Topic: News
AP Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/2007_predictions_ap_poll?feck
AP Poll: Americans optimistic for 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/optimism_ap_poll
« | December 2006 | » | ||||
S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
1 | 2 | |||||
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
31 |
The son-in-law of the President of Taiwan have been convicted, along with his father, of insider trading. Going to jail for 6 and 8 years respectively. It's the most severe sentence for such crimes ever handed down. The entire nation (and some expats) have been following this, as it's such a clear case of special-privilege and corruption that the only surprise is how long it took for the dirt to hit the fan. The judge in the case quoted chapter and verse from the Analects of Chuang Tzu, a Taoist scholar who lived in the 4th Century BCE, as part of his sentencing:
"Those who steal a fishhook are common criminals; those who steal a nation are rulers; such does the downfall of virtue and honesty from the doors of those who rule."
Expanding on this, the judge pointed out in his ruling that those in power have come to expect to escape the reach of the law, and it is no longer acceptable; he also implies in his writing that the defendants' abuse of power have contributed to further the unjust gap between the haves and the have-nots in society, to the detriment of the nation beyond simply a criminal act. He further writes, quoting from classical sources, that the elite defendants have "purchased power with money, and extracted money using power" He called the defendants 'arch-typical elite criminals' who expect to be above the law. The ruling document ran to 297 pages, over 230,000 words.
Sounds like the judge in this case had a Classical Education. I mean, I totally agree with him and I feel a sincere respect for the classical scholarship, but jeezus, a 297-page ruling? Surely to read that is a sentence in itself.
"We will need to postpone the start of Christmas by at least two weeks due to changes made during the plan checking process. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. However, a proper design will ensure a successful project."
Backyard of the Poole house
Milly, Sheven and Connie
The Pooles. From Left: Beverly, Steven, Sheven, Getch, Willy
Steve's Garden Cathedral. Can you believe that thing's supposed to be a storage shed? It's got a gabled roof and a skylight, for god's sake. He said that the view from the top of the shed is great and he's considering putting a deck on the roof. He was only half-kidding, too.
We went shopping today. I caved in and bought replacement clothes. I'm leaving the jeans I wore here in her mother's Goodwill bag, because since I lost the surgery weight they no longer fit. I had forgotten how much better jeans feel when they're the right size!
Sheven's dad and I spent a good 45 minutes this afternoon talking about American conservatism, Libertarians, and Labor union politics, and I told him all about San Diego's pension/SEC woes. It was an interesting conversation!
Milly wants to go out bar hopping, although this being Pullman, we would only be able to do it once, hopping from the one bar to the other in town. I'm trying to convince everyone that they want to watch Elizabethtown instead. I really like that movie, it's so quirky! And I love the sound-track. The driving soundtrack Claire made for Drew's road-trip is exactly something I would do! It was well received here too - even Getch, who had resigned himself to watching a chick-flick with his sister's friends, said it was 'actually tolerable."
I took this photo today from the top of the Kamiak Butte, a 'quartzite steptoe 1,000 feet above the Palouse'. The area in view is a part of the Palouse Prairie; undulating hills, lots of dryland farming, wheat, soybeans and lentils. In fact, Pullman has an annual Lentil Festival every August. The concept of winter wheat was explained to me for the first time. We practically ran up the trail to stay warm, although the air was so cold I started to wheeze; not wanting to fall behind, I pounded up the final switchback and stood gasping at the top for a minute before I was able to straighten up again. There were patches of snow lacing the mossy branches along the trail, and a strong wind whipped through the treetops making a sound like a waterfall.
We've had our turkey dinner, and we sat around the table afterwards and just talked over homemade pumpkin pie. The idea of illegal immigration came up and just about everyone in the room had a slightly different opinion on it, and of course as the representative colored immigrant in the room, I had to put in my buck twenty (more than 2 cents) on the issue too. It was wonderful to be able to talk about immigration policy, with people who have relatively informed opinions, with my experience as an naturalized immigrant, Milly's as someone working in the US on work visa and is considering going for a greencard, and then to find out what Americans (Sheven and her family), even liberal ones, know and/or feel about the issue. Sheven was raised atheist by her hippy parents. Isn't that interesting? Most people who are atheist aren't raised in the non-faith, they turn that way,