Poll: Bright Crushes Roby

A poll commissioned by the Bright campaign and done by Anzalone-Liszt Research reveals that Bobby Bright has a commanding lead over all supposed challengers in his race to retain his House seat:

Bobby Bright (D-inc): 54
Martha Roby (R): 30

Bobby Bright (D-inc): 55
Stephanie Bell (R): 29

Bobby Bright (D-inc): 58
Rick Barber (R): 26
(MoE: ±4.4%)

I must say that this surprises me. I have been less than optimistic about Bright's chances for reelection since he won 2 years ago. Regardless, it will be interesting to see turnout numbers on the Democratic side without President Obama drawing voters out in Montgomery. These number probably haven't been factored in, but Charlie Cook and CQ Politics still have the race rated as a toss up.


***Personal rant*** It will be also be quite intriguing to see how the GOP attacks Bright seeing that he is rated the most conservative Democrat and more conservative than some Republicans. My inkling is they will attack him as a "Pelosi" Democrat, which is fine, but maybe it will shut-up some of this people who say they "aren't Republicans" just "conservatives" on a regular basis. It's ok to be partisan, but people who pretend to be so principled and above the fray and then vote partisan no matter what really piss me off.

***Also, I continue to use the above picture because I know the people in it.***

H/T - Political Parlor (For the above link)

Plagiarism?

"The financial ramifications can be considerable. Leong's prints
sell for as much as $25,000, and Burdeny's for up to $10,500.
Confusion between the work of the two artists in the marketplace
could adversely affect those values."

Churchgate Station, Bombay (2004).
Photograph ©Raghu Rai.

Churchgate Station, Bombay (1996).
Photograph © Sebastião Salgado.

Well, there has been a bit of a dust up in the past week or so about photographers (allegedly) copying photographers. You can find one news report here, an earlier one here. I offer the two images I've lifted above as a suggestion that just maybe this fracas is more than a bit overblown. And, of course, I've posted repeatedly on Geoff Dyer's The Ongoing Moment the primary theme of which is the ways that photographers replicate each other's images. In those posts, as well as in Dyer's book, you can find more examples.

Of course, we worry way more about the implications of "confusion" for markets here than we did in say, thinking about credit default swaps and such totally opaque financial instruments.
__________
P.S.: The opening quotation is from the LA Times news report to which I link in the post.

Shelby Doesn't Know About Qualified Nominees

Richard Shelby spoke to CNN about the holds he put on President Obama's nominees, stating that he "[doesn't] have any idea" if they are qualified:


H/T - Think Progress

Bill Maher: Buddhism is a Crock and Outdated.

The Worst Horse as usual is on its game in reporting another example of just how foreign Buddhism still is to many in the West. Bill Maher, the American comedian and t.v. show host (who I usually find hilarious) recently said some pretty uninformed things about Buddhism. His comments are in red and mine in yellow:

Maher: [Buddhism] really is outdated in some ways — the “Life sucks, and then you die” philosophy was useful when Buddha came up with it around 500 B.C., because back then life pretty much sucked, and then you died – but now we have medicine., and plenty of food

(James::Not all of us Bill, a lot of people in this world don't know where their next meal will come from. And medicine? Americans can't even afford medicine these days let alone impoverished countries. Go to Africa where I lived for two years and tell me there's enough food and medicine for everyone. Then tell me that thus there isn't much suffering from it.),

Maher: and iPhones, and James Cameron movies – our life isn’t all about suffering anymore.

(James: And life wasn't all about suffering back in Buddha's time either)

Maher: And when we do suffer, instead of accepting it we try to alleviate it,

(James::Buddhists seek to alleviate suffering too but we also have had the revelation that no amount of "relieving" can end the suffering. What Buddhists are more interested in other than alleviating suffering is to END suffering once and for all through, what I would consider to be the first "12 Steps" program that is the Eight-Fold Path). If Buddha saw life as hopeless as Maher believes he taught then why would he have even tried to develop a system to deliver himself from it?

Maher: Tiger said, “Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves” makes us unhappy, which confirms something I’ve long suspected about Eastern religions: they’re a crock, too. Craving for things outside ourselves is what makes life life

(James: And despite its highlights, life is full of a lot of suffering Bill. There isn't enough money--even for a lot of millionaires who won't be "satisfied" until they get a BILLION dollars. Even those that spend their money can never buy enough houses, clothes, boats, vacations to feel satisfied for long. We lust after something until we get it and then quickly become bored with it and we return again to enslaving ourselves to crave once more. Buddha didn't say that we couldn't enjoy life but that we should enjoy life in moderation to reduce our suffering, and he laid out a path that many people have followed over the millennia toward lasting peace of mind and happiness.

And Buddha didn't command any of this, which is what I think separates Buddhism from many of the traditionally defined, "religions." Buddha encouraged seeing for oneself if his techniques do indeed bring about a greater peace and a life of less suffering by direct experience, which isn't unlike the scientific method where direct observations are the basis of knowledge. Pursue a life of constant seeking for the next "buzz of pleasure" and then live life for at time following the Buddha's guidelines and see, which way gives you the strongest feeling of satisfaction and happiness of life. If you find you think Buddhism is only causing you more problems then best of luck. Sincerely. A lot of people come and go with Buddhism. Buddhism doesn't want to force anyone to do anything. Buddhism would rather let the people come to it so that they are making a choice of their own free will and feel ready to follow such a path).

Maher: — I don’t want to learn to not want, that’s what people in prison have to do

(James: We're in a prison, now, Bill--look around you--We Want a better job, want a new car, want our body to heal quicker or look sexier, want our spouse to change to how we think they should be, and on and on. It's a prison without bars that lures us with shiny new distractions to keep us from finding a way out of the suffering. However, it doesn't have to be an either or proposition as you're stating. You're saying Buddhism says "life sucks, it has no meaning, purpose or value" but that is a common misconception. That isn't Buddhism--that's nihilism. Buddhism teaches that there is a way to live in balance with things of the world yet reduce your long-term suffering. That is what Buddhism offers).

Maher: And reincarnation? Really? If that were real, wouldn’t there be some proof by now? A raccoon spelling out in acorns, “My name is Herb Zoller and I’m an accountant.” …something?

(James: First of all not all Buddhists believe in reincarnation. A lot of Buddhists believe in rebirth and yet still others believe in neither. As for proof? Even science says that energy never disappears but simply changes form. There are many Buddhists who say that it doesn't really matter much what happens after death (if anything) because the only moment we have is this one. For these Buddhists they focus on the rebirth that happens within this lifetime. For example, I am a completely different person from who I was 10-12 years ago when I was an ardent Mormon who was politically conservative. Now I am a Liberal Buddhist!!

But the point of rebirth, in my view, isn't so much about whether we are reborn a slug, or even reborn at all but rather that we realize how our actions affect our future. It's about becoming aware of how we alone are the architects of our own life and what our life becomes is directly influenced by our actions. So, for me, it comes down to what you reap is what you sow. And if all you water are seeds of hatred, greed and delusion then you will reap a lot of misery but if you water seeds of love, compassion and patience then you will reap the opposite and leave a better world behind then when you were born into it.

Maher: People are always debating, is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy: it’s a religion. You’re a religion if you do something as weird as when the Buddhist monks scrutinize two-year-olds to find the reincarnation of the dude who just died, and then choose one of the toddlers as the sacred Lama: “His poop is royal!” Sorry, but thinking you can look at a babbling, barely-housebroken, uneducated being and say, “That’s our leader” doesn’t make you enlightened. It makes you a Sarah Palin supporter.

(James: Bill, I like you--I really do, and while I think your usually well informed, on Buddhism you're quite ignorant. Only one school of Buddhism believes that their teachers are reincarnated, and that's Tibetan Buddhism. If you have a problem with Tibetan Buddhism then take that up with the Dalai Lama, but I would have expected you to know better than to lump all Buddhists together. I didn't want to write this to defend Buddhism so much as to explain it, as best as a common practitioner like myself can to those who aren't familiar with Buddhism so they, can hear both sides).

~Peace to all beings~

Their Criminals, and Ours

"China has no 'dissidents' . . . There is only the difference
between criminals and those who are not criminals."
~ Ma Zhaoxu, Spokesman Chinese foreign Ministry

This is a remark, reported here at The Guardian, by a Chinese government official commenting on the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo. It might seem comical to hear regime mouthpieces, with a straight face, parsing words in hopes of rationalizing their oppressive actions. But, as I have noted here repeatedly, it makes a difference. It makes a difference to individuals like Liu Xiaobo. It has consequences for the debasement of language and thereby of politics. And it does not, of course, happen only in those despicable far away authoritarian places like China. After all, just this week David Margolis, an official at the U.S. Justice Department, engaged in the very same practice. He announced that when John Yoo and Jay Bybee flouted - systematically and knowingly - domestic and international law in their quest to rationalize the torture of people being held in U.S. custody under suspicion of partaking in terrorist activity they simply exercised 'poor judgment' instead of professional misconduct. The distinction Margolis draws basically is between being morally obtuse and being legally culpable. The news reports are here and here. We don't have war criminals in the United States, we just have eager, if slightly flawed, public servants operating under circumstances of extreme stress.*

Just to be clear about the political consequences of all this - Margolis not only lets the Bush minions off the hook here, he gives cover to the 'let's ignore the past and hope for the future' strategy that Obama is pursuing on this matter. And, not to be overlooked, he allows countries like China to continue thumbing their noses at sanctimonious rhetoric from Americans.
___________
* But of course, as subsequent news reports make clear, we have dramatically incomplete record for making that assessment because large numbers of official emails to and from Mr. Yoo during the relevant time period mysteriously are missing and unrecoverable.

P.S.: And if you want to see that this language game is being played not just in the halls of justice but in the mainstream media, see this post and this follow-up by Glen Greenwald at Salon.com . . . We don't have Terrorists in the U.S., we just have deranged 'tax protesters.' (Meaning, presumably, that we cannot torture the latter if they are captured?) Just ask the folks at Newsweek. Pretty remarkable!

Communications from the "bizzaro universe" . . .

So, I came across this profile of Keli Carender, darling of the 'tea-baggers,' in The New York Times*; it just goes to show that you can be hip & trendy (nose-ring), creative (actress), smart (math teacher), and young and still be a conservative ideologue. In other words one need not be a dour old reactionary to be, well, a reactionary.

Poor Ms. Carender, who attended a public university, whines and complains that someone might 'take her money' to pay for health care, and seems wholly seems oblivious to the irony. I guess taxpayer subsidies are outrageous affronts to liberty only when they benefit someone else? Ms. Carender's 'intellectual' inspiration, old Tom Sowell is a crackpot all of whose work is supported by the right wing Hoover Institution. But enough of the ad hominem observations. Ms. Carender finds them offensive having in the prior breath dismissed those who disagree with her as purveying "the usual hyperbole and empty, hateful rhetoric of people who presume themselves to be intellectually and morally superior to anyone who does not share a liberal, progressive or left-wing ideology." Irony upon irony, I suppose.

Despite what she might have surmised from reading Sowell, there are good reasons why deficit spending is the proper response to a depressed economy. And, of course, far and away the primary cause of the deficits that she so dreads is the hair-brained tax policies and foreign adventures initiated by the Bush administration. Ooooppps! Is it that Ms. Carender is simply not smart enough to figure this out? Or does she inhabit not a reality based but an "alternative bizzaro universe"?
__________
* I've just come across this profile at npr too.

My Life

Courtesy of PHD comics - a lifeline of hilarious distraction.

Taichung Mayor Urged to Run for President in 2012

Such is the fall of grace of President Ma's popularity amongst Taiwanese that even staunch KMT supporters are now questioning whether he should run for a second term:

A big campaign was set yesterday in Taichung City to urge Taichung City mayor Jason Hu to run for the president in 2012, drawing a widespread attention across the island.

In response to the controversial campaign, Hu said yesterday that he still supports the incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou to run for the second presidential term.

Hu is still considering whether to run for the mayor in the newly-upgraded “Great Taichung City.” However, a voice that urges him to think about another option has emerged. It is feared that the poor performance of the Ma administration has eroded the confidence of its staunch supporters.

The Politics of Fear

Premier Wu's latest comments on the dangers of not signing ECFA stand as a clear example of the politics of fear. Evidence? See here:

Taiwan could face immediate risks if it fails to conclude the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China, said Premier Wu Den-yih yesterday during an administrative interpellation in the Legislative Yuan.

“It’s extremely disadvantageous to Taiwan if the ECFA is not signed,” said Wu in response to an inquiry by Kuomintang (KMT) Lawmaker Lo Shu-lei yesterday morning, according to local media reports. Wu warned that “every trade in Taiwan would lose competitiveness.”

Note the terminology at use here. "Immediate risks", "extremely disadvantageous", "every trade would lose competitiveness" and also, but not mentioned above, "Taiwan would be downed". The KMT is ramping up the fear of ECFA not being signed yet at the same time hardly anyone believes that any significant obstacle will prevent the KMT from signing the agreement with the CCP so it would appear that this fear mongering is purely a way to build up the legitimacy and necessity of signing a deal that is as good as signed already. To my point of view there is a difference between a government persuading a people that a policy is needed and THEN, when public support indicates sufficient approval, pushing the policy into practice, and unilaterally moving to implement a policy goal in an environment of severe public skepticism whilst continually trying to justify the action on threats of a dark future without it. The obvious parallel is not with Obama's healthcare reforms which in principle the US public supports but rather with the post 9-11 Bush administration's push for an unnecessary war in Iraq and afghanistan citing a war on terror. In terrorising the Taiwanese people with stories of economic doom without ECFA, the KMT administration betrays its desperation to sign an agreement that many observe to be one that will trap Taiwan's economy within China's sphere of influence. Yet that's arguably a real threat Ma seems utterly oblivious to.

Blockbuster A Memory?

In this part of the country most people are Movie Gallery patrons, but regardless it is entirely possible that blockbuster could become a thing of the past in 2010. Personally, I think they will survive, but their last quarter was miserable and the stock currently trades at $10 cheaper than it did 5 years ago:

The 21% revenue decrease was mostly due to a 14% decline in same store sales. The firm’s net loss was $114 million compared to a $19 million loss in the same period in 2008. Blockbuster has only $141 million in cash and cash equivalents.

The market value of the company is only $125 million. Blockbuster has bought itself some time by refinancing a large part of its debt and it has been aggressively closing stores

A bankruptcy will do almost nothing to improve Blockbuster’s prospects. Blockbuster does have over $1.7 billion in assets, not all of them saleable, but the firm will almost certainly face liquidation in the relatively near future.

The Swiss Have The Lowest Crime Rate

Especially with the Supreme Court hearing a 2nd amendment case next month, it might be healthy to guess as to what expanded or redacted gun laws in the U.S. would mean. The Swiss have some interesting ideas:


LINK

Awesome Wedding Photographs

MORE HERE

Sarah Palin =....George Wallace???

Jonathan Rauch at the National Journal is drawing some parallels for Sarah Palin and it isn't the, lip-service good kind like Barry Goldwater gets, it's the populist George Wallace kind. I don't know if I buy what he has to say, and I certainly don't buy that she is as appealing but here are the highlights:

Palin: "Voters are sending a message." Wallace: "Send them a message!"

Palin: "The soul of this movement is the people, everyday Americans, who grow our food and run our small businesses, who teach our kids and fight our wars.... The elitists who denounce this movement, they just don't want to hear the message." Wallace: "They've looked down their noses at the average man on the street too long. They've looked [down] at the bus driver, the truck driver, the beautician, the fireman, the policeman, and the steelworker...."

Palin: "We need a commander-in-chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern." Wallace: "We have a professor -- I'm not talking about all professors, but here's an issue in the campaign -- we got these pseudo-theoreticians, and these pseudo-social engineers.... They want to tell you how to do."

Palin: "What does he [Obama] actually seek to accomplish...? The answer is to make government bigger; take more of your money; give you more orders from Washington." Wallace: "They say, 'We've gotta write a guideline. We've gotta tell you when to get up in the morning. We've gotta tell you when to go to bed at night.' "

Byrne Finally Has A Respectable Ad

After the last 2 debacles Bradley Byrne has finally released a respectable ad:


H/T - Parlor

Johnny Cash (26 February 1932 - 12 September 2003)

There were many reasons to admire Johnny Cash. Here is one. And here is another:

Man in Black
Johnny Cash

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

Davis Hits The Air Tomorrow

Artur Davis will be hitting the airwaves tomorrow with the first ad from the Democratic side:


LINK

Shelby Upsets The Banking Committee

Some members, of both political parties, are upset at Richard Shelby for not being a team player on banking regulations:

...the panel’s ranking member is largely sitting on the sidelines — as he has for many of the key committee debates in recent years.

GOP colleagues of ranking member Richard Shelby (Ala.) insist he’s relevant to the debate and predict a bipartisan outcome will prevail.

...[but] privately, some Republicans and Democrats have said Shelby’s handling of the issue has caused tension on the panel.

...sources said there was frustration on both sides of the aisle about Shelby’s negotiating style. Republicans felt he was not keeping them in the loop on the status of negotiations, and Democrats felt he was moving the goal posts on deals that had already been made.

Patriot Act Extended Without Debate

The USA Patriot Act had certain expiring provisions extended by the Senate yesterday on a voice-vote:

One provision authorizes court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones. A second allows court-approved seizure of records and property in antiterrorism operations. A third permits surveillance against a noncitizen suspected of engaging in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group. In agreeing to pass the bill, Senate Democrats retreated from adding new privacy protections to the USA Patriot Act. The Senate approved the bill on a voice vote with no debate. It now goes to the House.

Byrne, A Democrat?

Someone put a small handout in front of me Monday, and in my laziness didn't get it posted, but Left In Alabama & the Tuscaloosa News did my work for me. Anyway, there is a card going around that is paid for by "Alabama Conservatives" (?) that trashes Bradley Byrne for being a Democrat. Here is the flier:
CLICK TO ENLARGE

It basically trashes Byrne for giving a few hundred buck to Bill Clinton and for being a delegate. Also it mysteriously attacks Byrne for not believing that the entirety of the Bible is meant to be "literally true."

H/T - Left In Alabama, Tuscaloosa News

Obama Layeth The Smacketh Downeth

Amid the highlights everyone will see from the "Health-Care Summit" will be President Obama reminding Se. McCain on who won the election:


LINK

Anti-gay campaign in Taipei

Heads up from EVA via Olddaddy: Taipei City Educational Bureau has apparently been informing senior high schools in Taipei that they should "be aware of some student societies/clubs may involve students into unhealthy gay social activities".

This begs the question, is TCEB only worried about unhealthy gay social activities leaving the healthy ones free from condemnation or, more likely, has it now stooped to homophobia by branding all gay social activities as unhealthy and attempting to have these clubs banned by putting pressure on school administrations?

It is also quite laughable if it weren't so horrible. I can't imagine any gay club being able to press gang heterosexual students into the ranks of their membership even if it wished to do so.

One final point: did they also send out a warning that some student societies/clubs may involve students in gambling and violent gangs such as the Bamboo Union? If not, why?

See below the original text from the Taipei City Educational Bureau:

Best Shots (102) ~ Raghu Rai

(129) Raghu Rai ~ Young woman ­doing namaz, Dehli
(24 February 2010).

McCain Hits Hayworth For Being A 'Birther'

LINK

Weiner On The GOP And The Insurance Companies

I wasn't going to post this, but I finally watched it and it's worth seeing. Too funny!!!


LINK

Appeals Court To Hear Cell-Phone Tracking Case

A U.S. Appeals Court in Philadelphia are hearing an appeal of two lower court opinions that tracking someones location by cell-phone without showing probable cause violates the Constitution:

Back in 2007, the US government applied for court permission to obtain information about the location of an individuals cell phone, without showing probable cause that tracking the individual would turn up evidence of a crime. A magistrate judge denied the government's request and a district court upheld that decision in September 2008. The government is appealing the ruling in the US Court of Appeals.

The decision reached by the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit US Court of Appeals will not only bind federal courts throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. It will also be a key source of guidance to courts around the country as they grapple with this issue.

Several civil liberty advocacy groups have files "friend of the court" briefs in support of the restrictions:

The groups are the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Pennsylvania, and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).

Greg Halpern

A few years ago students at the University where I teach asked if I would speak on a panel they were organizing on sweatshops and globalization. I agreed and, in the course of the event, I suggested two things to them. The first was that if they are interested in whether the University spends money on garments made abroad under exploitative conditions they ought to worry less about the tee shorts for sale in the bookstore and more on the various uniforms bought by the Athletic Department. My bet is that (despite the fact that our AD is a good fellow who is extremely progressive on all sorts of matters) the companies who make uniforms for Rochester's teams rely on low wage workers in developing countries. I suspect that that is where the real money, year after year, goes. The second point was that if students were concerned about 'off-shoring' of jobs, they ought to look at the University's practices with regard to maintenance and cleaning and food-services on campus. The point being that their own College engaged in just the troubling labor practices about which they were concerned. The students found this suggestion a bit too close to home. Exploitation operates far away, no?

All of that is by way of saying that I learned today (via a reader who directed me to this post at Conscientious) that Greg Hapern, the young, talented photographer who did this book on the living wage campaign at Harvard now lives and works in Rochester.* I recommend a visit to Greg's web page where you can find not just excerpts from the book, but a bunch of his equally good more recent work.
__________
* Thanks Mike!

Links

• Legislative Speaker Wang wants ECFA to be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan but the first step is drawing up criteria for its supervision. Premier Wu also recently claimed that the Legislature would be able to reject the deal but I'm skeptical that the formal powers to do so will be implemented in time ..

• Meanwhile, MAC and SEF are busy asking Taishang in China to act as ECFA cheerleaders for the Doubting Thomas crowd back home .. and so it is that business leads the way. If a policy makes the CEOs money then it is 'good' and if not it is 'bad', the public or any political or social or moral principle standing in the way be damned.

• President Ma again promotes absentee voting, though now more insistently - the rationale being that it is to protect the constitutional and human rights of Taiwan's electorate, something he has been renowned for since his police snatched and destroyed the ROC flag to please Chen Yunlin.

Interior Minister Jiang Yi-huah said the ministry has adopted a "more stable, fair" approach on absentee voting and intends to implement it gradually.

The government's plan would allow "transfer voting, " enabling election workers, military personnel, students and inmates to cast ballots in constituencies in which they are working, studying or serving sentences instead of in the electoral districts where their households are registered.

The ministry hopes to implement the proposal for the 2012 presidential election, Jiang said.

Jiang stressed, however, that absentee voting by mail will not be allowed, meaning Taiwanese businessmen in China and other citizens living abroad would still be required to return home to cast their ballots.

This is a potential double edged sword which I'm guessing the KMT is hoping will always fall in their favour ... but could equally as not fall against them.

• Great editorial from Taiwan News on Ma's rewinding of the clock on Taiwanese popular sovereignty and democracy by calling Taiwan a region under the constitution. Fact check for Ma: the 1946 ROC Constitution doesn't mention Taiwan. It is only a mere statute that claims Taiwan as such and it is one the could be easily repealed by a Legislature with sufficient intent. Here's the money quotes:

Frankly speaking, the presidential office's position that the ROC government has sovereignty over the China mainland, presumably including both the PRC and Mongolia, because their interpretation of the ROC Constitution says so crosses the border between the ludicrous into the sphere of the self-delusional.

Ironically, former president Lee devoted considerable efforts over his 12 years in office to gradually weaning the KMT from the myth imposed on Taiwan by the late KMT dictator Chiang Kai-shek that the KMT-ruled ROC was the "sole legitimate government" of all "China," a fiction that provided the ideological pillars for 38 years of martial law rule.

Ma's shift from "two countries" to "two sides" is not merely an ideological reprise to the authoritarian Chiang era but deliberately aims to blur the lines of distinction between Taiwan and the PRC as legally constituted states whose sovereignty does not overlap.

• Apple Daily rips into President Ma again, this time for claiming to have learnt about the resignation of Taipei Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei from the newspapers:

We are worried about whether the president is indeed stupid, or whether he thinks it is everyone else who is stupid. We would prefer it to be the latter, because if not, then it means he is being kept in the dark.

If a president rules the country by reading the newspaper, then it would be better to seek a newspaper chief to serve as president.

Some have mocked Ma on the Internet that he only knew he was elected president after reading about it in the paper and that the first step when China invades Taiwan will be to destroy all newspapers so that Ma will know nothing about it.

• Native Hawaiians to establish their own Government. Good news except that it will be a government whose membership is based on race - and we know where that can go. Better still would be an entirely free and independent Hawaii.

• Australian aboriginal programme to cure social ills known as 'the intervention' gets harsh condemnation from the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous human rights, James Anaya.

• Mike Turton on Taiwan's recovering economy.

• Now it appears that the Atlantic also has a growing repository of floating plastic waste. The Earth: a giant human rubbish tip.
  

World Dangerous Bridges : Rope Hanging Bridges

Taman Negara National Park Bridge, Malaysia

That’s the world’s longest Canopy Walkway.

 Hussaini – Borit Lake, Pakistan

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland

Aiguille du Midi at the Mont Blanc Mountain, France

Loboc Hanging Bridge, Philippines

Hanging Bridge of Ghasa in Nepal

Siju Hanging Bridge, India

Some Hanging Bridge in India

Hanging Bridge at Thenmala, India

Just some bridge in Philippines

Repovesi nature park Valkeala, Finland

Arenal Hanging Bridges, Costa Rica

A three kilometer hike through the Costa Rican rain forest. There are six suspension bridges, with the largest one at just under 100 meters long and 45 meters off the ground.

Hanging Bridge in Drake Bay, Costa Rica

Hanging bridge in Bohol, Philippines

Kambadaga, a village near Pita

Hanging Bridge at Trift Glacier, Switzerland

Kakum National Park Canopy Walkway

50 Most Beautiful Trees Photography

Oak Sunshine by =Alex37

Either Side Of The Sun by =morbidthegrim

Did You Hear Her Whisper?

Sunbathing

Peace and Quiet by ~eKBS

His Own Life by `gilad

To Be Alive

Colder

In one of these days

Still Standing

Time Machine by `werol

free to decide

Night Vision

Arbor … by *julie-rc

Foggy morning

Incandescent red

The Clearing by ~Crossie

Seasons gone by ~MarcAdamus

green by `ssilence

red tree by ~nayein

Zephyr by =P0RG

Dream On by ~creativegrafix

The Lost Pyramid by *robertmekis

Bois de la Chaise 2 by ~Renoux

Symphony of Light by ~pitchblacknight

Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus by *angelreich

Embrace of the..

Witches

My Mind by *emats

Relax (infrared) by *justeline

Elfik… by ~vincentfavre

SHADOW by ~HuseyinKaRa

Curves by ~one-shot-below

Iced by ~JeanFrancois

Ice Tree

Breaking Out by ~aambience

a New Perspective by *thrumyeye

welcome to ….fairy…tale… by =alejka

Eden I by `failingjune

Tree Of Light by *lowapproach

Infrared Path to Cotton Candy by *La-Vita-a-Bella

A tree reflected in the sky by ~the-shining

Brand New Day 8076 by *Sooper-Deviant

under red trees by *dorothei

Delusion Of Divine by `DenisOlivier

Autumn Morning by *littlemewhatever

A beautiful day by *ValentinaKallias

Lost Paradise by `Gwarf

Hidden Treasures by =SeptSky