown up above supposedly telling us that Crist will canvass with the Dems, if the GOP takes over, he'll say that ' former friend didn't know anything'.

Get real about Crist.

Brave & Outstanding Taipei District Court Judge Lin Meng-huang (林孟皇) Delivers a Little Transitional Justice To Taiwan

Three Taipei City Councillors have been found NOT guilty of destroying a historical relic.  The judge's reasons for the acquittal should go down in history.  Now if only other different relics, of the authoritarian era that's threatening to remerge, were re-examined for their amendment as part of a process of transitional justice:

Three Taipei City Councilors from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have been found not guilty by the Taipei District Court for climbing onto Taipei’s Jingfu Gate (景福門) and covering the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) emblem with white paint in May last year.

In a ruling handed down on Thursday, Taipei District Court Judge Lin Meng-huang (林孟皇) said the emblem that Taipei City councilors Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) and Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁) covered with paint was a political insignia that represented the way Taiwan used to be a dictatorship under party-state rule.

By covering the emblem with white paint, the three were expressing their dissatisfaction and were not guilty of destroying a historical monument.

When the incident first happened, then-commissioner of the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said that the Jingfu Gate was a nationally designated historical monument and that the councilors knew they were taking the law into their own hands by painting it.

Prosecutors in the case believed the actions of the city councilors destroyed a cultural relic therefore they were guilty of destroying a historical monument and this is why they prosecuted them.

Judge Lin said that although the party emblem is protected by the Culture Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), he believes the three were not guilty of destroying a historical monument.

The court verdict stated that there are two types of emblems on Jingfu Gate and that they only really differ in size, with one being a national emblem and the other a party emblem, and that the similarity between the two easily leads to disputes over the separation of party and state.

Lin said the party emblem was put on the gate — originally built during the Qing Dynasty — in 1966 when it was repaired and that this was a remnant of the authoritarian rule Taiwan was under at that time. Lin added that the emblem was a way in which the KMT had tried to consolidate its legitimacy and power and that the emblem was therefore an ideological expression and a political insignia put on a historical monument.

The city councilors said that on May 26 last year, when they saw the KMT party emblem on the gate, they felt that they had a responsibility to monitor the maintenance of historical monuments by the Taipei City Government.

The trio said that only three days after the celebration of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) first year in office, the Jingfu Gate had a new party emblem put on it and that it was insulting to Taiwan’s citizens as such a move was taken to please certain groups and individuals.

They said they merely climbed up and painted over the emblem in white paint and that to this day, the Taipei City government has not returned the emblem to its original blue color, so they were not guilty of destroying an ancient relic.

Lin said he believes the three councilors covered the emblem in white paint as a way of protesting the China-centric ideology that the KMT party emblem represents and that their actions were a political call. Lin also mentioned “transitional justice” in the court verdict. Lin said that in 2004, the Culture Heritage Preservation Act was amended with a focus on the promotion of a more diversified culture instead of a Chinese-centric culture.  Lin said that in order to realize transitional justice, this principle was kept in mind when dealing with the case and that the three -councilors were therefore not found guilty of destroying the historical and cultural value of the gate.

Commenting on the verdict, Chuang and the others said they did not expect to be found guilty.  “It is wrong for a democratic government to paint a political party’s emblem on an ancient relic three days after the celebration of their first year in office,” Chuang said.  Saying they were only -responsible for covering one -emblem with white paint and that the other emblems that were covered up were covered up by members of the KMT, Chuang added that if they had been found guilty, then the KMT should also be guilty.

Taipei City Government spokesperson Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) said the Taipei City Government would respect prosecutors’ decision as to whether the case would be appealed.

The Wrong in the Florida Senate Race

I have been voting since I was 18 years old. I have voted in enough elections to know....YOU DON'T ALWAYS VOTE FOR THE ULTIMATE WINNER OF THE ELECTION.

It feels good to vote for the winner. For the person you thought should win DOES win.

But, no, you don't always vote for the winner of the election.

Which is why the shenanigans down in Florida make me sick.

In case you don't know, there was a story that broke yesterday that Bill Clinton was contacted by the Charlie Crist campaign to try and get Kendrick Meek out of the Senate Race.

From msnbc.com

Fla. Senate candidate denies Clinton asked him to quit
A Florida Democrat running a distant third in the state's three-way Senate race again denied Friday that former President Bill Clinton asked him to withdraw from the race in order to help Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican who is running as an independent.

Democrat Kendrick Meek told NBC's TODAY show that he had discussions about the race in Florida with Clinton during the former president's visits to the state to campaign on his behalf. But he denied that Clinton asked him to step down. "I never once told him that I was getting out and he never once asked me to get out."

A number of media on Thursday, including Politico and CNN, reported Clinton had tried to persuade Meek to drop out of the race to prevent a win by the contest's frontrunner, Republican Marco Rubio.

"The argument was: 'You can be a hero here. You can stop him, you can change this race in one swoop,'" a Democrat familiar with the conversations told Politico.

According to the Politico report, Meek agreed, and planned to endorse Crist, but then failed to go ahead with the withdrawal. Politico cited Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna.

A Florida Democrat running a distant third in the state's three-way Senate race again denied that former President Bill Clinton asked him to withdraw in order to help Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
..Meek denied there was any plan for him to drop out. He also rejected poll numbers showing him getting only about 15 percent of the vote in next Tuesday's election.

The thing is, I'm sick and tired of this bullshyt. Kendrick Meek is the Democratic Party's Nominee for the Senate from the State of Florida.

Without no much as ONE PUBLIC SENTENCE FROM CHARLIE CRIST EVER ON PROMISING TO CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IF HE WON..

we have seen a drumbeat of mofos calling for Meek to drop out.

G-T-F-O-H



They pretend that Charlie Crist isn't an amoral oil slick, who, if the GOP took over the Senate wouldn't go ' I don't know you' to all the Democratic Clowns who are calling for Meek to step down.

They pretend like Meek would be the first Democrat to lose a statewide race in Florida.

They pretend like Kendrick Meek was appointed the Democratic Nominee instead of putting together his campaign from scratch throughout the state. It's not like Meek woke up 1 month ago and said, 'I'm the Democratic Nominee for Senate.'

No, he went through a year long( if not more) process, building everything from scratch.

THERE WAS NO REASON WHY ANY OTHER DEMOCRAT IN FLORIDA COULD NOT HAVE DONE THE SAME THING.

But, Kendrick Meek did the hard work. He did all the legwork. He shook the hands. He went to meet the people, and, it is not his fault that no other Florida Democrats, outside of that shady creep who ran against him at the last minutes was the only one who would run. Meek won the nomination WITHOUT crapping on his base (cough:::Artur Davis, Adrian Fenty:::cough).

Meek won his right to win, and yes, to lose, this election.

I don't know if all this leaking so soon before the election is meant to encourage or suppress the Black vote. I do know, if I was in Florida, I'd be tempted to ONLY vote for Kendrick Meek and let the rest of the Florida Democratic Party to go play in traffic during rush hour.

But, I like what lamh32 has said about this situation:

This is gonna be my last comment of the night on FL Senator. Charlie Crist is playing Dems/Meeks/Clinton/FL voters for fools. And Marc Rubio is gonna laugh his way to the Senatorial bank and Charlie Crist is not gonna give a damn. Don't forget, Crist won't care if Rubio wins, hell, he was a part of the Repub party anyway, 'til the primaries didn't go his way. This is all about him, and he played Bill Clinton, he played Meeks, and he play FL Dems.

tell the truth, why don't you.

found more truth in a post by Town:

Well, we know the Democrats/fauxgressives want Meek out, and Crist wants Meek out. They tried to pressure Obama out back in '08 but he had the numbers on his side. Sadly for Meek, he does not.

I can pretty much rule out Rubio in this scheme, since having Meek in the race helps him out at the voting polls.

I think it went down like this:

FL Democrats want Meek gone. They've tried all their tricks, he's like a roach, he refuses to leave. Bill Clinton knows Meek is a loser, but campaigns for him because he did have their back even when the other 99% of black people were for Obama. Someone from the FL Democrats camp contacts Crist's camp, says we'd love to help you out but this dude won't leave. At this point we can't be seen pushing out the black guy in favor of you. But we want to help you. Bill Clinton knows he's a loser, here's Clinton's number. Give his camp a call, we're sure Clinton can convince him to exit stage left and hand his voters to you.

Crist's camp calls Clinton's camp, and says Meek's a loser, convince him to get out of the race so we can stop this teabagger. Clinton goes to Meek, says "ya know, I'm gonna campaign for you and do whatever you want. But you're kind of low in the polls. Have you ever thought about leaving the race?"

Meek says naw, son, let's campaign and Clinton backs off. Clinton's camp asks around Meek's camp and they're like, "look man, y'all gonna lose, maybe ya'll need to exit stage right."

Meek's people are like "we don't wanna lose in a landslide, our careers would be over, we'll try to work him over." So Clinton's people report to Crist's people, the FL Dems and the WH that the option of leaving was presented to Meek.

The WH is like "oh, ok, keep us posted." Clinton campaigns with Meek again and is like "Well you know you still have some time to drop out if that's what you're thinking," and Meek again is like "I ain't....goin nowhere...I ain't...goin' nowhere...I ain't stoppin'... so kiss my ass to-nite."

Clinton is like (kanyeshrug)"ok well I tried" to Crist's people. Some of Meek's people are pissed he didn't drop out so they runteldat to Crist's people that Clinton even tried to get him to drop out and he's still in it. Crist is pissed that Meek is messing his plans up and that Clinton couldn't get the job done so he spills the T on Keith Olbermann and Politico.

Cartoon of the Week: Isolated Incidents

From the Taipei Times.

The Rare Earth Wars 2013 ~ 2031

Coming soon ... (?) ... or not ... time will tell.

Americans' misplaced trust in the GOP

Rasmussen polling reports that the public trusts the Republican Party to better handle eight of the ten issues considered most important by Americans. In Americans’ defense, perhaps this is one of the many polls suffering from sample bias because cell phone only households, which favor Democrats, are undersampled by the major polling outfits.

To paraphrase Jay Leno, “What are Americans thinking?”

Read the rest at The Loop.

Corporate Elections: Democracy by the rich, for the rich

Groups affiliated with the GOP are in the midst of an unprecedented attempt at buying this year’s congressional elections. Although the official Democratic campaign committees have about $20 million more than their Republican counterparts, several shadow GOP groups have poured in an additional $64 million – just in August and September! Democrats are nowhere close to matching that total.

Read the rest at The Loop.

Tokyo International Film Festival Reacts

The furore surrounding the antics of the Chinese delegation to this year's annual Tokyo International Film Festival has drawn a response from the Toyko organisers.  Whilst they apologised to the Taiwanese delegation, they served up this treat for Beijing:

Festival office chief Nobushige Toshima told the Central News Agency (CNA) in a telephone interview that the Taiwanese delegation was among the distinguished guests invited by the festival organization while the Chinese were not.

Ouch.  That's about as subtle as a kick in the head.  A good question posted elsewhere was why they simply couldn't have just let the Chinese walk out and allow the Taiwanese to walk the green carpet as planned.  The answer seems to be in the strategy of the Chinese delegation - namely to disrupt the ability of the Taiwanese to walk the green carpet per se:

During the argument, Jiang threatened the committee with an ultimatum that if the name issue were not resolved in China’s favor within 10 minutes, the Chinese delegation would withdraw from the festival and contemplate never attending again.

According to an individual familiar with the film festival, Jiang’s behavior left the committee feeling “used” as his own self-promoting tool. Although the Chinese delegation was at fault, the committee’s hands were tied, the source said.

He added that Jiang participated in the film festival last year but did not make the same request. If Jiang had made the demand one week ahead of the event, the organizer would have had time to come up with a solution, but what Jiang did caught everyone by surprise.

The argument lasted over 90 minutes, causing both delegations to miss their grand entrances.

Ok. So if we believe this account we can suspect that Jiang's actions were deliberate sabotage.  Meanwhile, in Taiwan Premier Wu tried to walk a middle path between condeming the action and trying to downplay the incident so it doesn't harm 'mutual trust and goodwill' (tm KMT-CCP):

Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday gave conditional (only conditional?) backing to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus proposal to declare Chinese official Jiang Ping (江平) persona non grata because of his actions at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the weekened.

“If [Jiang] continues to maintain this attitude (note the use of 'continues' e.g if we hear nothing from him from now on the incident and his rude behaviour will be forgotten), it would mean that he is extremely unfriendly to Taiwan. In that case, it goes without saying the legislature could declare him persona non grata,” (Not that it would prevent him from coming to Taiwan on personal invitation as a 'tourist')

Lai asked Wu if he agreed with Executive Yuan spokesman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who termed the incident an “isolated case,” but separated Jiang from Chinese officialdom. (oh Johnny, you are a card. Tell me again, are you a member of the KMT or CCP or both?)


Wu said he disagreed on Lai’s “white cop, bad cop game” characterization, but he said the incident could not be considered an isolated one without further observation, including how China’s Taiwan Affairs Office handles the issue. (Good on Wu but he really couldn't have argued that it was an isolated case when there are literally hundreds of similar cases in the last 10 years - cases that haven't stopped even though Ma claims Taiwan and China have been expressing goodwill towards each other for the last two years)


Chiang’s judgement that the Chinese authorities were not involved in the contretempts was “correct,” Wu said. (I spoke too soon - Wu really expects Taiwanese to believe that Jiang was acting alone? This is laughable)


“China’s population is more than 1.3 billion and it has a huge bureaucracy. So far, only Mr Jiang was so rude [to Taiwan],” Wu said, adding that the Presidential Office had urged China to take remedial measures and that he himself had criticized Jiang over his behavior. (oh dear oh dear. Now Wu really soils the bedsheets in saying only Jiang was rude to Taiwan.  If his behaviour can be classified as 'rude' then there's a whole host of other incidents which are also rude too - everyone involved in each one of those incidents were equally isolated cases? please....)

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) said yesterday that the ministry “would make proper, reasonable arrangements” concerning Taiwan’s participation in international events on the condition that such participation would not create the impression of “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.”  (Mr Ma seems to think that it is China's role to determine Taiwan's participation in international events yet Mr Ma is not a member of the Taiwanese Government, he is not elected or accountable and is not even a citizen of Taiwan or the ROC.  But then, in Taiwan we have a china-obsessed President who claims to rule over China as well as Taiwan so I guess hyperbolic and wishful declarations of sovereign decision making power in areas outside their jurisdiction is par for the course for both the KMT and CCP)

When asked to comment last night on Ma’s statement, Wu said he needed to read a full transcript first. (cop-out and delaying strategy)

“I have been thinking that both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait have been through a hard time turning from an attitude of confrontation to developing mutual prosperity … Why let one or two persons [spoil the relationship?]” Wu said. “We need to get back on course to continue accumulating goodwill and refrain from damaging the mutual trust built up so far.” (one or two persons? try the entire Chinese bureaucracy and government.  And remind me again about the substance of that supposed goodwill and mutual trust built up so far.  Aside from essentially bribes to farmers and businesses in the form of visits tied into mass purchase orders, what other goodwill and mutual trust has their been on the Chinese side?  This is all smoke and mirrors - it is a propaganda trick to state something often enough and long enough and everyone will think its true)

Pathetic doesn't quite sum it all up.

Spell Chequer

Thanks to Ted!

Owed Two A Spell Chequer

Eye halve a spelling chequer, 

it came with my pea sea. 

It plainly marques, four my revue, 

miss steaks eye kin knot sea. 

Eye strike a key and type a word 

and weight four it two say, 

Weather eye am wrong oar write 

it shows me strait a weigh. 

As soon as a mist ache is maid, 

it nose bee fore two long. 

And eye can put the error rite 

it's rare lea ever wrong. 

Eye have run this poem threw it, 

I am shore your pleased two no. 

Its letter perfect awl the weigh, 

my chequer tolled me sew.

Modus-Vivendi & Mutual Non-Denial in Action

Does this look and sound like Chinese people are assisting the Chinese government in building trust and win-win with Taiwanese through a policy of mutual non-denial?  Are these just patriotic Chinese expressing their own independent positions or are they articulating the reality of China's policy towards Taiwan and have they been prompted to do so?

I can't lip read Chinese too well.  Anyone know what the Chinese woman says after the mike on the woman to the left cuts out?

More detail here ... (note Premier Wu's reiteration of the 'win-win' meme)

Revolusi Pemuda Indonesia

Sejarah menyampaikan pesan yang sangat jelas terkait dengan keterlibatan pemuda dalam perjuangan kemerdekaan Indonesia. Mulai dari era Kebangkitan Nasional tahun 1908, Sumpah Pemuda tahun 1928, dan proklamasi kemerdekaan tahun 1945. Pasca kemerdekaan, tepatnya tahun 1966 pemuda mengisinya dengan Tri Tuntutan Rakyat (Tritura). Tak pelak, reformasi 1998 pun menjadi momentum yang fenomenal dalam sejarah gerakan pemuda.

Memperingati momentum sumpah pemuda beberapa hari ke depan, tak salah jikalau kita merenungi apa yang dikatakan oleh Bung Hatta, proklamator kemerdekaan kita.

Saat ini, kita harus mengakui bahwa kiprah pemuda dalam penilain publik cenderung tidak terlalu baik. Pemuda yang seharusnya menjadi generasi penerus bangsa, memiliki karakter dan teladan baik malah berlaku sebaliknya. Konflik yang terjadi di berbagai daerah, seringkali melibatkan pemuda sebagai pelopornya. Oh, sungguh miris. Tapi tentu, image negatif ini bukan berarti adalah kondisi umum yang dialami pemuda saat ini.

Mari kita tanya tentang kebanggaan pemuda terhadap republik ini? Jawabannya pasti sangat bangga. Pemuda mana yang tidak bangga menjadi warga negara Indonesia. Negara yang didiami puluhan ribu pulau, suku dan adat yang berbeda tersebar dari Aceh sampai dengan Papua. Melihat kondisi geografis saja, orang pasti sudah ngeri melihat negara kepulauan ini.

Di tengah rasa bangga terhadap negara ini, kita pun sangat miris melihat tingkah laku para orang tua yang duduk sebagai wakil rakyat ataupun pemerintah. Sehingga tak ayal, banyak pemuda yang menerjunkan diri dalam dunia tersebut. Meski tak dapat dihindari, pengalaman minim membuat sebagian pemuda terjerumus ke dalam dunia yang pragmatis dan materialistis.

Meski demikian, daya kritis pemuda tidaklah hilang. Di tengah gempuran dunia yang semakin glamor, tak jarang kita menemui ada insan muda kreatif yang penuh idealisme membangun harkat martabat bangsa dari segala sektor. Sikap inilah yang perlu kita tingkatkan, pemuda pelopor yang mempunyai daya kritis di tengah masyarakat. Pemuda yang mendedikasikan dirinya untuk masyarakat sekitar. Sehingga kita bisa melihat para proklamator tersenyum melihat tingkah polah penerusnya. Dan yang lebih penting, biarkan Tuhan tersenyum melihat pemuda Indonesia. 


Selamat Hari Sumpah Pemuda!!

Pondering

President Barack Obama waits in the Green Room before being introduced at the White House Summit on Community Colleges, Oct. 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Chinese Trawlers Test The Waters Again

Fresh out of a diplomatic spat between Japan and China (+ ROC) comes the news that Chinese fishermen have again ramped up tension in the area by testing Japanese resolve to enforce sovereignty over the Senkaku islands.

Some ideas:

• Chinese trawlers are long suspected of allegedly playing a large part in Chinese naval operations, principally as data gatherers.  
• The same trawlers are now likely being used as pawns in a game of maritime chess.
• China may be provoking Japan to measure its response and gauge its real power in the region.
• China may also be looking to see how the US reacts.
• Japan may be rising to the bait and, through equally vehement expressions of sovereignty, be caught in a predetermined and strategically planned escalation.
• Historically it seems likely that a military war could emerge as a result of am ongoing mercantilist confrontation.  The dispute over rare earths, now encompassing Japan, China, the US and India could just be a taste of how China will use economic leverage to gain territorial advantage.
• Countries interested in a peaceful rise don't generally go around declaring whole swathes of ocean and land to be theirs, plant flags on the sea bed or point thousands of missiles at their neighbours.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but a peaceful rise must be predicated on the basis of honest acknowledgement that national borders can be highly fluid and that economic concerns often play a large role in determining ownership.  Multiple claims over one area must be treated sensitively and work towards collaboration that allows a significant level of joint access and use without the need for a formal declaration.  It requires a high level of trust, a phenomenon startling absent from international politics and diplomatic relations.   

Video of the Week - Religion and Morality

WDI Sponsored Conference in Europe Concludes

The Third International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, Thinking and Speaking a Better World, concluded in Maribor, Slovenia on Sunday 24 October 2010. The conference featured scholars, experts and enthusiasts from nineteen countries.

During the sessions there were over 50 papers presented  on a variety of topics. There were two keynote speeches, one by Debbie Newman (former president of the Cambridge Union, England and Wales debate champion, former head of the English Speaking Union's Centre for Speech and Debate, and world champion schools coach for England) from the UK on "The Noisy Classroom" and one from Sam Greenland (Sydney University, WUDC semifinalist, current World Debating Council President) on "Measuring Debate's Impact on Classroom Performance."

Eighty attendees spent three days sharing ideas, scholarship and fellowship while networking on future projects. A major panel discussion on "Cultural Variation - Debate and Argument" had participants from Yemen, Morocco, Hungary, Venezuela, Japan, UK and USA. There was a lavish banquet on Saturday night and productive discussions during the twenty panel sessions that were held.

Papers from this conference as well as the 2006 and 2008 events will be published in a volume entitled Thinking and Speaking a Better World edited by Alfred Snider of the University of Vermont and David Cratis Williams of Florida Atlantic University due out at the end of 2011. 

Videos of many of the presentations, both keynotes, and the panel discussion on culture will be available in coming weeks at the conference websites. 

There will be an announcement soon about the fourth and next conference.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:

Basic information at http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/better/Welcome.html

News blog at http://betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia http://www.uni-mb.si/ ,  ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue http://www.zainproti.com/ ,  and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/wdi/Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate http://www.qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak.

Edannya Suporter Kita !

Beres mengikuti Pra Muktamar KAMMI di Solo pada 1-4 Oktober kemarin, ternyata tak menjadikan aktivitas kembali seperti biasa. Malam harinya, saya beranjak dari Solo menuju Bandung memakai Kereta Api Kahuripan. Entah karena harus nerima nasib, kereta yang saya tumpangi sama dengan Bobotoh Persib. Tak ayal lagi, sesudah keluar dari stasiun Solojebres, para suporter Persis Solo secara membabi-buta melempari kereta kami dengan batu. Tua, muda, bahkan bayi yang ada dalam kereta menjadi korban keganasan para suporter. Saya pun demikian, jas hitam yang saya pakai penuh dengan pecahan kaca.



Sekitar 45 menit kami menjadi santapan empuk para suporter anarkis tersebut. Kami semua menunduk di lantai kereta. Melindungi badan dengan tas, atau apapun yang bisa menghalangi pecahan kaca. Saya termenung. Jujur, ini pengalaman pertama saya. Suasana waktu itu sangat mencekam, kami ibarat musuh para pelempar batu-batu tersebut. Dalam hati, saya mengutuk suporter gila yang tak punya hati tersebut. Mereka tak punya perikemanusiaan, jeritan bayi, rintihan anak-anak dan orang tua malah dibalas dengan hardikan dan teriakan puas para suporter bejad.


Aku tak kuat ingin marah. Kita saudara, satu nusa satu bangsa, tapi ternyata tak punya hati. Emosi permusuhan yang meluap-luap, hanya karena masalah bola. Lihatlah kalian para suporter anarkis, berapa banyak anak yang trauma akibat ulah gila kalian! berapa nyawa yang hampir tewas gara-gara lemparan batu kalian mengenai kepala dan badan mereka! Gila, apakah kalian tidak punya hati nurani!!

Pasopati lempari KA Kahuripan

Aku terbawa emosi saat itu. Mengutuk aparat kepolisian yang tak bisa menjaga keamanan kereta kami, padahal mereka tahu para suporter gila itu akan menghabisi kami dengan lemparan-lemparan batunya. Aparat kereta api yang seolah biasa, melaju tanpa sadar di depan perjalanan ada bahaya menghadang. Ah, kadang saya berpikir untuk apa ada negara, kalau tidak bisa melindungi masyarakat. Entah, apa karena kami ada di kereta api ekonomi, pemerintah tidak punya niat untuk melindungi kami! Sungguh, rasa malas menggerayangi diri saya. Otakku mendidih, ketika di Jakarta sana akan terjadi pergantian Kapolri.


Mereka biadab, aparat kepolisian yang tidak menjaga gerbong kereta kami, pihak kereta api yang tak punya hati membiarkan sang masinis melaju tanpa dosa. Dan suporter edan yang tega "menghabisi" kami, saudara sebangsanya.


Sungguh, aku sedih. Beginikah etika kehidupan kita. Sungguh naas, ditengah dunia yang serba glamor, kehancuran moralitas tinggal menunggu waktu. Naudzubillah.

Staying On-Message

Director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Wang Yi (王毅) recent remarks in Washington:

“Moreover, people-to-people exchanges in such fields as culture and education shall also be enhanced in a healthy and orderly manner. The cross-strait relationship is still facing many unsolved disputes and conflicts as well as new challenges,” he said. “Both sides need to build mutual trust, seek common ground while shelving differences and disputes and strive to create win-win results which is a guarantee for the stable development of ties.”

According to Xinhua, Wang stressed that opposing “the secessionist activities of the Taiwan independence forces and sticking with the 1992 consensus” is the basis for building mutual trust.

“We must send a clear message: We oppose Taiwan independence in various forms and we must take a firm stand to maintain the hard-earned good situation in cross-strait relations,” Wang said.

As previously reported in the Taipei Times, Wang said that both sides had agreed to tackle the easier, economic issues first, but that this was not absolute, because some seemingly easy issues were difficult and some economic issues were political.

The first paragraph above is the discursive meme agreed by both the CCP and KMT as the key strategy for putting in place the conditions for advancing to political talks that will annex Taiwan to China. Summed up:  Culture, education, exchanges, challenges, build mutual trust, common ground, shelve disputes, win-win, stable, ties, 1992 Consensus. This is almost word for word how the KMT Government have framed talks and relations with China for the last two years.  The US and others must be aware of how Taiwan is now more Chinese collaborator than regional example of peaceful pacific democracy.


Note also how opposing secessionist activities is the basis for building mutual trust - in itself an acknowledgement that any new government in 2012 will have to also kiss ass and toe the party line or risk standing accused of breaking mutual trust and being a ... troublemaker.  The good-situation in cross-strait relations refers to Taiwan's KMT Government being more than friendly with Beijing, to the extent of getting unnecessarily involved in pointless maritime disputes.  Note at the end there the tacit acknowledgement that some economic issues were political - this  is a slap in the face for President Ma who famously said that politics and economics were separate in regard to the signing of the ECFA.  For China to say that some economic issues were political is the understatement of the century.


Check this editorial for a more astute analysis ...


UPDATE: The timing couldn't have been better for an illustration of how the KMT and CCP have agreed on the memes to be utilised during the process of rapprochement across the Taiwan Strait:

The actions of a mainland Chinese delegation at the Tokyo International Film Festival have seriously hurt the feelings of the people of Taiwan, Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang said Oct. 24.

Lo stressed that the TIFF is a nongovernmental cultural event that the ROC has attended for many years under the name “Taiwan.” He urged Beijing to engage in respectful and peaceful relations with Taiwan based on the principles of “facing reality, building trust, setting aside controversies and creating a win-win situation.”

On the evening of Oct. 23, just prior to the TIFF opening ceremonies, Jiang Ping, the leader of the mainland Chinese delegation, insisted that the Taiwan delegation to the festival change its name from “Taiwan” to either “Chinese Taipei” or “Taiwan, China.”

When Chen Chih-kuan, head of the Taiwan delegation, refused to do so, Jiang threatened to boycott the festival. He threatened for good measure that Taiwanese films would be blocked from the mainland Chinese market in the future.

“This is an issue involving our sovereignty and dignity and we cannot accede to such a request,” said Chen, who is also the director of Motion Pictures at the Cabinet-level Government Information Office. “Politics should be separate from cultural events.”

ROC Premier Wu Den-yih strongly condemned the move by the mainland Chinese delegation, calling it “irrational” and a “serious mistake.”

GIO Minister Johnny Chi-chen Chiang pointed out that Taiwan’s films are placed under “Taiwanese Cinema Renaissance: New Breeze of the Rising Generation” at the event, which runs through Oct. 31.

The organizer has accepted the name of Taiwan, and promised the delegation it will be able to retain the name it has always used, according to Chiang.

As a result of the dispute, neither the Taiwan nor the mainland Chinese delegation was able to walk the eco-friendly green carpet. However, the Taiwan delegation will continue to take part in remaining events at the festival.

Safety of Fish as A Meat

This list compiled by the folks who brought you The Cove:

* Fish in Trouble! These fish are perilously low in numbers or are caught using environmentally destructive methods. To learn more, see the Monterey Bay Aquarium (or download their Seafood Guide iPhone app) and the Blue Ocean Institute, both of which provide guides to fish to enjoy or avoid on the basis of environmental factors. 
** Farmed Salmon may contain PCB's, chemicals with serious long-term health effects. 

Mackerel (King) Marlin* Orange Roughy* Shark* Swordfish* Tilefish* Tuna (Bigeye, Ahi)*

Bluefish Grouper* Mackerel (Spanish, Gulf) Sea Bass (Chilean)* Tuna (Canned Albacore) Tuna (Yellowfin)*

Bass (Striped, Black) Carp Cod (Alaskan)* Croaker (White Pacific) Halibut (Atlantic)* Halibut (Pacific) Jacksmelt (Silverside) Lobster Mahi Mahi Monkfish* Perch (Freshwater) Sablefish Skate* Snapper* Tuna (Canned chunk light) Tuna (Skipjack)* Weakfish (Sea Trout)

Anchovies Butterfish Catfish Clam Crab (Domestic) Crawfish/Crayfish Croaker (Atlantic) Flounder* Haddock (Atlantic)* Hake Herring Mackerel (N. Atlantic, Chub) Mullet Oyster Perch (Ocean) Plaice Pollock Salmon (Canned)** Salmon (Fresh)** Sardine Scallop* Shad (American) Shrimp* Sole (Pacific) Squid (Calamari) Tilapia Trout (Freshwater) Whitefish Whiting