Far East Cynic

Life's a beach………


He’s a real bunker man.
Living in his bunker land.
Making shots out of the sand,
Impressing nobody………

If there was a bunker I was not in yesterday, I will be hard pressed to find it. Bad bounces you say? I got them. Shanked shots? Been there done that. The new driver worked fine, it was the second and subsequent shots that caused me trouble……….
Now in my defense the wind was blowing hard and it was cold………yea, yea, that’s it.
Meant to blog this yesterday, but I O.D. on Sushi last night having told the S.O. I was not cooking and we would just go out to eat. “Man those sushi will wipe you out!”. Folded like a cheap suit at 7pm.
So that means it must be time for a blog and news round up.
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Please don’t tell the S.O. that her great-great-great-great-great ancestors may have been………..(Oh the humanity! Shocking!)…… Korean. At least till I find time to lock up all the knives and other sharp objects.
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Hemlock published last week what is, to me, the definitive word on Saddam’s demise. Being a Brit, his take on Gerald Ford is a tad bit screwed, but then again he lives in Hong Kong-where it is expected that the Chief Executive is incompetent.

Saddam Hussein has been hanged. Amnesty International, who are apparently unaware of his background, is upset. What do they propose doing with such a person? Strap an electronic tag round his ankle, give him a community service order and send him to counselling? I suppose I am agnostic about capital punishment. If it had a deterrent effect, I could see a point to it, but I have never seen any evidence that it has. Its main purpose seems to be to give tyrannical governments in barbaric and primitive places like Mainland China, Saudi Arabia and Singapore a tool with which to cow their citizens into unquestioning obedience and submission. Its secondary purpose is to give state governors in the US a last-ditch weapon during elections – “I will sign more death warrants than my opponent.” And it disposes of people like Saddam.My mind experiences a flashback from 10 years ago. The man waiting to be the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Tung Chee-hwa, was asked by a foreign reporter whether he would restore the death penalty in the Big Lychee after the handover. The genial crop-haired one replied that he would not. After a pause, he elaborated. “I was advised by someone whose opinion I greatly trust,” he explained (or words to that effect). While few seriously expected or wanted the hangman to return, they would have appreciated a less insipid line of reasoning. It was one of those early-warning signs that a Great Cluelessness was about to descend on our city.

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Legions of British Naval Officers have started a letter writing campaign to the government of Argentina, asking them-no, begging them-to re-invade the Falklands. That is what saved the Royal Navy the last time they went through this type of budgetary stupidity.
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Never count a neocon out. Like death and taxes they just keep coming up with more bad ideas……..while making six figures at your expense.
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EXPAT at LARGE recounts his recent adventures in Bali. He also finally tracked down Frisco dude-stay away from anyone with a motorcycle helmet.
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After a brief flash upon the blogosphere, Hong Kong’s Miserable Gweilo Bastard is gone.
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Speaking of the blogosphere, it is with a great amount of personal satisfaction that yours truly notes that the Town Hall Harlot , who complains and complains about AP and other news media outlets distorting the news, is actually caught red handed doing the exact same thing herself. She was caught not just once, BUT TWICE, fabricating a story -only to have to retract it later. That’s the same thing she attacked AP for. Plus, as a weekend bonus she gets to know that she has screwed up someone else’s life in the process. She must be so proud of herself and her commitment to “journalistic integrity”.
First, she deserves scorn for her twisting of the “Lonely Kerry” story where she got the facts wrong about his sitting at a table with no other uniformed personnel around. What makes it worse to me, is that she then goes on apologize with out apologizing, railing on and on about the military does not like Kerry. Duh-do you think? Of course they do not like him, but you can be damn sure that any appearance in front of anyone will be scripted and staged and his appearance in Iraq was just as much as an inconvience to the troops as hers will be.
Her second gaffe was considerably worse. After weeks of accusing AP of making up a source, she was proven wrong when the man in question was arrested. Now mind you, Malkin had spent much of the past year lamblasting AP and other media outlets for “photoshopping pictures” and distorting the news about the war. However when the shoe is on the other foot-namely trashing a story that turns out to be true-she simply diverts your attention to other matters.
Why is this important? Its only important because of the readership that her blog commands. Too many simpletonspeople take what she says at face value. Plus she portrays herself as a journalist too. Except, professional courtesy to her is the same as that which sharks extend to lawyers. None.
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Got tickets to a playoff game? Here is one way to sell your tickets! All I can say is she better be good looking to be worth playoff tickets.
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Over at Blackwater Security, the employees are a litte disgruntled about this.
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Finally, once again, George Will refuses to get on the bus. Kind of a Cronkite moment if you ask me.
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Boy! Trashing Malkin sure felt good. Too bad it accomplishes nothing in the grand scheme of things. Not a thing. Tomorrow she will still be popular and she will still be wrong- and over a million readers will read it.

BR: [BR is reading Heather’s damning article] “Bitch”.
Nick Naylor: “Whore”.